Thanks to Ken for sending me this one. I don?t know anything about Jorge Scientific Corporation, but it looks like they are in need of some highly qualified close protection specialists. If anyone has anything to add to this one, do so in the comments. I am not the POC or recruiter for this job, and follow the links and directions below if you would like to apply. Good luck. -Matt
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Jobs: Close Protection Specialist, Afghanistan Details Location: VA ? Afghanistan Job Type: Professional Services Other Base Pay: N/A Required Education: High School Bonus: Required Experience: At least 10 year(s) Other: Required Travel: Not Specified Employee Type: Full-Time Relocation Covered: Not Specified Industry Defense ? Aerospace Job ID: 11185 Description Jorge Scientific Corporation is a leading systems integration firm; we provide cutting edge defense and government solutions. We are currently expanding our Engagement Group?and seeking a highly motivated?Close ? Protection Specialist?to help support our efforts in the Global War on Terrorism in Afghanistan. The incumbent for this position will provide essential driving and protection of personnel and assets in support operational and administrative activities of the program within the Afghanistan Theater of Operations.
Specific Duties: Responsible for providing driving support to contractor personnel in high-risk areas Responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing motor vehicle convoy operations in urban and rural environments IAW NATO and Combined Security Transition Command ? Afghanistan movement control policy including but not limited to: Route planning and analysis Arrival and Departure procedures IED Avoidance Vehicle recover and self-recovery situations Responsible for the force protection of embedded team members executing mentorship activities to Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police Responsible for conducting weapons training, immediate action drills, and other security related activities required to accomplish operational requirements Responsible for assisting research, analysis and written assessments on the purchase and implementation of new and current security equipment, vehicle and weapon employment in regards to protect program personnel Carries and operates weapons as specified to accomplish daily operational requirements.
A minimum of 10 years of relevant military, law enforcement, or protective security from the private sector Operational experience with U.S. Army Special Forces Command (USASFC), United States Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC), 75th Ranger Regiment, and selected U.S. Armed Forces law enforcement organizations highly desired Graduate of the U.S. Army SFARTAETC or service equivalent, SFAUC, Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), Special Mission Unit, Department of State Protective Services, or Federal Law Enforcement equivalent operators course desired Exceptional weapons handling skills (MK 18, M9 or Glock 17, MP5, and AK-47) Superior mounted and dismounted orienteering skills using maps and electronic navigational equipment Must have recent deployment and operational experience in Afghanistan Ability live and operate in an austere and hazardous environment Active TOP SECRET Security Clearance preferred Must have a Valid US Passport Ability to work within multi-disciplinary teams Strong organizational skills, and demonstrated ability to operate in independent and collaborative work environments Interested applicants should submit their resumes to Human Resources attention Lee S. Boone Jorge Scientific Corporation is an equal opportunity employer promoting a diverse and drug free work environment.? EOE, M, F, D, V To learn more about employment opportunities for Jorge Scientific Corporation, please visit us at http://www.jorge.com/ Apply here.
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WASHINGTON?? Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain said Sunday that an Internet ad featuring his campaign manager smoking conveyed a message about letting "people be people" and was not intended to suggest that smoking is cool.
Other political news of note
Iowa Poll: Cain, Romney top field ahead of caucuses
First Read: The two candidates who least frequently visit Iowa are currently leading in the race to win the state's January caucuses, a new Des Moines Register poll shows.
Bachmann defends stance on kids of illegal immigrants
Cain: 'We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke'
NJ: Cain underscores Romney's authenticity gap
NYT: Obama 'bundlers' sport close ties to lobbies
The video went viral this month with some 1 million clicks on Cain's campaign website. The ad shows Cain's top adviser, Mark Block, taking a deep drag from a cigarette and slowly exhaling into the camera.
"I'm not a smoker. But I don't have a problem if that's his choice," Cain said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"So let Herman be Herman. Let Mark be Mark. Let people be people. This wasn't intended to send any subliminal signal whatsoever," the candidate said.
Iowa Poll: Cain, Romney top field ahead of caucuses
Cain, who was diagnosed with liver and colon cancer in 2006 and has said he's been cancer-free since 2007, was chided about the ad by his interviewer, Bob Schieffer, a bladder cancer survivor.
"Mark Block smokes. That's all that ad says," Cain said. "We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke. You have a lot of people in this country that smoke. But what I respect about Mark as a smoker ... he never smokes around me or smokes around anyone else. He goes outside."
Cain said the video was meant "to be informative. If they listen to the message where he said America has never seen a candidate like Herman Cain, that was the main point of it. And the bit on the end, we didn't know whether it was going to be funny to some people or whether they were going to ignore it or whatever the case may be."
Cain said he understood the objection and that about 30 percent of the feedback the campaign had received to the video was similar to Schieffer's.
Schieffer pressed Cain to send an anti-smoking message on the show. Cain complied.
"Young people of America, all people, do not smoke. It is hazardous and it's dangerous to your health. Don't smoke. I've never smoked and I have encouraged people not to smoke," he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
-- If the Patriots are the NFL's team of the last decade, the Steelers are a close runner-up.
Indeed, Pittsburgh has won two Super Bowls since the Patriots last grabbed the title. Since 2005, the Steel Curtain owns three AFC crowns to one for New England.
