Crowdfynd is a Startup Alley participant at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 that is taking a crack at the age-old problem of managing lost and found items. How does it work? If you lose an item, you can use either Crowdfynd.com or their?iOS mobile app to post info about that lost item (last location, descriptions) as well as post a monetary reward amount that is held in escrow.
Surgery for nonfatal skin cancers might not be best for elderly patientsPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Elizabeth Fernandez elizabeth.fernandez@ucsf.edu 415-502-6397 University of California - San Francisco
New UCSF study urges doctors to consider patient risks and benefits when treating benign skin cancers
Surgery is often recommended for skin cancers, but older, sicker patients can endure complications as a result and may not live long enough to benefit from the treatment.
A new study led by UC San Francisco focused on the vexing problem of how best to handle skin cancers among frail, elderly patients. In the study sample, the researchers found that most non-melanoma skin cancers were typically treated surgically, regardless of the patient's life expectancy or whether the tumor was likely to recur or harm the patient.
One in five patients in the study reported a complication from the skin cancer treatment, and approximately half the patients with limited life expectancy died of other causes within five years.
As a result, the authors say, doctors should take into consideration the benefits, risk and preference of a patient when determining appropriate treatment for nonfatal skin cancers.
The study will be published online on April 29, 2013 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
"It can be very challenging to decide whether and how to treat patients with non-melanoma skin cancer who have limited life expectancy, especially when the tumors are asymptomatic," said Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and lead author of the study.
"One challenge is that it is hard to precisely predict an individual's life expectancy," Linos noted. "Another challenge is that elderly patients are very diverse. For example, some 90-year-olds are active, healthy and would like to choose the most aggressive treatments for skin cancer, while others are very frail and unable to care for themselves, and may prefer less invasive management for a skin cancer that doesn't bother them.
"Bothersome or medically dangerous skin tumors should always be treated, regardless of age or life expectancy," Linos said. "But treatment of asymptomatic tumors might not be the best option for all patients."
Skin cancers are by far the most common type of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. An estimated 2.2 million Americans predominantly older patients are diagnosed annually with a non-melanoma skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. This type of cancer can be slow-growing and typically does not affect survival or short-term quality of life.
"The current standard of care in the United States is to treat non-melanoma skin cancers," the authors wrote in their study, "and no guidelines exist about whether physicians should consider patient age or functional status in choosing treatments."
In comparing treatment options and clinical options, the researchers followed more than 1,300 patients in San Francisco for about a decade. About a quarter of the patients were classified as having limited life expectancy because they were at least 85 years old or they suffered from multiple serious health conditions.
Most of the non-melanoma skin cancers were treated surgically, a taxing process for seniors who have difficulty tolerating extended procedures or adequately treating their wounds at home. The researchers found that medical complications included poor wound healing, numbness, itching and pain.
Tumor recurrence was very low less than 4 percent after five years, the authors said. Nearly half the patients with limited life expectancy died within five years none of the deaths resulted from the skin cancers, the researchers reported. Most deaths were related to heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, lung cancer, pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease, prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
"The findings highlight a challenge not just for dermatologists, but for all physicians treating non-fatal conditions," said senior author Mary-Margaret Chren, MD, a dermatology professor at the UCSF School of Medicine. "Our study provides useful evidence for clinicians facing a treatment choice dilemma with their patients it focuses on a cancer whose natural history is generally benign, where treatment itself may be discretionary."
###
The research was conducted by the unit for patient-oriented research in skin disease at UCSF, and supported by the National Center for Research Resources (Award KL2RR024130); the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (Grants R01 AR 054983 and K24 AR052667); and by a Career Development Award from the American Skin Association and Dermatology Foundation.
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.
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.
Surgery for nonfatal skin cancers might not be best for elderly patientsPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Elizabeth Fernandez elizabeth.fernandez@ucsf.edu 415-502-6397 University of California - San Francisco
New UCSF study urges doctors to consider patient risks and benefits when treating benign skin cancers
Surgery is often recommended for skin cancers, but older, sicker patients can endure complications as a result and may not live long enough to benefit from the treatment.
A new study led by UC San Francisco focused on the vexing problem of how best to handle skin cancers among frail, elderly patients. In the study sample, the researchers found that most non-melanoma skin cancers were typically treated surgically, regardless of the patient's life expectancy or whether the tumor was likely to recur or harm the patient.
One in five patients in the study reported a complication from the skin cancer treatment, and approximately half the patients with limited life expectancy died of other causes within five years.
As a result, the authors say, doctors should take into consideration the benefits, risk and preference of a patient when determining appropriate treatment for nonfatal skin cancers.
