A molecular window on itch

Researchers discover chemical puppet master behind the need to scratch

By Puneet Kollipara

Web edition: May 23, 2013

Long a mystery, the sensation of itch has yielded a clue. The neurons that detect itch rely on a newly identified chemical to send the ?I need to scratch!? message to the brain, according to a study in mice. Remove the molecule, and the mice don?t itch, researchers report in the May 24 Science.

For people, an itch can be annoying or it can be debilitating. But researchers don?t know yet how the brain senses an itch. Treatments for itch often don?t work.

The new study takes a big step forward, says Glenn Giesler Jr., a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. ?Now we're beginning to understand the mechanisms, and that's got to lead to better treatments.?

Scientists believe that detection of itch starts in neurons with fibers that extend to the skin. Using chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, these cells relay their signal to other neurons in a region of the spinal cord called the dorsal horn. Once there, the signal passes from neuron to neuron until it reaches the brain.

To find out how this signaling starts, Mark Hoon and Santosh Mishra of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Bethesda, Md., measured which chemicals the neurons with fibers in the skin produced the most. One of the chemicals that topped the list was a neurotransmitter called Nppb, for natriuretic polypeptide b.

They engineered mice that lack the gene to make Nppb and injected itch-inducing substances under the animals? skin. The animals barely scratched; they must have needed Nppb in the process that sends itch signals to the brain, the researchers surmise.

Hoon and Mishra next turned to the dorsal horn, where neurons must be receiving the Nppb molecules, they figured. When the researchers blocked Nppb receptors in the dorsal horn or used toxins to remove dorsal horn neurons, the mice scratched far less. In mice that still had these neurons, injecting Nppb into their dorsal horns made the animals scratch.

Because mice share many biological similarities with humans, the findings could help scientists understand how people sense itch.

Hoon notes that he and Mishra found Nppb in just a small subset of the neurons that have fibers in the skin, which could mean that only certain sensory neurons are responsible for detecting itch. Others may detect pain or temperature.

However, Hoon cautions that blocking Nppb may not be a good strategy to treat itching. Nppb could play a role in other processes in the body, so blocking the molecule from working may have side effects.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/350630/title/A_molecular_window_on_itch

joakim noah Of Monsters and Men boxing news mint julep silk Star Wars Cinco De Mayo History

Between economy and trouble, Obama approval steady

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The economy is recovering, the White House is dealing with multiple controversies, and President Barack Obama appears generally unaffected either way.

He's getting no significant uptick in approval from gains in housing, jobs and the stock market. Likewise, he has so far seen no downtick from the recent storms over the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS and a leak investigation that has swept up the phone records of Associated Press journalists.

All in all, recent polls show the president sustaining an overall approval rating around 50 percent.

The data suggests the economy could be insulating Obama from the immediate troubles confronting his administration. But it also indicates that while a growing number of those surveyed are more optimistic about the economy, they are evenly split on whether they approve or disapprove of his handling of it.

A Washington Post/ABC poll found that 48 percent approve of his handling of the economy, and 48 percent disapprove. That's a better showing for Obama than his economic approval ratings in 2011 and 2012. But it doesn't match the 56 percent who told Post/ABC pollsters last week that they feel the economy has begun to recover. Clearly, there is a subset of people who believe the economy is improving but either think it's not enough or don't give Obama credit.

David Winston, a Republican pollster and a top adviser to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he has found that about 60 percent of Americans are roughly equally divided between those who find the economic advances acceptable and those who don't believe the economy has improved at all. The remaining 4 out of 10 Americans believe the economy has improved but at a rate that is unacceptable.

"They are the folks who are defining the direction," he said.

The economy remains the top issue with the public, and after a deep recession and financial crisis, its weaknesses are still evident. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a stark reminder on Wednesday, testifying to Congress that the unemployment rate remains well above "longer-run normal levels," that the rate of long-term unemployment is historically high and the labor force participation rate has continued to move down.

"Moreover," he added, "nearly 8 million people are working part-time even though they would prefer full-time work."

Still, employment has grown by about 6 million jobs since its low point in March 2009, and the unemployment rate dipped 2.5 percentage points since its October 2009 high of 10 percent.

And even as it crowds out other issues as a top concern, the economy is not attracting the public's attention as it once did. A Pew Research Center poll conducted last week found that 61 percent of those polled were following economic news stories either very or fairly closely. That compares with the 75 percent who were paying some or much attention to economic news in October. Andrew Kohut, the founding director of the Pew Research Center, said that modest loss of interest and the Post/ABC finding of the percentage of respondents who feel the economy is recovering ? the highest yet in Obama's presidency ? can help the president weather the current eruptions.

He noted that a rising economy boosted President Bill Clinton at the height of his impeachment over the Monica Lewinski scandal in 1998, giving him the highest approval ratings of his administration. At the time, the Gallup Poll showed Clinton's ratings for handling the economy soared to 81 percent.

"I'm not suggesting we're on that kind of roll, but the public has begun to feel a little bit better after many years of the Great Recession," Kohut said. "If people are feeling better about the economy, not focused on bad economic times and not paying a great deal of intense attention to the controversies swirling about the White House here in Washington, all of that tends to insulate him a bit."

The White House has been trying to make its economic case publicly and privately, in recent Obama speeches about job creation initiatives or in White House sessions with lawmakers. Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger met with three Democratic senators and 13 House Democrats on Tuesday in part to draw attention to the economic improvements.

Given modest economic growth of 2.5 percent in the first three months of this year, participants said Krueger made a point of emphasizing that growth was 4.1 percent if only the private sector was taken into account. That figure tracks with other economic assessments. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, says he too expects the drag on the economy caused by government tax increases and spending cuts to be about 1.5 percentage points for the entire year.

Yet, aggressively promoting the economy publicly has its risks and could be premature.

"It's tough to celebrate any economic news, both because it can be ephemeral and turn, and because we're so far from where we need to be by way of growth and employment," said Matt Bennett, a veteran of the Clinton White House and now senior vice president at Third Way, a Democratic-leaning policy group.

What's more, Winston, the GOP pollster, said Republicans now have an opportunity to make their own economic case as the White House works to deal with the fallout of the Benghazi, IRS and AP phone record controversies.

"Boehner is starting to put some stuff out ? you'll see the word 'jobs' a lot," Winston said.

John Feehery, a former top aide to ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, predicted Boehner would keep capitalizing on public apprehension about Obama's health care law.

"Boehner is going to keep pounding on health care as a job killer," he said.

_____

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/between-economy-trouble-obama-approval-steady-071345995.html

old navy walmart black friday walmart black friday Target Black Friday

CA-NEWS Summary

West may boost Syria rebels if Assad won't talk peace

AMMAN (Reuters) - Washington threatened on Wednesday to increase support for Syria's rebels if President Bashar al-Assad refuses to discuss a political end to a civil war that is spreading across borders. Rebels called for reinforcements to combat an "invasion" by Hezbollah and its Iranian backers, days after Assad's forces launched an offensive against a strategic town that could prove to be a turning point in the war.