But the Patriots (5-1) have won three of the last four meetings and Tom Brady nearly always outplays Ben Roethlisberger when they face off. New England is 6-1 against Pittsburgh when Brady starts, and he is averaging 286 yards passing a game with 14 touchdowns against three interceptions versus the Steelers.
Even when the Steelers have been strong on the turnover charts, it hasn't helped much against Brady and Co. Now, Pittsburgh (5-2) is at the bottom of the conference with a minus-9 differential and has a measly three takeaways. That must change Sunday at Heinz Field when the 3-point favorite Patriots visit.
"I've been here for most of those losses, (Brady) has had our number," linebacker Larry Foote said. "We have to try and correct that this Sunday."
It is no easy chore, particularly with AFC East leader New England coming off a bye. Still, the Patriots are struggling on defense, Brady has been sacked 11 times and thrown eight picks. Pittsburgh has 17 sacks and has won three straight to take the AFC North lead.
"They don't dance around. They're not finesse whatsoever," Patriots defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said. "Everybody runs hard. They don't mind hitting. They like to hit. It's a very physical team. More physical than we have seen this year."
And New England is more potent offensively than anyone the Steelers have seen, ranked first in yards passing and overall offense and averaging just under 31 points a game.
"They are doing what they usually do," Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said.
Which means beating the Steelers.
PATRIOTS, 30-23
Miami (plus 10) at New York Giants
We get the feeling last week's collapse will carry over for woeful Dolphins. Giants getting healthy after bye.
BEST BET: GIANTS, 28-10
Cincinnati (minus 3) at Seattle
Tough week to find an underdog we project to win outright.
UPSET SPECIAL: SEAHAWKS, 17-16
Dallas (plus 3 1/2) at Philadelphia
Huge NFC East matchup that could determine future of division.
EAGLES, 24-23
San Diego (plus 3 1/2) at Kansas City, Monday night
Have to like the way Chiefs turned it around despite major injuries.
CHIEFS, 21-20
Buffalo (minus 6) vs. Washington at Toronto
Things are falling apart in DC. A trip to the Great White North won't help.
BILLS, 27-17
Cleveland (plus 9 1/2) at San Francisco
Niners have kind of schedule that could earn them a bye if they stay on track.
49ERS, 20-6
Arizona (plus 13) at Baltimore
Angry and embarrassed Ravens are more fierce than these Cardinals.
RAVENS, 22-7
Indianapolis (plus 9) at Tennessee
Both teams come off humiliations. Titans more likely to bounce back.
TITANS, 24-13
Jacksonville (plus 9 1/2) at Houston
Banged-up Texans got possible season-defining win last week. Jags impressed against Ravens.
TEXANS, 26-13
Minnesota (plus 3 1/2) at Carolina
Newton vs. Ponder. Go with the more-veteran rookie.
PANTHERS, 27-16
New Orleans (OFF) at St. Louis
Too bad this is off the board (Sam Bradford's injury); would've been Best Bet.
SAINTS, 38-13
Detroit (OFF) at Denver
No line because of Matthew Stafford's right ankle injury. Shaun Hill is a decent backup.
LIONS, 23-20
___
RECORD:
Against spread: 8-4-1 (overall 59-38-3); straight up 9-4 (overall 71-32).
Best Bet: 2-5 against spread, 4-3 straight up.
Upset Special: 6-1 against spread, 4-3 straight up.
(HealthDay News) -- Nasal stuffiness and nosebleeds are common during pregnancy, due to inflamed nasal tissues triggered by hormonal changes and an increase in your body's production of blood.
The womenshealth.gov website suggests how to ease nasal problems during pregnancy:
Gently blow your nose.
Run a cool mist humidifier.
Drink plenty of fluids.
Gently squeeze your nose between your thumb and forefinger for several minutes to help stop a nosebleed.
Call your doctor if nosebleeds persist and bleeding continues for longer than a few minutes.
The invention of the car was one of the most important events in recent history. The convenience and freedom of transport, to allow the cars changed the way the world changes, interaction, travel and live from day to day. The car has even changed, where we build our homes. Before the car, it was easy to get to where we were at any time, towns and villages were built so that people could go where they needed to go on foot or by car. Houses were built near the town. The cars have changed other aspects of daily life that we usually think.
In 1806 a Swiss inventor named Francois Isaac de Rivaz invented the first internal combustion engine. This engine was fed at the beginning a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. He used to power one of the first cars built all. However, its design was rudimentary and not a commercial success.
It was not until 1885 that Karl Benz, German engineer and inventor, the first four-stroke internal combustion powered by petroleum diesel invented. Although several other German engineers worked on their own version of the engine, Karl Benz is credited as the true inventor of the engine. He used the engine to power one of the first cars in the world. This car was initially a little over a seat on three wheels. Later designs Benz four-wheel are made with upgraded engines.
In the U.S., two men were the steps in the automobile industry, Henry Ford and Ransom Olds. Ransom Olds, the founder of the Oldsmobile car manufacturer, was the first to come with a car that was cheap and mass produced, so the public could afford. However, Henry Ford greatly improved the design of Olds. ?The assembly line method of automobile production mass producing a vehicle every fifteen minutes. Her belt was a model of efficiency and safety for the many important industries. With the success of the model of Ford and other car companies started jumping, competition for sales. For this reason, the automotive industry is growing rapidly. In the early 20th century the invention of the electric self-starter and ignition, four-wheel brakes, suspension independent and the car is much improved.