The study will be published online on April 29, 2013 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
"It can be very challenging to decide whether and how to treat patients with non-melanoma skin cancer who have limited life expectancy, especially when the tumors are asymptomatic," said Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and lead author of the study.
"One challenge is that it is hard to precisely predict an individual's life expectancy," Linos noted. "Another challenge is that elderly patients are very diverse. For example, some 90-year-olds are active, healthy and would like to choose the most aggressive treatments for skin cancer, while others are very frail and unable to care for themselves, and may prefer less invasive management for a skin cancer that doesn't bother them.
"Bothersome or medically dangerous skin tumors should always be treated, regardless of age or life expectancy," Linos said. "But treatment of asymptomatic tumors might not be the best option for all patients."
Skin cancers are by far the most common type of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. An estimated 2.2 million Americans predominantly older patients are diagnosed annually with a non-melanoma skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. This type of cancer can be slow-growing and typically does not affect survival or short-term quality of life.
"The current standard of care in the United States is to treat non-melanoma skin cancers," the authors wrote in their study, "and no guidelines exist about whether physicians should consider patient age or functional status in choosing treatments."
In comparing treatment options and clinical options, the researchers followed more than 1,300 patients in San Francisco for about a decade. About a quarter of the patients were classified as having limited life expectancy because they were at least 85 years old or they suffered from multiple serious health conditions.
Most of the non-melanoma skin cancers were treated surgically, a taxing process for seniors who have difficulty tolerating extended procedures or adequately treating their wounds at home. The researchers found that medical complications included poor wound healing, numbness, itching and pain.
Tumor recurrence was very low less than 4 percent after five years, the authors said. Nearly half the patients with limited life expectancy died within five years none of the deaths resulted from the skin cancers, the researchers reported. Most deaths were related to heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, lung cancer, pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease, prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
"The findings highlight a challenge not just for dermatologists, but for all physicians treating non-fatal conditions," said senior author Mary-Margaret Chren, MD, a dermatology professor at the UCSF School of Medicine. "Our study provides useful evidence for clinicians facing a treatment choice dilemma with their patients it focuses on a cancer whose natural history is generally benign, where treatment itself may be discretionary."
###
The research was conducted by the unit for patient-oriented research in skin disease at UCSF, and supported by the National Center for Research Resources (Award KL2RR024130); the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (Grants R01 AR 054983 and K24 AR052667); and by a Career Development Award from the American Skin Association and Dermatology Foundation.
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.
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.
Whenever my friends and I get together for a movie party, the toughest part of the evening is collectively deciding what to watch. There?s always one person that shoots a good suggestion down with a curt, ?I?m not in the mood for that?. Moviora is an app that aims to make that process a little easier. It?s a strange thing. Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video certainly provide a plethora of video content for our viewing pleasure, but oftentimes the biggest challenge is narrowing down all of those options to just one title. Netflix offers a list of recommendations by sifting through our viewing history, but it?s far from perfect. I?ve watched a lot of stupid crap, and so have all of my other friends I share my Netflix account with. More often than not, my searching on Netflix will end up in mired in a list of obscure, low-budget B-movie titles that I have no intention of ever watching. Moviora is an app that attempts to discern what we?re in the mood for watching by essentially playing a game of ten questions. For example, it asks if you?re in the mood for a ?drama?, and you narrow the choices down by answering yes or no. Once you?re cycled through these prompts five to six times, you?re provided with a movie recommendation, along with a trailer, some reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and links to the film on Netflix and iTunes. When I answered ?yes? to drama, ?no? to comedy, ?yes? to romance, ?yes? to action, and ?yes? to adventure, it provided me with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is actually a movie I haven?t watched yet and wouldn?t mind seeing at all. It doesn?t always provide you with the perfect choice, but there?s an addictive quality to the ten questions aspect and it?s certainly a lot better than aimlessly meandering through Netflix?s movie titles. You can try out Moviora for yourself at their website here. The app is currently a free download in the iOS App Store.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Cancers have long been categorized by the tissue where they originate in the body, but new tools and tests are helping doctors tailor treatment to specific gene mutations.
ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013 AND THEREAFTER - Sarah Toce, editor of a daily online news magazine "The Seattle Lesbian," poses for a photo Friday, April 19, 2013, in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, in an alleyway that has been the site of fights and other violence against gay men. Even as society has become more accepting of homosexuality overall, longstanding research has shown more societal tolerance for lesbians than gay men, and that gay men are significantly more likely to be targets of violence. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Society ? Research shows more societal tolerance for lesbians, and gay men face more violence.
