NASA Wants You to Build 'The Ultimate App' Using its Data

NASA collects and publishes thousands of data points every month: images of lunar craters, spectrum analysis of far-away stars, rocket telemetry and so on. Now, the space agency wants to create apps that let people do a variety of things with those data, but first it wants to figure out exactly what people would want from NASA apps.

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NASA Wants You to Build 'The Ultimate App' Using its Data

Report: NASA Training Astronauts for Asteroid Missions

NASA is currently training astronauts to land on asteroids and hopes to send humans to one of the distant space rocks in about a decade, The Telegraph reported over the weekend. As in the movie Armageddon, one motivation for the endeavor is to figure out a way to destroy or deflect a large asteroid that could be on a collision course with Earth.

In June, a group of astronauts will begin learning how to operate vehicles and move about on asteroids, according to the U.K. newspaper, which interviewed a British astronaut who is participating in the training program.

Major Tim Peake, an astronaut with the European Space Agency, told The Telegraph that a manned mission to intercept an incoming asteroid would be a last resort but could prove necessary because even large space objects can be difficult to detect.

"With enough warning we would probably send a robotic mission to deflect an asteroid, but if something is spotted late and is big enough we might come into Armageddon type scenarios where we may have to look at manned missions to deflect it," the ESA astronaut was quoted as saying.

Peake, formerly a test helicopter pilot, told the newspaper that "an asteroid mission of up to a year is definitely achievable" with technology that's currently available or being developed.

Asteroids are primarily located in a belt beyond the orbit of Mars, but some "near-Earth" objects swing much closer to our planetsometimes even within 100,000 miles or closer, obviously, when they strike us. Still, The Telegraph noted that a mission to visit an asteroid would likely take space explorers much further from Earth than the 239,000 miles traversed by NASA's Apollo astronauts when they visited the Moon.

Aside from getting about safely on the near-zero gravity conditions on an asteroid, landing on such small, fast-moving objects could prove thorny.

NASA is scheduled to officially announce details of its plan to land astronauts on an asteroid at the Japan Geoscience Union Meeting later this month, The Telegraph reported. The U.S. space agency reportedly hopes to send a robot probe to an asteroid by 2016 and begin sending manned missions to them beginning in the late 2020s.

The presentation in Japan reportedly details a manned mission that would "rendezvous with an asteroid up to three million miles from the Earth, taking around a year to make the entire round trip." The astronauts aboard that mission might stay on the asteroid for as long as month.

A group led by commercial spaceflight pioneers Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis recently formed a company, Planetary Resources, which will also attempt to visit asteroids by the end of the decade. Planetary Resources said last month that it planned to send robotic spacecraft to near-Earth asteroids to mine water and metals, which along with exploration and planetary safety could also be an objective of the NASA project.

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Report: NASA Training Astronauts for Asteroid Missions

A cracking approach to nanotechnology

For most manufacturers, cracks are usually something to be avoided and the semiconductor industry is no exception. But now physicists in South Korea have shown how initiating and then controlling the spread of nanometre-sized cracks can be used to create pre-designed patterns in a silicon wafer. They say that their approach offers a potentially faster and cheaper alternative to conventional lithography for the fabrication of integrated circuits.

Cracks can form when two materials with mismatching crystalline structures are placed on top of one another. Stress builds up at the interface between the materials, deforming the crystal structures and creating a crack that spreads throughout both materials if the deformity builds up enough potential energy to break atomic or molecular bonds. This can happen when a thin layer of silicon nitride is deposited on a silicon substrate, with cracks spreading uncontrollably through one or both of the layers.

Koo Hyun Nam of the Ewha Womans University in Seoul and colleagues have controlled the formation of such cracks to create elaborate patterns within a silicon substrate. To do this they etched tiny structures at particular positions and with specific orientations within 0.5mm-thick silicon wafers. The idea was that these "micro-notches" would concentrate the stress resulting from the deposition of a thin film of silicon nitride on the substrate. They also carved out step-like structures within the substrate to halt the spread of cracks or to isolate certain regions of the wafer from cracks.

