PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) ? The end is near for the shoe, wheelbarrow or iron in the classic Monopoly game as fans vote Tuesday in the final hours of a contest to determine which token to eliminate and which piece to replace it with.
The eight tokens identify the players and have changed quite a lot since Parker Brothers bought the game from its original designer in 1935. The latest changes mark the first time that fans have had a say on which piece to add and which one to toss.
The voting on Facebook is scheduled to close just before midnight Tuesday. Pawtucket-based toy maker Hasbro Inc. will announce the new piece Wednesday morning.
So far, the wheelbarrow, shoe and iron are neck and neck for elimination through the Save Your Token Campaign. The new addition will be a robot, diamond ring, cat, helicopter or guitar.
Fans from more than 120 countries have voted.
The online contest to change the tokens was sparked by chatter on Facebook, where Monopoly has more than 10 million fans.
Monopoly's iconic tokens originated when the niece of game creator Charles Darrow suggested using charms from a charm bracelet for tokens. The real-estate trading game is based on the streets of Atlantic City, N.J., and has sold more than 275 million games worldwide.
The eight tokens are an iron, racecar, Scottie dog, a shoe, thimble, top hat, wheelbarrow and battleship. Most of the pieces were introduced with the first Parker Brothers iteration of the game in 1935, and the Scottie dog and wheelbarrow were added in the early 1950s.
Versions of Monopoly with the new token will come out later this year.
Feb. 1, 2013 ? In a project that began with the retinal cells of nocturnal animals and has led to fundamental insights into the organization of genomic DNA, researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich show how the nuclear envelope affects nuclear architecture -- and gene regulation.
The double-stranded DNA molecules that make up the genetic material are wrapped around protein complexes to form compacted "chromatin." The active portion of the genome is less densely packed, and thus more easily accessible, than the inactive fraction, and is referred to as euchromatin. Euchromatin is typically located in the inner regions of the cell nucleus, while much of the inactive DNA in "heterochromatin" is associated with the inner face of the nuclear envelope. This type of chromatin organization is found in almost all higher organisms and may have been invented 500 million years ago.
But there is a curious exception to this generalization. In the retinal cells of nocturnal animals, the heterochromation is localized in the central area of the nucleus, as a research group led by LMU biologists Dr. Irina Solovei and Dr. Boris Joffe showed in a previous study. "This got us interested in the mechanisms that control the distribution of chromatin," says Professor Heinrich Leonhardt of LMU's Biozentrum. "How can the nuclear architecture in the rod cells of nocturnal animals be inverted in this way, and what determines the typical positioning of inactive chromatin on the outskirts of the nucleus in normal cells?" Leonhardt and his team have now completed an extensive study in search of the answers.
A fundamental principle unveiled
With the help of targeted genetic manipulations in the mouse, Joffe and Solovei together with their colleagues show for the first time that there are two independent mechanisms for fixing heterochromatin to the inner face of the nuclear envelope. These mechanisms make use of two different components of the inner nuclear membrane as clamps -- lamin A/C, and the so-called lamin-B receptor (LBR), which itself binds to B type lamins.
Normally the two components are used sequentially for this purpose. "In the course of differentiation, there is a switch from the LBR to lamin A/C, and there is always a least one type of tether available for attachment of heterochromatin to the nuclear periphery. But if both are missing, the inactive heterochromatin recoils like a severed elastic band and collapses in the center of the nucleus," explains Leonhardt. Moreover, the switch seems to be a fundamental principle of genome organization and cell differentiation in mammalian cells, as the researchers concluded from the study of 39 species and the analysis of diverse tissue types in nine genetic strains of mice.
Prospects for targeted therapies Lamin proteins not only have a structural function but also have an impact on gene regulation. Thus LBR binds B type lamins and regulates stem-cell populations by promoting the expression of genes that are important for the proliferation of rapidly dividing stem cells. The lamin A/C gene on the other hand codes for a structural component of the nuclear envelope, and regulates cellular differentiation programs like e.g. the expression of muscle-specific genes in muscle cells. Mutations in this gene result in so-called laminopathies -- rare genetic diseases that are associated with a broad spectrum of clinical symptoms, including muscular dystrophy and progeria, a premature aging syndrome.
