LONDON (Reuters) - An advertising campaign designed to get illegal immigrants to leave Britain opened up a rift in the government on Monday when Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said it was working but his coalition partner said the idea was "offensive".
The trial campaign saw two vans drive around six London boroughs in the last week displaying billboards telling illegal immigrants to "Go Home or Face Arrest", part of a wider government crackdown aimed at reducing net migration - the numerical difference between people coming in and out of the country.
Urging people to contact the authorities "for free advice, and help with travel documents", the posters carried a big picture of a pair of handcuffs and reported how many illegal immigrants had been arrested in the last week.
Voluntary immigrant returns were the "most cost-effective" way of reducing illegal migration, officials said.
Immigration is a hot button issue in Britain, where Cameron is trying to stop an exodus of voters from his ruling Conservatives to a populist anti-immigration party before a parliamentary election in two years' time.
Conservative strategists believe the campaign will be popular with many voters, but the topic is an uncomfortable one for Cameron's junior coalition partner, the left-leaning Lib Dems.
Keen to distance themselves from the Conservatives in voters' minds before the next election, they have abandoned ideas for an amnesty for illegal immigrants and now advocate a tougher approach.
But they have bridled at the ad campaign.
'STUPID AND OFFENSIVE'
Business Secretary Vince Cable, a Lib Dem, called it "stupid and offensive", saying he thought it very unlikely to be continued.
"It is designed, apparently, to sort of create a sense of fear in the British population that we have a vast problem of illegal immigration. We have a problem, but it's not a vast one," Cable told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.
He said the Lib Dems had not been consulted about the initiative.
But a spokesman for Cameron, who is on holiday in Portugal, said on Monday that the prime minister didn't agree with Cable's criticism. "No is the short answer," the spokesman told reporters when asked whether he agreed the campaign was "stupid and offensive".
"The pilot is already working. The pilot is about targeting people who are here illegally and giving them the opportunity to leave the country voluntarily rather than be arrested, detained and removed."
The government would review the pilot's success and examine how and whether the campaign could be continued, he added, saying there had been "a great deal of interest" from illegal immigrants in the scheme.
Cameron has ruled with the Lib Dems since 2010, but the two have taken increasingly different positions on issues such as Britain's role in Europe and on reform of Britain's unelected upper house of parliament.
Many traditional supporters of the Lib Dems felt alienated when they struck a coalition deal with the Conservatives, a centre-right party, and have been further disenchanted by what they see as the coalition's "lurch to the right" on immigration and welfare policy.
BEIJING, China - Violent attacks have erupted at airports across China, with passengers venting their rage on hapless staff over a summer of grinding delays.
China has spent billions on building some of the largest and most modern airports in the world, but, much to everyone's embarrassment, it seems unable to get planes to fly between them on time.
Last month, only 18 per cent of the 22,000 flights out of Beijing's Capital airport departed on schedule, according to the aviation research company FlightStats, making it the world's worst major airport for punctuality. Not one Chinese airport managed to get even half of its flights to leave on time.
The delays have seen mobs of angry passengers mount at least eight large protests at departure gates in the past two months, during two of which staff were attacked. There is even a new Chinese phrase for the rampaging hordes: the "kong nu zu", or "air rage tribe".
On Thursday July 18, more than 30 passengers broke through security and stormed the runway at Nanchang airport after being delayed for seven hours by bad weather.
The weekend before, passengers in Shanghai tried to rip off an attendant's name badge before hitting her. In the subsequent fracas, two airport staff were injured and three passengers arrested. "The passengers were very emotional and unstable," Ni Xuying, one of the injured employees, told state television.
At the end of June, a primary school teacher lost control when her flight from Wenzhou to Beijing was cancelled, slapping and kicking an Air China attendant to the ground. "I waited there for such a long time. Nobody served me a bottle of water or a piece of cake or anything," Liu Weiwei said in her defence.
In March, Graham Fewkes, a British businessman based in Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post he had witnessed cheers when a passenger assaulted a stewardess on a delayed flight to the island of Sanya.
"The other passengers were applauding as the man was hitting her," he said.
Hong Kong Airlines last year said it had an average of three incidents involving disruptive passengers every week and has introduced training in wing chun, a form of kung fu, for its cabin crew.
The situation at China's airports is now so volatile that staff have been told not to announce any major delays.
The problems have been caused by a sudden surge in air traffic, flowing into skies that are tightly controlled by the People's Liberation Army. With only a few permitted routes, issues such as bad weather often force airlines to hold back flights rather than divert them.
The heavy delays are exacting an economic cost. Marco Pearman-Parish at Corporation China, a consultancy that helps companies establish a presence in China, said some 60 per cent of his clients at a recent meeting were considering moving their operations away from Beijing because of the constant problems at the airport. "The delays are making it impossible to do business," he said.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? Serbian tennis player Victor Troicki will appeal to sports' highest court to fight his 18-month suspension for failing to provide a blood test.
Troicki says he will trust the Court of Arbitration for Sport to recognize "a clear mistake from the on-site doping control officer."
The 2010 Davis Cup winner says he declined to give blood at the Monte Carlo Masters in April because he felt ill.
