Frank Mulligan: Nutrition for dummies

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I recently took a Nutrition IQ Test in a magazine and scored slightly lower than moron.

In my defense, though, the test failed to accurately reflect some of my rather innovative, complex and, well, insightful views on nutrition. Therefore, and to wit, I have devised my own Nutrition IQ Test that has been dumbed down to a level I find more within reach.

Give it a try. Scoring is completely subjective. As in T-ball, there are no losers.

1. True or False: Buffalo chicken sauce can cure the common cold. a) True b) False c) Only if its the extra hot kind

2. List the five major food groups: a) stuff from McDonalds, stuff from Burger King, stuff from Taco Bell, stuff from Kentucky Fried Chicken, and stuff from Papa Ginos b) deli meats, sub rolls, mayonnaise, dill pickles, and Cheez-Its c) the five things you like best in a poo-poo platter d) all of the above, plus two things deep fried

3. What are the virtues of tofu: a) Its got a funny-sounding name b) Its trustworthy c) You can roll it in a ball and hurl it at pursuers d) You can make fun of people who eat it

4. What is a good source for minerals: a) pie b) cake c) cake-pie d) a quarry

5. Its a known fact that garlic can: a) lower cholesterol b) lower blood pressure c) ward off vampires d) prevent unwanted kissing

6. Whats the difference between simple and complex carbohydrates: a) complex carbohydrates are more insightful b) simple carbohydrates are easy to fool c) complex carbohydrates come from animals or vegetables containing more than two syllables, like alligator or zucchini d) simple carbohydrates dont like to brag about themselves

7. How many kinds of nutrients are there: a) lots b) kind of a lot c) it depends on what you mean by nutrient d) it depends on what time of day it is

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Frank Mulligan: Nutrition for dummies

Synthetic Biology Book Published in DNA

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The data storage project represents the largest piece of non-biological data ever stored in this manner

By Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Image: dna, synthetic biology

Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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From Nature magazine

A trio of researchers has encoded a draft of a whole book into DNA. The 5.27-megabit tome contains 53,246 words, 11 JPG image files and a JavaScript program, making it the largest piece of non-biological data ever stored in this way.

DNA has the potential to store huge amounts of information. In theory, two bits of data can be incorporated per nucleotide the single base unit of a DNA string so each gram of the double-stranded molecule could store 455 exabytes of data (1 exabyte is 1018 bytes). Such dense packing outstrips inorganic data-storage devices such as flash memory, hard disks or even storage based on quantum-computing methods.

The book, which is fittingly a treatise on synthetic biology, was encoded by geneticists George Church and Sriram Kosuri at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in Boston, Massachusetts, and Yuan Gao, a biomedical engineer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. They report their work in Science1 this week.

It marks a significant gain on previous projects the largest of which encoded less than one-six-hundredth of the data but organic flash drives are still many years away. There are a number of reasons why the method is not practical for everyday use. For example, both storing and retrieving information currently require several days of lab work, spent either synthesizing DNA from scratch or sequencing it to read the data.

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Synthetic Biology Book Published in DNA

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Harvard Scientists Write Book In DNA And Accurately Copy, Read It Back

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Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

DNA, the building block of life, is now home to more than just the worlds living creatures. Scientists from Harvard University report that they have written an entire novel in DNA, a feat that could revolutionize our ability to save data.

Our genetic code packs billions of gigabytes into a single gram. That is significantly more information that a single microchip could even think about storing. In fact, a single milligram of genetic code could encode the entire Library of Congress and still have room to spare.

Long held as only a theory, the storage of data in DNA has now tipped the genetic scale and has become a reality. George Church of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues stored an entire genetics handbook in less than a picogram trillionth of a gram of DNA.

The experiment, reported in Thursdays edition of the journal Science, could pave the way for eventual data-storage systems that can handle vast amounts of data, perhaps millions of times more data than a single hard drive can handle. Using next-generation sequencing technology, the Harvard team, were not only able to encode the book in DNA, but also were able to accurately copy and read it.

