As public opinion moves in favor of gay marriage, members of Congress find they have to adjust their stance. Conservative pundits are beginning to acknowledge the inevitable as well.
By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / March 30, 2013
Gabriela Fore, 6, of Upper Darby Pa., holds a sign with her moms in front of the Supreme Court as the court heard arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Carolyn Kaster/AP
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This being the Easter/Passover Spring break for Congress, you?d think lawmakers back in their home districts would be eager to talk about the past week?s major news story ? the latest developments on same-sex marriage, which has seen one of the most pronounced and rapid shifts in public opinion and political action in recent US history.
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But no, they?re trying to figure it out too, and so are most of their constituents. Meanwhile, one-by-one (or so it seems) political figures are coming out for gay marriage.
Most recently, that?s US Rep. Justin Amash, (R) of Michigan, a conservative who used to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was argued before the US Supreme Court this past week.
?Real threat to traditional marriage & religious liberty is government, not gay couples who love each other & want to spend lives together,? Rep. Amash wrote in a Twitter exchange with The Huffington Post. ?I support repealing federal definition of marriage portion of DOMA. Always have.?
Asked if gay couples should have the option to marry, Amash tweeted: ?Of course. How can anyone stop a couple from getting married in their own way? I just want government out.? (Read the full exchange here.)
That?s essentially the position Sen. Rand Paul voiced recently, although the Kentucky Republican focused on the US tax code, which (as now enforced) prohibits the survivors in same-sex marriages allowed in nine states and the District of Columbia from receiving certain financial benefits when their spouses die.
It?s hard for many Republican lawmakers to make the leap Amash did for fear of being challenged from the right by a social conservative in a party primary.
But that hasn?t kept other Republicans from speaking out.
With samples from over 1,800 separate meteorite falls around the world, ASU's Center for Meteorite Studies claims the world's largest university-based meteorite collection. Meenakshi Wadhwa explains how meteorites can teach researchers about the history of the solar system.
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High energy, results-oriented sales professional with extensive experience in business development, account management, and relationship-building in the Education and Healthcare arenas.
Joanne oversees the New England College of Business and Finance?s (NECB) Corporate Partnership Program in the Northern New England, working directly with Human Resources and Training professionals in over 200 existing corporate accounts. Her goal is to continuously grow the partnerships program to encompass all industries and create a diverse network of partners and students.
Prior to joining NECB, Joanne worked in product marketing management for over 20 years in leading global healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations, including Hewlett-Packard, Philips Medical, Wyeth Research/Pfizer, and Draeger Medical. Joanne specializes in all aspects of product development, including development of the product roadmap, pricing, global launches, product line profitability, lifecycle activities, development of strategic sales, marketing, and business expansion plans. Joanne graduated with her MBA from Northeastern University in 2002.
The former Chief Strategy Officer for the People Marketing division of McCann-Erickson Advertising and now serves at the Chief Experience Officer in his growing training and development practice.
Recently recognized as one of the ?best keynote speakers seen or heard? alongside Tony Robbins, Bill Gates, Al Gore and Marcus Buckingham, Ryan is a leading expert on culture, leadership and the future of work. He serves as a Sr. Associate with Employer Brand International, an advisory member on the SmartBrief Workforce Council, is a certified Human Capital Strategist and professional member of the National Speakers Association.
Deborah Sementa?
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Deborah serves as program chair for the Masters of Science in Business Ethics and Compliance where she assisted in developing this new program.
She has been in the education industry for over 10 years and in the financial services industry for over 26 years, serving as both a regulator and a compliance officer. She holds two industry certifications, Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager and Certified Risk Professional.
For several years, Deborah was chairperson of the Eastern Massachusetts Compliance Network (EMCN), an organization with a membership of over 130 compliance professionals. She is former president of her local Chamber of Commerce where she spent many years on the Board of Directors. She was involved with the organization of the Chamber?s Charitable Foundation, where she currently serves as a Board member.
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Dr. Carla Patalano
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The author and Program Chair of the first of its kind, fully online CAGS degree program in HR Management at New England College of Business & Finance.
With more than 17 years of HR practitioner and consulting experience in a variety of industries, Dr. Patalano brings a strategic business focus to the education of HR professionals. In addition to the CAGS-HRM, Dr. Patalano chairs the MBA program for the New England College of Business & Finance, and provides?consultation. Her publications and conference presentations focus on aligning HR with business and her interest in the study of Generational Differences.
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Herb Cohen?
Chairman, Performance Connections International
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?Chairman of Performance Connections International, a leading training and performance enhancement company best known for its work in employee and customer engagement, employee retention, and turning mission critical initiatives into results.Prior to joining Performance Connections, Herb has 25 years of experience in the HRD/performance improvement industry as a leader, founder, and corporate executive.
Herb was one of the original principles of MOHR Development, Inc., one of the nation?s leading training/consulting companies best known for pioneering behavior-modeling techniques in sales, service, and management development. Mr. Cohen then went on to become the CEO of MOHR Learning Systems, Inc., a specialty training firm and the nation?s largest retail training resource, increasing sales and improving customer service and organizational productivity for hundreds of retailers using state-of the-art classroom instruction and multimedia instructional design technology.
In 1998, Mr. Cohen became a founder and Director of Provant, a company offering the largest instructional performance improvement content in America. Also at Provant, Mr. Cohen took on the position of group President responsible for all Provant companies with an industry focus. A Maine native, Herb graduated from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Psychology.
Mr. Cohen served in the U.S. Army piloting helicopters and is a Vietnam veteran. Prior to his tenure in the performance improvement industry, Herb was a line manager at Melville Corp. (now CVS), where he was President of Miles Shoes, V.P. of Management Development at Meldisco, and V.P. of Stores at CVS. Herb is a frequent speaker at corporate meetings, training conferences, and banking and retail association meetings. Herb is a past President of ISA (Instructional Systems Association), an association of over 150 training, eLearning, and multimedia organizations dedicated to improving performance through training.