Oklahoma tornado victims astounded at how they survived

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Tornado survivors thanked God, sturdy closets and luck in explaining how they lived through the colossal twister that devastated an Oklahoma town and killed 24 people, an astonishingly low toll given the extent of destruction. At least one family took refuge in a bathtub and some people shut themselves in underground shelters built into their houses when the powerful storm tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday.

British soldier hacked to death in suspected Islamist attack

LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier was hacked to death by two men shouting Islamic slogans in a south London street on Wednesday, in what the government said appeared to be a terrorist attack. A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker just minutes after the killing showed a man with hands covered in blood, brandishing a bloodied meat cleaver and a knife.

China milk powder firms court foreign cachet for domestic gains

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The rolling green hills and gurgling blonde toddlers in the ads for Yashili International Holdings Ltd underscore how keen China's biggest milk powder producers are to appear global to emerge from the shadow of a fatal baby formula scandal. The 2008 incident, which involved melamine-tainted milk powder, soured China's $12.5 billion infant formula market for local firms and helped multinationals with established safety records to nearly double their market share in the past five years. Foreign brands now account for about half of total sales.

Exclusive: Glencore, Trafigura deals with Iran may have skirted sanctions - U.N

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Metals swap deals with Iran by Switzerland-based commodities giants Glencore Xstrata and Trafigura could have been a way of skirting international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, according to a confidential U.N. Panel of Experts report seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Reuters reported on March 1 that Glencore had supplied thousands of tons of alumina to an Iranian firm that has provided aluminum to Iran's nuclear program, an allegation Glencore confirmed as accurate. Afterward, Trafigura acknowledged it had also traded with the same Iranian firm.

U.S. acknowledges killing four Americans in drone strikes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. Attorney General Eric Holder named the dead U.S. citizens in a letter to members of Congress a day before President Barack Obama is expected to promise more transparency on national security issues in a speech on counterterrorism.

Stockholm riots challenge image of happy, generous state

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hundreds of youth have torched cars and attacked police in four nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden's capital, shocking a country that dodged the worst of the financial crisis but failed to solve youth unemployment and resentment among asylum seekers. Violence spread from the North to the South of the city on Wednesday as groups of youth pushed through Stockholm's suburbs casting stones, breaking windows and setting cars alight. Police in the southern Swedish city of Malmo said two cars had been set ablaze.

U.S. probe of Benghazi attack focused on more than five suspects

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An investigation of the attacks on the American diplomatic mission and nearby annex in Benghazi, Libya, last year is looking at more than five potential suspects, a U.S. national security source said on Wednesday. The source would not identify the suspects who have come to the attention of the FBI, which is investigating the September 11, 2012, attacks that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

European banks stop sending money to North Korea: aid groups

BEIJING (Reuters) - European aid groups said their banks in Europe had stopped sending money to North Korea in the wake of U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang's main foreign exchange bank, leaving them scrambling for a solution short of hand-carrying cash into the impoverished country. Aid groups said if it became impossible to send enough money to operate, donors might withdraw support for their programs.

Iran pushes ahead with nuclear plant that worries West

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is pressing ahead with the construction of a research reactor that Western experts say could eventually produce plutonium for a nuclear weapon if Tehran decides to make one, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday. In another development likely to worry the United States and its allies, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had added to its capacity to refine uranium, which can also provide the fissile core of a bomb if enriched to a high level.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-012048431.html

Paige Butcher David Petraeus Petraeus Mia Love wall street journal us map Electoral Map

Video: Girl knocked over by dancer in Disney parade

A Walt Disney World spokeswoman says they are talking with family of a girl who was knocked over by a dancer at a Disney parade, and they are "sorry she had this experience."

Watch: Girl gets knocked over at Disney

The video showing the accident was posted Tuesday by a woman who said she is from Louisiana.

The video shows the girl dancing in the parade, when a Disney dancer turns quickly and elbows the girl in the face. The girl falls backward to the ground.

The mother said the dancer did apologize.

Toward the end of the video, a man can be heard asking if the girl is OK.

"She's OK. She's OK," the mother responds.

The woman said the girl had a purple eye for a few days.

She said Disney did not respond to the accident or to her email.

Disney said they were not aware of the accident and contacted the mother after the video was posted.

Source: http://www.wesh.com/news/central-florida/video-girl-knocked-over-by-dancer-in-disney-parade/-/11788162/20275914/-/kfih1s/-/index.html?absolute=true

justin bieber John Hurt taylor swift taylor swift Candice Glover Warriors Dick Trickle

Local group to rally for East Village church

5/21/13

news

By DAN RIVOLI

Local group to rally for East Village church

Photo credit: Mary Help of Christians Church (Getty)

Members of preservation and community groups will take to the streets?Wednesday to show support for a 100-year-old East Village church at risk of being demolished.

The rally will be held at 6 p.m. at Mary Help of Christians Church at 436 E. 12th St., a lot developer Doug Steiner bought to turn into new apartments and ground-floor retail.

Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation said the lot has enough open space to develop without destroying any buildings. Steiner's spokeswoman declined to comment.

Source: http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/local-group-to-rally-for-east-village-church-1.5308559

photoshop cs6 beta cate blanchett nfl news tebow jets romney etch a sketch jeb bush sherry arnold

'Bishop' gets 37 years: He could have gotten 200

'The Bishop' gets a 37-year sentence after his conviction for 12 counts related to his construction and mailing of pipe bombs. The bombs failed to explode, but 'The Bishop' still faced up to 200 years in prison.

By Michael Tarm,?Associated Press / May 21, 2013

John P. Tomkins, a letter carrier of Dubuque, Iowa, mailed dud pipe bombs from 'The Bishop.' On Tuesday, May 21, a federal judge in Chicago sentenced 'Bishop' Tomkins to 37 years in prison. One package was sent to Denver and another to Kansas City, Mo.

KWWL-TV / AP / File

Enlarge

An Iowa letter carrier was sentenced to 37 years in prison Tuesday for sending dud?pipebombs with letters signed "The?Bishop" in an odd but potentially deadly bid to drive up the value of shares he owned.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; // google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

John Tomkins, 48, showed little emotion as a federal judge in Chicago imposed the sentence. Later, before marshals led the Dubuque, Iowa, man away in handcuffs, he smiled as his attorney patted his shoulder.

In an hourlong preamble to the sentence, Judge Robert Dow praised Tomkins for taking some responsibility but added the father of three "engaged in a reign of terror" in his mailings to investment firms and advisers.

"'Horrific' is the single best word I've heard to describe this crime," Dow said. "'Terrifying' is another good word."

Tomkins got the idea to sign his letters "The?Bishop" from a novel in which a criminal leaves a chess piece as his calling card. His notes read, "BANG! YOU'RE DEAD," and said the only reason the recipient wasn't dead was because a lone wire wasn't attached.

Tomkins faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, though prosecutors asked for around 45 years. Counting six years Tomkins has already served and credit for good behavior, he could be released by his mid-70s.

The acting U.S. attorney in Chicago welcomed the sentence.

"Tomkins took these terrifying and secretive actions because he was greedy," said Gary Shapiro. "He was indifferent to whether he killed people in the process."

