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Source: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20130222/SPORTS/302220030/1002/rss
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Promising new method for next-generation live-attenuated viral vaccines against Chikungunya virus
Feb. 21, 2013 ? Researchers have successfully applied a novel method of vaccine creation for Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) using a technique called large scale random codon re-encoding. Using this approach, a group from the UMR_D 190, Emerging viruses Department in Marseille, France in collaboration with the University of Sydney, Australia, demonstrated that the engineered viruses exhibit a stable phenotype with a significantly decreased viral fitness (i.e., replication capacity), making it a new vaccine candidate for this emerging viral disease.
This new report publishes on February 21 in the Open Access journal, PLOS Pathogens.
There is an immense need for the development of vaccines targeting many emerging viral pathogens. CHIKV has been responsible for several million human cases over the last decade and represents a striking example of a re-emerging, arthropod-borne, human pathogen for which no licensed vaccine exists. Worryingly, one of the vectors of CHIKV, the mosquito Aedes albopictus, has dispersed into new regions (including temperate areas) resulting in outbreaks of this disease where they had never been previously observed, for example in Italy.
Using the large-scale codon re-encoding method, Antoine Nougairede and colleagues were able to synthetically modify the nucleic acid composition of the virus without modifying the encoded viral proteins. When this method was applied to poliovirus and Influenza A virus, it resulted in a live but attenuated virus that had significant reduction of viral fitness. In contrast with previous studies, which employed a targeted approach of codon re-encoding, this new study demonstrates that a random approach reduced the replicative fitness of CHIKV in both primate and arthropod cells. The employed strategy also prevented the reversion of the attenuated phenotype by mutation or recombination, thus reducing the possibility that the newly created virus strain could evolve back to the pathogenic version.
The findings by Nougairede et al. suggest that large-scale codon re-encoding can provide a strong basis for the rapid design of next-generation viral vaccines against emerging viral pathogens, as soon as their genome sequence has been determined. It represents an exciting route to vaccine development because it intrinsically alleviates the likelihood of novel pathogenic properties of the designed live vaccine, and allows modulation of the amount of reduced fitness by altering the terms and degree of the genetic re-encoding. Thus, this strategy potentially allows for the generic development of live attenuated vaccines against many new viral pathogens, with reduced costs and the potential single dose induction of long-term immunity.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Antoine Nougairede, Lauriane De Fabritus, Fabien Aubry, Ernest A. Gould, Edward C. Holmes, Xavier de Lamballerie. Random Codon Re-encoding Induces Stable Reduction of Replicative Fitness of Chikungunya Virus in Primate and Mosquito Cells. PLoS Pathogens, 2013; 9 (2): e1003172 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003172
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/ZfDSqDFNAto/130221194235.htm
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Cyprus election favorite in talks to secure bridge loan
NICOSIA (Reuters) - The frontrunner in Cyprus's presidential election runoff said on Thursday he has been in touch with governments and unspecified funds for a bridge loan to ensure the island nation does not run out of cash before it secures an international bailout.
Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who polled over 45 percent in last Sunday's first voting round and is the favorite to win the February 24 runoff, told Reuters various parties, including "governments and funds" which he did not identify, had been "sounded out" for a short-term loan.
The "one or two month" loan would not supplant a bailout for which Cyprus is in talks with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, he said.
"This would be in order to complete the (bailout) loan agreement with some comfort, without the threat or the fear of collapse," Anastasiades told Reuters at his party offices.
"That means not to be under the dilemma of a deadline," he added.
The 66-year-old lawyer declined to say whom he had contacted. It was the first time a presidential candidate in Cyprus has disclosed talks to secure a loan ahead of a bailout rescue - talks which have dragged on for eight months.
"We would want a very short period to study the (bailout) terms, to see how we could avoid distortions without dealing with the pressure of the state going bankrupt," said Anastasiades, who faces leftist rival Stavros Malas on Sunday.
Malas, a pro-bailout but anti-austerity independent backed by the Communist party now in government, lags Anastasiades by 18 points in opinion polls.
A Socialist party that endorsed a third candidate in the first round has not backed either candidate, boosting hopes for the conservative chief known for his no-nonsense manner.