Joffe and Solovei suspect that mutations in lamin A/C affect the expression of specific genes during the maturation and differentiation of cells, with deleterious results for their function and for tissue integrity. This notion could explain the highly diverse and complex symptoms seen in patients with mutations in the lamin A/C gene -- and it could open routes to the design of targeted therapies for laminopathies.
The new findings thus yield fundamentally new insights into how each of the many differentiated cell types in the body arises as the result of the precisely regulated expression of a specific complement of genes appropriate to each. "In the end, we have been brought from studies of night vision and an odd quirk of nature to the discovery of a fundamental regulatory mechanism: The nuclear envelope has a major say in development, and what kind of envelope our genetic material comes in makes a great deal of difference to our fate," Leonhardt concludes.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (LMU).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Irina Solovei, Audrey?S. Wang, Katharina Thanisch, Christine?S. Schmidt, Stefan Krebs, Monika Zwerger, Tatiana?V. Cohen, Didier Devys, Roland Foisner, Leo Peichl, Harald Herrmann, Helmut Blum, Dieter Engelkamp, Colin?L. Stewart, Heinrich Leonhardt, Boris Joffe. LBR and Lamin A/C Sequentially Tether Peripheral Heterochromatin and Inversely Regulate Differentiation. Cell, 2013; 152 (3): 584 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.01.009
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court will not reconsider a decision blocking an Obama administration effort to tighten restrictions on power plant pollution.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the administration's request for a new hearing on Thursday. The court said a majority of its eight active judges opposed rehearing the case.
A three-judge judge panel ruled in August that the Environmental Protection Agency's cross-state air pollution rule exceeded EPA's authority. The EPA had said the rule would reduce power-plant pollution that contributes to unhealthy air in neighboring states.
The appeals court panel faulted the EPA for imposing "massive emissions reduction requirements" on upwind states without regard to limits imposed by law.
A spokeswoman for the EPA, Alisha Johnson, says the agency is reviewing the decision.
Emotional stress reduces effectiveness of prostate cancer therapies in animal modelPublic release date: 25-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu 336-716-2415 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Beta-blockers offer some protection
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Jan. 25, 2013 Not surprisingly, a cancer diagnosis creates stress. And patients with prostate cancer show higher levels of anxiety compared to other cancer patients.
A new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center indicates that stress is not just an emotional side effect of the diagnosis; it also can reduce the effectiveness of prostate cancer drugs and accelerate the development of prostate cancer.
The findings are published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The Wake Forest Baptist team, headed by George Kulik, D.V.M., Ph.D., associate professor of cancer biology, tested the effects of behavioral stress in two different mouse models of prostate cancer.
One model used mice that were implanted with human prostate cancer cells and treated with a drug that is currently in clinical trial for prostate cancer treatment. When the mice were kept calm and free of stress, the drug destroyed prostate cancer cells and inhibited tumor growth. However, when the mice were stressed, the cancer cells didn't die and the drug did not inhibit tumor growth.
In the second model, mice genetically modified to develop prostate cancer were used. When these mice were repeatedly stressed, the size of prostate tumors increased. When the mice were treated with bicalutamide, a drug currently used to treat prostate cancer, their prostate tumors decreased in size. However, if mice were subjected to repeated stress, the prostate tumors didn't respond as well to the drug.
After analyzing the data, the Wake Forest Baptist researchers identified the cell signaling pathway by which epinephrine, a hormone also known as adrenaline, sets off the cellular chain reaction that controls cell death. Considering that prostate cancer diagnosis increases stress and anxiety levels, stress-induced activation of the signaling pathway that turns off the cell death process may lead to a vicious cycle of stress and cancer progression, Kulik said.
Yet in both models in which the mice were given beta-blocker, stress did not promote prostate tumor growth. Beta-blocker is a drug that inhibits the activation of anti-death signaling by epinephrine.
"Providing beta-blockers to prostate cancer patients who had increased epinephrine levels could improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies," Kulik said. "Our findings could be used to indentify prostate cancer patients who will benefit from stress reduction or from pharmacological inhibition of stress-inducing signaling."
The researchers now plan to test the same signaling mechanism that was identified in mice to determine if it also works in the same way in human prostates, Kulik said.
"We are at the very beginning of understanding complex stress-cancer interactions with multifaceted responses to stress that affect cancer cells, tumor microenvironment, and the organism overall," he said. "We hope that components of this signaling pathway could be used as biomarkers to predict whether and how a given tumor will respond to stress and anti-stress therapies."