Jurors convicted Tomkins last year on 12 counts, including the use of a destructive device while mailing threatening communications. Combining all the maximums, Tomkins faced a sentence of more than 200 years.

Tomkins' lawyer, Francis Lipuma, told reporters after sentencing that he plans to appeal the convictions and portions of the sentencing. But he conceded the sentence could have been far worse for his client.

"He's a family man and a man who was respected in his community," Lipuma said, adding the judge recognized that in not imposing a harsher sentence.

Tomkins' wife, Julie, was in court but declined comment to reporters later.

Dow said he was perplexed about what led Tomkins to do what he did, saying he seemed to live a typical, small-town American life not unlike the community Dow said he grew up in. He even cited Tomkins' fondness for bowling, garnering a smile from Tomkins.

"The defendant's secret life" planning his crimes from storage garages and his car, Dow said, "comes seemingly from nowhere."

Tomkins did not address the court Wednesday, which was scheduled only for Dow to announce the sentence. But during a first phase of sentencing last month, Tomkins apologized for what he'd done.

"Let me start by saying how incredibly sorry I am," he told Dow. "There are no words to describe the shame and disappointment I feel in myself."

Authorities spent two years trying to track down "The?Bishop," eventually identifying him as Tomkins in 2007 using stock market records on the two firms he cited in his letters ? 3COM Corp. and Navarre Corp.

To make the letters harder to trace, Tomkins drove from Iowa to mail two packages from the Chicago area in 2007. In a dozen letters, Tomkins threatened to kill recipients, their families or neighbors unless they acted to raise the stock prices.

The former machinist represented himself at trial, portraying himself as a mild-mannered union man fond of building race cars. He's also blamed the suicide of his nephew and the killing of a friend for triggering "a mental breakdown."

Tomkins also insisted at trial that he carefully designed the ominous-looking devices so they could never explode, but prosecutors said the?pipe?bombs were close enough to fully operational explosives and that it was just "dumb luck" they didn't go off.

Serving as his own attorney led to the strange spectacle of Tomkins calling himself to the stand and referring to himself in the third person. In his closing, he apologized for his lack of legal training and asked jurors to "not hold my shortcomings against the defendant when it comes to being a lawyer."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/KTH55ngpKe4/Bishop-gets-37-years-He-could-have-gotten-200

philadelphia flyers student loan forgiveness ufc 145 weigh ins record store day 2012 detroit red wings jose canseco zimmerman

Lost in translocation? How bird song could help save species

May 22, 2013 ? Translocation -- or moving animals to safer places -- is a vital tool for saving species from extinction. Many factors influence the success of these new populations, including habitat quality, predators, capture and release techniques, the number and sex of individuals, and their genetic diversity. Now new research, the first of its kind, published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology suggests bird song could also be important.

Ecologists from the University of Waikato and Lincoln University in New Zealand studied the North Island k?kako, an iconic bird with a haunting, organ-like song. Once widespread in the North Island, loss of habitat by deforestation and predation by rats, possums and stoats decimated the population. By 1999, fewer than 400 pairs remained, and between 2001 and 2007, several pairs were moved from Te Urewera National Park to two other reserves: Boundary Stream Mainland Island and Ngapukeriki.

To find out how moving the k?kako has affected their song, the researchers made hundreds of recordings in the three populations and analysed differences in song using sonograms. They then used playback experiments to discover how birds from one population reacted to another populations' song.

They found the songs of translocated birds had diverged substantially from the source population, becoming less diverse with shorter and higher-pitched elements. According to Dr Laura Molles from Lincoln University: "Not only how k?kako sing in translocated populations, but also what they sing differs from k?kako in the source population."

The greatest changes were found in the population that had been translocated for longest, indicating the songs may become more different over time. But despite the divergence between each population's song, the playback experiments showed that the birds could not yet tell them apart.

"The songs diverge because birds such as k?kako learn their songs from parents, siblings and neighbours. As translocation usually involves only a small number of indivuals, they will take with them only a small portion of all the song elements in the larger source population. Subsequent variation in small populations will depend on that subset of songs and will then differ from the larger song pool in the source population," Dr Molles explains.

The study has important implications for conservation. Although in this study the k?kako populations have not been separated for long enough to cause song incompatibility, it will occur in time, the authors say. Once that happens, releasing additional birds into these populations could be problematic because song incompatibility could make interbreeding difficult.

As a result, says Dr Molles, conservationists should consider song variation as part of bird reintroductions: "We need to be aware that behavioural factors like song can also affect translocation success and recovery of endangered birds, and adapt our management of these populations accordingly. This means that we may have to work harder but the good news is that if we consider one more factor that we now know may also affect translocation, we will be more likely to succeed in conserving birds."

The North Island k?kako is one of New Zealand's most iconic bird species. The size of a common pigeon, both males and females have blue-grey plumage with black masks and striking bright blue wattles. Both sexes sing, and pairs duet, with a haunting voice and the birds' astonishingly varied organ-like notes can be heard over 1km away.

They have limited flying power, instead moving like squirrels through the branches and gliding from hill tops to valleys. They live in the temperate rainforest, feeding mainly on fruit and leaves. Once widespread, their numbers collapsed due to deforestation and predation by rats, stoats and possums, and by 1999 fewer than 400 pairs remained. Thanks to translocation to safe offshore islands, numbers have increased to around 800 pairs today.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/IyZIhnh9iHk/130521230046.htm

iditarod nfl free agents 2012 encyclopedia brittanica nfl free agency jonbenet ramsey jason campbell doobie brothers

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Announcement Could Take Place in September

By Robert Walczak?|?05/22/2013

A recent statement from a Samsung official says that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the South Korean company?s next-generation phablet, will be launched, or announced, at IFA 2013 in Berlin. This lines up with a plethora of rumors from previous weeks suggesting that Samsung will use the yearly gadget expo to announce its jumbo-sized phablet with stylus pen support. IFA 2013 will kick off in the first week of September, 2013.

Photo credit: Mydrivers.com

Speaking to the Korea Times, a Samsung official confirmed that the Galaxy Note 3 will be launched at the Episode 2 Unpacked press event, which looks to be taking place at IFA early in September. The report also added a few notes on the Galaxy Note 3?s possible specifications, as it now looks most likely that the Galaxy Note 3 will feature a 5.99-inch display.

While this may be just a fraction smaller than the previously rumored 6-inch display, a fraction of an inch smaller means an additional pixel per inch or two, which makes for better specs marketing.

However, there?s a possibility Samsung may settle for an even six inches, as the Galaxy S4, once rumored to feature a 4.99-inch screen, shipped with a 5-inch screen instead.

If the Galaxy Note 3 will indeed be launching at IFA 2013, we can expect a release date sometime in October, as Samsung usually releases devices about a month, or slightly less than a month, after they get formally launched in public. Some of the other improvements buyers can expect include an eight-core Exynos processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera like the one on the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4-esque design language.

Unfortunately, recent reports have suggested that the Galaxy Note 3 may continue Samsung?s tradition of using plastic on its top-shelf devices as a build material.