Using chemical vapour deposition to lay down the silicon nitride, Nam and co-workers found that the cracks formed and propagated spontaneously. They were able to make the cracks either straight or wavy by changing the orientation of the crystal planes in the wafers as well as adjusting other parameters such as the temperature and pressure of the vapour. By laying down a film of silicon dioxide between the substrate and the silicon nitride they were able to generate a third shape "stitch-like" cracks, which are straight cracks with short, parallel, angled branches.

The width of the cracks varied between about 10120nm, with the wavelike variety generally wider than the straight cracks. In addition, the researchers found that they could change the direction of a crack, causing it to "refract" much like a light wave passing into and then out of a block of glass, by separating only a part of the wafer and the silicon nitride with the silicon-dioxide film. Where there was no silicon dioxide, the crack penetrated more deeply into the silicon substrate and aligned itself more closely with the substrate's atomic planes, whereas this alignment was weaker where there was silicon dioxide, causing the crack to change direction in this region.

Writing in Nature, Nam's team says that this method of controlled cracking could offer a faster and cheaper alternative to conventional lithography for microchip fabrication. In an accompanying article, Antonio Pons of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, agrees. He says that lithography, which allows patterns to be etched in silicon using a mask created via beams of light, electrons or ions, is often complex, expensive and time-consuming.

Pons told physicsworld.com that the advantage of the new approach is that the time needed to form the pattern "is simply the time taken for the crack to propagate", estimating that it should take only a few hours altogether to prepare the substrate, deposit the film and create the pattern, compared with the "days or weeks" needed using standard lithography. He admits, however, that he does not know how long it would take to make the micro-notches and other features. He also says it remains unclear how closely the cracks can be positioned to one another, something, he points out, "that is crucial when making small structures".

But Pons believes that the new technique should also find applications beyond the semiconductor industry. One possibility, he says, is making microfluidic devices. These are networks of tiny channels within which fluids, containing molecules such as DNA, can be manipulated for study. He also wonders whether it might prove useful at larger scales, perhaps allowing buildings in earthquake zones to fracture more safely. "The answer to that is not necessarily yes," he says. "Scale is very important, and we would be going from atomic-level interactions to the size of a house. But maybe this work will inspire people in other fields."

Zhenan Bao, a chemist at Stanford University in the US, says that the strength of the latest work is in showing the formation of controlled cracking, pointing out that other groups have previously used cracks to create nanoscale patterns, but that they were not able to carefully control where the cracks formed. Bao cautions, however, that such controlled cracking would only be possible with certain combinations of materials, which may mean the technique has more limited appeal than standard lithography. "It would be nice to see a demonstration of this method for device application," she adds.

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A cracking approach to nanotechnology

Industrial Nanotech, Inc. Announces Expansion to India with Corporate Sales Office

NAPLES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Industrial Nanotech, Inc. (Pink Sheets:INTK), an emerging global leader in nanotechnology based energy saving and sustainable solutions announced today that the Company is opening a Corporate Sales Office in India with the next 4-6 weeks. Industrial Nanotech, Inc. has seen significantly increased demand in India for their Nansulate energy saving and protective coatings from OEM manufacturers as well as end manufacturing users to reduce energy costs. The company plans to establish an office first in Southern India, in or near Bangalore, with expansion to Northern India and Western India in the near future.

India has become an increasingly important country as their manufacturing sectors and economy as a whole continue to have a healthy growth rate, stated Francesca Crolley, VP of Business Development for Industrial Nanotech, Inc. We began a strategy this year focused on boosting our marketing and brand presence in India as an energy saving solution and it has returned significant results. These include multiple inquiries from manufacturers that want to use Nansulate coatings for insulation of their equipment for energy savings and surface temperature reduction, as well as a meeting with a leading OEM manufacturer of process cooling systems with 14 locations throughout India, and an international client base, that is interested in incorporating our technology into the process cooling systems they manufacture and sell. We have seen our marketing, which was focused on commercial and industrial, bring in sales and inquiries from multiple markets and at such a response level that it was obvious to us that setting up an Industrial Nanotech, Inc. office in India, staffed by a sales and technical support team which we hire and train, was the logical next step. The availability of a well educated workforce with an excellent work ethic presents a tremendous opportunity for the Company and will allow us to both accommodate factory visit requests from around the country with our own technical teams, as we do in the US, and the ability to more rapidly service and grow this vital market.