Editor?s note:?Derek?Andersen?is the founder of?Startup Grind, a 40-city community bringing the global startup world together while educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs. As an?Electronic Arts’ intern eight years ago, I asked Bing Gordon then the chief creative officer?and the only remaining early founding team member, a question about vision. ?How can I know where the puck is going to be?? While he delivered a satisfactory response, two weeks later I received an email from Bing saying, ?I answered that question poorly a few weeks and I wanted to try again.? A few weeks ago?Bing joined me?at Startup Grind in Silicon Valley where he delivered some videogame history and founder advice. In 2010?Mark Pincus called KPCB general partner Bing Gordon?(look for a bald guy on the front row) one of the world?s ?great CEO coaches? supporting founders on the boards of companies like Amazon, Zynga, Klout, and Zazzle. Here?are some excepts from our recent?interview. Derek: Tell us about your family and where you grew up? BING: So I grew up in a suburb of Detroit.? My dad was a first generation Scotsman and his dad was a janitor.? And he was somebody that believed the grass was always greener and didn?t have, kind of, context or resources.? Thanks, Dad!? We were the first to move in to a subdivision built out of farmlands surrounding Detroit, so I grew up kind of in the creek.? Playing sports with my brother who remembers growing up in the House of Pain. ?So I had a good Midwestern upbringing.? I didn?t work in an office before going to Stanford business school, but I did think I was a pretty damn good teenage caddy. I played hockey and lacrosse at the university level and played both, kind of, for most of my adult life. Derek: What was your plan heading to college? BING: Well I went to Yale thinking I was going to be a math major and a writer, and I got there and Yale was lousy at math and it seemed socially irrelevant, so I kind of became an athlete-near-college-dropout.? I realized I was flunking a third of my classes going into the final.? My proud accomplishments in college other than sports achievements was I wrote poetry.? Kind of light verse, in a coffee shop, and Peter Faulk when he was doing Columbo came, and liked it so much he took me out drinking that
U.S. Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, at a recent visit to the University of Texas at El Paso. (David A. Reyes/Borderzine.com)
EL PASO ? Poet Laureate Philip Levine, still as fit and funny at age 85 as he was as a young man working the night shift at a car factory, shared his special brand of earthy, poignant and insightful poetry ? and a sizable measure of good humored repartee ?? with over 1000 fans at UTEP recently.
The poet of the working class, who was born in Detroit to poor Russian Jewish immigrant parents, began writing professionally in the early 1950?s and has been giving ?a voice to the voiceless? ever since. His message and poetry resonated with his El Paso audience in a city that is predominately Hispanic and working class.
Levine with students from a special honors class, taught by Gina Nu?ez and journalist Zita Arocha, which combines ethnography and journalism to study issues of social class on the U.S. Mexico border. (Borderzine.com)
Asked by Sociologist Gina Nu?ez what he thinks of the billions spent by the U.S. government erecting walls along the 2000-mile border, Levine responded: ?The worst walls are the ones we can?t see because we are erecting interior walls. You say they?re dividing families. They?re also dividing ethnic groups. They?re dividing us from ourselves by creating aspects of ourselves we can?t welcome into the total soul of ourselves.?
Equating the border fence to the Berlin Wall, he added: ?It will fall. It will fall, and we will see. We will reflect later on. By we, I mean the people who care and people who study, and eminent historians, of what a fiasco it was.?
During an evening lecture to a packed campus lecture hall, the poet demonstrated his empathy toward the immigrant experience and the political hardship caused by divided borders. ?We have a long way to go to become the country we say we are,? he quipped. ?Will we do it? Don?t ask me, kid. I sure hope so, but I know it?s not going to happen in my lifetime. But that?s not saying much. I?m 85. Who knows how long it?s going to go.?
In her introduction to Levine?s lecture, Creative Writing Professor Sasha Pimentel, said:
?[His poetry] demands in an incisive and thundering voice that we listen to? the voices of those who without Levine?s throat would not otherwise been given a voice,? said Pimentel, who helped organize Levine?s visit to UTEP and is a well-regarded published poet in her own right.
Writer and UTEP faculty, Sasha Pimentel, introduced Levine and emphasized his capacity for giving voice to the voiceless. (David A. Reyes/Borderzine.com)
A former Philip Levine fellow, Pimentel said she treasures Levine?s ?utter compassion? to write about ?people we ourselves in El Paso know and understand. About men in overalls and a woman in a black smock at the polishing wheel, about feet and rubber boots, and children, their heads bowed low in a classroom in Fourth grade. We could recognize our mothers and our brothers in the work of Philip Levine.?
The crowd cheered inside the UGLC auditorium when the 2010-11 Poet Laureate walked to the podium and began to speak about the different chapters of his life, his early decision to become a writer and his dedication to giving voice to the lives and concerns of everyday Americans.
One moving poem, ?My Father with Cigarette Twelve Years Before the Nazis Could Break His Heart,? dealt with Hitler era Germany, and ended with these lines:
that the villages were gone. The truth is? if there is a truth? I remember the room, I remember the flame, the blue smoke, how bright and slippery were the secret coins, how David Copperfield doubted his own name, how sweet the stars seemed, peeping and blinking, how close the moon, how utterly silent the piano.
After the reading, Communication Professor Andrew Kennis asked him about the differences and similarities between journalism, poetry, and fiction.
Without missing a beat the poet responded that much of journalism today is fiction. ?The problem is it isn?t written as well,? he said to laughs from the audience. ?As for poetry, it?s a different discipline. Of course it draws from the same source: events, objects and people in the actual world, but it uses them in different ways. It is not journalistic because it feels no obligation to the facts.?
He also had some words of advice for aspiring writers: ?Do the best you can, and be patient?because it doesn?t happen overnight.? The 18th U.S. Poet Laureate said he was once asked what advice he had for a 25-year-old wannabe writer. ?I thought about it a long time and the answer was very simple: take better care of your teeth.?
Earlier in the day, Levine spoke to a group of 20 Liberal Arts Honors students in a classroom.? The students are enrolled in a special honors class, taught by Nu?ez and journalist Zita Arocha, which combines ethnography and journalism to study issues of social class on the U.S. Mexico border.
When one student asked his views about Anarchism during the Spanish Civil war, Levine addressed reactions to unjust political structures and discussed his own political frustrations.
?I am in part a contributing member to the American Society, which I recognize has many very ugly aspects about which I can do almost nothing.? In his youth, Levine said, he thought he could ?do things.?