A few other teams have tried to write data into the DNA of living cells. But because the approach carries some disadvantages, it may not prove feasible. Because cells die, writing data into genetic code could mean that you are going to ultimately lose your work. And because cells also replicate, there would be the possibility that new mutations could change the data.

To work around these possible scenarios, Church and his colleagues created a DNA information-archiving system using no cells at all. Instead, they utilized an inkjet printer to embed short fragments of chemically synthesized DNA onto the surface of a tiny glass chip. To encode the file, the team divided it into tiny blocks of data and converted it not into typical digital storage 1s and 0s, but rather DNAs four-letter alphabet of As (adenine), Cs (cytosine), Gs (guanine) and Ts (thymine).

The team explained that each DNA fragment also contains a digital barcode that records its location in the original file. Reading the data requires a DNA sequencer and a computer to put back together the DNA puzzle of fragments in order to convert them into digital format. The computer also corrects for errors; each block of data is replicated thousands of times so that any chance glitch can be identified and fixed by comparing it to the other copies.

To demonstrate the technology, the team used the DNA chips to encode a genetics book co-authored by Church Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves in DNA. After converting the book into DNA and translating it back into digital form, the teams system only produced a rate of two errors per million bits of information, and only amounted to a few single-letter typos, which is on par with DVDs and far better than magnetic hard drives.

However, the impracticability of such a system is not there right now. Sequencing DNA is a costly procedure and is not feasible for general use, according to Daniel Gibson, a synthetic biologist at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland. However, he noted, the field is moving fast and the technology will soon be cheaper, faster, and smaller.

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Harvard Scientists Write Book In DNA And Accurately Copy, Read It Back

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DNA: The Ultimate Hard Drive

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By John Bohannon, ScienceNOW

When it comes to storing information, hard drives dont hold a candle to DNA. Our genetic code packs billions of gigabytes into a single gram. A mere milligram of the molecule could encode the complete text of every book in the Library of Congress and have plenty of room to spare. All of this has been mostly theoretical until now. In a new study, researchers stored an entire genetics textbook in less than a picogram of DNA one trillionth of a gram an advance that could revolutionize our ability to save data.

A few teams have tried to write data into the genomes of living cells. But the approach has a couple of disadvantages. First, cells die not a good way to lose your term paper. They also replicate, introducing new mutations over time that can change the data.

To get around these problems, a team led by George Church, a synthetic biologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, created a DNA information-archiving system that uses no cells at all. Instead, an inkjet printer embeds short fragments of chemically synthesized DNA onto the surface of a tiny glass chip. To encode a digital file, researchers divide it into tiny blocks of data and convert these data not into the 1s and 0s of typical digital storage media, but rather into DNAs four-letter alphabet of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts. Each DNA fragment also contains a digital barcode that records its location in the original file. Reading the data requires a DNA sequencer and a computer to reassemble all of the fragments in order and convert them back into digital format. The computer also corrects for errors; each block of data is replicated thousands of times so that any chance glitch can be identified and fixed by comparing it to the other copies.

To demonstrate its system in action, the team used the DNA chips to encode a genetics book co-authored by Church. It worked. After converting the book into DNA and translating it back into digital form, the teams system had a raw error rate of only two errors per million bits, amounting to a few single-letter typos. That is on par with DVDs and far better than magnetic hard drives. And because of their tiny size, DNA chips are now the storage medium with the highest known information density, the researchers report online today in Science.

