সোমবার, ১১ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Korean War chaplain to get Medal of Honor

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House says President Barack Obama will award a posthumous Medal of Honor to a Korean War Army chaplain credited with ministering and providing medical assistance to fellow soldiers under heavy fire during combat operations at Unsan, Korea.

The award ceremony for Capt. Emil J. Kapaun is scheduled for April 11. Members of Kapaun's family will attend.

The White House says Kapaun, a Roman Catholic priest from Kansas, exhibited "extraordinary heroism" while serving with the 3d Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division during a battle with communist forces in 1950. Kapaun stayed behind to help the wounded even though he knew he would be captured.

Kapaun died at the prisoner of war camp hospital seven months after he was captured by the Chinese in 1950.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-11-US-Obama-Medal-of-Honor/id-db7bd5ef210f42b3ab9cc69980ae4576

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meQuilibrium: Stress Is a Women's Issue: How to Build Resilience and Stay Afloat

Written by Jan Bruce, CEO and co-founder of meQuilibrium.

Stress is part of normal life in our culture and few, if any, escape its vice grip of tension, worry, and fatigue. But according to the APA's "Stress in America" report, women now report higher levels of stress than men, along with the nagging sensation that they're flat-out underappreciated at the office (not to mention underpaid). And they're generally more likely to be tense during the workday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on this research (in "Office Stress: His vs. Hers"), calling attention to some powerful statistics about stress in the workplace:

  • Thirty-two percent of women said their employers don't offer enough opportunities for advancement (vs. 30 percent of men).
  • Thirty-eight percent of women said they don't' receive adequate compensation for their job (vs. 27 percent of men).
  • Thirty-three percent of people said work interfering with family/personal time has an impact on stress
  • Around 30 percent of respondents said their employers don't provide enough resources to help them manage stress


See the infographic here. (And learn more about how stress impacts your health.)

Not to mention that if you're a woman with a very stressful job, you're nearly 70 percent more likely to have a heart attack -- and 40 percent more likely to suffer other traumas such as stroke. (Read Catherine Pearson's story on the topic.)

How to Cope With Stress at Work

Your stress response -- at work, or anywhere else -- is determined not by what happens out there, but by how you respond to it. Which is why having a sense of purpose, connection, and strong relationships can boost your resilience no matter what's going on, and keep you from an eternity of worried days and sleepless nights.

Here are some strategies for shifting your stress response at work.

Take stock of the good stuff. Sure, there are lots of areas that could use improvement at your workplace (and just about everyone else's). But shifting your focus to all the great things that have happened and are happening can go a long way to shift your attention and your mood. What have you accomplished, contributed, and enjoyed in your role at work in the past week, the past year? Maybe you love your team or just received public praise for solving a major problem. Perhaps you've put new systems in place that have made a world of difference in the way you and your colleagues work. Or it could be as simple as loving your easy commute or having a view of the park. Rather than get caught up in what's giving you a headache, anchor yourself each day with the things that are going well. Maybe really well.

Invest in your work relationships. You probably see your work colleagues more than you see anyone else. Some you like, others, not so much. And while they don't all have to be besties, the quality of those relationships will see you through the roughest storms at work. Give to those connections what you need most -- support, camaraderie, friendship. Forge real connections by taking breaks together, getting lunch or drinks. Get to know them. When you show up for coworkers in real ways, you'll reap the rewards in return.

Know why you're there. A paycheck and benefits may be two of the driving reasons, but it doesn't end there. Our research has shown that nurturing a connection to the people and the purpose of your work builds resilience and resist the downward spiral of stress. Zoom out: What are you doing every day? Improving other people's lives with the goods or services you offer? Helping clients through a difficult time? Using your skills to contribute to the greater good? (Read more about how to build your resilience.)

Schedule more than just meetings. Put relaxing, fun, and social events on your calendar like anything else you want and need to do. Make it a point to get out for a walk at lunch and to meet up with friends for dinner every week. It's not a matter of whether you have time -- you can't afford not to do the things that keep you calm, revitalized, and engaged.