?That was part of the optimism of the 60?s that there would be this significant change in American attitudes and American culture,? he said. ?And that was part of the glory of the 60?s. It was also part of the childishness; the confidence that there would be these changes.?
During his one-year appointment as Poet Laureate he said he had a chance to voice his concerns and speak out about government policies and decisions he disagreed with.
?I would get a call from the Library of Congress asking if I would just tone it down a bit. And every Monday I said I?ll do my best to tone it down,? he said. ?And I did, which was that I did nothing. I said what I wanted to say. I was only going to have this position for a short while so why not get out there and insult people.?
When he responded to questions from the class, Levine?s sharply honed extemporaneous wit made everyone laugh several times. When Arocha used an iPad to snap his picture a relaxed Levine chimed: ?Are you trying to take my picture?
?I am,? Arocha said.
?You haven?t gotten my permission.?
?I?m a journalist; we don?t need permission,? said Arocha, smiling. ?I?m actually tweeting some of what you?re saying. You know what that is right??
?Oh, yeah. I don?t do it, but I know what it is. It?s kind of like sex, right??
The room exploded in laughter at the quintessentially comic Levine response.
One student asked what made him leave his night shift job at the Gear and Axle automobile factory and use his savings to go to college and study creative writing at age 25 at the University of Iowa.
?To answer in all honesty, I would say my divorce.?
He noted that during his second semester at Iowa he ran out of money and couldn?t register for classes but sat in anyway on a class taught by renowned poet John Barryman. ?He was the greatest teacher I ever had. I never needed another teacher,? Levine said.
?You can be anything and be a great poet. It?s not politically correct. That is the wisdom of an old man,? concluded the energized Levine, donning a green baseball cap to avoid ?looking like the head of a corporation,? as students and teachers gathered around him for a picture.
As Pimentel began snapping pictures, she said: ?Okay, everyone squeeze in. After the conversation about sex, you guys shouldn?t be shy.?
Before departing, the ever-humble Levine offered one last quip: ?I would love to thank all of those who were responsible for bringing me here? They?ve worked me like mad, but it?s all right.?
Article Tags: 2010-11 Poet Laureate, empathy toward the immigrant experience, giving voice to the lives and concerns of everyday Americans, Poet Laureate Philip Levine, UTEP's Creative Writing Department, working class
Mar. 29, 2013 ? When blessed with a resource in overwhelming abundance it's generally a good idea to make valuable use of that resource. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant organic material on Earth. For thousands of years it has been used as animal feed, and for the past two centuries has been a staple of the paper industry. This abundant resource, however, could also supply the sugars needed to produce advanced biofuels that can supplement or replace fossil fuels, providing several key technical challenges are met.
One of these challenges is finding ways to more cost-effectively extract those sugars. Major steps towards achieving this breakthrough are being taken by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI).
"Through the tools of synthetic biology, we have engineered healthy plants whose lignocellulosic biomass can more easily be broken down into simple sugars for biofuels," says Dominique Loque, who directs the cell wall engineering program for JBEI's Feedstocks Division. "Working with the model plant, Arabidopsis, as a demonstration tool, we have genetically manipulated secondary cell walls to reduce the production of lignin while increasing the yield of fuel sugars."
JBEI is a scientific partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) whose mission is to advance the development of next generation biofuels that can provide the nation with clean, green and renewable transportation energy that will create jobs and boost the economy. Loque and his research group have focused on reducing the natural recalcitrance of plant cell walls to give up their sugars. Unlike the simple starch-based sugars in corn and other grains, the complex polysaccharide sugars in plant cell walls are locked within a robust aromatic polymer called lignin. Setting these sugars free from their lignin cage has required the use of expensive and environmentally harsh chemicals at high temperatures, a process that helps drive production costs of advance biofuels prohibitively high.
"By embedding polysaccharide polymers and reducing their extractability and accessibility to hydrolytic enzymes, lignin is the major contributor to cell wall recalcitrance," Loque says. "Unfortunately, most efforts to reduce lignin content during plant development have resulted in severe biomass yield reduction and a loss of integrity in vessels, a key tissue responsible for water and nutrient distribution from roots to the above-ground organs."
Lignin has also long posed problems for pulping and animal feed. To overcome the lignin problem, Loque and his colleagues rewired the regulation of lignin biosynthesis and created an artificial positive feedback loop (APFL) to enhance secondary cell wall biosynthesis in specific tissue. The idea was to reduce cell wall recalcitrance and boost polysaccharide content without impacting plant development.
"When we applied our APFL to Arabidopsis plants engineered so that lignin biosynthesis is disconnected from the fiber secondary cell wall regulatory network, we maintained the integrity of the vessels and were able to produce healthy plants with reduced lignin and enhanced polysaccharide deposition in the cell walls," Loque says. "After various pretreatments, these engineered plants exhibited improved sugar releases from enzymatic hydrolysis as compared to wild type plants. In other words we accumulated the good stuff -- polysaccharides -- without spoiling it with lignin."
Loque and his colleagues believe that the APFL strategy they used to enhance polysaccharide deposition in the fibers of their Arabidopsis plants could be rapidly implemented into other vascular plant species as well. This could increase cell wall content to the benefit of the pulping industry and forage production as well as for bioenergy applications. It could also be used to increase the strength of cereal straws, reducing crop lodging and seed losses. Since regulatory networks and other components of secondary cell wall biosynthesis have been highly conserved by evolution, the researchers feel their lignin rewiring strategy should also be readily transferrable to other plant species. They are currently developing new and even better versions of these strategies.
"We now know that we can significantly re-engineer plant cell walls as long as we maintain the integrity of vessels and other key tissues," Loque says.
A paper describing this research in detail has been published in Plant Biotechnology Journal. The paper is titled "Engineering secondary cell wall deposition in plants." Loque is the corresponding author. Co-authors are Fan Yang, Prajakta Mitra, Ling Zhang, Lina Prak, Yves Verhertbruggen, Jin-Sun Kim, Lan Sun, Kejian Zheng, Kexuan Tang, Manfred Auer and Henrik Scheller.
