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WANT Part XIII: Moon throw | Bad Astronomy

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

When Im getting the mid-afternoon drowsies, and looking for a comfortable, warm, cozy place to take a nap, what could possibly be better than the impact crater-scarred surface of the Moon?

This may be the greatest blanket throw in the history of blankets. Who wouldnt want to cuddle up in a little regolith?

And ZOMFSM and it comes with matching pillows! And theres a floor cushion!

Supermoon, indeed.

Tip o the spacesuit visor to Design for Mankind via Jeri Ryan on Pinterest.

- WANT Part XII: Earth Globe Fire Pit - WANT Part XI: To boldly slice - WANT Part X: The TARDIS. A REAL TARDIS! - WANT Part IX: Levitating TARDIS edition - WANT Part VIII: Zen and the art of Apollo maintenance - Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnt!!! - Want: Part 6 - Want: Part V, lunar furniture edition - Want: Part IV - Want: Part III - Want: Part II - Want

WANT Part XIII: Moon throw | Bad Astronomy

The Digital Disruptor To Banking Has Just Gone International

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

Is the world of finance better off in the hands of artificial-intelligence software, algorithms and computer science PHDs -- or bankers and underwriters? Ask anyone at Wonga and they'll say geeks all the way. The rapidly-growing lending site run almost entirely by techie folks has just announced that it is moving into South Africa, marking its first expansion out of the U.K.. In the last few ...

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The Digital Disruptor To Banking Has Just Gone International

How to Get the Most Out of Your Facebook Ads — Rocket Fuel's VP of Products, Eshwar Belani, to Lead MarketingProfs …

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire -05/14/12)- Rocket Fuel, the leading provider of artificial-intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced that Eshwar Belani, VP of Products and Business Development, will lead a MarketingProfs Pro Seminar on Thursday, May 17, at 12 pm ET/9am PT. Register for the webinar here: http://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/496#ixzz1uKG9eVdq.

Key Facts:

Resources:

About Rocket Fuel:Rocket Fuel is the leading provider of artificial-intelligence advertising solutions that transform digital media campaigns into self-optimizing engines that learn and adapt in real-time, and deliver outstanding results from awareness to sales. Recently awarded #22 in Forbes Most Promising Companies in America list, over 500 of the world's most successful marketers trust Rocket Fuel to power their advertising across display, video, mobile, and social media. Founded by online advertising veterans and rocket scientists from NASA, DoubleClick, IBM, and Salesforce.com, Rocket Fuel is based in Redwood Shores, California, and has offices in thirteen cities worldwide including New York, London, and Toronto.

About MarketingProfs:MarketingProfs is a multi-million dollar company that serves a community of more than 432,000 entrepreneurs, small-business owners, and professional marketers at the world's largest corporations.

Our editorial team cuts through all of the marketing noise to find the experts and in-the-trenches marketers who know what they are talking about. Then we take their know-how and mix it with our marketing smarts to turn it into practical advice that you can actually use through our newsletters, conferences, seminars, podcast, articles, and webcasts.

2012 Rocket Fuel Inc. All rights reserved. Rocket Fuel Inc. is a registered trademark of Rocket Fuel Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Internet Week 2012: Rocket Fuel to Speak at OMMA RTB

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire -05/15/12)- Rocket Fuel, the leading provider of artificial-intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced that company President and Co-Founder Richard Frankel will join a panel at OMMA RTB to be held during Internet Week 2012 in New York.

Key Facts:

Resources:

About Rocket Fuel:

Rocket Fuel is the leading provider of artificial-intelligence advertising solutions that transform digital media campaigns into self-optimizing engines that learn and adapt in real-time, and deliver outstanding results from awareness to sales. Recently awarded #22 in the Forbes Most Promising Companies in America list, over 500 of the world's most successful marketers trust Rocket Fuel to power their advertising across display, video, mobile, and social media. Founded by online advertising veterans and rocket scientists from NASA, DoubleClick, IBM, and Salesforce.com, Rocket Fuel is based in Redwood Shores, California, and has offices in thirteen cities worldwide including New York, London, and Toronto.

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Internet Week 2012: Rocket Fuel to Speak at OMMA RTB

Northstar Aerospace announces extension of forbearance agreement

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

Listed:TSX Symbol:NAS

CHICAGO , May 14, 2012 /CNW/ - Northstar Aerospace, Inc. (NAS.TO) (the "Corporation") announced today that the forbearance agreement entered into with the syndicate of lenders under the Corporation's existing credit facility has been extended. Under the forbearance agreement, as extended, the lenders have agreed to forbear from the exercise of their rights under the credit facility through June 4 , 2012.

