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Source: http://komari77454.blogspot.com/2013/03/schulte-7115-5613-50-big-work-hook.html
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More than 100 years ago, Golgi staining on nerve cells opened the gates to modern neuroscience. Scientists recently developed the Technicolor version of Golgi staining, Brainbow, allowing more detailed reconstructions of brain circuits.
AFP/Getty ImagesMore than 100 years ago, Golgi staining on nerve cells opened the gates to modern neuroscience. Scientists recently developed the Technicolor version of Golgi staining, Brainbow, allowing more detailed reconstructions of brain circuits.
AFP/Getty ImagesDuring the State of the Union, President Obama said the nation is about to embark on an ambitious project: to examine the human brain and create a road map to the trillions of connections that make it work.
"Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy ? every dollar," the president said. "Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer's."
Details of the project have slowly been leaking out: $3 billion, 10 years of research and hundreds of scientists. The National Institutes of Health is calling it the Brain Activity Map.
? People have been studying the brain for centuries and they've been mapping it, but the brain is just so complex that we barely understand it now.
Obama isn't the first to tout the benefits of a huge government science project. But can these projects really deliver? And what is mapping the human brain really going to get us?
Building A Brain Map
Much like the Human Genome Project a decade ago, scientists are hoping brain mapping will lead to new scientific advances and breakthroughs, and that perhaps it will even unlock the secrets of conditions such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.
"With the brain, we're kind of at the same stage as we were in the early 1980s with the genome," says science writer Carl Zimmer.
Zimmer tells Laura Sullivan, host of weekends on All Things Considered, that there's no way to know what mapping the brain can do, but if mapping happens it's going to be both pricey and complicated.
"People have been studying the brain for centuries, and they've been mapping it, but the brain is just so complex that we barely understand it now," he says. "We have maybe 85 billion neurons in our heads, but we can only listen to maybe 1,000 at a time. [So] we're only getting a tiny picture of what the brain is doing."
There are several ways to map the brain, Zimmer says, one well-known example being an MRI. The resolution, however, is not nearly high enough for scientists to see all of the intricate wiring of the brain, where hundreds of thousands or even millions of neurons can fit in an area the size of a poppy seed.
"There are people who are trying to go down to that level," he says.
Some of this is already happening, albeit slowly, in labs around the world, Zimmer says. The problem is the efforts aren't coordinated.
"In the case of the Human Genome Project, the government said, 'We're going to coordinate all of this and we're going to get this genome sequenced,'" he says. "That's what the brain activity map people would like to do; coordinate all of this effort toward a common goal."
The next steps for the brain mapping project, Zimmer says, is simply to get a detailed plan going, and then get neuroscientists onboard. He says that debate should begin unfolding in the next few months.
With a combination of genetic tricks and fancy proteins, researchers have colorfully labelled hundreds of individual neurons with distinctive hues to create a "Brainbow."
AFP/Getty ImagesWith a combination of genetic tricks and fancy proteins, researchers have colorfully labelled hundreds of individual neurons with distinctive hues to create a "Brainbow."
AFP/Getty ImagesZimmer warns, however, that at first the project is likely to be underwhelming to the public, and Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases won't suddenly be cured. In all likelihood, scientists will study the brains of fruit flies and other creatures before moving on to the human brain.
"You have to walk before you can run," he says. "In order to develop the tools to map a human brain, you've got to start with much smaller brains made of the same basic kind of neurons. So look for big headlines about fruit flies the next couple of years."
The Human Genome Case Study
Completed a decade ago, the $3 billion human genome project, which mapped our DNA, was another massive science project undertaken by the government. In 2000, then-President Clinton said it would "revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of most if not all human diseases."
That's a bit of a stretch even 10 years later, but for one man in particular it turned out not to be a stretch at all. When Clinton was giving that speech in 2000, oncologist Lukas Wartman had just entered medical school. During that time, he began having severe bone pain and high fevers.
"Finally, [I] dragged myself into the doctor," Wartman tells NPR's Sullivan. "So the next day, I had a bone marrow biopsy which showed the unthinkable, that I actually had leukemia."
Right away, Wartman began chemotherapy treatment. He responded well and went into remission. He finished medical school, but then the cancer came back.
"By this time, I was an oncologist myself, and kind of knew what was going on," he says.
