WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says his proposed $3.77 trillion budget for 2014 can shrink federal deficits and expand the U.S. economy. He says: "We can do both."
Obama spoke at the White House Wednesday as his administration issued his budget proposal. It would replace $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect over the next 10 years with $1.8 trillion in deficit-reduction measures. His plan calls for reductions in Social Security and Medicare spending and increases in taxes, mostly on the wealthy.
He says: "It replaces these cuts with smarter ones."
Obama also would increase cigarette taxes by 94 cents a pack to pay for expanded preschool programs. He also calls for $50 billion in public works spending.
Apr. 10, 2013 ? Those who accept their pain condition are best able to tolerate pain, while distraction can be the way to lower pain intensity, according to research reported in The Journal of Pain.
A team of German researchers evaluated the most common short-term cognitive pain management techniques for acute pain -- acceptance, distraction and cognitive restructuring. They noted that little is known about the relative efficacy of acceptance strategies compared to other cognitive approaches, such as distraction and cognitive restructuring. The objective was to explore the differential short-term effects of these methods in a sample of 109 female students exposed to thermal mode experimental pain stimuli.
As an adjunctive pain treatment, acceptance is intended to disrupt the link between thoughts and behaviors so patients are willing to tolerate pain. The majority of experimental studies have shown that acceptance strategies are more effective at increasing pain tolerance than other pain regulation strategies.
In the study sample, distraction was used to shift attention away from pain stimulation to lessen pain intensity. With cognitive behavioral structuring, patients are trained to alter their appraisals of pain dysfunction in order to improve their ability to cope with pain. Proponents believe that restructuring pain-related thoughts may affect disability-related behavior, such as avoiding work or recreational activities in fear of pain.
Results of the study showed that acceptance led to increased pain tolerance relative to cognitive restructuring and distraction lowered pain intensity compared to acceptance. No significant differences were detected between distraction and acceptance with regard to pain tolerance. The authors concluded that cognitive restructuring was no different from distraction for increasing pain tolerance. They noted that from a clinical perspective knowledge about cognitive pain management strategies can be useful in gauging treatment outcomes and for refining the treatment of chronic pain.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee House committee on Tuesday recommended passing a bill that would dock the welfare payments of parents of children who fail at a school despite Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's opposition to the measure.
The House Government Operations Committee voted 8-4 to give a positive recommendation to the bill sponsored by Rep. Vance Dennis of Savannah even after hearing from a representative from Haslam's office that the governor has serious concerns about the bill.
House Speaker Beth Harwell, a Republican, has also raised concerns about the measure that would cut Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, benefits by 30 percent if a child fails to advance to the next grade.
The money could be earned back if a parent attends two conferences with teachers, takes parenting classes or enrolls the child in tutoring programs or summer school.
Rep. Joshua Evans said he agreed with the goals of the bill.
"I deal with families it seems like every week ... that at least give the appearance that they care more about their electronics and cell phones and other things than they do their kids," said Evans, R-Greenbrier. "I think that's really unfortunate. I hope that's not how they feel, but that's how they appear to feel."
"Sometimes the way we get people's attention is their pocketbook," he said. "And I think this is an attempt to do that."
Democratic Rep. Johnnie Turner of Memphis rejected the notion that lawmakers can "legislate parental involvement."
"I know the limitations poor people have," she said. "Many times they don't have the electronics my colleague alluded to. They need to try to work two and three jobs."
Republican Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge said the burden wouldn't be too high for parents to regain the full TANF benefit.
"They have to take off work twice to go talk about their child concerning education," Ragan said.
About 52,800 families currently receive TANF benefits, according to the state Department of Human Services. The agency does not keep track of how many of those families include children who would be affected by the bill.
Haslam told reporters earlier this week that he opposes the measure because "there's too many other reasons that could cause a child to struggle in school."
"We are all working to have more parental involvement in children's education," he said. "But to have that direct link there, when there's so many other factors, is worrisome to me."
Harwell, the House speaker, said last week that she shared those concerns with the governor, though she said she understood some of her colleagues who believe "perhaps we're giving government assistance and people are not living up to the responsibilities they have."
"However, we don't ever want to hurt a child in the process of trying to make parents more responsible," she said.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner of Nashville applauded the governor for opposing the bill.
"I give the governor credit for standing up and doing the right thing on this bill," he said. "I'm here to support my governor."
Apr. 9, 2013 ? Sure, many young adults are ecstatic at that first taste of freedom that comes with ?going away to college.? But for some, the intense transition can also trigger intense homesickness. In new research published in the Journal of American College Health, authors Christopher A. Thurber, PhD and Edward A. Walton, MD explore this topic in ?Homesickness and Adjustment in University Students.?
Homesickness by definition is the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home. Sufferers typically report a combination of depressive and anxious symptoms, withdrawn behavior, and difficulty focusing on anything other than missing home. Most people experience some form of this when they are away from their home for an extended period of time, but in some cases of intense homesickness, it can be painful and debilitating.?
Though many new college students have had experiences away from home before, like summer camps, and travel without parents, attending postsecondary school is usually the first experience in which young adults are facing the ?challenges of independently managing their lives; establishing new friends; adjusting to new schedules; and succeeding in various academic, athletic, and artistic pursuits,? explains Thurber and Walton. ?These and other challenges often instill self-doubt and force an uncomfortable recalibration of young adults? academic and social self-concepts. The changes to new students? routines, diets, social milieu, geographical setting, and perceived demands can induce intense homesickness.?
This article discusses the many risk factors of homesickness for university students, such as accumulated stress and social anxiety; adjustments and changes to lifestyle, values, language, culture and environment; and an insecure attachment to parents; as well as the many opportunities for prevention strategies,? many of which most universities can integrate into their pre-arrival programs. ?Homesickness and Adjustment in University Students? also discusses a variety of treatment options for suffering students.
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Christopher A. Thurber, Edward A. Walton. Homesickness and Adjustment in University Students. Journal of American College Health, 2012; 60 (5): 415 DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2012.673520
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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.
She was happy to be useful, with little time for unkind thoughts.
By Jeannie Ferber / April 10, 2013
All of Babushka's belongings could fit under her pillow. After years of knowing her, I came to the conclusion that it was a kind of reward for all she'd endured. That is, she had been given the gift of not being bound to either the past or possessions. She was not only extremely practical, but uniquely free.
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As for being happy, she was happy being useful, and there were very few days in her life she didn't spend being useful. "Hard work empties your noggin of nonsense," she liked to say ? encouragingly. By that measure, I had very little nonsense in my noggin the fall I lived in rural Vetoshkino, Russia, a village resembling an island in a sea of wheat fields 600 miles east of Moscow.
I helped teach English in the village school. After school, I worked in the garden with Babushka (grandmother), and slept in the spare bed in her room. She lived with her daughter's family; her daughter is one of my closest friends.