India's economic growth is expected to remain robust in 2012 and 2013, despite likely headwind of double-dip recessions in Europe and the US, according to a United Nations' annual economic report - World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012. The Indian economy is expected to grow between 7.7 per cent and 7.9 per cent this year, as per the report. India is the second most preferred destination for foreign investors, according to the report 'Doing Business in India' by Ernst & Young. The report explores India's key sectors, investment climate, funding scenario, laws and regulations, to aid companies that are doing, or plan to do business in India.

About Nansulate

Nansulate is the Company's patented product line of award winning, specialty coatings containing a nanotechnology based material and which are well-documented to provide the combined performance qualities of thermal insulation, corrosion prevention, resistance to mold growth, fire resistance, chemical resistance and lead encapsulation in an environmentally safe, water-based, coating formulation. The Nansulate Product Line includes industrial, residential, agricultural and solar thermal insulation coatings. Additional information about the Company and its products can be found at their websites, (www.inanotk.com) and (www.nansulate.com). Blog: http://www.nansulate.com/nanoblog, Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NanoPioneer, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Nansulate.

About Industrial Nanotech Inc.

Industrial Nanotech Inc. is a global nanoscience solutions and research leader and member of the U.S. Green Building Council. The Company develops and commercializes new and innovative applications for sustainable nanotechnology which are sold worldwide.

Safe Harbor Statement

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, the ability to meet customer demand, the ability to manage growth, acquisitions of technology, equipment, or human resources, the effect of economic and business conditions, and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

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Industrial Nanotech, Inc. Announces Expansion to India with Corporate Sales Office

PNNL honored for nanotechnology to help sailors

A nanotechnology system that will allow sailors on Navy submarines to breathe easy has won Pacific Northwest National Laboratory a national award.

The 2012 Federal Laboratory Consortium Interagency Partnership Award was given to the Department of Energy national lab in Richland.

Researchers created a system that captures carbon dioxide directly from the air within a submarine to improve air quality, while providing a more environmentally friendly removal process.

The technology -- self assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports or SAMMS -- can be used to replace a system relied on for more than half a century by the U.S. Navy and many other countries.

The current system is a bulky, heavy, corrosive and malodorous liquid process that produces a significant amount of organic solvent waste, according to PNNL.

"This is a new application of a technology that was previously developed by PNNL to remove heavy metal contamination from ground and surface waters found at many DOE waste sites," PNNL material scientist Glen Fryxell, one of the key inventors of the SAMMS technology, said in a statement.

The SAMMS materials can absorb large quantities of liquid and airborne contaminants without creating secondary waste and can be disposed of as nonhazardous waste.

The SAMMS technology is based on a new class of hybrid nanoporous materials that can rapidly capture contaminants such as carbon dioxide, mercury or arsenic directly from the atmosphere or liquid environments.

For air rejuvenation systems, SAMMS can provide a controlled release of the carbon dioxide using a gentle application of heat or vacuum, according to PNNL.

"The technology could open doors to other large-scale or small-scale air quality treatments," Fryxell said.

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PNNL honored for nanotechnology to help sailors

Nanotechnology Market Forecast to 2014

NEW YORK, May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Nanotechnology Market Forecast to 2014

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0118193/Nanotechnology-Market-Forecast-to-2014.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Nanotechnology

In the coming years, nanotechnology is set to play a pivotal role in various industry segments. The evolving technology has already influenced a large number of industrial segments, and the economic activity generated from it has been high in magnitude and wide in scope. The nanotechnology-based products, which have had a huge impact on almost each industrial sector, are now entering the consumer market in a big way. As per the findings of our latest report, increased applications of the technology in sectors like electronics, cosmetics, and defense, would propel the growth of the global nanotechnology market, which is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of about 19% during 2011-2014.

