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Source: http://twitter.com/thenation/statuses/309110096162611202
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Thursday 7 March 2013
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Snooki loses 42 pounds, reveals post-baby body
By Us Weekly
There's a little bit less of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi?to go around these days -- 42 pounds' worth! The former "Jersey Shore" party girl, 25, has experienced a complete life makeover since last year, thanks to her engagement to boyfriend Jionni LaValle, her first-ever pregnancy, and the August birth of her adorable baby boy Lorenzo.
Us Weekly
PHOTOS: Snooki's wild pregnancy
"When you have a baby, everything changes," the 4-foot-9 star says in the new issue of Us Weekly. Part of Snooki's transformation? She's shed an astounding 42 pounds since giving birth, weighing in at a 102 pounds and revealing the sexy results for Us in body-revealing bikinis.
PHOTOS: Her over-the-top style
"I lost it for me," she tells Us, "but I also wanted Jionni to know that I can be hot as a mom."
For more exclusive shots of Snooki's amazing post-baby body, how she dropped the weight (including fitness and diet tips) and her new life with her boys, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands Friday!
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60 percent loss of forest elephants in Africa confirmed
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
African forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A study just published in the online journal PLOS ONE shows that across their range in central Africa, a staggering 62 percent of all forest elephants have been killed for their ivory over the past decade.
"The analysis confirms what conservationists have feared: the rapid trend towards extinction ? potentially within the next decade ? of the forest elephant," says Dr. Samantha Strindberg of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), one of the lead authors of the study.
"Saving the species requires a coordinated global effort in the countries where elephants occur ? all along the ivory smuggling routes, and at the final destination in the Far East. We don't have much time before elephants are gone," says the other lead author Dr. Fiona Maisels also of WCS.
The study, which examines the largest ever amount of Central African elephant survey data, comes as 178 countries gather in Bangkok to discuss wildlife trade issues, including poaching and ivory smuggling.
The study?the largest ever conducted on the African forest elephant? includes the work of more than 60 scientists between 2002 and 2011, and an immense effort by national conservation staff who spent 91,600 person-days surveying for elephants in five countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo), walking over 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) and recording over 11,000 samples for the analysis.
The paper shows that almost a third of the land where African forest elephants were able to live 10 years ago has become too dangerous for them.
Co-author Dr. John Hart of the Lukuru Foundation says: "Historically, elephants ranged right across the forests of this vast region of over 2 million square kilometers (over 772,000 square miles), but now cower in just a quarter of that area. Although the forest cover remains, it is empty of elephants, demonstrating that this is not a habitat degradation issue. This is almost entirely due to poaching." Recent surveys from Democratic Republic of Congo showed a major decline of elephants in the Okapi Faunal Reserve, considered the last stronghold for elephants in the region.
Results show clearly that forest elephants were increasingly uncommon in places with high human density, high infrastructure density such as roads, high hunting intensity, and poor governance as indicated by levels of corruption and absence of law enforcement.
Distinct from the African savannah elephant, the African forest elephant is slightly smaller than its better known relative and is considered by many to be a separate species. They play a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of one of the Earth's critical carbon sequestering tropical forests.
Prof. Lee White CBE, head of Gabon's National Parks Service says: "A rain forest without elephants is a barren place. They bring it to life, they create the trails and keep open the forest clearings other animals use; they disperse the seeds of many of the rainforest trees ? elephants are forest gardeners at a vast scale. Their calls reverberate through the trees reminding us of the grandeur of primeval nature. If we do not turn the situation around quickly the future of elephants in Africa is doomed. These new results illustrate starkly just how dramatic the situation has become. Our actions over the coming decade will determine whether this iconic species survives."
Research carried out by the CITES-MIKE program has shown that the increase in poaching levels across Africa since 2006 is strongly correlated with trends in consumer demand in the Far East, and that poaching levels are also strongly linked with governance at the national level and poverty at the local scale. This has resulted in escalating elephant massacres in areas previously thought to be safe.
