An internal testing Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the Samsung Nexus S 4G has been leaked out of Sprint, containing a new software modem, bootloader, and a 4.0.4 build. Some are reporting this is the final version and we'll soon see an OTA for the NS4G, but that's speculation at this point. We do know that this seems to run smoothly, with everything working including the Wimax radio. It's build number IMM26, with a final kernel build and the ROM is signed with release keys which makes it pretty likely.
Of course the OTA for the Nexus S 4G can't come soon enough for many users, who have seen the 3G version of the Nexus S and the Motorola Xoom get their ICS builds pushed to them. We have to remember that Sprint not only has more network testing involved in their version, but the addition of Google Voice integration and Google Wallet means their release cycle will be longer. I'll go out on a limb and say Nexus S 4G users will see ICS released long before any other handset gets it, even if it's not imminent. We've seen extremely stable builds of Android 4.0 for the NS4G for a while now, and you know the developers already have their hands dirty (trust me, they are all over it) using tonight's leaked files to make things even better. If you're not the type who follows the manufacturers update path, hit your favorite ROM developer in a day or two.
If you're not the waiting type, visit the links below and try it on for size. Heed the warnings, and if you hit any snags visit the forums and holler!
While those in the movie and TV business gathered in Hollywood last night for the 2012 SAG Awards, Justin Bieber was in Cannes, France for the NRJ Music Awards, which takes place every year in January and which were created by a radio station in that country.
It was a worthwhile trip for the singer, too... because he won Artist of the Year!
“i never thought i would ever get out of stratford and now im celebrating in france. never gets old. ALWAYS grateful! #Ilovemyfans,” Justin Tweeted soon after taking home the trophy.
We applaud the Biebs for earning yet another honor, but we gotta ask: bright blue sports jacket, JB? Really?!? Not sure if we approve of that fashion statement.
WASHINGTON ? Aware that most Americans would like to dump them all, members of Congress hope to regain some sense of trust by subjecting themselves to tougher penalties for insider trading and requiring they disclose stock transactions within 30 days.
A procedural vote Monday would allow the Senate later this week to pass a bill prohibiting members of Congress from using nonpublic information for their own personal benefit or "tipping" others to inside information that they could trade on.
Insider trading laws apply to all Americans, but CBS' "60 Minutes" in November said members of Congress get a pass, citing investment transactions by party leaders and a committee chairman in businesses about to be affected by pending legislation.
The broadcast report raised questions about trades of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; the husband of Democratic leader and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California; and Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
All three denied using any insider information to make stock trades, but the broadcast set off a flurry of efforts in Washington to deal with the public perception.
A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of registered voters found 56 percent of them favor replacing the entire 535-member Congress. Other polls this year have given Congress an approval rating between 11 percent and 13 percent, while disapproval percentages have ranged from 79 percent to 86 percent.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he's working on an expanded bill that would go beyond stock transactions and ban lawmakers from making land deals and other investments based on what they learned as members of Congress.
The Senate version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act would subject any member of Congress who violates the ban on insider trading to investigation and prosecution by regulatory agencies and the Justice Department. It also directs the House and Senate ethics committees to write rules that would make violators subject to additional congressional penalties.
"We can start restoring some of the faith that's been lost in our government by taking this common sense step of making members of Congress play by the exact same rules as everyone else," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who with Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., wrote the bill "We must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal."
President Barack Obama endorsed the bill in in State of the Union speech last week, saying he would "sign it tomorrow." Brown used that opening to briefly speak with the president as he was exiting the House chamber after Tuesday's address.
"The insider trading bill's on Harry's desk right now," Brown told Obama, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Tell him to get it out, it's already there."
"I'm gonna tell him," answered Obama. "I'm gonna tell him, I'm gonna tell him to get it done."
Obama raised the issue again in his radio and Internet address on Saturday.
"The House and Senate should send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress, and I will sign it immediately. They should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact," he said.
Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leaves Maximos Mansion after a meeting with Greek Prime minister Lucas Papademos, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leave Maximos Mansion after a meeting Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Charles Dallara managing director of the Institute of International Finance arrives at Maximos Mansion for a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Greece and its private investors are close to a deal that will significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed ?130 billion bailout.
Negotiators for the investors announced the tentative agreement Saturday and said it could become final next week.
Under the agreement, the investors would take a hit of more than 60 percent on the ?206 billion of Greek debt they own.
Here's how it would work: private investors would receive new bonds whose face value is half of the existing bonds. The new bonds would have a longer maturity and pay an average interest rate of slightly less than 4 percent (compared with an estimated 5 percent on the existing bonds).
Without the deal, which would reduce Greece's debt load by at least ?120 billion, the private investors' bonds would likely become worthless. Many of these investors also hold debt from other eurozone countries, which could also lose value in the event of a Greek default.
