The Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) is set to stage its sixth annual Small Business Expo on Tuesday, May 21, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston. The event, which began in 2008, is keen on fulfilling specific objectives which will assist in the sustainable creation and development of micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) in Jamaica.
Some of the main objectives are to provide training and development opportunities for entrepreneurs and MSMEs, to provide information on trending topics in the business sector, as well as to assist small business owners with the necessary skills and processes that will help them regularise their existing business functions. It is being hosted under the theme 'Taking Business to next Level: From Self-Employment to Entrepreneurship'.
The minister of state in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams noted that the country was at a critical juncture and much effort is being made to put the economy on a firm and sustainable growth path.
"We are responsible for our growth, and it is our MSMEs that must lead in bringing the level of growth and innovation that we need. It is our MSME entrepreneurs that must help to stimulate economic growth by inventing new products, implementing new solutions for existing ideas, and by helping to provide new employment opportunities," she said.
In the meantime, JBDC Chief Executive Officer Valerie Veira highlighted the importance of enhancing the MSME business environment in order to facilitate the development and growth of the sector through business and technical-support services provided through the JBDC and other support agencies who will participate in the exposition.
Veira said, "... the Small Business Expo is a great platform for micro and small business owners to garner relevant information on the sector and make linkages with both small and large companies. Corporate Jamaica recognises the importance of this sector because it gives them an opportunity to provide bona fide benefits to small-business development in our country.
The JBDC Small Business Expo will bring more than 30 exhibitors on the conference floor from a variety of industries including manufacturing, craft, banking, accounting, transport, business, technology and more. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with these organisations and access business-support services for authentic Jamaican products.
Other main highlights at the exposition and conference are interactive panel discussions with local and international business leaders and entrepreneurs, mini workshops for specific support areas, financial consultations, business clinics, as well as peer-to-peer mentoring and business-development support with industry experts.
To learn more, visit www.jbdc.net or email expo@jbdc.net/ as well as social networks including Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JBDC.net.
Cat and mouse: A single gene mattersPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Megan Fellman fellman@northwestern.edu 847-491-3115 Northwestern University
Scientists discover 1 gene is necessary for mice to avoid predators
When a mouse smells a cat, it instinctively avoids the feline or risks becoming dinner. How? A Northwestern University study involving olfactory receptors, which underlie the sense of smell, provides evidence that a single gene is necessary for the behavior.
A research team led by neurobiologist Thomas Bozza has shown that removing one olfactory receptor from mice can have a profound effect on their behavior. The gene, called TAAR4, encodes a receptor that responds to a chemical that is enriched in the urine of carnivores. While normal mice innately avoid the scent marks of predators, mice lacking the TAAR4 receptor do not.
The study, published April 28 in the journal Nature, reveals something new about our sense of smell: individual genes matter.
Unlike our sense of vision, much less is known about how sensory receptors contribute to the perception of smells. Color vision is generated by the cooperative action of three light-sensitive receptors found in sensory neurons in the eye. People with mutations in even one of these receptors experience color blindness.
"It is easy to understand how each of the three color receptors is important and maintained during evolution," said Bozza, an author of the paper, "but the olfactory system is much more complex."
In contrast to the three color receptors, humans have 380 olfactory receptor genes, while mice have more than 1,000. Common smells like the fragrance of coffee and perfumes typically activate many receptors.
"The general consensus in the field is that removing a single olfactory receptor gene would not have a significant effect on odor perception," said Bozza, an assistant professor of neurobiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
Bozza and his colleagues tested this assumption by genetically removing a specific subset of olfactory receptors called trace amine-associated receptors, or TAARs, in mice. Mice have 15 TAARs. One is expressed in the brain and responds to amine neurotransmitters and common drugs of abuse such as amphetamine. The other 14 are found in the nose and have been coopted to detect odors.
Bozza's group has shown that the TAARs are extremely sensitive to amines -- a class of chemicals that is ubiquitous in biological systems and is enriched in decaying materials and rotting flesh. Mice and humans typically avoid amines since they have a strongly unpleasant, fishy quality.
Bozza's team, including the paper's lead authors, postdoctoral fellow Adam Dewan and graduate student Rodrigo Pacifico, generated mice that lack all 14 olfactory TAAR genes. These mice showed no aversion to amines. In a second experiment, the researchers removed only the TAAR4 gene. TAAR4 responds selectively to phenylethylamine (PEA), an amine that is concentrated in carnivore urine. They found that mice lacking TAAR4 fail to avoid PEA, or the smell of predator cat urine, but still avoid other amines.
"It is amazing to see such a selective effect," Dewan said. "If you remove just one olfactory receptor in mice, you can affect behavior."
The TAAR genes are found in all mammals studied so far, including humans. "The fact that TAARs are highly conserved means they are likely important for survival," Bozza said.