Wartman took on intensive rounds of chemo and a stem cell replacement surgery. He was grateful when it worked and was ready to build a life. He focused on his research in the cancer lab and was thinking about the future.
Then one night, the fevers came back, as well as the exhaustion and he knew. He just couldn't face it.
"So this time, I did ignore it for a little while, and went to Spain, and went to my friend's wedding," he says. "The last thing I wanted to think about was the possibility of this coming back again, because I knew now that the odds of me surviving yet another relapse of this leukemia were just really poor."
Wartman joined a clinical trail, but it failed. There was nothing left, and it appeared to be a death sentence.
Then Wartman and his fellow researchers at the lab started thinking. The human genome project had figured out how to map healthy genes, so they decided they could use the same technology to map Wartman's healthy genes and compare them to Wartman's cancer genes.
When they compared them, they found a protein that the cancer relied on to survive. Wartman then scoured the database of every known drug on the market and found a drug made for something else entirely, that just so happens to kill the very protein his cancer needed to live.
Wartman started taking the drug on a Friday, and his blood counts were low. By Monday, his blood counts had perked up.
"The only word, and I don't necessarily mean this in a religious context, but this was almost like a miraculous response to this drug," he says.
Wartman and his colleagues had killed his cancer, and today he's completely healthy. Now, everyone else in the country with the form of leukemia that he had, and who is not responding to chemo, use the same drug.
"I probably wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the human genome project," Wartman says. "Because I definitely benefited from the finances and the effort that the government put into a focused research question and it had very tangible benefits in my case."
Why Not Map The Brain?
Like the Human Genome Project, getting the science community onboard with a brain mapping project could be tough. Michael Eisen, a biologist at the University of California-Berkeley, has already started campaigning against it.
"The idea that science should be organized and funded in massive, centrally run projects that are organized by committees and bureaucrats in Washington rather than by individual scientists ... it just doesn't work," Eisen says.
Eisen says he agrees that government funding was necessary in collaborative science projects such as the moon landing or Human Genome Project. But, he says, this isn't one of those problems.
"If you listen to neuroscientists talk about this today, they don't even know what it means to understand the brain," he says. "This is not a moon shot."
Eisen says that in this instance, where creativity and innovation are needed, one of the worst things that the scientific community can do is put 500 biologists in a room to pursue a singular, consensus plan to get there.
Zimmer says there's another problem: How do you know when you're done mapping a brain?
"The problem is that while the genome was finite, the brain is really infinite," he says, "because not only does it have 86 billion neurons ... [and] 100 tillion connections, but those connections are changing all the time.
"It's very dynamic, and that's really what matters to us. ... So when do you know when you've finished mapping the brain?" he says. "You might never finish it."
But for Wartman, whose life was saved by gene mapping, it's far simpler. He says we have to take the leap, spend the money, cross our fingers and hope.
"I do understand that there's some resistance to it," Zimmerman says, "but at the same time, while it's not a sure bet, it's a bet that if it does pay off could really reap tremendous benefits for humanity.
"So I think as a society it would be great if we were willing to commit to supporting projects like that."
The details of the brain mapping project are expected to be released in the coming weeks in the president's budget proposal.
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dailycaller.com:
More than half of male African-American high school dropouts are unemployed, according to a new online analysis of unemployment data by Remapping Debate, a left-of-center news site in New York.
?This is an emergency, this is a catastrophe [but Washington is] not rating it as a catastrophe,? said the site?s editor, Craig Gurian, told The Daily Caller.
The rate is ?unbelievable, it is unbelievable,? said a Republican Senate staff member.
The online data shows the unemployment rates for 270 subgroups of Americans.
Read the whole story at dailycaller.com
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By Christine Maddox -
The past can help us make our future or it can hold us back from it. It can make us fear or make us bold. For most of us, however, it is overcoming our past that will lead to a brighter future. Unfortunately we were not raised by perfect people. Our parents were and are flawed human beings with their own baggage from the past. These generation issues have a tendency to stay in families for years and years and get passed down almost unconsciously. A short temper, physical abuse, lying, and more all end up becoming a daily part of our lives growing up. The bad thing is that most children never realize that their normal family lives are not normal at all. Things like being hit for trivial reasons or yelled at or just treated with indifference throughout childhood is not a healthy way to live, and yet many of us have grown up in those atmospheres and seem to expect the same thing from the rest of the world. Even though this is abuse in many ways, we are comfortable with it and thus chose to hang around and form relationships with people that are comfortable with it, mostly to our detriment.