The Corporation is continuing its process of exploring and evaluating strategic alternatives for the Corporation. No assurances can be given that any proposal will result in a transaction or that any such transaction will result in value for all of the various stakeholders of the Corporation after the repayment of secured debt. As previously disclosed in the notes to the Corporation's interim financial statements as of September 30, 2011 , significant doubt remains regarding the Corporation's ability to continue as a going concern.

Northstar Aerospace, Inc. (www.nsaero.com) is North America's leading independent manufacturer of flight critical gears and transmissions. Northstar Aerospace is a public company (NAS.TO) with operating subsidiaries in the United States and Canada. Its principal products include helicopter gears and transmissions, accessory gearbox assemblies, rotorcraft drive systems and other machined and fabricated parts. It also provides maintenance, repair and overhaul of components and transmissions. The Company's executive offices are located in Chicago , Illinois. Its plants are located in Chicago , Illinois; Phoenix , Arizona; Milton and Windsor, Ontario, Canada .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this press release, including the statements in the press release relating to the forbearance agreements, the statements relating to the process of exploring and evaluating strategic alternatives for the Corporation, the statements relating to value for the various stakeholders and the statements relating to the Corporation's financial position and ability to continue as a going concern may be or include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information contained herein is based upon a number of assumptions and actual future events may differ materially depending on a variety of factors, including the Corporation's ability to cure or resolve claimed breach of obligations under customer contracts, its ability to successfully amend its credit agreement, its ability to successfully extend the terms of the forbearance agreements or for the process of exploring strategic alternatives to result in any specific transaction which provides value to existing stakeholders. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Corporation's expectations (together with the cautionary statements in the previous sentence, "Cautionary Statements") are included in the Corporation's Consolidated Financial Statements for the Years Ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 - Management's Discussion and Analysis - Risks and Uncertainties, the Corporation's Annual Information Form filed on March 25, 2011 , under the heading of Risks and Uncertainties, the Corporation's Consolidated Interim Financial Statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 , and 2010 under the heading Basis Of Preparation And Adoption Of IFRS - Going Concern and in the related Management's Discussion and Analysis under the heading Risks and Uncertainties and the heading Going Concern. Although the Corporation believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. All information contained in this press release and subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Corporation or persons acting on behalf of the Corporation are expressly qualified in their entirety by the Cautionary Statements. The Corporation disclaims any intentions or obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements or comments as a result of any new information, future event or otherwise, unless such disclosure is required by law.

Platte River Ventures Announces Sale of PRV Aerospace, LLC

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

DENVER, May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Platte River Ventures ("Platte River"), a Denver, CO based private equity firm, announced the sale of its portfolio company, PRV Aerospace, LLC ("PRV Aerospace"), to an affiliate of Court Square Capital Partners ("Court Square"), a private equity firm headquartered in New York, NY.

Headquartered in Everett, WA, PRV Aerospace is an aerospace and defense group that supplies components, subassemblies and assemblies to the world's leading manufacturers of aircraft, aero-equipment and other defense platforms. Comprised of six operating facilities, PRV Aerospace performs complex machining of hard metals and aluminum, sheet metal fabrication, assembly and test, repair and overhaul, and lower tier supply chain management. Platte River formed PRV Aerospace in January 2010 by consolidating the four aerospace operating companies it had acquired between 2006 and 2008, and PRV Aerospace subsequently completed two strategic add-on acquisitions in 2010 and 2011.

"We are proud of the business that Platte River and PRV Aerospace management have built over the past six years, which is the result of our vision to develop a leading aerospace and defense supplier," said Platte River Managing Director Greg Sissel. "Richard Wood and his team have built a strong foundation from which the business can continue to grow into an even more strategic supplier to the leading OEMs and Tier-1s."

"We have had an exceptional relationship with Platte River, and my team and I have valued their strategic insight and guidance over the past several years," said Richard Wood, CEO of PRV Aerospace. "We are pleased that this sale will deliver attractive returns for Platte River's investors and wish them continued success. We now look to build on the strong base we created in close partnership, this time with Court Square."

Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP served as legal counsel to Platte River, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch served as the exclusive financial advisor to PRV Aerospace.

About Platte River Ventures

Based in Denver, CO, Platte River Ventures is a private equity firm focused on investments in lower middle market operating companies with enterprise values generally between $20 million and $250 million, as well as strategic add-on investments. The firm focuses on investing in aerospace & transportation, industrial & energy services and chemicals, metals & minerals. Platte River Ventures currently manages funds with committed capital in excess of $300 million. For more information, please visit http://www.platteriverventures.com.