Dont replace your flash drive with genetic material just yet, however. The cost of the DNA sequencer and other instruments currently makes this impractical for general use, says Daniel Gibson, a synthetic biologist at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, but the field is moving fast and the technology will soon be cheaper, faster, and smaller. Gibson led the team that created the first completely synthetic genome, which included a watermark of extra data encoded into the DNA. The researchers used a three-letter coding system that is less efficient than the Church teams but has built-in safeguards to prevent living cells from translating the DNA into proteins. If DNA is going to be used for this purpose, and outside a laboratory setting, then you would want to use DNA sequence that is least likely to be expressed in the environment, he says. Church disagrees. Unless someone deliberately subverts his DNA data-archiving system, he sees little danger.

This story provided by ScienceNOW, the daily online news service of the journal Science.

Image: Scientists have found a way to store an entire textbook in the code of DNA. (JohnGoode/Flickr)

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DNA: The Ultimate Hard Drive

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Synthesizing Synthetic Biology

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PLOS One has launched the Synthetic Biology Collection a set of more than 50 papers that the journal has published since 2006 on DNA synthesis and assembly, the development of libraries of biological parts, protein engineering, network and pathway analysis, and the like.

The PLOS One Community Blog notes that "the heavily interdisciplinary nature" of synthetic biology research "can make it difficult to publish in traditional discipline-specific journals," but the broad scope of PLOS One "allows for the publication of work crossing many traditional research boundaries, making it an ideal venue for many different types of synthetic biology research."

The collection will be updated as relevant articles are published in the journal.

An overview of the collection, authored by Jean Peccoud and Mark Isalan, says that the papers are organized into broad categories: DNA synthesis and assembly; biological parts; protein engineering; networks and pathways; synthetic life; software and modeling; and instruments.

They add that "since many synthetic biology papers cited in this review span more than one category, it was sometimes difficult to assign them to one category rather than another. Nonetheless, this structure should aid in navigating the 50+ papers currently included in the collection."

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Marketing is not the only answer for UK tourism, says WTTC

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17 August 2012

New plans announced to boost UK tourism are unlikely to have the desired effect unless much more fundamental reforms are implemented, says the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Reacting to plans from Jeremy Hunt, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for an 8m extension of the "GREAT" marketing campaign, and a further 2 million to promote domestic tourism, David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC said:

"Jeremy Hunt should be congratulated for recognising the huge economic and social potential of Travel & Tourism in the UK. His plans to invest in a new domestic marketing campaign to draw on the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics and to specifically target the high-spending Chinese market are sensible options. Figures from VisitBritain show that the average spend per visit of Chinese visitors to UK is 1677, compared to the average spend per visit from all countries of 563.

But, the UK is beckoning tourists with one hand and pushing them away with the other. The UK has the highest air tax of any country in the world. Heathrow and Gatwick are effectively full and there is no discernible long-term aviation policy that will provide the routes to China on the scale being provided by other European countries. UK's visa policy which requires visitors from key growth markets, such as China and India, to go through an expensive, time-consuming and cumbersome process to obtain visas is also a clear deterrent.

Jeremy Hunt is right to want to "turbo-charge" UK tourism, but a much more fundamental reform of visa, taxation and aviation policy is required to make a real difference."

According to WTTC figures, the Travel & Tourism industry is expected to directly contribute 35.6 billion and almost 950,000 jobs to the British economy during 2012. When the wider economic impacts of the industry are taken into account, Travel & Tourism is forecast to contribute over 100 billion to the UK economy and generate 2.3 million jobs or 1 in 13 of all jobs in the UK.

The World Travel & Tourism Council is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of Travel & Tourism. It promotes sustainable growth for the industry, working with governments and international institutions to create jobs, to drive exports and to generate prosperity. In 2011 Travel & Tourism accounted for 255 million jobs globally. At US$6.3 trillion (9.1% of GDP) the sector is a key driver for investment and economic growth. For more than 20 years, the World Travel & Tourism Council has been the voice of this industry globally. Members are the Chairs, Presidents and Chief Executives of the world's leading, private sector Travel & Tourism businesses. These Members bring specialist knowledge to guide government policy and decision-making, raising awareness of the importance of the industry as an economic generator of prosperity.