The agreement taking shape is a key step before Greece can get a second, ?130 billion bailout from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund, although there are other issues involved before Greece can get that aid. This would be Greece's second bailout. The EU and the IMF signed off on a ?110 billion aid package for Greece in May 2010, most of which has already been disbursed.
Greece faces a ?14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, which it cannot afford without additional help.
Private investors hold roughly two-thirds of Greece's debt, which has reached an unsustainable level ? nearly 200 percent of the country's economic output. By restructuring the debt held by private investors, Greece and its EU partners are hoping to bring that ratio closer to 120 percent by the end of this decade.
In return for the first bailout, Greece's public creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? have unprecedented powers over Greek spending. However, austerity alone will not fix Greece's problem. The country must also find ways boost its economic output, which at the moment is shrinking.
If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's ? and possibly the world's ? financial markets. It could even lead Greece to withdraw from the euro.
The banks, insurance companies and other private holders of Greek bonds are being represented by Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of the French bank BNP Paribas.
The main creditor negotiators will leave Greece on Sunday and will remain in close consultation with Greek and other authorities.
___
Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed.
New York ? The New York Times delivers another expos? on Apple's Chinese manufacturing practices, focusing on the human costs behind iPhones and iPads. Backlash, anyone?
A day after Apple reported jaw-dropping quarterly profits, The New York Times ran a front-page follow-up to its blockbuster story on why Apple and its tech rivals make their gadgets and gizmos in China. The new story focuses on the "punishing" conditions at the Chinese factories that assemble and make the parts for iPhones and iPads ? everything from grueling seven-day-a-week shifts to worker suicides. Apple audits its suppliers each year, and was first to report many of the abuses at Foxconn and other plants. But "we've known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they're still going on," a former Apple executive tells The Times. "Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn't have another choice." Apple CEO Tim Cook calls the article's insinuations "patently false and offensive." Will Apple's customers agree?
It's time to boycott Apple: Thanks to The Times, you now know that "23 people died to build your iPhone or iPad and 273 were injured," says Peter Cohan at?Forbes. Apple apparently doesn't care about these Chinese workers. The company only cares about the impact these needless deaths "could have on its image among those self-congratulating customers" who pay "such a high premium for the privilege of owning an Apple product." We must "boycott Apple to stop the carnage." "23 died building your iWorld: Time to boycott Apple?"
I don't see people clamoring for costlier iPhones:?Sometimes, customers do demand more humane factory conditions,?says Sam Gustin at?TIME. Remember the "campaign several years ago to pressure Nike to improve working conditions in its factories"? Still, I don't see the same happening for Apple.?Are Americans really willing to demand better working conditions in China if it means more expensive iProducts and hot new models rolled out at a slower rate? "Seems unlikely." "Should Americans care about Apple's iPhone-factory conditions?"
This is about much more than Apple:?Every tech company uses the same Chinese factories,?says Larry Dignan at?ZDNet. So Apple "has every right to be miffed about the Times report."?It's "being singled out," probably because as "the big dog on the tech block," it makes for a better story. But it's not even just a tech industry problem: "Everything you own comes from a supply chain that probably has multiple things you just don't want to know about." If we're not willing to stop consuming, we should at least admit this "this flap about worker safety isn't about Apple.... It's about us." "Apple's supply chain flap: It's really about us"
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James Francohit the Glendale, Calif. set of Lovelace on Thursday. The handsome, quirky actor, 33, was utterly transformed to film his cameo as none other than Hugh Hefner -- morphing into a younger version of the Playboy founder, 85.
PHOTOS: Celeb lookalikes
The normally hipster casual actor, artist and student wore Hefner's iconic red moking jacket and white scarf, with his hair in a 60s/70s style pompadour.
StarringAmanda Seyfriedas porn star Linda Lovelace, the film made a last-minute casting switch this week: Mary-Louise Parker is replacing the ailing Demi Moore in the role of Gloria Steinem, a source confirmed to Us Weekly exclusively.
PHOTOS: Hugh's brutal breakup
Tell Us: How does Franco look as Hefner?
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>>here in new
york
the son of the city's police commissioner, a
local tv
anchorman has been accused of raping a woman. jonathan deanst has the latest on that.
>> reporter: prosecutors in new
york haven
't filed
criminal charges
but the investigation is ongoing. they are taking a hard look at whether there is evidence to back up the claim that a night out drinking with a new
york
anchorman ended in some sort of
forced sex
attack. he's a popular anchor, a one-time
fox news channel
war correspondent.
>>we'll be here for a while.
>> reporter: and the son of
nypd commissionerray kelly
. now
greg kelly
is off the air, dealing with what could be the toughest story of his life -- a rape allegation.
kelly
denies the charges. we know the district attorney's investigation will prove mr.
kelly
's innocence, his lawyer says.
>>a nightmare scenario.
>> reporter: this week the woman went to the 13th precinct to file her rape claim against
kelly
. she claims in october she met him on the street and they went out drinking at a downtown bar. she said
kelly
went back to her empty law offices and it was there, she claims, the sex assault occurred. sources close to the investigation say there are text messages after that night between the woman and
kelly
. legal experts say that could raise questions about credibility.