One idea is that the TAARs may make animals very sensitive to the smell of amines. Humans may have TAAR genes to avoid rotting foods, which become enriched in amines during the decomposition process. In fact, the TAARs may relay information to a specific part of the brain that elicits innately aversive behavior in animals.
Bozza's lab has recently shown that neurons in the nose that express the TAARs connect to with a specific region of the olfactory bulb -- the part of the brain that first receives olfactory information. This suggests that the TAARs may elicit hardwired responses to amines in mice, and perhaps humans.
"We hope this work will reveal specific brain circuits that underlie instinctive behaviors in mammals," Bozza said. "Doing so will help us understand how neural circuits contribute to behavior."
###
The paper is entitled "Non-redundant coding of aversive odours in the main olfactory pathway." In addition to Bozza, Dewan and Pacifico, the paper is co-authored by Ross Zhan, an undergraduate student at Northwestern, and Dmitry Rinberg, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus.
[ | 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.
Cat and mouse: A single gene mattersPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Megan Fellman fellman@northwestern.edu 847-491-3115 Northwestern University
Scientists discover 1 gene is necessary for mice to avoid predators
When a mouse smells a cat, it instinctively avoids the feline or risks becoming dinner. How? A Northwestern University study involving olfactory receptors, which underlie the sense of smell, provides evidence that a single gene is necessary for the behavior.
A research team led by neurobiologist Thomas Bozza has shown that removing one olfactory receptor from mice can have a profound effect on their behavior. The gene, called TAAR4, encodes a receptor that responds to a chemical that is enriched in the urine of carnivores. While normal mice innately avoid the scent marks of predators, mice lacking the TAAR4 receptor do not.
The study, published April 28 in the journal Nature, reveals something new about our sense of smell: individual genes matter.
Unlike our sense of vision, much less is known about how sensory receptors contribute to the perception of smells. Color vision is generated by the cooperative action of three light-sensitive receptors found in sensory neurons in the eye. People with mutations in even one of these receptors experience color blindness.
"It is easy to understand how each of the three color receptors is important and maintained during evolution," said Bozza, an author of the paper, "but the olfactory system is much more complex."
In contrast to the three color receptors, humans have 380 olfactory receptor genes, while mice have more than 1,000. Common smells like the fragrance of coffee and perfumes typically activate many receptors.
"The general consensus in the field is that removing a single olfactory receptor gene would not have a significant effect on odor perception," said Bozza, an assistant professor of neurobiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
Bozza and his colleagues tested this assumption by genetically removing a specific subset of olfactory receptors called trace amine-associated receptors, or TAARs, in mice. Mice have 15 TAARs. One is expressed in the brain and responds to amine neurotransmitters and common drugs of abuse such as amphetamine. The other 14 are found in the nose and have been coopted to detect odors.
Bozza's group has shown that the TAARs are extremely sensitive to amines -- a class of chemicals that is ubiquitous in biological systems and is enriched in decaying materials and rotting flesh. Mice and humans typically avoid amines since they have a strongly unpleasant, fishy quality.
Bozza's team, including the paper's lead authors, postdoctoral fellow Adam Dewan and graduate student Rodrigo Pacifico, generated mice that lack all 14 olfactory TAAR genes. These mice showed no aversion to amines. In a second experiment, the researchers removed only the TAAR4 gene. TAAR4 responds selectively to phenylethylamine (PEA), an amine that is concentrated in carnivore urine. They found that mice lacking TAAR4 fail to avoid PEA, or the smell of predator cat urine, but still avoid other amines.
"It is amazing to see such a selective effect," Dewan said. "If you remove just one olfactory receptor in mice, you can affect behavior."
The TAAR genes are found in all mammals studied so far, including humans. "The fact that TAARs are highly conserved means they are likely important for survival," Bozza said.
One idea is that the TAARs may make animals very sensitive to the smell of amines. Humans may have TAAR genes to avoid rotting foods, which become enriched in amines during the decomposition process. In fact, the TAARs may relay information to a specific part of the brain that elicits innately aversive behavior in animals.
Bozza's lab has recently shown that neurons in the nose that express the TAARs connect to with a specific region of the olfactory bulb -- the part of the brain that first receives olfactory information. This suggests that the TAARs may elicit hardwired responses to amines in mice, and perhaps humans.
"We hope this work will reveal specific brain circuits that underlie instinctive behaviors in mammals," Bozza said. "Doing so will help us understand how neural circuits contribute to behavior."
###
The paper is entitled "Non-redundant coding of aversive odours in the main olfactory pathway." In addition to Bozza, Dewan and Pacifico, the paper is co-authored by Ross Zhan, an undergraduate student at Northwestern, and Dmitry Rinberg, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus.