As the year progressed and cars became more and more popular, other inventions were developed and safety features like seat belts and airbags. Automobiles have become increasingly a necessity rather than a luxury that more and more recognized that they needed to get where they need to go. Today, a car is the main mode of transport for most people. It is an invention that changed the way we live. To find out about this day in history in automotive please click the link.
Source: www.deals4dummies.com --- Saturday, October 29, 2011 This post brought to you by Carapelli . All opinions are 100% mine. I?m always learning new things when I?m in the kitchen. Always. While trying to learn to cook healthier, I searched for new ideas of food preparation and leaner but tasty recipes. And one of the first things I learned while looking at new ideas and recipes was what EVOO meant. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, should be simple enough, right???Actually, EVOO is simple and complex ? a lot like wine.? So let?s learn! For example, much like wine tasting, there?s a very specific technique to tasting olive Oil. In olive Oil tasting there are the Four S?s: swirl, sniff, slurp and swallow. Seriously, these are from the experts, I didn?t make up ?slurp.? To begin, you pour a tablespoon of olive Oil into a blue glass and gently warm it by covering the glass with one hand and holding the body of the glass with the other. Now you Swirl: this will release the Oil?s esters which contain the aroma; Sniff, inhale deeply, the Oil?s aroma is the key to the fruitiness. Is the aroma subtle or intense? Next comes the fun part: Slurp, sip the Oil with a little air. Slurping helps spread the Oil throughout your mouth. What do you taste ? pepper, fruit, smoothness? And finally, swallow. The Oil shouldn?t leave an aftertaste in your mouth. A peppery stinging sensation in your throat is indicative of the Oil?s freshness. In an effort to eat healthier we use a lot of Olive Oil in our house. When coo ...
WASHINGTON ? You don't think of pythons as big-hearted toward their fellow creatures. They're better known for the bulge in their bodies after swallowing one of those critters whole.
But the snakes' hearts balloon in size, too, as they're digesting ? and now scientists are studying them for clues about human heart health.
The expanded python heart appears remarkably similar to the larger-than-normal hearts of Olympic-caliber athletes. Colorado researchers report they've figured out how the snakes make it happen.
"It's this amazing biology," said Leslie Leinwand, a molecular biologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, whose team reports the findings in Friday's edition of the journal Science. "They're not swelling up. They're building (heart) muscle."
Reptile biologists have long studied the weird digestion of these snakes, especially the huge Burmese pythons that can go nearly a year between meals with no apparent ill effects. When they swallow that next rat or bird ? or in some cases deer ? something extraordinary happens. Their metabolism ratchets up more than 40-fold, and their organs immediately start growing in size to get the digesting done. The heart alone grows a startling 40 percent or more within three days.
Leinwand, who studies human heart disease, stumbled across that description and saw implications for people. An enlarged human heart usually is caused by chronic high blood pressure or other ailments that leave it flabby and unable to pump well. But months and years of vigorous exercise give some well-conditioned athletes larger, muscular hearts, similar to how python hearts are during digestion.
So Leinwand's team ? led by a graduate student who initially was frightened of snakes ? ordered a box of pythons and began testing what happens to their hearts.
The first surprise: A digesting python's blood gets so full of fat it looks milky. A type of fat called triglycerides increased 50-fold within a day. In people, high triglyceride levels are very dangerous. But the python heart was burning those fats so rapidly for fuel that they didn't have time to clog anything up, Leinwand said.
The second surprise: A key enzyme that protects the heart from damage increased in python blood right after it ate, while a heart-damaging compound was repressed.
Then the team found that a specific combination of three fatty acids in the blood helped promote the healthy heart growth. If they injected fasting pythons with that mixture, those snakes' hearts grew the same way that a fed python's does.
But did it only work for snakes? Lead researcher Cecilia Riquelme dropped some plasma from a fed python into a lab dish containing the heart cells of rats ? and they grew bigger, too. Sure enough, injecting living mice made their hearts grow in an apparently healthy way as well.
Now the question is whether that kind of growth could be spurred in a mammal with heart disease, something Leinwand's team is starting to test in mice with human-like heart trouble. They also want to know how the python heart quickly shrinks back to its original size when digestion's done.
The experiments are "very, very cool indeed," said James Hicks, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who has long studied pythons' extreme metabolism and wants to see more such comparisons.
If the same underlying heart signals work in animals as divergent as snakes and mice, "this may reveal a common universal mechanism that can be used for improving cardiac function in all vertebrates, including humans," Hicks wrote in an email. "Only further studies and time will tell, but this paper is very exciting."
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and a Boulder biotechnology company that Leinwand co-founded, Hiberna Corp., that aims to develop drugs based on extreme animal biology.
Two weeks ago, representatives from the NFL and the NFLPA met with Representatives Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), key members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding the agreement to commence HGH testing, and regarding the fact that HGH testing hasn?t occurred.? After the meeting, Issa and Cummings said that an agreement had been reached that the collection of blood samples would commence, with further discussion to occur on the specific of the testing process and the interpretation of the results.