Jan Bruce is CEO and co-founder of meQuilibrium, www.mequilibrium.com, the new digital coaching system for stress, which helps both individuals and corporations achieve measurable results in stress management and wellness.


For more by meQuilibrium, click here.

For more on stress, click here.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mequilibrium/work-stress_b_2829257.html

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শনিবার, ৯ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Sony Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker SRS-BTV5


You can't easily get big sound out of a small object, and when a speaker is designed first and foremost to be tiny, you can be confident it won't rock the house. Sony's Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker SRS-BTV5 is proof of that. This $69.99 (direct) speaker is a little larger than a pool ball and looks good, but it can't output loud music?or even close to it. It's a nice novelty speaker, but there are other Bluetooth speakers that are still portable at twice the size and sound much louder, such as the Editors' Choice?Logitech UE Mobile Boombox.

Design
The speaker is a little black ball measuring 2.6 inches in diameter and standing 2.8 inches tall, making it only slightly larger than a pool ball. It weighs 4.8 ounces, and whether you toss it in your bag or hang it from the drawstring of the included mesh basket pouch you'd hardly notice it's there. It comes in black, white, and pink versions, all of which are otherwise identical. The single driver sits under the ball's "cap," pointing straight up at a cone-shaped object that spreads the sound consistently in 360 degrees around the speaker. A microphone sits right above a Call button near the underside of the ball for speakerphone calls, and opposite them sit volume control buttons. Between them, a flush door conceals the micro USB port used for charging the speaker and a 3.5mm audio port for using it without Bluetooth.

The flat base of the speaker holds a sliding switch that powers the speaker on, disables NFC pairing, and forces manual pairing. A blue light near the switch indicates it's paired while staying only slightly visible when sitting on a flat surface, and an orange light indicates when the speaker is charging. According to Sony, the speaker can last for five hours of constant music playing before it needs to be charged.

The top of the speaker has a little symbol you can tap your NFC-enabled smartphone or tablet to to instantly pair it. I had no problem pairing it with my Samsung Galaxy S III, and the NFC pairing process makes it much more convenient than manually pairing by holding the power switch until the Bluetooth light flashes.?

Performance
If you're expecting big sound from this speaker, you should check your depth perception; it's a little plastic ball a few inches away, not a bowling ball-sized loudspeaker several feet away. The Sony Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker can't compare with the likes of the Jabra Solemate or Logitech UE Mobile Boombox?in terms of power, and it can get completely lost when compared with speakers that weigh more than three pounds. That much is a given, but what's a little frustrating is that it doesn't get much louder than a decent clock-radio either, and certainly can't fill a room with music. It's nice for a bedside speaker, but don't expect this to work as your main sound system.Sony SRS-BTV5

The speaker doesn't produce the cleanest sound, either. Bass response is nonexistent, and treble can sound tinny. I listened to Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party," and the kick drums lacked any weight while the snares were too bright and lacked texture. Danny Elfman's vocals were clear, and the electric guitar and horns were accurate if slightly bright, but it didn't offer the full range the song had to offer. Primus' "Shake Hands With Beef" suffered from similar issues, with the heavy bass guitar notes distorting and feeling empty. Since Primus' music is roughly 98 percent bass and 2 percent absinthe, it meant the song lost a lot of its power.

This doesn't mean the Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker is a complete loss, though. If you go in expecting no bass and plan on listening to more melodic music, it can be a pleasant experience. (Tip: Stay away from funk metal.) Queen's "Bicycle Race" sounded relatively clean, and while it still reminded me of a clock radio, I heard Freddie Mercury's vocals and the back-and-forth shouting of the lyrics clearly.

The speaker also doubles as a speakerphone, but it isn't particularly powerful in this application, either. I tested it with my Samsung Galaxy S III, and while it sounded much cleaner than my smartphone's speakerphone mode, it didn't get as loud, and I could barely hear the caller with the speaker on my coffee table. My voice came through clearly, but the point is moot if I can't hear who I'm talking to.