[ | 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.
For screenwriters, John McWhorter?s TEDTalk on texting grammar is a useful reminder of the differences between how people talk and how they write.
Speech is made up of word clusters with no discrete punctuation. Because speech is almost always dialogue ? you?re usually speaking with somebody ? it?s structured in a way that allows interruption.
Compare that to written language, which is by its nature a unbroken monologue with punctuation to demarcate how thoughts should fit together, allowing complex sentences like this one with nested clauses (and even parenthetical asides) that you?d likely never attempt in speech.
As screenwriters, we?re often writing speech. Our goal is to make it feel unwritten.
With dialogue, I generally aim for a slightly optimized version of how people would actually talk. That is, I consider many ways a character could express an idea in that given moment and choose the one that works best. Not only am I looking at the ?meat? of the line ? the reason why they?re saying it ? but also how the line ends. Ideally, each line of dialogue invites the next line, either through an implied question or challenge (?You wouldn?t say he?s arrogant, though.?), or patterns that suggest what?s to follow.
MARY
I just adore Reggie! His wit, his charm...
TOM
His money.
MARY
His money is adorable.
The danger is that being too clever can make something feel written ? the audience becomes aware of the writer, rather than the character. You have to consider the genre and the audience. One of the most sobering jobs in a rewrite is killing dialogue that is terrific but wrong.
Back to the video: McWhorter argues that texting is best thought of as ?fingered speech.? It looks like writing, but it?s an emergent form of language that is quickly developing its own conventions. I buy it.
I also really enjoyed McWhorter?s earlier book, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English. I wrote more about that back in 2009.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? One of the architects of failed gun control legislation says he's bringing it back.
Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday said he would re-introduce a measure that would require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online. The West Virginia Democrat says that if lawmakers read the bill, they will support it.
Manchin sponsored a previous version of the measure with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. It failed.
Manchin says there was confusion over what was in the bill.
In the wake of last year's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Congress took up gun control legislation, but it was blocked by supporters of the powerful pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association.
NASA's iconic Hubble Space Telescope has snapped stunning new photos of Comet ISON, which could become one of the brightest comets ever seen when it zips through the inner solar system this fall.
Hubble captured the new photos on April 10, when?Comet ISON?was slightly closer than Jupiter. At the time the icy wanderer was about 386 million miles?(621 million kilometers) from the sun and 394 million miles (634 million km) from Earth.
The new images are already helping astronomers take a bead on the mysterious Comet ISON, which may shine as brightly as the full moon when it makes its closest pass by the sun in late November. (The comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA has said.) [Photos of Comet ISON in Night Sky]
For example, the Hubble telescope photos show that ISON is already becoming quite active, though it's still pretty far from our star. The?comet's dusty head, or coma, is about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) wide, and its tail is more than 57,000 miles (92,000 km) long, astronomers said. And ISON sports a dust-blasting jet that extends at least 2,300 miles (3,700 km).
Yet the comet's nucleus is surprisingly small ? no more than 3 or 4 miles (4.8 to 6.5 km) across.
This small core makes the comet's behavior on its trip around the sun, which will bring ISON within 730,000 miles (nearly 1.2 million km) of the solar surface on Nov. 28, especially tough to predict, researchers said. Also complicating the forecast is the fact that ISON is apparently making its first trip through the inner solar system from the distant, icy Oort cloud.
So it's difficult to know if ISON will live up to its billing or fizzle out like Comet Kahoutek ? another possible "comet of the century" ? did in 1973.
But Comet ISON's relatively pristine state has a real upside to astronomers, who will study the material that sublimates off the comet to gain insight into its composition.
"As a first-time visitor to the inner solar system, Comet C/ISON provides astronomers a rare opportunity to study a fresh comet preserved since the formation of the solar system," Jian-Yang Li of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., who led a team that imaged the comet, said in a statement. "The expected high brightness of the comet as it nears the sun allows for many important measurements that are impossible for most other fresh comets."
NASA has organized a?Comet ISON Observing Campaign?to coordinate the efforts of observatories on the ground and in space. Hubble is seen as a key player in this campaign, along with a number of other instruments.
Comet ISON is officially designated as C/2012 S1 (ISON) and was discovered in September 2012 by Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok.