Troicki insists the doping control officer advised he could "skip the test if I wrote an explanation letter" to the International Tennis Federation.
The ITF suspended Troicki on Thursday after its tribunal said his explanation "did not constitute compelling justification."
Troicki says of the doping control officer, "once she found out that she didn't follow the procedures, she turned her back on me."
Originally published July 25, 2013 at 9:34 AM | Page modified July 25, 2013 at 3:58 PM
Facebook shares soared 30 percent Thursday after the social media giant pushed aggressively into mobile advertising and reported much-improved second-quarter revenue and profit.
The stock is trading at levels not seen since shortly after Facebook's initial public offering last year. The IPO was plagued by nagging questions about whether the world's biggest social network could follow users on to the mobile phones and tablets that have upended the technology sector.
Facebook began showing mobile advertisements for the first time last spring. It reported after the market closed Wednesday that those ads accounted for 41 percent of its total advertising revenue in the most-recent quarter.
Overall revenue jumped 53 percent to $1.81 billion for the period. It also reversed a year-ago loss.
Those numbers evaporated doubts about Facebook's ability to capitalize on the mobile market, and trading volume in the company's shares rocketed Thursday.
Facebook's stock jumped 30 percent in Thursday's trading to close at $34.36.
Facebook Inc., based in Menlo, Calif., priced its stock at $38 when it went public in May 2012.
Goldman Sachs said Thursday that with concern about the company's growth prospects compounding monthly, everyone had been waiting for a breakout quarter.
The recent quarter, Goldman believes, should help mitigate those fears.
In addition to Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, BMO Capital Markets, Jefferies & Co. and Wedbush raised their price targets for the stock.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter called Facebook a "new king of phones," and said he expects revenue growth to be supplemented next year, as Facebook starts making money from its Instagram photo and video-sharing service.
UPDATE: In response to her wedding dress rumors, Snooki?tweeted?this afternoon:?"LOL at this story of wanting a leopard print gown. Your source is wrong again, I haven't even looked yet. #TryAgain."
??
Apparently, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi wants her walk down the aisle to be a walk on the wild side as well.
For her nuptials to baby daddy Jionni LaValle, the former Jersey Shore star is considering an animal-print wedding dress.
That's right, a source tells E! News that while shopping for her bridal gown: "Snooki was saying she wanted either a leopard- or a tiger-striped wedding dress. Everyone around her was like, ?You've got to be kidding.' But she wasn't. She was dead serious."
PHOTOS: Stars' Vera Wang wedding gowns
Snooki wouldn't be the first start to skip the traditional white hue. Jessica Biel and Anne Hathaway wore pink on their big days and most recently Tina Turner donned a green Giorgio Armani when she tied the knot to longtime love Erwin Bach in Switzerland over the weekend.
Mind you, a big cat patterned wedding dress might be a first for Hollywood. Then again, Snooki was never much of a fashion follower?just take a look at? her unique sunglasses line for kids!
PHOTOS: What Hollywood brides-to-be should wear
?
Luckily fans will get to see her wedding dress from all angles when her "I Dos" are featured on the upcoming third season of Snooki & JWoww.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The moment when a telescope first opens its doors represents the culmination of years of work and planning -- while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a wealth of research and answers yet to come. It is a moment of excitement and perhaps even a little uncertainty. On July 17, 2013, the international team of scientists and engineers who supported and built NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, all lived through that moment. As the spacecraft orbited around Earth, the door of the telescope opened to view the mysterious lowest layers of the sun's atmosphere and the results thus far are nothing short of amazing. The data is crisp and clear, showing unprecedented detail of this little-observed region.
The London bookmakers were spot on: The royal baby will be called George Alexander Louis.
Kate Middleton and Prince William's child will be given the formal title of His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.
The little prince's name is unsurprising, according to a baby name expert, following the steadfast tradition of the British monarchy.
"George and Alexander were the two names with the shortest odds," Laura Wattenberg, baby name expert and creator of babynamewizard.com, told LiveScience. "It is precisely what everyone thought they would do." [The Most Popular and Unique Baby Names]
However, what Prince George's friends and future subjects will call him may not be the name his parents gave him.
Tradition key
All of the royal baby's names are nods to tradition and family heritage, with Queen Elizabeth's father and grandfather both going by the moniker King George. It's also a quintessential British appellation.
"George is the ultimate English name, thanks to St. George, the patron saint of England," Wattenberg said.
Queen Victoria's given name was Alexandrina, and her daughter was Alexandra, Queen of Denmark. And the name Louis has cropped up in several royal families, Wattenberg said.
It was unlikely the royals would go for anything other than the most traditional name, Wattenberg said. Tradition is key, because although Queen Elizabeth is technically the head of Parliament, the royal family no longer plays a key role in political intrigues or the day-to-day running of the country.
"Tradition is what they're all about ? it's what keeps them going, and it's important to honor that in this situation," Wattenberg said. "There's a branding of the monarchy that they had to maintain." [7 Crazy Ways the Royal Baby's Birth is Unique]
Copycats unlikely
Celebrity names often spur a rash of copycats, Wattenberg said. The fame factor is important for rare baby names, such as Jaden, which rose in the ranks after actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith gave that name to their son.
