WASHINGTON (AP) ? No list of great NCAA championship game moments is complete unless Keith Smart's jumper for Indiana in 1987 is on it.
Known by Hoosiers fans to this day as "The Shot," and known in much less complimentary terms by Syracuse faithful, that 16-foot jumper from the left side with 5 seconds to play is a film clip staple throughout March.
The memory of "The Shot," which gave Indiana a 74-73 victory, is still with Smart, now the coach of the Sacramento Kings, while Jim Boeheim, still the coach at Syracuse, revisited it every day for 16 years.
"It's pretty much every day," Smart said Wednesday when asked how often he thinks about the jumper that made him a hero in Bloomington and a villain in Syracuse. "Probably every other day something happens. I'll go somewhere to eat, or when we travel, I check into the hotel and somebody sees the name tag on the bag and they'll mention something about 'The Shot' then. Very seldom does a week go by without something that happens."
Boeheim knew exactly how long it took for him to stop thinking about Smart's play on a regular basis.
"We played very well in the game. When you lose a game like that, you really almost never get over it. I got over it in 2003," Boeheim said, referring to the Orange's first national championship, played in the same building ? the New Orleans Super Dome. "I probably thought about it for those 16 years most of the time.
"I never think about it anymore. Coach (Bob) Knight was good after the game. He told me we would get back and win it, he just didn't tell me it would take 16 years. He's smart, just not that smart."
"The Shot" has been summoned from the archives even more than usual this week because Indiana and Syracuse will meet in the East Regional semifinal Thursday night, their fourth meeting since the national championship game, but the first in the NCAA tournament.
"Probably this year more than anything, you had more people talk about its significance," Smart said. "Even when I saw the brackets, I said, 'The possibility of them coming together is pretty high.' And lo and behold it came into play. You hear a little bit more conversation because of that now, because it happened against Syracuse."
A great championship game came down to the final minute. With 38 seconds left, Syracuse's Howard Triche ? the uncle of current Orange guard Brandan Triche ? made the first of two free throws for a 73-70 lead. Six seconds later Smart scored to cut the lead to one. Four seconds later, Syracuse freshman Derrick Coleman, who finished with 19 rebounds, missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Boeheim had taken his players off the lane, conceding the rebound. Smart got the rebound. The play was supposed to go to Steve Alford, the current coach at New Mexico, who had already made six 3-pointers in the first NCAA tournament played with a 3-point line.
"It was designated for Steve, of course, but we moved the ball around," Indiana's Daryl Thomas said that Monday night. "It came to me and I kicked it out to Keith and he hit the basket."
Smart, one of the first junior college transfers to play for Knight, summed up the play at the postgame news conference.
"Tonight was my turn. ... I thank Daryl for not taking the last shot and passing out to me. ... It was a wise decision on his part."
Twenty-six years later Smart is still talking about "The Shot" because people keep asking him about it.
"I understand it. Every person, boy, girl, man or child, they want to talk about the moment or what they were doing when it happened," he said. "I don't know this person and this person comes up with all this excitement, what am I supposed to do? 'Nah, nah, I don't want to talk to you?' Nah. That's your moment and if you want to talk about, let's talk. It's going to be brief anyway. I won't rain on their parade or anything like that."
Smart is quick to recall the first time he spoke with Boeheim about it.
"When we were getting ready for the draft, kind of doing some background on different players, I called Jim Boeheim because I was looking at Dion Waiters. I called to get some information on Dion," Smart said, referring to the Syracuse guard who went on to be the No. 4 overall pick by Cleveland last June. "I called him. I said, 'Coach, this is a name from the past.' He answers the phone and says, 'A name from the past?' I said, 'This is Keith Smart. Coach Smart.' He said, 'Keith Smart, Keith Smart, Keith Smart. Let me tell you: it took me a long time to get over that.' I said, 'Coach, I would not have called you if you hadn't won one. I'd have had somebody else give you a call.' We had a good conversation after that."
Brandan Triche said he and his uncle haven't spent much time talking about the game.
"I have seen him play, but I haven't seen the actual whole game," said Triche, who said he gets called Howard on occasion. "I think watching, it was like a missed assignment. I haven't directly talked to him about it."
As with all plays that decide a championship there are the two sides and their reaction.
"It's always difficult when you lose in the championship game, the last game of the year and the last shot," Boeheim said. "That's always a difficult thing."
Smart said his current players and family are proving his college coach correct.
"They replay it all the time, every year," Smart said of his players. "They all went to college and when Indiana gets beat somewhere, they're always like, 'Oh, Indiana lost or this or that.' But I'll always have the last laugh. I played at Indiana and I won.
"That's what Coach Knight said to us after the game, 'You guys have no idea what you've done. Sure, you've won a championship. But it won't really sink in until it's 25 or 30 years from now, when your kids see it. That came to fruition about 15 years ago, my son was probably around 10. We were waiting for the tournament to come on, and they showed 'The Shot.' My son goes, 'Dad, look at you!' I was like, 'Wow, cool.' Just like Coach said after the game that night. It came true."
___
AP Sports Writer Antonio Gonzalez in Sacramento, Calif., contributed to this report.