Hubble's new ISON photos were taken just two weeks before the telescope's 23rd anniversary. The Hubble Space Telescope, a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall?and?Google+.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In this courtroom sketch, Raed Jaser appears in court in Toronto on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Jaser, 35, and Chehib Esseghaier, 30, were arrested and charged Monday in what the RCMP said was the first known al-Qaida terror plot in Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Mantha)
In this courtroom sketch, Raed Jaser appears in court in Toronto on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Jaser, 35, and Chehib Esseghaier, 30, were arrested and charged Monday in what the RCMP said was the first known al-Qaida terror plot in Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Mantha)
Security officials check a man at a courthouse in Montreal on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Reed Jaser, one of two men accused of plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al-Qaida elements in Iran, made a brief court appearance Tuesday but did not enter a plea. Canadian investigators say Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received ?directions and guidance? from members of al-Qaida. The case prompted an immediate response from Iran, which denied any involvement and said groups such as al-Qaida do not share Iran?s ideology. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)
Security officials check a man at a courthouse in Montreal on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Reed Jaser, one of two men accused of plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al-Qaida elements in Iran, made a brief court appearance Tuesday but did not enter a plea. Canadian investigators say Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received ?directions and guidance? from members of al-Qaida. The case prompted an immediate response from Iran, which denied any involvement and said groups such as al-Qaida do not share Iran?s ideology. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)
A man walks his dog past a mosque where Chiheb Esseghaier, one of the two accused in an alleged plot to bomb a Via passenger train, used to attend Tuesday, April 23, 2013 in Montreal. Canadian investigators say Raed Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received "directions and guidance" from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iran said it had nothing to do with the plot, and groups such as al-Qaida do not share Iran's ideology. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)
TORONTO (AP) ? A man accused of plotting with al-Qaida members in Iran to derail a train in Canada was due to appear in a Toronto court Wednesday after declaring at his initial court appearance that the charges against him are unfair. Law enforcement officials in the U.S. said the target was a train that runs between New York City and Canada.
Canadian investigators say Raed Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received guidance ? but no money ? from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iran released a statement saying it had nothing to do with the plot, even though there were no claims in Canada that the attacks were sponsored directly by Iran.
In a brief court appearance in Montreal, a bearded Esseghaier declined to be represented by a court-appointed lawyer. He made a brief statement in French in which he rejected the allegations against him.
"The conclusions were made based on facts and words which are only appearances," he said in a calm voice after asking permission to speak.
Esseghaier, who was arrested Monday afternoon at a McDonald's restaurant in the train station, was later flown to Toronto for a court appearance Wednesday in the city where his trial will take place.
Jaser appeared in court earlier Tuesday in Toronto and also did not enter a plea. He was given a new court date of May 23. He had a long beard, wore a black shirt with no tie, and was accompanied by his parents and brother. The court granted a request by his lawyer, John Norris, for a publication ban on future evidence and testimony.
The case has raised questions about the extent of Shiite-led Iran's relationship with al-Qaida, a predominantly Sunni Arab terrorist network. It also renewed attention on Iran's complicated history with the terror group, which ranges from outright hostility to alliances of convenience and even overtures by Tehran to assist Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
"We oppose any terrorist and violent action that would jeopardize lives of innocent people," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday.
Charges against the two men in Canada include conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group. Police ? tipped off by an imam worried by the behavior of one of the suspects ? said it was the first known attack planned by al-Qaida in Canada. The two could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
Law officials in New York with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press the attack was to take place on the Canadian side of the border. They are not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Amtrak and Via Rail Canada jointly operate routes between the United States and Canada, including the Maple Leaf from New York City to Toronto.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Canada has kept New York posted on the investigation.
"I can just tell you that you are probably safer in New York City than you are in any other big city," Bloomberg told reporters Tuesday without discussing details.
Jaser's lawyer said his client questioned the timing of the arrests, pointing to ongoing debates in the Canadian Parliament over a new anti-terrorism law that would expand the powers of police and intelligence agencies.
Norris speaking outside the court said his client is "in a state of shock and disbelief."
He said his client would "defend himself vigorously" against the accusations, and noted Jaser was a permanent resident of Canada who has lived there for 20 years. Norris refused to say where Jaser was from, saying that revealing his nationality in the current climate amounted to demonizing him.
Canadian police also declined to release the men's nationalities, saying only they had been in Canada a "significant amount of time."
Muslim community leaders who were briefed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ahead of Monday's announcement of the arrest said they were told one of the suspects is Tunisian and the other from the United Arab Emirates.
But the United Arab Emirates embassy in Ottawa said in a statement Tuesday that neither of the two men were UAE nationals.
The London-based newspaper Al Arab reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources in the Gulf, that Jaser is a Jordanian passport holder with full name Raed Jaser Ibrahim Amouri, who had visited the UAE several times and most recently in September 2011. The newspaper reported that the suspect also visited other Gulf countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
It was not possible to independently confirm the report.
Esseghaier's LinkedIn profile lists him as having studied in Tunisia before moving to Canada, where he was pursuing a Ph.D. in nanotechnology at the National Institute of Scientific Research, a spokeswoman at the training university confirmed.
The investigation surrounding the planned attack was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Canadian police said the men never got close to carrying out the attack.