DEVASTATING DISASTER
With Cyprus shut out of financial markets for almost two years, its outgoing leftist government has relied on short term and costly financing for months to meet its day-to-day needs.
The island nation is badly in need of a bailout of up to 17.5 billion euros ($23 billion) - almost the size of its gross domestic product - mainly due to the devastating impact of a Greek debt restructuring on its outsized banking sector in early 2012.
Investors are closely watching Cyprus's bailout discussions amid fears continued delays in clinching a bailout could hurt confidence in the euro zone just as fears of a Greek exit fade.
Although small compared to the rest of the euro zone economy, Cyprus's attempts to secure international aid have been bedeviled by concerns that the island is unlikely to be able to pay back a loan that dwarfs the size of its economy.
Anastasiades said recently speculated options to make debt manageable - from a sovereign debt writedown to imposing losses on depositors - were out of the question.
"Not only do I completely rule it out, I would consider it a devastating disaster to the economy," he said in a book-lined office, adorned by photos of his daughters and grandchildren.
"That would be a punitive measure, not a measure to save (Cyprus)."
Cyprus already has slapped pay cuts on an inflated public sector and tax hikes in anticipation of a bailout. Anastasiades said he did not favor conditions which were overly harsh.
"Our intention is to faithfully meet a loan agreement which will not provoke upheaval, or (include) unfair conditions from a negotiation made in haste under the pressure of time," he said.
($1 = 0.7563 euros)
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-election-favorite-talks-secure-bridge-loan-060355413.html
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Nike suspends contract with Oscar Pistorius
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Nike Inc. has suspended its contract with Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee runner from South Africa charged with premeditated murder in the Valentine's Day slaying of his girlfriend.
Pistorius, who became the first double-amputee runner to compete on the track at the Olympics at last year's London Games, is accused of intentionally killing model Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius says he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder and that the shooting was accidental.
"We believe Oscar Pistorius should be afforded due process and we will continue to monitor the situation closely," Nike said in a brief statement posted on its website Wednesday.
On Monday, eyewear maker Oakley Inc. suspended its contract with Pistorius.
Nike dropped Lance Armstrong in October, citing insurmountable evidence that he participated in doping and misled the company about those activities for more than a decade. But the Beaverton, Ore.-based company stood by Tiger Woods after he acknowledged infidelities and went to rehab for sex addiction.
Pistorius was born without fibula bones due to a congenital defect, and had his legs amputated at 11 months. He runs on carbon-fiber blades and was originally banned from competing against able-bodied peers because many argued that his blades gave him an unfair advantage.
In 2008, however, the Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared him to compete against the fastest in the world.
Pistorius is a multiple Paralympic medalist, but he failed to win a medal at the London Olympics, where he ran in the 400 meters and on South Africa's 4x400 relay team.
He won a silver medal with his country's 4x400 relay team at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nike-suspends-contract-oscar-pistorius-105327150--oly.html
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Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today NBA Writer, Tells How Josh Smith Remained In Atlanta
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
There s an App for That: Policy and Technological Advances in the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
Disclaimer: I have no financial ties to the products or services I discuss. The goal of this article is twofold: I aim to (1) educate you as a healthcare consumer about a policy change that will improve your access to preventative cardiology, and (2) discuss ways that technology can help facilitate your own health behavior change. The strategies and technologies I mention represent a tiny snapshot of all available options. I encourage you to explore what's out there to find what works best for you. Many of us understand the various health behaviors that promote overall well-being. Physicians, researchers, and the general public are beginning to recognize the value in preventative medicine, though implementing such practices typically seems out of reach. Now, thanks to a new Medicare code and widely available smartphone apps, we can see a move towards preventing cardiovascular disease both in upcoming visits with our primary care physicians and in our daily lives. As a graduate student in clinical health psychology researching cardiovascular behavioral medicine, I spend a great deal of time performing assessments on individuals with cardiovascular disease and, more specifically, heart failure. Extensive self-management rules burden these patients with uncomfortable, challenging, and time-consuming guidelines. These include, but are not limited to dietary and fluid intake restrictions, weight management, complex medical regimens, frequent doctors appointments, and exercise guidelines. Most do not suffer from cardiovascular disease alone; many are hypertensive, have diabetes, are obese, and experience mild to moderate cognitive