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What China's space capabilities mean for India

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China's manned missions and the space station also indirectly showcase the country's ability to use space for military purposes, says Dr Manpreet Sethi.

The successful touchdown of the American spacecraft Curiosity on mars has generated much interest in India [ Images ] and the world. Certainly, this is a major milestone in earth's search for life elsewhere in space. But another event of significance for India's national security went relatively unnoticed though it took place much closer home in India's eastern neighbourhood.

On June 29, China welcomed three of its 'taikonauts' aboard Shenzhou 9 back to earth after their 13-day sojourn into outer space. Of course, this was not the first time that China had sent up a manned spacecraft. In fact, it had already demonstrated this feat in 2003 and repeated it a few times since then.

But there were two new dimensions of the recent flight. One, it carried a Chinese woman astronaut into space for the first time. Secondly and far more significantly, it demonstrated China's capability to conduct docking of a manned spacecraft with the experimental lab Tiangong 1 that China has had stationed in space since September 2011. Successful docking with an unmanned spacecraft had already been conducted in 2011 itself. But this time, the three astronauts in Shenzhou 9 established that China could precisely maneuver a space capsule to rendezvous with and attach itself to a port on the station in order to transfer people and material to sustain a space station.

Each one of these feats is meant to fit into the long term objective of having a Chinese manned space station in outer space by sometime towards the end of this decade. Such a goal was first articulated by the standing committee of the Politburo in 1992 when it approved the manned spaceflight programme.

The country has steadily moved to accomplish this and in fact, the white paper on space activities issued by China in 2011 categorically identified the national ambition to "launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters, make breakthroughs in and master space station key technologies, including astronauts' medium stay, regenerative life support and propellant refueling".

What are the implications of these developments? First of all, a Chinese space station and the demonstration of capabilities towards that objective have tremendous symbolic value for power projection. Achieving these tasks reflects favorably on the scientific, technological and industrial/manufacturing capability of the country. Not only does this enhance the reputation of China to provide commercial services to global customers, it also enhances the soft power of the country.

It is worth mentioning that China today claims international cooperation with 12 countries in the field of space. Just last year it launched satellites for three customers -- Pakistan, Eutelsat and Nigeria. Of these, the two vehicles launched for Pakistan and Nigeria were communication satellites made in China. Just last month China entered into a joint venture with Sri Lanka [ Images ] to set up its first space academy.

Indeed, for the developing world, China has become a key provider of technology and other commercial launch services at competitive rates. But more importantly, China has taken upon itself the role of a mentor in space for many smaller countries in Asia. Since 2008, Beijing [ Images ] has led the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation. With its headquarters in Beijing, it comprises Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru and Thailand. Training of foreign scientists at Chinese institutes and donation of ground stations to member countries to receive information from Chinese satellites are some of the activities that the organisation has undertaken.

As China enhances its space capabilities, it raises its profile amongst smaller nations taking tentative steps into this new domain. China plays upon the psychology of these nations by offering its space services as a means to break the monopoly of western imperialism in a pioneering field of science and technology. That China gains commercially and strategically from such relations is self evident.

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NASA’s Mighty Eagle Takes Flight; Finds Its Target

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No, its not a UFO its NASAs Mighty Eagle, a robotic prototype lander that successfully and autonomously found its target during a 32-second free flight test at Marshall Space Flight Center yesterday, August 16.

You have to admit though, Mighty Eagle does bear a resemblance to classic B-movie sci-fi spacecraft (if, at only 4 feet tall,markedly less threatening to the general populace.)

Fueled by 90% pure hydrogen peroxide, Mighty Eagle is a low-cost green spacecraft designed to operate autonomously during future space exploration missions. It uses its onboard camera and computer to determine the safest route to a pre-determined landing spot.

During the August 16 test flight, Mighty Eagle ascended to 30 feet, identified a target painted on the ground 21 feet away, flew to that position and landed safely all without being controlled directly.