Before the family enlarged the house last year, Babushka's bedroom was at the end of the long, narrow kitchen. A blue flowered curtain indicated where the kitchen ended and our room started. She happily shared her room. Better to have the extra bed used by me, she reasoned, than covered with onions. A person (especially one from afar) was bound to bring a new view of the world to her village life.
She cared greatly for life. That's altogether different from caring about things, I soon learned from her quiet example.
The first night, as we were going to bed, she apologized for knowing only two prayers. A neighbor had taught them to her when she was 5. She preferred to sing them. "We'll pray now for God to keep us through the night." This we did every night. I could only imagine that the practice had begun during (and had carried her through) two wars, as many revolutions, and untold years of uncertainty.
Between our beds was a window. Hanging in front of the window was a little glass butterfly I'd given her the year before, when I'd arrived in time for her birthday. When I gave it to her, she looked at it, at me, and then said, "Milaya moya" ? my dear ? "why did you think I wanted a present? I was hoping you'd give me a prayer."
Though she'd meant it in the sense of my saying a prayer for her, that afternoon I went to the post office (which sells cards) and bought her one with the Lord's Prayer on it. The card was simple but beautifully done. She kept it in her apron pocket for the rest of her life, pulling it out wherever she was, whether in the kitchen separating cream from the fresh milk or in the fields sifting chaff from wheat.
This latter skill she taught me. I told her I'd only read about it in the Bible. She asked me to tell her the story while she taught me how to winnow: "Hold the sieve high and still. The secret is in being still! Let the wind separate it."
I realize this story might leave you with the impression of a simplistic woman. Babushka was anything but simplistic. Among the other things she did not possess was an unkind view of humanity, or stereotypes about others. (She didn't have time for them.) In many ways, her life was already ahead of our times. It was an example of what we all wish for our world: more high and steady caring about life, and less agitation over things.
The first time we talked on Skype, Babushka didn't bat an eye at seeing me on her daughter's laptop. I smiled at seeing our little room and the humble woman who lived there.
My possessions fit under the roof of my house, not under my pillow. Still, Babushka's example has long been one of my greatest possessions. I like to think she would be pleased.
Clinging to crevices, E. coli thrivePublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline Perry cperry@seas.harvard.edu 617-496-1351 Harvard University
Harvard research reveals the role of the flagellum in helping biofilms colonize rough surfaces
Cambridge, Mass. April 10, 2013 New research from Harvard University helps to explain how waterborne bacteria can colonize rough surfaceseven those that have been designed to resist water.
A team of materials scientists and microbiologists studied the gut bacterium Escherichia coli, which has many flagella that stick out in all directions. The researchers found that these tails can act as biological grappling hooks, reaching far into nanoscale crevices and latching the bacteria in place.
The scourge of the health care industry, bacteria like E. coli are adept at clinging to the materials used in medical implants like pacemakers, prosthetics, stents, and catheters, spreading slimy biofilm and causing dangerous infections. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on March 18, suggest that antibacterial materials should incorporate both structural and chemical deterrents to bacterial attachment.
E. coli are equipped with two types of appendages: pili, which are short, sticky hairs, and the whip-like flagella, which are often twice as long as the bacterium itself. Pili had previously been recognized as playing a critical role in the formation of biofilms. These short hairs, up to only a micron in length in E. coli, can stick to surfaces temporarily, while the bacteria secrete a thick slime that holds them permanently in place.
Flagella, on the other hand, typically play a propulsive role, helping bacteria to swim and steer in liquid environments. As it turns out, though, when it's time to settle in one place, flagella also contribute to adhesion on rough surfaces, where the pili would have access to fewer attachment points.
Nanoscale crevices, such as those deliberately built into superhydrophobic materials, often trap air bubbles at the surface, which initially prevent E. coli from attaching at all. The new research shows that the bacteria can gradually force these bubbles to disperse by, essentially, flailing their arms. Once the cracks and crevices are wet, although the cell bodies can't fit into the gaps, the flagella can reach deep into these areas and attach to a vast amount of new surface area.
"The diversity of strategies and methods by which bacteria can adhere reflects their need to survive in a huge variety of environments," says lead author Ronn S. Friedlander, a doctoral student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. "Of course, if we could prevent biofilms from forming where we didn't want them to, there would be immense benefits in medicine."
Friedlander studies in the lab of Harvard professor Joanna Aizenberg, who holds a joint appointment as Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and as Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB). Aizenberg's laboratory group has been working to develop extremely slippery surfaces that repel water, dirt, oil, and bacteria.
The surface chemistry of antibacterial materials appears to be just as important as the topography. E. coli flagella have previously been known to adhere to certain proteins on the surface of cells in the gut wall, indicating that the bacteria are capable of bonding with specific molecular matches. But in the 1970s, biologists observing E. coli on microscope slides had also seen something curious: bacteria wheeling about under the coverslip, as if tethered to the glass by a single flagellum. This ability to stick to any surface at alltermed nonspecific adhesionis part of what makes it easy for bacteria to survive on the surface of medical implants.
Rather than having to find a perfect molecular match, the flagella of E. coli appear to cling to surfaces using a combination of many weak bonds.
"The ideal antibacterial material would be topographically patterned with tiny crevices to limit the amount of surface area that was immediately accessible to bacteria via their pili, but also engineered in terms of its surface chemistry to reduce the ability of the flagella to make bonds within those crevices," says Aizenberg. "Surface structuring alone will not achieve this goal."
In 2012, Aizenberg's group demonstrated a material they call SLIPS (for Slippery, Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces). It was patterned with nanoscale pores, which were filled with a fluorinated lubricant that was shown to prevent biofilms from attaching.
The findings from this line of research are relevant beyond the field of medicine, as biofilms also pose problems for the food industry, water treatment, ship maintenance, and other industries where slime can clog pipes and filters, corrode metal, or cause contamination. But this latest work also helps to explain, on a basic level, how bacteria succeed at colonizing such a wide variety of environments, including the human gut. Having many flagella, the authors note in their paper, "may be particularly important in an intestinal environment coated with microvilli."
###
In addition to her appointments at Harvard SEAS and CCB, Aizenberg is Director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard; a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard; and Director of the Science Programs at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; among other roles at the University.
Coauthors included Hera Vlamakis, an instructor in microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School; Philseok Kim, a researcher at the Wyss Institute; Mughees Khan, a staff scientist in nanofabrication at the Wyss Institute; and Roberto Kolter, Professor of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School.
The research was supported in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (N00014-11-1-0641), the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard University, and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. The researchers also benefited from the facilities of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Microsystems Technology Laboratories and the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, a member of the NSF-supported National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (ECS-0335765).
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Clinging to crevices, E. coli thrivePublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline Perry cperry@seas.harvard.edu 617-496-1351 Harvard University
Harvard research reveals the role of the flagellum in helping biofilms colonize rough surfaces
Cambridge, Mass. April 10, 2013 New research from Harvard University helps to explain how waterborne bacteria can colonize rough surfaceseven those that have been designed to resist water.