?We are not guaranteeing any outcome other then there was an agreement to begin testing immediately,? Issa said at the time, per FOXSports.com.? ?The other aspects on what to do with the tests will be resolved over the next many weeks.?
In the days thereafter, the NFL expressed an intention to begin collecting blood samples for HGH testing, and the NFLPA said that no agreement to commence the collection of samples had been reached.? Earlier this week, members of a separate House committee pressed for public hearings on the lingering impasse.
Now, Issa and Cummings have sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith regarding the status of situation.? In the letter, a copy of which PFT obtained earlier this afternoon, Issa and Cummings express concern that the NFLPA ?may be using stall tactics to avoid complying? with the agreement to conduct HGH testing.? Issa and Cummings say that they ?have not received an adequate justification for refusing to allow the collection of blood samples while negotiations continue about the testing regimen,? and they make it clear that, absent progress from the parties toward that end, ?we will be in touch with you shortly.?
To bolster the conclusion that the NFLPA may be simply trying to buy time, Issa and Cummings point out that the NFLPA declined an invitation to tour the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency?s testing facility, where ?the players and union representatives would be walked through every stage of the test.?
PFT recently was told that the NFLPA plans to submit to HGH testing only when forced to do so by Congress, presumably to de-emphasize the fact that current union leadership already has agreed to HGH testing.? This meshes with the theory that current union leadership fears it could become former union leadership as of March 2012, if HGH testing commences before Smith?s current three-year contract expires then.
UPDATE 4:26 p.m. ET:? The NFL has issued a statement in reaction to the letter from Representatives Issa and Cummings.? ?We share the Chairman and Ranking Member?s disappointment with the NFLPA?s lack of urgency on this important health and safety matter for NFL players and athletes at all levels and its failure to live up to an agreement signed months ago,? the NFL said.? ?We are ready to begin immediately collecting samples and educating players on the testing program.?
LONDON (AP) -Former England striker Les Ferdinand, whose cousin is at the center of the racism investigation against John Terry, does not want the England captain to be allowed to play for his country again if he is found guilty.
The Football Association is investigating whether the Chelsea captain directed a racial slur at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match on Sunday.
The probe was triggered Tuesday by QPR's official complaint after footage of Terry apparently mouthing the insult at the black player spread on social networking sites.
Terry has denied allegations of racism, saying his comments were taken out of context.
But if Terry was found guilty, his future playing for England - not only as captain - would be thrown into doubt, just seven months after regaining the armband following a sex scandal.
Anton Ferdinand's close relative said the English football authorities need to be seen to be acting tough on racism.
Asked if Terry should be banned from the national team if the allegations were proven, Les Ferdinand said Wednesday: "It's down to the FA, but I'd be shouting from the rooftops (for that)."
"They need to make a statement," he added. "If they don't make a statement, paltry fines that have been handed out in the past prove to people that these people do not believe there is a problem with racism in football."
Ferdinand spoke to The Associated Press at the Black List Awards in London, which recognize the achievements of black people in English football. He said he has to speak to his cousin about the incident.
"The more we see (racism) is a problem and we can do something about it, the more it eradicates the problem from happening," Ferdinand said. "Until we can do that, this problem will continue (to) happen and I think it will steadily get worse until major steps are taken about stamping this out."
The Terry incident is also being investigated by police in London.
The 30-year-old defender said the alleged comments directed at Ferdinand were taken out of context by social media users who spread the video on Sunday night.
"I thought Anton was accusing me of using a racist slur against him," he said after the match. "I responded aggressively, saying that I never used that term."
The incident happened during English football's anti-racism week, which highlights the progress made since abuse marred the game in the 1970s and 80s.
And it came just a week after the FA launched a probe into allegations that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez racially abused Manchester United's black defender Patrice Evra during a Premier League match.
"I think the FA, FIFA and UEFA have been in positions where they have been able to stamp out a few problems which have reared their ugly heads in the last few years and they haven't done so, or they haven't done it diligently enough," Ferdinand said. "And I think that's what has brought us to where we are today talking about this situation (with Anton)."
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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WASHINGTON ? Seeking to shore up support among cash-strapped college graduates and students struggling with rising tuition costs, President Barack Obama is outlining a plan to allow millions of student loan recipients to lower their payments and consolidate their loans.
Outside of mortgages, student loans are the No. 1 source of household debt. Young voters were an important bloc in Obama's 2008 campaign, and student loan debt is a common concern among Occupy Wall Street protesters.
Obama's announcement, to take place Wednesday in Denver, comes the same day a new report is being released by the College Board. It shows average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose $631 this fall, or 8.3 percent, compared with a year ago. Nationally, the cost of a full credit load has passed $8,000, an all-time high.
The White House said Obama will use his executive authority to provide student loan relief in two ways.
First, he will accelerate a measure passed by Congress that reduces the maximum repayment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent. The White House wants it to go into effect in 2012, instead of 2014. In addition, the White House says the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, instead of 25. About 1.6 million borrowers could be affected.
Second, he will allow borrowers who have a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Program and a direct loan from the government to consolidate them into one loan. The consolidated loan would carry an interest rate of up to a half percentage point less than before. This could affect 5.8 million more borrowers.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters on a conference call that the changes could save some borrowers hundreds of dollars a month.