This is huge. We met our primary objective of this test series getting the vehicle to seek and find its target autonomously with high precision, said Mike Hannan, controls engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center. Were not directing the vehicle from the control room. Our software is driving the vehicle to think for itself now. From here, well test the robustness of the software to fly higher and descend faster, expecting the lander to continue to seek and find the target.

In the wake of a dramatically unsuccessful free flight test of the Morpheus craft on August 9, another green lander designed by Johnson Space Center, the recent achievements by the Mighty Eagle team are encouraging.

Heres a video from a previous test flight on August 8:

Future tests planned through September will have the lander ascend up to 100 feet before landing. Read more here.

The Mighty Eagle prototype lander was developed by the Marshall Center and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., for NASAs Planetary Sciences Division, Headquarters Science Mission DirectorateImage/video: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

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NASA’s Mighty Eagle Takes Flight; Finds Its Target

NASA sees System 93L explode into Tropical Storm Gordon

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The AIRS instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this infrared image System 93L was strengthening into tropical depression 8, and before it became Tropical Storm Gordon. The image was taken on Aug. 15 at 12:53 p.m. EDT, and shows strong bands of thunderstorms (purple) to the north and west of the center of circulation, indicating strengthening. Credit: NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen

NASA has been watching the low pressure system called System 93L for the last week, and late on August 15 it organized into Tropical Depression 8, then Tropical Storm Gordon. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured a visible image of tiny Tropical Storm Gordon after sunrise on August 16.

System 93L started out on August 10 as a tropical wave and associated low pressure area, that moved off the African coast into the eastern Atlantic. Over the last six days it moved west across the Atlantic Ocean and had its ups and downs in terms of organization and development. On August 15 at 5 p.m. EDT, it strengthened into the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season's eighth tropical depression, just 15 hours after infrared data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite identified a strong banding of thunderstorms around the center of circulation and northwest of the center. That banding was an indication of organization and strengthening.

Aqua's AIRS instrument captured another infrared image System 93L as it was strengthening into tropical depression 8, and before it became Tropical Storm Gordon. The image was taken on Aug. 15 at 12:53 p.m. EDT, and showed strong bands of thunderstorms to the north and west of the center of circulation where cloud tops were so high into the atmosphere that they were as cold as -63 Fahrenheit (-52 Celsius). When thunderstorms that make up tropical cyclones reach such heights, they likely contain heavy rainfall, and are indicative of a lot of strength within the cyclone.

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The GOES-13 satellite captured this visible image of newborn Tropical Storm Gordon on Aug. 16 at 1145 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT). Credit: NASA GOES Project

At 5 a.m. EDT, Tropical Storm Gordon had maximum sustained wind near 40 mph (65 kmh), and some strengthening is expected, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). In fact, the NHC noted that Gordon could become a hurricane over the weekend of August 18-19 because the storm is expected to track over warm water and encounter very little wind shear.

The center of Tropical Storm Gordon was located about 585 miles (940 km) east of Bermuda, near latitude 32.2 north and longitude 54.8 west. Gordon is moving toward the north-northeast near 14 mph (22 kmh) and is expected to turn northeast and east, heading back into the north central Atlantic Ocean.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

An animation of satellite observations from Aug. 13-16, 2012 shows the birth of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season's eighth tropical depression that strengthens into Tropical Storm Gordon. This visualization was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., using observations from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project Center

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NASA sees System 93L explode into Tropical Storm Gordon

NASA Announces Next Opportunity for CubeSat Space Missions

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The international 2012 Humans in Space Youth Art Competition invites students ages 10-18 to express their ideas about the future of human space exploration through visual, literary, musical or digital art.

Artwork submissions will be judged on creativity, skill and demonstration of meaning relevant to expressing "How will humans use science and technology to explore space, and what mysteries will we uncover?"