About Court Square Capital Partners

Court Square is one of the most experienced teams in the private equity industry. Since 1979, the team has made over 200 investments including several landmark transactions and has developed numerous businesses into leaders in their respective markets. Based in New York, Court Square invests in companies that have compelling growth potential. The Firm manages over $3.5 billion in aggregate capital commitments while focusing on the following four sectors: business services, general industrial, healthcare and technology/telecommunications. For more information, please refer to the Court Square website at http://www.courtsquare.com.

About PRV Aerospace

Platte River Ventures Announces Sale of PRV Aerospace, LLC

Ascent Solar Named Bye Aerospace Development Partner

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

THORNTON, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI - News), a developer of flexible CIGS solar panels, has been named a development partner for Bye Aerospace Inc.s innovative aircraft programs for the aerospace and defense markets.

George Bye, Chairman and CEO of Bye Aerospace, said solar energy is a key component to several of Bye Aerospaces programs. One concept currently in development, the Silent Guardian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), relies on thin film solar photovoltaics (PV), stored electric power and other technologies to enhance its potential for long endurance, quiet operations and low emissions, he said. With Ascent Solar as a development partner, our development time should improve drastically.

Victor Lee, President and CEO of Ascent Solar Technologies, said, We are pleased to partner with Bye Aerospace and look forward to furthering their development efforts with our lightweight, durable, flexible thin-film solar modules. Ascent Solars transformational technology enables renewable power generation in aircraft applications while adding minimal weight to the vehicle. We are excited to apply our technology in collaboration with Bye Aerospace to develop a new generation of UAVs.

AboutAscent Solar Technologies, Inc.

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules using flexible substrate materials that can transform the way solar power generation integrates into everyday life. Ascent Solar modules, which were named one of TIME Magazines 50 best inventions for 2011, can be directly incorporated into standard building materials, commercial transportation, automotive solutions, space applications, consumer electronics for portable power and durable off-grid solutions. For more information, go to http://www.AscentSolar.com.

AboutBye Aerospace

Bye Aerospace, founded in 2007 and headquartered near Denver, is applying clean energy solutions to innovative aircraft designs for the aerospace and defense markets. For more information, go towww.ByeAerospace.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the Company's actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "expect," "intends," "intend," "anticipate," "anticipates," "plans," "plan," to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission.

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Ascent Solar Named Bye Aerospace Development Partner

Aerospace & Defense Stock Overview – May 2012

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

The U.S. is the worlds largest aerospace and defense market, and also home to the worlds largest military budget. The growth of the Aerospace and Defense industry depends largely on the spending outlook of government departments, with the U.S. defense budget being the primary driver. The industry largely depends on U.S. government contracts.

Given the uncertain macroeconomic environment, not just in the U.S. but also globally, the industry faces the risk of fewer new orders as customers are more likely to postpone or cancel contractual orders and/or payments.

Defense spending is the major source of revenue for the top nine global aerospace and defense companies, with the US accounting for more than 40% of total global defense spending. However, with the U.S. government expected to institute greater austerity in its defense budget going forward, defense companies will need to source more orders from global clients. The geostrategic significance of the industry and the related heavy export restrictions will come in the way, to some extent, of those marketing efforts by U.S.-based operators.

The U.S. defense budget for 2012 was $645.7 billion, with the base budget at $530.6 billion and $115.1 billion approved for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) as supplementary defense spending, mainly to fund ongoing wars.

In February this year, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested a Pentagon base budget of $525.4 billion for 2013, which is approximately $5.1 billion or 1% less than what is approved for fiscal 2012, with $88.5 billion earmarked for OCO spending. The significant reduction in OCO funding is mainly due to the decline of U.S. military operations in Iraq in 2011. Going forward, OCO funding is expected to continue to decline as troops redeploy out of Afghanistan.

Since the September 2001 attacks, the U.S. government has spent significant amounts on military campaigns overseas. The country has already decided to gradually move out of Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq has finally ended, which is expected to lower its expenditure on foreign campaigns. However, its clandestine military operations in other nations as part of anti-terrorism operations will continue to add to foreign war expenses. However, the overall trend in overseas military spending is unmistakably on the downtrend.

OPPORTUNITIES

Acquisition, Merger and Strategic Alliance

The big defense operators armed with a strong balance sheets are expanding their operations inorganically through acquisitions. The U.S. Defense department also endorses mergers among U.S. defense companies, provided they dont involve the top five or six suppliers acquiring each other.

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) bolstered its product portfolio by acquiring Procerus Technologies, a company specializing in autopilot and other avionics for micro unmanned aerial systems. In November 2011, it had acquired Sim-Industries B.V., a commercial aviation simulation company located in the Netherlands. This acquisition would expand both companies closely related markets and expand the customer base.