A team of materials scientists and microbiologists studied the gut bacterium Escherichia coli, which has many flagella that stick out in all directions. The researchers found that these tails can act as biological grappling hooks, reaching far into nanoscale crevices and latching the bacteria in place.
The scourge of the health care industry, bacteria like E. coli are adept at clinging to the materials used in medical implants like pacemakers, prosthetics, stents, and catheters, spreading slimy biofilm and causing dangerous infections. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on March 18, suggest that antibacterial materials should incorporate both structural and chemical deterrents to bacterial attachment.
E. coli are equipped with two types of appendages: pili, which are short, sticky hairs, and the whip-like flagella, which are often twice as long as the bacterium itself. Pili had previously been recognized as playing a critical role in the formation of biofilms. These short hairs, up to only a micron in length in E. coli, can stick to surfaces temporarily, while the bacteria secrete a thick slime that holds them permanently in place.
Flagella, on the other hand, typically play a propulsive role, helping bacteria to swim and steer in liquid environments. As it turns out, though, when it's time to settle in one place, flagella also contribute to adhesion on rough surfaces, where the pili would have access to fewer attachment points.
Nanoscale crevices, such as those deliberately built into superhydrophobic materials, often trap air bubbles at the surface, which initially prevent E. coli from attaching at all. The new research shows that the bacteria can gradually force these bubbles to disperse by, essentially, flailing their arms. Once the cracks and crevices are wet, although the cell bodies can't fit into the gaps, the flagella can reach deep into these areas and attach to a vast amount of new surface area.
"The diversity of strategies and methods by which bacteria can adhere reflects their need to survive in a huge variety of environments," says lead author Ronn S. Friedlander, a doctoral student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. "Of course, if we could prevent biofilms from forming where we didn't want them to, there would be immense benefits in medicine."
Friedlander studies in the lab of Harvard professor Joanna Aizenberg, who holds a joint appointment as Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and as Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB). Aizenberg's laboratory group has been working to develop extremely slippery surfaces that repel water, dirt, oil, and bacteria.
The surface chemistry of antibacterial materials appears to be just as important as the topography. E. coli flagella have previously been known to adhere to certain proteins on the surface of cells in the gut wall, indicating that the bacteria are capable of bonding with specific molecular matches. But in the 1970s, biologists observing E. coli on microscope slides had also seen something curious: bacteria wheeling about under the coverslip, as if tethered to the glass by a single flagellum. This ability to stick to any surface at alltermed nonspecific adhesionis part of what makes it easy for bacteria to survive on the surface of medical implants.
Rather than having to find a perfect molecular match, the flagella of E. coli appear to cling to surfaces using a combination of many weak bonds.
"The ideal antibacterial material would be topographically patterned with tiny crevices to limit the amount of surface area that was immediately accessible to bacteria via their pili, but also engineered in terms of its surface chemistry to reduce the ability of the flagella to make bonds within those crevices," says Aizenberg. "Surface structuring alone will not achieve this goal."
In 2012, Aizenberg's group demonstrated a material they call SLIPS (for Slippery, Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces). It was patterned with nanoscale pores, which were filled with a fluorinated lubricant that was shown to prevent biofilms from attaching.
The findings from this line of research are relevant beyond the field of medicine, as biofilms also pose problems for the food industry, water treatment, ship maintenance, and other industries where slime can clog pipes and filters, corrode metal, or cause contamination. But this latest work also helps to explain, on a basic level, how bacteria succeed at colonizing such a wide variety of environments, including the human gut. Having many flagella, the authors note in their paper, "may be particularly important in an intestinal environment coated with microvilli."
###
In addition to her appointments at Harvard SEAS and CCB, Aizenberg is Director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard; a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard; and Director of the Science Programs at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; among other roles at the University.
Coauthors included Hera Vlamakis, an instructor in microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School; Philseok Kim, a researcher at the Wyss Institute; Mughees Khan, a staff scientist in nanofabrication at the Wyss Institute; and Roberto Kolter, Professor of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School.
The research was supported in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (N00014-11-1-0641), the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard University, and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. The researchers also benefited from the facilities of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Microsystems Technology Laboratories and the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, a member of the NSF-supported National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (ECS-0335765).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A suicide car bomber struck Monday in the financial heart of Syria's capital, killing at least 15 people, damaging the nearby central bank and incinerating cars and trees in the neighborhood.
The attack was the latest in a recent series of bombings to hit Damascus in the civil war, slowly closing in on President Bashar Assad's base of power in the capital. Rebel fighters have chipped away at the regime's hold in northern and eastern Syria, as well as making significant gains in the south, helped in part by an influx of foreign-funded weapons.
The blast was adjacent Sabaa Bahrat Square ? near the state-run Syrian Investment Agency, the Syrian Central Bank and the Finance Ministry ? and dealt a symbolic blow to the nation's ailing economy.
In the early days of the 2-year-old uprising, the grandiose roundabout was home to huge pro-regime demonstrations with a gigantic poster of Assad hung over the central bank headquarters.
The area was a very different scene Monday.
State TV showed several cars on fire and thick black smoke billowing above the tree-lined street. At least six bodies were sprawled on the pavement. Paramedics carried a young woman on a stretcher, her face bloodied and her white shirt stained red. A man placed a T-shirt over a victim whose face was blown off.
Firefighters struggled to extinguish flames that engulfed the two buildings as well as a row of cars near the roundabout. State media put the toll at 15 dead and 146 wounded.
Witnesses said the suicide attacker tried to ram the vehicle into the investment agency but was stopped by guards, forcing the bomber to detonate the explosives at the gate.
Visiting a mosque across the street that was damaged in the blast, Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi described the attack as "the work of cowards" and vowed the army would crush all armed groups fighting the government. Shattered glass and torn curtains littered the mosque's red carpet.
Some people wandering through the twisted metal, body parts and rubble on the street and directed their anger at countries supporting the rebellion.
"I want to say to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey that the Syrian people stand firm behind their leadership, and they are steadfast and will never kneel down, and we will emerge victorious," said engineer Saeed Halabi, 54, calling the attack a "terrorist and cowardly act."
The U.N. estimates that more than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war.
The Syrian regime denies there is a popular uprising and refers to the rebels as "terrorists" and "mercenaries," allegedly backed by foreign powers trying to destabilize the country.
The last large explosion in central Damascus took place March 21, when a suicide bomber at a mosque killed 42 people, including a top Sunni Muslim preacher who was an outspoken supporter of Assad.
A month earlier, a suicide car bombing near the ruling Baath Party headquarters ? just blocks away from Monday's attack ? killed 53, according to state media. Anti-regime activists put the death toll from that bombing at 61, which would make it the deadliest in the conflict.
There was no claim of responsibility for any of those bombings.
In the past, the Islamic militant group Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for some of the suicide bombings targeting regime and military facilities. The U.S. says the group, which is one of the most effective rebel factions fighting Assad's forces, is linked to al-Qaida and has designated it a terrorist organization.