The warning first came from an imam in Toronto, who in turn was tipped off by suspicious behavior on the part of one of the suspect.
"I was involved in alerting police about the suspect. I made some calls on behalf of the imam over a year ago," Toronto lawyer Naseer Syed said. He would not say what, exactly made the imam suspicious.
"The Muslim community has been cooperating with authorities for a number of years and people do the right thing when there is reason to alert authorities," Syed said, adding that he was speaking for the imam, who wished to remain anonymous.
___
Associated Press writers Charmaine Noronha in Ontario, Shingler in Montreal, Tom Hays and Jennifer Peltz in New York, Kimberly Dozier in Washington and Brian Murphy in the United Arab Emirates contributed to this story.
2011 sure doesn't feel like that long ago, but it's evidently long enough for Verizon to realize that demand for innovation is booming in Silicon Valley. Not quite two years after the company cracked open the doors to its San Francisco-based Innovation Center, it's already looking to expand. During a briefing today at its other Innovation Center -- the one located just outside of Boston -- we were told that plans are underway to expand the SF facility. Presently, the Waltham, Mass. center is the vaster of the two, and it's Verizon's goal to stretch the California edition to (roughly) match the original location.
We were also told that the company has looked at a variety of other cities where potential Innovation Centers could be planted, and while "three to four" undisclosed metropolises are in play, the company wants to nail the execution of its first two before hastily expanding into new locales. According to Praveen Atreya, director of Verizon's Innovation Program, there's just too much involved in the incubation and launch process to not devote the proper amount of manpower to it. In other words, there's more to launching a product than just design and manufacturing; a lot of TLC goes on in order to make something have a successful shelf life.
Set your iPhone's alarm, Amazon's got Gold Box deals on video games, and we've got all the details right here.
Starting at 3am EST, Amazon will be running limited time sales on several games and accessories. The deal ends either when time expires or when stock is sold through. We're going to list the offers below, times are all Eastern Standard. Thanks goes to Cheap Ass Gamer for the info. [Amazon Gold Box]
All Day ? PS3 God of War: Ascension ($40) | $55+ elsewhere ? PS3 God of War Legacy PS3 Bundle ($280) | $327+ elsewhere
Midnight-2am ? Lego Lord of the Rings ($20) | Which platforms is not currently clear, probably all of them.
Dig in, I'll update this throughout the day. Come back at 2:15pm for an all-new Moneysaver, and check out all the other deals in Monday's full Moneysaver roundup. Follow me on Kinja for deals as I post them, and check out Deals.Kinja.com for even more discounts.
Welcome to the new Moneysaver, now brought to you by the Commerce Team. Our aim is to bring Kotaku readers the best gaming deals available. And to be very clear, we also make money if you buy. We're making new improvements every day, and we want your feedback.
Basically every major release of the past several months is on sale today, and for every platform.? Read?
Mobile personal assistant apps are all the rage these days. First there was Google Now for Android, but over the last several weeks we’ve seen a whole bunch of new apps pop up — apps like Donna, Osito, and Sherpa — all of which seeking to make our lives easier by simplifying how we organize our meetings, travel, and other personal information. With that in mind, I sat down with my colleague Drew Olanoff to discuss why this is such a hot space and whether these apps deliver on their promise. On that latter question, we still think these apps have a long way to go. As Drew says, all the technology is there — and yet, no one has really pulled it all together in a way that makes these apps truly smart. There’s also the issue of finding an app that fits everyone’s lifestyle. As he points out, his personal workflow is different from mine. Finding a way to make a personal assistant which suits everyone’s needs is a difficult process. As for me? I like what I’ve seen so far from apps like Donna or Osito, but I don’t want an app that I have to enter information into to make things work. I want something that will scour my email and calendars, figure out where and when things are happening, and then from that information plan my calendar for me. No one quite comes close right now. Check out the video above for our discussion on the topic, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Apr. 22, 2013 ? Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a method of predicting which patients with heart disease would benefit more from surgery and which would benefit more from angioplasty.
Drawing on Medicare records of more than 100,000 patients with heart disease, the team demonstrated that the effectiveness of coronary bypass surgery varied widely based on each individual's characteristics. The data enabled them to predict which type of intervention -- coronary bypass surgery or coronary angioplasty -- increased the chances of an individual patient living longer, based on a half-dozen traits, such as gender, age and diabetes and smoking history.
The study was published April 23 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Additionally, lead author Mark Hlatky, MD, professor of medicine and of health research and policy, and his team developed an interactive online tool to help clinicians precisely predict how much a patient's survival might change by choosing coronary bypass surgery or angioplasty. Currently, clinicians have to "guesstimate" the effectiveness of these procedures based on their interpretation of medical research.