According to "Nanotechnology Market Forecast to 2014", electronic companies are finding new ways of incorporating nanotechnology into consumer products like music systems and mobile phones in order to improve their processing capabilities. Similarly, the technology could help improve cosmetics by changing their physical properties. We also observed that the use of nanotechnology in defense technologies provides enhanced performance at lower cost. Besides, the budding technology has revolutionalized dental care as it decreases the healing time and improves the Osseo-integration during dental implant. Our report discusses in detail these application areas and the key market trends.

Though nanomaterials would continue to dominate the nanotechnology market in the coming years, nano devices, comprising nanolithographic tools for manufacturing the next generation semi-conductors, are estimated to grow at a much faster rate than nanomaterials in near future. The crucial country-level analysis, included in the comprehensive research, identified that the US is the world's most prominent nanotechnology market and will continue to enjoy the biggest pie of the global industry in the years to come, despite developing economies like China, Korea, India, and Brazil investing huge sums in the nanotechnology R&D. Our report elaborates the application areas and regulatory environment relating to nanotechnology in these countries, along with the patent analysis.

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Nanotechnology Market Forecast to 2014

Nanoparticles may pose environmental threat

(ISNS) -- No longer the stuff of science fiction, nanoparticles are becoming more and more common. The extremely tiny objects can do just about everything, from filtering pollution to delivering medicine in the body. However, no one is sure of the effects if they get loose in the environment.

A team of scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst thinks there may be something to worry about.

They have not proven the particles are dangerous, but have shown that some nanoparticles can be absorbed into plants and mutate the plant's DNA, and that, they say, is worth a further look.

Nanoparticles are so small that they act as a bridge between the size of atoms and something of tangible substance. The thickness of a human hair is measured in millionths of a meter; nanoparticles, in billionths of a meter.

And now, they are everywhere. Manufacturers put them in clothing such as socks to kill bacteria. They are in a type of house paint that cleans itself in sunlight and in the coating on eyeglasses. Clear sunscreen lotion now on the market contains zinc or titanium nanoparticles. Cars will soon have paint that heals itself from scratches.

Nanoparticles have become so common it is assumed inevitably they will end up in the environment.

To see what would happen to plants exposed to nanoparticles, the researchers took particles of copper oxide and exposed three kinds of plants to them: radishes and two types of rye, the researchers reported in Environmental Science & Technology.

They chose nanoparticles of copper because they are widely used for coloring glass, in ceramics, as a polish and in the manufacturing of rayon. They also are used in the electronics industry to manufacture semiconductors, said Bryant Nelson of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The research team also used particles of copper oxide larger than nano-size as a comparison as well as regular copper ions.

Copper oxide is an oxidizing agent, and some oxidizing agents from metals can cause cancer in humans, a reason for the concern.

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Nanoparticles may pose environmental threat

Listen Now

Over the coming months we hope you enjoy listening to the many voices of Materials Today.

You will hear fascinating and thought provoking sound bites from a plethora of speakers from academia and industry, explaining the motivation behind their work and their visions of the future. We guarantee that each podcast will provide you with a wealth of valuable information, and thoughts and insights that may help you in your own research endeavors.

If there are any particular scientists or research topics you would like to hear more about just drop us an email and we will do the best we can. You can contact us directly at materialstoday@elsevier.com

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We're back! With a round up of the news featured in the May issue of Materials Today. 14 May 2012

Round up of the news featured in the January-February issue of Materials Today. 21 February 2012

Interview with: Prof Jackie Ying, Editor of Nano Today. 01 February 2012

Interview with: Prof Ian Robertson from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 11 January 2012

Round up of the news featured in the December issue of Materials Today. 04 January 2012

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Zyvex Technologies and ENVE Composites Introduce the World's First Nano-Enhanced Carbon Fiber …

Exclusive partnership now offers highly specialized, durable, World-Cup-winning downhill rim

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The world's first molecular nanotechnology company, Zyvex Technologies, and ENVE Composites announced an exclusive partnership to provide a bicycle rim specifically for downhill mountain biking that uses the latest advanced materials comprised of nano-enhanced carbon fiber. This new bicycle rim gives a significant competitive advantage to the downhill cycling market as proven during the last year in development and testing. The ENVE DH rim provides performance benefits to all downhill cyclists including those that compete at the highest levels of World Cup racing.

