WASHINGTON (AP) ? Although the number of pending veterans' disability claims keep soaring, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Sunday said he's committed to ending the backlog in 2015 by replacing paper with electronic records.
Veterans receive disability compensation for injuries or illness incurred during their active military service. About 600,000 claims, or 70 percent, are considered backlogged. The number of claims pending for more than 125 days has nearly quadrupled under Shinseki's watch.
Shinseki told CNN's "State of the Union" that a decade of war and efforts to make it easier for veterans to collect compensation for certain illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder have driven the backlog higher during his tenure. He said that doing away with paper records will be the key to a turnaround.
Shinseki said that the VA has puts its new computer system in place in 20 regional offices around the country and all regional offices will be on the system by the end of the year.
"This has been decades in the making, 10 years of war. We're in paper, we need to get out of paper," Shinseki said. The Defense Department and other agencies still file paper claims, he said, but "we have commitments that in 2014 we will be electronically processing our data and sharing it."
Congressional committees have held two hearings on the disability claims bottleneck in the past two weeks. Lawmakers voiced growing frustration with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"There are many people, including myself, who are losing patience as we continue to hear the same excuses from VA about increased workload and increased complexity of claims," Florida's Rep. Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said during a hearing on Wednesday.
"No veteran should have to wait for claims. If there's anybody impatient here, I am that individual and we're pushing hard," said Shinseki, the former four-star Army general who became VA secretary when President Barack Obama came into office.
About 4.3 million veterans and survivors receive disability benefits. Most veterans whose claims are backlogged, about 60 percent, are getting some disability compensation already and have filed for additional benefits for other injuries or illnesses.
Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said a presidential commission was needed to bring greater emphasis to solving the problem and to make sure all federal agencies were on the same page.
"We're tired of waiting for the VA to get their act together," Tarantino said.
Peter Gaytan, executive director of the American Legion, emphasized that resolving disability claims in a timely manner is an issue his organization has dealt with for decades.
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
If you are a fan of absolutes, then you are in the right place. We have a first, a fastest and a biggest in this week's round-up of all things sci-tech. We'll try to add one more to that -- a quickest. The quickest intro for this feature ever. Did we manage it? This is alt-week.
Self improvement goals vary for every personal. Every person needs to achieve their prospective in particular areas of their life. To become successful in life, we must have objectives that drive us within the pursuit of achieving our possible. This short article is stuffed with great suggestions to help you gain a greater understanding of the best way to achieve your targets.
Are you possessing trouble conference that particular someone? Provide the Web a attempt. Today, 40 % of partners meet through the internet. Yours might be out there searching for you. Both have their rewards and their downfalls.
You can't remember to all of the people, and there is no use in trying. Please yourself first! This means which you are accountable for the satisfaction with existence, not that you simply ought to sacrifice other people's happiness to the sake of one's personal. In the event you remain correct to yourself whilst honoring your personal code of ethics, you'll be much better ready for self improvement.
Teach your self to follow typical behavior of successful individuals. Commence with just a few basic behavior, and practice them till they grow to be a long term component of one's daily routine. It may get around three weeks to acquire a new behavior, so it's essential to maintain trying.
Self Improvement Attitude
Stress and pleasure do not go together. When our minds are busy coping with anxiety, we are leading to harm to our whole physique, each mentally and physically. Eliminating stress is essential for considering plainly and achieving self improvement goals. Each day, consider time to peaceful your mind and loosen up. This time and energy to oneself can make you're feeling a lot more peaceful and achieve your self improvement goals without the stress.
Cease stressing the small stuff. It's usually the situation that the things you devote time worrying about will never really occur. Consider a rational method of your issues. Feel of just what the worse that might take place is and just how you'd probably offer with that. Then, you're ready to manage whatever receives thrown your way. Abnormal worrying solves nothing at all.
Self Improvement Laws
There is an idea in the "Law of Threes," which suggests that something, good or poor, that you simply do to others will return to you personally threefold. Produce a made the decision work to hope for your greatest in these about you. Pondering positively can decrease the load of negativity although striving towards self improvement.
Usually do not attempt in order to avoid producing choices in your journey, because they may direct to opportunities. Don't worry the choice producing job. Teach your self, if necessary, to produce the best selections possible. You can also find out a whole lot from making errors by realizing what to prevent later on. A foul option will just open up up the doorway for a much better one.
Make sure to maintain observe of the development alongside the way. Make short-term and long-term targets for the optimum benefit. Keep a journal and you also will begin to notice the progress you are producing in your self improvement journey.
Archos has been going through some tough times lately, having to reorganize and lay off a quarter of its staff toward the end of last year. You could say that the company is using the spring as a chance for renewal: company Chairman Henri Crohas has picked Deputy CEO Loïc Poirier to replace him in the full CEO position as of May 1st. Poirier's main focus will be on finishing the work that started in 2012, which should concentrate Archos' efforts on its signature tablet business as well as ventures into home automation and smartphones.
As if to mark its potential comeback, the company is catering to Americans by shipping its 80 Titanium and 97 Titanium tablets their way alongside the already mentioned GamePad. The 8- and 9.7-inch slates are selling for $169 and $249, with screen size the real differentiatior -- both run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on top of a dual-core 1.6GHz processor and an IPS-based LCD. They won't give a Nexus 10 owner second thoughts, but they include a fair amount of bang for our US bucks.
Michael Bay is doing his best to assemble a dreamy cast for a movie that stars CGI turtles. It is being reported that "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" stud Alan Ritchson has joined the cast of Bay's upcoming "Ninja Turtles" as Raphael. We get it... sort of. Ritchson needed to prove he was good with [...]
