preschooler scatological: May 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Foot healed, Blanka Vlasic will return at NY meet

At the height of her success, high jumper Blanka Vlasic had to relearn how to leap.

There was really no other choice for the 29-year-old Croatian. A fragment of a bone in her left ankle broke off and embedded into her Achilles, requiring surgery to shave part of the tendon on her takeoff foot.

That was 16 months ago. Since then, she contracted a serious bacterial infection in her foot, missed the London Olympics where she would've been a favorite and spent many a grueling training session figuring out how to jump again off her repaired ankle, wondering if she would ever recover enough to be among the world's best.

On the mend, Vlasic returns to competition next week at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York, her first meet in nearly two years. Already, the jitters are building for the two-time world champion.

"To go out there and put on the spikes, to jump in front of a crowd? I just can't wait," Vlasic said in a phone interview from Croatia. "I can't wait to feel that pre-competition nervousness, the positive excitement, to be the part of that circuit again.

"I don't want to expect anything. But I still have my hopes."

There was a time when Vlasic was inching closer and closer to the world record of Stefka Kostadinova, a mark the Bulgarian has held for more than 25 years. At a meet in 2009, Vlasic cleared 6 feet, 9 3/4 inches, the best mark ever by someone other than Kostadinova, whose record stands at 6-10 1/4.

These days, Vlasic's nowhere near that form. Not yet anyway.

"I don't know if I'll be myself again," she said. "I cannot tell you how high I can go. I believe I will be able to jump as high as I used to. But I'm not obsessed over it. I can't think too much about height."

Instead, she's simply relishing her return, vowing to appreciate each step along the way.

"The worries I had before this were nothing," she said. "Why worry about centimeters or losing? I didn't have any right to be disappointed when I was healthy and had the opportunity to do what I like. It's sad that people understand that only when something happens and you don't have your abilities to do what you do best, what is your life calling."

After her surgery on Jan. 30, 2012, Vlasic had some setbacks that had her questioning if she would clear another bar. Like when she woke up one day in April 2012 and her foot was completely swollen. At first, she thought maybe she had pushed her recovery too far.

Turns out, one of her stitches didn't heal properly and became infected, she said.

Like that, she was sidelined again.

And like that, any realistic chance of being ready for the London Olympics was gone.

"I had some really dark moments," said Vlasic, who was on antibiotics for three months to clear the infection. "But what kept me going is the feeling that there was still something for me in high jumping. There was still something out there I didn't do that I still have to do. What was that? I didn't know.

"But I didn't feel in my soul that I was finished, that it was over for me."

Watching the London Games last summer was painful, simply because she had a good shot at winding up on the podium had she been healthy.

"For two days, I was in really bad shape," said Vlasic, who finished runner-up at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "But then you accept it and make peace with it. It's not like I was ready and I just wasn't there. No, I wasn't ready. So, from that perspective, you accept it. There will still be other Olympic Games and world championships for me. I believe in that. I have faith in that."

Vlasic returned to high jumping last September. Nothing too ambitious, just a four-step approach to the bar in her training shoes.

From there, she graduated to a six-step approach and eventually to eight steps.

And then she tried jumping in her spikes, which didn't have as much cushion.

"Whole different story," explained Vlasic, who now wears a custom-built pair of spikes by Adidas. "You start to jump and you see how far, far away you are from huge jumps. When I put my spikes on, I was like, 'Am I ever going to run without pain?'"

By the end of November, Vlasic began feeling a little more like her old self, the jumper who everyone else was chasing before her injury.

Still, she really has no goals set for this season. Well, maybe to make it to the world championships in Moscow in August, but that's about the extent of it.

"I expect that this season will be a season of adjustment," she said. "But I feel a huge difference.

This (recovery) pushes you to your limits, to the places you never knew you had in yourself. When you come back from that dark place, you're stronger."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/foot-healed-blanka-vlasic-return-ny-meet-073000392.html

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Saturday, May 4, 2013

Botox finds new wrinkle in brain communication

Friday, May 3, 2013

National Institutes of Health researchers used the popular anti-wrinkle agent Botox to discover a new and important role for a group of molecules that nerve cells use to quickly send messages. This novel role for the molecules, called SNARES, may be a missing piece that scientists have been searching for to fully understand how brain cells communicate under normal and disease conditions.

"The results were very surprising," said Ling-Gang Wu, Ph.D., a scientist at NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "Like many scientists we thought SNAREs were only involved in fusion."

Every day almost 100 billion nerve cells throughout the body send thousands of messages through nearly 100 trillion communication points called synapses. Cell-to-cell communication at synapses controls thoughts, movements, and senses and could provide therapeutic targets for a number of neurological disorders, including epilepsy.