>>there was communication after the fact. she apparently, according to her own words, blacked out, so she really doesn't know what happened that night. i can't imagine the d.a. wanting or being able to do anything with this case.
>> reporter: the new
york
d.a. is heading up the investigation just months after handling the dominique strauss-kahn case where charges of criminal
sex abuse
fell apart amid questions about the woman's credibility. in the
kelly
case the woman's boyfriend confronted the
nypd commissioner
at a public event. a police spokesman said greg had, quote, ruined my girlfriend's life but never mentioned an alleged incident. commissioner
kelly
suggested the man write him a letter. it is not clear if it was sent. when the woman went to police the case was immediately moved to the d.a.'s office. new
york
mayor michael blumberg approved the decision.
>>you don't want the appearance of a conflict of interest when you would have with the son of a commissioner.
>> reporter: as for
kelly
his lawyer is providing information to prosecutors. unclear if or when the news anchor will go in to clear up questions prosecutors may have. lots of questions still swirling about the case. back to you.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? Women who consumed a diet high in animal fat and cholesterol before pregnancy were at higher risk for gestational diabetes than women whose diets were lower in animal fat and cholesterol, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University.
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes seen during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes increases the risk for certain pregnancy complications and health problems in the newborn.
Women whose diets were high in total fat or other kinds of fats -- but not in animal fat or cholesterol -- did not have an increased risk.
Moreover, the increased risk for gestational diabetes seen with animal fat and cholesterol appeared to be independent of other, dietary and non-dietary, risk factors for gestational diabetes. For example, exercise is known to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes. Among women who exercised, however, those who consumed higher amounts of animal fat and cholesterol had a higher risk than those whose diets were lower in these types of fat.
"Our findings indicate that women who reduce the proportion of animal fat and cholesterol in their diets before pregnancy may lower their risk for gestational diabetes during pregnancy," said senior author Cuilin Zhang, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Epidemiology Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of three NIH institutes supporting the study.
The researchers concluded that changing the source of 5 percent of dietary calories from animal fat to plant-derived sources could decrease a woman's risk for gestational diabetes by 7 percent.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture website, ChooseMyPlate.gov, contains information on healthy eating for children and adults, as well as health and nutrition information for pregnant and breast feeding women.
First author Katherine Bowers, Ph.D., conducted the research with NICHD colleagues Dr. Zhang and Edwina Yeung, Ph.D., and with Deirdre K. Tobias and Frank B. Hu, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., of Harvard University, in Boston.
Their findings appear online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The research was also funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The researchers utilized information from more than 13,000 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. The women were 22 to 45 years old when they enrolled in the study. Every two years they responded to questions on their general health, pregnancy status, and lifestyle habits, such as consuming alcohol or smoking. In addition, every four years they completed a comprehensive survey about the kinds of food and drink they consumed.
About 6 percent of the participants reported having been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The researchers calculated the amount of animal fat in participants' diets as a percentage of total calories and divided participants into five groups, or quintiles, based on those percentages. Then the researchers compared the risk for developing gestational diabetes for each group. Women in the highest quintile of intake had almost double the risk for gestational diabetes compared to women in the lowest quintile.
They also observed that women in the highest quintile for cholesterol consumption were 45 percent more likely to develop gestational diabetes than were women in the lowest quintile.
"This is the largest study to date of the effects of a pre-pregnancy diet on gestational diabetes," Dr. Bowers said. "Additional research may lead to increased understanding of how a mother's diet before and during pregnancy influences her metabolism during pregnancy, which may have important implications for the baby's health at birth and later in life."
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Journal Reference:
K. Bowers, D. K. Tobias, E. Yeung, F. B. Hu, C. Zhang. A prospective study of prepregnancy dietary fat intake and risk of gestational diabetes. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012; 95 (2): 446 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.111.026294
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.
NEW YORK ? A judge gave federal prosecutors until a week from Wednesday to give up the name of a witness they say was recruited for a chilling, al-Qaida-sanctioned plot for suicide bombers to attack the New York City subways with explosives made from beauty supplies.
Lawyers for alleged plotter Adis Madunjanin had demanded to know the identity of the man, referred to only as John Doe in court papers, before Madunjanin goes to trial later this year.
At a pretrial hearing on in Brooklyn federal court in Wednesday, prosecutors initially resisted identifying the government witness ? "Mr. John Doe" one called him ? citing concerns about his safety. But U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie said Madunjanin's lawyers had a right to know the name.
"They have to prepare a defense," the judge said.
However, the judge also agreed to allow the government to provide the name under a protective order barring the defense from disclosing it to the public.
In a revised indictment filed last week in Brooklyn, Medunjanin was hit with a new allegation that he ? along with former high school classmates from Queens, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay ? tried to recruit John Doe to travel to Pakistan "to wage violent jihad."