This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
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Journal Reference:
Fan Yang, Prajakta Mitra, Ling Zhang, Lina Prak, Yves Verhertbruggen, Jin-Sun Kim, Lan Sun, Kejian Zheng, Kexuan Tang, Manfred Auer, Henrik V. Scheller, Dominique Loqu. Engineering secondary cell wall deposition in plants. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2013; 11 (3): 325 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12016
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
I'm all for exploring innovative ways to extend affordable access to quality higher education, especially for students who find their vocation in low-paying (if much needed) professions. But I'm really not confident that online-only degrees are the way to go.
The University of Washington will offer a new low-cost online bachelor?s degree completion program in early childhood and family studies. Pending final approval, the program will start in the fall.
[...] The Early Childhood and Family Studies degree, which is the first online-only bachelor?s completion program to be offered by the UW, will prepare individuals to work in child care, preschools, social and mental health services, parent and family support, and arts organizations.
So, um, the UW's first ever online-only bachelor's degree will be granted in program training people in a profession that consists mostly of face-to-face interpersonal interaction? I mean, if distance learning is so magical, why train preschool teachers at all? Wouldn't it be cheaper and more effective to just hand all the toddlers iPads and let them teach themselves?
The UW online degree costs $160 per credit ? which is about equivalent to $7,000 for a year of full-time study ? regardless of where students live.
No doubt that's cheaper, sure. But in every sense of the word. And it's not just the students (and their students) who might not get the value out of this that they expect. If the UW is selling a degree for $7,000 a year (and with relaxed admission requirements), won't that devalue the degrees of students paying almost twice the price? Top schools like the UW stand to cheapen their brand if they're not careful.
The program will be administered by UW Educational Outreach, which received a Next Generation Learning Challenges grant partially funded by the Gates Foundation, to help offset costs of developing the degree. The grant includes offering several core classes in early childhood education free to the public, as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the Coursera platform.
What a great humanitarian Bill Gates is, promoting education reforms that in no way generate profits for the industry on which he built his fortune. (But then, all those libraries Andrew Carnegie built sure did use a lot of steel, so I guess I shouldn't be too cynical.)
I don't mean to come off as a Luddite. There's a place in higher education for online learning. But let's be clear: The main advantage of MOOCs is that they're cheaper. Not better, or for the most part, not even just as good. Just cheaper.
And if our public policy solution to the crisis in higher education funding is focused on making college cheaper, well, in the end, chances are we'll get what we pay for.
Welcome to BracketRacket, your one-stop shopping place for all things NCAA.
For our first Sweet 16 edition, we've got a geography quiz by Shockers and Explorers, a coach in rarified air, a former Ohio attorney general rooting for Michigan State and Jim Larranaga's thought for the day. All that and some Bracket Bits that include all of Dunk City's postseason dunks and, in honor of Easter, Peeps.
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GEOGRAPHY QUIZ
Who says academics go by the wayside during the NCAA tournament?
La Salle and Wichita State took a geography quiz at the West Regional in Los Angeles, and the Shockers passed. Belying their name, the Explorers need to brush up a little.
Here's an excerpt of how it went from AP Sports Writer Beth Harris:
Answer: "What state is it in?" asked La Salle guard Ramon Galloway.
And it went downhill from there.
"I saw a store down here called Which Wich," Explorers guard Tyrone Garland offered, not-so-helpfully naming a national sandwich chain.
Guard Tyreek Duren pitched in: "Steve Zack said we passed the Wichita exit when we were going to the airport. He pointed it out and said, 'That's who we play.'"
Informed of their opponent's confusion, Shockers forward Cleanthony Early, of Middletown, N.Y., admitted he was initially stumped, too.
"I didn't know where Wichita was either before I went there," he said. "I had to do my research. When I first heard of it, I couldn't even pronounce it correctly."
After losing to the Shockers in the Sweet 16, the Explorers probably know a little bit more about Wichita as well.
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ONE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS
Forgive Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks if they have a bit of an inferiority complex this weekend.
And no, this isn't a gripe about the selection committee's seeding.
The Ducks, being covered at the Sweet 16 by AP National Writer Nancy Armour, are in the Midwest Regional semifinals with a veritable Who's Who of college hoops.
Their opponent, Louisville, is a two-time national champion and was in the Final Four last year. Cardinals coach Rick Pitino is a surefire Hall of Famer, with two NCAA titles, 660 wins ? and counting ? and a 49-18 record in March alone.
There's also Duke, which won its fourth national title three years ago and whose coach, Mike Krzyzewski, has more wins than anyone else in Division I. (Coach K has a side gig, too, leading the U.S. men to gold medals at the last two Olympics.)
And don't forget Michigan State, which may as well include the Final Four on its schedule for as many times as Tom Izzo and the Spartans wind up there.
"Fortunately, it's our team going out there," Altman said.
Altman is no slouch, either. Oregon is the third school he's taken to the NCAA tournament, and the Ducks have had 20-win seasons in each of his three years as head coach. But Oregon is not exactly a tournament mainstay; this is the Ducks' first appearance since 2008, and their first trip to the regional semifinals since 2007.
"All three of those programs, because of their coaches, have great records, great traditions," Altman said. "We're trying to build a tradition. We're trying to build something that consistently competes year in and year out. That's a big challenge for us."
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FORCED TO CHOOSE
Richard Cordray is the former Ohio attorney general and lives in Columbus, so he roots for Ohio State football.
He also went to Michigan State at the same time as Magic Johnson, so he pulls for Spartans basketball.
That left the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a dilemma while filling out his NCAA tournament bracket. But when it came down to picking a team ? he has the Buckeyes and Spartans reaching the Final Four ? Cordray went with Michigan State.
"I always go with my heart," Cordray told AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode.
Cordray's roommate at Michigan State had a few classes with Magic and he saw firsthand the impact the oversized and gregarious point guard had on the school.
"It was really exciting and fun to watch," Cordray said. "Of course he left after two years and went on to fame and fortune. The rest of us toiled for four years finding ourselves. He's a great personality, he just glows and picks everybody up around him."
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HOLD THAT THOUGHT
During his Final Four run with George Mason, Miami coach Jim Larranaga became known for giving a "thought for the day" to his players.
He's carried on the practice with the Hurricanes, although it's hard to tell what effect it has, as AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington, D.C., found out.