The bombings, along with now near-daily mortar attacks in the capital, have punctured the sense of normalcy that the regime has tried to cultivate in Damascus. Until recently, the city was largely insulated from the bloodshed and destruction in other urban centers.
The rebels launched an offensive on Damascus in July but were swept out in a punishing counteroffensive. Since then, government warplanes have pounded opposition strongholds on the outskirts, and rebels have managed only small incursions on the city's southern and eastern sides.
The recently elected prime minister of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition bloc, Ghassan Hitto, visited the northern province of Idlib, the Syrian National Coalition said on its Facebook page. The coalition posted photos of Hitto, dressed in a gray suit, meeting with rebel fighters. It was his second trip to Syria since he was selected last month to lead the opposition's interim government, which the U.S. and its allies hope will emerge as the united face of those fighting to topple Assad.
Also on Monday, the Syrian government rejected a request by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to allow international inspectors to have access to the whole country to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in the civil war.
The government is willing to allow the inspectors only into the village of Khan al-Assal in northern Syria, where an attack was alleged to have taken place on March 19.
Both the rebels and the regime have traded blame for the alleged attack, which has not been confirmed.
Speaking in the Netherlands, Ban said an advance team of inspectors is waiting in Cyprus, ready to move into Syria immediately to investigate the reported use of chemical weapons.
All reports of chemical attacks "should be examined without delay, without conditions and without exceptions," Ban said. "The longer we wait, the harder this essential mission will be."
His comments appeared aimed at increasing the pressure on Assad's regime and ensuring that U.N. inspectors are given access to all sites of reported chemical weapons attacks ? not just those the Syrian government wants them to see.
Syria's Foreign Ministry swiftly rejected the proposal, saying it would constitute "a violation of Syrian sovereignty."
"The secretary-general, while in The Hague, asked for additional tasks that would allow the team to deploy across all of Syrian territory, which goes against what Syria had asked from the U.N. and shows bad intentions," the ministry said in statement. "Syria cannot accept such maneuvers from the secretary-general of the U.N, taking into consideration the negative role played in Iraq which paved the way for the American invasion."
It added, however, that Syria is ready to grant inspectors access to Khan al-Assal.
Syria is widely believed to have a large stockpile of chemical weapons, but it is one of only eight countries in the world that has not signed up to the chemical weapons convention. That means it does not have to report any chemical weapons to The Hague-based organization that monitors compliance with the treaty.
Britain and France have followed up by asking Ban to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in two locations in Khan al-Assal and the village of Ataybah, in the vicinity of Damascus, all on March 19, as well as in Homs on Dec. 23.
The delay in getting to the scene will hamper investigators, said Amy Smithson, a chemical weapons expert with the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the United States.
"It is going to make it a bigger challenge. But it doesn't mean you should throw in the towel," Smithson said in a telephone interview.
Investigators will likely go after two key sources of evidence ? samples from the environment and from any possible victims or survivors of suspected chemical attacks.
"When the environment has changed, that makes it that much more challenging to get a clean environmental sample," Smithson said.
___
Lucas reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam, Bassem Mroue and Barbara Surk in Beirut, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
Amid the myriad tributes to conservative icon Margaret Thatcher, Texas Congressman Steve Stockman definitely stands out as the most hardcore ? and combative ? fan of the former British Prime Minister.?
After learning of Thatcher's death this morning, Stockman tweeted this conservative call-to-arms:?
Twitter/@SteveWorks4You
He elaborated in an extensive statement posted to his House website, using Thatcher's death as an opportunity to slam President Barack Obama and other "leftists."
Here's the full text:?
This morning we mark the loss of one of the greatest champions of human freedom, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who as the United Kingdom?s first female Prime Minister led a nation out of economic misery and into a new age of strength and prosperity.
Like Barack Obama, Baroness Thatcher inherited a country that was demoralized, economically broken and bankrupted by expansive government.? Unlike Obama, Baroness Thatcher restored prosperity and optimism.? Where Obama has failed, Baroness Thatcher succeeded.? While Obama forges chains of dependency and government bloat, Baroness Thatcher took a sledgehammer to the machinery of liberalism.? Baroness Thatcher?s record of creating explosive economic growth and a stronger nation by embracing conservative values makes the utter failure of Obama?s stale liberalism starker and more disturbing.
Baroness Thatcher created prosperity by rejecting politics of consensus demanded by her liberal opponents, which she derided as ?the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.?? She believed in one thing, the power of human freedom to improve lives, create prosperity and renew a nation?s spirit.
She is still hated by leftists who would rather live in equalized misery than allow people to achieve as much as they can work for, leftists who now hold the levers of government in the United States and hurl personal invectives because they cannot deny she left her countrymen stronger and more prosperous.
While many mourn, Baroness Thatcher reminded us ?I fight on I fight to win.?? The best way to honor Baroness Thatcher is to crush liberalism and sweep it into the dustbin of history. What are you doing this morning to defeat liberal politicians?
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A White House celebration Tuesday night of Memphis soul music is an affirmation of the decades of hard work that went into making it a classic American music sound, said some of the artists tapped to perform.
"I'm proud to do this," said Sam Moore, half of the Sam & Dave soul duo, known for the hit "Hold On, I'm Comin.'"
Moore said he was kicking off the concert in the East Room after an introduction by President Barack Obama. The 77-year-old said it's his first time meeting Obama and he joked about possibly wearing a diaper ? just in case.
"You just hope you don't slosh in your shoe," he said in between rehearsals. Moore did not give away any details about his performance.
Artist William Bell said the concert reaffirms years of hard work that began in the early 1960s when Stax Records was created in Memphis, Tenn., and the label cranked out one soul and R&B hit after another for more than a decade.
Among its artists were Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Bell and Sam & Dave.
"As kids coming up, we didn't think it would last this long," the 73-year-old Bell said of the music genre during a rehearsal break. He said he would perform one of his hits, "You Don't Miss Your Water."
Tuesday's concert is the 10th in the "In Performance at the White House" series. Scheduled performers include Alabama Shakes, Steve Cropper, Al Green, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples, Justin Timberlake, Bell and Moore, with Booker T. Jones as music director and band leader.
The program is scheduled to air next Tuesday on PBS stations nationwide. It will also be broadcast at a later date over the American Forces Network for service members and civilians at Defense Department locations worldwide.
Hours before the show, the first lady kicked off a workshop featuring Moore, Staples, Timberlake, Musselwhite and Harper for students from 16 schools and organizations in Virginia, California, Memphis, Tenn., New York City, Maryland, Florida and Washington, D.C.,
She noted Memphis' history as the birthplace of Elvis Presley's rock and roll and B.B. King's blues.
"And while you can hear both of those influences in Memphis soul, this music has a style and a story uniquely its own," Mrs. Obama said, before launching into the story of Stax Records.
She noted that the label also represented "somebody my husband thinks he sounds like" ? the Rev. Al Green. "Let's just tell him he does, OK? Since he is the president, we like to boost him up a little bit."