Sony's ultraportable Bluetooth speaker is appealing for its size and price, but not much else. It doesn't get very loud, it suffers from lightweight bass that distorts easily and tinny treble response, and it doesn't work well as a speakerphone to boot. However, at $70, it's one of the most affordable Bluetooth speakers on the market, and it's attractive and well-built. It's a nice little speaker to leave on your nightstand. It just isn't a very impressive sound system on its own. If you can spend $30 more, consider the Editors' Choice Logitech UE Mobile Boombox, which is slightly larger and puts out much more sound (and is much more useful as a speakerphone).

More Speaker Reviews:
??? Sony Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker SRS-BTV5
??? Libratone Lounge
??? Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A9
??? Sony HT-CT260 Home Theater Soundbar
??? Vizio SB4021M-A1 Home Theater Soundbar
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/x21hIUgHebk/0,2817,2416344,00.asp

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'Star Wars VII' Locks In Han Solo, Luke And Leia, Maybe

'We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison,' director George Lucas says of previous negotiations to lock down the original trio.
By Gil Kaufman


Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope"
Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1703258/lucas-han-solo-luke-leia-star-wars-vii.jhtml

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Chewing gum helps you concentrate for longer, study suggests

Mar. 8, 2013 ? Chewing gum can help you stay focused for longer on tasks that require continuous monitoring. This is the finding of new research by Kate Morgan and colleagues from Cardiff University due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology today, 8 March.

Previous research has shown that chewing gum can improve concentration in visual memory tasks. This study focussed on the potential benefits of chewing gum during an audio memory task.

Kate Morgan, author of the study explained: "It's been well established by previous research that chewing gum can benefit some areas of cognition. In our study we focussed on an audio task that involved short-term memory recall to see if chewing gum would improve concentration; especially in the latter stages of the task."

The study involved 38 participants being split in to two groups. Both groups completed a 30 minute audio task that involved listening to a list of numbers from 1-9 being read out in a random manner. Participants were scored on how accurately and quickly they were able to detect a sequence of odd-even-odd numbers, such as 7-2-1. Participants also completed questionnaires on their mood both before and after the task.

The results showed that participants who chewed gum had quicker reaction times and more accurate results than the participants who didn't chew gum. This was especially the case towards the end of the task.

Kate explained: "Interestingly participants who didn't chew gum performed slightly better at the beginning of the task but were overtaken by the end. This suggests that chewing gum helps us focus on tasks that require continuous monitoring over a longer amount of time."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by British Psychological Society (BPS).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Kate Morgan, Andrew J. Johnson and Christopher Miles. Chewing gum moderates the vigilance decrement. British Journal of Psychology, 8 MAR 2013 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12025

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/QLPGqdbQHnI/130308093933.htm

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শুক্রবার, ৮ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Australia must heed global warning on energy savings, experts say

Influential experts from Europe, USA and China meeting in Sydney last week agreed that energy efficiency is the biggest, cheapest, fastest way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and cut energy costs. But time is running out for Australia to heed the advice.

Robert Tromop, Head of Energy Efficiency at the International Energy Agency (IEA), told the gathering that energy efficiency can cost-effectively cut global energy expenditures and increase economic activity.

?Our research shows that saving energy can buy time for the climate, delaying the complete ?lock-in? of the allowable emissions of carbon dioxide under a 2?C trajectory - currently set to happen in for 2017 - by an extra five years,? said Tromop. ?Even though it is cost-effective for the end users, two-thirds of this potential will remain untapped without specific, new action by governments.?

Meanwhile, President Obama has recently announced an ambitious goal for the US to ?cut energy waste in half by 2030?. Attending the Sydney meeting was Kateri Callahan, President of the US Alliance to Save Energy that was instrumental in developing the Obama commitment. Callahan said energy efficiency is bipartisan.

?Forward-looking legislators are tapping into a huge pool of savings for households and businesses that give back to the economy and we are here to share results with Australia,? said Callahan.