The thing is that we need to let go of our past and redefine what normal and healthy is. We all have ways that we could live healthier lives. Maybe we see food as a reward and thus overeat; maybe we have bad self-images and feel ugly no matter what we do; or maybe we have short tempers and fly off the handle and expect others to be okay with it. Change is not easy but it is worth doing when you gain a new peace and hope in your future.
One of the major things that hold many people back from changing is the fact that you have to admit that you were wrong. That what you grew up in or used to do yourself was not healthy or normal. This can be a hard thing to deal with as no one likes to be wrong. It also implies that you have wasted your time or your life. This is not true. No matter how old you are you still have time to change and you owe it to yourself and those you love to make your life better.
I love a verse from the Bible that says, ?I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten?? Joel 2:25a (NIV). I see those lost years spent in distress, anger or depression as years eaten by locusts. They are gone and behind us, and yet things can still be restored better than ever. Instead of focusing on what you have lost, look at what you have to gain. Living a healthy and balanced life is well worth the effort of confronting your past.
In my own life I have only begun the process of understanding what healthy living is like. My family has a long history of enabling and fostering helpless people who abuse those around them. There are two types of people, the givers and the takers. The givers are empty and hopeless because the takers take everything they have. The takers are resentful and abusive because they get everything without working for it and feel frustrated and useless.? This is a vicious cycle that has repeated itself generation after generation. Typically it is the women who are the givers and the men who are the takers.
Needless to say this does not foster healthy living conditions. As a child in this type of home I was raised to think in skewed ways. The men were helpless and had to be coddled and never expected to help out in any way beyond being employed, and sometimes not even then. The women were expected to be strong and productive and always loving no matter what the men did. They were supposed to work and take care of the children and the home with no outside help. In fact, from what I was exposed to I always wondered what the point of getting married was. It seemed much easier to just have kids and then get divorced. At least then you would get some money through child support and you wouldn?t have to deal with another big baby to take care of.
As I have gotten older I started to understand that this is not the way families or relationships that are healthy should work. Both parties should give and take equally and there should not be this cycle of sacrifice and greed. Letting go of my family?s idea of relationships actually made me want to find a partner of my own instead of staying single forever. Before I understood what a healthy relationship was I had decided to remain single and spare myself the pain. Now I understand what a blessing an equal partner can be.
Beyond just relational issues we also had issues with respect. Of course you can see where that comes in. How can you respect someone you are taking care of all the time, and how can someone be respected if they never set boundaries or limits? Learning to set proper boundaries without getting upset or frustrated is a process, but it is well worth doing. Having respect for yourself as well as others is very important in living a healthy and balanced life.
As you can see, I am still learning and growing. Overcoming your past is not a one-time thing. It takes a lot of effort and growth to move past what you have been exposed to and into a healthier future. But moving past the past is the only way to find a brighter future.
Author Bio:
This post is contributed by Christine Maddox. Currently she is pursuing her Master?s degree from the University of Texas as well as blogging for www.4nannies.com. She loves to write anything related to parenting, kids, nanny care etc. She can be reached via email at: christine.4nannies @ gmail.com.
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Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/featured/pushing-past-the-past/
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's top mobile phone operator MTS said on Friday it has acquired a 25.1 percent stake in MTS Bank for 5.1 billion roubles ($164 million) by buying additional shares issued by the bank.
The deal was concluded in accordance with the terms of an indicative offer between MTS, MTS Bank and their majority shareholder Sistema that were announced in October 2012.
MTS now owns around 27 percent of MTS Bank, Sistema has a 65.3 percent stake, while the balance of shares is held by other minority shareholders, MTS said in a statement.
($1 = 31.0844 Russian roubles)
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russias-mts-acquires-stake-parents-bank-122859415--sector.html
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Hidalgo is a county in southern Texas just across the Rio Grande from Mexico. It?s also home to the highest prevalence of U.S. adults ? about 40 percent of the population? delaying necessary medical care because of cost, according to data in the March 28 New England Journal of Medicine.