But though the little Prince George of Cambridge may be the most famous baby in the world, his name probably won't be sweeping the United States, anyway.
With a commonplace name such as George, "it's hard to see the needle move because it's already so saturated in the populations," Wattenberg said.
"We've had two president Georges in recent years and it had absolutely no impact on the name," Wattenberg said. "Even if you don't think George Bush would have been a likely candidate to make it stylish, George Clooney didn't help it either. You have to wonder in this country how much another George can do."
Princely nickname?
And though the prince may be named George, there's no guarantee that he'll eventually become King George or even be called George in the popular press. Queen Victoria took up her middle name when she ascended to the throne, and Prince Harry's given name is actually Henry.
Even little George's namesake, Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI, was actually named Albert. He took up the more classically English name around the time of World War II, worried that the name Albert sounded too German.
"The name they rule under isn't always the name they were given," Wattenberg said.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2008 file photo, Mexican-American radio personality Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo records his show "Piolin por la Manana" at a radio studio in Glendale, Calif. Univision Radio Network's nationally syndicated Spanish-language program has been canceled. Univision did not release the reason for dropping the morning talk show hosted by Sotelo. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2008 file photo, Mexican-American radio personality Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo records his show "Piolin por la Manana" at a radio studio in Glendale, Calif. Univision Radio Network's nationally syndicated Spanish-language program has been canceled. Univision did not release the reason for dropping the morning talk show hosted by Sotelo. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) ? Univision Radio Network yanked the Spanish-language talk show host known as "Piolin" from the air, canceling his syndicated program that urged listeners to rally for immigration reform and pushed Hispanics to wield their election clout.
Monica Talan, a Univision spokeswoman, on Tuesday confirmed that the morning show "Piolin por la Manana," hosted by Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, had been dropped. She declined to provide a reason.
Talan said for now, music will be played in the absence of the animated Mexican-born disc jockey whose nickname means "Tweety Bird." He joined the station in 2004.
Sotelo rose to fame when he and other Spanish-language DJs used the airwaves in 2006 to propel immigrant supporters en masse into the streets of cities across the country to rally for immigrant rights.
Sotelo's program was peppered with pranks and jokes, but he also interviewed President Barack Obama and other politicians. He urged Hispanics to naturalize so they could vote, and became an American citizen himself at a 2008 ceremony teeming with media.
Javier Novoa, 50, said he liked the way Sotelo interviewed psychologists, immigration experts and financial gurus and imparted their wisdom to his audience. Novoa said he listened regularly to the program on his way to work selling CDs in downtown Santa Ana but lately found he was getting more music and less talk over the airwaves.
"It's surprising to me because this was a very good program, a lot of people listened to it," he said of the decision to pull Sotelo off the air.
Last month, Sotelo's show lagged behind Ricardo "El Mandril" Sanchez's program in the Los Angeles-Orange County market's Arbitron ratings for morning shows. Both shows play regional Mexican music.
"El Mandril" was listed in the No. 1 spot, while Sotelo's program was No. 6, the ratings showed.
Sotelo, who grew up in Santa Ana, is expected to be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in November. He often spoke of his own experience as an immigrant, crossing the border illegally in the 1980s, in an effort to inspire his listeners.
Immigrant advocates praised Sotelo for supporting the community in 2006 but said he didn't take on the issue as aggressively after the marches.
"He took time from his morning entertainment show to become the voice of the voiceless," said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "For that, we will always be thankful."
On Tuesday morning, the station played music and commercials. Sotelo could not immediately be reached for comment, and no updates were posted on his Facebook page or Twitter feeds.
___
Associated Press Writer E. J. Tamara in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged up on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 less than 3 points away from the 1,700 level, helped by solid earnings from blue-chips DuPont and United Tech and by China's efforts to avoid a hard landing for its slowing economy.
With earnings season in full swing, Apple Inc is due to report after the closing bell. The tech giant is expected to post a smaller quarterly profit and its financial report may come under intense scrutiny. The stock was down 0.3 percent at $425.31 in early trade.
, a Dow component, said it was looking to sell or spin off its performance chemicals unit to insulate itself from flagging sales of paint pigments that have weighed on profits. The stock jumped 4.7 percent to $59.91.
United Technologies Corp, the world's largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, raised the bottom end of its 2013 earnings forecast, citing its growing confidence after a jump in aerospace orders and cost cuts. The stock rose 2.4 percent to $104.72.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 44.08 points, or 0.28 percent, at 15,589.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 1.80 points, or 0.11 percent, at 1,697.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 3.23 points, or 0.09 percent, at 3,603.62.
Wall Street has moved higher in 11 of the past 12 market days. The S&P 500 closed at a third straight all-time high on Monday, and is now up about 20 percent for the year.
"Could the upward run continue? Yes," said David Brown, CEO at Sabrient Systems, an independent equity research firm in Santa Barbara, California.
"Funds continue to flow from money market and longer-term fixed income funds into the equity market. Valuations have not exceeded reasonable variations from the norm, a tad high here and there but with bargains remaining. The gains have not been powerful, large up days on large volume indicating a blow-off top."