ENVE used Zyvex Technologies' nano-enhanced carbon fiber technology called Arovex, which is a carbon nanotube and graphene engineered composite material that uses the proprietary Kentera technology to create chemical bonds on the carbon nanotubes. It provides an advantage in toughness without compromising strength. It also protects from fracture damage. ENVE has an exclusive license for this advanced technology for cycling applications.

ENVE developed the first nano-enhanced carbon fiber downhill bike with the intention of its riders winning a World Cup. After being in development for over a year, the rim carried ENVE sponsored rider Greg Minnaar (see photo) to victory at the 2012 World Cup opener in South Africa.

"The ENVE-Zyvex partnership introduces the first carbon fiber rim specifically designed for the downhill cyclist. During development and testing the wheels have won over 50 podiums in competitions around the world. These results validate ENVE's success using Zyvex's Arovex. Downhill racing is extreme in nature. The fact that these new rims have survived the most challenging tracks in the world make them truly one-of-a-kind," noted Jason Schiers, founder of ENVE Composites.

Most notable is an unprecedented increase in durability, strength, and stiffness over traditional alloy offerings on the market. Often, top level teams will need to change rims more than 180 times during a season. World Cup downhill racing champion Steve Peat raced on one pair of the ENVE DH wheels during the entire 2011 season. Traditional aluminum rims historically lasted him a mere one to three runs.

"Nano-enhanced carbon fiber wheels are changing what people expect from a bike's ride quality. Being the first nano-enhanced carbon fiber downhill clincher to win a World Cup is difficult. We are changing the game. The new DH rims are the best riding and the most durable rims on the market today," concluded Schiers.

The new rim design shows significant technical and competitive advantages in this demanding market.

Some scientists believe the ability to move and combine individual atoms and molecules will revolutionize the production of every human-made object leading to a potential new technology revolution.

"The use of carbon atoms in the 21st century will be as significant as the use of silicon in the 20th century.Zyvex Technologies is the first company to globally commercialize nano-enhanced products from carbon atoms," said Lance Criscuolo, president of Zyvex Technologies. "The value of building a $40-billion supply chain in less than four years means that partners like Composites One convey these advances to companies like ENVE that are constantly innovating products. Our advanced materials weigh less and have increased strength. We are changing the way products are manufactured and perform," said Criscuolo.

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Zyvex Technologies and ENVE Composites Introduce the World's First Nano-Enhanced Carbon Fiber ...

Cancer Institute of New Jersey Aims to Advance Personalized Cancer Treatments Through 'Precision Medicine'

Newswise New Brunswick, N.J., May 15, 2012 With recent advancements in technology and biomedical informatics, a more personalized approach to prescribing cancer treatment and developing these therapies is preferred over one-size-fits-all methods. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) has been on the cutting-edge of this movement and is now launching a more concrete effort that is poised to change the way that molecular and genetic information is being used to diagnose and treat cancer an initiative known as precision medicine also known to many as personalized medicine. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Research has shown that cancer is not one disease, but rather a collection of diseases. Each cancer sub-type boasts its own individual molecular makeup, which in many cases results in cancer growth and resistance to cancer-killing drugs. By further defining the molecular profile of various cancer subtypes, investigators hope to apply this information toward developing targeted therapies. Large scale efforts on the national and local levels including those at CINJ have been underway to collect correlating clinical and genomic data to use as a road map in determining diagnosis, prognosis and course of treatment. With CINJs newly-established precision medicine initiative, specialized investigators will further integrate that information using state-of-the-art technology to better catalogue and expedite the flow of data from researcher to doctor to patient and in turn back to the researcher.

Leading CINJs initiative for precision medicine is Lorna Rodriguez, MD, PhD, who served as CINJs chief of gynecologic oncology from 2000 until this year before being asked to take on this new role. Dr. Rodriguez has years of experience running her own investigator-initiated clinical trials including research on cancer metastasis, drug resistance and the CD44 cell surface receptor and the role it plays in ovarian cancer metastasis. She feels the impact of precision medicine both on patients and on the health/biomedical communities will be tremendous. For the most part, clinicians are forced to rely on limited information to make treatment decisions, as there hasnt been a mechanism to collect and catalogue such comprehensive data as tissue samples, patient history and treatment records to create the tumor profiles necessary for more personalized treatments, noted Rodriguez, who is also a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. By compiling and further curating a collection of molecular and genetic data that will help drive new targeted therapies, we will be helping patients better manage their disease.