"These are real savings that will help these graduates get started in their careers and help them make ends meet," Duncan said.
The White House said the changes will carry no additional costs to taxpayers.
Last year, Congress passed a law that lowered the repayment cap and moved all student loans to direct lending by eliminating banks as the middlemen. Before that, borrowers could get loans directly from the government or from the Federal Family Education Loan Program; the latter were issued by private lenders but basically insured by the government. The law was passed along with the health care overhaul with the anticipation that it could save about $60 billion over a decade.
Today, there are 23 million borrowers with $490 billion in loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Last year, the Education Department made $102.2 billion in direct loans to 11.5 million recipients.
Increases in federal aid have helped ease the burden on students dealing with tuition increases, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said in a report Wednesday.
"Despite large increases in the published price of college over the past four years, the average student has not seen commensurate increases in the net price of college, defined as the published price minus grants, scholarships and tax benefits," the report said.
Meanwhile, the Education Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a project Tuesday to simplify the financial aid award letters that colleges mail to students each spring. A common complaint is that colleges obscure the inclusion of student loans in financial aid packages to make their school appear more affordable, and the agencies hope families will more easily be able to compare the costs of colleges.
Separately, James Runcie, the Education Department's federal student aid chief operating officer, told a congressional panel Tuesday that the personal financial details of as many 5,000 college students were temporarily viewable on the department's direct loan website earlier this month.
Runcie said site was shut down while the matter was resolved, and the affected students have been notified and offered credit monitoring.
___
Kimberly Hefling can be followed at http://twitter.com/khefling
Study identifies genetic basis of human metabolic individuality Public release date: 26-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Rodgers jdr2001@med.cornell.edu 212-821-0560 New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College
Research may lead to highly targeted, individualized therapies
NEW YORK -- In what is so far the largest investigation of its kind, researchers uncovered a wide range of new insights about common diseases and how they are affected by differences between two persons' genes. The results from this study could lead to highly targeted, individualized therapies.
Led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and published in a recent edition of the journal Nature, the study provides details on the genetics behind many diseases, including cardiovascular and kidney disorders, diabetes, cancer, gout, thrombosis and Crohn's disease, and elucidates the role that individual differences in metabolism play in these disorders.
Disturbances in metabolism are at the root of a variety of human afflictions and complex diseases. Although many of the genes that contribute to these conditions have been identified since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, it is still not known how metabolic disorders related to these genetic aberrations disrupt cellular processes.
One hundred years ago, Archibald Garrod, one of the fathers of modern biochemistry, realized that inborn errors in human metabolism are "merely extreme examples of variations of chemical behavior which are probably everywhere present in minor degrees" and that this "chemical individuality [confers] predisposition to and immunities from the various mishaps which are spoken of as diseases." Ever since, identification of the genetic basis of human chemical individuality has been elusive.
Now researchers addressed this challenge by using a new technology, called metabolomics. They measured the levels of more than 250 biochemical compounds in over 60 metabolic pathways, including lipids, sugars, vitamins, amino acids and others in blood from over 2,800 individuals. They then combined this dataset with information on more than 600,000 genetic variants (SNPs) that were detected in the genes of each of the study participants. Most of the SNPs were located in genes known to encode proteins involved in the relevant metabolic pathways. Fifteen of the SNPs had previously been associated with metabolism-related conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, gout, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, cancer and adverse drug reactions. But the new findings also uncovered a wealth of new associations that link the genetic makeup of a person to his or her biochemical capacities. This data is publicly available in an online database, accessible at http://www.gwas.eu.
Given the exceptional size of the dataset, the researchers prioritized the data to focus on 37 SNPs that were most strongly associated with metabolic traits, 23 of which had never been described before. The 37 SNPs had very large effects on the individuals' metabolite levels and can be considered to constitute what the authors call the "genetic basis of human metabolic individuality."
First author Dr. Karsten Suhre, professor of physiology and biophysics and director of the Bioinformatics Core at Weill Cornell Medical CollegeQatar, says, "These findings will enable researchers to identify new and potentially relevant metabolic processes and pathways. Two highly sophisticated biochemical measurement methods -- genetics and metabolomics -- applied to only two drops of blood can reveal deep insights into the genetic make up of our metabolic capacities. In addition to providing functional insights into the genetic basis of metabolic traits and complex diseases, this information is a way to understand an individual's uniqueness so as to develop highly targeted, personalized therapies and enable novel types of treatments or prevent adverse drug reactions."
###
In addition to Dr. Suhre, study co-authors include So-Youn Shin, Panos Deloukas and Nicole Soranzo of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; Ann-Kristin Petersen, Elisabeth Altmaier, Gabi Kastenmller, Christian Gieger, Christa Meisinger, Cornelia Prehn, Janina S. Ried, Werner Rmisch-Margl and Thomas Illig of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health; Robert P. Mohney and Michael V. Milburn of Metabolon Inc.; David Meredith of Oxford Brookes University; Brigitte Wgele, Martin Hrab de Angelis, Thomas Meitinger, Hans-Werner Mewes and Jerzy Adamski of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health and Technische Universitt Mnchen; Jeanette Erdmann of Medizinische Klinik II; Elin Grundberg of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and King's College London; Christopher J. Hammond, Massimo Mangino, Kerrin S. Small, Guangju Zhai and Tim D. Spector of King's College London; Anna Kttgen of University Hospital Freiburg; Florian Kronenberg of Innsbruck Medical University; Johannes Raffler of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt; Nilesh J. Samani of University of Leicester and Leicester NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Cardiovascular Disease, Glenfield Hospital; H.-Erich Wichmann of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt, and Klinikum Grosshadern; and CARDIoGRAM.