Nerve cells use chemicals, called neurotransmitters, to rapidly send messages at synapses. Like pellets inside shotgun shells, neurotransmitters are stored inside spherical membranes, called synaptic vesicles. Messages are sent when a carrier shell fuses with the nerve cell's own shell, called the plasma membrane, and releases the neurotransmitter "pellets" into the synapse.

SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) are three proteins known to be critical for fusion between carrier shells and nerve cell membranes during neurotransmitter release.

"Without SNAREs there is no synaptic transmission," said Dr. Wu.

Botulinum toxin, or Botox, disrupts SNAREs. In a study published in Cell Reports, Dr. Wu and his colleagues describe how they used Botox and similar toxins as tools to show that SNAREs may also be involved in retrieving message carrier shells from nerve cell membranes immediately after release.

To study this, the researchers used advanced electrical recording techniques to directly monitor in real time carrier shells being fused with and retrieved from nerve cell membranes while the cells sent messages at synapses. The experiments were performed on a unique synapse involved with hearing called the calyx of Held. As expected, treating the synapses with toxins reduced fusion. However Dr. Wu and his colleagues also noticed that the toxins reduced retrieval.

For at least a decade scientists have known that carrier shells have to be retrieved before more messages can be sent. Retrieval occurs in two modes: fast and slow. A different group of molecules are known to control the slow mode.

"Until now most scientists thought fusion and retrieval were two separate processes controlled by different sets of molecules", said Dr. Wu.

Nevertheless several studies suggested that one of the SNARE molecules could be involved with both modes.

In this study, Dr. Wu and his colleagues systematically tested this idea to fully understand retrieval. The results showed that all three SNARE proteins may be involved in both fast and slow retrieval.

"Our results suggest that SNAREs link fusion and retrieval," said Dr. Wu.

The results may have broad implications. SNAREs are commonly used by other cells throughout the body to release chemicals. For example, SNAREs help control the release of insulin from pancreas cells, making them a potential target for diabetes treatments. Recent studies suggest that SNAREs may be involved in neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and spastic ataxia.

"We think SNARES work like this in most nerve cell synapses. This new role could change the way scientists think about how SNAREs are involved in neuronal communication and diseases," said Dr. Wu.

###

Xu J et al. "SNARE proteins synaptobrevin, SNAP-25 and syntaxin are involved in rapid and slow endocytosis at synapses." Cell Reports, May 2, 2013. DOI: 10.1016/j.cellrep.2013.03.010

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: http://www.ninds.nih.gov

Thanks to NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 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.

This press release has been viewed 48 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128118/Botox_finds_new_wrinkle_in_brain_communication

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Friday, May 3, 2013

IBM and the world's tiniest film

IBM has created the world's smallest film. "A Boy and His Atom" features, you guessed it, atoms as the main stars.?

By Associated Press / May 1, 2013

In this undated image taken from video and provided by IBM, carbon monoxide molecules are arranged on the screen to form the IBM logo, in what IBM claims to be the world's tiniest stop-action movie.

IBM/AP Photo

Enlarge

Scientists have taken the idea of a film short down to new levels. Molecular levels.

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IBM says it has made the tiniest stop-motion movie ever ? a one-minute video of individual carbon monoxide molecules repeatedly rearranged to show a boy dancing, throwing a ball and bouncing on a trampoline.

Each frame measures 45 by 25 nanometers ? there are 25 million nanometers in an inch ? but hugely magnified, the movie (included below) is reminiscent of early video games, particularly when the boy bounces the ball off the side of the frame accompanied by simple music and sound effects.

The movie is titled "A Boy and His Atom."

Videos showing atoms in motion have been seen before but Andreas Heinrich, IBM's principal scientist for the project, said Tuesday this is the first time anything so small has been maneuvered to tell a story.

"This movie is a fun way to share the atomic-scale world," Heinrich said. "The reason we made this was not to convey a scientific message directly, but to engage with students, to prompt them to ask questions."

Jamie Panas of Guinness World Records said Guinness certified the movie as "Smallest Stop-Motion Film."

IBM used a remotely operated two-ton scanning tunneling microscope at its lab in San Jose, Calif., to make the movie earlier this year. The microscope magnifies the surface over 100 million times. It operates at 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (268 degrees below zero Celsius).

The cold "makes life simpler for us," Heinrich said. "The atoms hold still. They would move around on their own at room temperature."

Scientists used the microscope to control a tiny, super-sharp needle along a copper surface, IBM said. At a distance of just 1 nanometer, the needle physically attracted the carbon monoxide molecules and pulled them to a precisely specified location on the surface.

