Daily Archives: April 7, 2014

Gene sequencing project discovers mutations tied to deadly brain tumors in young children

Posted: April 7, 2014 at 9:45 pm

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

6-Apr-2014

Contact: Carrie Strehlau carrie.strehau@stjude.org 901-595-2295 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

(MEMPHIS, TENN. - April 6, 2014) The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified new mutations in pediatric brain tumors known as high-grade gliomas (HGGs), which most often occur in the youngest patients. The research appears today as an advance online publication in the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

The discoveries stem from the most comprehensive effort yet to identify the genetic missteps driving these deadly tumors. The results provide desperately needed drug development leads, particularly for agents that target the underlying mutations. This and other studies show these mutations often differ based on patient age. HGGs represent 15 to 20 percent of brain and spinal tumors in children. Despite aggressive therapy with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, long-term survival for HGG patients remains less than 20 percent.

The study is one of four being published simultaneously in the same issue of Nature Genetics that link recurring mutations in ACVR1 to cancer for the first time. Pediatric Cancer Genome Project researchers found that ACVR1 was mutated in 32 percent of 57 patients diagnosed with a subtype of HGG called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). While DIPGs are usually found in children ages 5 to 10, ACVR1 mutations occurred most frequently in younger-than-average patients. DIPG occurs in the brainstem, which controls vital functions and cannot be surgically removed.

The investigators also identified alteration in NTRK genes that drove tumor development in young HGG patients whose tumors developed outside the brainstem. This study included 10 patients who were age 3 or younger when they were diagnosed with such non-brainstem HGGs. Of those, 40 percent had tumors with alterations in one of three NTRK genes and few other changes. The alterations occurred when a segment of the NTRK genes involved in regulating cell division fused with part of another gene.

"These results indicate the NTRK fusion genes might be very potent drivers of cancer development that have the ability to generate tumors with few other mutations," said co-corresponding author Suzanne Baker, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. The other corresponding author is Jinghui Zhang, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Computational Biology. "We want to see if these tumors might be selectively sensitive to therapies that target the pathways that are disrupted as a result of these fusion genes," Baker said.

Added co-author Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis: "We've made some very exciting discoveries that likely will result in more effective diagnosis and treatment of these particularly nasty tumors."

In this study, researchers analyzed 127 HGGs from 118 pediatric patients, including whole genome sequencing of the complete tumor and normal DNA from 42 patients. More targeted sequencing of additional tumors was conducted to track how instructions encoded in DNA were translated into the proteins that do the work of cells.

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Gene sequencing project discovers mutations tied to deadly brain tumors in young children

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Naomi Campbell and Franca Sozzani Discuss Vogue Africa

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In the international family of Vogue magazines, Vogue Italia has often seemed like the politically incorrect uncle who makes a racist joke at your wedding reception. As recently as the March issue this year, the magazine featured a white model in blackface, posing alongside taxidermied safari animals. Then there was the infamous "Haute Mess" editorial of March 2012, which seemed, to many, to be poking fun at the culture of African American women and the incident in 2011, when an online gallery of hoop jewelry was titled "Slave Earrings."

For all of these reasons, you may not associate editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani with the empowerment of Africa but that is what shes been working toward since June 2012, when she became the global goodwill ambassador for Fashion 4 Development. The campaign is a United Nations initiative that aims to help build the fashion economy in the developing countries of Africa, and has matched up talented fashion workers with scholarships to develop their skills. At the Vogue Festival in London last week, Sozzani sat alongside Naomi Campbell and British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, and spoke about her experiences of the continent.

In slightly broken English, she explained why shed created the May 2012 "Rebranding Africa" issue of LUomo Vogue. For me, LUomo Vogue is not a fashion magazine I mean, it is, of course, but its more how to use fashion as a media to awareness for something else. So when we did [the] African issue, for example, I stayed two weeks in Africa, I interviewed the president of Nigeria, and we put, on the cover, Ban Ki-moon [secretary general of the United Nations]. The goal of the issue, she said, was to show some of the many positive things happening within the continent because if we go home and say Africa is poor, Africa is civil wars, Africa is AIDS, Africa is malaria how can people go there?