This undated photo provided by Brown University shows Chinua Achebe at his home in Warwick, R.I. Achebe, an internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, has died at age 82. Achebe's 1958 novel, "Things Fall Apart," is widely regarded as the first major work of modern African fiction and inspired others to tell the continent's story through the eyes of those who lived there. He joined Brown University in 2009 as a professor of languages and literature. (AP Photo/Brown University, Mike Cohea)
This undated photo provided by Brown University shows Chinua Achebe at his home in Warwick, R.I. Achebe, an internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, has died at age 82. Achebe's 1958 novel, "Things Fall Apart," is widely regarded as the first major work of modern African fiction and inspired others to tell the continent's story through the eyes of those who lived there. He joined Brown University in 2009 as a professor of languages and literature. (AP Photo/Brown University, Mike Cohea)
FILE - This is a Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008 file photo of Chinua Achebe, Nigerian-born novelist and poet as he speaks about his works and his life at his home on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York where he is a professor . Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who wrote the classic "Things Fall Apart," has died. He was 82. Achebe's publisher confirmed his death Friday March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
This 2010 photo provided by Brown University shows Chinua Achebe, left, with his wife Christie Achebe on campus in Providence, R.I. Achebe, an internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, has died at age 82. Achebe's 1958 novel, "Things Fall Apart," is widely regarded as the first major work of modern African fiction and inspired others to tell the continent's story through the eyes of those who lived there. (AP Photo/Brown University, Mike Cohea)
In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008 photo, Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian-born novelist and poet, poses at his home as he reflects on his works and life at his home on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., where he is a professor. Achebe, an internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, has died at age 82. Achebe's 1958 novel, "Things Fall Apart," is widely regarded as the first major work of modern African fiction and inspired others to tell the continent's story through the eyes of those who lived there. He joined Brown University in 2009 as a professor of languages and literature. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
FILE - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian-born novelist and poet poses his life at his home on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York where he is a professor in this Jan. 22, 2008 file photo. Achebe, who wrote the classic "Things Fall Apart," has died. He was 82. Achebe's publisher confirmed his death Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Nigerian author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani was just 10 years old when she first read Chinua Achebe's groundbreaking novel "Things Fall Apart."
She devoured the rich use of Igbo proverbs in his book, which forever changed Africa's portrayal in literature.
That inspiration carried over into the creation of a pivotal character in her debut work, "I Do Not Come to You by Chance," which pulls readers into the dark and greedy world of Nigerian Internet scam artists.
"Like many contemporary Nigerian writers, I grew up on a literary diet that comprised a huge dose of Achebe's works," she said. "My parents were so proud of his accomplishments, and quoted the Igbo proverbs in his books almost as frequently as they quoted Shakespeare."
Achebe's death at the age of 82 was announced Friday by his publisher. His works inspired countless writers around the world, though the literary style of "Things Fall Apart," first published in 1958, particularly transformed the way novelists wrote about Africa.
Adewale Maja-Pearce, a literary critic who succeeded Achebe as the editor of Heinemann's African Writers Series, called him a pioneer whose "contribution is immeasurable."
In breaking with the Eurocentric lens of viewing the continent through the eyes of outsiders, Achebe took readers to a place full of complex characters who told their stories in their own words and style.
Achebe once wrote that a major goal "was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent."
He resisted the idea that he was the father of modern African literature, recalling a rich and ancient tradition of storytelling on the continent. Still, his influence on younger writers of the late 20th and early 21st century, particularly those from his homeland, was undeniable.
"Achebe's influence has been completely seminal and inspirational, and there are writers that have been called the School of Achebe who have imitated his style," said Chukwuma Azuonye, professor of African and African Diaspora Literatures at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
A newer crop of successful novelists with ties to Nigeria has broken away from Achebe's mode, Azuonye said, developing their own modernist style of writing that focuses on clashes of cultures and other issues facing Nigerians abroad.
Nigerian novelist Lola Shoneyin, whose works include "The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives," says Achebe's fiction gives her something new each time she reads his work.
"In the last five decades, just about every post-colonial African author, one way or another, has been engaged in a creative call-and-response with Chinua Achebe," she said.
Igoni Barrett, the author of a collection of stories called "From Caves of Rotten Teeth," said Achebe had achieved a "saintly status among Nigerian writers" through his pioneering involvement in the African Writers Series.
"Chinua Achebe was an inspiration to me not only for his singular talent and his dedication to truth in art and life, but also because he had the fortitude to overcome the countless disappointments of the Nigerian state," he said.
One of Senegal's best-known novelists, 66-year-old Boubacar Boris Diop, was in high school when he read "Things Fall Apart." He says that in it, he found "the real Africa."
"I systematically advise young authors to read Chinua Achebe. I've often bought copies of 'Things Fall Apart' and offered them to young writers. It's well written ? in the sense that it's not written at all. In it, you won't find any great lyrical phrases. That's the great force of this book. It's written in simple language," said Diop.
"He wrote about a continent that is far from perfect, but which at the same time has things within it that fill you with wonder."
___
Larson reported from Dakar Senegal. Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi also contributed to this report.
Local business owner jumps on the opportunity to expand his business.
BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey. (3/18/2013) ? Members of the Basking Ridge community have been seeing some new faces at the PostalAnnex+ located at 411 King George Rd. When the prior owner, who opened the Basking Ridge PostalAnnex+ in 2006, decided to retire, Walter (Wally) Pardo saw an opportunity to extend his current wealth management practice and tax practice. Walter purchased the store and officially took over operations on February 25, 2013.
?I use all of the different services PostalAnnex+ offers for my business, Wealth Financial Partners and WFP Tax Partners, so when the opportunity to own the store came up, I decided to jump on it,? said Walter. ?Owning the PostalAnnex+ gives me another way to add value to my clients, prospects, and the Basking Ridge community.?
Walter is still running Wealth Financial Partners and WFP Tax Partners full time, so he decided to trust Glenn Redgate to manage the Basking Ridge PostalAnnex+. Glenn has been Wally?s client relationship manager for about four years, and prior to working at Wealth Financial Partners, Glenn was the manager of a high end steakhouse.
?Glenn is the perfect person to be running the store,? said Walter. ?He?s a people person with great attention to detail, and I know he will help us provide the most creative solution for all of our customers.?
The new owner and manager have big plans for the Basking Ridge PostalAnnex+. They want to become a greater part of the community by hosting community events. On April 27, 2013 they will be co-hosting with Wealth Financial Partners their first event, a free shredding day. From 11:00am to 1:00 pm, members of the Basking Ridge community are invited to visit the PostalAnnex+ and get their documents shredded for free. There are also plans in the works for other events like networking parties, charity events and more. Along with their plans for more community involvement, Pardo and Redgate will continue to provide the same products and services the Basking Ridge community is accustomed to, combined with an emphasis on superior customer service. For more details on upcoming events at PostalAnnex+, visit www.postalannex.com/5028.