It was the first time the government had linked a fourth person in the U.S. for what prosecutors call three "coordinated suicide bombing attacks" on Manhattan subway lines.
Medunjanin, 27, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the new indictment, which added a charge of use of a destructive device. He had previously pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, providing material support to a terrorist organization and other counts.
Prosecutors allege that Medunjanin, Zazi and Ahmedzay tried to recruit the fourth man before the three went to Afghanistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. soldiers. The three fell under tutelage of al-Qaida operatives, who gave them weapons training in their Pakistan camp and asked them to become suicide bombers, authorities say.
The new indictment doesn't say what became of the fourth man.
After returning, Zazi, a former Denver airport shuttle driver, cooked up explosives with beauty supplies and set out for New York City around the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. After becoming suspicious he was being watched by law enforcement, he abandoned the plan and returned to Colorado.
Zazi and Ahmedzay have since admitted in guilty pleas that they wanted to avenge U.S. aggression in the Arab world by becoming martyrs. Both could testify against Medunjanin at a trial expected to begin in mid-April.
TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- After studying data on more than 3,700 pairs of identical twins, researchers from Northwestern University found that low birth weight was associated with more than triple the risk for autism spectrum disorder among twins in which autism only affected one of the children.
"That only one twin is affected by ASD [autism spectrum disorder] in some identical twin pairs suggests that environmental factors may play a role either independently or in interaction with autism risk genes," study author Molly Losh, director of Northwestern's Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Laboratory, said in a university news release.
"Our study of discordant twins -- twin pairs in which only one twin was affected by ASD -- found birth weight to be a very strong predictor of autism spectrum disorder," she added.
The study, which was released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Psychological Medicine, used data from the Swedish Twin Registry's Child and Adolescent Twin Study.
In analyzing twins in which one baby was more than 14 ounces, or at least 15 percent heavier at birth than the other, the researchers found the risk for autism rose 13 percent for every 3.5 ounce drop in birth weight.
The study results suggested that birth weight could play a role in the complex causes of autism by interacting with a child's underlying genetic predisposition, or likelihood, of developing the condition, the researchers said.
Losh added that because autism is a developmental disorder involving early brain development, prenatal and perinatal environmental factors, such as birth weight, may be especially important.
The researchers noted, however, their findings may not apply to children who are not part of a multiple-birth pregnancy.
While the study found an association between birth weight and autism risk, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about autism.
COMMENTARY | Republicans have three winners in the first three primary states -- Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Reuters reports Rick Santorum won in Iowa, Mitt Romney was the clear front-runner in New Hampshire and Newt Gingrich won South Carolina with 40 percent of the vote. Romney is set to release his income tax returns in response to criticism that may have cost him a huge lead in South Carolina. A victory in the Palmetto State may have helped Romney win the overall GOP nomination.
The Democratic candidate is running unopposed. President Barack Obama hasn't had to spend money on expensive advertising. He hasn't had to take tours across entire states or even pay money for traveling. The Washington Post reported in early April that Obama declared his candidacy ahead of any of his rivals. He launched his re-election campaign on April 3.
Meanwhile, eight Republican candidates have been whittled down to four after nearly two months of non-stop campaigning. Debates have been aired since the late spring and GOP voters seem to be undecided as to who can best beat Obama.
In the end, once the nominee is selected for the Republicans, it may not even matter who is chosen. The Republican nomination process may continue into May or June. Super Tuesday isn't until early March, another six weeks from now. Some primary and caucuses run into June.
The longer the GOP nominating process goes, candidates will have to spend money against each other instead of someone in the opposing party in the general election. Meanwhile, Obama's war chest simply keeps getting bigger.
Republicans in 2008 at least had the benefit of the same process happening on the Democratic side. CNN reported Hillary Clinton and Obama, both Senators at the time, had back-and-forth primary victories through the whole spring.
Hampering the Republicans is that history isn't on their side. The last time someone won the White House without being involved in politics at the time was Ronald Reagan. He hadn't been in office since the mid-1970s in California when he ran for president on the Republican ticket in 1980. In the race now is a former governor, former Speaker of the House, former Senator and current Representative from Texas. Rep. Ron Paul is the only one of the four remaining mainstream candidates who hasn't won a state yet.
The only good news is that the 2012 election may be eerily similar to 1980. Reagan ran against incumbent Jimmy Carter when the economy wasn't the best, foreign policy was muddled by the Iran hostage crisis and Carter's policies weren't popular.
The only way the GOP will win back the White House is if the 1980 election happens all over again. Otherwise, four more years of Obama is guaranteed.
An enzyme designed by players of the protein-folding game Foldit was better than anything scientists could come up with.Image: Foldit
Obsessive gamers' hours at the computer have now topped scientists' efforts to improve a model enzyme, in what researchers say is the first crowdsourced redesign of a protein.