Weill Cornell Medical CollegeQatar
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar is part of Weill Cornell Medical College. It was established in 2001 through a partnership between Cornell University and Qatar Foundation. WCMC-Q offers an innovative educational program that includes a two-year premedical program followed by a four-year medical program leading to the M.D. degree from Cornell University. Each program has a separate admission process guided by the standards of admission at Cornell University in Ithaca and its Medical College in New York City. For more information, visit http://www.qatar-weill.cornell.edu.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit http://www.weill.cornell.edu.
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Study identifies genetic basis of human metabolic individuality Public release date: 26-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Rodgers jdr2001@med.cornell.edu 212-821-0560 New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College
Research may lead to highly targeted, individualized therapies
NEW YORK -- In what is so far the largest investigation of its kind, researchers uncovered a wide range of new insights about common diseases and how they are affected by differences between two persons' genes. The results from this study could lead to highly targeted, individualized therapies.
Led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and published in a recent edition of the journal Nature, the study provides details on the genetics behind many diseases, including cardiovascular and kidney disorders, diabetes, cancer, gout, thrombosis and Crohn's disease, and elucidates the role that individual differences in metabolism play in these disorders.
Disturbances in metabolism are at the root of a variety of human afflictions and complex diseases. Although many of the genes that contribute to these conditions have been identified since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, it is still not known how metabolic disorders related to these genetic aberrations disrupt cellular processes.
One hundred years ago, Archibald Garrod, one of the fathers of modern biochemistry, realized that inborn errors in human metabolism are "merely extreme examples of variations of chemical behavior which are probably everywhere present in minor degrees" and that this "chemical individuality [confers] predisposition to and immunities from the various mishaps which are spoken of as diseases." Ever since, identification of the genetic basis of human chemical individuality has been elusive.
Now researchers addressed this challenge by using a new technology, called metabolomics. They measured the levels of more than 250 biochemical compounds in over 60 metabolic pathways, including lipids, sugars, vitamins, amino acids and others in blood from over 2,800 individuals. They then combined this dataset with information on more than 600,000 genetic variants (SNPs) that were detected in the genes of each of the study participants. Most of the SNPs were located in genes known to encode proteins involved in the relevant metabolic pathways. Fifteen of the SNPs had previously been associated with metabolism-related conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, gout, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, cancer and adverse drug reactions. But the new findings also uncovered a wealth of new associations that link the genetic makeup of a person to his or her biochemical capacities. This data is publicly available in an online database, accessible at http://www.gwas.eu.
Given the exceptional size of the dataset, the researchers prioritized the data to focus on 37 SNPs that were most strongly associated with metabolic traits, 23 of which had never been described before. The 37 SNPs had very large effects on the individuals' metabolite levels and can be considered to constitute what the authors call the "genetic basis of human metabolic individuality."
First author Dr. Karsten Suhre, professor of physiology and biophysics and director of the Bioinformatics Core at Weill Cornell Medical CollegeQatar, says, "These findings will enable researchers to identify new and potentially relevant metabolic processes and pathways. Two highly sophisticated biochemical measurement methods -- genetics and metabolomics -- applied to only two drops of blood can reveal deep insights into the genetic make up of our metabolic capacities. In addition to providing functional insights into the genetic basis of metabolic traits and complex diseases, this information is a way to understand an individual's uniqueness so as to develop highly targeted, personalized therapies and enable novel types of treatments or prevent adverse drug reactions."
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In addition to Dr. Suhre, study co-authors include So-Youn Shin, Panos Deloukas and Nicole Soranzo of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; Ann-Kristin Petersen, Elisabeth Altmaier, Gabi Kastenmller, Christian Gieger, Christa Meisinger, Cornelia Prehn, Janina S. Ried, Werner Rmisch-Margl and Thomas Illig of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health; Robert P. Mohney and Michael V. Milburn of Metabolon Inc.; David Meredith of Oxford Brookes University; Brigitte Wgele, Martin Hrab de Angelis, Thomas Meitinger, Hans-Werner Mewes and Jerzy Adamski of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health and Technische Universitt Mnchen; Jeanette Erdmann of Medizinische Klinik II; Elin Grundberg of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and King's College London; Christopher J. Hammond, Massimo Mangino, Kerrin S. Small, Guangju Zhai and Tim D. Spector of King's College London; Anna Kttgen of University Hospital Freiburg; Florian Kronenberg of Innsbruck Medical University; Johannes Raffler of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt; Nilesh J. Samani of University of Leicester and Leicester NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Cardiovascular Disease, Glenfield Hospital; H.-Erich Wichmann of Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt, and Klinikum Grosshadern; and CARDIoGRAM.