Chicago ? It may be a man?s world, as the saying goes, but lesbians seem to have an easier time living in it than gay men do.
High-profile lesbian athletes have come out while still playing their sports, but not a single gay male athlete in major U.S. professional sports has done the same. While television?s most prominent same-sex parents are the two fictional dads on "Modern Family," surveys show that society is actually more comfortable with the idea of lesbians parenting children.
And then there is the ongoing debate over the Boy Scouts of America proposal to ease their ban on gay leaders and scouts.
Reaction to the proposal, which the BSA?s National Council will take up next month, has been swift, and often harsh. Yet amid the discussions, the Girl Scouts of USA reiterated their policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, among other things. That announcement has gone largely unnoticed.
Certainly, the difference in the public?s reaction to the scouting organizations can be attributed, in part, to their varied histories, including the Boy Scouts? longstanding religious ties and a base that has become less urban over the years, compared with the Girl Scouts?.
But there?s also an undercurrent here, one that?s often present in debates related to homosexuality, whether over the military?s now-defunct "Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell" policy or even same-sex marriage. Even as society has become more accepting of homosexuality overall, longstanding research has shown more societal tolerance for lesbians than gay men, and that gay men are significantly more likely to be targets of violence.
That research also has found that it?s often straight men who have the most difficult time with homosexuality ? and particularly gay men ? says researcher Gregory Herek.
"Men are raised to think they have to prove their masculinity, and one big part about being masculine is being heterosexual. So we see that harassment, jokes, negative statements and violence are often ways that even younger men try to prove their heterosexuality," says Herek, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis, who has, for years, studied this phenomenon and how it plays out in the gay community.
That is not, of course, to downplay the harassment lesbians face. It can be just as ugly.
But it?s not as frequent, Herek and others have found, especially in adulthood. It?s also not uncommon for lesbians to encounter straight men who have a fascination with them.
story continues below
"The men hit on me. The women hit on me. But I never feel like I?m in any immediate danger," says Sarah Toce, the 29-year-old editor of The Seattle Lesbian and managing editor of The Contributor, both online news magazines. "If I were a gay man, I might ? and if it?s like this in Seattle, can you imagine what it is like in less-accepting parts of middle America?"
One of Herek?s studies found that, overall, 38 percent of gay men said that, in adulthood, they?d been victims of vandalism, theft or violence ? hit, beaten or sexually assaulted ? because they were perceived as gay. About 13 percent of lesbians said the same.
A separate study of young people in England also found that, in their teens, gay boys and lesbians were almost twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers. By young adulthood, it was about the same for lesbians and straight girls. But in this study, published recently in the journal Pediatrics, gay young men were almost four times more likely than their straight peers to be bullied.
At least one historian says it wasn?t always that way for either men or women, whose "expressions of love" with friends of the same gender were seen as a norm ? even idealized ? in the 19th century.
"These relationships offered ample opportunity for those who would have wanted to act on it physically, even if most did not," says Thomas Foster, associate professor and head of the history department at DePaul University in Chicago.
Today?s "code of male gendered behavior," he says, often rejects these kinds of expressions between men.
We joke about the "bro-mance" ? a term used to describe close friendships between straight men. But in some sense, the humor stems from the insinuation that those relationships could be romantic, though everyone assumes they aren?t.
Call those friends "gay," a word that?s still commonly used as an insult, and that?s quite another thing. Consider the furor over Rutgers University men?s basketball coach Mike Rice, who was recently fired for mistreating his players and mocking them with gay slurs.
If two women dance together at a club or walk arm-in-arm down the street, people are usually less likely to question it ? though some wonder if that has more to do with a lack of awareness than acceptance.
"Lesbians are so invisible in our society. And so I think the hatred is more invisible," says Laura Grimes, a licensed clinical social worker in Chicago whose counseling practice caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender clients.
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Automatic sequester budget cuts mean an end to the 2013 season for the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds. The real losers may be local economies benefitting from air shows.
By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / April 28, 2013
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland last year. The Navy has cancelled the remaining 2013 performances of its Flight Demonstration Squadron. The Air Force Thunderbirds have cancelled the rest of their shows for the year as well.
Stelios Varias/REUTERS
Enlarge
Travelers across the US are pleased that furloughs for air traffic controllers have been cancelled. Aside from the usual delays for weather and maintenance problems, that means fewer hours trapped on the tarmac or looking for places to charge smart phones in airport terminals.
