Sunday, June 23, 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Changes in cell shape may lead to metastasis, not the other way around

June 21, 2013 ? A crucial step toward skin cancer may be changes in the genes that control cell shape, report a team of scientists from The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Harvard Medical School in an upcoming issue of Nature Cell Biology (now online).

Using automated high content screening and sophisticated computational modeling, the researchers' screening and analysis of tens of millions of genetically manipulated cells helped them identify more than a dozen genes that influence cell shape. Their work could lead to a better understanding of how cells become metastatic and, eventually, pinpoint new gene therapy targets for cancer treatment.

"We found that by altering the way the cells are grown to better mimic conditions in a living organism, gene expression could have a profound impact on cell shape," said Zheng Yin, the paper's lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Systems Medicine and Bioengineering of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI). "This matters because many cancer biologists believe metastasis depends in part on the ability of cells to take on different shapes to escape their confines and spread to healthy tissue. We developed a method of identifying and analyzing the shapes of fruit fly cells, then validated and expanded the discoveries in mammal cancer cells.."

The scientists began their study in fruit fly immune cells called hemocytes. Under normal conditions, each hemocyte was found to take on just one of five distinct shapes about 98 percent of the time. In contrast to conventional wisdom, other shapes and "intermediate" forms were rare, suggesting genes that control cell shape behave more like light switches than teakettles coming to a slow boil. Genetic manipulation of these cells in a lab setting supported that view as well.

Next the group examined human and mouse melanoma cells, which also take on a variety of forms. The researchers identified seven genes that cause cells to take on an especially rounded form, or else an elongated form. One of these genes, PTEN, had a particularly strong impact. When turned off, virtually all cells became elongated or large and rounded, two shapes that can help cancerous cells escape confinement, travel blood vessels, and infiltrate healthy tissues. This information about PTEN is new, even though the gene was previously known to scientists as a tumor suppressor.

"By increasing the frequency of rounded and elongated cells this would provide metastatic cells with a survival advantage that is otherwise not gained by adopting only a single shape, or being highly plastic," said TMHRI Department of Systems Medicine and Bioengineering Chair Stephen T.C. Wong, Ph.D., P.E., who with Institute of Cancer Research, London, Fellow Chris Bakal, Ph.D., are the corresponding authors who oversaw the research.

Bakal added, "The cells have to become rounded to travel through the bloodstream or invade soft tissues such as the brain, but they take on an elongated shape to travel through harder tissues like bone. But until now, we knew hardly anything about how the cells assume either of these shapes and how they switch between the two."

Yin said he hopes data from the study will be useful to cell and developmental biologists who are interested in how and why many different kinds of animal cells change their shapes.

"I believe this dataset has great potential," he said. "We still saw three distinct shapes other than rounded and elongated, and a handful of cell populations enriched with intermediate shapes -- a lot of possibilities for hypothesis generation."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/MZnLMdSRuDo/130621141658.htm

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Some immigrants excluded from health care overhaul

PHOENIX (AP) ? President Barack Obama has championed two sweeping policy changes that could transform how people live in the United States: affordable health care for all and a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants illegally in the country.

But many immigrants will have to wait more than a decade to qualify for health care benefits under the proposed immigration overhaul being debated by Congress, ensuring a huge swath of people will remain uninsured as the centerpiece of Obama's health care law launches next year.

Lawmakers pushing the immigration bill said adding more recipients to an already costly benefit would make it unaffordable.

Health care analysts and immigration proponents argue that denying coverage will saddle local governments with the burden of uninsured immigrants. They also fear a crisis down the road as immigrants become eligible for coverage, but are older, sicker and require more expensive care. Those placed on provisional status would become the nation's second-largest population of uninsured, or about 25 percent, according to a 2012 study by the Urban Institute.

"All health research shows that the older you get, the sicker you become, so these people will be sicker and will be more expensive on the system," said Matthew O'Brien, who runs a health clinic for immigrants in Philadelphia and researches health trends at Temple University.