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Aerospace & Defense Stock Overview - May 2012

Aerospace & Defense Stock Outlook – May 2012

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

OPPORTUNITIES

Acquisition, Merger and Strategic Alliance

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Aerospace & Defense Stock Outlook - May 2012

Nextant Aerospace Hits Delivery Milestone for 400XT Aircraft

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Danzig

CLEVELAND & GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Nextant Aerospace today announced that it has delivered its 10th production unit of the 400XT, the worlds only FAA-certified remanufactured business jet. The N registered aircraft was delivered to a private client that will operate the plane in a traditional corporate flight department environment. Nextant reached this production milestone just seven months after gaining FAA certification, and is on schedule to deliver 32 aircraft by the end of 2012.

With production fully underway, Nextant has ramped up its staff, going from 28 employees a year ago to more than 150 today. Each 400XT requires nearly 6,000 person-hours to produce because of an extensive remanufacturing process, which effectively makes it a new plane in all material aspects by taking all life-limited components to zero-time status, either through replacement or complete overhaul.

Weve been gratified by the markets recognition of the benefits achieved through our complete aircraft remanufacturing process, said Jay Heublein, vice president, sales and marketing for Nextant Aerospace. Todays business jet customers increasingly demand superior value-both in terms of acquisition cost, operating economics, performance and comfort. The 400XT is the only light jet that truly offers all of these features in one complete package.

This delivery milestone comes on the heels of Nextants recent announcement that it has acquired a larger remanufacturing facility for the 400XT. The new facility, at Clevelands Cuyahoga County Airport, will accommodate an annual production rate of 48 aircraft to meet higher than projected demand for the 400XT, both in the United States and globally. Nextants current book of orders is approaching 70 aircraft to be delivered over the next five years.

Thirty percent of sales to date have come from overseas markets, and the aircraft has completed many of the requirements for final certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is expected to further increase sales in Europe. The planes exceptional range enables flights originating in Western Europe to reach major destinations throughout the rest of Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Flights originating in the U.S. can fly nonstop to most destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The Nextant 400XTs exceptional combination of value and performance including its dramatic improvements in range and best in class operating economics are making it the aircraft of choice for private aviation, added Heublein. As awareness of the 400XT grows, we are seeing increasing interest from corporate flight departments and affluent individual buyers, as well as from providers of high-end charter and fractional ownership aviation services, in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

The 400XT development process employs a remanufactured airframe from the Beechjet 400A/XP aircraft, enhanced with new, state-of-the-art technology including the Williams FJ44-3AP turbofan engine, the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 integrated avionics suite, advanced electronics, including high-speed wireless Internet service, and completely rebuilt interiors.

The resulting aircraft has a 2,005 nautical mile (3,713 km) range and cruising speed of 460 nautical miles per hour (740 km per hour). It supports a remarkable 30 percent reduction in operating costs over the Beechjet 400XP, fuel efficiency improvements of 20-30 percent, depending on the length of the flight segment, significantly reduced carbon emissions and noise compliance that exceeds Stage IV requirements.

The 400XT is considered to be a new type in the Aircraft Bluebook. Further options include additional avionics features, and an optional seating configuration that allows for the most leg room of any light jet in production without sacrificing seating capacity.

Excerpt from:

Nextant Aerospace Hits Delivery Milestone for 400XT Aircraft

VistaGen CEO Issues Update Letter to Stockholders

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire -05/14/12)- VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC.BB: VSTA) (VSTA.OB), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, today issued the following letter to its stockholders and the investment community from its CEO, Shawn Singh.

To our valued Stockholders:

Since becoming a public company one year ago, we have progressed to perhaps the most exciting time in our company's 14-year history. To arrive at this point, more than $45 million, obtained through various strategic collaborations, investments and grant awards, has been carefully employed. We believe our pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube, combined with the network of strategic relationships we have announced, will allow us to secure additional capital and the large market drug rescue opportunities that can deliver value to our stockholders.

Since the beginning of the year, our team has carefully reviewed our Top 10 drug rescue opportunities and narrowed our focus to our Top 5 candidates. Now we intend to launch our initial drug rescue program and secure strategic capital necessary to support it, as well as launch our second drug rescue program by year-end. We also are working on validation of LiverSafe 3D, our bioassay system for drug rescue involving liver toxicity and drug metabolism issues, for launch during the first half of next year.

The pharmaceutical industry continues to face extremely high barriers in bringing new medicine to market. The number of drugs approved by the FDA over the past decade has dropped precipitously, by over 50%, in spite of staggering increases in resources devoted to R&D by pharmaceutical companies. Based on the progress we have made with CardioSafe 3D and our efforts to build our strategic drug rescue ecosystem of collaborators, we believe our core business model -- to use our stem cell technology and strategic relationships to develop less toxic variants of drugs that have already been proven in vitro to be effective -- is now more commercially promising than at any other point in our history. We believe we will be able to help major pharmaceutical companies avoid the loss of years of time and millions of dollars spent in developing new therapies that have positive efficacy data, but must be discontinued due to later discovery of unsafe toxicity levels for human heart and liver tissue.