Winning art will be showcased at displays and multimedia performances worldwide from 2013 to 2014, as well as in an online gallery. Submissions must be received by Oct. 21, 2012.

For additional information and a complete list of guidelines, visit http://www.humansinspaceart.org.

Inquiries about this opportunity should be directed to Jancy McPhee at jancy.c.mcphee@nasa.gov.

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Polymer nanoparticle overcomes anticancer drug resistance

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In a nanotechnology two-for-one, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Hopkins CCNE) have created a polymer nanoparticle that overcomes tumor resistance to the common anticancer agent doxorubicin and that protects the heart against drug-triggered damage, a therapy-ending side effect that limits doxorubicins effectiveness. This novel nanoparticle incorporates both doxorubicin and curcumin, a major component of the bright yellow spice turmeric.

This work was led by Anirban Maitra, a principal investigator in the Hopkins CCNE. Dr. Maitra and his colleagues published the results of their work in the journal Oncotarget.

Numerous studies over the past few years have shown that high doses of curcumin can overcome the resistance to multiple anticancer agents that many, if not most, tumors develop over time. Curcumin, however, is poorly soluble in the blood stream and as a result, getting high enough levels of this agent to tumors has proven challenging. Dr. Maitras approach to solving this problem has been to use polymer nanoparticles to deliver curcumin to tumors. He and his colleagues have published several papers over the past two years describing the development and behavior of their curcumin-nanoparticle formulation and its ability to make drug-resistant tumors susceptible to chemotherapy.

In their current paper, the investigators discuss how they prepared a polymer nanoparticle containing both curcumin and doxorubicin. Both in vitro and animal tests demonstrated that this formulation had striking anticancer activity in models of multiple myeloma, leukemia, and prostate and ovarian cancers. Perhaps equally important, the animals treated with the nanoparticle did not experience any cardiac toxicity or bone marrow suppression, even at cumulative doses that normally trigger cardiac toxicity by free doxorubicin or liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin, which was the first nanoparticle drug approved for use in treating cancer in humans and is widely used in treating breast cancer. Further examination of the heart-protecting characteristics of this formulation showed that encapsulating doxorubicin in a polymer nanoparticle spared heart muscle cells from oxidative stress normally triggered by doxorubicin.

This work is detailed in a paper titled, A composite polymer nanoparticle overcomes multidrug resistance and ameliorates doxorubicin-associated cardiomyopathy. An abstract of this paper is available at the journal's website.

More information: Abstract: http://www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget/index.php?journal=oncotarget&page=article&op=view&path%5b%5d=543

Journal reference: Oncotarget

Provided by National Cancer Institute

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Lessons learned in creating biomedical nanoparticles for human use

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Over the past six years, the National Cancer Institutes (NCI) Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL), a key component of the NCIs Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, has characterized more than 250 different nanomaterials developed by over 75 research groups. This extensive experience has given NCL staff a unique perspective on how to design safe and biocompatible nanomaterials for human use. In a paper published in the journal Integrative Biology, the NCL team shared some of the lessons they have learned.

The NCL performs and standardizes the pre-clinical characterization of nanomaterials intended for cancer therapeutics and diagnostics developed by researchers from academia, government, and industry. The Lab serves as a national resource and knowledge base for cancer researchers, and facilitates the development and translation of nanoscale particles and devices for clinical applications. Scott McNeil, the NCLs director, and seven colleagues compiled the common pitfalls that nonmaterial developers encounter on their path from basic research, to products that will be tested as agents for imaging or delivering drugs to tumors in humans.

One important lesson for nanomaterial developers, who tend to be academic researchers with little experience developing products intended for clinical use, is that they need to focus more on ensuring that the materials they develop for testing in animals, and eventually humans, are sterile. A recent review of 75 samples arriving at the NCL for testing found that more than one-third showed evidence of bacterial contamination.