It was a reference to Obama singing a few bars of Green's "Let's Stay Together" in February 2012 during a Democratic fundraiser at New York's Apollo Theater.
Mrs. Obama also tried to encourage the students, including some aspiring musicians, by noting that the artists perched on stools in front of them have spent decades perfecting their talent to get where they are.
She recalled playing the piano as a young girl and said she regretted not keeping it up. But she said the skills learned through music can be useful in other avenues of life.
"The discipline, the patience, the diligence I learned through the study of music, those are all skills that I apply every single day in my life," Mrs. Obama said. "I applied them as a student, as a lawyer, as a first lady, and definitely as a mother."
Started in February 2009, the "In Performance at the White House" series has celebrated the music of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Hispanic music, music from the civil-rights era, Motown and the blues, Broadway and country music.
Tuesday's concert will be shown live on the White House website, http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
___
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Anti-Margaret Thatcher graffiti adorns a wall on the Falls Road in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday,
By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will be buried with military honors, it was announced Tuesday, as a fierce debate over her funeral arrangements illustrated the extent of division over her political and social legacy.
While many expressed sadness at her passing on Monday, some raised glasses of champagne in impromptu street parties, and Judy Garland's "Wizard of Oz" song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" was sent surging up the UK singles charts.
The ?Iron Lady? who led a conservative resurgence in her home country and forged a legendary partnership with President Ronald Reagan, died from a stroke on Monday, aged 87.
The first and only woman to hold the job and longest-serving prime minister of the postwar era, she earned a formidable international reputation as a champion of freedom and the catalyst for the end of the Cold War.
However, many former industrial areas of Britain still bear the scars of the bitter struggles of the 1980s, when her free-market reforms saw the closure of dozens of state-run coal mines and steel factories.
Her televised memorial, in London?s St Paul?s Cathedral on April 17, will be the grandest for a British politician since wartime leader Winston Churchill in 1965 and will be attended by the Queen and world leaders.
But at her own request, she will not receive an official state funeral ? an apparent acknowledgement that a fully-publicly-funded national event would have enraged her enemies and turned her burial into a political issue.
Some of the cost will still be borne from public funds, but in common with her ideology of personal financial responsibility she also insisted that public money not be wasted on a ceremonial fly-past.
Though Margaret Thatcher will not be given a state funeral, a service held in her honor at Westminster Abbey will be followed by a televised funeral a day later at St. Paul's Cathedral. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
?So it will be a plain old ceremonial funeral for Maggie,? wrote U.K. journalist and newcaster Jon Snow on Tuesday. ?We won?t notice the difference. But her agreement to avoid that state funeral would seem to recognize that, in death at least, she did finally know her limits.?
Some lawmakers, from areas where the closure of state industries has left a legacy of long-term unemployment and social deprivation, said they would not be attending the event, nor even a special meeting of the House of Commons.
Mining union official Chris Skidmore said Thatcher should not even be given a ceremonial funeral, adding that she would never be forgiven by mining communities for the policies which led to thousands of job losses. "Where there was hope she brought despair," he told ITV News.
In south London and the Scottish city of Glasgow, small crowds gathered to cheer and toast her death with champagne and cider. "We've waited a long time for her death," Carl Chamberlain, 45, told Reuters in Brixton, south London, the scene of anti-Thatcher riots in 1981.
In Northern Ireland, a wall was daubed with the phrase: ?Iron Lady ? rust in peace.?
The editor of the U.K.?s conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper said online comments had been disabled on its Thatcher stories because of the volume of anti-Thatcher abuse.
Conor Burns, a Conservative lawmarker and friend of Thatcher, said he was "delighted" that some had seen her death as a cause for celebration because "the hatred that burns in their hearts...is actually an enormous tribute to her...they hate her because she won."
Tuesday's front pages reflected the division. The Daily Mail described Thatcher as "The Woman Who Saved Britain," while the Daily Mirror headline read: "The Woman Who Divided A Nation." The Northern Echo said she she would be "loved, hated, never forgotten."
The Associated Press noted the contrast between the willingness of small groups of Britons to publicly mock a longtime national leader, and attitudes in the United States.
There were no similar scenes of jubilation after the 1994 death of Richard Nixon, a polarizing figure who is the only U.S. president to resign from office, said Robert McGeehan, an associate fellow at the Institute for the Study of Americas.?
"This really shows the dissimilarity between the two countries," said McGeehan, a dual national who worked with Thatcher in academia after she left office. "One does not recall, with the passing of controversial figures in the U.S., anything remotely resembling the really crude approach we've seen over here," he said. "There is a class ingredient here that we simply don't have in America. They like to perpetuate this; the bitterness goes from father to son."
In London?s West End theater district, audience members watching a production of Billy Elliot were asked to decide Monday night on whether a song anticipating Thatcher's death should be performed hours after she died, ITV News reported.
The musical, which is set during the bitter 1984-5 coal miners? industrial dispute, features the song "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher," with lyrics that refer to celebrating the death of the former prime minister. Following a show of hands, the song was performed.
Thatcher?s official biography, withheld at her request until after her death, will shortly go on sale. Its author, the journalist Charles Moore, wrote on Tuesday:
?Her love for her country was expressed even more in her action than in her words. As with all great loves, it was often spurned.?
Related:
Thatcher played polarizing role in pop culture
Margaret Thatcher, 'Iron Lady' who led conservative resurgence in Britain, dies at 87
HopStop, the location services app that helps you navigate the wacky world of public transportation, has today unveiled its biggest product launch ever, with the release of HopStop Live! The service is integrated with HopStop’s default iPhone app, as well as having its own standalone app called “Live!” The apps let users crowd-source information in real-time about delays to subways or trains, giving even more clarity to the morning commute. HopStop already accounts for delays that are marked on the MTA’s web site for service disruptions, but that isn’t an all-encompassing view. Many times, trains will be delayed because of police investigations or accidents, and the corresponding delay alert doesn’t appear online for many hours after, or not at all. Still, these delays can really bork up a day, and so HopStop is letting its massive user base start calling out issues for fellow users. Though crowd-sourcing public transit delays has been done before ? most notably by Waze and NextTrain, along with some other mobile apps ? HopStop brings a new level of scale to the recipe. As of today, HopStop has announced that its userbase has surpassed 2 million monthly active users, and the app access data points for 700 transit agencies, 20,000 lines, and 750,000 stops. Here’s what CEO Joe Meyer had to say about it: The real-time public transportation space has attracted so much attention over the past twelve months with a countless number of new transit apps all professing to have the answer to real-time. The problem with the vast majority of these is that as impressive and headline-grabbing as their goals or claims may be ?they all lack the critical ingredient for any crowd-sourced service to be useful ?a big enough crowd of endemic users. Over the past nine years, HopStop has grown to be the biggest independent player in the transit routing market, and today?s launch of HopStop Live! will leverage our large user base and strong commitment to product excellence to define the future of real-time public transportation information. The main goal is that users will build and foster mini-communities around their particular commute, keeping each other in the know about delays and service disruptions in a way that official lines of communication are too slow for. For now, the HopStop Live! service is only available for iPhone, but the company is working on rolling it out to other major platforms in
My name is Ashwin Marapengopie and I am a Communications Student from the Netherlands. Right now I am working on my thesis about the mentality and demographics concerning Japanese gaming communities. I myself am a gamer and I also actively worked as an editor for gaming websites, so my interest in Japan and the differences concerning Europe come naturally.