This also will translate into cost savings, as no longer will doctors need to rely on hit-or-miss medicine, continued Rodriguez, who also performs gynecologic cancer surgeries and helps patients navigate chemotherapy options. Currently, if one treatment is found to be ineffective, others are used -- and they come at a cost, both financially and in terms of lost time when the patient might have received effective treatment. With the prospects of precision medicine, we are moving closer to an era where we will be able to tailor cancer treatments to perfectly fit individualized patient profiles. This will also lead us to a better understanding in diagnosing disease and providing a prognosis.

The breast cancer drug trastuzumab is one example of how genomic information is helping to drive targeted cancer therapies. Study has shown that trastuzumab is effective for 20 percent of breast cancer patients whose cancer cells make too much of the HER2-positive protein. Because a genetic test can indicate whether a patient has the HER2-positive profile, doctors can better determine whether trastuzumab might be an effective treatment for them.

About The Cancer Institute of New Jersey The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (www.cinj.org) is the states first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated to improving the detection, treatment and care of patients with cancer, and serving as an education resource for cancer prevention. CINJs physician-scientists engage in translational research, transforming their laboratory discoveries into clinical practice, quite literally bringing research to life. To make a tax-deductible gift to support CINJ, call 732-235-8614 or visit http://www.cinjfoundation.org. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TheCINJ.

The CINJ Network is comprised of hospitals throughout the state and provides the highest quality cancer care and rapid dissemination of important discoveries into the community. Flagship Hospital: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. System Partner: Meridian Health (Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center, Southern Ocean Medical Center, and Bayshore Community Hospital). Major Clinical Research Affiliate Hospitals: Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Medical Center, Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Overlook Medical Center, and Cooper University Hospital. Affiliate Hospitals: CentraState Healthcare System, JFK Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (CINJ Hamilton), Somerset Medical Center, The University Hospital/UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School*, and University Medical Center at Princeton. *Academic Affiliate

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Cancer Institute of New Jersey Aims to Advance Personalized Cancer Treatments Through 'Precision Medicine'

CNIO scientists successfully test the first gene therapy against aging-associated decline

Public release date: 14-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Juan J. Gomez juanj.gomez@cnio.es 34-917-328-000-4060 Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)

A number of studies have shown that it is possible to lengthen the average life of individuals of many species, including mammals, by acting on specific genes. To date, however, this has meant altering the animals' genes permanently from the embryonic stage an approach impracticable in humans. Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by its director Mara Blasco, have proved that mouse lifespan can be extended by the application in adult life of a single treatment acting directly on the animal's genes. And they have done so using gene therapy, a strategy never before employed to combat ageing. The therapy has been found to be safe and effective in mice.

The results are published today in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. The CNIO team, in collaboration with Eduard Ayuso and Ftima Bosch of the Centre of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy at the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB), treated adult (one-year-old) and aged (two-year-old) mice, with the gene therapy delivering a "rejuvenating" effect in both cases, according to the authors.

Mice treated at the age of one lived longer by 24% on average, and those treated at the age of two, by 13%. The therapy, furthermore, produced an appreciable improvement in the animals' health, delaying the onset of age-related diseases like osteoporosis and insulin resistance and achieving improved readings on ageing indicators like neuromuscular coordination.

The gene therapy utilised consisted of treating the animals with a DNA-modified virus, the viral genes having been replaced by those of the telomerase enzyme, with a key role in ageing. Telomerase repairs the extremes of chromosomes, known as telomeres, and in doing so slows the cell's and therefore the body's biological clock. When the animal is infected, the virus acts as a vehicle depositing the telomerase gene in the cells.