Among the day's decliners, Netflix Inc shares fell 1.1 percent to $259.15, a day after the online-entertainment firm reported that its show "Arrested Development" lured new subscribers in the second quarter but not enough to impress investors.
United Parcel Service Inc posted a smaller quarterly profit as customers chose slower, cheaper shipping services, especially on international routes. The stock fell 0.1 percent to $87.49.
China must deepen reforms to address a slew of challenges confronting it, President Xi Jinping said in comments published on Tuesday that emphasize the government's determination to restructure the slowing economy. China shares listed in Hong Kong posted their biggest rise in nearly seven months on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
HTC's attempts to dig itself out of its financial quagmire has seen some high-profiledepartures hogging the headline space beside its high profile devices. The latest boardroom shuffle concentrates on the company's American operations, which will now be headed up by former global sales head Jason Mackenzie (above right, playing rock-paper-scissors with Brad). At the same time, the company is establishing a new "Emerging Devices" unit, designed to focus on new products and "global distribution strategies," whatever that means.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A new garden or outside dining area that goes well with your home's style will improve the entire look of your property, while clashing styles will look unplanned and even unattractive. TIP! You can create an appealing and unique bookcase by using wallpaper. Pick a unique and interesting ... You can save money if you buy your materials in bulk. A lot of the equipment and the materials used in some projects take a long lead times. TIP! Downspouts, gutters and chimneys often do not ...
Melatonin pre-treatment is a factor that impacts stem cell survival after transplantationPublic release date: 22-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair
Putnam Valley, NY. -- When melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, was used as a pre-treatment for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) prior to their transplantation into the brains of laboratory animals to repair damage from stroke, researchers in China found that the stem cells survived longer after transplantation. Previous studies had shown that 80 percent of transplanted MSCs died within 72 hours of transplantation. By contrast, the melatonin pre-treatment "greatly increased" cell survival, said the researchers.
The study appears as an early e-publication for the journal Cell Transplantation, and is now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/ct0998tang
The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland located in the center of the brain, but outside of the bloodbrain barrier. The melatonin it secretes acts as a signal and forms part of the system that regulates the sleepwake cycle by chemically causing drowsiness and lowering body temperature. Melatonin is also known to be a powerful antioxidant and has been used clinically to treat sleep disorders.
In this study, the researchers used a melatonin pre-treatment on MSCs they harvested from the laboratory animals that had been chemically modeled with ischemic brain injury (stroke). Previous studies had shown that MSCs "express" melatonin receptors M1 and M2.
"Mesenchymal cells can be harvested from self-donors (autologous) without ethical concerns," said study co-author Dr. Guo-Yuan Yang of the Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Center at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. "Studies have shown that MSCs differentiate into various cells and can, upon transplantation, improve functional recovery after ischemic brain injury. In this study we used laboratory rats chemically modeled with stroke and tried to determine if pretreatment with melatonin would promote cell survival."
Researchers transplanted pre-treated MSCs into one group of brain injured rats and also used a control group of animals that received MSCs that were not pre-treated with melatonin.
Study results demonstrated that the melatonin pre-treated MSCs had "enhanced survival under oxidative stimulation by activating the Erk1/2 pathway" (extracellular signal-regulated kinases), a chain of proteins in the cell that communicates a signal from a receptor on the surface of the cell to the DNA in the nucleus of the cell.
"Our study demonstrated increased survival of transplanted MSCs and revealed that the pre-treated MSCs reduced infarct volume and improved neurobehavioral outcomes for at least 14 days," said Dr. Yang.
The researchers noted that the impact of pre-treatment with melatonin was not MSC differentiation, and that development into mature brain cells was not an important factor in the beneficial effects derived from transplantation of either the untreated or the pre-treated cells. They suggested that the transplantation of MSCs pre-treated with melatonin may have a positive impact on the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF is a signal protein produced by cells that stimulate vascular and blood vessel growth that can help restore the oxygen supply to tissues when blood circulation is inadequate.
"Our study demonstrated that melatonin pre-treatment promoted MSC survival in the laboratory setting and augmented the therapeutic efficiency of MSCs in the rat brain. The protective effect of melatonin is achieved by activation of the Erk1/2 pathway," they concluded. "This strategy of pre-treating stem cells may represent a safe approach for improving the beneficial effects of stem cell therapy for cerebral ischemia."
"It is important to identify factors that can impact on the survival of stem cells following their potential therapeutic use for a variety of neurological disorders", said Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin, professor of Neurosurgery and superintendent at the China Medical University Hospital, Beigang, Taiwan. "This study suggests that melatonin pretreatment could be a factor and its role should be explored further with other disease models and other cell types".
###
Contact:
Dr. Guo-Yuan Yang, Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Center
Med-X Research Institute and School Biomedical Engineering
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Hua-Shan Road, Shanghai 200030, China.
Email: gyyang0626@gmail.com
Tel: 86-21-62933186
Fax: 86-21-62932302
Citation: Tang, Y.; Cai, B.; Yuan, F.; He, X.; Lin, X.; Wang, L.; Wang, Y.; Yang, G. Y. Melatonin pretreatment improves the survival and function of transplanted mesenchymal stem cells after focal cerebral ischemia. Cell Transplant. Appeared or available online: April 29, 2013.