Another important lesson was that commercially available materials, whether they are nanomaterials or chemicals used to make nanomaterials, are not always what they appear to be. In some cases, these raw materials are contaminated with bacterial toxins, in other cases the products do not meet the specifications advertised by the manufacturers. Dr. McNeil and his colleagues note that it is in the researchers best interest to always characterize materials before proceeding with synthesis and more expensive functionalization and biological testing.

NCL staff also found that investigators need to do a better job purifying their nanomaterials of residue remaining from the processes they use to manufacture their nanoparticles and other formulations. In some cases, nanomaterials that appeared to be toxic were in fact biocompatible. Instead, it was production impurities that were causing toxicity issues. Additionally, NCL studies have shown that nanomaterial toxicity can often be eliminated by choosing slightly different starting materials that are incorporated into the final product but that do not play a role as an imaging agent or anticancer drug.

The last two lessons have to do with the importance of developing the right methods for assessing a nanomaterials stability in the body and the rate at which it releases its cargo at the intended target, the tumor. NCL team leaders recommend that nanomaterial developers employ multiple assays before beginning animal studies to determine these characteristics of their nanomaterials because single assays can often paint an incomplete picture that can lead to wasted time and money.

The work that produced these findings is described in more detail in a paper titled Common pitfalls in nanotechnology: lessons from the NCIs Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory. An abstract of this paper is available at the journals website.

More information: Abstract: DOI: 10.1039/C2IB20117H

Journal reference: Integrative Biology

Provided by National Cancer Institute

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Lessons learned in creating biomedical nanoparticles for human use

Liberty return from Olympic break with win over Sun

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The Libertys goal for the second half of the season is to win 11 of their remaining games. They got off to a good start in their return from the WNBAs Olympic break.

Cappie Pondexter scored 24 points to lead the Liberty to a 79-66 victory over the first-place Connecticut Sun on Thursday night.

Plenette Pierson, returning after missing the New Yorks last eight games before the hiatus due to a left knee strain, had 16 points to help the Liberty (7-12) snap a three-game skid.

If we win 11 games we give ourselves a chance to make a playoff push, Pondexter said. Its attainable. Right now we got 10 to go. I really feel we have a chance to win some games on the road.

The Liberty, who have 15 games remaining, play their next five on the road starting with a rematch against Connecticut on Saturday night. They then close with seven of their last 10 at home.

Renee Montgomery scored 16 points, and Allison Hightower and Mistie Mims added 12 each for the Sun (15-5), who snapped a five-game winning streak.

We struggled tonight, Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said. We shot terrible in the second half and we turned it over.

Tina Charles, who helped lead the United States to a gold medal at the London Games, had just four points and 12 rebounds, while fellow Olympian Asjha Jones sat out due to a strained left Achilles tendon an injury she was dealing with before the break.

Connecticut dropped to 8-2 on the road and had its lead over second-place Indiana in the Eastern Conference cut to three games.

While the Olympic break helped teams like the Liberty get healthy and refreshed, Thibault believes it disrupted the Suns momentum.

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Aide defends Scott's stance on health care dollars

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- An aide to Florida Gov. Rick Scott is defending the Republican's opposition to expanding Medicaid under the federal health care overhaul to cover another million state residents, even though the federal government would pick up most of the initial costs.

Spokesman Brian Burgess on Thursday said the state cannot afford the millions it would take to attract billions in federal funding every year that Florida is eligible to receive through the expansion. The governor, a former hospital chain executive, has been a leading opponent of the federal health care overhaul that would extend coverage to millions.

Burgess also said the state has other programs to help low-income people who don't qualify for Medicaid.

"We have to figure out how to pay if we are going to do this, and we don't see a way," Burgess said.

He was reacting to preliminary figures reviewed this week by state economists. They show turning down the expansion would cost Florida nearly $40 billion in federal money to save at most $2.5 billion in state funds over 10 years.