Her work for Fashion 4 Development seems to have had two main tactics: nurturing African talent and encouraging the development of a fashion economy; and drawing international attention to the best creative work. She spoke about the talented designers and beautiful fabrics shes seen in Nigeria and Ghana, but lamented that many fabrics sold as "African" are currently manufactured in Holland. More manufacturing needs to happen on African soil to build a sustainable industry, she suggested.

In the midst of this discussion, Naomi Campbell turned to the front row and directed a public request toward Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Cond Nast International. Im hoping, Jonathan, that we can have African Vogue, she said, laughing in the deadly serious way that only she can. I would be the editor, said Sozzani, and Campbell replied, Ill be an assistant. (Now theres a reality show wed like to see.)

But when pressed by Shulman, Sozzani said she thought the possibility of a Vogue Africa was still very far off. We really have to work much more, and to have more people believe in [Africa]. There is not confidence in these countries [from the international fashion industry] because theyve seen too many things, and of course in the newspapers they only put [negative] things. The good side is huge So now, everybodys talking about Africa, and probably something will happen. I hope so.

Though some parts of the discussion seemed to sweep the continent of Africa into one homogenous whole, it left little doubt that Sozzani is enthusiastically engaged with African fashion and culture. Its just a shame that the biggest magazine she oversees, Vogue Italia, still has a long way to catch up.

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Naomi Campbell and Franca Sozzani Discuss Vogue Africa

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Noah banned in Msia, says Censorship Board

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KUALA LUMPUR: The movie Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky, will not be allowed to be screened in Malaysia, according to the Film Censorship Board (LPF).

LPF chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid said in a statement yesterday the ban was to protect the sensitivity and harmony of the multi-racial and multi-religious community in the country.

LPF has decided that any movie which shows an illustration or face of a prophet is in contravention of the Home Ministrys film censorship guidelines.

The decision is also in line with the censorship guidelines on broadcasting material of an Islamic nature issued by the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim), he said.

The film was presented to the LPF on March 7.

In the film, Russell Crowe acts as Noah and stars with, among others, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Anthony Hopkins and Douglas Booth.

The film was screened in North America from March 28. Bernama

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Ron Paul 2014 What If Speech – Video

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Ron Paul 2014 What If Speech
Ron Paul True Leader of United States of America.

By: Ephemeral Silence

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Ron Paul 2014 What If Speech - Video

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Ron Paul: US lost legitimacy to lecture other nations on law & democracy – Video

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Ron Paul: US lost legitimacy to lecture other nations on law democracy
Watch Ron Paul #39;s full interview on SophieCo here http://youtu.be/gN1cf7kKgWw While Ukraine is caught in socio-political whirlwind, Russia is locked in a stan...

By: RT

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Ron Paul: US lost legitimacy to lecture other nations on law & democracy - Video

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Are Ron Paul supporters ready for Rand Paul to carry the torch?

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- A long line snaked around the perimeter of a large hotel conference room as people waited eagerly to meet a former Texas congressman who they view as an icon in the modern libertarian movement.

Ron Paul had finished delivering a nearly hour-long speech to a gathering of Florida libertarians on Friday night, and he was now signing copies of books, t-shirts, posters and even a few paintings.

Paul might have retired from Congress last year, but he hasn't gone away quietly.

The eclectic group of activists who backed the Texas Republican in his back-to-back presidential runs still support him even as it appears many of them are ready to turn to his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, if he follows in his dad's footsteps and runs for president in 2016.

Rand Paul, who was elected in 2010, has quickly become a national figure in his own right due to his willingness to buck traditional GOP ideology, and a strong following among young, libertarian minded voters and self-described "tea party" activists.

Rand Paul's appeal among the grassroots has helped rank him, according to early polling, as a top contender for the Republican presidential nomination if he runs. And unlike his father, Rand Paul is more closely aligned with the GOP establishment.

But as Rand Paul's star continues to rise, where does he stand among Ron Paul's most ardent supporters?

While a few attendees at the conference argued Rand Paul is too moderate, many say he strikes the right balance that the movement needs a pragmatic choice to its principled core.

Or as Chris Sankey, a 29-year-old from Tampa, put it: "Rand is running the company, and Ron's chairman of the board."