The Basking Ridge PostalAnnex+ offers a one-stop solution for many home office and business service needs; shipping through UPS, FedEx, DHL and the USPS, private mailbox rental, packaging and shipping supplies, notary public, printing and copying services, office supplies and more. For more information about PostalAnnex+, visit the location at 411 King George Rd or call (908) 647-7744.
About PostalAnnex+
PostalAnnex+ is a member of the Annex Brands franchise network. Its locations offer one-stop support for packaging, shipping and office supply needs. Founded in 1985 in San Diego, PostalAnnex+ has more than 260 locations operating across the U.S. Each location is owned and operated by licensed franchisees. For more information on the company's services or for franchise information, visit www.PostalAnnexFranchise.com.
About Annex Brands
Annex Brands, Inc., formerly known as Postal Annex, Inc., was founded by Jack and Martha (Marty) Lentz in 1985 and is headquartered in San Diego. There are five brands in the Annex Brands franchise family: PostalAnnex+, AIM Mail Center, Navis Pack & Ship, Handle With Care Packaging Store and Sunshine Pack & Ship. All together, there are more than 425 locations across 41 states and into Canada. Each location is an individually owned and operated franchise. Its retail locations offer a one-stop support center for packaging, shipping, postal and office supply needs, including the ability to compare shipping rates with UPS, FedEx, DHL and USPS shipping. The commercial locations provide custom packaging and shipping solutions for larger and more valuable items. For more information on the company?s history, services and franchise information, visit www.AnnexBrands.com.
Tie-dying eggs: Learn about dyes with this fun egg dying activityImage: George Resteck
Key concepts Chemistry Dyes Dyeing eggs Chemical reactions
Introduction Have you ever dyed eggs? Turning eggshells from white into different, dazzling colors can be a lot of fun! Many people do this around Easter time using dye tablets to make different colors in liquid form. They then dip the egg into the liquid and wait until it turns the desired color. Eggs can be dyed in many other ways, and one neat method uses silk ties. Sounds strange to use clothing to dye eggs, right? But it actually works really well! In this activity you'll dye eggs with silk ties and investigate whether heat is needed for the process to work well. Aren?t you just dye-ing to try this out?
Background People have been dyeing eggs long before the common store-bought tablet coloring existed. Over the years people have explored many other ways to do it, such as by using dyes from plants and spices or by using completely different methods. One way you can dye eggs is using old, 100 percent silk neckties. To dye an egg using silk ties, the egg is wrapped in the tie, and they are placed in water with vinegar. When the process is done, some of the dye from the tie transfers to the eggshell. Ideally, it dyes the eggshell so that it looks similar to the tie, with some detailed designs being clearly visible on the eggshell.
Silk is generally dyed using a specific group of dyes known as acid dyes, which color objects by chemically reacting with proteins in them (such as the silk fibers in the ties with eggshell proteins). For the chemical reaction to work (that is, change an object's color), this type of dye needs acids around. Thus, the eggs are soaked with vinegar (an acid) during the dyeing process to help the acid dyes transfer their color from the silk ties to the eggshells.
Materials ? All-silk necktie. Look at the tags on the back of the tie to make sure it is 100 percent. Darker blues, purples and reds transfer dye the best. These ties can usually be purchased inexpensively at a secondhand shop or thrift store. (Be sure to ask permission before using someone's silk tie for this activity?the ties will be destroyed in the process of dying!) ? Scissors ? Two raw white eggs ? Four twist ties ? Light-colored tablecloth, pillowcase or other lightweight, light-colored fabric scrap. Use fabric that you will not mind having cut up. ? Cooking pot ? Large bowl or another cooking pot, similar in size to the first cooking pot ? Measuring cups ? Water ? White vinegar ? Well-ventilated stove area, such as provided by an overhead ventilation system or a nearby window that could be opened, or dust masks. ? Timer or clock ? Old dishtowels or rags ? Tongs or slotted spoon ? Vegetable oil (optional)
Preparation ? Take the silk tie and turn it over so that you are looking at its back. Using scissors, have an adult help you carefully cut through the stitches going up the middle back of the tie. Open the tie up as you go. Remove any labels. Continue until you have cut through all of the stitches along the seam. ? Remove any (usually white) liners running along the inside of the tie. If there is a liner sewed to the bottom of the tie, carefully cut along the seams to remove this liner. Try to only cut the liner part of the tie. ? Flip the tie over so that its front is facing up. What colors are on the tie and does it have any patterns/designs? How do you think this will dye the eggs? Place an egg a few inches away from the tip of the tie and fold the tie's tip over the egg so that it completely covers the egg. Adjust the position of the egg in the tie so that you can gather up enough tie material on one end to bind the material together. ? Once you are satisfied with the egg's position, cut off the piece of tie in which the egg is wrapped. Cut straight across the width of the tie. ? Pinch the tie material around the egg so that it is tight, but be careful not to break the egg! Twist a twist tie around the fabric at the end of the egg. To smooth all of the wrinkles, carefully pull the fabric through the twist tie to tighten it around the egg. ? Take a new egg and place it on the tie several inches above where you just cut the tie. Wrap this egg in a higher-up piece of the tie material as you did with the first egg. ? Wrap each egg in a second layer of lightweight, light-colored fabric scrap to help hold the piece of tie next to the egg. Why do you think it's important that the fabric be light-colored? For each egg, cut the fabric so that you have enough to cover the egg, wrap the new fabric around the egg, twist a twist tie around the end of the egg (on top of the other twist tie) and tighten the light-colored fabric as you did with the tie material. ? Adult supervision is required when using the stove. A dust mask or a well-ventilated stove area is needed to avoid breathing in vinegar and dye fumes. Some acid dyes are toxic whereas others are nontoxic. Without knowing exactly which acid dyes are in the ties you will be using, it is best to practice caution and avoid breathing in potentially dangerous dye fumes when heating the ties in hot water. Do not eat the eggs!