Being an indie developer, DrinkBox Studios has the freedom to make unusual choices. After finishing Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, the team got together and tossed out ideas. This horizontal leadership structure brought out some interesting concepts and the most compelling one came from an animator. The theme he put forward was a game based on Mexican folklore and luchadores.
?Homesickness was the genesis of the game,? said developer Chris McQuinn. His studio is based in Toronto.
The result is Guacamelee!, a 2D Metroidvania style adventure, starring Juan Aguacate (That?s John Avocado in Spanish.). He?s an agave farmer who is murdered after trying to save his town and El Presidente?s daughter from Calaca, the king of the underworld. Juan is shot dead and his spirit descends to the World of the Dead. It?s there that his spirit sees a magical mask, and once he dons it, he becomes a powerful luchador.
The differences between the living world and the dead world.
Juan now has the ability to fight the monsters from the underworld and that?s a useful power to have when the king of the underworld is trying to start the apocalypse by merging the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead together. Furthermore, that duality of the worlds plays a central role in the gameplay.
The luchador can jump between both lands and he?ll need to do that to get through obstacles. The constant flipping is a mechanic that?s reminiscent of Ikagura. Juan will leap through portals taking him to the Land of the Dead where things are slightly different and he can do a wall jump and exit through a second portal and to another platform. From a casual perspective, it looks complicated, and DrinkBox admits that it will take time for players to adjust.
Some enemies will have shields and Juan will have to execute a super move that?s the same color as the barrier.
Like other Metroidvania games, Juan will gain abilities and that will open up new parts of the world. The aforementioned wall jump is taught to him by Huay Chivo, a goat man who is the closest thing our hero has to a mentor. The luchador will eventually be able to switch between the two worlds at will. When it comes to combat, Juan does have several super moves, but he can?t spam them out. It takes up stamina and players will have to use his special attacks judiciously to either give them a boost to another platform or fighting certain enemies who are weak to certain moves.
What separates Guacamelee! from other adventures though is its unique take and visual style. There aren?t many games based on Mexican folklore, and playing it, you learn to appreciate DrinkBox?s colorful art. The huge Alebrije is delightful eye candy while villains like Xtabay are unlike anything players have seen in the past. In a fun twist, the developer?s do give a nod to classic games. There are statues that look like Chozo?s from Metroid and a boss battle that resembles a the fight between Mario and Bowser in Super Mario Bros. Old-school gamers will get a kick out of that.
The Alebrije is one of the more gorgeous creatures that players will run into in the world.
Lastly, there are some advances in the genre. A second local player will be able to join the fun. Tostada appears near the beginning of the game, and she?ll be a huge help to Juan when he gets trapped in arenas where they must defeat several waves of enemies. The drawback is that having a second person makes the platforming more difficult. The other interesting feature is the PlayStation Vita support that puts the world map on the touchscreen. Instead of pausing the game to look at where to go, players can just glance down and see their destination.
From what I saw at GDC 2013, Guacamelee! is one of the more promising games from an indie developer. It?s scheduled for release this spring on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.
Images courtesy of Sony
Want to know what Gieson Cacho is playing? Follow him on Twitter.
Penn researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip' Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
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.
Sudhir Khetan is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Union College.
[ | 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.
Penn researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip' Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
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.
Sudhir Khetan is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Union College.
[ | 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.
Dear Debt Adviser, I was reading an article on debt and found your column. I need help. I have about $40,000 in credit card debt, and I'm one month behind on my mortgage. I'm probably a few months behind on some of my credit card debt and not sure what to do. Is bankruptcy an option? Should I sell my house and work on correcting my financial problems? Or should I just pay what I can? Thank you, Ronald. -- Ronald
Dear Ronald, I'm glad you found me. If you're willing to work at this problem, I'm sure I can help. Let's start with the good news -- you're back to work! A regular income is important when trying to take control of your finances. Now you just need to decide what to do.
Because you use the word "probably" to describe how far behind you are on your credit card accounts, it's clear you don't have a good handle on how much you owe, how late you are or how close you are to a foreclosure. To set you straight, I want you to begin your comeback by speaking with a counselor at a nonprofit credit counseling agency. You can find one through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies.
Your counselor will make sure you don't fall into foreclosure by mistake. Most mortgage payments have a 15-day grace period. However, once a payment is late, the next month's payment is considered late if not received by the first of the month. So, by the time you think you're two weeks late, you may actually be two months late and on the verge of a foreclosure action. Most creditors do want to help, but only on their terms and terms that their regulators approve. Your counselor can help you take advantage of any assistance programs that might help.
Once you have your options laid out from your housing and credit counseling, you will have some decisions to make. Some things to consider are:
Are you better off renting or owning? You need to live somewhere.
If you need to get out of your mortgage, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act will run out Dec. 31, 2013. This shields you from a huge tax bill in a foreclosure or short sale. So if you are going to get out of your home, this may be the year to do it.
Can you catch up on your missed mortgage payments? If you don't have the money, and if your lender is unwilling to work with you, you may need to sell your home.