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Are Ron Paul supporters ready for Rand Paul to carry the torch?

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Ron Paul to RT: U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Something That Happens in Wartime

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Appearing on the Kremlin-funded news network RT, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) asserted that the sanctions imposed on Russia individuals and institutions following Moscows invasion and annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea were acts of war. He said that sanctions, like any other form of trade blockade, is a war.

If two countries get in war, one of the most important things that they do is that they put down blockade, Paul told RT host Sophie Shevardnadze. So, in that sense, the economic sanctions is doing something that happens in wartime, and that is preventing a government from getting certain things that are needed for the war.

Paul said he is opposed to sanctions against Russia because he believes they are wrong but also because the West, and the United States in particular, is unaccustomed to having sanctions levied against them.

How would we react if we couldnt import something? Paul asked. The American people wouldnt like that very much, and yet we too causally do that with others.

RELATED: Ron Paul: Putin Has Law on His Side with Crimean Invasion

But, in principle, its not quite like a shooting war, but it is a war, Paul continued. I mean it is something thats used in an active war, in the ultimate for blockade but sanctions is the form of blockade.

Paul has previously said that Russian President Vladimir Putins decision to invade Crimea was legally justified because Moscow was safeguarding their lease of the Ukrainian territory containing a Soviet-era naval base in the city of Sevastopol.

Watch the clip below via RT:

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[h/t WFB]

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Ron Paul to RT: U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Something That Happens in Wartime

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The DJ Mystro Hardcore Techno & Breakcore Mix "The Hard Way" – Video

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The DJ Mystro Hardcore Techno Breakcore Mix "The Hard Way"
The DJ Mystro Hardcore Techno Breakcore Mix "The Hard Way" Recorded 05/04/14 [+8% BPM] 01 -- Stormtrooper -- The Hard Way 02 -- The Clamps feat Thanos -- T...

By: MystroX44

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Crysis 3 Post-Human Warrior Episode 6 – Video

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Crysis 3 Post-Human Warrior Episode 6
YAY Another episode with no deaths, :). Here we go again with yet another Post-human warrior episode in Crysis 3. Enjoy it guys.

By: JackPunter2012

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Philippines debt must be cancelled to support typhoon recovery effort – UN expert

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7 April 2014 Voicing concern that the Philippines post-typhoon reconstruction and recovery efforts could be undermined by its heavy debt load, a United Nations independent human rights expert today issued a strong call on international creditors to cancel the countrys debt and to provide unrestricted grant aid instead of new loans.

Grant aid, not new loans, is needed to overcome the impact of the tropical cyclone which struck the country five months ago, said Cephas Lumina, the independent expert tasked with monitoring the effects of foreign debt on the enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

Of great concern, he stressed, was that reconstruction, development and realization of economic and social rights will be undermined if the high debt stock of the country is further enlarged to unsustainable levels.

Noting the international support provided the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, Mr. Lumina underscored that more than $22 million leaves the country daily to pay off overseas debts.

While around $3 billion has left the country to serve its debt since the typhoon struck, the country has received so far only $417 million for its strategic response plan by international and private donors, about half of the total relief requested, the expert stressed.

Although over one fourth of its population lives in poverty, the Philippines is classified as a lower Middle Income Country and therefore has been disqualified from international debt relief programmes. This year alone, the Philippines is supposed to pay $8.8 billion debt.

To date, the World Bank has provided a $500 million support loan and a $480 million loan for rebuilding infrastructure and social services while the Asian Development Bank has offered nearly $900 million of assistance. However, most of this was in the form of new loans and only $23 million was given in grants.

In theory, loans for reconstruction cannot generate returns to allow the debt to be paid. For his part, Mr. Lumina highlighted the importance of cancelling debt by international lenders to ensure that the Country can recover.

The disaster should rather serve as an opportunity for lenders to acknowledge that odious debts emanating from the rule under Ferdinand Marcos should be cancelled, Mr. Lumina underscored.

Up to $10 billion is thought to have been embezzled or stolen during the Marcos regime (1965-1986), but international lenders that had provided loans continued to demand repayment after he was deposed.

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Philippines debt must be cancelled to support typhoon recovery effort - UN expert

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