Hlatky said the study results could help doctors make better decisions about the treatments likely to be most effective for individual patients, rather than relying on medical guidelines that work best for the "typical patient."
"If we could identify the individuals in the population who would benefit the most, and target treatment more precisely, we could have really good outcomes at much lower cost," Hlatky said. He added that this tool can easily be adapted to study other treatments for heart disease, and even treatments for other conditions, such as cancer and stroke.
The research "offers much more refined guidance to clinicians," said Ralph Horwitz, MD, co-chair of an upcoming Institute of Medicine conference on using routine clinical data to improve patient care, where the Stanford researchers will present their findings. Horwitz, who was not involved in the study, added that the Stanford team's novel methods point to a new approach for treatment research. "I think people are looking for efficient ways to understand how variation among patients alters or affects various treatments and procedures," he said. "I think this work very nicely illustrates how to do that."
Coronary bypass surgery and angioplasty are two leading treatments for coronary heart disease, a condition in which the buildup of a waxy, fatty substance called plaque causes a narrowing of arteries, blocking the flow of blood. Over time, the condition can lead to a heart attack and heart failure, sometimes resulting in sudden death.
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the United States. Coronary heart disease, the most common type of heart disease, claims 385,000 American lives every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Coronary bypass surgery requires a large chest incision to reach the affected arteries, but this approach sometimes is necessary for patients with multiple blocked arteries. Other times, coronary angioplasty (also known as PCI), a less-invasive procedure, can be done instead. PCI involves threading a thin tube called a catheter through the blood vessels to the site of the blockage, inflating a small balloon to widen the artery and, in most cases, inserting a stent, a small mesh tube, to keep the vessel open.
The study showed that patients with severe heart disease -- those who had two or more blocked arteries -- lived longer, on average, when treated with coronary bypass surgery instead of angioplasty, but how much longer varied widely. For patients with certain conditions, including diabetes, heart failure, peripheral arterial disease, a history of smoking and a recent heart attack, coronary bypass surgery extended their lives by a few weeks to a few months beyond how long they would have been expected to live had they undergone angioplasty. On the other hand, patients without any of these conditions lived longer if they had angioplasty instead of surgery.
Instead of running a randomized clinical trial, which is considered the gold standard for comparing treatments, the researchers simulated a clinical trial using Medicare patient records from 1992 to 2008. One of the drawbacks of randomized clinical trials is that they tend to be small and limit the type of patients who can participate. Hlatky's method used a much larger and more diverse pool of patients, and the treatments were chosen by patients and their doctors, not assigned by a strict research protocol. The researchers matched patients based on more than three-dozen characteristics, except the kind of coronary heart disease surgery they received, using a method called propensity score matching.
"We tried to find medical twins -- one of whom got coronary bypass surgery and one of whom got an angioplasty -- two people who looked alike medically, but were treated differently," Hlatky said. Any differences in the outcomes of these well-matched patients were presumably due to the treatment they received rather than other factors like their medical condition, age, race or the part of the country they lived in.
There is growing evidence that some patient characteristics, such as age, sex and diabetes history, make a difference in the effectiveness of coronary surgery, but this is the first study to quantify how much those characteristics contribute, and to develop an assessment tool to help doctors decide on a treatment plan for their patients.
Hlatky will present his findings at an Institute of Medicine workshop titled "Observational Studies in a Learning Environment" in Washington, D.C., April 24 and 25.
Other Stanford co-authors include Laurence Baker, PhD, professor of health research and policy; biostatistician Derek Boothroyd, PhD; instructor Tara Chang, MD; and biostatistician David Shilane, PhD. Researchers at the University of California-San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente Northern California were also involved in the study.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Rina Shaikh-Lesko.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The low price of carbon credits means the market is not doing its job: pushing polluters to reduce carbon emissions, which most climate scientists believe contribute to global warming.
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? Federal authorities have scant evidence linking a Mississippi man to the mailing of ricin-laced letters to the president and a senator, his attorney says.
Christi McCoy said after a court hearing Friday that the government has offered no evidence to prove her client, Paul Kevin Curtis, had possession of any ricin or the seed from which it is extracted ? castor beans. An FBI agent testified during the hearing that he could not say if investigators had found ricin at Curtis' home, and McCoy said the evidence linking the 45-year-old to the crime so far has hinged on his writings posted online.
He is adamant that he did not do this, and she said she has seen nothing to prove him wrong.
Curtis was ushered into the courtroom before the hearing began in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles. He turned to face a young woman in the audience before the hearing and whispered, "I didn't do it."
Prosecutors had wanted to delay the hearing because searches of Curtis home and car had not been completed and DNA and other tests are pending.
Curtis' brother Jack Curtis and 20-year-old daughter Madison Curtis watched the court proceeding and said afterward they are not convinced he did what he is accused of, even though they tried to keep an open mind about what would be presented.