"Every day he gives us a thought, and something that sticks with us, and it's not something that's complicated," forward Julian Gamble said, "just something that's very simple and just to let you know that we have to enjoy these moments."
If that's the case, Gamble was asked, can he name a favorite "thought for the day?"
"Can't think of one. Know one?" he said, turning to teammate Shane Larkin.
"I can't think of one," Larkin said.
But Gamble made a nice recovery, saying: "The one for this game is keep 'em out of the paint and block out on rebounds, so that will be my favorite one for now."
Larranaga will have to come up with a new thought, one that will last the entire offseason, after the Hurricanes lost to Marquette in the Sweet 16.
Hopefully, it'll be one that sticks.
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BRACKET BITS
That speck in the middle isn't a postage stamp. It's the court inside Cowboys Stadium for the Sweet 16: http://bit.ly/YGOWYA
Apparently the cordial feelings between Ohio State and Arizona aren't just between the coaches: http://bit.ly/10VBWPv
In honor of Easter, a bracket made out of Peeps: http://bit.ly/YGPJZm
Dunk City's dunks during the postseason, all of them: http://deadsp.in/XColZj
A couple of celeb sightings at Sweet 16 games: Drew Carey at Ohio State-Arizona in LA, San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh at Syracuse-Indiana in DC.
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STAT OF THE DAY
Dunk City is rattling the search engines along with rims.
According to Yahoo! Search, Florida Gulf Coast University is dominating as the most-searched team after becoming the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16.
Searches for the Eagles spiked 3,367 percent this week and FGCU has gotten more searches than North Korea, Lindsay Lohan and Justin Bieber.
FGCU has been searched more than any of the remaining teams in the tournament, ahead of better-known schools such as Syracuse, Duke, Michigan and Kansas.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"We're so used to people not giving us credit. ... That fuels our fire," Marquette's Vander Blue said after the Golden Eagles beat Miami to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2003.
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THURSDAY'S RESULTS
East Region
Marquette 71, Miami 61
Syracuse 61, Indiana 50
West Region
Ohio State 73, Arizona 70
Wichita State 72, La Salle 58
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FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE
South Region
At Arlington, Texas
Kansas (31-5) vs. Michigan (28-7), 7:37 p.m.
Florida Gulf Coast (26-10) vs. Florida (28-7), 30 minutes following
Midwest Region
At Indianapolis
Louisville (31-5) vs. Oregon (28-8), 7:15 p.m.
Duke (29-5) vs. Michigan State (27-8), 30 minutes following
2-headed shark fetus: A fisherman in the Florida keys caught a bull shark that contained a rare find. Inside was a shark fetus with two heads.?
By Douglas Main,?OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer / March 25, 2013
The two-headed bull shark fetus. It's about 8 inches (20 centimeters) from head to head.
Journal of Fish Biology / C. M. Wagner et al
Enlarge
When a fisherman caught a bull shark recently off the Florida Keys, he came across an unlikely surprise: One of the shark's live fetuses had two heads.
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The fisherman kept the odd specimen, and shared it with scientists, who described it in?a study?published online today (March 25) in the Journal of Fish Biology. It's one of the very few examples of a two-headed shark ever recorded ? there about six instances in published reports ? and the first time this has been seen in a?bull shark, said Michael Wagner, a study co-author and researcher at Michigan State University.
Technically called "axial bifurcation," the deformity is a result of the embryo beginning to split into two separate organisms, or twins, but doing so incompletely, Wagner told OurAmazingPlanet. It's a very rare mutation that occurs across different animals, including humans.
"Halfway through the process of forming twins, the embryo stops dividing," he said.
The two-headed fetus likely wouldn't have lived for very long in the wild, he said. "When you're a predator that needs to move fast to catch other fast-moving fish ? that'd be nearly impossible with this mutation," he said. ?[See the two-headed shark.]
Wagner said the description of the deformed shark may someday help better understand how these deformities arise in sharks and other animals.
Two-headed snakes and turtles can be bought from certain specialty breeders, and there is a small market for such creatures, Wagner said.
Several of the few examples of two-headed sharks available today come from museum specimens from the late 1800s, when deformed animals and other?macabre curiosities?fetched high prices, he said.
Another reason the two-headed shark likely wouldn't have survived: its small body. "It had very developed heads, but a very stunted body," Wagner said. There's only so much energy that can go into the body's development, and it went into the shark's double noggins, he added.
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WASHINGTON -- Two female officers entered the demanding Marine Infantry Officer Course this week ? only the second time in the history of the course that women have been allowed to compete to become ground combat leaders ? but neither passed the grueling obstacle course on Thursday, military officials said.
The women made it through the first few days of the course.
Of the 110 students who began the course this week, 96 are still enrolled ? the women were joined by 12 of their Marine brothers who also failed to complete the obstacle course entirely or could not complete it in the time allotted.
The Marine Infantry Officer Course is 10 weeks of intense field training at Quantico, Va. Marines are tested to endure rigorous physical tests and written exams with little food or sleep, all of which push the men and women to their physical and mental limits. About 400 Marines take the course each year, and one in four drops out.
In January, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta directed the U.S. military chiefs to study whether more combat-related jobs could be open to women.
The military services must report back to Chuck Hagel, Panetta's successor, with their findings by May 15.
Months before Panetta?s directive, the Marine Corps asked for women to volunteer to try the course as part of the ongoing effort to open more military billets to women.
So far four women have volunteered, but none have successfully completed the course.
Two female lieutenants entered the course last September ? the first women ever allowed to do so. While both women eventually dropped the course, one of them made it well into the second week before an injury forced her out.
The two women who volunteered for this latest round will not likely be the last.? A U.S. military official tells NBC News that five more female Marines are already waiting in the wings to enter the course this summer.
The SEC today paved the way for a new era of venture capital investing by stating it won't pursue enforcement action against FundersClub, whose platform lets any accredited investor fund startups in exchange for equity. Before, some thought FundersClub's founders could face jail time for violating finance laws. FundersClub's model could be used by others before the JOBS Act goes fully into effect.
Find My Friends has been updated with a new user interface for setting up location-based notifications. Alerts tell you when you or a friend arrives or departs from a given location, and with this update, you now have control over what distance from the location alerts are triggered.