The Coeditors-in-chief for CELL TRANSPLANTATION are at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Beigang, Taiwan. Contact, Camillo Ricordi, MD at ricordi@miami.edu or Shinn-Zong Lin, MD, PhD at shinnzong@yahoo.com.tw or David Eve, PhD at celltransplantation@gmail.com
News release by Florida Science Communications http://www.sciencescribe.net
[ | 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.
Melatonin pre-treatment is a factor that impacts stem cell survival after transplantationPublic release date: 22-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair
Putnam Valley, NY. -- When melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, was used as a pre-treatment for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) prior to their transplantation into the brains of laboratory animals to repair damage from stroke, researchers in China found that the stem cells survived longer after transplantation. Previous studies had shown that 80 percent of transplanted MSCs died within 72 hours of transplantation. By contrast, the melatonin pre-treatment "greatly increased" cell survival, said the researchers.
The study appears as an early e-publication for the journal Cell Transplantation, and is now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/ct0998tang
The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland located in the center of the brain, but outside of the bloodbrain barrier. The melatonin it secretes acts as a signal and forms part of the system that regulates the sleepwake cycle by chemically causing drowsiness and lowering body temperature. Melatonin is also known to be a powerful antioxidant and has been used clinically to treat sleep disorders.
In this study, the researchers used a melatonin pre-treatment on MSCs they harvested from the laboratory animals that had been chemically modeled with ischemic brain injury (stroke). Previous studies had shown that MSCs "express" melatonin receptors M1 and M2.
"Mesenchymal cells can be harvested from self-donors (autologous) without ethical concerns," said study co-author Dr. Guo-Yuan Yang of the Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Center at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. "Studies have shown that MSCs differentiate into various cells and can, upon transplantation, improve functional recovery after ischemic brain injury. In this study we used laboratory rats chemically modeled with stroke and tried to determine if pretreatment with melatonin would promote cell survival."
Researchers transplanted pre-treated MSCs into one group of brain injured rats and also used a control group of animals that received MSCs that were not pre-treated with melatonin.
Study results demonstrated that the melatonin pre-treated MSCs had "enhanced survival under oxidative stimulation by activating the Erk1/2 pathway" (extracellular signal-regulated kinases), a chain of proteins in the cell that communicates a signal from a receptor on the surface of the cell to the DNA in the nucleus of the cell.
"Our study demonstrated increased survival of transplanted MSCs and revealed that the pre-treated MSCs reduced infarct volume and improved neurobehavioral outcomes for at least 14 days," said Dr. Yang.
The researchers noted that the impact of pre-treatment with melatonin was not MSC differentiation, and that development into mature brain cells was not an important factor in the beneficial effects derived from transplantation of either the untreated or the pre-treated cells. They suggested that the transplantation of MSCs pre-treated with melatonin may have a positive impact on the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF is a signal protein produced by cells that stimulate vascular and blood vessel growth that can help restore the oxygen supply to tissues when blood circulation is inadequate.
"Our study demonstrated that melatonin pre-treatment promoted MSC survival in the laboratory setting and augmented the therapeutic efficiency of MSCs in the rat brain. The protective effect of melatonin is achieved by activation of the Erk1/2 pathway," they concluded. "This strategy of pre-treating stem cells may represent a safe approach for improving the beneficial effects of stem cell therapy for cerebral ischemia."
"It is important to identify factors that can impact on the survival of stem cells following their potential therapeutic use for a variety of neurological disorders", said Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin, professor of Neurosurgery and superintendent at the China Medical University Hospital, Beigang, Taiwan. "This study suggests that melatonin pretreatment could be a factor and its role should be explored further with other disease models and other cell types".
###
Contact:
Dr. Guo-Yuan Yang, Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Center
Med-X Research Institute and School Biomedical Engineering
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Hua-Shan Road, Shanghai 200030, China.
Email: gyyang0626@gmail.com
Tel: 86-21-62933186
Fax: 86-21-62932302
Citation: Tang, Y.; Cai, B.; Yuan, F.; He, X.; Lin, X.; Wang, L.; Wang, Y.; Yang, G. Y. Melatonin pretreatment improves the survival and function of transplanted mesenchymal stem cells after focal cerebral ischemia. Cell Transplant. Appeared or available online: April 29, 2013.
The Coeditors-in-chief for CELL TRANSPLANTATION are at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Beigang, Taiwan. Contact, Camillo Ricordi, MD at ricordi@miami.edu or Shinn-Zong Lin, MD, PhD at shinnzong@yahoo.com.tw or David Eve, PhD at celltransplantation@gmail.com
News release by Florida Science Communications http://www.sciencescribe.net
[ | 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.
IMMIGRATION officers say they found six men and two women from China working illegally at a restaurant in a West Lothian shopping complex.
The officers swooped on China Glen at the Livingston Designer Outlet to carry out checks on staff.
Home Office officials?arrested eight Chinese people, aged between 23 and 59, who were said to be working illegally at the premises.
During the operation, three of the workers tried to flee but were caught by immigration officers and police officers, who also took part in Friday?s lunchtime raid.?The eight workers have been detained pending their removal from the UK.