"After hearing what I heard in this courtroom, it appears to me that the reason I haven't been provided any evidence is there appears to be none that would link my brother directly to the charges that have been made," Jack Curtis said after the hearing.
So far, Curtis is the primary focus for investigators and the only person arrested in connection with sending those letters and a third threatening letter mailed to a judge. But during a hearing Friday, FBI agent Brandon M. Grant testified that authorities were still trying to determine whether there were any co-conspirators.
As the hearing went on for roughly two hours, Grant said under questioning by Curtis' attorney that he could not say whether any ricin had been found at Curtis' home because the investigation was ongoing. Investigators had found a package they were interested in, but Grant said he did not know what was in it.
Grant also testified that there was one fingerprint on the letter sent to the judge, but that it didn't match Curtis. He said several people handled the letter, and DNA and other tests are pending.
Curtis' lawyer peppered the agent with questions in an attempt to show the government had little hard evidence, but Grant said people's lives were at risk and it wasn't like a fraud investigation in which authorities could gather more evidence before making an arrest.
Family and acquaintances have described Curtis as a caring father and enthusiastic musician who struggled for years with mental illness and who was consumed by trying to publicize his claims of a conspiracy to sell body parts on the black market.
Curtis is an Elvis impersonator and performed at parties. Friends and relatives also say he spiraled into emotional turmoil trying to get attention for his claims of uncovering a conspiracy to sell body parts on the black market.
Grant testified that Curtis' family had become increasingly concerned by his behavior.
Grant said Curtis' ex-wife told authorities that he fought with his daughter around Christmas and told her, "Maybe I should go ahead and kill you."
Madison Curtis said after the hearing that she loves her father and stands by him.
Grant also testified that Curtis' ex-wife said Curtis once told her that he was in hostage situation in Chicago after a breaking up with a former girlfriend, threatened suicide and shot a gun in the air.
However, the agent said they haven't been able to find a record of that.
Grant's testimony ended Friday evening, but the hearing is set to continue Monday morning.
In court documents, Curtis' attorney, Christi McCoy, gave some details of Curtis' arrest. Curtis had gone to get his mail outside his home and was planning to go to his ex-wife's home to cook dinner for her and their children when he was approached by officers in SWAT gear, she wrote. He was then interrogated at an FBI office for several hours, handcuffed and chained to a chair.
Curtis cooperated to the best of his ability, but when he suggested he might need a lawyer, an agent discouraged that, McCoy wrote.
According to an FBI affidavit, the letters he sent read: "Maybe I have your attention now even if that means someone must die."
Officials have confirmed that the letters contained ricin.
While the toxin can be extremely lethal in its purest form, experts say more crude forms are relatively easy to make.
The FBI has not yet revealed details about how the ricin was made or how lethal it may have been. It was in a powdered form inside the envelopes, but the FBI said no one has been sickened by it so far. A senate official said Thursday that the ricin was not weaponized, meaning it wasn't in a form that could easily enter the body.
More than a dozen officials, some wearing hazardous materials suits, were searching the home Friday where Curtis was arrested in Corinth, Miss. FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden would not say if authorities have found ricin or materials used to make it in Curtis' home, and officials have not provided details about how Curtis may have either obtained or made the ricin.
Curtis' ex-wife has said he likely didn't have the know-how to make ricin, and she did not know where he would buy it because he was on disability. But Cohen said ricin was once known as "the poor man's bioterrorism" because the seeds are easy to obtain and the extraction process is relatively simple.
"Any kid that made it through high school science lab is more than equipped to successfully make a poison out of this stuff. Any fool can get recipes off the Internet and figure out how to do it," Cohen said.
Those seeds, which look a bit like coffee beans, are easy to buy online and are grown around the world; they are often used to make medicinal castor oil, among other things. However, using the seeds to make a highly concentrated form of ricin would require laboratory equipment and expertise to extract, said Raymond Zilinskas, a chemical and biological weapons expert.
"It's an elaborate process," he said.
___
Gresko reported from Washington. Associated Press Photographer Rogelio Solis in Corinth and writers Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Jay Reeves in Oxford and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
BOSTON (AP) ? David Ortiz is set to make his return for the Boston Red Sox following an eight-month layoff.
Ortiz was in the batting order to hit cleanup and be the designated hitter in Saturday's game against the Kansas City Royals.
The 37-year-old was activated from the disabled list Friday. Ortiz injured his right Achilles tendon running the bases on July 17 and appeared just once in Boston's final 72 games, going 2 for 3 against the Royals on Aug. 24.
Ortiz was bothered by inflammation in both heels during spring training, and he went 4 for 18 (.222) with a home run during a six-game injury rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket from April 11-18.