Procedure ? Place one of the wrapped eggs in a cooking pot. This egg will be boiled. Place the other wrapped egg, which will not be boiled, in a similar-size large bowl or pot. How well do you think the boiled egg will be dyed compared to the non-boiled egg? ? Use a measuring cup to add water to the pot until there is at least about one inch of water above the egg. Add the same amount of water to the egg in the bowl. ? Add one quarter cup of white vinegar to each egg. Why is adding vinegar important? ? Place the pot with the egg to be boiled onto the stove. Have an adult turn the burner on to medium-high and cover the pot with a lid. To avoid inhaling the vinegar and potentially dangerous dye fumes, leave the lid on the pot while its on the stove, turn on an overhead stove fan and/or open a nearby window or put on a dust mask (and have anyone in the kitchen area put on a dust mask as well). It is also recommended to stay out of the kitchen for the most part during the boiling process. ? Leave the other wrapped egg remaining in its bowl on a counter. ? With an adult's help, check on the pot on the stove every few minutes to see if the water's boiling. After it comes to a boil have an adult remove the lid and reduce heat to medium so that the water is simmering. Let the egg simmer for 20 minutes. ? After simmering have an adult use tongs or a slotted spoon to carefully remove the egg from the water and place it on some old dish towels or rags on the counter. Also remove the egg that was not boiled and place it on the old dish towels. Keep track of which egg is which. ? Let the eggs sit on the dish towels until they are both cool enough to unwrap. This should take about 10 minutes. ? Carefully unwrap the eggs (undoing the twist ties and removing the fabric layers). ? Compare the eggs. How does the egg that was boiled look compared with the egg that was not? Which egg looks like it dyed better, or darker? How do you think heating the egg affected the chemical reaction that took place between the acid dyes (in the tie material) and the eggshell? Do you think heating the egg helped the chemical reaction to work better? ? If you like, rub the eggs with a little vegetable oil to make them shiny. ? Extra: It is possible to use the same tie to dye eggs multiple times. Try doing this to see how well it works. How many times can you dye an egg using the same piece of tie so that the colors from the silk tie still transfer to the eggshell with the same darkness and details? Do some colors last longer than others? ? Extra: In this activity you put the eggs in a certain amount of water with one quarter cup of white vinegar. Try repeating this activity keeping all of the conditions the same but changing the ratio of water to vinegar. For example, if you used five cups of water and one quarter cup of vinegar, you could also try five and a quarter cups of water and no vinegar as well as four and three quarter cups water and one half cup vinegar. Do the eggs dye better using more or less vinegar? Do they dye at all when you add no vinegar? ? Extra: Vinegar is a mild acid that you used in this activity because acid dyes are commonly used to dye silk. Do you think other acids, or even bases, could be used to dye the eggshells using silk ties? You could learn more about acids, bases and the pH scale, make a hypothesis about how well you think different acids and/or bases will dye the eggs, and then repeat this activity to test your hypothesis. Be sure always to find out and follow the necessary safety precautions for using different chemicals and to always ask for adult supervision when using them.
Mar. 20, 2013 ? At its first glance, the mannequin 'i.Dummy' developed by researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) looks no different from an ordinary dummy but it is no plain stuff -- this sophisticated mannequin can change its body shape and size or even elongate at the point of a fingertip on computer.
This revolutionary breakthrough, coined 'i.Dummy' for intelligent dummy, is expected to streamline the operations of the apparel and garment industry, which rely strongly on the use of dummies for designing and fitting different sizes of apparel products before mass production takes place. Instead of keeping a big number of fixed sized dummies in the stock of design houses, buying offices or factories for fitting purpose, one single 'i.Dummy' will transform itself to fit various sizes and dimension, be it Asian or Western, etc. Customised measurements can also be inputted.
This project is led by Dr Allan Chan Chee-kooi, Associate Professor at PolyU's Institute of Textiles and Clothing (ITC), with team members Mr Steven Peng Sixiang and Dr Ameersing Luximon. PolyU has already filed two patents for this invention.
The development of this purpose-built robotic mannequin has come a long way. In developing the 'i.Dummy', Dr Allan Chan and his team members have collected massive anthropometric data and information from the literatures of the American, European, Japanese and Chinese population; together with the data collected from ITC's 3D Body Scanner, plus the clever application of mechatronics on the platform of mannequin development.
"This robotic mannequin 'i.Dummy' is unique in the sense that all changes are three-dimensional, varying in width, thickness and length all at once automatically. It can also rotate automatically for viewing in 360 degrees, so that every angle of clothes fitting can be assessed," said Dr Chan. "The robust design is therefore suitable for many types of garments, ranging from ball gowns to occasional wear, and tight fitting swimwear."
Moreover, the iDummy can be easily controlled via a user-friendly Graphic User Interface (GUI) run on the computer, and the use of Bluetooth technology on a smart phone is not a problem at all. It means potential clients can input their measurements on the computer to achieve fitting across geographical boundaries through to on-line purchasing.
Since fitting mannequins are required by fashion designers, pattern masters, merchandisers, quality and production personnel at home and abroad, there is a huge potential market for 'i.Dummy'. PolyU researchers will focus on the need of the industry and offer their expertise through the licensing of patented technology.
Dr Allan Chan added that iDummy is also an excellent education and training facility for students and apprentices of fashion design and pattern development alike, because it can mimic the body profile of different sizes and dimension.
The project was kicked off in 2008 with the support of industry. It is also partly funded by the General Research Fund of the Research Grants Council.
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Watch out, Richard Yu! Not long after the China launch of the 6.1-inch Huawei Ascend Mate earlier today, the notorious @evleaks tweeted out the above two press shots of an Ascend G700, as well as referring to an old tweet from the often reliable @paopao0128 (of Blog of Mobile fame) who suggested the G700 will feature Android 4.2, a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 SoC (as opposed to the quad-core Huawei HiSilicon K3V2 chip on the Ascend Mate and the Ascend D2), an "HD" LCD (our money's on 720p only, like the leaked G710) and both WCDMA and TD-SCDMA flavors.
Another fresh G700 leak we found shows a hands-on photo obtained from Sina Weibo (which has since been deleted, but it's also right after the break), and it also mentions that the phone will have a 5-inch display plus 2GB of RAM. There's no info on pricing, but the careless leakster on Weibo reminded us that the budget-minded G series devices never go over ¥2,000 or about $320 unsubsidized. To put that into perspective, the quad-core, 5-inch full-HD D2 is currently available for almost twice as many yuans. Well, it shouldn't be long before Chinese consumers get yet another 5-inch device to stuff their pockets.