"We have been carrying out surveys in the forests of Gabon for over a decade and seen an increasing number of elephant carcasses over the years" say co-authors Mr. Rostand Aba'a of the Gabon National Parks Service, and Mr. Marc Ella Akou of WWF Gabon.
Earlier this month, the government of Gabon announced the loss of approximately 11,000 forest elephants in Mink?b? National Park between 2004 and 2012; previously holding Africa's largest forest elephant population.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon says: "Gabon's elephants are under siege because of an illegal international market that has driven ivory prices in the region up significantly. I call upon the international community to join us in this fight. If we do not reverse the tide fast the African elephant will be exterminated."
Dr. George Wittemyer of Save the Elephants and Colorado State University, says: "This study provides unequivocal evidence of the rapid demise of one of the planet's most charismatic and intelligent species. The world must wake up to stem this destruction of species due to conspicuous consumption."
Effective, rapid, multi-level action is imperative to save elephants. A drastic increase of funding, and an immediate focus on the most effective protection strategies, are essential to avoid future huge losses to the remaining elephant populations.
Dr. Stephen Blake of the Max Planck Institute, says: "Forest elephants need two things: they need adequate space in which to range normally, and they need protection. Unprotected roads, most often associated with exploitation for timber or other natural resources, push deeper and deeper into the wilderness, tolling the death knell for forest elephants. Large road-free areas must be maintained, and the roads that do exist must have effective wildlife protection plans if forest elephants are to survive."
ZSL's West and North Africa Programme Manager Mr Chris Ransom says: "The evidence of this study, coupled with the evidence of the massive seizures of ivory seen in East and South East Asia over the last couple of years makes it clear that we must take action." Reducing chronic corruption and improving poor law enforcement, which facilitate poaching and trade, are crucial. It is also vital to improve control of import and sales of wildlife goods by the recipient and transit countries of illegal ivory, especially in Asia. The recipient nations, with the international community, should invest heavily in public education and outreach to inform consumers of the ramifications of the ivory trade. Although the challenge is daunting, China and other Asian countries demonstrated that strong political will can quickly and successfully modify behavior and governance, as was witnessed during the 2003 SARS threat. Similar action, focused on curbing ivory demand is key, if elephants are to survive.
###
Wildlife Conservation Society: http://www.wcs.org
Thanks to Wildlife Conservation Society for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 44 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127137/___percent_loss_of_forest_elephants_in_Africa_confirmed
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Tuesday 5 March 2013
Galaxy S IV Teaser Video Sets New Level of Hyperbole
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/u7gcXVbrZT0/
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Family Loses Home In West County Fire ? CBS St. Louis
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Source: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/03/04/family-loses-home-in-west-county-fire/
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Monday 4 March 2013
Watch live: SpaceX's Dragon capsule will rendezvous with the ISS today, coverage begins at 3:30AM ET (update: success!)
We told you about it late yesterday, but now it's about time for the livestream of SpaceX's Dragon capsule reaching the International Space Station. If all's going as planned, the craft would've begun some preliminary maneuvers toward the ISS roughly an hour ago. According to the company, astronauts aboard the ISS will attempt to grapple it with a robotic arm at 6:36AM ET. If that's successful, the actual berthing of the capsule is set to begin at 8AM. Don't take our word for it, catch the NASA TV live feed (coverage starts at 3:30AM) at embedded after the break!
Here's to wishing that all continues to go well overall on this resupply effort!
Update 8:21AM: Dragon was captured at 5:31AM and the berthing process is currently taking place. The capsule should be fully in place by roughly 9:40AM! We've also updated the feed past the break, as it was originally pulling from NASA TV's public feed, rather than the ISS feed -- apologies for any inconvenience.
Update 9:03 AM: Dragon was successfully berthed the space station at 8:56AM, ahead of scheduele like much of the event. And with that, NASA has ended coverage of the event. Now those onboard the station will be focused on unloading the supplies it's carrying. Dragon will return to Earth for a splashdown on March 25th. As always, hit the NASA source link for more detailed info. Catch a picture of the Dragon attached to the ISS's Harmony node just past the break.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/03/watch-live-spacexs-dragon-capsule-will-rendezvous-with-the-iss/
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Snowstorm hits north central U.S., heading toward mid-Atlantic
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A blizzard roared into North Dakota on Monday and was expected to dump up to a foot of snow in neighboring Minnesota before moving east over the mid-Atlantic states, where it could bury the Washington area with its biggest snowfall of the winter, the National Weather Service said.