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But there?s another group of frequent flyers who?ve been grounded by across-the-board budget cuts due to the sequester: Navy and Air Force flight demonstration teams, those aerial hotshots whose main purpose is to enhance public relations, attract new recruits, and reflect patriotism with what?s been bumper-stickered as ?The Sound of Freedom.?
There are plenty of other air shows around the country, such as the ?Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show? in Georgia and the ?Take to the Skies AirFest? in Durant, Okla. They just won?t feature the Air Force Thunderbirds or the Navy Blue Angels flying genuine fighter jets. Or the Army?s Golden Knights parachute team.
All three have cancelled their season.
John Cudahy. president of the International Council of Air Shows tells the Associated Press that about 200 of the nation's 300 air shows have been affected by the federal budget cuts and 60 have already been cancelled. He said more cancellations are expected, and some shows may never come back.
"The worst case is that they either cancel and go out of business, or they don't cancel and they have such poor attendance and they go out of business," he said. Economic impact studies indicate the shows are worth $1 billion to $2 billion nationwide, Cudahy estimates.
"Having the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels is like having the Super Bowl, it's a household name," Bill Walkup, manager of the Martinsburg, W.V. airport told the AP.
When the Thunderbirds performed there in 2010, the show drew 88,000 people. Without a jet team, the show typically draws 15,000 or fewer. When they learned there?d be no Thunderbirds, organizers cancelled this year?s show.
Thunderbirds spokesman Maj. Darrick Lee said a typical season averages about $9.75 million and the Air Force needs to focus its resources now on its mission in Afghanistan. Team members are still doing local public appearances that have little or no cost, including autograph-signing sessions at schools and other venues.
"Would we prefer to be flying? Of course," Maj. Lee said. But, he added, "We encourage folks to go and have a good time with or without us."
Most Android users are familiar with Swype's signature input method of dragging a finger over keys instead of tapping them, a feature that has been baked into several phones. The Swype app, now available on Google Play for 99 cents (limited time price), brings this familiar feature to any Android device, but also adds a slew of other clever input methods like dictation and handwriting. It also provides smart suggestions as you write, letting you quickly finish words and sentences.
With cloud-syncing dictionaries, support for more than 60 languages, and the ability to learn from your writing and social media, Swype is a powerful app that totally changes how you type.
Writing With Swype The main way to interact with Swype is by "Swyping"?where you drag you finger from letter to letter to spell out words. Once you complete a word, it appears in place in the text. When you next begin swiping, the app automatically adds a space between the words (this can be toggled on and off in the settings).
The word the app believes you swiped is displayed on a ribbon above the keyboard on the far left. Other words which the app believes you may have been attempting to swipe or type appear to the right. The list is extensive, and can be explored by dragging the ribbon left and right.
Typing works as you expect. With each tap of a letter, the suggestions across the top change. Let's say I'm typing the word "best." By the time I'm through "be," the word "be" is on the left as the top suggestion. "Best" is the third suggestion, so I could just tap the word and keep typing.
Like SwiftKey, Swype also displays three suggested words above the keyboard before you begin Swyping or typing. For instance, after writing "I am enjoying the hams of my ancestors" several times, Swype suggested "enjoying," "the," and "hams" after I typed "I am." This makes spitting out frequently used phrases even faster. In other words, it's content-aware, so you could simply tap the suggestions to dash through sentences.
Suggested words are a smart feature, but sometimes Swype spits out strange utterances. During my testing, I tapped the middle of the three suggestions repeatedly and the app wrote "Is it possible to have a good time for the holidays [sic]," a question I am sure many of us have asked before. In general, SwiftKey does a better job of identifying the phrases I use a lot and was more consistent with its suggestions.
Moving between all three modes of text input makes for fast, accurate typing and is the best way to use the app. However, it's hard to get used to looking at suggestions instead of the keyboard while writing. Obviously there's a learning curve before you can take full advantage of everything the app has to offer.
Dead-On Dictation Nuance Communication, the developer behind Swype, is also responsible for Dragon Dictate for Mac and Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Premium (Windows), desktop speech-to-text software that picked up our Editors' Choice award. It's not surprising that the company chose to include a dictation capability in Swype, which it calls Dragon. To activate this feature, simply tap the small flame-like logo on the bottom left of the Swype keyboard. Speak your sentence and then tap "done" when you're finished, although you can allow the app to end dictations automatically from the settings menu.
I was immediately impressed with Dragon on Swype, which requires no tedious set up or training. Out of the box it did a pretty good job transcribing my utterances, even when another speaker was close by.? It's definitely better suited for composing shorter messages, and I also noticed it took longer than expected to process the speech to text, which requires a data connection. The Google Now search bar on my Nexus 7 transcribed my speech much faster, but a little less accurately.