The Affordable Care Act will make health insurance accessible for millions of uninsured people starting in January through taxpayer-subsidized private policies for middle-class families and expanded access to Medicaid, the program for low-income people funded by federal and state dollars. The proposed immigration overhaul explicitly states immigrants cannot receive Medicaid or buy coverage in new health care exchanges for more than a decade after they qualify for legal status, and only after certain financial and security requirements have been met.

Immigrants with provisional status may obtain insurance through employers once they have legal status to work, but many are unskilled and undereducated, and tend to work low-wage jobs at small businesses that don't have to provide the benefit under the health care law. Immigrants illegally in the country also can access community health centers, but the officials who run those clinics said they are overwhelmed by the demand.

"We can't help everybody," said Bethy Mathis, executive director of Wesley Community Center in Phoenix. The clinic serves 7,000 patients a year who seek everything from vaccinations and relief from minor medical problems to care for long-term health conditions such as diabetes.

Debate over whether immigrants illegally in the country should be eligible for federal benefits nearly sank Obama's health care reform before it was passed by Congress in 2010. For lawmakers pushing immigration reform, there was no question that immigrants would continue to be excluded.

"That's one of the privileges of citizenship," said Republican Sen. John McCain, one of the so-called Gang of Eight pushing the immigration bill, during a conference call with reporters. "That's just what it is. I don't know why we would want to provide Obamacare to someone who is not a citizen of this country."

The issue has received more attention in recent weeks. Some House Republicans have threatened to kill the immigration bill unless immigrants are required to pay for all their health care costs even after they receive green cards or become citizens. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, meanwhile, said she wants the government to distribute at least $250 million to state and local governments because they are the ones who will feel the financial pain of immigrants being left out of the health care law.

Pregnant women, children, seniors and the disabled are eligible for emergency Medicaid services regardless of their immigration status.

The politics behind the bill offer little solace to immigrant families struggling with growing medical bills.

Isabel Castillo came to the U.S. illegally with her parents when she was a child. She's now 28 and has not gone for an annual physical exam since 2007. Every pain triggers debate over whether it's worth a medical visit or not.

"You are like, 'God, should I go, should I wait? The bill is going to be so high,'" Castillo said. "You just wait until you can't tolerate the pain anymore and then you go to the emergency room."

Immigrants who are U.S. citizens are also affected by the limits on health care access if they provide for family members here illegally.

High school student Jacqueline Garcia of Phoenix works two jobs to support her 13-year-old brother and 52-year-old grandmother, who has severe diabetes. The woman's mobility is limited, her vision and memory are fading and she sometimes suffers from seizures. The children were born in the United States and are being raised by the grandmother, who does not have lawful status and as a result does not qualify for Medicaid.

"Every time she gets sick, I have to take her to the doctor. It's really expensive," Garcia said. "What if my grandmother doesn't make it for the 10 years? I mean, I am always going to be struggling. That's too long."

Opponents said they understand the concerns of immigrants not getting health care, but it becomes an issue of the added expense.

"We aren't saying people shouldn't get health care. The question is who is going to pay for it?" said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national group that opposes the immigration overhaul. "They would all be on Medicaid or heavily subsidized in some other way."

Critics of the decision said immigrants are eager to pay for affordable health care insurance and already support federal benefits by paying sales and income taxes. They note that adults unable to overcome health emergencies are less likely to contribute to the workforce and society.

"The risk of them being uninsured if they are in the country illegally is the same risk of anyone else in the country not being insured," said Stephen Zuckerman, a health economist for the Urban Institute. "It's always more expensive to treat people at a more advanced stage of disease."

In North Carolina, Jessica Sanchez-Rodriguez said she has undergone a series of surgeries and medicines to treat her spina bifida, a developmental congenital disorder, and an ailment that leads to brain swelling. Her parents brought her illegally from Mexico when she was 11 months old. As a minor, she received subsidized medical care, but she was cut off when she turned 18 in February.

Her family is trying to raise money for a $55,000 surgery to connect a catheter to her bladder.

"It's terrible," Sanchez-Rodriguez said. "I have to go to school with these pains."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigrants-excluded-health-care-overhaul-083920285.html

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Justin Bieber Loses Monkey in Florida, Enrages Private Jet Company

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/justin-bieber-loses-monkey-in-florida-enrages-private-jet-compan/

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Brazil leader breaks silence about protests

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) ? Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff spoke about her generation's struggles in battling a dictatorship during a prime-time speech meant to connect with the nation's youth who have energized widespread and at times violent anti-government protests.