Blowing snow and drifts up to 3 feet left parts of northeast Montana and the northwest North Dakota oil region with visibility at a quarter of mile under blizzard conditions that were expected to last into Monday afternoon, the weather service said.
Grand Forks, on the eastern border with Minnesota, reported 6 inches of snow on Monday morning and was expecting about 10 inches overall.
The North Dakota transportation department is recommending "no travel" on numerous roads across the northwestern part of the state where there is a blizzard, and a stretch of Interstate 94 from west of Fargo to east of Bismarck.
The state, known for winter blizzards, took the latest storm in stride.
"It's a normal late winter storm for us," said Adam Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area expected a couple of inches of snow Monday from a separate storm system and up to 10 inches of snow from the main winter storm, mostly overnight into Tuesday morning, the weather service said.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had 98 flight cancellations on Monday morning and O'Hare International Airport 38, FlightAware.com reported.
Overall, the winter storm is expected to stretch across North Dakota, much of Minnesota, northern Iowa, western Wisconsin and then into northern Illinois later on Monday.
Northeastern Illinois, including Chicago, was forecast to receive 6 to 9 inches of snow overall, starting from Monday night and becoming more intense Tuesday, spanning the morning and evening rush hours, the weather service said.
The storm was forecast to move east, reaching the Ohio Valley, the mid-Atlantic states and the Washington area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"This will be certainly the biggest snowstorm for the winter in this area," said National Weather Service forecaster Bruce Sullivan, who is in Maryland.
Forecasting models varied, but the system could dump anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow over northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, Sullivan said.
It will bring a cold, dry snow over the mountains of Virginia and a heavy, wet snow east of Washington, he said.
One of the more challenging aspects is predicting how much snow would fall on or east of heavily traveled Interstate 95 in Virginia and Maryland, forecasters said.
"We are into March now. It may start out as a little bit of rain and just how quickly it changes into snow will impact how much we get," Sullivan said.
(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton and Ian Simpson; Editing by Vicki Allen, Philip Barbara and Richard Chang)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowstorm-hit-north-central-united-states-then-mid-131132754.html
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Sunday 3 March 2013
Eye of a Hurricane
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NY Cardinal Dolan a 'happy warrior' for church
NEW YORK (AP) ? Challenging a White House mandate for birth control coverage in health insurance, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan sounded like a general rallying the troops.
"The only thing we're certainly not prepared to do is give in," Dolan said at a national bishops' meeting last November. "We're not violating our consciences."
Weeks earlier, he had appeared in a far less formal setting, at New York's Fordham University with comedian Stephen Colbert. From the 3,000 cheering audience members, one student considering the priesthood asked whether he should date. Dolan said it could help decide the right path, then quipped, "By the way, let me give you the phone numbers of my nieces."
___
EDITOR'S NOTE: As the Roman Catholic Church prepares to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, The Associated Press is profiling key cardinals seen as "papabili" ? contenders to the throne. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. But these are the names that have come up time and again in speculation. Today: Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
___
Catholic News Service calls him a happy warrior for evangelization. Kean University historian Christopher Bellitto calls him the bear-hug bishop. Dolan, 63, is an upbeat, affable defender of Catholic orthodoxy, and a well-known religious figure in the United States.
He holds a job Pope John Paul II once called "archbishop of the capital of the world." His colleagues broke with protocol in 2010 and made him president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, instead of elevating the sitting vice president as expected. And during the 2012 presidential election, Republicans and Democrats competed over which national political convention the cardinal would bless. He did both.
But scholars question whether his charisma and experience are enough for a real shot at succeeding Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The thinking ahead of the conclave is Dolan's chances are slim.
"It's not a personal attack on his qualities as a cardinal or individual," said Monsignor Michael Fahey, a scholar at Fairfield University in Conn. "Cardinal Dolan has a knack for getting people to feel relaxed and to laugh and to expect the unexpected, but that is not what the church needs right now."