Your next decision will be how to handle your $40,000 in credit card debt. If you have the income and the desire, a debt management plan through the credit counseling agency may work for you. You would pay off your balances in five years or so with your creditors' help in the form of lower interest charges and waived late fees. Debt settlement may also be an option for you. But I rarely recommend it, and then only if you either do it on your own (not easy) or through an attorney (expensive). Either way, it's no fun!
Bankruptcy may be an option, but from what you have said, I think you can get out of this mess without the years of damage to credit, higher insurance bills, reduced job and promotion prospects, and more. Bankruptcy is a last resort. But, if you don't have the income to both live and repay your debt, bankruptcy may be necessary. After you've explored your other options, you may want to contact an attorney for a consultation.
CAIRO (AP) ? Dozens of people from Syrian President Bashar Assad's own minority sect met in Cairo on Sunday to send an unusual message to their fellow Alawites back home: Join the opposition before it is too late.
The Alawites have long been seen as a backbone of the Assad regime, and a decision to support the rebel force in Syria is complicated by the fact that many see their own futures interlocked with Assad's survival.
The pressure on Alawites who dare oppose Assad comes not only from the regime, but also from within their own families. Nearly all of the 50 Alawites at the opposition conference have been arrested, abused or threatened for their political views. One participant said he received an email threatening his life if he attended the conference.
The Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, are a tiny sect, representing roughly 12 percent of Syria's population. Many live in towns and villages along the mountainous Mediterranean coast. Most have either rallied behind Assad or stayed quietly on the sidelines of the 2-year-old civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 people.
The opposition meeting ? the first of its kind for Alawite Syrians since the war began ? reflects fears that they would fall victim to revenge killings and assassinations should Assad's regime fall. Some are particularly worried about the influx of foreign jihadist fighters into Syria who view Shiites as heretics.
Many minority Alawites see the war in Syria as a fight for survival against the Sunni majority. Alawites hold key posts in the army alongside some Sunnis and members of other groups that have been given top government and military positions to foster loyalty to the regime.
A statement by the Alawite opposition group said "the Syrian regime has no identity except that of tyranny."
"The Syrian regime lies when it says it protects minorities, particularly the Alawites ... in an attempt to portray to the world that it is fighting Islamic extremists and terrorism," the statement said.
Rita al-Suleiman, 29, said she had to flee Syria last year after her brother told her that he had been questioned in prison about her anti-regime activities in Homs.
"I was at first careful not to attend meetings, but then my family said they have nothing to do with me so I grew bolder," she said. "It's been very hard to leave them behind."
Like others at the conference, she said many Syrians are no longer afraid to voice their opinions, but that Alawites are under greater pressure from members of their own community not to speak out.
Bashar Aboud, 40, said his relatives warned his parents they would burn their house down if he continued defying the regime. The 40 year-old father of two, who now resides in Cairo after fleeing Syria during a 2001 crackdown on opposition figures, said his parents were forced to go on Syrian TV and disown him.
Those at the conference stressed that Alawites have long been and want to continue to be a part of the fabric of Syrian society.
"In the end we are all on the same boat and it's sinking," Aboud said, referring to Syria's precarious situation. "We are part of the team that is trying to save this boat."
One participant described the conferees as a real opposition movement that does not want to be separated from the homeland. He said he opposed dividing Syria along sectarian lines or the possibility of a breakaway enclave for Alawites as was the case under French mandate for a few years in the late 1930s.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals against his family in Syria.
Despite efforts by the participants to frame the conflict as a despotic regime against its people, signs of sectarian warfare are rife in Syria.
The army is being reinforced by pro-regime militias, packed with Alawites who have been accused of conducting massacres in which hundreds of civilians, including women and children, were killed.
The Syrian government claims gunmen driven by the agendas of foreign countries are responsible for the killings, but the United Nations and other witnesses have confirmed that at least some were carried out by pro-regime vigilante fighters.
Another Alawite participant at the conference said his two sons were forced out of work last year to serve in one of the national security branches, and were deployed to areas of heavy fighting, including the outskirts of Damascus.
He claimed that his sons, ages 28 and 30, had witnessed severe beatings and killings by the regime. The participant, a long-time opposition activist who wrote under the pseudo name Sami Saleh, said he and his two sons relied on Sunni fighters in the rebel Free Syrian Army to help them escape through Turkey.
He also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal against relatives still in Syria.
Some three-fourths of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, but the country is also home to other Muslim groups, as well as Christians and ethnic communities of Kurds, Armenians and others. All coexisted with varying degrees of ease under Assad's regime, founded more than four decades ago by his father, Hafez, and inherited by Bashar in 2000.
The Alawite opposition conference was funded by rich businessmen from the sect, according to its organizer Bassam Youssef, who was detained for 11 years under Hafez for his communist activities against the ruling Baath Party.
A large green-striped Syrian rebel flag draped the speaker's podium and a banner in the back read: "We are all Syria. We are with a united Syria."
Several members of the main Sunni-led Syrian opposition coalition also attended the Alawite conference in solidarity. They too have struggled, coalescing around a unified voice. Its president, Mouaz al-Khatib, resigned Sunday citing frustration with the level of international support and constraints imposed by the body itself.