The 10-minute address ended Rousseff's much-criticized silence in the face of the protests. She promised to make improvements in urban transportation and to battle corruption, but offered few details as to how that will happen.

The leader added she would soon hold a meeting with leaders of the protest movement, governors and the mayors of major cities. But it remained unclear exactly who could represent the massive and decentralized groups of demonstrators taking to the streets, venting anger against woeful public services despite a high tax burden.

Rousseff said that her government would create a national plan for public transportation in cities ? a hike in bus and subway fares in many cities was the original complaint of the protests. She also reiterated her backing for a plan before congress to invest all oil revenue royalties in education and a promise she made earlier to bring in foreign doctors to areas that lack physicians.

"I want institutions that are more transparent, more resistant to wrongdoing," Rousseff said in reference to perceptions of deep corruption in Brazilian politics, which is emerging as a focal point of the protests. "It's citizenship and not economic power that must be heard first."

The leader, a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta, pointedly referred to earlier sacrifices made to free the nation from dictatorship.

"My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard," Rousseff said. "Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this. The voice of the street must be heard and respected and it can't be confused with the noise and truculence of some troublemakers."

Edvaldo Chaves, a 61-year-old doorman in Rio's upscale Flamengo neighborhood, said he found the speech convincing.

"I thought she seemed calm and cool. Plus, because she was a guerrilla and was in exile, she talks about the issue of protests convincingly," Chaves said. "I think things are going to calm down. We'll probably keep seeing people in the streets but probably small numbers now."

But Bruna Romao, an 18-year-old store clerk in Sao Paulo, said Rousseff's words probably wouldn't have an impact.

"Brazilians are passionate," she said. "We boil over quickly but also cool down fast. But this time it's different, people are in full revolt. I don't see things calming down anytime soon."

Trying to decipher the president's reaction to the unrest had become a national guessing game, especially after some 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets nationwide Thursday night to denounce everything from poor public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for next year's World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

The protests continued Friday, as about 1,000 people marched in western Rio de Janeiro city, with some looting stores and invading an enormous $250 million arts center that remains empty after several years of construction. Police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas as they were pelted with rocks. Police said some in the crowd were armed and firing at officers.

Local radio was also reporting that protesters were heading to the apartment of Rio state Gov. Sergio Cabral in the posh Rio neighborhood of Ipanema.

Other protests broke out in the country's biggest city, Sao Paulo, where traffic was paralyzed but no violence reported, and in Fortaleza in the country's northeast. Demonstrators were calling for more mobilizations in 10 cities on Saturday.

The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops came out in favor of the protests, saying that it maintains "solidarity and support for the demonstrations, as long as they remain peaceful."

"This is a phenomenon involving the Brazilian people and the awakening of a new consciousness," church leaders said in the statement. "The protests show all of us that we cannot live in a country with so much inequality."

Rousseff had never held elected office before she became president in 2011 and remains clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight.

She's the political protege of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a charismatic ex-union leader whose tremendous popularity helped usher his former chief of staff to the country's top office. A career technocrat and trained economist, Rousseff's tough managerial style under Silva earned her the moniker "the Iron Lady," a name she has said she detests.

While Rousseff stayed away from the public eye for most of the week, Roberto Jaguaribe, the nation's ambassador to Britain, told news channel CNN Friday the government was first trying to contain the protests.

He labeled as "very delicate" the myriad demands emanating from protesters in the streets.

"One of our ministers who's dealing with these issues of civil society said that it would be presumptuous on our part to think we know what's taking place," Jaguaribe said. "This is a very dynamic process. We're trying to figure out what's going on because who do we speak to, who are the leaders of the process?"

Marlise Matos, a political science professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, said before Rousseff spoke that answer wasn't good enough.