In Australia, this year will be critical for tackling the problems of energy market reform, electricity affordability and climate change response, according to Australian Alliance to Save Energy Chief Executive Chris Dunstan.

?If we don?t get this reform right then consumers are set to lose in three ways,? said Dunstan. ?Firstly, with higher bills at home; secondly, with rising electricity prices driven by unnecessary energy infrastructure; and thirdly, with greater impacts of climate change.?

Demand in the national electricity market has dropped for four years in a row; last year it was 5.3% below the peak of 2008. A large part of this fall is due to energy savings measures by government and by energy users in response to higher power prices.

The key question is: do we still need to spend an unprecedented $9 billion per annum in electricity network investment when smarter solutions are starting to work?

Dunstan says that while the recent announcements by the Council of Australian Governments to tackle network over-investment are welcome, the danger is that these reforms will take too long to help energy customers.

Over 300 experts, business people and policy-makers gathered in Sydney for The Australian Alliance to Save Energy Summer Study to discuss solutions for a lower cost, more efficient Australia.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sustainabilitymatters-CompleteFeed/~3/1EGSyLGVCls/59367-Australia-must-heed-global-warning-on-energy-savings-experts-say

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Kenya final vote total: Kenyatta has 50.03 pct

One of presidential candidate Raila Odinga's campaign team makes a phone call after another member of his team made allegations of electoral improprieties at a press conference held by the election commission chairman, at the National Election Center in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, March 8, 2013. Kenya faced a photo finish in its race for president on Friday as the last ballots were counted, with the leading candidate Uhuru Kenyatta seeing his percentage yo-yo around the crucial 50 percent mark. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

One of presidential candidate Raila Odinga's campaign team makes a phone call after another member of his team made allegations of electoral improprieties at a press conference held by the election commission chairman, at the National Election Center in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, March 8, 2013. Kenya faced a photo finish in its race for president on Friday as the last ballots were counted, with the leading candidate Uhuru Kenyatta seeing his percentage yo-yo around the crucial 50 percent mark. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Torn election posters litter the streets of the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, March 8, 2013. Kenyans on Monday held their first presidential vote since the nation's disputed election in 2007 spawned violence that killed more than 1,000 people. Kenya's last ballots for its presidential race were being counted Friday and Uhuru Kenyatta, the leading candidate, saw his percentage yo-yo above and below the crucial 50 percent mark that would hand him an outright win and avoid a runoff.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Riot police patrol a street in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, March 8, 2013. The leading candidate in the race for Kenya's president is hovering around the 50 percent mark as ballots are counted on what officials say is the last day of the count. The election commission said it expected to have final results by the end of Friday, though observers said it was still possible the count would go into the weekend. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

Riot police patrol a street in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, March 8, 2013. The leading candidate in the race for Kenya's president is hovering around the 50 percent mark as ballots are counted on what officials say is the last day of the count. The election commission said it expected to have final results by the end of Friday, though observers said it was still possible the count would go into the weekend. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

An armed policeman stands guard, right, as unidentified Kenyans peer through the window of the media centre to watch constituency results being announced live on a television inside, at the National Election Center in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, March 8, 2013. Kenya faced a photo finish in its race for president on Friday as the last ballots were counted, with the leading candidate Uhuru Kenyatta seeing his percentage yo-yo around the crucial 50 percent mark. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

(AP) ? Kenya's election commission posted complete results early Saturday showing that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta prevailed in the country's presidential elections by the slimmest of margins, winning 50.03 percent of the vote.

That result is likely to bring controversy in Kenya and an almost certain legal challenge from Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Kenyatta needed to break the 50 percent barrier to avoid a run-off with Odinga, but he did so by only 4,099 votes out of more than 12.3 million cast.

Monday's presidential vote was the first since Kenya's 2007 election sparked two months of tribe-on-tribe violence after a disputed election win was claimed by President Mwai Kibaki. More than 1,000 people were killed in attacks that included machetes, bows and arrows and police firearms.