The dots that make up the figures in the movie are the oxygen atoms in the molecule, Heinrich said.

The scientists took 242 still images that make up the movie's 242 frames.

Heinrich said the techniques used to make the movie are similar to what IBM is doing to make data storage smaller.

"As data creation and consumption continue to get bigger, data storage needs to get smaller, all the way down to the atomic level," he said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Pr4es0ZnxJA/IBM-and-the-world-s-tiniest-film

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Dual-color lasers could lead to cheap and efficient LED lighting

May 2, 2013 ? A new semiconductor device capable of emitting two distinct colours has been created by a group of researchers in the US, potentially opening up the possibility of using light emitting diodes (LEDs) universally for cheap and efficient lighting.

The proof-of-concept device, which has been presented today, 3 May, in IOP Publishing's journal Semiconductor Science and Technology, takes advantage of the latest nano-scale materials and processes to emit green and red light separated by a wavelength of 97 nanometres -- a significantly larger bandwidth than a traditional semiconductor.

Furthermore, the device is much more energy efficient than traditional LEDs as the colours are emitted as lasers, meaning they emit a very sharp and specific spectral line -- narrower than a fraction of a nanometre -- compared to LEDs which emit colours in a broad bandwidth.

One of the main properties of semiconductors is that they emit light in a certain wavelength range, which has resulted in their widespread use in LEDs. The wavelength range in which a given semiconductor can emit light -- also known as its bandwidth -- is typically limited in the range of just tens of nanometres. For many applications such as lighting and illumination, the wavelength range needs to be over the entire visible spectrum and thus have a bandwidth of 300 nm.

Single semiconductor devices cannot emit across the entire visible spectrum and therefore need to be 'put' together to form a collection that can cover the entire range. This is very expensive and is, to a large extent, the reason why semiconductor LEDs are not yet used universally for lighting..

In this study, the researchers, from Arizona State University, used a process known as chemical vapour deposition to create a 41 micrometer-long nanosheet made from Cadmium Sulphide and Cadmium Selenide powders, using silicon as a substrate.

Lead author of the study, Professor Cun-Zheng Ning, said: "Semiconductors are traditionally 'grown' together layer-by- layer, on an atom-scale, using the so-called epitaxial growth of crystals. Since different semiconductor crystals typically have different lattice constants, layer-by-layer growth of different semiconductors will cause defects, stress, and ultimately bad crystals, killing light emission properties."

It is because of this that current LEDs cannot have different semiconductors within them to generate red, green and blue colours for lighting.

However, recent developments in the field of nanotechnology mean that structures such as nanowires, nanobelts and nanosheets can be grown to tolerate much larger mismatches of lattice structures, and thus allow very different semiconductors to grow together without too many defects.

"Multi-colour light emission from a single nanowire or nanobelt has been realized in the past but what is important in our paper is that we realized lasers at two distinct colours. To physically 'put' together several lasers of different colors is too costly to be useful and thus our proof-of concept experiment becomes interesting and potentially important technologically.

"In addition to being used for solid state lighting and full color displays, such technology can also be used as light sources for fluorescence bio and chemical detection," continued Professor Ning.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Institute of Physics (IOP), via AlphaGalileo.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/o6clZMs5-78/130502225852.htm

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

The many faces of the bacterial defense system

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Even bacteria have a kind of "immune system" they use to defend themselves against unwanted intruders ? in their case, viruses. Scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, were now able to show that this defense system is much more diverse than previously thought and that it comes in multiple versions. Their goal is to use the various newly discovered versions of the CRISPR-Cas gene for the targeted manipulation of genetic information, particularly for medical purposes.

The human immune system's main function is to protect us against invading bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. To perform its job, the system has evolved into a highly complex ensemble of cells, messengers, and antibody molecules that is capable of recognizing different pathogens, defending us against them, and storing information about them.

Even the bacteria themselves are threatened by pathogens: Certain viruses, the bacteriophages (literally, "bacteria eaters"), have become specialized to invade bacterial cells and proliferate inside of them. In order to get rid of these unwanted guests, many species of bacteria make use of an arsenal of molecules that works according to similar principles as an immune system does.

The Cas enzyme recognizes DNA molecules that contain non-self genetic information, e.g. from bacteriophages, and cleaves them at specific sites. In order to recognize these molecules, a molecular copy of specific, characteristic sections of the foreign DNA is required. This copy, a kind of "molecular profile" of bacteriophage DNA and other foreign genetic material, exists as RNA, an important cellular building block, which is used, among other things, as a temporary storage site of genetic information.