If you want nothing more than to keep your home spick and span all year round, professional carpet cleaning (see ?quality carpet cleaning in Essex?) may be something you aim to try out. A fact to remember is that professional carpet cleaning can vary from one cleaning company to another. If it?s residential cleaning you seek, make sure you approach a firm that specialises in household cleaning. Popular services that should be offered by a specialist carpet cleaning company, include; carpet cleaning and carpet stain removal, professional rug cleaning, professional upholstery cleaning, professional curtain cleaning, mattress cleaning ? combatting bacteria and easing allergies and pet urine odour removal.
Carpet Cleaning
Should you have a young family, keeping on top of all your cleaning can be difficult. Sometimes there are simply not enough hours in the day to stay on top of all the daily cleaning duties. For tricky stains and hygienic surfaces, professional carpet cleaners can provide you with a cleaner and healthier home in as little as a few hours. By opting for professional cleaning services (see Southend-on-Sea carpet cleaner), you can benefit from an impressive cleaning performance, a 100% convenient and hassle-free service, non-toxic treatments for safe cleaning as well as a new lease of life for your carpets. Additionally, by opting for professional carpet cleaning, you can gain a cost-effective alternative to carpet replacement.?
Cleaning Your Rug
Rugs often get the brunt of day-to-day wear and tear, they are often treated like a mat and play host to toddlers playing with their toys, school children doing their school work, teenagers sprawled out watching the TV, not to mention the dog settling down with his newest chew toy. All this activity can lead to stains, from crayon and pen marks to tea or coffee and dog hair to last night?s takeaway. When your sofa is nearing the end of its life, rather than throwing it away and replacing it with a brand new one, why not give it a new lease of life by having it professionally cleaned. Professional rug cleaning restores the rug?s richness in colour enabling bright colours to be restored. It also means stains are eliminated, whilst flattened pile can be lifted.?
Cleaning Your Upholstery
Whether you have a leather upholstered suite or a fabric upholstered sofa, a deep-down professional clean will ensure your seating has never looked so clean. No matter on the fabric of your sofa, the correct cleaning solutions will be incorporated to ensure the best possible outcome for your sofa. With pre-inspection and spot testing, stains will vanish. Vacuuming with a professional-grade vacuum will result in a brand new and bright appearance. Thorough cleaning and spot removal with use of a hot carbonating extraction system will result in a sparkling clean suite, whilst deodorisation will result in a fragrant, fresh smelling sofa too.?
For more information on further services provided by a professional carpet cleaning company, in terms of your domestic cleaning needs, see more info.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's plan to use federal agencies, and the Environmental Protection Agency in particular, to drive his second-term climate change agenda might be in peril if he cannot fill vacant seats on the federal court that has jurisdiction over major national regulations, legal experts say.
Obama is the first full-term president in more than a half century not to have appointed a single judge to the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The court, considered the second most important in the nation, decides cases challenging agency regulations such as those involving the EPA's Clean Air Act and often serves as a feeder to the Supreme Court.
New York attorney Caitlin Halligan, Obama's first nominee to fill one of four vacant seats on the 11-judge bench, announced her withdrawal on Friday after Republicans twice blocked her nomination over concerns about a 2001 case in which she represented New York state and argued that gun manufacturers had created a "public nuisance" under state law.
Obama said in a statement on Friday that he was "deeply disappointed" that a minority of senators continued to block an up-or-down vote on her nomination after two and a half years.
Meanwhile, Obama's second pick, former corporate lawyer Sri Srinivasan, will have a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the next few weeks after being delayed in 2012 by Republican requests for more information about his role in the settlement of a housing act case as a U.S. deputy solicitor general.
While some fault Republicans for slow-walking the appointment of judges that would shift the balance of the court to Democrat-appointed judges, others fault Obama for not taking advantage of the now-four open seats and making judicial appointments a political priority. Two of the four vacant seats have been open since Obama came into office in January 2009. The seat Halligan was nominated for has been vacant since 2005.
Some legal experts warn that under the status quo - four Republican appointees and three Democratic appointees among active judges - Obama's plan to bypass a deeply partisan Congress to address climate change using existing authorities will not be easy.
"There is really no moving forward with regulation without going to the DC Circuit and the decision of the court could really have major consequences," said Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University's law school.
The court hears all challenges to government agency regulations.
And regardless of the political balance, some warn the short-staffed court will have a hard time handling a growing case load of challenges to increasingly complex EPA regulations.
"There is a reason why there are 11 judges on that court of appeals," said John Cruden, director of the Environmental Law Institute. "They (cases) will take longer to resolve than they are right now because they are more complicated and they require and demand a lot of attention."
A former D.C. circuit judge on the court from 1979 to 1999 last month termed the ongoing vacancies a cause of "extreme concern" because the court lacks the manpower to carry out its "weighty mandate," which includes cases ranging from environmental protection to civil rights to national security.
Patricia Wald, who was an appointee of Democratic President Jimmy Carter, wrote in a February 28 op-ed in the Washington Post that the number of pending cases per judge has grown to 188 today from 119 in 2005.
Although the court's six senior status judges can hear cases, they cannot participate in re-hearings. Five of those six judges are Republican appointees.