Over the past year, we have secured additional intellectual property protection and entered into strategic relationships with leading biotech firms and academic researchers to support development of our stem technology and our drug rescue-based commercialization initiatives:

Over the next 12 months, we have an ambitious agenda to work closely with our advisors and collaborators to secure capital and achieve these transformative milestones:

Our goals are reachable, with strategic financing. We believe we have the right technology, intellectual property, development teams and specialized focus to deliver on our founding mission -- "putting humans first" -- bringing clinically relevant human biology to the front end of the drug development process, long before standard animal and human testing, and using better cells to make better medicine.

We would like to thank our partners, advisors, employees and each of you, our loyal stockholders, for helping support us in our efforts to deliver long-term value for you.

Sincerely,

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VistaGen CEO Issues Update Letter to Stockholders

Nobel Prize laureate: Ukraine working on development of biomedicine, oncology

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

Ukrainian Premier Mykola Azarov has met with winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine Erwin Neher to discuss the current state of affairs, funding and research development in the spheres of biomedicine and physiology in Ukraine. http://www.kmu.gov.ua Nobel Prize laureate: Ukraine working on development of biomedicine, oncology Yesterday at 16:53 | Interfax-UkraineUkrainian Premier Mykola Azarov has met with winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine Erwin Neher to discuss the current state of affairs, funding and research development in the spheres of biomedicine and physiology in Ukraine.

"When three years ago I was in Ukraine, I saw that science was suffering a lack of funding and equipment. Today I can see that changes have taken place and specific efforts have been made for the development of biomedicine, physiology and oncology research in Ukraine," Neher said.

In turn, Azarov said the Ukrainian authorities are working hard for the development of medicine in the country, and allocate funding to buy the most up-to-date equipment.

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Nobel Prize laureate: Ukraine working on development of biomedicine, oncology

Students participate in Antartica research

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

The Miami University Department of Microbiology has high hopes for samples of Antarctic lake water brought back for analysis by Assistant Professor of Microbiology Rachael Morgan-Kiss.

The primary reason for the trip was to investigate microbe-dominated bodies of water in hopes of shedding light on the activity and ecological role of single-celled organisms called protists.

Students in Morgan-Kiss laboratories have been given the opportunity to perform analysis on the samples of lake water from Antarctica over the past several weeks. Morgan-Kiss said the experience is, another outlet for students to get real research experience.

Morgan-Kiss is excited with the work and findings of students who have been working with the samples, according to senior microbiology major Austin Duprey, a student in Morgan-Kiss class.

Duprey said working with the samples has been a rewarding opportunity.

I think its pretty neat because were working with stuff thats relatively new, Duprey said.

According to Morgan-Kiss, using small and relatively isolated Antarctic lakes to study the function of these microbes could help researchers understand the role similar microbes play in larger, more complex bodies of water.

These organisms are really, really abundant in all aquatic systems all over the world, Morgan-Kiss said. In these other systems, they are a lot more complex than our lakes. Its been known that these organisms are abundant, but it has been very difficult to understand what theyre doing. When organisms are important on such a huge scale they have a big impact, even though theyre microbes.

The nature of protists and their role in both large and small ecosystems is complex due to the fact that they are able to play two very different roles within their food web. According to Morgan-Kiss, protists have the ability not only to carry out photosynthesis and fix carbon, like plants, but also to be predatory organisms despite the fact that they are single-celled.

Morgan-Kiss said Miami is specially suited to the kind of work necessary to determine the roles these organisms play in global ecosystems because of its use of a technology called chlorophyll fluorescence, which analyzes in real time the types of algae living in the Antarctic lakes. This can then be used to make hypothesis about the organisms role in the carbon cycle.

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Students participate in Antartica research

Sweden's enormous education experiment improved longevity

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

Swedish schoolchildren lived longer if they spent longer in education, according to a huge post-war study.

Lars Wallin/Etsa/Corbis

Shortly after the Second World War, the Swedish government conducted a vast social experiment to decide whether to implement educational reform. An examination of data from people who took part in the study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1, has revealed that those lucky enough to have experienced the reformed system have been more likely than their contemporaries to live a long life.

Governments across northern Europe reformed their education systems in the wake of the Second World War, searching for ways to regain economic strength. There was an international trend inspired by the United States to go for more comprehensive schooling, says Anton Lager, a co-author of the research, who studies young people's health at the Centre for Health Equity Studies of Stockholm University. As well as starting to teach all children equally, many countries introduced longer schooling. The United Kingdom, for instance, raised the school leaving age from 14 to 15 in 1944, and to 16 in 1972.