###
Co-authors of the study are Sazzad Hassan, M.D., Ph.D., Yelena Karpova, B.S., Daniele Baiz, Ph.D., Dana Yancey, Ph.D., Ashok Pullikuth, Ph.D., Anabel Flores, B.S., Thomas Register, Jr., Ph.D., Mark Cline, D.V.M., Ph.D., and Ralph D'Agostino, Ph.D., of Wake Forest Baptist; Nika Danial, Ph.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Sandeep Robert Datta, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School.
Funding for the study was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, grant PC073548, National Cancer Institute, contract R01CA118329, and institutional grants from Wake Forest Baptist.
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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.
Emotional stress reduces effectiveness of prostate cancer therapies in animal modelPublic release date: 25-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu 336-716-2415 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Beta-blockers offer some protection
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Jan. 25, 2013 Not surprisingly, a cancer diagnosis creates stress. And patients with prostate cancer show higher levels of anxiety compared to other cancer patients.
A new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center indicates that stress is not just an emotional side effect of the diagnosis; it also can reduce the effectiveness of prostate cancer drugs and accelerate the development of prostate cancer.
The findings are published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The Wake Forest Baptist team, headed by George Kulik, D.V.M., Ph.D., associate professor of cancer biology, tested the effects of behavioral stress in two different mouse models of prostate cancer.
One model used mice that were implanted with human prostate cancer cells and treated with a drug that is currently in clinical trial for prostate cancer treatment. When the mice were kept calm and free of stress, the drug destroyed prostate cancer cells and inhibited tumor growth. However, when the mice were stressed, the cancer cells didn't die and the drug did not inhibit tumor growth.
In the second model, mice genetically modified to develop prostate cancer were used. When these mice were repeatedly stressed, the size of prostate tumors increased. When the mice were treated with bicalutamide, a drug currently used to treat prostate cancer, their prostate tumors decreased in size. However, if mice were subjected to repeated stress, the prostate tumors didn't respond as well to the drug.
After analyzing the data, the Wake Forest Baptist researchers identified the cell signaling pathway by which epinephrine, a hormone also known as adrenaline, sets off the cellular chain reaction that controls cell death. Considering that prostate cancer diagnosis increases stress and anxiety levels, stress-induced activation of the signaling pathway that turns off the cell death process may lead to a vicious cycle of stress and cancer progression, Kulik said.
Yet in both models in which the mice were given beta-blocker, stress did not promote prostate tumor growth. Beta-blocker is a drug that inhibits the activation of anti-death signaling by epinephrine.
"Providing beta-blockers to prostate cancer patients who had increased epinephrine levels could improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies," Kulik said. "Our findings could be used to indentify prostate cancer patients who will benefit from stress reduction or from pharmacological inhibition of stress-inducing signaling."
The researchers now plan to test the same signaling mechanism that was identified in mice to determine if it also works in the same way in human prostates, Kulik said.
"We are at the very beginning of understanding complex stress-cancer interactions with multifaceted responses to stress that affect cancer cells, tumor microenvironment, and the organism overall," he said. "We hope that components of this signaling pathway could be used as biomarkers to predict whether and how a given tumor will respond to stress and anti-stress therapies."
###
Co-authors of the study are Sazzad Hassan, M.D., Ph.D., Yelena Karpova, B.S., Daniele Baiz, Ph.D., Dana Yancey, Ph.D., Ashok Pullikuth, Ph.D., Anabel Flores, B.S., Thomas Register, Jr., Ph.D., Mark Cline, D.V.M., Ph.D., and Ralph D'Agostino, Ph.D., of Wake Forest Baptist; Nika Danial, Ph.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Sandeep Robert Datta, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School.
Funding for the study was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, grant PC073548, National Cancer Institute, contract R01CA118329, and institutional grants from Wake Forest Baptist.
[ | 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.
One best practice for any new business involves having an accountant on board to keep records and help with all accounting task that goes along with any business. This can not only keep the new business on track but lets the owner(s) keep emphasis on making the business work. It is important that the new business owner stays focused on growing the business especially as difficult as the economy is today.
Accountants do so much more that can help keep new businesses afloat today besides just taxes. By providing monthly financial reports they can help keep track of profit and loss. In this way you can see whether you are making money or if you may need to make changes that will increase the flow of business. Using an accountant should be part of your business plan.