A win by Kenyatta could greatly affect Kenya's relations with the West. Kenyatta faces charges at the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in directing some of Kenya's 2007 postelection violence. His running mate, William Ruto, faces similar charges.

The U.S. has warned of "consequences" if Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding father, wins, as have several European countries. Britain, which ruled Kenya up until the early 1960s, has said they would have only essential contact with the Kenyan government if Kenyatta is president.

Odinga's camp has indicated legal challenges could be filed. Monday's presidential vote proceeded mostly peacefully, but the counting process has been stymied by a myriad of break-downs and errors.

That the winner was quietly revealed overnight ? at about 2:35 a.m. local time ? came as somewhat of a surprise. At about midnight the electoral commission said it would give a formal announcement of the winner at 11 a.m. Kenya time (3 a.m. EST) Saturday. Observers believed that the decision was made in part not reveal a winner overnight, something that could stir suspicions and put security forces at a disadvantage if rioting broke out.

In order to win outright, Kenyatta must not only get more than 50 percent of the vote but also must garner at least 25 percent of the vote in 24 out of Kenya's 47 provinces. Because of the way the election commission announced results, it was difficult to immediately determine if Kenyatta passed that bar.

Diplomats said they believed Odinga was not likely to protest the vote in a manner that would increase the chances of violence, but rather honor his pledge to respect the result and petition the courts with any grievances. Odinga scheduled a news conference for later Saturday morning.

The Kenyan capital has been sleepy since Monday's vote for president, the country's first election since its 2007 vote sparked tribe-on-tribe violence that killed more than 1,000 people. But security forces in riot gear took to the streets Friday in regions of the city that could turn tumultuous after results are announced.

The prime minister's supporters took to the streets in 2007 after Odinga said he had been cheated. In Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum and a bastion of Odinga support, many believe this year's results have been rigged as well.

The results showed Odinga with 43.3 percent.

"If you look at the way the tallying is being done there is rigging," said Isiah Omondi, 27. "If Uhuru wins and wins fairly, we don't have a problem with him. He can be our president. But not like this."

The election outcome is being closely watched by the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. Embassy in Kenya is larger than any American mission in Africa, underscoring Kenya's strong role in U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. also has military forces stationed here near the border with Somalia. Kenya, the lynchpin of East Africa's economy, plays a vital security role in the fight against Somali militants.

Kenyatta's International Criminal Court trial is set to begin in July and could take years, meaning that if he wins he may have to rule Kenya from The Hague, Netherlands, for much of his five-year term. Another option is, as president, to decide not to attend the trial. But that decision would trigger an international arrest warrant and spark even more damaging effects for Kenya's standing with the West.

Kenyatta has promised to report to The Hague, even if he wins the presidency. The ICC on Friday delayed the trial of Ruto until late May.

Odinga's camp may have grounds to file legal challenges after myriad failures in the systems Kenya's electoral commission set up.

For instance, an electronic voter ID system intended to prevent fraud failed across the country for lack of electricity in some cases and overheating computers in others. Vote officials instead used manual voter rolls.

After the polls closed, results were to be sent electronically to Nairobi, where officials would quickly tabulate a preliminary vote count in order to maximize transparency after rigging accusations following the 2007 vote. But that system failed, too. Election officials have indicated that computer servers overloaded but have yet to fully explain the problem.

On Tuesday, as the early count system was still being used, election results showed more than 330,000 rejected ballots, an unusually high number. But after the count resumed with the arrival in Nairobi of manual tallies, the number of rejected ballots were greatly reduced, and the election commission on Thursday gave the head-scratching explanation that the computer was mistakenly multiplying the number of rejected ballots by a factor of eight.

Odinga's camp on Thursday said some votes had been doctored and called for a halt to the tallying process, saying it "lacked integrity." A day earlier, Kenyatta's camp accused the British high commissioner of meddling in the election and asked aloud why there were an unusually high number of British troops in the country.

The election commission has denied any of the results have been altered.