This study "shows that it is possible to develop a telomerase-based anti-ageing gene therapy without increasing the incidence of cancer", the authors affirm. "Aged organisms accumulate damage in their DNA due to telomere shortening, [this study] finds that a gene therapy based on telomerase production can repair or delay this kind of damage", they add.

'Resetting' the biological clock

Telomeres are the caps that protect the end of chromosomes, but they cannot do so indefinitely: each time the cell divides the telomeres get shorter, until they are so short that they lose all functionality. The cell, as a result, stops dividing and ages or dies. Telomerase gets round this by preventing telomeres from shortening or even rebuilding them. What it does, in essence, is stop or reset the cell's biological clock.

But in most cells the telomerase gene is only active before birth; the cells of an adult organism, with few exceptions, have no telomerase. The exceptions in question are adult stem cells and cancer cells, which divide limitlessly and are therefore immortal in fact several studies have shown that telomerase expression is the key to the immortality of tumour cells.

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CNIO scientists successfully test the first gene therapy against aging-associated decline

Touhou Remix E.37 (Other) Undefined Fantastic Medley 2 – Video

14-05-2012 07:10 Title: Suite Seirensen Circle: NEETS Album: three stars Original composer: ZUN From: Undefined Fantastic Object Of course, I can't upload songs in a playslit without including some medleys. The first medley of the Extra Playlist, by NEETS. I like how they included most of the musics from the game, and how each song, while unique, stay in the spirit of the whole medley. My personnal favorites are Sky Ruin, Beware The Sealed Cloud Route, The Traditional Old Man and the Stylish Girl, The Tiger-Patterned Bishamonten and Cosmic Mind... Include: At the End of Spring Interdimensional Voyage of a Ghostly Passenger Ship Captain Murasa Sky Ruin The Sealed Cloud Route Beware the Umbrella Left There Forever UFO Romance in the Night Sky Fires of Hokkai The Traditional Old Man and the Stylish Girl Heian Alien A Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander Rural Makai City Esoteria The Tiger-Patterned Bishamonten Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind ___________________________________________________________ If you want to upload the video, copy/paste the URL on this link: I don't own the music nor the picture used in this video.

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Touhou Remix E.37 (Other) Undefined Fantastic Medley 2 - Video

Child’s Mind (Tribute to HDSounDL) – Video

14-05-2012 23:03 Composed by: Taniuichi Hideki From: Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji Ultimate Survivor Original Soundtrack Pictures from Deviant Art and Pokememes I really like this song. It's feel and power are just astounding. It is fairly repetitive, yet I never get tired of it! I also really like the title. It just gives the song that much more meaning and serves as a reminder of what I have left behind while growing up. The main reason I uploaded this was to remember and pay tribute to HDSounDL. He/She had an awesome account with hours of amazing music. I just found out that he/she had her account suspended and wanted to upload something to thank him/her for all of the music even if it isn't up any more.

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Child's Mind (Tribute to HDSounDL) - Video

you got me losing my mind | J

15-05-2012 10:43 I OWN NOTHING. It's been a long time 🙂 But here I am with a new video! It has only clips from the fourth season...just to show you how much this season has been full of beautiful little moments between my forever and ever otp ^_^ It's nothing special really, but I wanted to keep it simple 🙂 I'll upload the scenes of the mentalist as soon as possible...most likely when the season is already over 😉 I'm so excited for the season finale!! Let me know what you think of the video, enjoy guys 😀

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you got me losing my mind | J

How to Share Your Business Photos Online – Discreetly

You have just returned from a corporate retreat or some other business event that was well-documented with several amateur photographers. Now you want to share all of these pictures amongst your co-workers. The challenge is that you want to keep them private to the participants and not plaster them all over the Internets. What to do?

Assume that your requirements are to satisfy the ultra-paranoid in the group and also find something that is dirt simple to use. You don't want to make everyone join a new social network just to see the photos; most of us have too many logins already. That leaves out most of the microblogging sites. And you don't want to have to worry that someone will click on the wrong button andinadvertentlyshare the entire photo collection with the universe, including the press, competitors and so on.

Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and many other social-networking sites aren't very good at setting up discrete group-privacy controls, so they are out of the running for our purposes. And while there are dozens of file-sharing sites such as Box.net and Evernote, the idea is to find something that is designed around uploading and sharing images.