AUTOMATIC CHALLENGE
Obama said in his February State of the Union address that he would direct his cabinet to take steps to curb carbon emissions if lawmakers fail to enact legislation - a likely outcome in the deeply divided Congress.
The EPA is expected to be at the center of Obama's climate efforts. It is due this year to finalize emissions standards for new power plants and industrial facilities. After that, it will set a standard for the country's power plants and industrial sources that account for nearly 40 percent of domestic emissions.
The proposed regulations will almost certainly be challenged by industry, including electric utility companies and manufacturers, who argue the agency is wrongly interpreting the Clean Air Act to write its standards.
"He (Obama) can lean as heavily as he wants on the EPA and its all for nothing if he gets the wrong panel reviewing what they do," said Tom McGarity, a law professor at the University of Texas law school in Austin, who specializes in environmental and administrative law.
Three-judge panels are assigned randomly to resolve cases brought to the court. With just seven active judges, many of the same judges will deliberate similar EPA challenges.
Some analysts say the court has become more polarized on these issues, making the outcome largely dependent on the panel that gets selected - a roll of the dice.
Some also expect delays or revisions to the EPA's proposed standard for new power plants beyond an April 13 deadline as the agency anticipates inevitable challenges in the DC circuit and uncertainty about how the judges will rule.
"It's certainly possible that the EPA has recognized that it needs to be a little less aggressive in its interpretation and implementation of its authority," said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University.
Recent setbacks in the DC circuit might have reminded EPA that its technical and legal analysis needs to be bullet proof.
One such loss was the court's 2-1 decision in August to strike down an EPA rule to curb sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants that cause acid rain and smog across state lines. The decision called on the agency to rewrite the rules, a process that could take years.
Two of the three judges ruling on the case said the EPA exceeded its "jurisdictional limits" in interpreting the Clean Air Act. The EPA asked for a full-court hearing in January but it was denied.
The court ruled more favorably for the EPA in June, though, when it upheld agency rules on greenhouse gas emissions, including the scientific justification to regulate them because they endanger public health.
But new standards for power plants, mercury and hazardous materials, ozone rules and other controversial regulations will face uncertain fates in the court if the status quo continues.
NYU's Livermore said that, while recent decisions on the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act have been mixed, the court has clearly demonstrated it is not afraid to strike down rules and send the agency back to the drawing board.
"This is not a court that is afraid to act and use its powers. There is no getting around these guys. It is small, so one or two judges can make a big difference in the ultimate decision," he said.
Observers say Obama needs to make more nominations for the court or broker a deal with Republicans to get at least some of his judicial picks confirmed, or he will risk missing out on a chance to leave his mark on the court.
"If we continue on the current path of invalidating critically important rules, the DC circuit will be the graveyard for all programs, initiatives that are being pushed by the Obama administration and will affect all of us," said Nan Aron, president of the judicial rights group Alliance for Justice.
"The DC circuit has that much power."
(Reporting By Valerie Volcovici.; Editing by Ros Krasny and Andre Grenon)
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Politicians in Cyprus were racing Saturday to complete an alternative plan raising funds necessary for the country to qualify for an international bailout, with a potential bankruptcy just three days away.
Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said "significant progress" had been made, and that new legislation raising funds could be completed and submitted to Parliament as early as Saturday evening, although the timing was not certain.
Cyprus has been told it must raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in order to secure 10 billion euros in rescue loans from other European countries that use the single currency, and from the International Monetary Fund. The country's lawmakers soundly rejected an unpopular initial plan that would have seized up to 10 percent of people's bank accounts, and is now seeking a way to raise the desperately needed money.
Time is running out fast. The European Central Bank has said it will stop providing emergency funding to Cyprus' banks after Monday if no new plan is in place. Without ECB's support, Cypriot banks would collapse on Tuesday, pushing the country toward bankruptcy and a potential exit from the 17-nation eurozone.
Banks have been shut all week while the plan is put into place, and are not due to reopen until next Tuesday.
Representatives of the IMF, ECB and European Commission ? collectively known as the troika ? met with Sarris and other officials in the Finance Ministry throughout the morning, negotiating several new laws, including a crucial bill that would impose some form of a tax on bank deposits.
The details were still being worked out, but officials have said that the tax could apply to deposits in the country's top two lenders, which were most exposed to bad Greek debt, or even all banks.
Troika consent is essential as they will determine whether the plan that the Cypriots come up with would meet the requirements for the bailout before it is presented to the eurozone finance ministers for final approval.
A eurogroup meeting of the finance ministers is expected to be held in Brussels over the weekend, and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades was also to fly there, potentially as early as Saturday.
"Significant progress has been made toward an agreement at least with the troika which will report to the Eurogroup," Sarris told reporters after the initial morning meeting at his ministry.
"Two or three issues need further work, issues on banks, there are different calculations," Sarris said. "There is the contribution of experts from the private sector."
The experts would hold consultations amongst themselves and officials would resume negotiations with the troika again later Saturday afternoon.
"We have a number of experts that are working from the private sector, at the Central Bank, at the Ministry of Finance trying to iron out these details so that when we do reach an agreement there will be no room for different understanding or misrepresentation."