There were fears going into the election that the violence that rocked Kenya five years ago would return. A separatist group on the coast launched attacks on Monday that ended in the deaths of 19 people, but the vote and its aftermath has otherwise been largely peaceful.

But it's the announcement of results that could stir protests, especially if the supporters of either camp feel robbed.

___

Associated Press reporters Rodney Muhumuza and Tom Odula contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-08-Kenya-Election/id-4eaa65576cec4832a379c684bfba4376

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ৭ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Does pope retain legal immunity in retirement? - ABA Journal

Will Pope Benedict XVI lose legal protections because of his retirement in actions seeking to hold the Vatican accountable for failing to stop clergy abuse?

The answer is no, according to Jeffrey Lena, a U.S. attorney for the Vatican. He maintains that Benedict would have the same legal immunity as other high-ranking officials, the Associated Press reports. The Vatican has legal treaties that govern relations with several countries that could provide additional legal protections.

But Minnesota lawyer Jeff Anderson, who has filed several clergy abuse lawsuits, says the pope?s decision to retire could create legal problems if he travels outside the Vatican and a government decides to take action against him.

Anderson says the resignation should have no impact on civil suits in the United States, however. The lawyer says some of his suits targeted the office of the papacy, but not the pope himself, so retirement should have no impact.

Duquesne law professor Nicholas Cafardi, a canon lawyer, has fears about action against the retired pope if he travels. In Europe, magistrates can arrest and detain officials before trial, creating a risk for Benedict, he tells AP.

"Americans don't appreciate the vast powers that investigating magistrates have in Europe," Cafardi told AP. "It only takes one who wants to make a name for him or herself to issue an arrest warrant for the former pope."

The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York is taking a different tack, as it urges the International Criminal Court to investigate the Vatican response to priest sex abuse as a crime against humanity. A lawyer with the center, Pamela Spees, told AP that court prosecutors don?t take into account immunity claims, so the pope?s resignation has no impact.

Lena has said the call for action by the International Criminal Court is ?ludicrous.?

Source: http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/does_pope_retain_legal_immunity_in_retirement/

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Epigenetics: Neurons remember because they move genes in space

Mar. 7, 2013 ? How do neurons store information about past events? In the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, a previously unknown mechanism of memory trace formation has been discovered. It appears that at least some events are remembered thanks to ... geometry.

Neurons are the most important cells of the nervous system. Scientists from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw have shown that during neuron stimulation permanent changes are observed with respect to genes' arrangement within the cell nucleus. This discovery, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, is significant for developing a better understanding of the processes going on in the mind and disorders of the nervous system, especially the brain.

"While conducting experiments on rats after epileptic seizures we have observed that a gene may permanently move deeper into the neuron's cell nucleus. Since modification of the geometrical structure of the nucleus leads to changes in gene expression, this is how the neuron remembers, what happened," explains Prof. Grzegorz Wilczy?ski from the Laboratory of Molecular and Systemic Neuromorphology at the Nencki Institute.

Neurons connect with each another via synapses, forming extended networks. In order for the neuronal networks to retain traces of stimuli which caused activation, the shape and functioning of individual synapses has to change. If stimulus trace is to be permanent, changes are necessary in the expression of many genes located in the cell nucleus of individual neurons.

Genes are sections of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) chain coding proteins. But the presence of a gene in the DNA does not mean that it is active. It has been known for the past several years that gene expression also depends on the environment within the cell. Chromatin which fills cells contains gene activating or supressing substances.

"This somewhat resembles interpersonal relations. When you attend a social gathering the importance of what you say will have a different impact depending on the environment. If the environment is favourable, your opinion will be seized on and reinforced and you will achieve social impact. If the environment is less friendly, your opinion will be silenced," explains Prof. Wilczy?ski.

In the case of neurons the epigenetic processes during which gene expression is decided by the environment, to date have been associated only with chemical reactions within the chromatin. Research done at the Nencki Institute has shown that in neurons we deal with yet another type of epigenetic effects: changes to the spatial structure of the cell's nucleus resulting in the formation of permanent memory traces. This is possible for two reasons. First of all because of the presence of the nuclear membrane: genes can attach or detach from it, which impacts their expression. The second reason is related to the specific structure of the cell nucleus.