Investment giant Morgan Stanley is offering clients a new portfolio option that will only invest in companies with at least three female directors, in a move engineered by a financial adviser who said she is "frustrated by the fact there are so few women on boards."
Eve Ellis, the investment adviser and head of the bank's Matterhorn Group investment unit, told The Huffington Post that the portfolio is an ?investment for investors and clients that want to have a social impact.?
But based on those guidelines, one company in which Ellis' unit will not be investing is Morgan Stanley itself. Ellis will only put money into companies with three or more women on their corporate board; Morgan Stanley?s board currently has only two female directors.
Asked about that quandary, Ellis told The Huffington Post, ?There are many companies, and our goal is to move the needle in corporate America.? She declined to comment specifically on the message her strategy may be reflecting about her employer.
?Obviously this is one portfolio strategy of several. This is something that came as an offering to our clients,? Ellis said.
?It?s not a strategy of the firm. It?s a strategy of the Matterhorn Group at Morgan Stanley,? Tricia Nestfield, a spokesperson for the bank, added.
Ellis, who described herself as a ?feminist and an investment adviser? in an interview with The New York Times, cited research that suggests companies perform better when they have at least some women in their board when describing her investment thesis.
The debate over gender parity at the corporate board level is not a new one. Earlier this year, the UBS CEO Andrea Orcel said the lack of women within the upper echelons of his bank was a "shortcoming." And last year, the European Union approved a contentious proposal that mandated at least 40 percent of a company's non-executive directors be women.
That momentum has not extended to Wall Street. Joining Morgan Stanley, the boards of competitors JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs only have two female members. Citigroup has only one female director.
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) ? A New York town's board members have decided it's OK to boo at their meetings ? but only if it's done politely.
The Riverhead board voted to ban booing earlier this month. But Newsday reports (http://bit.ly/WVR9Rm ) that the board voted 4-1 on Tuesday to strike the anti-boo rule from the books.
The board on Long Island retained another part of its code. That part prohibits disruptive behavior and disruptive demonstrations.
No explanation was given on how to boo without being disruptive.
Councilman James Wooten says the town supervisor should be able to keep order at a meeting without written rules.
Supervisor Sean Walter defends the intent of the anti-booing rule. He says there are similar regulations in towns across New York state.
Obesity alone may not affect knee replacement outcome or increase overall complication riskPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lauren Pearson Riley pearson@aaos.org 708-227-1773 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Obese patients undergoing total knee replacement face longer hospital stays, higher related costs
CHICAGO -- Obesity alone may not diminish outcomes or increase the risk of complications in total knee replacement (TKR) patients, according to two research studies presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). However, TKR replacement patients may face significantly longer hospital stays and related costs.
Total knee replacement in obese patients previously has been associated with increased post-operative complications and lower clinical function scores in multiple research studies.
In the study, "The Effect of Obesity on Direct Medical Costs in Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)" researchers reviewed the records of more than 8,000 patients who had undergone single, primary or revision TKR procedures between 2000 and 2008, collecting data on clinical and surgical characteristics, complications and hospital costs. Patients were classified into eight groups based on body mass index (BMI) and comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, etc.).
Length of hospital stay and direct medical costs were lowest for patients with a BMI of 25-30kg/m2. Greater BMI was associated with significantly longer hospital stays after adjusting for age, sex, type of surgery and comorbidities. Every 5 unit increase in BMI beyond 30 kg/m2 was associated with approximately $250-$300 in higher hospitalization costs for primary knee arthroplasty and $600-$650 higher hospitalization costs for revision procedures.
Although increasing BMI was not associated with an overall increase in complication risk during the 90-day window, there was a higher rate of infection in obese patients.
"The costs associated with obesity are believed to be largely those that come from managing comorbid medical conditions linked to obesity, such as diabetes," said lead study author Hilal Maradit-Kremers, MD, an associate professor of epidemiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. In this study, "we attempted to tackle this problem by restricting the analysis to patients without comorbid conditions. Even in the absence of comorbidities, obesity was still associated with longer stays and higher hospital costs."
"The bottom line is that obesity is increasingly common among patients undergoing joint replacement and it creates a myriad of technical and medical challenges, and likely contributes to the financial burden of the surgery," said senior author David G. Lewallen, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon, also from Mayo Clinic.
In the related study, "Outcome of Total Knee Arthroplasty in Obese Patients," researchers in Singapore analyzed the outcomes of 301 TKA patients between December 2008 and April 2010 and grouped them according to BMI.
There was no difference in surgical time between obese and non-obese patients, although the obese patients had a longer hospital stay following TKR 7.77 days versus 6.29 days for non-obese patients.
Patient outcomes were recorded pre-operatively and at 2 years after TKR using Knee Society Score (KSS), Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF36) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) outcomes.
The non-obese patients achieved "superior" post-operative flexion (ability to bend) and range of movement. The absolute improvements in WOMAC scores among the obese patients post surgery also were deemed statistically superior and comparable to those of non-obese patients.
The study concluded that TKR is a "safe and efficacious operation in obese patients with no significantly greater risk of complication."
"Obesity does not negate good surgical outcome in total knee arthroplasty," said lead study author Chin Tat Lim, MD.
###
Learn more about AAOS: AAOS.org
Follow us on Facebook.com/AAOS1 and Twitter.com/AAOS1
A Nation in Motion
More than one in four Americans have bone or joint health problems, making them the greatest cause of lost work days in the U.S. When orthopaedic surgeons restore mobility and reduce pain, they help people get back to work and to independent, productive lives. Orthopaedic surgeons provide a great value, in both human and economic terms; and access to high-quality orthopaedic care keeps this "Nation in Motion." To learn more, to read hundreds of patient stories or to submit your own story, visit ANationinMotion.org.
For more information on bone and joint health, visit Orthoinfo.org.
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Obesity alone may not affect knee replacement outcome or increase overall complication riskPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lauren Pearson Riley pearson@aaos.org 708-227-1773 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Obese patients undergoing total knee replacement face longer hospital stays, higher related costs
CHICAGO -- Obesity alone may not diminish outcomes or increase the risk of complications in total knee replacement (TKR) patients, according to two research studies presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). However, TKR replacement patients may face significantly longer hospital stays and related costs.
Total knee replacement in obese patients previously has been associated with increased post-operative complications and lower clinical function scores in multiple research studies.