Nicosia made a significant step towards cementing a new plan Friday night, when its lawmakers approved nine bills, including three crucial ones that will restructure ailing banks, restrict financial transactions in emergencies and set up a "solidarity fund" that will act as the vehicle for raising funds from investments and contributions.
The bank restructuring will include the country's troubled second largest lender, Laiki, which suffered heavy losses after being exposed to toxic Greek debt.
The restructuring of Laiki and the sale of the toxic-asset laden Greek branches of Cypriot banks is expected to cut the amount the country needs to raise to about 3 billion euros instead of 5.8 billion euros, officials have said.
Other banks may also be included in the restructuring, such as the country's largest lender, Bank of Cyprus, which was also exposed to Greek debt.
"We have to be clear to protect the financial system and for banks to open Tuesday with a clear picture," Sarris said.
____
Elena Becatoros in Nicosia contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders.
In half the states, mainly led by Democrats, officials are racing deadlines to connect uninsured residents to coverage now only months away. In others it's as if "Obamacare" ? signed Mar. 23, 2010 ? had never passed.
Make no mistake, the federal government will step in and create new insurance markets in the 26 mostly red states declining to run their own. Just like the state-run markets in mostly Democratic-led states, the feds will start signing up customers Oct. 1 for coverage effective Jan. 1. But they need a broad cross-section of people, or else the pool will be stuck with what the government calls the "sick and worried" ? the costliest patients.
Insurance markets, or exchanges, are one prong of Obama's law, providing subsidized private coverage for middle-class households who currently can't get their own. The other major piece is a Medicaid expansion to serve more low-income people. And at least 13 states have already indicated they will not agree to that.
"It could look like two or three different countries," said Robert Blendon, a Harvard School of Public Health professor who studies public opinion on health care. "The political culture of a state is going to play an important role in getting millions of people to voluntarily sign up."
Civic leadership ? from governors, legislators, mayors and business and religious groups ? is shaping up as a huge factor in the launch of Obama's plan, particularly since the penalty for ignoring the law's requirement to get coverage is as low as $95 the first year.
People-to-people contacts will be key, and the potential for patchwork results is real.
"Obviously it's a possibility in terms of there being some real difficulties," said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., whose efforts helped pass the law. Casey also said he believes the Obama administration will be ready to lead in states holding back.
Disparities already are cropping up.
Town Meeting Day ? the first Tuesday in March ? is a storied tradition in Vermont, and this year it provided a platform to educate residents about their options under the health care law. As many as 250,000 may eventually get coverage through Vermont Health Connect, as the state's marketplace is known.
"Even before we were a state, these town meetings existed," said Sean Sheehan, director of education and outreach. "It's a way people come together as a community, and we are counting on those community connections to get the word out." The health care plan was on the agenda at about 100 town meetings, and other local gatherings are taking place.
Texas residents are entitled to the same benefits as Vermonters, but in the state with the highest proportion of its population uninsured, Gov. Rick Perry will not be promoting the federal insurance exchange, a spokeswoman said. Nor does Perry plan to expand Medicaid.
The result is a communications void that civic and political groups, mayors, insurers and hospitals will try to fill.
"You have people who aren't really charged up about it because they don't even know that they would qualify," said Durrel Douglas, spokesman for the Texas Organizing Project, an activist group. A national poll this week by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that two of every three uninsured people don't know enough about the law to understand how it will affect them.
Supporters of Obama's law in Texas say the federal government hasn't shown up yet to launch the state's insurance exchange and no one is sure when that will happen.
"It is a much bigger lift here," said Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people. "The sooner the federal exchange can get engaged and working with all the folks here who want to promote enrollment, the better."
The Congressional Budget Office predicts a slow start overall, with only 7 million gaining coverage through the exchanges next year, rising to 24 million in 2016.
At a recent insurance industry meeting, federal officials directing the rollout rattled off a dizzying list of deadlines. Public outreach will begin in earnest this summer and early fall, said Gary Cohen, head of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.
The government sees three main groups of potential customers for the new insurance markets, he said.
There's the "active sick and worried," people who are uninsured or have pre-existing medical conditions. Under the law, insurers will no longer be able to turn the sick away.
There's the healthy and young. "They feel invincible, they don't feel a need for health insurance," said Cohen.
Finally, there's the passive and unengaged. "For these people, a significant education effort needs to happen," he said.
To keep premiums affordable, the government will need to sign up lots of people from the last two groups to balance those in poor health, who will have a strong motivation to join.
The official heading consumer outreach for the rollout, Julie Bataille, acknowledges the challenge but says she's confident.
"This is a really an enormous opportunity for us to change the conversation around health care and help individuals understand the benefits they can get," she said.
Suffice to say, people don?t come to Hammonasset Beach State Park for surfing, nor do they come here for watersports....they basically bringing their brood in large rented party buses for a good time, relaxing under the fantastic weather, share precious memories with their loved ones and friends and maybe do a little swimming in between eating, drinking and playing catch up. To say that Hammonasset Beach State Park is off-the-beaten-track is stretching things a little far because, very clearly, you can find the park well listed on most major travel sites and blogs, so, it has been receiving a lot of attention and attendance from local as well as foreign tourists. Once you have experienced the relaxed and languid time that Hammonasset can gracefully accord you, you will find that spending a day here is simply not enough.?