I want to conduct a questionnaire via the internet among Japanese gamers. But to do that, I must first have my questionnaire translated from English to Japanese. I was wondering if anyone is willing to help me out with this. I have not found anyone yet who is able to help me, so I would really appreciate it.
What can I offer you in return? You will get an honorable mention in the 'acknowledgements' section of the report. Besides that I can also offer you a free code to an iPhone-game (for which you otherwise would have to pay, of course). And more personally; you will get my eternal gratitude for helping me out ;)
Designer Lilly Pulitzer is pictured in this April 2004 image. She passed away Sunday at the age of 81.
Lilly Pulitzer, a Palm Beach socialite turned designer whose tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s and later a fashion classic, died Sunday. She was 81.
Pulitzer, who married into the famous newspaper family, got her start in fashion by spilling orange juice on her clothes. A rich housewife with time to spare and a husband who owned orange groves, she opened a juice stand in 1959, and asked her seamstress to make dresses in colorful prints that would camouflage fruit stains.
The dresses hung on a pipe behind her juice stand and soon outsold her drinks. The company's dresses, developed with the help of partner Laura Robbins, a former fashion editor, soon caught on.
"Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her," according to a statement on the Lilly Pulitzer brand Facebook page. "In the days and weeks ahead we will celebrate all that Lilly meant to us. Lilly was a true original who has brought together generations through her bright and happy mark on the world."
Her death was confirmed by Gale Schiffman of Quattlebaum Funeral and Cremation Services in West Palm Beach. She did not know Pulitzer's cause of death.
Getty Images
Designer Lilly Pulitzer prepares a model backstage at the Lilly Pulitzer Couture Spring 2005 fashion show in September 2004 in New York City.
Jacqueline Kennedy, who attended boarding school with Pulitzer, even wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread, and matriarch Rose Kennedy and one of her teenage granddaughters were once reported to have bought nearly identical versions together.
The signature Lilly palette features tongue-in-cheek jungle and floral prints in blues, pinks, light greens, yellow and orange ? the colors of a Florida vacation.
"I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy ... fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! I entered in with no business sense. It was a total change of life for me, but it made people happy," Pulitzer told the The Associated Press in March 2009.
The line of dresses that bore her name was later expanded to swimsuits, country club attire, children's clothing, a home collection and a limited selection of menswear.
"Style isn't just about what you wear, it's about how you live," Pulitzer said in 2004.
"We focus on the best, fun and happy things, and people want that. Being happy never goes out of style," she said.
In 1966, The Washington Post reported that the dresses were "so popular that at the Southampton Lilly shop on Job's Lane they are proudly put in clear plastic bags tied gaily with ribbons so that all the world may see the Lilly of your choice. It's like carrying your own racing colors or flying a yacht flag for identification."
But changing taste brought trouble. Pulitzer closed her original company in the mid-1980s after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The label was revived about a decade later after being acquired by Pennsylvania-based Sugartown Worldwide Inc.; Pulitzer was only marginally involved in the new business but continued reviewing new prints from Florida.
"When Lilly started the business back in the '60s, she targeted a young customer because she was young," the company's president, Jim Bradbeer, told the AP in 2003. "What we have done is target the daughter and granddaughter of that original customer."
Sugartown Worldwide was bought by Atlanta-based Oxford Industries in 2010.
AP
In this March 1965 file photo, Palm Beach fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer, wears her own design and creation of the Lilly shift.
Pulitzer herself retired from day-to-day operations in 1993, although remained a consultant for the brand.
Pulitzer was born Lilly McKim on Nov. 10, 1931, to a wealthy family in Roslyn, N.Y.
In 1952, she married Pete Pulitzer, the grandson of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, whose bequest to Columbia University established the Pulitzer Prize. They divorced in 1969. Her second husband, Enrique Rousseau, died in 1993.
"I don't know how to explain what it was like to run my business, the joy of every day," she told Vanity Fair magazine in a story in 2003. "I got a kick every time I went into the shipping department. ... I loved seeing (the dresses) going out the door. I loved them selling in the shop. I liked them on the body. Everything. There's no explaining the fun I had."
Pulitzer, who was known for hosting parties barefoot at her Palm Beach home, also published two guides to entertaining.
"That's what life is all about: Let's have a party. Let's have it tonight," she said.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Why We Should Treat, Not Blame Addicts Struggling to Get ?Clean?
Journalist David Sheff?s son Nic began using marijuana and alcohol at the age of 12, then heroine and crystal meth. Sheff was baffled; his son transformed from an intelligent student and athlete into an addict living on the streets. At first he thought Nic was just being a wild teenager who needed some tough love. But after struggling to find Nic treatment ? and keep him alive ? Sheff realized that his son was dealing with a serious disease, more similar than different from diabetes, hypertension or even cancer.
With his personal experience and more than 10 years of research, Sheff concluded that addiction is a health crisis with a price tag of US$600 billion in combined medical, economic, criminal and social costs every year.
In a follow-up to his memoir ?Beautiful Boy,? David Sheff has written a new book, ?Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America?s Greatest Tragedy,? in order to outline a slew of reasons why society and addiction treatments have largely failed to help the 20 million Americans with addictions.
Sheff asserts that the reason that addiction treatments overwhelmingly fail is because of how we view addiction. And he says correcting common misconceptions about the disease can be the first step towards improving the social support and medical treatment systems for those struggling with their addictions.
Below are the top myths about addiction, according to David Sheff.??
Myth No. 1: Good kids don?t use drugs, bad kids do.?
Myth No. 2: It?s impossible to prevent drug use. Kids who are going to use are going to use.
Myth No. 3: People who get addicted are weak and without morals.
Myth No. 4: Addicts must hit bottom before they can be treated.
Myth No. 5: You don?t treat drug problems with drugs.
Myth No. 6: The only way for addicts to stop using is by going to AA meetings.
Myth No. 7: Marijuana is not addictive. No one?s ever died from marijuana. It?s not a gateway drug. Marijuana shouldn?t be legalized.
Myth No. 8: America?s drug problem is unsolvable.
We?ve failed at solving America?s drug problem not because it?s impossible to do so, but we?ve been focusing on the wrong things. The main problem is that we?ve treated drug use as a criminal problem and drug users as morally bankrupt.
There are several developments that make me optimistic that we can lower drug use, treat addicts and potentially solve many of the problems in America caused by addiction:
There?s a growing understanding and acceptance that addiction is a disease and must be treated like we treat other diseases.