Source: http://gadgetinsiders.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-announcement-could-take-place-in-september/1209880/

666 Park Avenue Kara Alongi Sahara Davenport Resident Evil 6 arnold schwarzenegger adam shulman adam shulman

Early-life traffic-related air pollution exposure linked to hyperactivity

May 21, 2013 ? Early-life exposure to traffic-related air pollution was significantly associated with higher hyperactivity scores at age 7, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The research is detailed in a study being published Tuesday, May 21, in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The research was conducted by faculty members from the UC College of Medicine's Department of Environmental Health in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's. Nicholas Newman, DO, director of the Pediatric Environmental Health and Lead Clinic at Cincinnati Children's, was the study's first author.

"There is increasing concern about the potential effects of traffic-related air pollution on the developing brain," Newman says. "This impact is not fully understood due to limited epidemiological studies.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest prospective cohort with the longest follow-up investigating early life exposure to traffic-related air pollution and neurobehavioral outcomes at school age." Scientists believe that early life exposures to a variety of toxic substances are important in the development of problems later in life.

Newman and his colleagues collected data on traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) from the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a long-term epidemiological study examining the effects of traffic particulates on childhood respiratory health and allergy development. Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, CCAAPS is led by Grace LeMasters, PhD, of the environmental health department. Study participants -- newborns in the Cincinnati metropolitan area from 2001 through 2003 -- were chosen based on family history and their residence being either near or far from a major highway or bus route.

Children were followed from infancy to age 7, when parents completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition (BASC-2), assessing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related symptoms including attention problems, aggression, conduct problems and atypical behavior. Of the 762 children initially enrolled in the study, 576 were included in the final analysis at 7 years of age.

Results showed that children who were exposed to the highest third amount of TRAP during the first year of life were more likely to have hyperactivity scores in the "at risk" range when they were 7 years old. The "at risk" range for hyperactivity in children means that they need to be monitored carefully because they are at risk for developing clinically important symptoms.

"Several biological mechanisms could explain the association between hyperactive behaviors and traffic-related air pollution," Newman says, including narrowed blood vessels in the body and toxicity in the brain's frontal cortex.

Newman notes that the higher air pollution exposure was associated with a significant increase in hyperactivity only among those children whose mothers had greater than a high school education. Mothers with higher education may expect higher achievement, he says, affecting the parental report of behavioral concerns.

"The observed association between traffic-related air pollution and hyperactivity may have far-reaching implications for public health," Newman says, noting that studies have shown that approximately 11 percent of the U.S. population lives within 100 meters of a four-lane highway and that 40 percent of children attend school within 400 meters of a major highway.

"Traffic-related air pollution is one of many factors associated with changes in neurodevelopment, but it is one that is potentially preventable."

LeMasters, Patrick Ryan, PhD, Linda Levin, PhD, David Bernstein, MD, Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD, James Lockey, PhD, Manuel Villareal, MD, Tiina Reponen, PhD, Sergey Grinshpun, PhD, Heidi Sucharew, PhD, and Kim Dietrich, PhD, were co-authors of the study.

Funding was provided by NIEHS and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/puxdw3mCYNE/130521011234.htm

Giovanna Plowman martin luther king jr quotes Inauguration 2013 Tony Gonzalez Richard Blanco Anna Burns Welker Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fastest measurements ever made of ion channel proteins

May 20, 2013 ? The miniaturization of electronics continues to create unprecedented capabilities in computer and communications applications, enabling handheld wireless devices with tremendous computing performance operating on battery power. This same miniaturization of electronic systems is also creating new opportunities in biotechnology and biophysics.

A team of researchers at Columbia Engineering has used miniaturized electronics to measure the activity of individual ion-channel proteins with temporal resolution as fine as one microsecond, producing the fastest recordings of single ion channels ever performed. Ion channels are biomolecules that allow charged atoms to flow in and out of cells, and they are an important work-horse in cell signaling, sensing, and energetics. They are also being explored for nanopore sequencing applications. As the "transistors" of living systems, they are the target of many drugs, and the ability to perform such fast measurements of these proteins will lead to new understanding of their functions.

The researchers have designed a custom integrated circuit to perform these measurements, in which an artificial cell membrane and ion channel are attached directly to the surface of the amplifier chip. The results are described in a paper published online May 1, 2013, in Nano Letters.

"Scientists have been measuring single ion channels using large rack-mount electronic systems for the last 30 years," says Jacob Rosenstein, the lead author on the paper. Rosenstein was a PhD student in electrical engineering at the School at the time this work was done, and is now an assistant professor at Brown University. "By designing a custom microelectronic amplifier and tightly integrating the ion channel directly onto the amplifier chip surface, we are able to reduce stray capacitances that get in the way of making fast measurements."

"This work builds on other efforts in my laboratory to study the properties of individual molecules using custom electronics designed for this purpose," says Ken Shepard, professor of electrical engineering at the School and Rosenstein's adviser. The Shepard group continues to find ways to speed up these single-molecule measurements. "In some cases," he adds, "we may be able to speed things up to be a million times faster than current techniques."

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/LPXV4eezxRk/130520154259.htm

Yash Chopra George McGovern braxton miller braxton miller Whitney Heichel Tippi Hedren Big Tex

CSN: Phils touch Reds' Chapman for 2 HRs

BOX SCORE

Cliff Lee was never so disappointed to see a teammate hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning than he was when Erik Kratz belted one deep into the left-field seats on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

That?s because Lee had just been picked off first base by Cincinnati?s flame-thrower closer Aroldis Chapman just two pitches before Kratz went deep.

?It was brutal,? said Lee, who was in the game as a pinch runner for Delmon Young. ?I felt horrible. [Kratz] made up for my mistake, which was unacceptable and, basically, brutal.?

Lee?s boneheaded move will be nothing more than a fun little footnote to the Phillies? dramatic 3-2 victory over the Reds. After Kratz tied the game with the home run, Freddy Galvis hit a walk-off shot just three-pitches later (see Instant Replay).

?I thought it was going to hook foul. I hit it good, but I didn?t think it was going to the wall,? Galvis said of his first walk-off. ?[It was] awesome. First time in my life and I?ll never forget it.?

It was the most improbable and dramatic victory of the season for the Phillies, and it almost didn?t happen. If Kratz had done anything other than hit a homer to tie the game in the ninth, manager Charlie Manuel would have used John Mayberry as a pinch hitter for Galvis.

Manuel said he would have gone with Mayberry because he felt the outfielder had a better chance of hitting a homer compared to Galvis. This is despite the fact that Mayberry has just two homers in 112 plate appearances this season and Galvis has three homers in 62 plate appearances.

But as the skipper says, baseball is a funny game.

?I was thinking about Mayberry?s power and that he hit a ball really hard against Chapman before,? Manuel said.

?That?s baseball and that?s the way it goes. You never know. I was thinking about sending Mayberry up there because he?s more apt to hit one out. We were down to the end there.?

Instead, Lee got picked off, setting off a whole chain of events where Kratz homered and Galvis remained in the game to hit the walk-off piece.

?It felt great. It was the best feeling I?ve had in a while when [Galvis] hit that homer to redeem my mistake,? Lee said. ?It was huge. I feel like I should be able to play fundamental baseball and that?s basically the opposite of that. That just can?t happen no matter who is running right there. You know the situation and you know the scenario and it can?t happen. It?s not going to happen again by me, I can tell you that.?