Kent Baker is passionate about art and has shared his zeal with students at Capistrano Valley High School for the last 8 years.? He teaches drawing, painting and animation to creative young minds who absorb his lessons like a sponge. Kent also inspires them to get involved in the community.
?The way I get my art students to participate in community activities is through preparation,? he said. ?Our school is lucky to have a dedicated art gallery/store staffed during lunch by PTSA parents. From the beginning of the year, students get used to having their projects hung where all of their friends can see them. By the time spring rolls around, they feel comfortable exhibiting their work outside of school.?
Kent?s students? drawings and paintings have been displayed at places like the Laguna College of Art & Design and at the Sneak Peek Arts Alive event at the Kaleidoscope.
?In fact, one of last year?s advanced students, Robbin Nameki, is participating in the Sneak Peek again this year on April 20-21,? he said. ?She?ll be showing the ropes to the younger artists.?
Along with teaching students about art, Kent shows them the mastery of it firsthand. Kent is a street painter who displays his talents each year during the City?s Arts Alive Festival. He will join more than 70 other street painters at this year?s two-day weekend festival May 4-5.
This year?s festival celebrates the 1960s with a plethora of cultural, artistic and environmental activities and top-notch entertainment. Street painting is a popular component of the festival as the pavement outside of the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center is transformed into a gallery of art with artists using pastel chalks as their medium.
?The Norman P. Murray Community Center is right in the neighborhood of so many of our students,? Kent said. ?Being able to participate, either individually or in teams, and show off their artwork is certainly a win-win for them and the community ??
For more information about all of the excitement on tap for this year?s festival, visit http://cityofmissionviejo.org/artsalivefestival.
Posted in Arts, Entertainment, News, Things To Do| Tagged Capistrano Valley High School, city of mission viejo, Kent Baker, Laguna College of Art & Design, LCAD, Mission Viejo, mission viejo information, mission viejo life, mission viejo news, mission viejo official blog, Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center |
For months there has been speculation that Jaden Smith and Kylie Jenner were dating. In a recent interview Smith opened up about his relationship with the reality TV star. He is the son of one of Hollywood;s biggest stars. She is the youngest daughter of one of America’s greatest Olympians. Together they are one of the cutest teen couples in celebrity world but are Kylie and Jaden really dating or are they just BF’s? In a recent interview with Wonderland Magazine Smith decided to talk about Jenner. Although he doesn’t really give a whole lot of answers about whether or not they are a couple the Karate Kid star says that the model is one of his best friends. When asked about the status of their relationship, he simply talked about how when he was in LA they hang out, as well as her tagging along with him to New York and surprising him in London. Despite the fact that the statement can be interpreted as a very relationship like comment he did not confirm if they are an item or not. All the 14-year old revealed or teased rather was that perhaps people might find some answers in his [...]
It wasn't too long ago that SugarSync overhauled a couple of the apps it serves on different platforms, but for whatever reason the iOS version wasn't included in that round of updates. Today, though, the cloud-based storage service is releasing a new version of its application for Apple devices that brings a fair bit to the table. Chief among the improvements is a completely redesigned UI that, according to the company, aims to provide a more consistent experience across all the apps it currently offers.
iPod touch, iPhone and iPad users will also now see a new feature which allows any saved file on SugarSync to be searched from within the app, while "Open In" integrates deeply with the OS to make it easier to open / save docs via other services. SugarSync is also quick to point out that there are many more iOS features in the works (such as labels for folders), but we'll have to wait until a future release for those.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
Share ] 
Mobile personal assistant apps are all the rage these days. First there was Google Now for Android, but over the last several weeks we’ve seen a whole bunch of new apps pop up — apps like Donna, Osito, and Sherpa — all of which seeking to make our lives easier by simplifying how we organize our meetings, travel, and other personal information. With that in mind, I sat down with my colleague Drew Olanoff to discuss why this is such a hot space and whether these apps deliver on their promise. On that latter question, we still think these apps have a long way to go. As Drew says, all the technology is there — and yet, no one has really pulled it all together in a way that makes these apps truly smart. There’s also the issue of finding an app that fits everyone’s lifestyle. As he points out, his personal workflow is different from mine. Finding a way to make a personal assistant which suits everyone’s needs is a difficult process. As for me? I like what I’ve seen so far from apps like Donna or Osito, but I don’t want an app that I have to enter information into to make things work. I want something that will scour my email and calendars, figure out where and when things are happening, and then from that information plan my calendar for me. No one quite comes close right now. Check out the video above for our discussion on the topic, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Kent Baker is passionate about art and has shared his zeal with students at Capistrano Valley High School for the last 8 years.? He teaches drawing, painting and animation to creative young minds who absorb his lessons like a sponge. Kent also inspires them to get involved in the community.