With dictation more than other aspects of Swype, you'll probably end up having to correct the app a fair amount which is thankfully simple. Just tap a word and Swype's suggestions will appear on the ribbon again.
Handwriting Recognition I thought handwriting recognition fell out of favor around the time of the Newton, but Swype has a toggle-able option to let you write with your fingertip. As you shape letters?either in upper or lower case?the lines vanish quickly as Swype collects them. You can enter text letter by letter or in entire words.
Because English is my first language, my impulse was to move left to right as I wrote. This works fine, but you'll quickly run out of space for longer words. I found the app worked just as well when I wrote the letters over each other slowly.
Annoyingly, to handwrite numbers, you have to switch between letter and number entry modes. Between that and the time it takes to write letters out, it's obvious why this isn't a central feature of the app. In fact, it's not even enabled by default.
Surprisingly, handwriting input shines for entering long strings of numbers?like a phone number.
AAA??Apr. 27, 2013?11:58 PM ET PHOTOS: Politics, press and stars mix at dinner By The Associated Press??By The Associated Press
First lady Michelle Obama and late-night television host and comedian Conan O'Brien gesture to his tie at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
First lady Michelle Obama and late-night television host and comedian Conan O'Brien gesture to his tie at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Late-night television host Conan O'Brien, from left, first lady Michelle Obama, Michael Clemente, Executive Vice President of Fox News, and President Barack Obama attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Director Steven Spielberg uses his smart phone during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Christi Parsons, White House correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Tribune newspaper chain, from left, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Michael Scherer, White House correspondent for TIME, late-night television host Conan O'Brien and first lady Michelle Obama attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
There were Republicans mixing with Democrats, journalists talking to Hollywood celebrities who play reporters or politicians and, of course, President Barack Obama. The president and headliner Conan O'Brien traded barbs about each other and many of those attending the annual star-studded White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Here are some images from the evening's festivities:
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Clipped Wings"
You may edit this first post as you see fit.
These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume.
-Romeo and Juliet
Deep into that darkness, peering, I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting... Dreaming dreams no mortal ever dreamed to dream before. -Edgar Allen Poe
Apr. 26, 2013 ? A potential new treatment strategy for patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is on the horizon, thanks to research by neuroscientists now at the University at Buffalo's Hunter James Kelly Research Institute and their colleagues in Italy and England.
The institute is the research arm of the Hunter's Hope Foundation, established in 1997 by Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback, and his wife, Jill, after their infant son Hunter was diagnosed with Krabbe Leukodystrophy, an inherited fatal disorder of the nervous system. Hunter died in 2005 at the age of eight. The institute conducts research on myelin and its related diseases with the goal of developing new ways of understanding and treating conditions such as Krabbe disease and other leukodystrophies.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth or CMT disease, which affects the peripheral nerves, is among the most common of hereditary neurological disorders; it is a disease of myelin and it results from misfolded proteins in cells that produce myelin.
The new findings sere published online earlier this month in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
They may have relevance for other diseases that result from misfolded proteins, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, cancer and mad cow disease.
The paper shows that missteps in translational homeostasis, the process of regulating new protein production so that cells maintain a precise balance between lipids and proteins, may be how some genetic mutations in CMT cause neuropathy.
CMT neuropathies are common, hereditary and progressive; in severe cases, patients end up in wheelchairs. These diseases significantly affect quality of life but not longevity, taking a major toll on patients, families and society, the researchers note.
"It's possible that our finding could lead to the development of an effective treatment not just for CMT neuropathies but also for other diseases related to misfolded proteins," says Lawrence Wrabetz, MD, director of the institute and professor of neurology and biochemistry in UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and senior author on the paper. Maurizio D'Antonio, of the Division of Genetics and Cell Biology of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan is first author; Wrabetz did most of this research while he was at San Raffaele, prior to coming to UB.
The research finding centers around the synthesis of misfolded proteins in Schwann cells, which make myelin in nerves. Myelin is the crucial fatty material that wraps the axons of neurons and allows them to signal effectively. Many CMT neuropathies are associated with mutations in a gene known as P0, which glues the wraps of myelin together. Wrabetz has previously shown in experiments with transgenic mice that those mutations cause the myelin to break down, which in turn, causes degeneration of peripheral nerves and wasting of muscles.
When cells recognize that the misfolded proteins are being synthesized, cells respond by severely reducing protein production in an effort to correct the problem, Wrabetz explains. The cells commence protein synthesis again when a protein called Gadd34 gets involved.