The research letter in the March 28 issue of the journal found this number to vary significantly across the country and to be lower in places with less restrictive eligibility criteria for Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income citizens.
Authors found that people with incomes between 67 percent and 127 percent of the federal poverty line, which is $23,550 for a family of four, had up to a 16 percent chance of delaying care. The odds went up to 42 percent for those with lower incomes.
Illustration Courtesy of The New England Journal of Medicine ?2013
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The findings come at a time when states are deciding whether to pursue the Affordable Care Act?s Medicaid expansion, which would extend eligibility to adults with incomes at or below 133 percent of the poverty level.
Norfolk, Mass., with a 6.5 percent prevalence of adults delaying care, was at the opposite end of the spectrum from Hidalgo, researchers said. Massachusetts? adoption of state health reforms since 1990, including Medicaid expansions, and the state?s history of investing in health care were likely reasons, said one of the authors, Dr. Cheryl Clarke from Brigham and Women?s Hospital in Boston.
?We were surprised by the depth of variation between states,? she said. ?It?s important these trends continue to be monitored.?
The study?s authors looked at county-level data of about 289,000 adults to determine the relationship between Medicaid eligibility and adults delaying care. They also took into account the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics at hand.
Researchers found that the counties with residents most vulnerable to delaying care were also likely to have more Hispanic residents and high rates of chronic diseases commonly associated with low-income communities. Texas and Florida were among the states with the highest prevalence.
But Clarke said the study shows that it is possible to develop health infrastructure ? through Medicaid, community clinics and more primary care doctors ? to combat an issue that might be taking a toll on the country?s health. And she said federal investments are moving in that direction.
?This seems to be a strategy that is feasible,? she said. ?We?ll see how that plays out over time.?
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Also of Interest
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See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more
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Source: http://blog.aarp.org/2013/03/28/why-so-many-americans-put-off-medical-care-medicaid-expansion-aca/
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TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ? Brett D. Shadle always had wanted to be a member of the Navy's most elite special forces unit. A year after enlisting, he made it happen and went on to become a highly decorated member of the Navy's famed SEAL Team 6.
U.S. military officials confirmed Saturday that Shadle, a 31-year-old special warfare operator chief, died Thursday when he and another SEAL collided in midair during a parachute training exercise over the rugged desert of southern Arizona.
Shadle was taken to University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, where he was pronounced dead. The other SEAL ? an unidentified E-6 petty officer first class ? remained in stable condition Saturday at the Tucson hospital.
Military officials said the accident was under investigation.
Family members said Shadle, of Elizabethville, Pa., was stationed in Virginia. He was married and had a 2-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
His uncle Donald Shadle, 67, of Elizabethville, expressed disbelief, saying his nephew had been on many overseas missions only to come back and get killed during a training exercise.
"He was always a good kid, and he always wanted to be a Navy SEAL and that's what he did," Donald Shadle said.
Shadle enlisted in the Navy in July 2000. The following year he completed his SEAL training and was assigned to his first unit in early 2002.
Navy officials said Shadle had earned multiple Bronze Star Medals with Valor and several service ribbons. While details about his deployments were secret, officials confirmed he had served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Shadle and a fellow SEAL were practicing "routine military free-fall training" when the accident occurred Thursday afternoon, said U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Kenneth McGraw. The SEALs collided in midair and landed in separate areas.
The command has a parachute testing and training facility at the Pinal Airpark northeast of Tucson, McGraw said. Training programs are operated there year-round.
The Navy's SEAL Team 6 gained international attention when it was revealed that members of the top secret unit had carried out a raid in Pakistan in 2011 in which Osama bin Laden was killed. Bin Laden became the most wanted man in the world after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.
Team 6 was hit hard later that same year when 22 SEALs from the special unit were killed when the helicopter they were riding in was apparently hit by an insurgent's rocket-propelled grenade. None of those killed on the helicopter was part of the bin Laden raid. Their deaths marked the nation's single deadliest day of the decade-long war in Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., and Ron Todt in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/navy-ids-seal-killed-ariz-parachuting-accident-150524067.html
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? A deal to loan Mark Martin to Joe Gibbs Racing as a replacement driver for injured Denny Hamlin fell apart Friday, when Michael Waltrip Racing said Martin will fulfill his commitment to its team.