The fact that the Phillies had a chance to tie the game ? let alone win it ? is a different story all together. After being shut out for the sixth time this season in Saturday?s 10-0 loss to the Reds, the Phillies? offense wasn?t exactly in a hurry to wake up on Sunday.

Facing starter Homer Bailey, the Phillies did not cross a run in the first seven innings, pushing their scoreless innings streak to 16. In doing so, the Phillies did a nice job wasting the few opportunities they had. During three of the first four innings, they had a runner on base with one out or fewer, and they got the leadoff man on in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings.

The Phillies left runners in scoring position in the first, second, fourth and sixth and finally plated a run with two outs in the eighth when Ben Revere singled and Michael Young walked against reliever Jonathan Broxton. That set up an RBI single for Chase Utley against reliever Sean Marshall to get the Phillies to within a run.

?I thought we hit the ball hard all day. It just got caught and everything,? Manuel said. ?We stayed with them and something good happened for us at the end. That?s the way you have to do it if you?re not scoring a lot of runs.?

It helped that rookie Jonathan Pettibone turned in another solid performance, allowing just one earned run on seven hits and three walks in a career-high seven innings. In doing so, Pettibone became the first Phillies rookie to allow three earned runs or fewer in his first six career starts since Ben Rivera did it in 1992.

It also helped that the Phillies got a solid performance from relievers Justin De Fratus and Antonio Bastardo in the eighth and ninth innings, too. By keeping the game close, the Phillies had a chance.

?Huge,? said Kratz, who came into the game during the third inning when Carlos Ruiz strained his hamstring (see story). ?It wouldn?t have mattered if we got through it with seven guys in the bullpen or one guy. The job when they come in there is to keep it right there. You have to play it like a zero-to-zero game. You can?t let them get it to three because Chapman with a two-run lead is tougher than Chapman with a one-run lead. Each run is huge.?

Even the Phillies? first run of the game with two outs in the eighth was huge. Revere legged out an infield hit on an 0-2 pitch to set up a walk for Michael Young on a seven-pitch at-bat.

Where would the Phillies have been without that one run?

Better yet, where would the Phillies have been if Lee hadn?t been picked off, or if Mayberry would have hit instead of Galvis?

?It wasn?t a big deal,? Kratz said. ?If I would have hit a double in the gap, maybe it?s a little different. I?m glad Cliff [got picked off] and we won.?

Next, the Phillies hit the road for eight games starting in Miami on Monday night.

Cole Hamels (1-6, 4.61) looks to bounce back from a shaky outing against Cleveland against right-hander Alex Sanabia (2-6, 5.00) in the opener.

Source: http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-philadelphia-phillies/kratz-galvis-make-lees-mistake-phillies-walk-win

natalie wood patriots Sandy Hook Hoax 2014 Corvette Stacie Halas Corvette Stingray Claire Danes

Snakebites in Family Pets [infographic]

Let?s be honest, most of us treat our pets more like humans than animals. I?ve known dogs who have birthday parties every year, and better wardrobes than I do. Some people have pets instead of kids, and will do almost anything to ensure their well-being. This includes keeping them safe.

Summer is upon us, which means hotter weather, taller grass, and more critters in our backyards that bite, that could potentially injure our cats and canines. We love our domesticated beasts, but as much as we hate to admit it, they aren?t always the brightest of beings?especially if they feel threatened. Today?s infographic shows us what to do if our pets ever come across a snake.

I have an uncle who lives in the rural southwest, who owned a golden retriever for awhile. The poor creature managed to get into a losing fight with a rattlesnake three times. You would think the dog would have learned something after the first incident, but he continued to be a repeat offender. Maybe it was the rush of the brawl? The fact that dogs live to serve and protect? Either way, this dose of pastoral reality was never any fun for the dog or his owner. Hopefully, an incident like this will never happen to your pet, but if it does, keep calm and keep this infographic in mind. [Via]

Share This Infographic

---

Get Free Infographics Delivered to your Inbox

Source: http://dailyinfographic.com/snakebites-in-family-pets-infographic

vikings Colin Powell noaa Jessica Ridgeway ipad mini Kevin Krim Autumn Pasquale

Reading rock to understand how climate change unfolds

May 18, 2013 ? What happened the last time a vegetated Earth shifted from an extremely cold climate to desert-like conditions? And what does it tell us about climate change today?

John Isbell is on a quest to coax that information from the geology of the southernmost portions of the Earth. It won't be easy, because the last transition from "icehouse to greenhouse" occurred between 335 and 290 million years ago.

An expert in glaciation from the late Paleozoic Era, Isbell is challenging many assumptions about the way drastic climate change naturally unfolds. The research helps form the all-important baseline needed to predict what the added effects of human activity will bring.

Starting from 'deep freeze'

In the late Paleozoic, the modern continents were fused together into two huge land masses, with what is now the Southern Hemisphere, including Antarctica, called Gondwana. During the span of more than 60 million years, Gondwana shifted from a state of deep freeze into one so hot and dry it supported the appearance of reptiles. The change, however, didn't happen uniformly, Isbell says.

In fact, his research has shaken the common belief that Gondwana was covered by one massive sheet of ice which gradually and steadily melted away as conditions warmed. Isbell has found that at least 22 individual ice sheets were located in various places over the region. And the state of glaciation during the long warming period was marked by dramatic swings in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels.

"There appears to be a direct association between low CO₂ levels and glaciation," he says. "A lot of the changes in greenhouse gases and in a shrinking ice volume then are similar to what we're seeing today."

When the ice finally started disappearing, he says, it did so in the polar regions first and lingered in other parts of Gondwana with higher elevations. He attributes that to different conditions across Gondwana, such as mountain-building events, which would have preserved glaciers longer.

All about the carbon

To get an accurate picture of the range of conditions in the late Paleozoic, Isbell has traveled to Antarctica 16 times and has joined colleagues from around the world as part of an interdisciplinary team funded by the National Science Foundation. They have regularly gone to places where no one has ever walked on the rocks before.

One of his colleagues is paleoecologist Erik Gulbranson, who studies plant communities from the tail end of the Paleozoic and how they evolved in concert with the climatic changes. The information contained in fossil soil and plants, he says, can reveal a lot about carbon cycling, which is so central for applying the work to climate change today.

Documenting the particulars of how the carbon cycle behaved so long ago will allow them to answer questions like, 'What was the main force behind glaciation during the late Paleozoic? Was it mountain-building or climate change?'

Another characteristic of the late Paleozoic shift is that once the climate warmed significantly and atmospheric CO₂ levels soared, the Earth's climate remained hot and dry for another 200 million years.

"These natural cycles are very long, and that's an important difference with what we're seeing with the contemporary global climate change," says Gulbranson. "Today, we're seeing change in greenhouse gas concentrations of CO₂ on the order of centuries and decades."

Ancient trees and soil

In order to explain today's accelerated warming, Gulbranson's research illustrates that glaciers alone don't tell the whole story.