"After cells have reacted to, and corrected, misfolding of proteins, the job of Gadd34 is to turn protein synthesis back on," says Wrabetz. "What we have shown is that once Gadd34 is turned back on, it activates synthesis of proteins at a level that's too high -- that's what causes more problems in myelination.
"We have provided proof of principle that Gadd34 causes a problem with translational homeostasis and that's what causes some neuropathies," says Wrabetz. "We've shown that if we just reduce Gadd34, we actually get better myelination. So, leaving protein synthesis turned partially off is better than turning it back on, completely."
In both cultures and a transgenic mouse model of CMT neuropathies, the researchers improved myelin by reducing Gadd34 with salubrinal, a small molecule research drug. While salubrinal is not appropriate for human use, Wrabetz and colleagues at UB and elsewhere are working to develop derivatives that are appropriate.
"If we can demonstrate that a new version of this molecule is safe and effective, then it could be part of a new therapeutic strategy for CMT and possibly other misfolded protein diseases as well," says Wrabetz.
And while CMT is the focus of this particular research, the work is helping scientists at the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute enrich their understanding of myelin disorders in general.
"What we learn in one disease, such as CMT, may inform how we think about toxins for others, such as Krabbe's," Wrabetz says. "We'd like to build a foundation and answer basic questions about where and when toxicity in diseases begin."
The misfolded protein diseases are an interesting and challenging group of diseases to study, he continues. "CMT, for example, is caused by mutations in more than 40 different genes," he says. "When there are so many different genes involved and so many different mechanisms, you have to find a unifying mechanism: this problem of Gadd34 turning protein synthesis on at too high a level could be one unifying mechanism. The hope is that this proof of principle applies to more than just CMT and may lead to improved treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Type 1 diabetes and the other diseases caused by misfolded proteins."
Co-authors with D'Antonio and Wrabetz are M. Laura Feltri, MD, professor of neurology and biochemistry at UB and a researcher with UB's Hunter James Kelly Research Institute at the NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences; Nicolo Musner, Cristina Scapin Daniela Ungaro and Ubaldo Del Carro from the San Raffaele Scientific Institute and David Ron of Cambridge and the National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.
Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the European Community and an award to D'Antonio from the Italian Ministry of Health.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University at Buffalo. The original article was written by Ellen Goldbaum.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
M. D'Antonio, N. Musner, C. Scapin, D. Ungaro, U. Del Carro, D. Ron, M. L. Feltri, L. Wrabetz. Resetting translational homeostasis restores myelination in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1B mice. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2013; 210 (4): 821 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20122005
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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.
The free inSSIDer software utility for Windows, iOS, and Android is one of the most useful and easy-to-interpret wireless networking tools I?ve encountered. InSSIDer displays information about the wireless networks in proximity to you, including an access point?s MAC address, encryption type, signal strength, and channel. InSSIDer is a great tool for wireless networking novices, because it has an easy-to-understand interface and includes an abundance of help and tutorials. Experienced Wi-Fi professionals may find the software a bit too light and might be more interested in a more robust program such as?WiFiBuilder or Wireshark. But home power users looking to tweak their networks and those managing smaller business Wi-Fi networks would benefit by getting acquainted with inSSIDer.
Download inSSIDer is available as a free download from www.metageek.net/products/inssider/. It?s available as a Windows desktop app or as an iOS or Android mobile app.? I run it on a Windows 7 laptop and it?s a quick and lightweight install. I can honestly say that unlike what I?ve found with some other free networking utilities I?ve used, inSSIDer has given me no problems with memory leaks or interfered with my Windows wireless settings or any other installed software.
Features and Interface Opening inSSIDer?s interface displays the wireless adapter information of the client machine on which inSSIDer is installed. The program?s UI is divided between a pane that displays real-time information about wireless networks in proximity, and another screen shows really handy information, including tips and a user guide.
The user guide has illustrations and plain-speak about the features in the software. You don?t just get a user guide though. The interface includes links to free webinars for those who want to dive deeper into the wireless world?from diagnosing RF interference to performing basic wireless packet analysis.
There are also links to additional tools that help users find interference issues and reduce Wi-Fi saturation as well as selecting the right wireless channel.
Clicking on the ?network? tab pulls up the real-time information about all wireless networks in proximity. By default, the network you?re connected to gets starred. The software helps you optimize that network and considers it the main one to which you?re most likely to connect. The interface prominently displays details about this starred network, so you can view information such as how many other access points are using the same channel as your starred network. For performance improvement, you could place your starred network on a less crowded channel. This may be one of the most useful troubleshooting features in the software.