Weill Cornell Medical CollegeQatar
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar is part of Weill Cornell Medical College. It was established in 2001 through a partnership between Cornell University and Qatar Foundation. WCMC-Q offers an innovative educational program that includes a two-year premedical program followed by a four-year medical program leading to the M.D. degree from Cornell University. Each program has a separate admission process guided by the standards of admission at Cornell University in Ithaca and its Medical College in New York City. For more information, visit http://www.qatar-weill.cornell.edu.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit http://www.weill.cornell.edu.
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Rote memorization of a new language will only teach you so much, you need to actually use it in everyday instances for it to really sink in. An intelligent kitchen from Newcastle University aims to do just that with a bonus of fine French cuisine. More »
According to a People exclusive, "Sister Wives" hubby Kody Brown and wife No. 4, Robyn, welcomed a baby boy on Wednesday morning. The child is the first for the couple, but is the 17th in the plural family.
Baby Solomon weighs in at 9 lbs, 10.5 ounces and was born in the pair's Las Vegas home, according to People.
"He?s perfect and we couldn?t be happier," Kody told People about the latest addition. "We are so thrilled."
The TLC show?last season featured the marriage of Brown and Robyn. This season, it has highlighted unhappiness felt by wife No. 3, Christine, in her plural marriage. The family is currently challenging Utah's polygamy law, arguing that its unconstitutional and unfairly applied to polygamists. The state, where the Browns?used to live,?was investigating Kody for felony bigamy before the family moved to Nevada.
The show airs on Sundays at 9 on TLC.
Do you think baby Solomon will throw another wrench into the family's happiness, or will he bring them closer together? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page!
This might seem like a niche app (and it probably is), but because there aren't so many apps in the Market for this, Campyre is worth a mention. If you've ever needed to hop into a Campfire chat by 37signals, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Campyre is a third-party Android client that lets you log in, read, and post in a Campfire chat. It's ideal for those times you're out and about but need to stay connected to the people you collaborte with.
Signing in is easy; it only requires you plug in your chat room's custom Campfire URL, your username, and your password. From there, you'll be presented with a list of rooms you can join. Tap the one you want to hop in, and boom, you're in.
Once you've joined a room, you'll be able to see all the stuff folks are saying as well as post your own messages. There's timestamps for when people join and leave, but you can turn that off in the settings. You can also check out today's transcript in case you think there's something you missed from earlier (when you were unplugged).
There's a fairly bare settings menu, too. You can change the maxmium number of messages the room will show, and enable or disable enter and exit messages along with timestamps.
A pretty worthwhile feature is the "create shortcut" option. If you choose this, Campyre creates a shortcut to the room you're in on your main homescreen, so you don't need to deal with logging in and selecting a chat room anymore. Simply tap your shortcut and you'll go straight to the chat.
Campyre is completely free (and without ads, to boot), so if you're a frequent user of Campfire in the web browser, Campyre is something definitely worth checking out.
We've got more pictures and download links after the break.
In 1975, Anneka Vasta was the Penthouse Pet of the Year. But on Jan. 4, joggers found Vasta's nude, dead body washed up on the shores of Camp Pendleton, the major Marine Corps base near San Diego. She was still so slim and youthful looking, the San Diego Union Tribune reports, that military police thought she was a teenager.
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The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is now asking anyone who has information about Vasta's death or saw her before her body was found to contact them. She had a broken neck and back, and police have yet to determine whether she was the victim of accidental drowning or committed suicide. Her family has "vehemently denied" she would have killed herself, the Union Tribune reports.
Her car was found parked on a viewpoint 60 feet above the Pacific Ocean, and the Union Tribune reports that a bloody bra and blouse, as well as a blood-stained steak knife, were found in the car.
Vasta used the name Anneka Di Lorenzo in her modeling days. She also played Messalina in Penthouse founder Bob Guccione's infamous 1979 movie "Caligula," the first movie to feature major stars in a film with explicit sex scenes. The film is famous as one of the only films critic Roger Ebert walked out of. Ebert later awarded it zero stars and described the movie as "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash."
Vasta once dated Guccione, but in 1990, she won a $4 million lawsuit against him, claiming he compelled her to have sex with two of his business associates, the New York Times reports.
She was born Marjorie Thoreson in Minnesota, but left there at just 14 for Los Angeles.
Libyan Transitional National Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, right, and Ali Tarhouni, Libyan National Transitional Council's minister for Oil and Finance, second left, greet Libyan veterans during a press conference in Benghazi, Libya, Monday Oct. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Libyan Transitional National Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, right, and Ali Tarhouni, Libyan National Transitional Council's minister for Oil and Finance, second left, greet Libyan veterans during a press conference in Benghazi, Libya, Monday Oct. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Libyan Transitional National Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil ponders a question during a press conference for Libyan veterans in Benghazi, Libya, Monday Oct. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Libyan Transitional National Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, right, and Ali Tarhouni, Libyan National Transitional Council's minister for Oil and Finance, left, greets Libyan veterans prior to a press conference in Benghazi, Libya, Monday Oct. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
In this Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 photo, an elderly Libyan woman gestures during the celebration of Libya's liberation at Martyrs Square in Tripoli, Libya, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Libya's transitional leader declared his country's liberation Sunday after an 8-month civil war and set out plans for the future with an Islamist tone. The announcement was clouded, however, by international pressure to explain how ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi had been captured alive days earlier, then ended up dead from a gunshot to his head shortly afterward. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)
In this Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 photo, Libyans gesture during the celebration of Libya's liberation at Martyrs Square in Tripoli, Libya, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Libya's transitional leader declared his country's liberation Sunday after an 8-month civil war and set out plans for the future with an Islamist tone. The announcement was clouded, however, by international pressure to explain how ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi had been captured alive days earlier, then ended up dead from a gunshot to his head shortly afterward. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? Libya's interim leader said Monday he has ordered an investigation into Moammar Gadhafi's death in response to strong international pressure to determine how the ousted leader was killed by a bullet to the head shortly after he was captured alive.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi that the National Transitional Council has formed a committee to investigate Thursday's killing amid conflicting reports of how the dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years died. Government officials have said initial findings suggest Gadhafi was killed in the crossfire as his supporters clashed with revolutionary forces seizing control of his hometown of Sirte.