When the dust settled for both teams, Brian Vickers wound up as Hamlin's replacement driver for at least four races. He was already scheduled to drive Martin's car for MWR at Martinsville next week and will keep that commitment, with Martin driving Hamlin's car.
Then Martin will go back to MWR, and Vickers will drive Hamlin's car until he's medically cleared to return from a fractured vertebra in his lower back.
The about-face came down from MWR roughly 24 hours after JGR said Martin will take over the No. 11 Toyota until Hamlin returns. He's out at least five races.
"We were a bit premature in determining Mark's status past Martinsville," J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said in a Friday night statement.
MWR said Martin will return to his regular car after Martinsville and "resume his previously scheduled run of events with MWR" for the rest of the season.
"I think it is great that a driver of Mark's caliber is available to support our fellow Toyota team during this difficult time for them. We wish Denny a speedy recovery" said MWR founder and co-owner Michael Waltrip. "Mark is a big part of our organization and is committed to our sponsors, especially Aaron's and Toyota. We have a lot of goals yet to reach this year and we are very focused on accomplishing them."
It's believed a deal between the teams to swap Martin for Vickers in the Sprint Cup Series races had been completed, but JGR prematurely announced it before MWR sponsor Aaron's had given its approval. No reason has been given why Aaron's didn't approve the swap.
MWR has been eyeing Vickers as a potential replacement for Martin in the No. 55 Toyota, and Vickers is scheduled to run nine races for Martin this year. Because Vickers is seen as an option for that ride, MWR was in favor of loaning Martin to the Gibbs camp to get an extended look at Vickers in its equipment.
Instead, JGR turned to a Plan B, which is Vickers, a day after Gibbs said the team wanted to use just one driver for consistency sake.
Vickers had the commitment to MWR for the first race, and Elliott Sadler, the second driver in JGR's Nationwide Series camp, already has commitments to drive the Cup races at Kansas and Talladega in a fourth car for JGR.
"Obviously, having to find someone to fill in for Denny is not an ideal situation to have to be in, and when you start a process like this you obviously begin to look at the drivers that are not only available but also able to drive for your race team and manufacturer," Gibbs said. "We're real happy to have the opportunity to get Brian in our Cup cars and with him driving Nationwide for us we think we have some continuity there that is beneficial.
"We really appreciate everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota for working with us through this process. The good thing for us is that we have drivers the caliber of Mark and Brian to help fill in until Denny comes back."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deal-martin-replace-hamlin-blows-003814704--spt.html
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Not too long after the Samsung Galaxy S 4 was announced, we started hearing whispers of a "miniature" version of the device -- which makes sense, given the Galaxy S III had a smaller sidekick of its own. Today, however, Bloomberg reported the unannounced device is indeed coming soon after the flagship makes its appearance at the end of April. If it follows a similar pattern to its bite-sized predecessor, it likely will be offered in Europe as a lower-cost alternative to the Galaxy S 4. The device is rumored to offer a dual-core 1.6GHz processor, a 4.3-inch display and 8MP camera. Sadly, no official details were given, but we've reached out to Samsung officials for comment and will update when we receive word.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung
Via: SamMobile, 9to5Google
Source: Bloomberg
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/H808uch_4zc/
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Mar. 28, 2013 ? The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.
The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.
Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.
Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.
Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.
"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation -- what kind of cells they will turn into."
The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.
The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible -- contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel -- but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.
When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.
However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.
"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds -- they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."
To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.
In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.
"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."
The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.
"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."
As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate -- about a week after they were first encapsulated -- the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.
"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."
Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.
"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3TxG0KVGxqw/130328142402.htm
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When Robin Poor Bear was in her 20s, she asked for a Native American name. The Road Man, or spiritual leader, came up with Kind Hearted Woman.
There was good reason: After a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse, her heart was still bursting with empathy for others.
The daughter of an alcoholic mother, Poor Bear was molested by her foster father at age 3. But today, at 35, she gives a voice to others who have suffered sexual abuse.
"I remember it -- not the rape itself, but the emergency room and the nurses trying to hold me down to examine me," Poor Bear, now living in Minnesota, told ABC News. "I remember the door and being so terrified it would fly open and someone would get me."
Poor Bear suffered repeated sexual abuse at the hands of her foster father and two uncles until she was 13. Then, as a young wife, she was beaten by her husband.