In Sweden, the government decided to undertake a controlled study of its proposed new school system so, from 1949 to 1962, all 1.2 million children in the Swedish state education system were set on one of two paths. In a slowly increasing proportion of the school districts across the country, it became compulsory for children to attend a comprehensive school for 9 years. The rest of Sweden provided a control group, in which children stuck to the existing system: mandatory schooling for 8 years, with the most academically gifted children remaining in school for up to 10 years2.

The study was intended to discover whether overall educational standards improved, and whether academically able students would be held back. It found such significant educational benefits that the government introduced the new system for all children in 1962.

To test the long-term health benefits of the system, Lager and his co-author, Jenny Torssander, a social scientist at Stockholm University, collated information from a 1960 census and Swedish death records between 1961 and 2007. They found that children educated in the reformed system had a reduced risk of dying between the ages of 40 and 70, particularly from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and accidents. The two groups had an identical risk of dying before the age of 40.

Lager says that the Swedish governments large-scale intervention is unique in social science. In other countries, educational reforms have tended to be rolled out across the whole nation at once, so that their effects must be compared between different birth cohorts, with varying standards of living and other influencing factors, and it is difficult to determine whether education is the cause of any changes.

For example, Marcus Richards, a cognitive epidemiologist at University College London, followed two cohorts of British children, born in 1946 and 1958, and noted that the younger group, which had received an extra year of schooling owing to UK educational reform, had consistently higher literacy3. Low literacy has previously been linked to poor health4. However, any beneficial effects for the younger UK cohort might also be attributable to other factors that had changed in the intervening decade.

But in Sweden, the experiment was explicitly designed to study the effect of the reform. You dont have to assume the change is independent," says Lager. Richards agrees that the Swedish study more directly supports the view that education has a causal role in health.

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Sweden's enormous education experiment improved longevity

Longevity in Business: Jefferson Fire & Safety provide the gear to keep first responders safe

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

JILL CARLSON | For the State Journal | jillcarlson1957@gmail.com madison.com | | Posted: Monday, May 14, 2012 5:00 pm

Have you ever wondered where first-responder agencies such as firefighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers obtain their equipment and gear?

In the Madison area, Jefferson Fire & Safety is a source for everything from boots, protective clothing, fire hoses, pumps and even fire trucks and ambulances.

In addition to first responders, the company works with commercial and industrial businesses and the general public to sell and service professional safety equipment.

Pete Jefferson is the grandson of E.L. Jefferson, the company founder. "My grandfather worked for Fyr Fyter brand fire extinguishers as a distributor. He decided to start his own business in 1948," he said.

When Pete's father, Dave, joined the business, the name was changed to E.L. Jefferson & Son. In 1969, the company was renamed Jefferson Fire & Safety. Pete remembers working with his grandfather helping out at the business when he was young.

"We're proud of our history. This is a unique business," he said. "Every fire station has a memorabilia case, as the departments are steeply rich in history. I decided that we needed to have one here."

In the front lobby of the office is a case filled with photos, fire safety equipment and other items. One photo shows E.L. and Dave Jefferson in front of a company truck from the 1950s.

Originally located in downtown Madison, the company has been headquartered in Middleton since 1992, and serves customers in Minnesota, northern Illinois and Wisconsin.

Pete's son Tyler joined the company almost two years ago as a sales representative for the Milwaukee area. "He's been around the business all of his life," Pete said.

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Longevity in Business: Jefferson Fire & Safety provide the gear to keep first responders safe

Peter King: Tom Brady's longevity and an inspirational story you have to read

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

Tom Brady has thrown 300 touchdown passes in his 12 seasons with the Patriots.

Al Tielemans

Different column this week, stretching from Foxboro (Tom Brady) to San Diego out West (Dan Fouts), from an unhappy Dolfan in the Southeast (Daniel Tosh) to Russell Wilson in the Land of Opportunity in the Northwest (Seattle), from a hotel in Oakland to a bar in D.C., from a hockey rink in New York to the busiest building in North America (Staples Center in Los Angeles) ... well, let's just get on with it.

***

Last of the (New England) Mohicans, and he's not planning to leave anytime soon.

Matt Light retired the other day. Peyton Manning plays for Denver now. This means that Tom Brady is the lone member of an exclusive club.

Sept. 30, 2001. Ninety players dressed for the first start of Brady's career, against the Indianapolis Colts, at the rickety old Foxboro Stadium on a cloudy and windy Sunday afternoon. Eighty-nine played. And Tom Brady, 34, is the only man who suited up that day who still plays for the Patriots, and one of just two left from that game overall, with Colts long-snapper Justin Snow the other. (Notes for you sticklers: Reggie Wayne was inactive that day, and he still plays for the Colts. Kevin Faulk had 11 touches that day, but he's an unrestricted free agent and doesn't play -- yet -- for the Patriots this year.)