"Where does it come out of?" Burgess asked. "What programs get sacrificed?"

The expansion could eventually cover in excess of 1 million more Floridians, but the economists don't believe all those eligible will participate. They are revising the dollar estimates downward, but Burgess said Scott is worried the costs, instead, will increase in the future.

Critics say Scott is being penny-wise and pound-foolish to oppose adding billions in federal money to Florida's economy. Many Republican governors favor the repeal of what they call "Obamacare," even though the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the so-called individual mandate.

Among those critical of Scott's stance are the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank in Tallahassee. The center released a report this week disputing Scott's claim that Florida's Medicaid program has been growing more than three times as fast as the state's general revenue.

It says Scott's statistic is inflated due to the recession and contrived to make any Medicaid growth appear as extreme as possible.

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Aide defends Scott's stance on health care dollars

Bell Let's Talk Community Fund invests in Québec mental health care

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Grants totaling $450,000 for 17 front line community groups across Qubec Adds to more than $400,000 in community grants distributed in Qubec in 2011 More than $6 million in total already donated by Bell Let's Talk to Qubec hospitals, research centres and community organizations

MONTREAL , Aug. 17, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell today announced that the annual $1 million Bell Let's Talk Community Fund is distributing $450,000 in grants to 17 mental health community groups across Qubec in 2012. This builds on the more than $400,000 the fund distributed to Qubec groups in 2011, the fund's first year.

"Bell is pleased to be supporting the tremendous work these organizations are doing in delivering front-line mental health care and support at the community level across Qubec," said Martine Turcotte , Bell's Vice Chair, Qubec. "Bell supports Qubec mental health care at every level - with major hospitals, at Qubec research centres, and at the local level where so much good work is done. We know these grants will truly make a difference for the 1 in 5 Qubcois and Qubcoise affected by mental health issues."

Launched in 2011, the Bell Let's Talk Community Fund encourages community organizations from coast to coast to coast to apply for grants to support local programs that aim to eliminate the stigma of mental health and improve access to care. The fund provides grants in every region of Canada to support select projects providing front-line support to those impacted by mental health issues in communities large and small.

"Mental health accounts for more than 15 per cent of the burden of disease yet receives only 6 per cent of health care funding," said Mary Deacon , Chair of the Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative. "By going directly to the grass roots where so much of the available care is being provided, we know we are maximizing the impact of every dollar we give."

Since launching Bell Let's Talk in late 2010, Bell has invested more than $6 million in more than 40 Qubec mental health hospitals, research centres and community organizations. Recipients have included the Hpital Louis-H. Lafontaine Foundation, the Fondation Hpital Charles-LeMoyne, the Mental Illness Foundation, the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Fondation Cit de la Sant, the Portage Foundation, Fondation Robert-Giffard, and Fondation les Petits trsors of the Hpital Rivire-des-Prairies.

A complete list of both the 2012 and 2011 Bell Let's Talk Community Fund Qubec recipients is attached. Online applications for the 2013 Fund will open early in the new year. For more information about the Bell Let's Talk Community Fund, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.

Bell in Qubec Bell is committed to the Qubec community, employing more people, spending more on Qubec infrastructure and R&D, and contributing more to charities (led by the Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative) and community events than any other communications company. Bell employs more than 17,000 team members in Qubec and invested over $900 million in Qubec infrastructure and R&D in 2011 alone - including the rollout of the next-generation Bell Fibe network that is already ramping up competition and choice in TV and Internet services for consumers in Qubec.

Bell offers Bell Mobility wireless, Bell TV, Bell Internet, Bell Home Phone and Bell Business Markets services across Canada , and is wholly owned by Montral's BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). For more information, please visit Bell.ca.

About Bell Let's Talk The Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative is a $50-million charitable program based on four action pillars: Anti-stigma, care and access, research, and workplace best practices.

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Bell Let's Talk Community Fund invests in Québec mental health care