"The government has to respond, even if the agenda seems unclear and wide open," she said. "It should be the president herself who should come out and provide a response. But I think the government is still making strategic calculations to decide how to respond. What I'd like to see as a response is a call for a referendum on political reform. Let the people decide what kind of political and electoral system we have."

Social media and mass emails were buzzing with calls for a general strike next week. However, Brazil's two largest nationwide unions, the Central Workers Union and the Union Force, said they knew nothing about such an action, though they do support the protests.

A Thursday night march in Sao Paulo was the first with a strong union presence, as a drum corps led members wearing matching shirts down the city's main avenue. Many protesters have called for a movement with no ties to political parties or unions, which are widely considered corrupt here.

Several cities have cancelled the transit fare hikes that had originally sparked the demonstrations a week ago, but the outrage has only grown more intense.

Demonstrations for Saturday have been called by a group opposing a federal bill that would limit the power of prosecutors to investigate crimes.

Most protesters have been peaceful, and crowds have taken to chanting "No violence! No violence!" when small groups have prepared to burn and smash. The more violent demonstrators have usually taken over once night has fallen.

The unrest is hitting the nation as it hosts the Confederations Cup soccer tournament, with tens of thousands of foreign visitors in attendance.

Carlos Cardozo, a 62-year-old financial consultant who joined Friday's protest in Rio, said he thought the unrest could cost Rousseff next year's elections. Even as recently as last week, Rousseff had enjoyed a 74 percent approval rating in a poll by the business group the National Transport Confederation.

"Her paying lip service by saying she's in favor of the protests is not helping her cause," Cardozo said. "People want to see real action, real decisions, and it's not this government that's capable of delivering."

___

Barchfield reported from Rio de Janeiro and Brooks from Sao Paulo. Associated Press writers Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Jack Chang in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-leader-breaks-silence-protests-001503729.html

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Ex-inmate recalls Gandolfini?s quiet support

Recently deceased actor James Gandolfini (AP)James GandolfiniJames Gandolfini, who passed away on Tuesday, will long be remembered for his consummate acting chops. For wrongly convicted Marty Tankleff of Long Island, however, the Sopranos star left an entirely different kind of legacy.

Years after Tankleff was convicted as a teenager for killing his parents, Gandolfini became a quiet supporter of the Long Islander as he fought for two decades to overturn the double-murder charge, the New York Daily News reports.

?Jim was loyal?it wasn?t like he did it for the publicity,? said the now 41-year-old Tankleff.

Gandolfini learned about the case through Jay Salpeter, a former New York Police Department detective, while researching a role for the 2006 movie "Lonely Hearts." Gandolfini met Tankleff soon afterward, driving several hours upstate to see him at Great Meadow Correctional Facility.

?He was a genuine nice person you could sit down and eat dinner with,? said Tankleff. ?He got involved with my situation when others were reluctant.?

At the upstate facility, Gandolfini spent two hours talking with Tankleff and showed up to support him in a Brooklyn courtroom two months later. While the actor declined to do interviews with the media, Lonnie Soury, the PR executive who led the campaign to free Tankleff, told the Daily News that his presence alone delivered a powerful, unspoken message.

?My feeling was we were going to have a friend for the life of Marty?s case,? recalled Salpeter

Tankleff?s sentence was overturned by an appeals court in December 2007. According to the Daily News, Tankleff is a now a paralegal working toward a law degree.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/gandolfini-leaves-legacy-support-ex-inmate-135820547.html

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Friday, June 21, 2013

Dolphin browser for Android adds redesigned UI, new store for web apps

Dolphin browser for Android adds redesigned UI, new store for web apps

Dolphin has done a pretty fine job when it comes to keeping its browser loaded with plenty of handy features, both on Android and iOS. Now, the Dolphin's hit version 10 for Android, bringing along an array of things including a revamped user interface, drag-and-drop support for speed dials on the home screen, additional swipe-based gestures and a new store for web-based applications. In addition to all that, Dolphin brought back support for Adobe Flash, while also taking to this release to improve the built-in search options and allow users to dig through sites like Amazon, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube right from within the app. The overhauled Dolphin browser is now available on Google Play, so give the source below a quick click if you're eager to check out these changes.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/20/dolphin-browser-android-update/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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