Many environmental factors leave an imprint on the carbon contained in tree trunks from this period. One of the things Gulbranson hypothesizes from his research in Antarctica is that an increase in deciduous trees occurred in higher latitudes during the late Paleozoic, driven by higher temperatures.

What he doesn't yet know is what the net effect was on the carbon cycle.

While trees soak in CO₂ and give off oxygen, there are other environmental processes to consider, says Gulbranson. For example, CO₂ emissions also come from soil as microbes speed up their consumption of organic matter with rising temperatures.

"The high latitudes today contain the largest amount of carbon locked up as organic material and permafrost soils on Earth today," he says. "It actually exceeds the amount of carbon you can measure in the rain forests. So what happens to that stockpile of carbon when you warm it and grow a forest over it is completely unknown."

Another unknown is whether the Northern Hemisphere during this time was also glaciated and warming. The pair are about to find out. With UWM backing, they will do field work in northeastern Russia this summer to study glacial deposits from the late Paleozoic.

The two scientists' work is complementary. Dating the rock is essential to pinpointing the rate of change in the carbon cycle, which would be the warning signal we could use today to indicate that nature is becoming dangerously unbalanced.

"If we figure out what happened with the glaciers," says Isbell, "and add it to what we know about other conditions -- we will be able to unlock the answers to climate change."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/lad7DFFJLRs/130518153259.htm

Lupe Ontiveros London 2012 China muhammad ali Opening ceremony London 2012 Olympics Schedule 2012 Olympic Medal Count 2012 Olympics 2012

98% Mud

All Critics (131) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (129) | Rotten (2)

There is an enchanted-fairy-tale aspect to Mud, but its bright, calm surface only barely disguises a strong, churning undercurrent.

A modern fairy tale, steeped in the sleepy Mississippi lore of Twain and similar American writers, and with a heart as big as the river is wide.

Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather.

Nichols takes his time with the story, dwelling on how the boy is shaped by the killer's tragic sense of romance, yet the suspense holds.

"Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career.

"Mud" unfolds at its own pace, revealing its story in slivers. The performances are outstanding, especially from Sheridan, who plays tough, sweet, vulnerable and confused with equal conviction.

As Mud might say, it's a hell of a thing.

The boys are so skillfully played that Mud also plays like cinema verite. Nichols' fluid camerawork suggests a documentary-style approach. That helps these young lads transform into flesh-and-blood characters who get our attention and support.

Sheridan, who played the Terrence Malick surrogate in The Tree Of Life, is terrific at conveying adolescent confusion with tiny squints and frowns, and McConaughey plays off him masterfully.

Carefully crafting films that fly just below the political radar, director-writer Jeff Nichols is slowly, but surely, reweaving the fabric of the American dream.

It's totally worth it to pay good money to see a good, little film nestled between theaters showing 'Iron Man 3' and 'The Great Gatsby.' (Complete Content Details for Parents also available)

This is a junior adventure story echoing Huckleberry Finn and Stand By Me, a tale which is in no hurry to unfold, but beautifully done, exquisitely performed, and filled with terror and wonder.

Beautifully acted, intellectually engaging, and dramatically satisfying, Mud deserves to rocket to the top of your must-see list.

Nichols is a gifted writer-director who knows how to get into the heads of his characters. And this film has superior actors who create people who are intriguing and hugely involving.

'Mud' is a standout film in this 'coming of age' genre mainly because of its central character, one tough, warm-hearted, stubborn little kid who believes in the power of love, above all else.

Other than pacing problems that needlessly stretch the film past the two-hour mark, 'Mud' slings the dirt and sweat with the best of them, as it both mourns and celebrates a way of life that's all but disappeared.

A sublime coming-of-age film, 'Mud' would be the offspring if 'Stand By Me' and 'Cape Fear' reproduced.

Mud is a movie of striking performances and memorable images and of people who seem to belong in rather than being imposed upon their environment.

A brilliant metaphor for how a child deals with divorce.

This might be Mud. But it deserves to stick.

This is a film that gives McConaughey the chance to be an actor rather than a star, and, not for the first time, he grabs the opportunity.

Gone is the rom-com character and emphasis on a toothy smile and six-pack abs. Matthew McConaughey is showing off some acting chops.

Mud is, perhaps, a little longer than it needed to be, but few sensitive viewers will begrudge Nichols his indulgence. This director is the real thing.

Writer-director Nichols continues to get inside the heads of his characters with this involving but overlong dramatic thriller.

No quotes approved yet for Mud. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mud_2012/

chris kelly Mayweather Fight Mayweather amanda bynes Robert Guerrero Call Of Duty Ghosts may day

Intuit Grant Gives Lucky Birds a New Lease on Life | QuickBooks by ...

Tropical parrots are among the most exotic, beautiful, and intelligent creatures?that may be kept as domesticated pets. As such, they?re always in demand. But caring for the birds ? which are known for their colorful plumage, hooked bills, and blunt tongues ? is a massive responsibility that many owners are unable or unprepared to handle.

?Parrots are very long-lived,? notes Judy Tennant, founder of?Parrot Partner, a rescue and rehabilitation center based in Ottawa, Ontario. ?Some of them can live for up to 80 years.? Many people are forced to give up their birds for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is how demanding they are, she explains.

?They are wild animals ? semi-tame,? the bird handler?and trainer says, noting that there are very few places for relinquished birds to go today due to the heavy demands of their care.

?We offer a place that?will?take care of them and train them,? Tennant says of Parrot Partner, which she formally launched in 2011. ?We have a veterinary technician on staff, and I?ve got a background in exotic animal training and behavior modification.?

Beyond rescuing birds that need a new home, Tennant and her staff work tirelessly to educate current and prospective parrot owners. Their goal is to foster informed, responsible parrot care.

?It?s a very specialized service we offer ? and I love it, obviously,? confesses Tennant, who was an educator specializing in leadership development and organizational behavior prior to founding her organization. ?I?ve dedicated my life to it.?

Tennant?s passion for parrots inspired her to enter Intuit?s?Small Business Growing Strong?campaign. Her wish: to give all of the parrots she rescues a place where they can fly again.

?What we?re wishing for is an outdoor aviary to house parrots who have been relinquished or given up,? she says. ?These birds are meant to fly. If they don?t, it?s like having a dolphin in a bathtub.?

Tennant thinks an aviary represents the only chance these birds will have to fly somewhat freely again.?Domesticated birds, after all, rarely survive if reintroduced to the wild.? Over time, a parrot?s natural survival instincts ? including their ability to find food ? are severely diminished.

Today Intuit?granted Tennant?s wish to build a new aviary for her beloved birds.

?This is amazing,? she says. ?These guys [the parrots] struggle without being able to fly, and they are really going to just blossom because of this. ? They are going to be able to play together, fly together, and hang upside down from branches.?

Tennant says she gets teary-eyed when she thinks about it. ?We have 20 parrots right now, and we will probably be able to take on more because of this. Imagine 20 parrots being ?let loose? for the first time in years. The improvement in their health, happiness, and disposition is going to be overwhelming.?

Share and Enjoy

A leading provider of business, financial and tax management solutions, Intuit Canada is committed to supporting the innovation, success, and prosperity of small business owners across the country.