Look at the turnover, less than 11 years after the first start of Brady's career. It's Brady and Bill Belichick against the world now.

"Well,'' Brady said Thursday afternoon, trying to figure out what it meant but not sounding at all surprised about it, "Matt called me a while ago and told me what he was planning to do, and I've called him every week since then trying to talk him out of it. He had such a great year for us. But there was no way I was going to be able to talk him out of it. He'll be a tough player to replace. But, you know, every year in this game, there's a lot of change.''

Except with one guy. One guy living a bicoastal life, married to one of the most famous women in the world, with two kids, and with a coach who's not very concerned with all of that stuff.

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Peter King: Tom Brady's longevity and an inspirational story you have to read

:: 14, May 2012 :: SCIENTISTS MAKE GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERY OF MUTATION CAUSING GENETIC DISORDER IN HUMANS

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

MEDIA RELEASE

SCIENTISTS MAKE GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERY OF MUTATION CAUSING GENETIC DISORDER IN HUMANS

1. Scientists at A*STARs Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), in collaboration with doctors and scientists in Jordan, Turkey, Switzerland and USA, have identified the genetic cause of a birth defect known as Hamamy syndrome[1]. Their groundbreaking findings were published on May13thin the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. The work lends new insights into common ailments such as heart disease, osteoporosis, blood disorders and possibly sterility.

2. Hamamy syndrome is a rare genetic disorder which is marked by abnormal facial features (Annex A) and defects in the heart, bone, blood and reproductive cells. Its exact cause was unknown until now. The international team, led by scientists at IMB, have pinpointed the genetic mistake to be a mutation in a single gene called IRX5.

3. This is the first time that a mutation in IRX5 (and the family of IRX genes) has ever been discovered in man. IRX5 is part of a family of transcription factors that is highly conserved in all animals, meaning that this gene is present not only in humans but also in mice, fish, frogs, flies and even worms. Using a frog model, the scientists demonstrated that Irx5 orchestrates cell movements in the developing foetus which underlie head and gonad formation.

4. Carine Bonnard, a final-year PhD student at IMB and the first author of the paper, said, Because Hamamy syndrome causes a wide range of symptoms, not just in newborn babies but also in the adult, this implies that IRX5 is critical for development in the womb as well as for the function of many organs in our adult body. For example, patients with this disease cannot evacuate tears from their eyes, and they will also go on to experience repetitive bone fractures (Annex A) or progressive myopia as they age. This discovery of the causative gene is a significant finding that will catalyze research efforts into the role of the Irx gene family and greatly increase our understanding of human health, such as bone homeostasis, or gamete formation for instance.

5. We believe that this discovery could open up new therapeutic solutions to common diseases like osteoporosis, heart disease, anaemia which affect millions of people worldwide, said Dr Bruno Reversade, Senior Principle Investigator at IMB. The findings also provide a framework for understanding fascinating evolutionary questions, such as why humans of different ethnicities have distinct facial features and how these are embedded in our genome. IRX genes have been repeatedly co-opted during evolution, and small variation in their activity could underlie fine alterations in the way we look, or perhaps even drastic ones such as the traits seen in an elephant, whale, turtle or frog body pattern.

6. Only a handful of people in the world have been identified with Hamamy Syndrome making it a very rare genetic disorder. Rare genetic diseases, usually caused by mutations in a single gene, provide a unique opportunity to better understand more common disease processes. These "natural" experiments are similar to carefully controlled knockout animal experiments in which the function of single genes are analyzed and often give major insights into general health issues.[2]

7. Prof Birgitte Lane, Executive Director of IMB, said, Understanding how various pathways in the human body function is the foundation for developing new therapeutic targets. This is an important piece of research that I believe will be of great interest to many scientists and clinicians around the world because of the clinical and genetic insights it brings to a large range of diseases.

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:: 14, May 2012 :: SCIENTISTS MAKE GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERY OF MUTATION CAUSING GENETIC DISORDER IN HUMANS

DNA replication protein Cdt1 also has a role in mitosis, cancer

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

Mitotic spindle-chromosome attachments, marked in green, become unstable (on the right) compared to normal (on the left). Credit: Cook and Salmon labs, UNC School of Medicine

The foundation of biological inheritance is DNA replication a tightly coordinated process in which DNA is simultaneously copied at hundreds of thousands of different sites across the genome. If that copying mechanism doesn't work as it should, the result could be cells with missing or extra genetic material, a hallmark of the genomic instability seen in most birth defects and cancers.