To set your desired distance, open Find My Friends and go to Me, then hit Notify. Under Send My Location, choose either ?When I Leave...? or ?When I Arrive...? in order to select your location. Your current location will come up by default, though you can select another. The default setting is 300 ft, and cannot be made smaller, but you can make your threshold has large as you want to past that. If you?re meeting friends at a location, a restaurant, for instance, set the alert trigger for when you get to the correct street to let your friends know that you?ve arrived.
If you?re a Find My Friends user, grab the update and let us know what you think.
This publicity image provided by Oculus VR shows a virtual reality headset. The virtual reality headset, the doodad that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference. After banking $2.4 million from crowd funding and drumming up hype over the past year, Oculus VR captured the conference's attention this week with a virtual reality headset that's more like a pair of ski goggles than those bulky gaming helmets of the 1990s. (AP Photo/Oculus VR)
This publicity image provided by Oculus VR shows a virtual reality headset. The virtual reality headset, the doodad that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference. After banking $2.4 million from crowd funding and drumming up hype over the past year, Oculus VR captured the conference's attention this week with a virtual reality headset that's more like a pair of ski goggles than those bulky gaming helmets of the 1990s. (AP Photo/Oculus VR)
This publicity image provided by Oculus VR shows a virtual reality headset. The virtual reality headset, the doodad that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference. After banking $2.4 million from crowd funding and drumming up hype over the past year, Oculus VR captured the conference's attention this week with a virtual reality headset that's more like a pair of ski goggles than those bulky gaming helmets of the 1990s. (AP Photo/Oculus VR)
FILE - In this March 25, 2009 file photo, Video game enthusiasts attend the Game Developers Conference, in San Francisco. The schedule for the 2013 GDC held March 25-29, illustrates the dramatic changes that have reshaped the gaming industry in recent years, an evolution that's as much about business models as it is about pixels. GDC organizers have added a summit on free-to-play games, planned talks on topics like crowd funding and micro-transactions and coordinated panels with such titles as "Making Money with Mobile Gaming" and "Why Won't FarmVille Go Away?" (AP Photo/Ben Margo, Filet)
FILE - In this March 25, 2009 file photo, Video game enthusiasts attend the Game Developers Conference, in San Francisco. The schedule for the 2013 GDC held March 25-29, illustrates the dramatic changes that have reshaped the gaming industry in recent years, an evolution that's as much about business models as it is about pixels. GDC organizers have added a summit on free-to-play games, planned talks on topics like crowd funding and micro-transactions and coordinated panels with such titles as "Making Money with Mobile Gaming" and "Why Won't FarmVille Go Away?" (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? It's back.
The virtual reality headset, the gizmo that was supposed to seamlessly transport wearers to three-dimensional virtual worlds, has made a remarkable return at this year's Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of video game makers in San Francisco.
After drumming up hype over the past year and banking $2.4 million from crowdfunding, the Irvine, Calif.-based company Oculus VR captured the conference's attention this week with the Oculus Rift, its VR headset that's more like a pair of ski goggles than those bulky gaming helmets of the 1990s that usually left users with headaches.
"Developers who start working on VR games now are going to be able to do cool things," said Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey. "This is the first time when the technology, software, community and rendering power is all really there."
While VR technology has successfully been employed in recent years for military and medical training purposes, it's been too expensive, clunky or just plain bad for most at-home gamers. Oculus VR's headset is armed with stereoscopic 3-D, low-latency head tracking and a 110-degree field of view, and the company expects it to cost just a few hundred bucks.
A line at the conference snaked around the expo floor with attendees waiting for a chance to plop the glasses on their head and play a few minutes of "Hawken," an upcoming first-person shooter that puts players inside levitating war machines.
Attendance was also at capacity for a Thursday talk called "Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming" led by Luckey. When he asked the crowd who'd ordered development prototypes of the technology, dozens of hands shot into the air.
"There's been a lot of promise over several decades with the VR helmet idea, but I think a lot of us feel like Oculus and other devices like it are starting to get it right," said Simon Carless, executive vice president at UBM Tech Game Network, which organizes the Game Developers Conference. "We may have a competitive and interesting-to-use device, which you could strap to your head and have really immersive gaming as a result."
Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are reportedly working on similar peripherals, as are other companies. Luckey contends that the innovations Nintendo Co. made with its Wii U, Sony is planning with its upcoming PlayStation 4, and Microsoft is likely tinkering with for its successor to the Xbox 360 don't seem like enough.
"We're seeing better graphics and social networks, but those aren't things that are going to fundamentally change the kind of experiences that gamers can have," said Luckey.
A growing list of high-profile game makers have sung the device's praises, including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, "Minecraft" mastermind Markus Peterson, id Software's John Carmack, "Gears of War" chief Cliff Bleszinski and Valve boss Gabe Newell.
Valve is planning to release a VR version of its first-person shooter "Team Fortress 2" for the Rift, but Luckey is hoping that designers in attendance at this week's conference begin creating games especially for the doodad.
"The doors are already open," noted Luckey. "People are already telling us things they want to do with the Rift that they can't do with traditional games."
Luckey said prototype versions of the technology are being distributed to developers now, and he anticipates releasing a version for consumers by next year.
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang .
(PR NewsChannel) / March 28, 2013 / BOCA RATON, Fla.?
Opus Virtual Offices announces the winner of the March 2013 drawing in its popular online sweepstakes. Brandon Moore, President and CEO of Symbolic Protection Group, Inc., a private security company, is the lucky recipient of a new Apple iPad mini.
Business owners visiting ?the Opus Virtual Offices website to learn how its complete?virtual office system?supports small companies and enhances their image receive an unexpected perk. A leading provider of?virtual office services, Opus runs an?exciting quarterly sweepstakes with the chance to win an iPad.
?Discovering how the Opus?virtual office solution?frees businesspeople to focus on their specialty while we take care of details for only $99 a month is a great reason to check Opus out,? said Dave Zimet, COO of Opus Virtual Offices. ?This iPad sweepstakes is our way of thanking visitors for browsing our website. Opus congratulates Brandon Moore, the March 2013 winner.?