?
There is two full miles worth of sandy, flat, glistening beach and it is big and wide enough to accommodate the summer crowds too. And we are talking about HUGE crowds so, make your way there early to book your own spot. Once you find the spot of your choice, whip out the blanket, umbrella-chair and it is time to let the R&R begin in earnest.?
?
One of the most common questions people will have about parks and beaches would be amenities - yes, there is ample facilities here which includes clean and well-maintained restrooms and showers. Of course, because of how narrow the beach is (it is long-ish, instead), we can?t say things like ?it is comparable to Rhode Island but as far as space is concerned, there is absolutely huge enough.
?
If you are not game for swimming and sunbathing, worry not, because there are plenty of space for biking, picnicking, running, and maybe even a little kite-flying if you prefer. It is a beach but remember, it is also a park for children to play and for people to walk their dogs after a tough working week. And besides, it is one of the best beaches you will find Connecticut.?
?
Folks who live in and around the beach will take regularly long after-dinner walks here and for foreigners, they might even stop by at the nature center. Admittedly, the locals don?t bother much with the center but it is well-maintained by the authorities all the same.?
?
According to some people, bird-watching is also an all-time favorite activity at the beach-park. Some will even venture out to the trail of saltwater marshes. We hope everyone has the best of time exploring and relaxing in Hammonasset Beach Park as much as some people we know.
Once upon a time, there was a small den, stuck in 1972. My job? Bring it to at least 2000!
It started with pulling up the carpet and padding. From there, I had to pull up the tack strips around the perimeter of the room -- they hold the carpet in place. After pulling up the staples in the floor that held down the padding, it was time to get down to some DIY projects!
Pulling up the carpet. Tip: Cut it into strips for easier removal.
There was no mantle over this off centered fireplace. So, I built one!
Now, let's bring in some amazing furniture and accessories. A great grey couch, side chair, coffee table, a unique TV stand...and that's just the beginning!
The final product:
Easy, fun, and inexpensive. The best part is, you can do it yourself. See the entire video of the project at www.KelseyOnTheHouse.com.
Licensed home improvement contractor Brian Kelsey can be seen and heard regularly giving out advice on an array of media outlets. Watch him on tv and on his how-to video series "Kelsey On The House." Connect on Facebook and Twitter!
?
Follow Brian Kelsey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KelsOnTheHouse
Mar. 21, 2013 ? Scientists have developed a way to pinpoint promising drugs to fight tuberculosis (TB) and other diseases without setting foot in the laboratory. A team led by Sean Ekins at Collaborative Drug Discovery in Burlingame, Cal., and Joel Freundlich at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School has trained computers to sift through drug libraries and pick out compounds likely to clobber TB with minimal side effects to humans, as reported in the journal Chemistry & Biology.
In the last four decades, only one new drug has been approved to treat TB, which causes nearly two million deaths each year. The process of identifying and testing potential new drugs has been streamlined in recent years by using robots to simultaneously test thousands of compounds in a process called high-throughput screening (HTS). Still, HTS costs millions and has generated few promising anti-TB drug leads, and even the most promising compounds often turn out to be toxic to human cells.
So cheminformatics expert Ekins and chemist Freundlich decided to use computers to do the initial legwork. By drawing from publicly available HTS data for TB, they 'taught' computers to understand which chemical features of a drug are associated with efficacy against TB and which are associated with toxicity to mammalian cells. Once trained, the computer successfully picked out agents proven to kill the TB bacteria in culture and even rediscovered a compound reported 40 years ago to have anti-TB activity but since forgotten.
Their new work shows that they can predict effective molecules prospectively using commercially available computer software and published HTS data. "If we can pick and choose a small number of compounds to test rather than screening libraries of thousands of molecules, then it's cheaper and immediately brings the compounds of most interest to the forefront," says lead author Ekins. "The data are out there, and we want to encourage people to use them," adds Freundlich, expressing a sentiment that may resonate with researchers given the current crunch on funding dollars.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is New Jersey's only health sciences university with more than 6,000 students on five campuses attending three medical schools, the State's only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and New Jersey's only school of public health. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, which provides a continuum of healthcare services with multiple locations throughout the State.
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 University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Sean Ekins, Robert?C. Reynolds, Hiyun Kim, Mi-Sun Koo, Marilyn Ekonomidis, Meliza Talaue, Steve?D. Paget, Lisa?K. Woolhiser, Anne?J. Lenaerts, Barry?A. Bunin, Nancy Connell, Joel?S. Freundlich. Bayesian Models Leveraging Bioactivity and Cytotoxicity Information for Drug Discovery. Chemistry & Biology, 2013; 20 (3): 370 DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2013.01.011
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.
1.????? Establish yourself as a trusted expert. People search online for information and will look to you, as a subject matter expert, to provide it to them. Every week (or whatever schedule works) provides an opportunity to build on this, while reinforcing your brand.