That pain is revisited after the couple divorces and her ex-husband is convicted of molesting their 12-year-old daughter, as well as a teenage foster daughter.
The psychological anguish caused Poor Bear, an Oglala Sioux and member of North Dakota's Spirit Lake tribe in North Dakota, to turn to alcohol. And when Poor Bear eventually spoke up about the abuse, her daughter and son, now 17 and 14, were taken away from her.
On Monday, April 1, and Tuesday, April 2 at 9 ET, PBS's "Frontline" will air a powerful documentary, "Kind Hearted Woman," about Poor Bear's struggle to stay sober, further her education and heal herself from the deep wounds of sexual abuse.
David Sutherland, whose films "The Farmer's Wife" (1998) and "Country Boys" (2005) also offer a cinema verite look at poor, rural life, spent three years with Poor Bear and her children.
The centerpiece of the film is Poor Bear's battle to gain custody of her children while improving her own life.
Battling Alcohol on the Pine Ridge Reservation Watch Video Family Sues Sex Offender to Force Him to Buy Their Home Watch Video Chilling Details Emerge on Newtown School Shooter Adam Lanza Watch VideoSutherland, 67, followed the family from Poor Bear's first day out of alcohol rehab, through school and jobs, juggling being a mother and trying to become a social worker. Frustrated at every turn, Poor Bear fights a corrupt tribal legal system and a culture of domestic violence that pervades many Native American communities.
Native American women have the second-highest rate of rape of all races and ethnicities, at 27 percent, second only to mixed-race women, according to the Centers for Disease Control's 2011 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. Nearly half of all of these women have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking in their lifetime.
"There are two or three thousand enrolled members living on the reservation and just a small handful of law enforcement to get calls," Poor Bear said about the time she spent a Spirit Lake Reservation. "Some reports are not taken seriously and some are not followed through the proper protocols."
Last year, unrelated to the documentary, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs took over social services at Spirit Lake because of concerns that tribal mismanagement had contributed to abuse of children.
But Poor Bear said that the causes of domestic violence and abuse go deeper than scarce funding and little oversight on Native American reservations. She blames the "rape" of the indigenous culture when it was "Christianized."
"Who taught us how to be parents and how to be loving and caring and kind to each other when they took away all the traditions and we couldn't speak our language without being beaten?" Poor Bear asked.
A former singer, Poor Bear said that she comes from a legacy of heartbreak, but also of generosity.
Her mother, an alcoholic, froze to death in her 30s banging on the door of Poor Bear's foster family, who refused to let her in, Poor Bear tells an audience of abused women in the film.
Her grandfather died saving children in a log cabin fire, she tells ABCNews.com. "The doorway collapsed and when they found him, he was still protecting and holding a baby," she said.
Sutherland did not intend to make a film about Native Americans and was hesitant to reinforce negative stereotypes about life on the reservation. He had singled out several other battered women in his search for an authentic character-driven story about abuse, but Poor Bear's rose to the top.
"She had an associate's degree and was smart," he said. "I liked her sense of humor and she was always upbeat, even in the saddest moments, with the kids."
Sutherland never expected the turn the dramatic narrative would take. When Poor Bear's daughter Darian reveals she was molested by her father at the age of 12, she is required to testify in federal court.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/kind-hearted-woman-journey-heal-years-sexual-abuse/story?id=18834439
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FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)
FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. is seen in St. Louis. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson. File)
FILE - In this March 28, 2012 file photo, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. speaks in Billings, Mont. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Matt Gouras, File)
FILE - In this March 21, 2013 file photo, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now lawmakers are in a mad dash to catch up.
In less than two weeks, seven senators ? all from moderate or Republican-leaning states ? announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause.
"As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Chief Justice John Roberts told lawyers urging the Supreme Court on Wednesday to strike down a law barring legally married gay couples from receiving federal benefits or recognition.
It was the second of two landmark gay marriage cases the justices heard this week, the high court's first major examination of gay rights in a decade. But the focus on the court cases ? replete with colorful, camera-ready protests outside the court building ? obscured the sudden emergence of a critical mass across the street in the Capitol as one by one, senators took to Facebook or quietly issued a statement to say that they, too, now support gay marriage.