A California native, Moore entered the private security field after college, developing expertise in all aspects of?commercial, residential and executive escort functions.?After 17 years in the industry, he opened?Symbolic Protection Group?which specializes in total security services, with headquarters in Beverly Hills.?
Security is a demanding field with no time to juggle numerous daily phone calls and messages. Brandon researched virtual office providers extensively before choosing Opus Virtual Offices. He was impressed with Opus??advanced telecommunications system?to handle Symbolic?s large volume of calls and also its convenient locations in his area. He liked the Opus $99 flat fee with none of the hidden charges of many virtual office services.?
Moore has seen tremendous growth in the number of contracts he is bidding on, and attributes much of this to Opus Virtual Offices? efficient,?live professional receptionists?taking calls when he?s in the field.?He also appreciates Opus premium call forwarding for nights and weekends and the 24/7 voice mail to email system, insuring no missed messages.
The proud father of two young girls, Brandon has never owned an iPad and was shopping for one when he found he had won March?s sweepstakes. Symbolic Protection Group and Opus Virtual Offices have been a successful team for the last year.?
Opus invites all entrepreneurs, home based and small companies, and franchisees to discover the powerful Opus advantage.
For further information visit?www.opusvirtualoffices.com
About Opus Virtual Offices:?Opus Virtual Offices provides the most complete Virtual Office program available in the industry, with more than 400 locations in the US, giving you the corporate image you require. The Virtual Office program is the perfect office solution for all new and expanding businesses looking to gain all the resources to provide the perfect image at a low cost. Our sophisticated system has been designed to provide all the features a professional business requires without having the extreme costs that are normally associated with the operating of a business.
MEDIA CONTACT Florence Goodman Phone:????????? (561) 988-6900 Website:????????www.opusvirtualoffices.com
Direct link:??http://www.prnewschannel.com/2013/03/28/beverly-hills-businessman-wins-ipad-in-opus-virtual-offices-sweepstakes/
SOURCE:??Opus Virtual Offices
This press release is distributed by PR NewsChannel. Your News. Everywhere.
The Krusell Donso brings exclusivity and fashion to your iPhone 5 by combining a hard polycarbonate shell and a nice finish of genuine leather on the back for a smooth, professional look. This case features access to the camera, ports, buttons and is extremely thin and lightweight. Comes in black and red.
Contact: Aileen Sheehy press.office@sanger.ac.uk 0044-012-234-96928 Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
DNA sequencing reveals evidence for Mycobacterium abscessus transmission between Cystic Fibrosis patients
Researchers at Papworth Hospital, the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have discovered why a new type of dangerous bacterial infection has become more common among people with Cystic Fibrosis around the world.
Through their ground-breaking research, the team has developed new measures to protect Cystic Fibrosis patients.
People with Cystic Fibrosis are prone to serious infection in part because they have sticky mucus that can clog up their lungs. In recent years doctors have seen a global increase in the number of infections caused by the antibiotic-resistant bacterial species Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus). M. abscessus is distantly related to the bacterium that causes Tuberculosis and is usually found in water and soil. Until now, experts had thought it could not be passed from person to person.
"There has been worldwide concern about the rising number of M. abscessus infections in people with Cystic Fibrosis and anxiety that spread from person to person might be responsible," said Dr Andres Floto, Research Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Unit at Papworth Hospital, Principal Investigator at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge and lead author of the research published in The Lancet. "Our work has allowed us to lead the world in changing hospital infection control: we used state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology to understand how the infection is being spread, which conventional techniques would have missed."
"Our results will help to protect patients from this serious infection."
The team used the latest methods to sequence the genomes of almost 170 isolates of M. abscessus from Cystic Fibrosis patients collected over a five-year period. By looking at the fine detail of the relationships between the bacterial genomes, to produce a 'family tree', the research team could determine where it was likely that infection had passed from one patient to another. They showed that, even with nationally recommended infection control measures in place, M. abscessus can spread between patients.
"We are increasingly able to use DNA studies to improve patient care," says Professor Julian Parkhill, Head of Pathogen Genomics at the Wellcome trust Sanger Institute. "By sequencing the complete genomes of bacteria we can accurately describe where they have emerged from and how they pass from person to person.
"This knowledge means that the clinical teams can develop new health measures to safeguard their patients. Our aim is to develop the best methods to detect and control infection."
This new information has led to rapid changes in how people with Cystic Fibrosis are cared for in hospital to protect them from this emerging threat.
###
For further information please contact:
Kate Lancaster, Papworth Hospital
Tel +44 (0)1480 364148
Mobile +44 (0) 07850 918627
Email Kate.lancaster@papworth.nhs.uk
Don Powell, Media Manager, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
Tel +44 (0)1223 496 928
Mobile +44 (0)7753 7753 97
Email press.office@sanger.ac.uk
Publication details
Josephine M. Bryant, Dorothy M. Grogono, Daniel Greaves, Juliet Foweraker, Iain
Roddick, Thomas Inns, Mark Reacher, Charles S. Haworth, Martin D. Curran, Simon R. Harris1, Sharon J. Peacock, Julian Parkhill1and R. Andres Floto. (2013) 'Evidence for transmission of Mycobacterium abscessus between Cystic Fibrosis patients from whole-genome sequencing.
Published in the Lancet online 29 March 2013. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60632-7,
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60632-7/abstract
Funding
This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust, Papworth Hospital, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, The UK Health Protection Agency, Medical Research Council, and the UKCRC Translational Infection Research Initiative.
Participating centres
1. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
2. Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, UK
3. Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK
4. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
5. Health Protection Agency, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
6. HPA Health Protection Agency East of England Regional Epidemiology Unit, UK
7. HPA, Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire Health Protection Unit, UK
8. Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP), Health Protection Agency, London, UK
The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. It admits the very best and brightest students, regardless of background, and offers one of the UK's most generous bursary schemes. The University of Cambridge's reputation for excellence is known internationally and reflects the scholastic achievements of its academics and students, as well as the world-class original research carried out by its staff. Some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs occurred at the University, including the splitting of the atom, invention of the jet engine and the discoveries of stem cells, plate tectonics, pulsars and the structure of DNA. From Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, the University has nurtured some of history's greatest minds and has produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other UK institution with over 80 laureates.
http://www.cam.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.
http://www.sanger.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests.