2.????? Build a relationship with the people on your list. It's common knowledge that people like to buy from people they like. By using ezines to connect with readers in their homes, you can develop a relationship of familiarity and trust. Be sure to share a little about yourself or your company in every issue, whether it is an anecdote, event, or employee spotlight.
3.????? Keep in touch with prospects and clients. Consideration should be given to eventually developing two ezines: one for prospects and one for clients, as each require different information. This is a great way to notify your readers of weekly specials or upcoming product launches, offer new articles or customer stories, and provide links (or urls) to update FAQs, blogs and splash pages.
4.????? Drive traffic to your website or blog. As noted in #3, remember to call attention to new blog posts or other changes to your website with links directly to those pages. Remind readers of your online newsletter archives. Promote special sales (maybe with discount coupon codes only for subscribers) with a link to the sales page. Use links to turn your ezines and newsletters into 'silent salespersons'? driving traffic to your website and building your lists around the clock.
5.????? Build content on your website. Make a habit to adding your ezines and newsletters to your website in an archive area. This serves a several important purposes:
o??? Visitors can read an issue or two to determine if your ezine will be of interest to them, which could help to increase sign-ups and potential sales.
o??? If you optimize your article placements, you will not only make your website 'meatier', but you'll also bring new traffic from the search engines.
6.????? Get feedback from your readers. Make it easy for you to stay in touch with prospects and customers and vice versa. Ask them to take action and comment on your articles and offers. Conduct polls and surveys. Start a 'Letters to the Editor' column in your ezine. Feedback allows you to fine tune your messages, target your marketing, and expand your product line. It's also great for relationship building!
7.????? Develop an information product. If you deliver your newsletter once a week and include two articles, at the end of a year you'll have 104 well-researched articles in your portfolio! Pick the best-of-the-best and turn them into a bonus eBook for opting-in to your list, submit to download sites to build your list, or sell in PDF-format!
8.????? Grow your mailing list. Let your ezine subscribers work for you. Be sure to remind your readers that it's okay to forward your newsletter to anyone they'd like. In addition, it's important to include sign-up instructions for those who received your ezine from viral marketing methods. A simple line titled, 'Get Your Own Copy of XXXXXX', with a link to your squeeze or opt-in page is all it takes! I use getresponse.
9.????? Gather demographic data. By offering surveys, feedback forms, and niche reports, you'll be able to get valuable information about your prospects and customers. Learn what makes your readers tick, how to better serve them, and how to give them what they want. Make sure they become repeat customers!
10.? Save money! All of the above benefits of publishing an ezine are free or almost free. The small cost of a top-rated ezine publishing system is nothing compared to the cost of brochures, business cards, advertising, direct mail, pay-per-click or other means of promotion. Not only that, but someone has to manage that production! Because your newsletter is delivered online, you can grow your list to be as large as you want without worrying about the expense. Bottom line ? it's proven that email marketing is the most cost-effective marketing solution for companies just like yours!
New research published in The Journal of Neuroscience suggests that modifying signals sent by astrocytes, our star-shaped brain cells, may help to limit the spread of damage after an ischemic brain stroke. The study in mice, by neuroscientists at Tufts University School of Medicine, determined that astrocytes play a critical role in the spread of damage following stroke.
The National Heart Foundation reports that ischemic strokes account for 87% of strokes in the United States. Ischemic strokes are caused by a blood clot that forms and travels to the brain, preventing the flow of blood and oxygen.
Even when blood and oxygen flow is restored, however, neurotransmitter processes in the brain continue to overcompensate for the lack of oxygen, causing brain cells to be damaged. The damage to brain cells often leads to health complications including visual impairment, memory loss, clumsiness, moodiness, and partial or total paralysis.
Research and drug trials have focused primarily on therapies affecting neurons to limit brain cell damage. Phil Haydon's group at Tufts University School of Medicine have focused on astrocytes, a lesser known type of brain cell, as an alternative path to understanding and treating diseases affecting brain cells.
In animal models, his research team has shown that astrocytes?which outnumber neurons by ten to one?send signals to neurons that can spread the damage caused by strokes. The current study determines that decreasing astrocyte signals limits damage caused by stroke by regulating the neurotransmitter pathways after an ischemic stroke.
The research team compared two sets of mice: a control group with normal astrocyte signaling levels and a group whose signaling was weakened enough to be made protective rather than destructive. To assess the effect of astrocyte protection after ischemic strokes, motor skills, involving tasks such as walking and picking up food, were tested. In addition, tissue samples were taken from both groups and compared.
"Mice with altered astrocyte signaling had limited damage after the stroke" said first author Dustin Hines, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow in the department of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine. "Manipulating the astrocyte signaling demonstrates that astrocytes are critical to understanding the spread of damage following stroke."
"Looking into ways to utilize and enhance the astrocyte's protective properties in order to limit damage is a promising avenue in stroke research," said senior author Phillip Haydon, Ph.D. Haydon is the Annetta and Gustav Grisard professor and chair of the department of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine and a member of the neuroscience program faculty at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts.
###
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus: http://www.tufts.edu
Thanks to Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
Share ] 