The nucleus of a cell consists of many globules, called chromosome domains or territories. Each domain is filled by just one chromosome, which may slightly move within its territory. As a result of such movement at the meeting points of the neighbouring domains, fragments of the DNA chains containing the different genes can come in contact. This leads to silencing of a group of genes or to their expression: formation of a transcription factory. However, a slight movement of the DNA chain in any domain changes the situation: the silenced gene unit resumes activity or the factory stops functioning.

Changes to the spatial arrangement of genes within the cell nucleus have already been observed in certain types of cells, among other in epithelium cells. Research done at the Nencki Institute has shown that external stimuli may cause changes within neurons. Moreover scientists proved that such changes are permanent and create a distinct genetic memory trace within the neuronal structure -- despite no changes recorded in the DNA chains themselves.

Neurons used in this study came from rats after epileptic seizure, which is a brain plasticity disorder. During the seizure the activated neurons are places of turbulent gene expression. Scientists from the Nencki Institute decided to investigate two genes, known as BDNF and TRKB. In collaboration with the group of Prof. Marek ?wito?ski from the University of Life Sciences in Pozna?, and with Prof. Marion Cremer from Munich, these genes' location within the DNA chains has been marked using a substance glowing after stimulation with laser light. Such preparations of neurons from control rats and neurons coming from rats after epileptic seizures were analysed under confocal microscope.

"Confocal microscope registers images only in the vicinity of its focal plane. Therefore each image represents a sort of flat, thin cross section through the preparation. To reconstruct from a set of many such slices the spatial structure of the cell nucleus and the arrangement of genes, we needed to design special software. This task turned out to be difficult since we were working at the limit of the microscope's resolving power," says Dr B?a?ej Ruszczycki from the Nencki Institute.

The software took one year to develop. It was used to study more than 5000 cell nuclei to determine the location of both genes of interest with relation to the centres of the nuclei and the nuclear membrane. For the BDNF gene, a change has been observed in its location of a few hundred nanometres (one billionth part of a metre); in the control animals this gene was present near the nuclear membrane or on it in 50% of the nuclei, while in animals after seizures this value dropped to approximately 25%.

"A double drop is a great change in biology. Moreover, we have observed that it remains visible for up to several weeks. The conclusion is therefore clear: past events are remembered by neurons also thanks to changes within the architecture of their cell nuclei," observes Prof. Wilczy?ski.

This research has been financed from the Polish-Norwegian Grant and the Innovative Economy Operational Programme.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

  1. A. Walczak, A. A. Szczepankiewicz, B. Ruszczycki, A. Magalska, K. Zamlynska, J. Dzwonek, E. Wilczek, K. Zybura-Broda, M. Rylski, M. Malinowska, M. Dabrowski, T. Szczepinska, K. Pawlowski, M. Pyskaty, J. Wlodarczyk, I. Szczerbal, M. Switonski, M. Cremer, G. M. Wilczynski. Novel Higher-Order Epigenetic Regulation of the Bdnf Gene upon Seizures. Journal of Neuroscience, 2013; 33 (6): 2507 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1085-12.2013

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/bJmQxWcpD6E/130307092334.htm

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বুধবার, ৬ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Samsung Is Investing $112 Million In Electronics ... - Business Insider

Samsung is investing $112 million for a 3% stake in Sharp, a Japanese electronics company that was once its competitor.

The investment was first reported by WSJ and confirmed by The Next Web.

Sharp has made many of the screens for Apple's iPhones and iPads.

It has fallen on hard times, though. The company is looking for money from a number of investors.

Apple could still invest in Sharp via its manufacturing partner Foxconn. There are reports that Foxconn's parent could buy a 10% stake in Sharp.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-is-investing-112-million-in-electronics-company-sharp-to-steal-a-resource-from-apple-2013-3

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