The online game Foldit, developed by teams led by Zoran Popovic, director of the Center for Game Science, and?biochemist David Baker, both?at the University of Washington in Seattle, allows players to fiddle at folding proteins on their home computers in search of the best-scoring (lowest-energy) configurations.
The researchers have previously reported successes by Foldit players in folding proteins, but the latest work moves into the realm of protein design, a more open-ended problem. By posing a series of puzzles to Foldit players and then testing variations on the players' best designs in the lab, researchers have created an enzyme with more than?18-fold higher activity than the original. The work was published January 22 in?Nature Biotechnology.
"I worked for two years to make these enzymes better and I couldn't do it," says Justin Siegel, a post-doctoral researcher working in biophysics?in Baker's group. "Foldit players were able to make a large jump in structural space and I still don't fully understand how they did it."
The project has progressed from volunteers donating their computers' spare processing power for protein-structure research, to actively predicting protein structures, and now to designing new proteins. The game has 240,000 registered players, 2,200 of whom were active last week.
The latest effort involved an enzyme that catalyses one of a family of workhorse reactions in synthetic chemistry called Diels-Alder reactions. Members of this huge family of reactions are used throughout industry to synthesize everything from drugs to pesticides, but enzymes that catalyze Diels-Alder reactions have been elusive. In 2010, Baker and his team?reported that they had designed a functional Diels?Alderase computationally from scratch3, but, says Baker, "it wasn't such a good enzyme".?The binding pocket for the pair of reactants was too open and activity was low. After their attempts to improve the enzyme plateaued, the team turned to Foldit.
In one puzzle, the researchers asked users to remodel one of four amino-acid loops on the enzyme to increase contact with the reactants.?In another puzzle, players were asked for a design that would stabilize the new loop. The researchers got back nearly 70,000 designs for the first puzzle and 110,000 for the second, then synthesized a number of test enzymes based on the best designs, ultimately resulting in the final, 18-fold-more-active enzyme.
Science by intuition
"It's a refreshing twist on enzyme engineering," says Stefan Lutz, a chemist?at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who was not involved in the research. "Using the Foldit players allows the researchers to use human intuition at a scale that is unprecedented."
Foldit allows people to explore more drastic changes to the protein than are possible using standard methods such as directed evolution ? in which a large pool of randomly mutated enzymes is screened for mutants that improve the original. These mutations are typically just amino-acid substitutions, not the 13-amino-acid addition the players came up with. Systematically testing a change of that size?would require testing astronomical numbers of proteins.
SUNY Downstate receives grant from research to prevent blindness Public release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ron Najman ron.najman@downstate.edu 718-270-2696 SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Campus eye research grows to more than $6 million in 5 years
Capping SUNY Downstate Medical Center's growth into a major center for eye research, Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) has awarded SUNY Downstate a four-year challenge grant of $220,000 to spur the development of advanced research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding diseases. Douglas R. Lazzaro, MD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, is the principal investigator. RPB is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research.
"This award from RPB is a major milestone in the development of an ophthalmology research nucleus at SUNY Downstate," said Dr. Lazzaro. SUNY Downstate is now one of 52 institutions receiving this recognition from RPB, which, since its founding in 1960, has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States. In the last five years, Downstate has attracted $6.2 million in eye research funding from various sources.
Dr. Lazzaro's team includes William J. Brunken, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology and director of ophthalmic research, who is studying the role of the extracellular matrix in retinal development and disease; and John Danias, MD, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology, who is elucidating the molecular basis of glaucoma and evaluating potential new treatment strategies.
In addition, another member of the team, Brahim Chaqour, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and ophthalmology at Downstate, has been awarded a National Eye Institute grant for research on neovascularization in the retina. Jacob Aranda, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and ophthalmology and director of neonatology, was awarded a major grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to establish a pediatric pharmacology center focused on research to prevent retinopathy of prematurity.
Dr. Lazzaro and Dr. Brunken have also received an Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) fellowship grant for development of a posterior corneal prosthesis, in collaboration with the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. Dr. Lazzaro noted, "That SUNY Downstate has gone from virtually zero funding in eye research to more than six million in five years is a tribute to the dedication of the entire eye team here at Downstate."
###
SUNY Downstate's eye research includes projects within the SUNY Eye Institute and SUNY REACH, both collaborative efforts involving the four SUNY academic medical centers and the College of Optometry. Last year, SUNY REACH received $4.3 million for two NIH grants, both of whose lead investigators are based at Downstate. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders, and the RPB Grants Program, please visit http://www.rpbusa.org.
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient's bedside. A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing and Health Related Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, University Hospital of Brooklyn, and an Advanced Biotechnology Park and Biotechnology Incubator.
SUNY Downstate ranks ninth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.
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SUNY Downstate receives grant from research to prevent blindness Public release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ron Najman ron.najman@downstate.edu 718-270-2696 SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Campus eye research grows to more than $6 million in 5 years
Capping SUNY Downstate Medical Center's growth into a major center for eye research, Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) has awarded SUNY Downstate a four-year challenge grant of $220,000 to spur the development of advanced research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding diseases. Douglas R. Lazzaro, MD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, is the principal investigator. RPB is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research.