Dolan spent seven years in Rome as rector of the North American College, considered the West Point for U.S. priests, where he had studied for his own ordination years earlier. However, he never worked in a Vatican office or congregation ? experience that would have helped him develop ties with cardinals from other countries and raise his profile in a conclave.
Benedict made Dolan a cardinal just a year ago. Still, the former pope chose the New York archbishop for the honor of delivering a speech to other church leaders in Rome. His address on spreading the faith was highly praised, and he emerged as something of a star of the event, gaining mention in some Italian media as potentially "papabile," or having the qualities of a future pope.
No American has ever served as pontiff. Some cardinals express concerns a superpower pope and the potential for his actions to be viewed as serving the U.S. instead of the church.
Ahead of this conclave, church-watchers seem split over whether that old assumption still applies. Dolan's credentials as upholder of the faith have been especially burnished by the bishops' ongoing conflicts with President Barack Obama. Obama endorses same-sex marriage, supports abortion rights and included the birth control coverage rule in his health care overhaul.
However, Dolan speaks only halting Italian and a little Spanish, and no French or Latin, a huge drawback for a potential leader of a 1.2 billion-member global church. (By contrast, Benedict speaks eight or so languages.) The cardinal's informality and folksy vocabulary, which help make him so approachable in the United States, could actually undermine his chances in Rome. In recent comments about other challenges the church has survived, Dolan noted that some former popes have been "lemons." When taking the stage to greet Colbert, before about 3,000 cheering students, Dolan jokingly kissed Colbert's ring instead of shaking the comedian's hand.
Along with his humor, Dolan can artfully convey church teaching. He earned a doctorate in church history from The Catholic University of America and sprinkles his speeches with details of the early struggles Catholic immigrants trying to carve a place for themselves in Protestant America. Noting that secularism is growing in the U.S, he argues that broader society is in a "drive to neuter religion" and "push religion back into the sacristy." On his blog, "The Gospel in the Digital Age," Dolan writes on a wide range of issues, from gun control to abortion to the future of Catholic schools.
A St. Louis native of Irish ancestry and the oldest of five children, Dolan began his path to the priesthood as a boy. He said he would set up cardboard boxes with sheets to make a play altar in the basement. He attended a seminary prep school in Missouri and by 1985 earned his doctorate. After working as a parish priest, professor and seminary leader, he served briefly as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Louis before John Paul appointed him in 2002 as archbishop of Milwaukee, which serves about 675,000 parishioners. In 2009, Benedict appointed Dolan archbishop of New York, the nation's second-largest archdiocese after Los Angeles, serving about 2.5 million Catholics.
Like every U.S. bishop in recent years, Dolan has had to grapple with fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Dolan's predecessor in Milwaukee, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who had been planning to retire, left abruptly after news broke that the archdiocese had paid a $450,000 settlement to a man claiming Weakland tried to sexually assault him. Weakland admitted an "inappropriate relationship" but denied abuse.
In 2004, Dolan publicly released the names of Milwaukee diocesan priests who had been accused of molesting children. However, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said he said he didn't work closely enough with civil authorities to also identify accused clergy from religious orders.
Days before Dolan left for the conclave, he sat for a deposition with attorneys for people who said they had been abused as children by clergy working in the Milwaukee archdiocese. Dolan's successor in Milwaukee sought bankruptcy protection for the archdiocese from 570 abuse claims. Advocates for victims have accused Dolan of having tried to shield the Milwaukee archdiocese assets, in part by transferring millions of dollars several years ago into a cemetery trust fund and a parish fund. Dolan denies the accusation.
On the final day of Benedict's pontificate, Dolan stood with seminarians on the roof of the North American College and waved as a helicopter flew overhead, carrying the departing pope to what will be his temporary retirement home, the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo. In his trademark way, he put any talk of his elevation aside, by recalling a conversation with his mother.
She told him, "You better be back in time for St. Patrick's Day because I want to walk down Fifth Avenue with you in the parade."