The template for this profile is stored in the bacterium's own genes, specifically in those regions scientists call CRISPR (which stands for "clustered regularly interspaced small palindromic repeats" or, more simply put, the "regular arrangement of small, symmetric repeats" in the sequence of the DNA building blocks). Together, the enzyme and the profile RNA constitute the CRISPR-Cas system.

Now, Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier's work group has scoured the genome of several hundred bacterial species in the search of CRISPR-Cas genes ? and has made several discoveries. "We were able to identify new CRISPR-Cas genes in a number of bacterial species," says Charpentier, an HZI researcher who also teaches at Hannover Medical School (MHH). Among these species are much-feared germs like Streptococcus pyogenes and the meningitis pathogen, Neisseria meningitidis. "We have identified a number of these genes with the help of computers by examining known DNA sequences of the bacteria in question." Charpentier's conclusion: "The CRISPR system is not only widespread among bacteria, it also exists as an incredible range of different versions."

Knowing about these different versions is not only of academic interest but can also be tremendously useful for gene technology: "The CRISPR-Cas system is capable of cleaving DNA at very specific sites," explains Charpentier. "The Cas enzyme can already be modified in such a way that it becomes active not only in bacteria but also in animal and human cell cultures." If this kind of enzyme is specifically equipped with new RNA "profiles," it cleaves the cell's genome at precisely defined sites. "If you then use specific cellular repair mechanisms to mend the DNA strands and connect their loose ends, you can then specifically introduce new sections of genes into cellular DNA."

This opens considerable options for new forms of therapy. "I am certain that the CRISPR-Cas technology has tremendous potential," says Charpentier. "Especially for medical applications like gene therapy."

###

Krzysztof Chylinski, Anas Le Rhun, Emmanuelle Charpentier The tracrRNA and Cas9 families of type II CRISPR-Cas immunity systems RNA Biology, 2013

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research: http://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en

Thanks to Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research for this article.

This press release has been viewed 19 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128051/The_many_faces_of_the_bacterial_defense_system

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The First Full-Color 3D Printer Is Even Lovelier Than Its Creations

3D printers have promised to revolutionize manufacturing as we know it, but are we really going to spend the future with such a limited color palette for our 3D creations? Not if botObjects' new full color ProDesk3D printer delivers on its lofty promises.

Thousands call for immigration reform in Los Angeles May Day march

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thousands of mostly Latino protesters marched through downtown Los Angeles in a boisterous but peaceful May Day rally on Wednesday urging an overhaul of immigration laws to provide potential citizenship for millions of undocumented residents.

The march was believed to be the largest of more than a dozen similar demonstrations planned in cities across California by a coalition of organized labor activists, students, civil rights advocates and members of the clergy.

In Arizona, where a state crackdown against illegal immigration was signed into law three years ago, organizers expected several hundred people to join a late-afternoon rally outside the state Capitol in Phoenix, ahead of a march through downtown.

The protests come about two weeks after a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced an 844-page bill, backed by President Barack Obama, that would rewrite America's immigration laws.

A centerpiece of the measure would create a path to legal status and ultimately citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

It also aims to secure the U.S. border with Mexico against illegal entry and to make it easier for industry, particularly high-tech business and agriculture, to hire workers from abroad when needed.

Obama has made immigration reform one of his top priorities for 2013.

The protesters, who are generally supportive of the proposed immigration revamp, called for the U.S. government to halt deportations of individuals who are potentially eligible for eventual citizenship.

Waving American flags and carrying signs with the slogan, "Stop deportations," the demonstrators chanted in Spanish, "Obama! Escucha! Estamos en la lucha!" ("Obama! Listen! We are in the fight!"), as they marched under sunny skies down one of downtown's main thoroughfares.

The march spanned across more than two large city blocks, and one police officer told Reuters that unofficial estimates put the size of the crowd at roughly 3,500 people. No arrests were reported.

Wendy Carrillo, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union, one of the organizing groups, said march leaders expected to draw at least 10,000 demonstrators throughout the day.

"I think it's a really good start to get people to come together to feel empowered," said Raiza Arias, 19, a college student who wore a black traditional Mexican-style dress and a scarf over her pink-dyed hair, as she walked at the front of the march.

The throng paraded behind a flatbed truck carrying a band playing festive cumbia music.

While most protesters appeared to be Latino, there were a number of Asian groups, including a Korean-American contingent who banged on traditional drums strapped to their torsos.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington and Tim Gaynor in Phoenix; Writing by Steve Gorman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-call-immigration-reform-los-angeles-may-day-002300781.html

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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Foundation Repair Dallas: Prepare To Repair - Tools and ...

Foundation Repair Dallas: Prepare To Repair

0 views This article is copyright free and is published in Tools and Equipment ? Home Improvement Joined: Jun 05, 2012

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