"This award from RPB is a major milestone in the development of an ophthalmology research nucleus at SUNY Downstate," said Dr. Lazzaro. SUNY Downstate is now one of 52 institutions receiving this recognition from RPB, which, since its founding in 1960, has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States. In the last five years, Downstate has attracted $6.2 million in eye research funding from various sources.
Dr. Lazzaro's team includes William J. Brunken, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology and director of ophthalmic research, who is studying the role of the extracellular matrix in retinal development and disease; and John Danias, MD, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology, who is elucidating the molecular basis of glaucoma and evaluating potential new treatment strategies.
In addition, another member of the team, Brahim Chaqour, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and ophthalmology at Downstate, has been awarded a National Eye Institute grant for research on neovascularization in the retina. Jacob Aranda, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and ophthalmology and director of neonatology, was awarded a major grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to establish a pediatric pharmacology center focused on research to prevent retinopathy of prematurity.
Dr. Lazzaro and Dr. Brunken have also received an Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) fellowship grant for development of a posterior corneal prosthesis, in collaboration with the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. Dr. Lazzaro noted, "That SUNY Downstate has gone from virtually zero funding in eye research to more than six million in five years is a tribute to the dedication of the entire eye team here at Downstate."
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SUNY Downstate's eye research includes projects within the SUNY Eye Institute and SUNY REACH, both collaborative efforts involving the four SUNY academic medical centers and the College of Optometry. Last year, SUNY REACH received $4.3 million for two NIH grants, both of whose lead investigators are based at Downstate. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders, and the RPB Grants Program, please visit http://www.rpbusa.org.
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient's bedside. A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing and Health Related Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, University Hospital of Brooklyn, and an Advanced Biotechnology Park and Biotechnology Incubator.
SUNY Downstate ranks ninth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.
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MELBOURNE, Australia ? Down four match points and hobbling on her injured left ankle, defending champion Kim Clijsters somehow rallied for a dramatic 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over Li Na at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Clijsters was in pain from the ankle she twisted in the seventh game. Li was just a bundle of nerves. The French Open champion failed to serve out the fourth-round match at 5-4 in the second set, but then led 6-2 in the tiebreaker. Again Clijsters refused to yield.
"I said in my mind, keep fighting," Clijsters said. "You never know what happens on the other side of the court."
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer stayed on course for a semifinal meeting in matches either side of Clijsters's win at Rod Laver Arena. Federer ended the run of Australian teenager Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, while Nadal won in straight sets too, beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic were playing later Sunday, with the winner to face Clijsters.
Li's best chance to win the match ? and gain revenge for her three-set loss to Clijsters in last year's final ? came on her fourth match point.
Clijsters played a poor drop shot, giving her opponent the chance to put the ball into the open court. Instead, Li tentatively hit the ball almost straight back to Clijsters, who sent up a perfect lob that dropped just inside the baseline.
"Of course I was nervous," Li said. "If you're nervous, you could not think too much, right?"
Clijsters won six straight points to take the tiebreaker and the first four games of the deciding set.
"I'm not saying that that forehand drop shot was a good choice, but you make decisions. Luckily, that one turned out OK," Clijsters said. "I think she was a little bit lost or maybe a little bit confused at that time."
Clijsters then overcame a wobble of her own, losing her serve at 5-2 in the third set, before finally closing out the fourth-round match on her second match point.
Li broke down in tears at the end of her post-match news conference.
"Maybe 6-2 up in the tiebreak I was a little bit shocking," she said.
Clijsters was hurt in the first set while serving at 3-all and 30-all. As she hit a forehand, her left foot got stuck on the surface and the ankle twisted awkwardly.
She got up to finish the point but then immediately called for the trainer and had the injury strapped.
Clijsters' movement was clearly slowed when she resumed but, playing in her last Australian Open before quitting tennis at the end of the season, she said she didn't want to bow out in Melbourne with a retirement.
"I knew if I could just try to let the medication sink in or if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it."
The injury seemed to affect Li just as much. The 29-year-old, who won last year's French Open to become the first player from China to win a Grand Slam singles title, looked increasingly stressed as the match progressed.
After 2 hours, 23 minutes, she netted a backhand to put Clijsters through to the quarterfinals. The Belgian said she was hopeful her ankle would hold up after ice treatment.
Federer hasn't lost to a teenager since 2006 and that run continued Sunday as he disappointed the home crowd with a comprehensive win over the 19-year-old Tomic.
Tomic had beaten seeded players Fernando Verdasco and Alexandr Dolgopolov in earlier rounds, but Federer was a step-up in class. The 16-time Grand Slam champion broke six times as he set up a quarterfinal against 11th-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
"I thought I played a really good match," said Federer, through to his 31st straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. "I knew I had to. Anything else wouldn't have done the job tonight."