There are advances in treatment that will dramatically improve the likelihood that addicts will get well. There are also new prevention strategies, early assessment, and brief intervention strategies that work.
There is progress toward making sure that people who need treatment will be able to find programs that use evidence-based treatment.
There is a new organization founded called Brian?s Wish To End Addiction
The top myths about addiction above were adapted from content from David Sheff?s new book, ?Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America?s Greatest Tragedy. The views are his own.
Full story at; http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/04/addiction-mythbusters-understand-what-triggers-addiction-and-how-to-manage-the-disease.html
(Reuters) - Insurer American International Group Inc has asked a court to block Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's efforts to sue the U.S. government on AIG's behalf, saying its former CEO has not proven he should have the right to do so.
Earlier this year, AIG drew sharp criticism from members of Congress and an outraged public when the firm considered the possibility of joining Greenberg's lawsuit, which challenges the terms of the insurer's $182.3 billion bailout by the federal government in 2008.
AIG said Greenberg had forced its hand in even deliberating the prospect, but that ultimately it did not want to sue anyway amid a public backlash.
Absent AIG's participation, Greenberg is pursuing a derivative claim, seeking to sue the U.S. government on AIG's behalf over the terms of the $182.3 billion rescue. Greenberg and his company Starr International, which owned 12 percent of AIG before the rescue, are also suing the government directly.
But the insurer, in a filing dated Friday, said Starr had not met the burdens necessary to be allowed to pursue claims on the company's behalf.
"Starr has alleged no facts showing that the AIG board's decision to refuse Starr's demand cannot be attributed to a rational business purpose," AIG said.
The company said its board also feared "incalculable harm to AIG's corporate brand and image and relationships with shareholders, customers, regulators and elected officials" if it pursued a lawsuit.
A lawyer for Starr, Robert Dwyer, said in a statement that AIG's filing repeats the position the company's board took in January and does not impact claims Starr is pursuing directly on behalf of AIG shareholders.
Starr will oppose AIG's motion in a filing later this month, Dwyer, of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, said. The company has until April 26 to respond in court. Last month Starr amended its complaint, more than doubling the damages it is seeking to roughly $55.5 billion.
The Case is Starr International Co Inc vs. United States, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, No. 11-00779.
(Reporting By Ben Berkowitz; Additional reporting by Aruna Viswanatha in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)
For T-Mobile, March went out like a lion, a roaring one. With passion for both invention and invective, T-Mobile roared against the contract during its UnCarrier announcement. The nation's fourth-largest (post-carrier) wireless operator will support its move away from contracts with a television spot that shows it as one of four bad guys riding into town to get people to do things their way, but then trades in its "black hat" for a magenta one as it no longer seeks to enforce those policies. T-Mobile says to watch carefully as each of the other bad guys has a distinct personality that reflects one of its main competitors.
T-Mobile is in a battle for getting consumers onto a network that is described as 4G, but evaluating the appeal of its announcement comes down to looking at four S's - subsidy, selection, speed and simplicity.
Apr. 7, 2013 ? Genes from the family of bacteria that produce vinegar, Kombucha tea and nata de coco have become stars in a project -- which scientists today said has reached an advanced stage -- that would turn algae into solar-powered factories for producing the "wonder material" nanocellulose. Their report on advances in getting those genes to produce fully functional nanocellulose was part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, being held here this week.
"If we can complete the final steps, we will have accomplished one of the most important potential agricultural transformations ever," said R. Malcolm Brown, Jr., Ph.D. "We will have plants that produce nanocellulose abundantly and inexpensively. It can become the raw material for sustainable production of biofuels and many other products. While producing nanocellulose, the algae will absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas linked to global warming."
Brown, who has pioneered research in the field for more than 40 years, spoke at the First International Symposium on Nanocellulose, part of the ACS meeting. Abstracts of the presentations appear below.
Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth, a material, like plastics, consisting of molecules linked together into long chains. Cellulose makes up tree trunks and branches, corn stalks and cotton fibers, and it is the main component of paper and cardboard. People eat cellulose in "dietary fiber," the indigestible material in fruits and vegetables. Cows, horses and termites can digest the cellulose in grass, hay and wood.
Most cellulose consists of wood fibers and cell wall remains. Very few living organisms can actually synthesize and secrete cellulose in its native nanostructure form of microfibrils. At this level, nanometer-scale fibrils are very hydrophilic and look like jelly. A nanometer is one-millionth the thickness of a U.S. dime. Nevertheless, cellulose shares the unique properties of other nanometer-sized materials -- properties much different from large quantities of the same material. Nanocellulose-based materials can be stronger than steel and stiffer than Kevlar. Great strength, light weight and other advantages has fostered interest in using it in everything from lightweight armor and ballistic glass to wound dressings and scaffolds for growing replacement organs for transplantation.
In the 1800s, French scientist Louis Pasteur first discovered that vinegar-making bacteria make "a sort of moist skin, swollen, gelatinous and slippery" -- a "skin" now known as bacterial nanocellulose. Nanocellulose made by bacteria has advantages, including ease of production and high purity that fostered the kind of scientific excitement reflected in the first international symposium on the topic, Brown pointed out.
Brown recalled that in 2001, a discovery by David Nobles, Ph.D., a member of the research team at the University of Texas at Austin, refocused their research on nanocellulose, but with a different microbe. Nobles established that several kinds of blue-green algae, which are mainly photosynthetic bacteria much like the vinegar-making bacteria in basic structure; however, these blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, as they are called, can produce nanocellulose. One of the largest problems with cyanobacterial nanocellulose is that it is not made in abundant amounts in nature. If it could be scaled up, Brown describes this as "one of the most important discoveries in plant biology."
Since the 1970s, Brown and colleagues began focusing on Acetobacter xylinum (A. xylinum), a bacterium that secretes nanocellulose directly into the culture medium, and using it as an ideal model for future research. Other members of the Acetobacter family find commercial uses in producing vinegar and other products. In the 1980s and 1990s, Brown's team sequenced the first nanocellulose genes from A. xylinum. They also pinpointed the genes involved in polymerizing nanocellulose (linking its molecules together into long chains) and in crystallizing (giving nanocellulose the final touches needed for it to remain stable and functional).
But Brown also recognized drawbacks in using A. xylinum or other bacteria engineered with those genes to make commercial amounts of nanocellulose. Bacteria, for instance, would need a high-purity broth of food and other nutrients to grow in the huge industrial fermentation tanks that make everything from vinegar and yogurt to insulin and other medicines.
Those drawbacks shifted their focus on engineering the A. xylinum nanocellulose genes into Nobles' blue-green algae. Brown explained that algae have multiple advantages for producing nanocellulose. Cyanobacteria, for instance, make their own nutrients from sunlight and water, and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while doing so. Cyanobacteria also have the potential to release nanocellulose into their surroundings, much like A. xylinum, making it easier to harvest.