With that in mind, we looked at the following five services:

None of these services is perfect, but they fall into two broad categories: those that have better privacy controls and those that are easier to use.

Let's look at our requirements in more detail:

First, we want a service that can create a private space that doesn't appear on search engines and can't be discovered by unauthorized users. Photobucket and Shutterfly both do this, by setting up a special URL (Photobucket.com/groupname or Groupname.shutterfly.com) for your group. In Photobucket, for example, you have three choices for each album's privacy controls: everyone can see them, no one else can see them, or you can password protect them by invitation only. The latter is perfect for this application, and you can set up an album password so that only those folks who know the password can see and download the photos. (See screenshot below.) Shutterfly has similar options with its Share Sites feature.

The problem with both Photobucket and Shutterfly is that you need to become a member to upload photos: That is fine if you havejusta few shutterbugs in your group, but if everyone wants to be able to contribute images, it can become cumbersome.

Link:

How to Share Your Business Photos Online - Discreetly

Cabo Viejo Luxury Vacation Rentals Now Available on Bobzio.com; The Cost to Market a Property Is Zero

Luxury Cabo Viejo Vacation Rentals available on bobzio.com. This fabulous rental was newly listed. The cost to list was nothing since the owner is one of the first 20,000 to create an account.Houston, TX (PRWEB) May 15, 2012 Cabo Viejo is simply the best new vacation destination in Cabo San Lucas. Located inside the world famous community of Pedregal, Cabo Viejo is an ultra luxurious 5 star ...

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Cabo Viejo Luxury Vacation Rentals Now Available on Bobzio.com; The Cost to Market a Property Is Zero

How to generate leads on LinkedIn

Anita Windisman Special to Globe and Mail Update Published Monday, May. 14, 2012 6:00AM EDT Last updated Tuesday, May. 15, 2012 7:18AM EDT

With over 135 million members in over 200 countries and over 4 million users in Canada, LinkedIn is the largest site for business professionals. Consider it an online Rolodex that is constantly updated. Following are 10 ways to use LinkedIn for lead generation for your small business.

Optimizing your personal profile.

The first five tips focus on optimizing your own profile making it both captivating and informative in order to be found by your target audience known as inbound lead generation.

1. Write a descriptive headline. Your headline is the sentence that appears just below your name. Rather than just stating your title and company, make it a short descriptive phrase that provides a snapshot of the product or service and the benefit you provide. You only have 120 characters to work with, so make every word count. For example: Certified Management Consultant, Award-winning writer, helps people with expertise to be recognized as thought-leaders.

2. Upload a professional photo. You know the saying; a picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure you upload a professional photo of yourself, preferably in colour and against a light or neutral background. Its best if you wear professional attire. Crop your photo to show your head and shoulders and leave your kids and pets out of the shot! A friendly photo of yourself will draw people into you. LinkedIn statistics prove that a profile with a photo is seven times more likely to be viewed than one that without a photo.

3. Tell your story under the summary section. Are you passionate about your business and the work you do? Do you have a certain philosophy about how you serve customers? Why did you decided to start your business? This is where you can show how you are unique. Also ensure that you summarize your experience here incorporating key words that relate to your business. For this section, write in full sentences in the first person. With 2,000 characters as your limit, three to four short paragraphs will suffice.

4. Add specialties and skills. There are two places in your profile where you can list your expertise. One is in the specialties section below your summary and the other is under skills where you can add up to 50 of them. Make sure you pay extra attention to skills, because this one of the ways in which you will be found when someone conducts a search using key words on LinkedIn. Get specific, using descriptive terms such as: project engineering, wedding photography, resume writing, lifestyle coaching.

5. Get recommendations. In order to have a 100 per cent complete profile on LinkedIn you will have to add at least three recommendations to your profile. This is the place where you can ask your satisfied customers to provide a short testimonial for you. After all, nothing beats a word of mouth referral.

After your profile is complete, you need to get active on LinkedIn to not only increase your visibility to your target audience but you will also come across new prospects.

Link:

How to generate leads on LinkedIn