Nadal was almost as convincing in his win over Lopez. The 2009 champion had his right knee heavily strapped and had his left ankle taped after three games of the first set but afterward said he was "fine."
Nadal plays Tomas Berdych next, hoping to avoid a third straight quarterfinal loss in Melbourne. Defending the title in 2010, the Spaniard retired with a knee injury against Andy Murray. A year ago, he was hampered by a hamstring problem in a straight-sets loss to David Ferrer.
"Hopefully not happen this time," Nadal said. "I had a bad experience last two years here. It's tough have to go out of a tournament like Australia in quarterfinals."
Berdych beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2). Former U.S. Open champion Del Potro easily defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
Victoria Azarenka was the first player to reach the quarterfinals when she beat Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2. The third-seeded Belarusian is yet to drop a set at the tournament and will next meet eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
With the win, 22-year-old Azarenka stayed in the hunt for the No. 1 ranking. Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova can also claim the top spot from Wozniacki.
"I would be a liar if I said I didn't care about it," Azarenka said.
Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Australia's Bernard Tomic makes a forehand return to Switzerland's Roger Federer during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Roger Federer of Switzerland chases down a ball as he plays Australia's Bernard Tomic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)
Australia's Bernard Tomic makes a forehand return to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? Roger Federer put on a tennis clinic against Bernard Tomic, using deft drops, lobs, booming backhands and 13 aces to beat the 19-year-old Australian 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the eighth straight year.
Tomic came into the match following an upset third-round win over 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, using slices and a variety of offbeat shots from the back of the court to beat the Ukrainian player.
But four-time Australian champion Federer was having none of that on Sunday night before a packed house of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena. He stepped up his game when he needed to, breaking the Australian at 4-4 in the opening set and again to open the third.
BALTIMORE (Reuters) ? Republicans in the House of Representatives, having seen their 2010 election victory dissolve into a near-suicidal tax fight, are promoting a repackaged jobs message they hope carries them to victory in the 2012 elections.
At a three-day retreat at a harborfront hotel in Baltimore, an hour's drive from Washington, House Speaker John Boehner mobilized prayer sessions, motivational speakers, spin doctors and even colorful New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to cheer up his 242-member House Republican conference.
House Republicans were ebullient when they gathered last year for their annual retreat after wresting control of the House from Democrats in elections a few months earlier. Twelve months later, the party faces a tough fight to hold those gains.
Polls show that Americans blame Republicans more than Democrats for the gridlock in Congress that has paralyzed decision-making on some of the toughest problems facing the country - job creation and dangerously high deficits.
By the time the retreat wrapped up on Saturday after gripe sessions, policy discussions and lectures on tactics and messaging, House Republicans may not have figured out how they will handle those problems, but Boehner proclaimed to reporters that in 2012, "our focus will be on the economy and jobs."
With a national jobless rate of 8.5 percent and millions of long-term unemployed people losing hope, Republicans and Democrats will both try to convince voters in the November presidential and congressional elections that they hold the keys to an improving economy.
President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats want to position themselves as protectors of the poor and middle class and a bulwark against Republicans who want to enrich the already rich.
Republicans counter that a free-spending president who racked up about $5 trillion in government debt wants nothing more than to overregulate job-creating companies and drive the country into the same economic ditch into which Europe is peering.
Emerging from the retreat, House Republicans plan to tout the 30 pieces of legislation they passed last year aimed at spurring job growth. While it is unclear how many jobs those bills would have actually created, Republicans will complain the measures were killed by an uncooperative Democratic majority in the Senate.
'PARTY OF SMALL BUSINESS'
The strategy is clear -- to rebut Obama's concerted efforts to paint Republicans as obstructionist for refusing to pass his own $447 billion jobs bill.
The 30 jobs bills will become a staple of the Republican election rhetoric, but that could open the party to the same accusations they level against Obama - that they are simply rehashing old ideas instead of proposing new ones.
"We must be the party of small business," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, urged fellow lawmakers at the retreat, which was held behind closed doors.
"If you say it once an hour, it's not enough, if you say it every 15 minutes, it's still not enough," Cantor said.
Both parties cast themselves as the champions of small businesses, which economists say are the engines of U.S. economic growth and job creation.
Cantor, who has courted the often rebellious 85 first-term or "freshmen" congressmen, many of them small-government Tea Party activists, acknowledged their disappointment with the slow pace of change in Washington.
Reflecting on his party's year in control of the House - which ended with the U.S. budget being about the same size as when Republicans took power - Cantor told the rank and file, "We learned this year that progress must be more incremental than some of us would have liked."
FOOTBALL AND POLLSTERS
To rally his troops, Boehner recruited former Washington Redskins football coach Joe Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl winner now involved in NASCAR auto racing, to deliver a pep talk.
"He talked about football and NASCAR and about his life. His message was about the value of teamwork. That is what we are all about, teamwork," said first-term Representative Chuck Fleischmann.