University of North Carolina School of Medicine scientists have discovered that a protein known as Cdt1, which is required for DNA replication, also plays an important role in a later step of the cell cycle, mitosis. The finding presents a possible explanation for why so many cancers possess not just genomic instability, but also more or less than the usual 46 DNA-containing chromosomes.

The new research, which was published online ahead of print by the journal Nature Cell Biology, is the first to definitively show such a dual role for a DNA replication protein.

"It was such a surprise, because we thought we knew what this protein's job was to load proteins onto the DNA in preparation for replication," said Jean Cook, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics and pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine and senior study author. "We had no idea it also had a night job, in a completely separate part of the cell cycle."

The cell cycle is the series of events that take place in a cell leading to its growth, replication and division into two daughter cells. It consists of four distinct phases: G1 (Gap 1), S (DNA synthesis), M (mitosis) and G2 (Gap 2). Cook's research focuses on G1, when Cdt1 places proteins onto the genetic material to get it ready to be copied.

In this study, Cook ran a molecular screen to identify other proteins that Cdt1 might be interacting with inside the cell. She expected to just find more entities that controlled replication, and was surprised to discover one that was involved in mitosis. That protein, called Hec1 for "highly expressed in cancer," helps to ensure that the duplicated chromosomes are equally divided into daughter cells during mitosis, or cell division. Cook hypothesized that either Hec1 had a job in DNA replication that nobody knew about, or that Cdt1 was the one with the side business.

Cook partnered with Hec1 expert Edward (Ted) D. Salmon, PhD, professor of biology and co-senior author in this study, to explore these two possibilities. After letting Cdt1 do its replication job, the researchers interfered with the protein's function to see if it adversely affected mitosis. Using a high-powered microscope that records images of live cells, they showed that cells where Cdt1 function had been blocked did not undergo mitosis properly.

Once the researchers knew that Cdt1 was involved in mitosis, they wanted to pinpoint its role in that critical process. They further combined their genetic, microscopy and computational methods to demonstrate that without Cdt1, Hec1 fails to adopt the conformation inside the cells necessary to connect the chromosomes with the structure that pulls them apart into their separate daughter cells.

Cook says cells that make aberrant amounts of Cdt1, like that seen in cancer, can therefore experience problems in both replication and mitosis. One current clinical trial is actually trying to ramp up the amount of Cdt1 in cancer cells, in the hopes of pushing them from an already precarious position into a fatal one.

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DNA replication protein Cdt1 also has a role in mitosis, cancer

DNA test inevitable for ND Tiwari after court order

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

New Delhi: Senior politician and former Andhra Pradesh governor ND Tiwari has been ordered to either "gracefully appear" for a DNA test, or be forced to take the test by the Delhi Police.

The Delhi High Court warned Mr Tiwari to pick his option within two days. The court has also asked a Hyderabad lab to send kits to Delhi for the DNA test. Mr Tiwari has been ordered not to leave India.

Mr Tiwari has been fighting a paternity test for several years. Rohit Shekhar, in his 30s, claims to be his biological son. Last month, the High Court had said that Mr Tiwari must submit blood samples for a DNA test, or risk being subjected to it by force.

Mr Tiwari, who is 86 years old, was forced to resign as governor of Andhra Pradesh in 2009 after local channels broadcasted footage that allegedly showed him in a compromising position with three women.

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DNA test inevitable for ND Tiwari after court order

DNA test: HC gives Tiwari two days to decide

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ev1

The Delhi High Court on Monday gave two days to veteran Congress leader N D Tiwari to decide if he wants to give his blood sample voluntarily for a DNA test in a paternity suit against him or a directive for using police force against him be passed.

Justice Reva Khetrapal also told the counsel for 86-year-old Tiwari that his client will not leave India till he gives his blood sample for the DNA test in the wake of categorical orders of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

It is deemed expedient that the time of two days be granted to defendant no. 1 (Tiwari) to inform whether he voluntarily wants to give blood sample for the DNA test or the court will have to take recourse to police force, said the court, fixing the matter for May 16.

The court, meanwhile, also directed the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) to send requisite kit for the DNA test to the registrar of the court.

The court rejected the plea of Tiwaris counsel that a weeks time be granted for taking instruction in this regard from the Dehradun-based Congress leader.

I cannot keep the matter pending as the issue has finally been decided by a Division Bench of this court and by the Supreme Court and nothing remains to be decided, said the court.

The courts directions have come on an application of 33-year-old Rohit Shekhar, seeking to compel Tiwari to give his blood sample at the earliest to decide the four-year-old paternity suit.

... contd.

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DNA test: HC gives Tiwari two days to decide

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