___
AP reporter Trisha Thomas contributed from Rome.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-cardinal-dolan-happy-warrior-church-093322539.html
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Saturday 2 March 2013
Syrian mortar shells land in Israel-held Golan
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's military says a series of Syrian mortar shells have landed in the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
A military spokesman says the shells landed on Saturday afternoon in an open area, causing no damage. He says they were likely stray fire from the civil war.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military policy.
He says Israeli troops were searching the area and were not immediately sure how many shells had landed. Israeli media reported at least three exploded in the area.
Stray fire from Syria's conflict has occasionally landed in Israeli-controlled territory and there are concerns the fighting could spill over the border.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the territory, a move the international community doesn't recognize.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-mortar-shells-land-israel-held-golan-195835751.html
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ScienceDaily: Child Development News
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Thruster Problem Pushes SpaceX Capsule Off Schedule
Private spaceflight company SpaceX's Friday launch of a Dragon capsule ran into problems shortly after it separated from its Falcon 9 rocket, and the resulting delays could move a planned docking with the International Space Station from Saturday to Sunday. "Issue with Dragon thruster pods," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the morning launch.
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Friday 1 March 2013
Wolf in sheep's clothing: Uncovering how deadly bacteria trick the immune system
Friday, March 1, 2013
An outbreak of tuberculosis in the skid row area of downtown Los Angeles may have exposed up to 4,500 individuals to the bacterium that causes the deadly disease and has left federal officials scrambling to intervene.
The outbreak is occurring during winter, when homeless individuals are driven to crowded shelters, when influenza is peaking and when people's vitamin D levels, typically boosted by sunlight exposure, are low. A new UCLA study offers critical insight into how various bacteria may manipulate such factors to their advantage.
In a study published online Feb. 28 in the journal Science, UCLA researchers demonstrate that certain cunning bacteria ? including the type that causes tuberculosis ? can pretend to be viruses when infecting humans, allowing them to hijack the body's immune response so that they can hide out, unhindered, inside our cells. The findings may also help explain how viral infections like the flu make us more susceptible to subsequent bacterial infections such as pneumonia.
The study is particularly relevant to tuberculosis, which kills 1.4 million people worldwide each year. In the case of the recent Los Angeles outbreak, the findings could provide clues as to how the flu and a lack of vitamin D may have given the tuberculosis bacterium an edge.
"With 8.7 million in the world falling ill with tuberculosis each year, a better understanding of how these bacteria avoid our immune system could lead to new ways to fight them and to better, more targeted treatments," said senior author Dr. Robert L. Modlin, chief of dermatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences.
The protection our immune system provides against bacteria-based diseases and infections depends on the critical response of T cells ? white blood cells that play a central role in fighting infections ? and in particular on the release of a protein called interferon-gamma. Interferon-gamma utilizes the vitamin D hormone to alert and activate cells to destroy invading bacteria.
The research team found that bacteria can pretend to be viruses, triggering the immune system to launch an attack with a different protein, called interferon-beta, which is designed to fight viruses, not bacteria. Not only is interferon-beta ineffective against bacteria, but it can also block the action of interferon-gamma, to the advantage of bacteria. Further, if a real virus were to infect the body, triggering interferon-beta, it would divert the attention of the immune response, preventing an attack on the bacterial invader. The researchers say this may explain why the flu can lead to a more serious bacterial-based infection like pneumonia.
"Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, the bacteria can fool the immune system into launching an attack against the wrong type of infection, thus weakening the response against the bacteria," said first author Rosane M. B. Teles, a researcher in the dermatology division at the Geffen School of Medicine.
For the study, the team examined the mechanisms by which the virus-fighting interferon-beta protein suppresses the interferon-gamma defense response to bacterial infections, tricking the immune system into making the wrong defense choices.
The researchers studied leprosy as a model and then applied what they learned to understand tuberculosis, given that leprosy and tuberculosis are caused by related bacteria. Modlin noted that leprosy is an outstanding model for studying immune mechanisms in host defense since it presents as a clinical spectrum that correlates with the level and type of immune response of the pathogen.