Following their arrest, the restaurant has closed until?further notice. The business has been served with a civil penalty notice for employing illegal workers, which could result in a fine of up to ?10,000 per worker.
Immigration minister Mark Harper said: ?Every day our enforcement officers undertake operations like this across the country to combat illegal working. Employers already have a duty to check that their employees have the right to work in the UK, and can face civil penalties if they fail to?do so.
?The immigration bill, which we will introduce later this year, will include proposals to get even tougher on unscrupulous employers, who exploit illegal immigrants and undercut legitimate business.?
Jake Ellenberger has been floating near the top of the UFC's welterweight class for some time. He has just two losses in the UFC: a split decision loss to Carlos Condit in Ellenberger's UFC debut, and a knockout loss to Martin Kampmann last June. He has eight UFC wins, with four knockouts. In his most recent bout, Ellenberger knocked out Nate Marquardt in the first round.
"I was prepared. I was ready to fight. I always know the potential to capitalize on the opportunity finish a fight, and fortunately, that's what happened," Ellenberger told the Shoot in the above video.
This Saturday at UFC on Fox 8, he will have to face Rory MacDonald, a 24-year-old phenom with a record of 14-1. While Ellenberger is impressed with his opponent, he's not totally buying into the hype.
"Rory's a kid with a lot of potential. He's well-rounded.He's really not weak anywhere. To say he's the next [UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre]? I'd have to disagree with that a little. I think the media invented that because he trains with GSP."
If Ellenberger gets the win, it will be his third in a row, and would put him much closer to a title shot. What does he need to do Saturday to convince you he is a contender? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.
LONDON (Reuters) - Another month, another listless set of business surveys is likely to show this week just how much the euro zone economy still has to do to get over its debilitating debt and banking crisis.
An index based on a poll of purchasing managers across the 17-country bloc probably edged up to 49.1 in July from 48.7 in June, but remained below the watershed of 50 that would signal a resumption of growth, according to economists polled by Reuters.
The single-currency area, which makes up about 20 percent of the global economy, has been shrinking since the fourth quarter of 2011.
Petr Zemcik, director of European economics at Moody's Analytics in London, is penciling in marginal growth in the final three months of 2013, but expects output for the year as a whole to drop by 0.5 percent.
Some economists think the euro area might have just escaped recession last quarter, but Zemcik said: "We are still on course for contraction. The euro zone most likely contracted in the second quarter and might contract in the third quarter as well."
The weakness is not confined to heavily indebted countries on the rim of the euro zone.
In Germany, the IFO business climate index for July is expected to have inched higher, but the economy is hobbled by the reluctance of firms to invest and by soft global demand: Germany's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for manufacturing has been stuck below the boom-bust line of 50 since February.
China, which takes nearly 7 percent of German exports, is a particular source of concern. HSBC/Markit's PMI for China on Wednesday is likely to produce another sub-50 reading.
"Looking at the current figures, in Europe there's no light yet at the end of the tunnel unfortunately," said Denis Pennel, managing director of the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies in Brussels, which represents 140,000 firms around the world.
Demand for agency jobs fluctuates roughly in time with changes in GDP and is a leading labor market indicator. "I wouldn't say there is a contraction, but there is definitely no growth," Pennel said of Europe's economy.
ALL EYES ON POST-ELECTION JAPAN
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has dangled the prospect of cutting interest rates if the economy relapses, but Zemcik doubted that would make a difference as long as banks are failing to transmit the ECB's cheap money to households and firms.
Reflecting the clogged-up credit channels, euro zone lending to the private sector is forecast to have shrunk again in June.
Away from the euro zone, there are signs of life stirring.
Britain's quarter-on-quarter GDP growth is expected to have doubled in the April-June period to 0.6 percent, and rising U.S. home sales are likely to show the housing recovery on track despite a recent rise in mortgage rates.
And Japan is forecast to report a year-on-year rise in core consumer prices for the first time in 14 months. Economists expect an increase of just 0.3 percent, but that would still be the fastest clip in five years.
That would give heart to the Bank of Japan, which is trying to end deflation that has dogged the economy for nearly two decades. The central bank is aggressively buying bonds to try to generate 2 percent inflation within two years.
Even if the BOJ succeeds, Japan risks sinking back into a low-growth rut unless Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - now that Sunday's Upper House elections are out of the way - fires up animal spirits by injecting competition into the economy and overturning old, inefficient ways of doing business.
"Accordingly, steady implementation of the government's growth strategies will likely prove crucial in pulling Japan's economy out of deflation over the medium term," Tomo Kinoshita, Nomura's chief economist in Japan, said in a note.
Kinoshita sees the next six months as a litmus test of Abe's economic strategy, dubbed Abenomics.
(Reporting by Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent; Editing by Mark Potter)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Crews working to contain a massive wildfire in Southern California on Saturday were hoping cooler weather and possible rain showers would help them gain the upper hand against a blaze that has forced the evacuation of 5,600 residents.
The so-called Mountain Fire was 25 percent contained on Saturday, up from 15 percent the day before, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The fire has burned across more than 27,000 acres of dry brush and timber and destroyed seven residences since it broke out on Monday.