You get details on all networks in proximity, including signal strength (some tools refer to this as RSSI, in which the closer the number is to 0 the better), channel, security, MAC address of each access point, and the 802.11x standard being used. I do have an 802.11ac access point deployed nearby but inSSIDer reported it as 802.11n. 802.11ac reporting may not happen until the standard actually gets ratified; inSSIDer may require an update for this.
Right-clicking on any listed network opens a menu that lets you quickly select the information you want to see about that network: SSID, signal, channel, maximum rate, network type, and even the access point?s vendor. The entire view of networks can also be sorted by the same parameters.
inSSIDer will also calculate a Link score based on information such as channel overlap and signal strength for each wireless network. You can see how tweaking channel settings or even relocating an access point or router influences the score?the higher the score, the better the network performance you will receive.
A Fun, Useful Tool What?s great about inSSIDer is that you can use it for several real-world purposes for your wireless network. For instance, say you are trying to find the best location to place an access point or router. Position the device and then fire up inSSIDER to see what? signal strength the software reports. This is really useful if you are trying to setup a Wi-Fi network in a place with lots of thick walls, glass or mirrors or multiple levels.
You can also use inSSIDer to tweak your wireless channel. In the U.S, there are 14 channels used for the 2.4GHz signal. These channels typically are 1, 6, and 11. So if you see many wireless networks in your area using channel 11 for example, by using inSSIDer you can change your 2.4 GHz signal to operate on channel 6 to tweak performance.?
Yes, it may be lightweight for those who deploy wireless networks professionally. But anyone managing a home or small business wireless network will certainly benefit from the information inSSIDer provides. It earns a 4.5 out of 5 star rating and is easily a PCMag Editors? Choice for networking utilities.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? South Korea says Pyongyang has ignored Seoul's deadline for responding to a demand for talks on a shuttered inter-Korean factory park.
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said Friday that Seoul is considering countermeasures but refused to discuss what they might be.
Pyongyang barred South Korean managers and cargo from entering North Korea's Kaesong factory complex this month and recalled 53,000 North Korean workers. Seoul promised unspecified "grave measures" if Pyongyang didn't respond to its demand for talks by noon Friday (0300GMT).
Some analysts said Seoul may pull out the roughly 175 South Korean managers who remain at the complex.
The suspension came amid weeks of North Korean threats aimed at Washington and Seoul over joint military drills and U.N. sanctions meant to penalize Pyongyang over its February nuclear test.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress got rid of a headache on Friday when it rescued the flying public from flight delays caused by its budget cutting. But in the view of many U.S. lawmakers, the pain is just about to begin.
Members of Congress and groups representing people hit by across-the-board budget cuts, ranging from cancer patients to welfare recipients, say the quick action on air traffic control staffing underscored the importance of being visible to millions of Americans.
"What are we going to do, every time there's a fire we're going to put it out by moving some funds around? That's a shell game," said Representative Gerald Connolly, a Democrat from northern Virginia.
"I'm going to predict that there's going to be more weeping and gnashing of teeth, as sequestration sets in and we're going to continue to approach this on a piecemeal basis," he said.
Next in line for individual funding relief will be advocates for national parks, low-income housing, AIDS funding, meals on wheels and Community Development Block Grants, Connolly said, adding that budget cuts for these and other safety-net services will be felt severely by local communities.
Representatives for some of these other programs said it was the television images of lines in airports and the interviews with angry passengers that led to action, combined with the lobbying power of the travel industry.
"It means we worry about who's going to scream the loudest now," said Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, which has been lobbying against cuts in federal funding of medical research.
A heavy dose of lobbying from the airline and travel industry preceded the legislation enacted Friday, which permitted the Federal Aviation Administration to move money to avoid the furloughs of air traffic controllers that were causing the delays.
Sequestration - the $109 billion in automatic across-the-board budget cuts enacted by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama - formally took effect in March and barring Congressional action to replace it may continue for a decade.
Some programs won relief from Congress in March, notably the meat and poultry industry, which fought successfully to prevent furloughs of U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspectors.
But because the furloughs in other programs, such as the FAA, were not immediately implemented, the impact was slow to build.
TRAVEL LOBBY
The travel industry began to accelerate its lobbying effort after it learned early last week from the FAA that as many as 6,700 flights per day could be delayed, potentially reducing capacity at major airports by 30 to 40 percent.
Nicholas Calio, president of Airlines for America, or A4A, the main airlines industry group, worked the phones throughout the week, said Jean Medina, senior vice president for communications at A4A.