The scientists first compared the genetic expression of the virus-fighting interferon-beta protein and the bacteria-fighting interferon-gamma protein in skin lesions from leprosy patients. They found that interferon-gamma was expressed in patients with the milder form of the disease and that interferon-beta was significantly increased in those with the more serious, progressive form of leprosy.
The researchers then compared the genes triggered by interferon-beta in these leprosy skin lesions with those found by two other groups of investigators in the blood of tuberculosis patients. Remarkably, there was a significant overlap. The interferon-beta genes were more frequent in both the skin lesions of leprosy patients with extensive disease and the blood of tuberculosis patients with more severe disease.
"We found this common interferon-beta gene pattern correlated with the greater extent of disease in both leprosy and tuberculosis, which are two very distinct diseases," Teles said.
Previous work by the UCLA team demonstrated that the interferon-gamma defense pathway relies on a specific mechanism involving vitamin D, a natural hormone that plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections. The current study found that interferon-beta suppressed elements involved in the interferon-gamma?triggered vitamin D pathway, preventing the immune system from killing the bacteria.
"The study raises the possibility that a decrease or increase of one of these two interferon proteins could shift the balance from mild to more serious disease," Modlin said. "We may find that therapeutic interventions to block or enhance specific interferon responses may be an effective strategy to alter the balance in favor of protection against bacterial diseases."
The new findings may indicate why, in winter, Los Angeles skid row residents are at an added disadvantage in dealing with tuberculosis ? for at least three reasons. First, because of colder weather at night, indigent homeless people tend to stay in shelters, where they live in close proximity with others, facilitating the spread of the infection. Second, due to the seasonal rise in influenza, the body's immune system could be diverted by the flu virus to produce interferon-beta, blocking an effective immune response to the tuberculosis bacteria. And finally, the drop in vitamin D levels associated with a decrease in exposure to sunlight during the winter months could diminish the ability of individuals' immune systems to kill the tuberculosis bacteria.
"With TB on the rise, this scenario could play out not only in cities in the United States but all over the world," Modlin said. "We hope that our findings may provide insight into harnessing new methods to combat TB and other bacterial infections as well."
Modlin noted that 8.7 million become ill with tuberculosis each year, and 1.4 million die from the disease. He added that an increase or decrease in one of the two interferon proteins could help explain why some people may be more resilient against or susceptible to the infection or have a more serious course of the disease.
The next step, according to Teles, is to further understand the mechanisms that bacterial pathogens use to activate interferon-beta and how bacteria can manipulate the immune system to block the potent interferon-gamma host antimicrobial responses in human infections.
###
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences: http://www.uclahealth.org/
Thanks to University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 21 time(s).
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Analysis: Election result may condemn Italy to weak, short government
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's electoral earthquake seems to have condemned the country to the thing it needs least - a short-term government and new elections in as little as six months or a year.
A huge protest vote in the Feb 24-25 election produced the worst possible result for Italy's stagnant and recession-hit economy - a parliament in which no single group has a workable majority and populist leader Beppe Grillo has the whip hand.
Global markets plunged immediately after the election before calming on Wednesday. But there are deep concerns that sustained instability in the euro zone's third largest economy could reignite Europe's debt crisis.
Italy has a long history through decades of instability of finding a way out of apparently intractable political stalemate but there appear to be only two options this time and neither of them looks very easy.
The first is a government led by center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who has a majority in the lower house but not the Senate, and backed by Grillo's 5-Star Movement.
The second is an alliance between Bersani and those on the opposite side of the political spectrum, the center-right of Silvio Berlusconi, who staged an astonishing fight back to recover from scandal and humiliation and come within a whisker of beating the center-left in the election.
However, Grillo has dismissed the first option and there is great opposition among the center-left rank and file to any alliance with Berlusconi, who often dismisses Bersani's supporters as communists.
Berlusconi, a 76-year-old billionaire media magnate, has been uncharacteristically quiet since the election, but appears to favor a pact with Bersani to stay in the game. Bersani's leftist ally, Nichi Vendola, has brusquely ruled such a "grand coalition" out of court.