Source: http://blog.intuit.ca/intuit-grant-gives-lucky-birds-a-new-lease-on-life/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=intuit-grant-gives-lucky-birds-a-new-lease-on-life

greg mortenson jim marshall died 2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees full moon aubrey o day johan santana

**PC@2@TV**WaTch Sampdoria vs Juventus live streaming Online ...

Hello Dear, Today Italy ? Serie A (Table) Live: you are most welcome Sampdoria vs Juventus live streaming online free sports start today if you want to watch this match you must be going to the field or need a software and also a laptop or a desktop or i?pot mobile.Sampdoria vs Juventus live stream Italy ? Serie A (Table) on your pc.

>>>Match Schedule<<<
Competition: Italy ? Serie A (Table)-2013
Team: Sampdoria vs Juventus live
Date : Saturday, May 18, 2013
Kick Off Time : 20:45 PM(ET)

The Following TV are Broadcast Bwin, Canal Plus France, ESPN Caribbean, ESPN Deportes, ESPN HD Brasil, ESPN2, ESPN3 USA, Fox Sports Basico, Fox Sports Premium, Sky 3D, Sky Sport 1 Germany, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports HD 2, Sport.TV1, SuperSport 3, SuperSport HD 3, SuperSport Maximo many tv are broadcast Sampdoria vs Juventus live soccer Game Video tv channel on pc.

Sampdoria vs Juventus live, Sampdoria vs Juventus live online, Sampdoria vs Juventus live online on pc, Sampdoria vs Juventus live online on your pc or laptop, Sampdoria vs Juventus live stream. this live play just click here. watch and enjoy Sampdoria vs Juventus live streaming live online boroadcast here, You can enjoy the action live streaming on your PC via Internet tv channels. Sampdoria vs Juventus live match live video.

Source: http://www.articlessquad.com/pc2tvwatch-sampdoria-vs-juventus-live-streaming-online-soccer-game-hd-video-live-tv-coverage/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pc2tvwatch-sampdoria-vs-juventus-live-streaming-online-soccer-game-hd-video-live-tv-coverage

Sunil Tripathi Tavon Austin Ella Fitzgerald Kenny Vaccaro Kate McKinnon gwyneth paltrow Pink moon

What does genocide conviction of R?os Montt mean to Guatemalans abroad?

Many in the Guatemalan diaspora celebrated the historic conviction of ex-dictator R?os Montt. But some say one conviction alone can't resolve the aftermath of the 36-year-long bloody conflict.

By Kara Andrade,?Guest blogger / May 17, 2013

Guatemala's former dictator R?os Montt wears with headphones as he listens to the verdict in his genocide trial in Guatemala City, last Friday. The Guatemalan court convicted Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to 80 years in prison.

Luis Soto/AP

Enlarge

? The views expressed are the author's own.

Skip to next paragraph

Recent posts

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; // google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

From Texas last week, I tuned in to the trial of Guatemala's former-dictator Efra?n R?os Montt as he was sentenced to 80 years in prison and heaved a tearful sigh of relief.?

His sentence ? the maximum in Guatemala ? came 12 years after the case was initially filed with the Inter-American Court in Spain. And it was long-awaited:?Mr. R?os Montt's 18 months as Guatemala?s dictator, is considered the bloodiest of the country?s entire civil war. His trial was the first time any domestic court has tried someone on genocide in the world.?

When I called my mother in Florida to share the news she didn't miss a beat: "Por fin ese viejo se va a la carcel, donde se merece estar." At last, that old man is in jail, where he deserves to be.

I wasn't the only Guatemalan-American live-streaming the trial, reading the blogs, local papers, and any new piece of information that could help me grasp what my country was going through.?

The rest of my family was doing the same from Los Angeles, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Miami, and North Carolina. And there were all the people I didn't know, who I was connecting with on Facebook from Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Amsterdam, Argentina, and other parts of the world. It seemed everyone was commenting on the R?os Montt trial, which began in November 2012.

For many in the Guatemalan diaspora this was a David and Goliath moment, the giant dictator demolished by the humble stone of the Guatemalan court.

?I felt a rush of energy along the marimba of my spine, ending up as a cascade of tears of joy,? says Martha Chavez, a Guatemalan comedian based in Toronto. ?I wanted to yell, ?Champagne for the whole world, hooray!?"

Aida Morales, also in Canada, cried, too. This was the conviction of a man many long felt was most responsible for the genocide of the early 1980s.

?I was almost unwilling to believe that I was awake, rather than dreaming, it was too good to be true,? says Hugo Orozco, a political exile based in New York City.

History of the conflict

The origins of Guatemala's civil war date back to the split that emerged after the United States financially backed a military coup in 1954 that overthrew leftist President Jacobo Arbenz Guzm?n. Mr. Guzm?n?s election was viewed by many Guatemalans as the first sign of democracy: The country adopted a new constitution that broadened suffrage and supported the labor and agrarian movements. He initiated land reform and sought to make United Fruit Company pay taxes on its immense holdings in Guatemala. But the victory was short-lived.?

In the context of the cold war, the US saw Guzm?n?s moves as tainted by Cuba?s communist influence.

The US supported right-wing military governments in Guatemala until 1988. A significant period of support came after R?os Montt?s brief presidency, which began in 1982 after a military coup. Some 200,000 people were killed during the Guatemalan civil war, mostly members of indigenous communities, and many point to R?os Montt's tenure as one of the most violent periods of the 36-year internal conflict.

There were death squads, executions, forced disappearances, and torture of noncombatants. The majority of the human rights violations took place under R?os Montt?s ?scorched earth? campaign that aimed to destroy-all-opponents.

During this armed conflict, many Guatemalans became political refugees, asylum seekers, or immigrants looking for economic opportunity outside of a country at war. My family left because of the poverty in the rural areas that resulted from the conflict, and still remains.

The conflict only came to an end in 1996, with the signing of the Guatemalan Peace Accords, and Guatemala?s social fabric is still shadowed by its long history of political repression and decades of violence.

Included in the Peace Accords was the acknowledgement of the rights of indigenous people to receive a full range of social services in their own languages, including legal services, public education, and health care. But disparities in economic, health, and education services still remain between indigenous and nonindigenous populations.

'Reality check'

The day of the verdict, there was a collective sigh of relief among the many Guatemalans who had long felt betrayed ? by their country, their legal system, and the international community. But the court?s decision to charge Montt was also a reality check: Reconciliation won't suddenly appear thanks to one conviction.

Montt is only the beginning. There is a lot of work left to be done in terms of holding people accountable for a whole host of crimes committed during the civil war. These crimes are inextricably part of the social fiber that is our country and our continuing battle with ?los poderes ocultos,? the hidden powers, today.

And some are not so hidden. Testimony during Montt?s trial implicated current President Otto Perez Molina in similar crimes against humanity. (As standing president he has political immunity.) Mr. Perez Molina stated in an interview with CNN that while he is willing to apologize for crimes of the past, he does not believe genocide occurred in Guatemala.

The verdict itself is being challenged by Montt's attorney,?Francisco Garcia Gudiel. Mr. Garcia stated he had lodged four constitutional challenges and eight protections, or amparos, which have not yet been ruled upon.?