In the study, "The Effect of Obesity on Direct Medical Costs in Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)" researchers reviewed the records of more than 8,000 patients who had undergone single, primary or revision TKR procedures between 2000 and 2008, collecting data on clinical and surgical characteristics, complications and hospital costs. Patients were classified into eight groups based on body mass index (BMI) and comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, etc.).
Length of hospital stay and direct medical costs were lowest for patients with a BMI of 25-30kg/m2. Greater BMI was associated with significantly longer hospital stays after adjusting for age, sex, type of surgery and comorbidities. Every 5 unit increase in BMI beyond 30 kg/m2 was associated with approximately $250-$300 in higher hospitalization costs for primary knee arthroplasty and $600-$650 higher hospitalization costs for revision procedures.
Although increasing BMI was not associated with an overall increase in complication risk during the 90-day window, there was a higher rate of infection in obese patients.
"The costs associated with obesity are believed to be largely those that come from managing comorbid medical conditions linked to obesity, such as diabetes," said lead study author Hilal Maradit-Kremers, MD, an associate professor of epidemiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. In this study, "we attempted to tackle this problem by restricting the analysis to patients without comorbid conditions. Even in the absence of comorbidities, obesity was still associated with longer stays and higher hospital costs."
"The bottom line is that obesity is increasingly common among patients undergoing joint replacement and it creates a myriad of technical and medical challenges, and likely contributes to the financial burden of the surgery," said senior author David G. Lewallen, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon, also from Mayo Clinic.
In the related study, "Outcome of Total Knee Arthroplasty in Obese Patients," researchers in Singapore analyzed the outcomes of 301 TKA patients between December 2008 and April 2010 and grouped them according to BMI.
There was no difference in surgical time between obese and non-obese patients, although the obese patients had a longer hospital stay following TKR 7.77 days versus 6.29 days for non-obese patients.
Patient outcomes were recorded pre-operatively and at 2 years after TKR using Knee Society Score (KSS), Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF36) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) outcomes.
The non-obese patients achieved "superior" post-operative flexion (ability to bend) and range of movement. The absolute improvements in WOMAC scores among the obese patients post surgery also were deemed statistically superior and comparable to those of non-obese patients.
The study concluded that TKR is a "safe and efficacious operation in obese patients with no significantly greater risk of complication."
"Obesity does not negate good surgical outcome in total knee arthroplasty," said lead study author Chin Tat Lim, MD.
###
Learn more about AAOS: AAOS.org
Follow us on Facebook.com/AAOS1 and Twitter.com/AAOS1
A Nation in Motion
More than one in four Americans have bone or joint health problems, making them the greatest cause of lost work days in the U.S. When orthopaedic surgeons restore mobility and reduce pain, they help people get back to work and to independent, productive lives. Orthopaedic surgeons provide a great value, in both human and economic terms; and access to high-quality orthopaedic care keeps this "Nation in Motion." To learn more, to read hundreds of patient stories or to submit your own story, visit ANationinMotion.org.
For more information on bone and joint health, visit Orthoinfo.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
LeBron James and the Miami Heat are about to play another game in Cleveland.
Yawn.
That's what a 23-game winning streak will do for a team.
It mutes even the LeBron-Goes-Home-Again hype.
Someday the Heat will lose another basketball game. Maybe even Wednesday, when the reigning NBA champions drop by James' old neighborhood to take on James' old team, which happens to be decimated by injuries right now.
Still, could happen. Almost did in Boston on Monday night, save for James' game-winning jumper in the final seconds after Miami rallied from 17- and 13-point deficits to squeak past the Celtics 105-103.
But given how they wrapped up their latest "W'' and what lies ahead, it may no longer be farfetched to think that the record of 33 straight victories set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers is within Miami's grasp.
"It means a lot," James said after the Boston game. "I know the history of the game. To be sitting in second place right now ... for us to be there and doing it in the way we want to do it, it means a lot."
It also means a lot that Miami won't be visiting many playoff-bound teams any time soon. Five of their next six games are against teams with the worst records this season.
So, grab some popcorn and some pop and settle in to watch where this remarkable run ends up.
Here's a breakdown of the potential Road to 34:
? At Cleveland (22-45)
While it will surely be emotional ? after all, James is coming home, again ? Miami would have to simply lay an egg to lose on Wednesday. The Cavs are incredibly banged up and out of the playoff race. Kyrie Irving is out, Anderson Varejao's season is over and on Tuesday, Cleveland revealed that guard Dion Waiters may need surgery to repair a problem in his left knee.
Yes, the Cavaliers nearly knocked off the Heat in Miami on Feb. 24, but Waiters and Irving combined for 43 points in that upset bid. They'll combine for zero on Wednesday.
Heat victory odds: Excellent.
? Detroit (23-46), Friday.
Miami has lost one game at home since mid-December and returns to face a Pistons team that has currently lost nine straight games. Brandon Knight is hurting, and probably still reeling from that DeAndre Jordan dunk incident when he was plowed over in the lane against the Los Angeles Clippers.
If there's a silver lining for the Pistons right now, what James did to Boston's Jason Terry on a dunk Monday night may have ensured what happened to Knight becomes a distant memory.
Heat victory odds: Excellent.
? Charlotte (15-52), Sunday.
The worst team in the NBA. Name five Bobcats. OK, name three Bobcats. Unless Michael Jordan himself plays ...
Heat victory odds: Above excellent.
? At Orlando (18-49), March 25.
Here's the first real potential for a slip-up. The Heat are 2-0 against the Magic this season, those two wins coming by a combined THREE points. And it's on the road, in a back-to-back scenario. Miami has excelled on the second night of back-to-backs all year, but the Magic always get riled up for the Heat.
Heat victory odds: Average.
? At Chicago (36-30), March 27.
Imagine the possibilities. A Bulls team trying to stay in the fight for home-court advantage in the first round of the East playoffs, facing Miami ? which provokes more lusty boos in Chicago than perhaps anywhere else ? and maybe, just maybe, with Derrick Rose back in the lineup by then?
Chicago has beaten Miami already this season, doing so on the Heat home floor. And while no opponent likes the Heat, the Bulls seem to have particular disdain for them, perhaps still ticked off over how James, Chicago native Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all decided to pass on a move to the Windy City during that ballyhooed summer of 2010.