"Over both scenarios hangs a shadow of inescapable uncertainty," said respected commentator Massimo Franco.
Grillo said on Wednesday he would not support a vote of confidence in any government.
He appears to want the right and left to discredit themselves further in an ineffective and fractious joint government - their only option without his support - before a new election in which he will score an even bigger victory. He expects it to take no more than a year for such a government to fall.
To make things worse there will be a constitutional vacuum until after March 15, which is the earliest date that President Giorgio Napolitano, the head of state, can start consultations with the politicians aimed at finding a government.
Napolitano himself leaves office in mid-May, adding to the uncertainty that has seen Italians faced by political deadlock and the shock resignation of Pope Benedict all at the same time.
With a sophisticated campaign on the Internet and in a tour of Italy in which he shouted himself hoarse insulting the politicians, Grillo scored one of the biggest ever victories for a populist party anywhere, taking 25 percent of the vote.
GRILLO TACTICS
Grillo's tactics may be astute.
Maurizio Pessato, vice-president of the SWG polling firm, told Reuters that as many people agreed with Grillo's denunciations of a tired political class but did not vote for him as those that did in this week's election.
That gives him a potential voting poll of 50 percent of the electorate, according to Pessato.
"We could say half the country agrees with him," he said.
Before the vote, many analysts had warned Italy's politicians that rage with their waste and corruption threatened a political revolution, but few took much notice.
Now they are fighting for survival with both center-left and center-right facing internal splits that could blow them apart.
"They really must change their leadership or offer answers or they will be swept away," Pessato said.
There are, however, a few glimmers of hope for at least a temporary solution to the crisis, not least that early declarations by politicians may be negotiating ploys.
Grillo's stream of insults against Bersani's cautious overtures towards the 5-Star Movement did not go down well with many of the group's supporters, who often seem more moderate than their outspoken leader.
An online petition supporting a vote of confidence in a center-left government committed to changing Italy has collected more than 100,000 signatures in the last 24 hours - apparently with support from many of those who supported Grillo's campaign.
Bersani has proposed a list of reforms as the program for a new government, many of which coincide with the 5-Star Movement's aims.
They include repealing the hated electoral law which has been a major contributor to the crisis, a sharp reduction in the number of parliamentarians and their extravagant privileges, and a powerful new law against corruption.
Another possible source of hope is the fact that Grillo has praised the system in Sicily, where a center-left government is successfully supported by the 5-Star Movement. However, in the island's regional administration there is no need for the vote of confidence that is essential for a national government.
END OF AN ERA
Senior center-left official and former premier Massimo D'Alema said on Thursday the election, "marked the end of an era". "But," he added, "The country must be governed."
In an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily, D'Alema said: "Nobody has an interest in precipitating the country towards new elections that would be a dramatic shock, not even the 5-Star Movement, which ...I reasonably believe wants to show its ability to bring positive changes for Italy."
Establishment politicians may believe that once Grillo's 162 representatives enter the Senate and lower house these new politicians will break the iron grip of their "spokesman", who will himself not enter parliament, and will be more susceptible to various forms of persuasion by veteran parliamentarians.
Populist movements have a tendency to rapid expansion and contraction, analysts say, and other fresh faces have in the past been absorbed into a more cynical politics.
Berlusconi himself, now seen as symbol of the discredited old political order, first stormed into politics in 1994 as a new face, billing himself as an anti-politics candidate after the massive Tangentopoli, or Bribesville, graft scandal.
His allies in the federalist Northern League, who originally campaigned in the prosperous, industrial north as a force that would sweep away the privileges of "Robber Rome", were almost destroyed by a giant corruption scandal of their own last year.
But sitting tight and hoping the angry mood of the country will abate may be a fatal mistake for the traditional parties.
SWG's Pessato warned the old-hand politicians against miscalculating the extent of the political revolution.
"It depends on their intelligence," he said. "Whether they understand that they must give signals of change or think that somehow Grillo will conveniently be deflated.
"They may think they can absorb him, but if they do not understand the signals from the electorate, there are some parties that will disappear."
(Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-election-result-may-condemn-italy-weak-short-180856897.html
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