For some Democrats, like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the reversal would have been almost unfathomable just a few months ago as they fought for re-election. The potential risks were even greater for other Democrats like North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, already top GOP targets when they face voters next year in states that President Barack Obama lost in November. After all, it was less than a year ago that voters in Hagan's state approved a ban on gay marriage.
Those four Democrats and two others ? Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia ? were swept up in a shifting tide that began to take shape last year, when Obama, in the heat of his re-election campaign, became the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential contender in the next presidential election, followed suit in mid-March. As support among party leaders builds, rank-and-file Democrats appear wary of being perceived as hold-outs in what both parties are increasingly describing as a civil-rights issue.
"They're reflecting what they're seeing in the polls ? except the most extreme of the Republican base," former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who supports gay marriage, said in an interview. "From a purely political perspective, if you want to be a leader of the future, you look at the next generation. They are overwhelmingly in favor of this."
Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, cautioned in a USA Today interview that the GOP should not "act like Old Testament heretics."
Among Republicans, whose party platform opposes gay marriage, the shift in position has mostly been limited to former lawmakers and prominent strategists. Still, a distinct change in tone was palpable this month when Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney vetted last year as a potential running mate, declared his support, citing a personal conversion stemming from his son coming out to him as gay.
Rather than blast Portman for flouting party dogma or failing an ideological litmus test, Republican leaders shrugged, indicating that even if Republicans, as a party, aren't prepared back gay marriage, they won't hold it against those in their ranks who do.
In the Republican-controlled House, where most members come from lopsided districts heavily skewed to one party or the other, GOP leaders are not wavering publicly from their staunch opposition. In fact, when the Obama administration stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, it was House Republicans who took up the mantle. Democrats said Thursday that Republicans have spent as much as $3 million in taxpayer funds to defend the law, now before the Supreme Court.
"It's like immigration. The party realizes they are on the losing side of some of these issues," said former Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican. Kolbe came out as gay in 1996 while in office and will mark another milestone in May when he and his longtime partner get married in Washington.
"They want to make the shift, but you have got to do it in a politic and strategic way," Kolbe said. "It's a matter of how and when you take down one flag and run up the other."
Kolbe and Whitman joined dozens of other prominent Republicans in signing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down the law barring federal recognition of gay marriages. But with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, still defending the law and social conservative groups vowing payback for those who abandon it, prospects are slim that Congress will move any time soon to repeal it on its own.
"It's sort of a bandwagon effect among the cultural elite," said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, which opposes gay marriage. "Some of these politicians who have changed their position, those who live in more conservative states, may pay for that shift with a defeat in their next election."
If public opinion continues to move in the direction it has been for the last 15 years, what's true for the next election may not be true just a few years down the line ? even for Republicans.
When Gallup first asked in polls about gay marriages, in 1996, just 27 percent felt they should be valid. That figure climbed to 44 percent two years ago, and reached a majority by last November, when 53 percent said gay marriages should be recognized. Among independents, a key barometer for politicians, support has jumped 23 points to 55 percent, including a six-point gain since 2010.
Even among Republicans, support has grown by 14 percentage points since 1996, although there's been no significant movement among Republicans since 2010, when 28 percent backed legal marriage.
"A lot of Republicans have come to the conclusion we can't live one life in private but advocate another life in public," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "We all know families who are loving parents of the same gender who are raising great kids."
___
AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
___
Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
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Yannis Behrakis / Reuters
A staff member of Laiki Bank, which is to be liquidated, tries to calm customers as the branch in Nicosia prepares to open.
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
Banks on the tax haven of Cyprus opened Thursday for the first time in 12 days amid the island's continuing financial crisis.
Strict limits on the amount of money that could be withdrawn have been imposed ? people will be able to withdraw 300 euros ($383) a day and no checks will be cashed ? amid fears of a run on the banks.
Account holders showed up hours before the banks were due to open to get in line.
Early indications were that there was no mass rush to withdraw cash, with just 13 people waiting outside one large Bank of Cyprus branch on the island as it opened at noon local time (6 a.m. ET). They were surrounded by a scrum of journalists.
?We need only from you cooperation, understanding and please patience,? the manager of the branch said before opening.
However a small crowd of people did press against the doors of a branch of Laiki Bank, which is being liquidated. CNBC sources estimate those with more than 100,000 euros (about $128,000) in accounts in Laiki Bank could lose 40 to 70 percent of their deposits.