Heat victory odds: Fair.
? At New Orleans (22-46), March 29.
Worst record in the Western Conference, and not even that good at home.
Heat victory odds: Excellent.
? At San Antonio (51-16), March 31.
The Heat would be going for No. 30 in San Antonio, and even the oddsmakers in Las Vegas might list them as underdogs on this night, streak or no streak.
The Spurs keep motoring along, through injury and illness and Gregg Popovich deciding to make some sort of point by resting four key players before a game in Miami ? in November, not exactly a month for playoff prepping. By the way, the skeleton crew of a team playing that night in Miami nearly beat the Heat anyway.
Of the next 10 games, if the streak is going to end, this would seem like the most likely night for the loss to arrive. Either way, it's very much a potential NBA Finals preview.
Heat victory odds: Poor.
? New York (39-26), April 2.
The Knicks are perhaps the NBA's most hard-luck team of late, having blown Miami out twice by 20 points and getting off to a sensational start, then having key players get hurt as the stretch run approaches.
Still, Knicks-Heat games are always great theater. Imagine the scene in Miami ? where Knicks fans always seem to show up ? if the Heat are still looking for win No. 31.
Because they're home, edge goes to the reigning champs.
Heat victory odds: Good.
? At Charlotte (15-52), April 5.
Still the worst team in the NBA. Win No. 32 would be a foregone conclusion.
Heat victory odds: Excellent.
? Philadelphia (26-40), April 6.
On Final Four Saturday in college basketball, the Heat could punch their ticket to a defacto championship game. This would be for No. 33, and comes against opponents who very much play the Washington Generals to Miami's Globetrotters: Always seems to stay close, but never get it done.
Heat victory odds: Excellent.
? Milwaukee (33-32), April 9.
It's very likely that the Bucks and Heat will play in the first round of the East playoffs. But before that, if Miami is really going for No. 34 on this night, how fitting would it be that the Bucks are the opponent?
Jan. 9, 1972. The Bucks beat the Lakers 120-104, snapping that 33-game win streak. Does history repeat itself on April 9?
Stay tuned.
___
Follow Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds
Asia?s turtles and tortoises are in an extinction crisis. Few species embody that more than the critically endangered golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata), which is so valued in the illegal pet trade and for its use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that a single specimen can fetch $25,000 or more on the black market. The turtles are commonly ground into a medicinal jelly called gui-ling gao, which TCM practitioners say promotes general well-being or can even cure cancer?claims that, of course, have no scientific basis.
Golden coin turtles have been so overharvested from mainland China and Vietnam that, in all likelihood, they no longer exist in those locations. The only place they are known to still live in the wild is Hong Kong, where a few pocket populations remain in a handful of undeveloped areas and on offshore islands ?in very, very small numbers,? says Eric Goode, president of the Turtle Conservancy in New York City.
Luckily, a few institutions have managed to maintain tiny captive populations of these increasingly rare turtles. One of them is the conservancy, which operates a breeding center in California for several endangered turtle species. Over the past few years the organization has acquired several golden coin turtles from zoos around the world?plus a few animals confiscated from illegal traders?and has had some success breeding them.
Last month the conservancy flew five one-and-a-half-year-old captive-bred golden coin turtles from California to the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Hong Kong. After an as-yet-to-be-determined quarantine period, they will join another small captive population to help increase its genetic pool. According to Goode, this marks the first time that a captive-bred turtle or tortoise species has been repatriated from the U.S. back to its home country. The transfer was a collaborative effort between the Turtle Conservancy, Kadoorie Farm and the Hong Kong regional government?s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
The turtles at Kadoorie are kept ?under unbelievable lock and key because the value of these things is so immense,? Goode says. Speaking with China Daily last week, he said the facility was like a ?small Guantanamo for turtles,? with secure fences, motion detectors and ongoing camera surveillance.
Jim Juvik, the Conservancy?s senior scientist and a professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, has been studying the golden coin turtle for decades. He says the Asian turtle crisis began following the brief Sino?Vietnam War in 1979, after which the unsettled and war-torn borderland between the two nations became an open door for the wildlife trade. ?China just began importing all of Vietnam?s wildlife,? he says. ?Most of the species that were once in South China were also in Vietnam. They were basically exterminated in China because they?re in the Chinese pharmacopeia going back centuries as cures for all kinds of things.?
A golden coin turtle hatchling at the Turtle Conservancy's breeding center in California.
When Juvik visited Vietnam in the early 1990s he found that people were already selling golden coin turtles for hundreds of dollars?and that was before the animals got to the retail level. Although the golden coin turtles were the most valuable species at the time, all other turtle and tortoise species were swept up in the selling frenzy. ?Some might have only been worth a few dollars per kilogram, but the golden coin turtle was worth $500 or $1,000 even 20 years ago,? he says. ?This was an insane amount of money?more than the annual income in Vietnam in the nineties. It became a major crisis that has led to the commercial extinction if not the literal extinction of many turtle species across Southeast Asia.? (Although the golden turtles in Vietnam look almost exactly the same as the Chinese turtles, genetics shows that they are their own species and they have recently been reclassified as Vietnamese three-striped box turtles, C. cyclornata.)
There?s an odd twist to all of this: thousands of golden coin turtles are currently being raised on farms in China, but their existence does nothing to help wild populations. For one thing, most farm turtles are hybrids of golden coins and similar-looking species, making them useless for conservation. For another, TCM practitioners only value wild-caught turtles, not farm-raised ones. ?The thinking is that turtles raised in captive turtle farms don?t have the properties you need to get that good health,? Goode says. ?The turtle farms don?t really solve that problem. People want to poach the ones from the wild.? Finally, the farms?usually located in warm, lowland areas located far from the species?s cooler mid-elevation habitats?are almost exclusively producing female turtles, because the hatchlings? sex is determined by the temperature at which their eggs gestate. Goode says this drives the price of wild-caught males up even higher. One male reportedly sold for an astonishing $50,000 in Europe a few years ago.