Teamwork is something Boehner's fractious caucus has struggled with since Republicans won control of the House in 2010. Zealous freshmen aligned with the conservative Tea Party movement repeatedly frustrated the speaker's efforts to negotiate compromises with Democrats, raising questions from some about his effectiveness as a leader.
In Baltimore, some of the second-guessing about Boehner's decision-making continued, according to lawmakers who attended, but there was no overall discontent with his leadership.
So if the Republican message to voters this year is all about small business and job creation, the internal Republican message is party unity, something the party lacked in 2011.
"Every (Republican) leader ... talked about unity and working together, communicating to each other better. Unity, unity, unity," said Representative Lee Terry, a 14-year veteran.
The opposite of Republican unity was on display in the U.S. Capitol through much of last year, especially in November and December, as Obama and his Democrats pushed ahead with an extension of a tax cut for 160 million workers to help stimulate the economy.
It was a tax cut that Republicans were cool toward - partly because it was Obama's idea and partly because they had doubts about its effectiveness.
But as workers embraced having more money in their paychecks and economists warned against letting the year-old tax cut lapse, House Republicans fought with one another, first over whether to kill the tax cut and then over how to quell outrage from even the most conservative quarters that their delaying tactics would help re-elect Obama and give congressional Democrats a political boost in November.
Terry, a Nebraska lawyer who has been known to reach across the political aisle to get legislation moving, told reporters: "We've got to get on the same page here. We can't have what happened in December."
Former Republican Party Chairman Ed Gillespie delivered a simple message: "It's a tough year. You have to be ready."
Most political pundits think Democrats face an uphill battle
in November's elections to gain the 25 seats they need to return Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to the House speaker's job. But Democrats are hoping to get within reach.
Pelosi, who grew up just blocks from where the Republican retreat was held and whose father was mayor of Baltimore, likely will likely do everything she can to poke holes in the new-found unity that Republicans say they forged in this blue-collar city.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and David Lawder; Editing by Ross Colvin and Peter Cooney)
Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick's son Mason Disick turned 2 on December 14, and for his big day, his city-slickin' family took things to the Wild Wild West.
PHOTOS: See Mason Disick's baby album
Proud grandparents Kris and Bruce Jenner pulled out all the stops for their grandson's fete and hosted a cowboy-themed birthday party at their Hidden Hills, Calif. home complete with a petting zoo, pony rides and an arts and crafts table.
PHOTOS: Mason and more of 2011's cutest tots
Mom Kourtney, 32, who's pregnant with her and boyfriend Scott's second child, helped her first-born son blow out the two candles on his 10 gallon hat birthday cake.
PHOTOS: Star kids' lavish birthday parties
Also in attendance: Mason's aunts Kendall, 16, and Kylie Jenner, 14, and uncle Rob Kardashian, 24.
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The winner of this week's Android Central photo contest is Travis Detweiler with his picture of sunrise over Tampa Bay. Taken with his HTC EVO 3D while heading out into the gulf to catch a few Amberjack and Grouper. Travis says he didn't use any particular camera app or effects, just the camera as-is on his 3VO. He captured the theme and framed the perfect shot. Congrats, Travis!
We had well over a thousand entries, and while it took a while to look through them all it was quite enjoyable -- you guys and gals can take some awesome pictures. We've collected the 10 runners-up for you to enjoy as well, hit the break to see them. Don't forget, we're starting up a new round tomorrow, so keep an eye out.
CAMP PENDLETON, California (Reuters) ? The court-martial of a Marine sergeant accused of leading a 2005 massacre of civilians in Haditha, Iraq, has been halted as prosecutors and defense attorneys apparently tried to negotiate a possible plea deal.
The trial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 31, was first halted on Wednesday afternoon by the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, who instructed defense lawyers and the government to negotiate with one another.
The trial was scheduled to resume on Thursday morning, but Jones again postponed the proceedings.
Prosecutors and defense did not respond to requests by Reuters for comment, and a U.S. Marine spokesman at Camp Pendleton said he had no information about a possible plea deal.
Wuterich, 31, is charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, and dereliction of duty stemming from the November 19, 2005, death of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was then an insurgent hotbed.
That incident was portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a "massacre" of unarmed civilians, and brought international condemnation on U.S. troops.
Local witnesses claimed angry Marines killed two dozen men, women and children after a popular comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Wuterich pleaded not guilty when the trial began in early January.
"Everyone visualizes me as a monster, a baby killer, cold blooded," Wuterich told CBS' 60 Minutes in a 2008 interview. "That's not accurate and neither is the story that most of them know about this incident."
Wuterich initially faced murder charges.
Six out of the eight Marines originally charged in the case had their charges dismissed by military judges, and another was cleared.
Wuterich, the accused ring-leader, is the last of the group to face court proceedings.
(Additional reporting and writing by Mary Slosson, Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Dan Burns)
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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