During the banking shutdown, people could only withdraw 100 euros (about $127) a day from the country's two biggest banks, using ATMs.?Most who lined up for the opening Thursday were elderly people and those without ATM cards.?
Deposits above 100,000 euros with the Bank of Cyprus will be frozen and 40 percent of each account will be converted into bank stock. Accounts in both banks with balances under 100,000 euros will be fully protected.
A previous proposal to take less from all bank accounts?was vetoed by the Cypriot parliament.
The country is seeking to meet the terms of a bailout from the European Union of 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) and, in order to raise enough funds to meet strict conditions imposed by the EU, it is preparing to take money from bank accounts.
Ahead of the banks? reopening, money was flown into the island and guards were seen delivering cash to banks in armored vehicles.
The banks were due to close at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET).
There was some relief on the island that the banks were finally opening again, but this was mixed with fear about what could happen.
The banks in Cyprus are set to reopen after days of being closed as a measure to prevent a run on deposits during the country's financial crisis. Millions in cash is on the move tonight as people camped out in expectation. ITV's Emma Murphy reports
'Slow death'
Yorgos Georgiou, who owns a dry cleaning business in Nicosia, told Reuters that "finally people's mood will be lifted and we can start to trust the system again."
But he added: "I'm worried about the poor kids working in the cashiers today, because people might vent their anger at them. You can't predict how people will react after so many days."
Kostas Nikolaou, a 60-year-old retiree, told Reuters that the uncertainty of the past two weeks had been "like a slow death."
"How can they tell you that you can't access your own money in the bank? It's our money, we are entitled to it,? he added.
The country?s president, Nicos Anastasiades, has described the bailout deal as ?painful? but essential.
However, Nobel laureate economist Christopher Pissarides said it was ?extremely unfair to the little guy.?
?For the first time in the euro zone, depositors are (being) asked to bail out failing banks," he said. "Now that used to be the case in the 1930s, especially United States (and) caused big bank runs. It has been decided since then that we shouldn?t allow that to happen again.?
As Cyprus celebrates its Independence Day, the ?government is defending the last-minute bailout deal it's negotiated with the European Union. This means shutting down the country's second biggest bank, with big savers facing ?losses. ?ITV's Emma Murphy reports.
Among other controls, the island's central bank will review all commercial transactions over 5,000 euros and scrutinize transactions over 200,000 euros on an individual basis, Reuters reported. People leaving Cyprus can take only 1,000 euros with them. An earlier draft of the decree had put the figure at 3,000.
Reuters summed up the situation facing the island:
With just 860,000 people, Cyprus has about 68 billion euros in its banks - a vastly outsized financial system that attracted deposits from foreigners as an offshore haven but foundered after investments in neighboring Greece went sour.
The European Union and International Monetary Fund concluded that Cyprus could not afford a rescue unless it imposed losses on depositors, seen as anathema in previous euro zone bailouts.?The bailout looks set to push Cyprus deeper into an economic slump, shrink the banking sector and cost thousands of jobs.
European leaders said the bailout deal averted a chaotic national bankruptcy that might have forced Cyprus out of the euro.
Many Cypriots say the deal was foisted upon them by Cyprus's partners in the 17-nation euro zone within the European Union, and some have taken to the streets to vent their frustration.
CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Katie Slaman, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related:
Cypriots fear run on banks as branches prepare to reopen
Cypriots: Hope, but also fear they 'will be like slaves' to Russia
EU to Cypriots: Let us raid your savings or no bailout
This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:52 AM EDT
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We already told you about the CASIS and MassChallenge startup accelerator partnership aiming to find the next great research project to send into space, and give that project over $100,000 to help bring it to fruition. Now, Engadget wants to help make it easier for you, dear reader, to get your idea into orbit by offering the chance to trim $100 off the $199 application fee.
The process is simple: you click the source link below and fill out a short form outlining your idea and providing your contact info. Then, should CASIS like what it sees, it'll send out promo codes to ten of you to be used when submitting the full application on the MassChallenge website. Sound good? Well, hop to it folks, because CASIS is looking to deliver the promo codes by April 1st. Not that you should need much incentive to jump on the opportunity... we're talking about sending your pet project into space, after all.
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