That gender disparity makes the turtles from California even more important, as three of the five are males. The team at the Conservancy?s Behler Chelonian Center in Ojai, Calif., made sure to incubate turtle eggs at 26 degrees Celsius ?in an attempt to favor the development of males,? according to Paul Gibbons, the center?s managing director. Hatchlings do not display any outward indications of gender, so they didn?t know if they had successfully raised males until six months after they hatched, when scientists used a video endoscope to examine their internal sex organs. ?We were pleased to find that we had three males and two females,? Gibbons says. ?It was these five turtles that we sent to Hong Kong, and the males will be particularly valuable in the reintroduction program.?
The turtles were carefully packaged in a specially built crate and sent to Hong Kong in mid-February, where they may be joined later this year by another batch of hatchlings born a few months ago in Ojai. The team seems hopeful that this is a step in the right direction for this rare species. ?It?s amazing that we?re sending these turtles back to China when the Chinese are trying to buy them from the U.S. for $50,000 apiece to put in their aquarium or grind them up for cancer cures or whatever,? Juvik says. ?It?s just crazy. But we just try to do the best that we can.?
In a move that somewhat deviates from the Samwer brothers? usual playbook, Rocket Internet?s DropGifts, the social gifting platform that lets users send each other gift cards and claim product samples offered by brands, is launching a dedicated B2B play starting with the U.S. market first rather than its home turf of Europe or via a land grab in developing markets. That said, we shouldn?t read too much into what is clearly a baby step no matter how Rocket is spinning the announcement.
DropGift?s new B2B offering builds on its original B2C play (which was already available in the U.S.) and piggybacks Facebook to enable brands to target their ?fans? with sampling and gifting campaigns and, in turn, as with other social marketing platforms, turn those fans into so-called brand ambassadors. Campaigns appear on the brand?s own Facebook page via a specific application tab, with their own branding not DropGift?s, essentially replicating a white-label version.
Companies using the platform can set up a campaign to enable their existing ?fans? to send samples to their friends and claim samples for themselves directly via the brand?s Facebook page.
Alternatively, they can orchestrate a social gifting campaign that encourages consumers to send gifts to one another in a highly public and viral way in order to become part of the ?conversation? ? again as a wider engagement marketing play.
The result, claims DropGifts, is that the platform generates 35 times more impressions per-sample offered than traditional campaigns, which of course they would say.
While the U.S. push is clearly new for DropGifts, the B2B element may even qualify as a pivot, even though its B2C play already relies on working with brands.
?DropGifts was initially a consumer facing platform offering free gift cards from many different retailers in one spot,? co-founder and CMO Marie Chevrier tells TechCrunch. ?This worked well but it didn?t allow brands to take full advantage of their existing social media followings. Our B2B solution allows brands to integrate a fully-branded solution in their very own social media channels.?
DropGifts is a rapidly growing Internet start-up with operations in 28 countries. The platform integrates with Facebook to allow users to send gift cards through Facebook?s social network. The DropGifts service is available online and through a mobile app. DropGifts reminds users about upcoming birthdays, holidays and other events listed on Facebook. Users can then choose a free or paid gift card from a variety of winning brands to send to their friends. The gift card is posted on the...
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Rocket Internet GmbH invests in the development of innovative companies in the internet industry. Their passionate, dynamic, highly motivated team works to establish promising business models in the market.
Mar. 18, 2013 ? For years, scientists around the world have dreamed of building a complete, functional, artificial cell. Though this vision is still a distant blur on the horizon, many are making progress on various fronts. Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv and his research team in the Weizmann Institute's Materials and Interfaces Department recently took a significant step in this direction when they created a two-dimensional, cell-like system on a glass chip.
This system, composed of some of the basic biological molecules found in cells -- DNA, RNA, proteins -- carried out one of the central functions of a living cell: gene expression, the process by which the information stored in the genes is translated into proteins. More than that, it enabled the scientists, led by research student Yael Heprotein yman, to obtain "snapshots" of this process in nanoscale resolution.
The system, consisting of glass chips that are only 8 nanometers thick, is based on an earlier one designed in Bar-Ziv's lab by Dr. Shirley Daube and former student Dr. Amnon Buxboim. After being coated in a light-sensitive substance, the chips are irradiated with focused beams of ultraviolet light, which enables the biological molecules to bind to the substance in the irradiated areas. In this way, the scientists could precisely place DNA molecules encoding a protein marked with a green fluorescent marker in one area of the chip and antibodies that "trap" the colored proteins in an abutting area. When they observed the chips under a fluorescence microscope, the area in which they had placed the antibodies turned a glowing bright green. This meant that the DNA instructions had been copied into RNA molecules, which were in turn translated into fluorescent green proteins. The green proteins were then ensnared by the antibodies.
Next, the scientists asked whether their cell-like system could reproduce complex structural assemblies of naturally-occurring proteins. This time, they attached a viral gene to the chips' surface encoding a protein that can self-assemble into a nanotube. With the help of Dr. Sharon Wolf of the Electron Microscopy Unit, they observed a forest of minuscule tubes sprouting from the antibody area under an electron microscope.
The researchers then sought a way to produce and trap multiple proteins simultaneously by confining each protein in the area of its gene on the chip. On top of the chip to which the DNA encoding green proteins was bound, the scientists added a solution with a second gene encoding a red protein. The resulting red and green proteins competed for binding on the antibody traps, yielding a graded spatial separation in which the antibodies closest to the green genes had the highest concentration of green protein, with red concentrations rising farther afield. The results of this research recently appeared in Nature Nanotechnology.
Bar-Ziv: "We have shown that it is possible to build a protein 'production line' outside of the cell and use it to observe a spectrum of protein activities." In the future, such a system may move from enabling the observation of proteins to providing the basis for techniques to create complex, active protein structures on demand.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Weizmann Institute of Science.
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Journal Reference:
Yael Heyman, Amnon Buxboim, Sharon G. Wolf, Shirley S. Daube, Roy H. Bar-Ziv. Cell-free protein synthesis and assembly on a biochip. Nature Nanotechnology, 2012; 7 (6): 374 DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.65
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Public release date: 21-Mar-2013
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Asia?s turtles and tortoises are in an extinction crisis. Few species embody that more than the critically endangered golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata), which is so valued in the illegal pet trade and for its use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that a single specimen can fetch $25,000 or more on the black market. The turtles are commonly ground into a medicinal jelly called gui-ling gao, which TCM practitioners say promotes general well-being or can even cure cancer?claims that, of course, have no scientific basis.