In his report at the ACS meeting, Brown described how his team already has genetically engineered the cyanobacteria to produce one form of nanocellulose, the long-chain, or polymer, form of the material. And they are moving ahead with the next step, engineering the cyanobacteria to synthesize a more complete form of nanocellulose, one that is a polymer with a crystalline architecture. He also said that operations are being scaled up, with research moving from laboratory-sized tests to larger outdoor facilities.
Brown expressly pointed out that one of the major barriers to commercializing nanocellulose fuels involves national policy and politics, rather than science. Biofuels, he said, will face a difficult time for decades into the future in competing with the less-expensive natural gas now available with hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." In the long run, the United States will need sustainable biofuels, he said, citing the importance of national energy policies that foster parallel development and commercialization of biofuels.
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Mother and children take a stroll on Sharm El Sheikh's sandy beach.
By Charlene Gubash, Producer, NBC News
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt ? While Islamists and liberals struggle for Egypt?s post-revolution identity in Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh, the crown jewel of the country?s Red Sea resort towns, might as well be a world away.
Before the revolution, the Sinai Peninsula was one of Egypt?s biggest tourism draws, but businesses have suffered as tourists have stayed away while the country has been perceived as unstable and unsafe.
That is slowly changing due to alluring vacation packages, offering much cheaper rates than those before the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.
Now, sun seekers are slowly returning?to Sharm?s soft sand beaches, where women often sunbathe topless while sipping on icy cocktails.??
Front row beach chairs were hard to come by during a recent holiday weekend with hotels at full occupancy. ?
Cheap ticket to paradise Flying in, the purplish ridges of the Sinai Mountains give way to sandy beaches and?the shimmering turquoise sea dotted with coral reefs. ?
Sharm was, and remains, a Mecca for divers and snorkelers. It has stunningly colored coral reefs teeming with 1,200 species of marine life, a protected marine park and world renowned dive sites.??
Sharm?s peaceful Naama Bay was a typically international scene over a recent weekend. Friends and families chatted away in Russian, Italian, German, melodic Lebanese Arabic and English as children played in the sea and bikini-clad women strolled along the beach.?
?We were looking for a holiday, not too far away, with guaranteed weather. We have been sitting at the pool and the beach, doing yoga and Pilates, and snorkeling,? said Debby Ramdeo, a Londoner who was sharing a lounge chair with her mother.?
Yasmina Muslemany/NBC News
Hotel recreation staff lead tourists in an aerobics class on Naama Bay beach in the South Sinai resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
She and her parents paid $922 each for a 10-day vacation, including airfare, hotel and meals.??
?The weather is fantastic!? smiled Ramdeo. ?In the U.K., it's just 36 degrees Fahrenheit.?
Sarah Binns, a 32-year-old training manager from Brighton, England also came for the sun.?
?It is the closest place we can go at this time of year that is hot,? said Binns, sun bathing next to her friend. ?I was here four years ago and it?s pretty much the same,? she added.?
Binns and her friend Kathleen Gann, a 28-year-old retailer also from the U.K., chose Sharm over Dubai because of the cost and the variety of activities ranging from camel riding to parasailing over the bay. They each paid $900 for one week, including airfare and a Marriott hotel stay with meals included.
Gann, who was on her fourth visit to Sharm, said she felt safe because the U.K. had lifted an earlier advisory against tourism to the South Sinai.??It?s good value for money over Dubai,? she said. ?
One of the few veiled women on the beach, Nadia Hassan, played backgammon with her mother in the shade of an umbrella.?
Hassan, a 36-year-old Jordanian housewife, lives in Cairo. She fled the pollution, pressure and politics of the capital for the beach.??
?It?s relaxing.?Everything in Sharm is good. Everybody is free to look the way they want and act the way they want. People are kind, friendly and welcoming.?
Yasmina Muslemany/NBC News
Trainer gives children an introductory dive lesson in Naama Bay in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Business improving At Camel Dive, one of the town?s oldest dive centers and hotels, things are looking up. Marketing manager Clare Mucklow, 40, noted slow but steady improvement.?
?On a peak holiday, we can fill the resort. We haven?t had to change our prices and we are, normally, 60 to 70 percent full,? said Mucklow. ??
?The type of guests has changed.?We still have repeat guests who have gone diving in Sharm before, but we have lost people who are coming to learn diving.? He blamed reports in the European media for driving away first-time visitors.
Mahmoud Bassiouny, the front desk manager at the popular Movenpick Jollie-Ville Resort, said, ?It?s not the same as before [the revolution].? But he added the hotel was running at 80 percent occupancy.
Gangnam style As night fell on a recent evening, tourists drifted onto the faux cobbled streets of Naama Bay. Small restaurants beckoned at every turn with glassed cases displaying the catch of the day on ice.?
Nightclubs jockeyed for customers with different attractions: men in long white gowns doing poor impressions of the ?Gangnam Style? dance, whirling dervishes twirling to Arabic music and fire dancers juggling flames scarily close to awe-struck patrons. ?
While Egyptians continue to do battle in Cairo over the shape of the country?s future, Sharm, an oasis of fun, acceptance and beauty, carries on.
Related:
Egypt branded more dangerous for tourists than Yemen
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Public release date: 10-Apr-2013
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HopStop, the location services app that helps you navigate the wacky world of public transportation, has today unveiled its biggest product launch ever, with the release of HopStop Live! The service is integrated with HopStop’s default iPhone app, as well as having its own standalone app called “Live!” The apps let users crowd-source information in real-time about delays to subways or trains, giving even more clarity to the morning commute. HopStop already accounts for delays that are marked on the MTA’s web site for service disruptions, but that isn’t an all-encompassing view. Many times, trains will be delayed because of police investigations or accidents, and the corresponding delay alert doesn’t appear online for many hours after, or not at all. Still, these delays can really bork up a day, and so HopStop is letting its massive user base start calling out issues for fellow users. Though crowd-sourcing public transit delays has been done before ? most notably by Waze and NextTrain, along with some other mobile apps ? HopStop brings a new level of scale to the recipe. As of today, HopStop has announced that its userbase has surpassed 2 million monthly active users, and the app access data points for 700 transit agencies, 20,000 lines, and 750,000 stops. Here’s what CEO Joe Meyer had to say about it: The real-time public transportation space has attracted so much attention over the past twelve months with a countless number of new transit apps all professing to have the answer to real-time. The problem with the vast majority of these is that as impressive and headline-grabbing as their goals or claims may be ?they all lack the critical ingredient for any crowd-sourced service to be useful ?a big enough crowd of endemic users. Over the past nine years, HopStop has grown to be the biggest independent player in the transit routing market, and today?s launch of HopStop Live! will leverage our large user base and strong commitment to product excellence to define the future of real-time public transportation information. The main goal is that users will build and foster mini-communities around their particular commute, keeping each other in the know about delays and service disruptions in a way that official lines of communication are too slow for. For now, the HopStop Live! service is only available for iPhone, but the company is working on rolling it out to other major platforms in