But Abdul-Jalil raised a new possibility on Monday, suggesting that Gadhafi could have been killed by his own supporters to prevent him from implicating them in past misdeeds under his regime.
"Let us question who has the interest in the fact that Gadhafi will not be tried. Libyans want to try him for what he did to them, with executions, imprisonment and corruption," he said. "Free Libyans wanted to keep Gadhafi in prison and humiliate him as long as possible. Those who wanted him killed were those who were loyal to him or had played a role under him, his death was in their benefit."
The U.S., Britain and international rights groups have called for an investigation into whether Libya's former rebels killed a wounded Gadhafi after pulling him out of a drainage pipe in his hometown of Sirte, the last city to fall to revolutionary forces after an 8-month civil war.
Critics also have said the gruesome spectacle of his blood-streaked body laid out as a trophy for a fourth day of public viewing in a commercial freezer raises questions about the new leadership's commitment to the rule of law.
Abdul-Jalil said the transitional government has established a committee to determine what ultimately to do with Gadhafi's body and the decisions will be governed by a fatwa, or religious edict, by the head of the Islamic Fatwa society.
Libya's revolt erupted in February as part of anti-government protests spreading across the Middle East. But Libya's struggle has been the bloodiest so far in the region. Mass protests turned into a civil war that killed thousands and paralyzed the country. Gadhafi loyalists held out for two more months after the fall of the capital of Tripoli in late August.
Abdul-Jalil declared the country liberated on Sunday, launching the oil-rich nation on what is meant to be a two-year transition to democracy. But he also laid out plans with an Islamist tone that could rattle their Western backers. He said Islamic Sharia law would be the "basic source" of legislation, and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified.
Using Sharia as the main source of legislation is stipulated in the constitution of neighboring Egypt. Still, Egyptian laws remain largely secular as Egypt's interpretation of Sharia does not cover all aspects of modern life, while Saudi Arabia and Iran apply much more strict interpretations.
Abdul-Jalil also outlined several changes to align with Islamic law such as banning banks from paying interest and lifting restrictions on the number of wives Libyan men can take. The Muslim holy book, the Quran, allows men up to four wives.
Mindful of the concern, Abdul-Jalil said Monday he was referring to a temporary constitution and said he wanted to "assure the international community that we as Libyans are moderate Muslims."
He also said there will be a referendum on a new constitution after it is drawn up.
Islamist groups stand to gain ground in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt as well, after they shook off longtime dictators.
Libyan leaders have said they will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and hold elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months after that.
Concern about human rights violations clouded the declaration of liberation by Libya's new leaders on Sunday.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch warned Monday of a "trend of killings, looting and other abuses" by those who fought Gadhafi after finding 53 decomposing bodies, apparently of Gadhafi loyalists, some of whom it said may have been executed by revolutionary forces.
The bodies were found on the lawn of the abandoned Mahari hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound. HRW researcher Peter Bouckaert said the hotel had come under the control of fighters from Misrata before the killings took place.
The condition of the bodies suggested the men were killed between Oct. 15-19, the group said. Bloodstains on the grass and spent cartridges indicated some were shot and killed at the spot they were discovered.
"This latest massacre seems part of a trend of killings, looting, and other abuses committed by armed anti-Gadhafi fighters who consider themselves above the law," Bouckaert said in a statement. "It is imperative that the transitional authorities take action to rein in these groups."
The group called on Libyan authorities to conduct an immediate investigation.
Rebel fighters in Misrata ? a city which had been besieged by Gadhafi loyalists for weeks in the spring, coming under heavy shelling at the time ? had no immediate comment.
Gadhafi's death paved the way for the liberation declaration, but it remains unclear what happened in his final moments.
Jibril Othman, a Libyan fighter involved in the capture, said late Sunday that when he and others placed Gadhafi in an ambulance, the former dictator had not yet suffered what Libya's chief pathologist said was a fatal gunshot to the head.
Omar al-Shibani, a commander at the scene, told a news conference that Gadhafi had been bleeding from the head and the abdomen when he was pulled out of the pipe, but that it was unclear whether the head wound was from a gunshot.
One Gadhafi son, Muatassim, also was killed, but the former leader's one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, apparently escaped with some of his supporters.
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Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Tripoli and Rami al-Shaheibi in Misrata contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 26-Oct-2011
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