"He certainly was in very close contact with a lot of people to make sure they understood what needed to happen," she said.
Its first course of action was to ask the administration for a 30-day delay.
When that was denied, the industry group began focusing on a legislative fix that would clear both houses with bipartisan support and be signed into law by Obama.
US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker, who would head the world's largest airline if his carrier's merger with AMR Corp's American Airlines is approved, said he spent the past week making calls to government officials in his airline's hub markets to express concern about the furloughs.
"What I know is we're doing great disservice to the flying public and to the citizens of the United States and we need for this to get resolved," Parker told Reuters from Arizona earlier this week.
The non-profit U.S. Travel Association said it mounted its own "sequester offensive" in response to the furloughs and began a consumer texting campaign that connected travelers who had been delayed at airports to members of Congress.
The association also asked industry workers to contact their representatives in Congress to explain that the travel delays put their jobs at risk.
"We were in frequent contact with Congress urging them to solve this problem as soon as possible," Erik Hansen, director of domestic policy at the U.S. Travel Association, said on Friday. "We were able to generate hundreds of calls and emails to Congress and we're hoping that helped to move the ball forward," Hansen said.
VISIBILITY
Airlines for America reported about $6.3 million in lobbying expenses in 2012 according to the Center for Responsive Politics; the U.S. Travel Association spent about $1.7 million; US Airways and Delta about $2.8 million each.
While other interest groups have a lobbying presence in the national capital, they are hard pressed to match the visibility of air travel.
Compared to "longer lines at airports," said Cynthia Pellegrini, a vice president at the March of Dimes, which raises funds to improve the health of mothers and babies, "you can't see that a child's belly is emptier because her family couldn't get food assistance."
"We are not as well-heeled as the travel industry," said Deborah Weinstein, executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs, an alliance of social welfare organizations. "But I think as more people learn of this appalling choice," that Congress made on Friday, "they will get as mad as I am."
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, home to a major Delta Air Lines hub in Minneapolis, was among the members backing an FAA budget fix on Thursday when the Senate passed it.
She called it a "practical, pragmatic answer to an immediate problem," but acknowledged that it does nothing to get Congress closer to fixing the problems caused by sequestration. More effects of the cuts, demonstrated dramatically to the public, could do that, she added.
She may not have long to wait. Organizations that have been more quietly protesting the budget cuts were rethinking their strategy on Friday in the wake of Congress' action.
"It is inexplicable why proven and effective Meals on Wheels programs get overlooked from exemption from the sequester when both the business and social case exists," said Ellie Hollander, President and CEO of Meals on Wheels Association of America.
"I guess that's because we need to be a different kind of squeaky wheel."
(Additional reporting by Karen Jacobs, Susan Heavy and Karey Van Hall; Editing by Fred Barbash and Tim Dobbyn)
Crowdfynd is a Startup Alley participant at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 that is taking a crack at the age-old problem of managing lost and found items. How does it work? If you lose an item, you can use either Crowdfynd.com or their?iOS mobile app to post info about that lost item (last location, descriptions) as well as post a monetary reward amount that is held in escrow.
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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Whenever my friends and I get together for a movie party, the toughest part of the evening is collectively deciding what to watch. There?s always one person that shoots a good suggestion down with a curt, ?I?m not in the mood for that?. Moviora is an app that aims to make that process a little easier. It?s a strange thing. Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video certainly provide a plethora of video content for our viewing pleasure, but oftentimes the biggest challenge is narrowing down all of those options to just one title. Netflix offers a list of recommendations by sifting through our viewing history, but it?s far from perfect. I?ve watched a lot of stupid crap, and so have all of my other friends I share my Netflix account with. More often than not, my searching on Netflix will end up in mired in a list of obscure, low-budget B-movie titles that I have no intention of ever watching. Moviora is an app that attempts to discern what we?re in the mood for watching by essentially playing a game of ten questions. For example, it asks if you?re in the mood for a ?drama?, and you narrow the choices down by answering yes or no. Once you?re cycled through these prompts five to six times, you?re provided with a movie recommendation, along with a trailer, some reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and links to the film on Netflix and iTunes. When I answered ?yes? to drama, ?no? to comedy, ?yes? to romance, ?yes? to action, and ?yes? to adventure, it provided me with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is actually a movie I haven?t watched yet and wouldn?t mind seeing at all. It doesn?t always provide you with the perfect choice, but there?s an addictive quality to the ten questions aspect and it?s certainly a lot better than aimlessly meandering through Netflix?s movie titles. You can try out Moviora for yourself at their website here. The app is currently a free download in the iOS App Store.
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