The flames have forced the evacuation of the town of Idyllwild, a community about a mile above sea level known for its hiking trails, rock climbing and arts and music scene, and also forced out residents from the nearby community of Fern Valley.
A total of 3,478 firefighters were working to control the blaze, according to Cal Fire. Ten air tankers and 20 helicopters were also deployed against it.
Rain was falling in the region about 90 km east of Los Angeles on Saturday and firefighters were hopeful it would fall in the burn areas, said Norma Bailey, a spokeswoman for the multiple agencies handling the fire.
But thunder and lightning accompanied the same change in weather that brought the rain and firefighters were concerned about the possibility for erratic winds, Bailey said. Wind speeds of up to 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) with gusts of 15 mph (24 km/h) have been predicted.
Residents of Idyllwild and Fern Valley have been out of their homes since evacuations were ordered on Wednesday.
A few hundred people have been allowed to return home in neighboring areas where the threat of flames has decreased, Bailey said.
All right, yes, I?ve been very neglectful lately, but when you see what I?ve brought back from the field for ye, you?ll forgive me. Probably. If you like garnets, certainly.
B and I returned to Icicle Gorge last weekend and did the whole loop trail. During that excursion, we found our way down to the waterside, and you would have heard exclamations like ?Oh my god! They?re huge!? and ?This is lousy with garnets!? ? along with assorted incoherent shrieks of joy ? echo from the gorge walls as I discovered boulder after boulder of schist filled with garnets, sparkling deep, rich red against the cheerful silver glitter of the mica within the stone.
Garnet mica schist, with rock hammer for scale.
You can click the photo to enlargenate. Yum!
?
People, the only thing that beats out garnet mica schist in my list of favorite rocks is blueschist. Finding a bank absolutely full of it floated my boat in a big way. Of course, I didn?t take that metaphorical boat down the stream ? the rapids are killer. Not that I paid much attention to them. I had me nose to the rocks.
Getting closer to the garnet! Hammer tip for scale.
Back when I first fell in love with garnet mica schist, I wanted what all young lovers do: I burned with a desire to know all about it. Luckily, Elli Goeke, author of Life in Plane Light, heard my cry, and obliged with a series of posts that explain how this beautiful thing happens:
Metamorphic reactions ? the basics
Mud to cordierite ? sillimanite hornfels ? contact metamorphism at work
Mud to garnet schist ? regional metamorphism at work
There ye go. Something of substance to sink your teeth in to! I?m eternally grateful to Elli for taking the time to explain this process to a young, green, utter amateur.
Knowing how these rocks formed gives me a new appreciation for them, but I?ll admit something: my first reaction to finding them is still a fair imitation of a kid who just got an unexpected windfall for her birthday. For a time, all I can do is chase sparkles.
HUGE garnets in the Icicle Gorge schist. Hammer for scale.
Some of the stuff I found came close to the garnet mica schist I?ve gotten from Alaska, and that one?s very, very big.
Garnet mica schist from Alaska. The garnet is roughly the size of a large pea.
Unfortunately, the garnets down in Icicle Gorge have been broken and battered by the ferocious stream, and erosion isn?t doing the schist any favors, but they?re still fantastic.
Garnet mica schist, without any distractions.
You can click to embiggen any of the above photos. Set aside the proper amount of time for drooling. Reflect upon the fact that plate tectonics produces outstanding rocks like this. And if you?re ever in the Seattle area and wish to drool over these rocks in person, let me know ? it can certainly be arranged!
In other news, I?ll be loading you up with some excellent posts soon, once I can extract myself from the black hole that is a tiny kitten. Between Luna and field season, it?s hard to do serious blogging ? but I?ve got something special coming up. Stay tuned!
Mexico's economy ministry has launched a second investigation in less than a month into the alleged avoidance of antidumping duties on Russian steel imports. The...
This news article is one of hundreds published daily by Business News Americas about the commodities, markets, movements, companies, projects, economics and politics integral to the development of Latin America. Including news and insight from South America, Central America and the Caribbean, BNamericas includes Metals insight and forecasts for business opportunities in Mexico. The business development service focuses on major projects, active companies, such as Canacero, Ahmsa, Ternium M?xico; and business and sales contacts, providing networking opportunities with leading executives throughout Latin America.
Source: broadwayworld.com --- Friday, July 19, 2013 STAGES ST. LOUIS continues its record-breaking 27th Season when it turns St. Louis pink, with the romantic comedy, Legally Blonde, The Musical tonight, July 19th through August 18th . A plethora of upbeat music, dance and of course laughs, made the show a hit on Broadway in 2007. The Tony nominated score features the hilarious 'Omigod You Guys,' the sassy 'Bend and Snap' and the catchy 'Legally Blonde.' Check out a sneak peek of rehearsals below ...
LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks fell back on Friday, but were set for a fourth week of back-to-back gains following generally strong U.S. earnings and assurances from the Federal Reserve about its plans for stimulus withdrawal.
Major currency and commodity markets were subdued, with the dollar <.dxy> giving back some of Thursday's gains, the euro steady and the yen pushing up on position-squaring ahead of elections in Japan on Sunday.
Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 <.fteu3> share index was down 0.4 percent by mid-morning after some weaker earnings overnight, but it was firmly on course for its first four-week run of uninterrupted gains since May, as was MSCI's 45-country all-world index <.miwo00000pus>, which fell 0.1 percent.
Analysts say the rises in world stocks have been fuelled this week by solid corporate earnings, especially in the United States, and by reassurance from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke over the U.S. central bank's easy monetary policy.
"A lot of cash has gone into the market over the last few months but people are now sitting back a bit," said Terry Torrison, managing director at Monaco-based McLaren Securities.
Wall Street finished at another record high on Thursday but was expected to open 0.2 lower when it resumes later, after disappointing results from Google and Microsoft after the bell. <.t><.n/>
Asian trading was choppy overnight with profit-taking on Japan's Nikkei <.n225> matched by some cautious yen buying ahead of Upper House elections on Sunday.
The elections are expected to strengthen the hand of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his radical stimulus strategy, with his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its New Komeito Party (NKP) coalition partner expected to win resoundingly.
Some economists worry that if the LDP wins outright Abe could sideline economic reforms and prioritize more nationalist policies, though that was not the consensus.
"If the LDP-NKP coalition wins control of the upper house and receives a decent mandate for reform, we would remain comfortable with our USD/JPY forecast profile of 103 in 3 months and 105 in 12 months," Barclays Capital analysts wrote in a report.
G20
In the debt market, German Bund futures were in a holding pattern having hit their highest level in six weeks in the previous session.
This week's reassurances from Bernanke have helped beat back lingering concerns about near-term rises in bond yields and reduced volatility in both core and emerging financial markets.
Euro zone periphery bonds were also little changed following gains on Thursday after the ECB loosened its lending rules, and after Portugal's centre-right government easily defeated a no-confidence vote.
Ten-year Spanish government bond yields were 1.3 basis points higher at 4.65 percent while the Italian equivalent was down 1.3 bps at 4.41 percent. Portuguese 10-year yields were 3.3 bps lower at 7.07 percent.
Market participants were also awaiting a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers for signs of an orchestrated approach to the end of U.S. money-printing, which could help defuse volatility in global markets.
The G20, which meets in Moscow on Friday and Saturday, includes many of the emerging economies that have been at the sharp end of the dollar's surge since Bernanke first signaled in May that the Fed would roll back its bond-buying program.
After a steady week for commodities, gold was flat at $1,286 an ounce while Brent oil held above $108 a barrel, hovering near a three-month high on hopes of a gradual recovery in U.S. demand.
New claims for jobless benefits fell in the world's biggest economy and factory data improved on Thursday, close on the heels of a steep drawdown in U.S. crude stocks for a third straight week.
(Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Catherine Evans, John Stonestreet)
Source: businessinsurance.com --- Thursday, July 18, 2013 (Reuters) ? Canada's two big railroads are set to strengthen their safety measures following the deadly train crash on July 6 that killed some 50 people and destroyed the center of a small Quebec town. ...
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Many U.S. universities have no women among their physics faculty; when people talk about gender equity in physics, this is often cited as evidence of a hiring bias. A new analysis challenges this, finding the existence of all-male departments is not necessarily evidence of a hiring bias.
What could be more appetizing than a breakfast item named after a womb-shanking wedding masscare?
And yet, there it was, right on the ?healthy? menu at the Hilton Bayfront in San Diego: The ?Red Wedding Fruit Plate.?
It was part of the hotel?s Comic-Con themed menu, which contained an assortment of dishes with names inspired by HBO?s Game of Thrones. The assorted fruit plate was right under the ?Dragon Smoked Salmon? and, my personal favorite, the gluten-free ?White Walker Frittata.?
Rising Star Games announces plans to bring Deadly Premonition: The Director's
Cut to Windows PCs after the success of Deadly Premonition for Xbox 360 and of the PlayStation 3 edition of The Director's Cut. They have the game up for voting on a
Steam Greenlight campaign and offer a reveal trailer for the PC edition. Here's word:
Part suspense-filled horror, part
action-adventure game, Deadly Premonition offers an open-world experience packed
with locals to meet and places to discover, as well as numerous side quests and
mini-games that will help you solve the murders and uncover Greenvale's deepest,
darkest secrets.
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut on PC includes the following new features
over and above the original game, plus additional content over the PS3 release:
A surprising new scenario from the game's
director, Hidetaka 'Swery' Suehiro
Enhanced HD graphics with new textures
Reworked control system allowing for an even
better combat experience
Downloadable content to expand the mystery beyond
the original game
New bonus DLC exclusive to the PC version!
Achievements and Steam Trading Cards (exclusive to
the Steam version)
"Steam's Greenlight process is a first for Rising Star Games and there is
nothing better than the cult hit, Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut, to
make our mark on it," said Martin Defries, managing director & COO of Rising
Star Games. "Rising Star Games is an extremely community-driven publisher and
our vocal fans have been calling for a PC version of this game, so using Steam
Greenlight gives those fans the chance to make a difference."
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Public release date: 22-Jul-2013
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