As part of adding an accountant as part of your business make sure you meet with them quarterly to review profit and loss so that you know where your business is at financially. They may even offer suggestions that will help to keep you on the right track. For example if they see somewhere they you can save on in-house expenses they can bring this to your attention for your review.
Another area that they may help you involves a cash flow forecast. In this way you can set goals to work towards as well as be prepared for the financial ups and downs that all businesses experience. Having an accountant who is keeping track of your financial development in place gives you the information that can be used if you need to get further financing for improvement or upgrades. This can save a lot of time and headaches.
You do not have to have an accountant as an employee but can contract with a local professional or better yet look at companies that are available in your area. In this way you will always have access to someone who is up to date on the changing laws that regulate the financial aspects or your business.
Besides those that have already been listed tax planning is a must for any new business to survive today?s economy and what better place to start than with a great accountant. Your accountant can be worth their weight in gold or increased business profits if you work together in the area of their expertise. Here at Lake Wylie Tax Service we can provide you with the accounting services you need at a cost you can afford. It has already been said that you don?t have to know everything to succeed but you do have to know the right people to help you get there and there is no exception in the accounting arena. Give us a call today. Also, please feel free to comment or leave suggestions ? we love hearing from you.
The Cloud Save feature of Xbox was not working last weekend and many users ended up with a woe for Xbox. Well, if you are one of such Xbox users, Microsoft get your pain now by apologizing for the outage and paying a compensation for the same.
Microsoft is giving out free one-month extension for Xbox Live Gold Accounts as a compensation of Cloud Save outage during last week.
Microsoft however has fixed the entire technical issues and the Xbox Cloud Save is back in function from this weekend.
Major Nelson from Microsoft sent out a special apology message for the users who suffered the Cloud Save outage saying ? To Microsoft, I say, ?Top-notch apology. Yes quite.? And to the Xbox Live Team, I say, ?Now go and rest our heroes.?
?The company will be offering a complimentary month of Xbox Live Gold membership to ?all? affected users?.
On the same note, Alex Garden, general manager of Xbox Live, said ?We want to thank all of our Xbox Live members impacted by the Cloud Saved Games service issue for your patience and understanding. It took longer than we expected to get back to full performance as we needed to ensure the integrity of everyone?s game saves?.
?Whether you couldn?t access your game saves for a couple of hours or a couple of days, we sincerely apologize for the delay and inconvenience. We will be automatically applying a one-month extension to the Xbox Live Gold memberships of everyone who was impacted. We can assure you we?ll also be doing a thorough post mortem to help prevent this from happening again.?
Many services on Xbox.com and Xbox Live were affected by this technical issue. Xbox team posted on their official twitter page last week that Cloud Save service is not working properly and the users were unable to access their save files.
Fortunately the issue?didn?t?hit every Xbox Live user and it is fixed by now.
About the author: Jenifer Franklin View all posts by Jenifer Franklin
Jenifer nurses a deep passion for any kind of technical or technological happenings all around the globe. She is currently putting up in Los Angeles, CA. Internet is her forte and writing articles on the net for modern day technological wonders is her only hobby.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said the President should use the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to circumvent a?stubborn House of Representative who want to control spending and not raise taxes any more than they already have been.
All this craziness is quite distracting for both sides but there is one question that has not been asked and the Press needs to have the guts to ask it of the President and all the other Congressmen that want to keep deficit spending.
The question for the President is this:
What is the most the US Government can go into debt?
The debt ceiling keeps getting raised but no one says what is the most the US Federal Government can go into debt. ? ?All the great minds on Wall Street and in Washington DC have never answered this question.
Any business or organization knows where its maximum debt limit is. ?Even a private citizen has a debt limit when they go to buy a house. ?Debt to income ration can make or break a house sale.
So if they can figure it out the average Joe why can?t they figure it our for government?
There has to be a limit and the powers to be in Washington know it. ?Have we surpassed it or are we almost there.
Someone needs to ask the President before it is too late.
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Public release date: 25-Jan-2013
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One best practice for any new business involves having an accountant on board to keep records and help with all accounting task that goes along with any business. This can not only keep the new business on track but lets the owner(s) keep emphasis on making the business work. It is important that the new business owner stays focused on growing the business especially as difficult as the economy is today.