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
Papworth Hospital is an international centre of excellence for the treatment of heart and lung disease. Since carrying out the UK's first successful heart transplant in 1979, Papworth has established a reputation for leading edge research and innovation in cardiopulmonary medicine and surgery. As part of the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection (CCLI), the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at Papworth Hospital was established in 1994 and now looks after over 280 adults with CF from throughout the Eastern Region. The service is supported by a multidisciplinary team including: four CF specialist consultants, three CF specialist nurses, a dedicated team of ward nurses, research nurses, specialist physiotherapists, dieticians, pharmacists, social workers, psychologist, psychiatrist, secretaries and managers. Research within the CCLI has focused on understanding how bacteria, particularly nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cause infection and inflammatory lung damage.
http://www.papworthhospital.nhs.uk/ccli.
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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.
Contact: Aileen Sheehy press.office@sanger.ac.uk 0044-012-234-96928 Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
DNA sequencing reveals evidence for Mycobacterium abscessus transmission between Cystic Fibrosis patients
Researchers at Papworth Hospital, the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have discovered why a new type of dangerous bacterial infection has become more common among people with Cystic Fibrosis around the world.
Through their ground-breaking research, the team has developed new measures to protect Cystic Fibrosis patients.
People with Cystic Fibrosis are prone to serious infection in part because they have sticky mucus that can clog up their lungs. In recent years doctors have seen a global increase in the number of infections caused by the antibiotic-resistant bacterial species Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus). M. abscessus is distantly related to the bacterium that causes Tuberculosis and is usually found in water and soil. Until now, experts had thought it could not be passed from person to person.
"There has been worldwide concern about the rising number of M. abscessus infections in people with Cystic Fibrosis and anxiety that spread from person to person might be responsible," said Dr Andres Floto, Research Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Unit at Papworth Hospital, Principal Investigator at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge and lead author of the research published in The Lancet. "Our work has allowed us to lead the world in changing hospital infection control: we used state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology to understand how the infection is being spread, which conventional techniques would have missed."
"Our results will help to protect patients from this serious infection."
The team used the latest methods to sequence the genomes of almost 170 isolates of M. abscessus from Cystic Fibrosis patients collected over a five-year period. By looking at the fine detail of the relationships between the bacterial genomes, to produce a 'family tree', the research team could determine where it was likely that infection had passed from one patient to another. They showed that, even with nationally recommended infection control measures in place, M. abscessus can spread between patients.
"We are increasingly able to use DNA studies to improve patient care," says Professor Julian Parkhill, Head of Pathogen Genomics at the Wellcome trust Sanger Institute. "By sequencing the complete genomes of bacteria we can accurately describe where they have emerged from and how they pass from person to person.
"This knowledge means that the clinical teams can develop new health measures to safeguard their patients. Our aim is to develop the best methods to detect and control infection."
This new information has led to rapid changes in how people with Cystic Fibrosis are cared for in hospital to protect them from this emerging threat.
###
For further information please contact:
Kate Lancaster, Papworth Hospital
Tel +44 (0)1480 364148
Mobile +44 (0) 07850 918627
Email Kate.lancaster@papworth.nhs.uk
Don Powell, Media Manager, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
Tel +44 (0)1223 496 928
Mobile +44 (0)7753 7753 97
Email press.office@sanger.ac.uk
Publication details
Josephine M. Bryant, Dorothy M. Grogono, Daniel Greaves, Juliet Foweraker, Iain
Roddick, Thomas Inns, Mark Reacher, Charles S. Haworth, Martin D. Curran, Simon R. Harris1, Sharon J. Peacock, Julian Parkhill1and R. Andres Floto. (2013) 'Evidence for transmission of Mycobacterium abscessus between Cystic Fibrosis patients from whole-genome sequencing.
Published in the Lancet online 29 March 2013. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60632-7,
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60632-7/abstract
Funding
This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust, Papworth Hospital, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, The UK Health Protection Agency, Medical Research Council, and the UKCRC Translational Infection Research Initiative.
Participating centres
1. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
2. Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, UK
3. Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK
4. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
5. Health Protection Agency, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
6. HPA Health Protection Agency East of England Regional Epidemiology Unit, UK
7. HPA, Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire Health Protection Unit, UK
8. Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP), Health Protection Agency, London, UK
The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. It admits the very best and brightest students, regardless of background, and offers one of the UK's most generous bursary schemes. The University of Cambridge's reputation for excellence is known internationally and reflects the scholastic achievements of its academics and students, as well as the world-class original research carried out by its staff. Some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs occurred at the University, including the splitting of the atom, invention of the jet engine and the discoveries of stem cells, plate tectonics, pulsars and the structure of DNA. From Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, the University has nurtured some of history's greatest minds and has produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other UK institution with over 80 laureates.
http://www.cam.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.
http://www.sanger.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests.
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
Papworth Hospital is an international centre of excellence for the treatment of heart and lung disease. Since carrying out the UK's first successful heart transplant in 1979, Papworth has established a reputation for leading edge research and innovation in cardiopulmonary medicine and surgery. As part of the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection (CCLI), the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at Papworth Hospital was established in 1994 and now looks after over 280 adults with CF from throughout the Eastern Region. The service is supported by a multidisciplinary team including: four CF specialist consultants, three CF specialist nurses, a dedicated team of ward nurses, research nurses, specialist physiotherapists, dieticians, pharmacists, social workers, psychologist, psychiatrist, secretaries and managers. Research within the CCLI has focused on understanding how bacteria, particularly nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cause infection and inflammatory lung damage.
http://www.papworthhospital.nhs.uk/ccli.
[ | 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.
Joanne Lakin
Dr. Carla Patalano
The SEC today paved the way for a new era of venture capital investing by stating it won't pursue enforcement action against FundersClub, whose platform lets any accredited investor fund startups in exchange for equity. Before, some thought FundersClub's founders could face jail time for violating finance laws. FundersClub's model could be used by others before the JOBS Act goes fully into effect.
Opus Virtual Offices announces the winner of the March 2013 drawing in its popular online sweepstakes. Brandon Moore, President and CEO of Symbolic Protection Group, Inc., a private security company, is the lucky recipient of a new Apple iPad mini.
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Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
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