My personal feelings about this trial bring up the same complex emotions I feel when I think about finding my father. He was a lieutenant in Guatemala during that era: Did he play a role in the atrocities? He abandoned my mother during the war, but he still shaped who I am. Much like Guatemala, he is inseparably a part of my identity, for better or for worse.

?Nothing will ever be the same,? Ms. Chavez from Toronto says. ?Even if the reality is still gloomy, people now know there?s the undeniable truth of the sun. And it will eventually shine.?

? Kara Andrade is an Ashoka fellow working in Central America, and co-founder of HablaCentro LLC a non-profit that develops curriculum to help people in Latin America become more digitally literate and civically engaged.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of Latin America bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/AZVGQSQA7-4/What-does-genocide-conviction-of-Rios-Montt-mean-to-Guatemalans-abroad

portland trail blazers blagojevich new mexico state kevin rose sessions march madness scores doonesbury

Artificial forest for solar water-splitting: First fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystem

May 16, 2013 ? In the wake of the sobering news that atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at its highest level in at least three million years, an important advance in the race to develop carbon-neutral renewable energy sources has been achieved. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported the first fully integrated nanosystem for artificial photosynthesis. While "artificial leaf" is the popular term for such a system, the key to this success was an "artificial forest."

"Similar to the chloroplasts in green plants that carry out photosynthesis, our artificial photosynthetic system is composed of two semiconductor light absorbers, an interfacial layer for charge transport, and spatially separated co-catalysts," says Peidong Yang, a chemist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, who led this research. "To facilitate solar water- splitting in our system, we synthesized tree-like nanowire heterostructures, consisting of silicon trunks and titanium oxide branches. Visually, arrays of these nanostructures very much resemble an artificial forest."

Yang, who also holds appointments with the University of California Berkeley's Chemistry Department and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in the journal NANO Letters. The paper is titled "A Fully Integrated Nanosystem of Semiconductor Nanowires for Direct Solar Water Splitting." Co-authors are Chong Liu, Jinyao Tang, Hao Ming Chen and Bin Liu.

Solar technologies are the ideal solutions for carbon-neutral renewable energy -- there's enough energy in one hour's worth of global sunlight to meet all human needs for a year. Artificial photosynthesis, in which solar energy is directly converted into chemical fuels, is regarded as one of the most promising of solar technologies. A major challenge for artificial photosynthesis is to produce hydrogen cheaply enough to compete with fossil fuels. Meeting this challenge requires an integrated system that can efficiently absorb sunlight and produce charge-carriers to drive separate water reduction and oxidation half-reactions.

"In natural photosynthesis the energy of absorbed sunlight produces energized charge-carriers that execute chemical reactions in separate regions of the chloroplast," Yang says. "We've integrated our nanowire nanoscale heterostructure into a functional system that mimics the integration in chloroplasts and provides a conceptual blueprint for better solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies in the future."

When sunlight is absorbed by pigment molecules in a chloroplast, an energized electron is generated that moves from molecule to molecule through a transport chain until ultimately it drives the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbohydrate sugars. This electron transport chain is called a "Z-scheme" because the pattern of movement resembles the letter Z on its side. Yang and his colleagues also use a Z-scheme in their system only they deploy two Earth abundant and stable semiconductors -- silicon and titanium oxide -- loaded with co-catalysts and with an ohmic contact inserted between them. Silicon was used for the hydrogen-generating photocathode and titanium oxide for the oxygen-generating photoanode. The tree-like architecture was used to maximize the system's performance. Like trees in a real forest, the dense arrays of artificial nanowire trees suppress sunlight reflection and provide more surface area for fuel producing reactions.

"Upon illumination photo-excited electron?hole pairs are generated in silicon and titanium oxide, which absorb different regions of the solar spectrum," Yang says. "The photo-generated electrons in the silicon nanowires migrate to the surface and reduce protons to generate hydrogen while the photo-generated holes in the titanium oxide nanowires oxidize water to evolve oxygen molecules. The majority charge carriers from both semiconductors recombine at the ohmic contact, completing the relay of the Z-scheme, similar to that of natural photosynthesis."

Under simulated sunlight, this integrated nanowire-based artificial photosynthesis system achieved a 0.12-percent solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency. Although comparable to some natural photosynthetic conversion efficiencies, this rate will have to be substantially improved for commercial use. However, the modular design of this system allows for newly discovered individual components to be readily incorporated to improve its performance. For example, Yang notes that the photocurrent output from the system's silicon cathodes and titanium oxide anodes do not match, and that the lower photocurrent output from the anodes is limiting the system's overall performance.

"We have some good ideas to develop stable photoanodes with better performance than titanium oxide," Yang says. "We're confident that we will be able to replace titanium oxide anodes in the near future and push the energy conversion efficiency up into single digit percentages."

This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/-H0oY-bg1xo/130516142654.htm

miranda kerr Rehtaeh Parsons National Sibling Day march madness Masters Leaderboard 2013 How Animals Eat Their Food Aereo

Health Fitness Marketing Plan Health and Fitness ? Popular Myths ...

In case you personally own a health and fitness club you?ll need to learn how to debunk all of the physical fitness misconceptions to acquire clients. Additionally be sure to have a very good fitness business plan in your own total schedule to expand. Going far outside the norm in pursuit of health and looking fit still goes on today and probably always will, and this is where people get into trouble. But this is really not surprising given the plethora of advice that is flat out wrong or based on old tales. How many years have diets based on the latest flavor of something come out each year? Too many and this will never go away. Watch as we roll back the false information and clear the air on the following three items pertaining to health and fitness.

You can spend a fair amount of time researching how to maintain your body and mind in good health. Along with apples, you can combine them with blueberries and other fruits, and in this way it?s all excellent for health. Superior antioxidant powers are resident in them, and of course that is not all they contain. There are so many other foods you can mix blueberries with, and one of the most popular is yogurt but avoid those with high sugar content. Still, don???t discount the other fruits and vegetables that are out there because a balanced diet is a healthy diet.

You need to drink at least a gallon of water every day (or eight eight ounce glasses) to stay healthy. A person who works out a lot will need more than someone who does not, so that is a perfect example of this. It is dangerous to advise some form of universal amount that applies to every single person. Some of those factors are going to include how active your lifestyle might be. Drink water in sensible amounts, and be aware that there is such a thing as water poisoning.

People get confused about whether they should feed the cold or starve the fever. Drinking orange juice or eating a hearty meal will not be noticed by any cold virus, so just ignore this bit of wives tale. The best course of action for your body is sleeping and resting, and then you have to give your self nourishment. Common colds and the like will not disappear overnight regardless of the circumstances.

You may have had a problem discerning facts from all the crap out there, but that is all right. Trying to figure out what things you???ve heard are true and which things are little more than myth can be really difficult. When you assume control in your life, then you will become reborn and there is nothing like it.

how to do a handstand backflip

Like this:

Like Loading...

Source: http://piwipesa.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/health-fitness-marketing-plan-health-and-fitness-popular-myths-demystified/

invisible children kony 2012 space weather sunspots pac 12 tournament sun storm tri international criminal court