impairment that cumulatively degrades their quality of life. Although most understood the factors that promote health prior to developing cardiovascular disease (e.g., healthy BMI, diet low in saturated fats and sugars, regular physical activity, maintenance of normal-range blood pressure), few, if any, had guidelines tailored and explained to them by a health care professional before developing this chronic, life-threatening, burdensome illness. Primary care physicians and staff can use a Medicare billing code (G0446) to tailor cardiovascular disease prevention recommendations to their patients in fifteen-minute counseling sessions once every year before, during, or after an annual wellness visit. To use this code, the sessions must cover blood pressure screening, appropriate daily aspirin use (when clinically indicated), and techniques to adopt a heart-healthy diet. This counseling can help prevent numerous forms of or contributors to cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction (i.e., heart attack), heart failure, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. This development uses recent literature asserting that brief counseling from providers can effectively improve health behaviors, and brief health-related counseling has demonstrated significant impacts on dietary intake and smoking cessation. Three institutes in Cleveland, Ohio (University Hospitals Health System, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, The Center of Excellence in Self-Management Research at the School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, and Better Health Greater Cleveland) received a grant from the Ohio Partnership for Adherence through Collaborative Education to help educate health care providers about these new counseling options. Drs. Richard Josephson, Shirley Moore, Mary Dolansky, and Vanessa Maier, all from University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University, spearheaded this project. You can check out their work at COUNSEL2preventCVD.org. The website includes FAQs for providers, a patient education materials toolkit, a presentation for providers, and general information about the project. Additionally, there is a great chance that your provider is unaware of this opportunity. I highly recommend presenting the billing code information--and perhaps even this article--to your physician at your next wellness visit. Whether or not you receive Medicare, you can inform your physician that you want to take a proactive preventative approach to the nation's #1 killer: cardiovascular disease. I encourage you to advocate for the care you want and to find a physician who will collaborate with you in promoting health and preventing disease. One key to improving health behaviors is self-monitoring, as it is nearly impossible to target a behavioral pattern if you cannot adequately describe it. This is an excellent opportunity to incorporate mHealth technology such as online trackers or smartphone behavior-tracking apps. Popular apps can measure dietary intake, exercise, smoking, and medication adherence. One way to help extend behavior change past these fifteen minutes of preventative counseling is to introduce convenient tools for self-monitoring, like mHealth trackers. It is difficult to change our behavior, but technology can help us a great deal to do so. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrated that apps can help individuals lose weight when used in a comprehensive strategy, according to a clinical trial conducted at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. The research suggested that individuals are better able to change their behavior as they gain access to more tools. If you do not want to wait until your next physician's appointment to evaluate and potentially change your cardiovascular health habits, then consider my top five tips and apps: 1. Stop smoking. Smoking cessation is one of the greatest changes that you can make to reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular or other life-shortening disease. Although the idea of quitting "cold turkey" is popular, many people find that formal support via smoking cessation classes and prescription medication can help them quit and stay free of tobacco long-term. LIVESTRONG MyQuit Coach - Dare to Quit Smoking is an app that will create your personalized quitting plan and helps you make attainable goals along the way. 2. Get moving. Physical activity is any sort of moving around (e.g., vacuuming, shoveling snow, walking up the stairs), while exercise is structured physical activity (e.g., lifting weights, running a mile, taking a fitness class). Both physical activity and exercise can improve your health and mood. If you think that you lack the time or money to join a gym, consider taking the stairs at work, finding a parking spot farthest away from your destination, taking a walk after meals, or picking up some cheap free weights to lift while watching TV. I personally enjoy using a weighted hula hoop, bouncing on an exercise ball, stretching, and using free weights during quick frequent breaks from work throughout my day. For challenging free workouts, check out the Nike Training Club. 3. Monitor your diet. Try monitoring your dietary intake with a smartphone app or online tracker. Use technology to your advantage in your own self-monitoring adventures. Many popular apps provide comprehensive free versions that can track your intake and provide daily breakdowns of what you are eating. You can track your weight using age- and activity-sensitive caloric goals, and you can receive support from others who are also trying to adopt healthier habits. Try the Calorie and Diet Tracker from MyFitnessPal. 4. Curb your sodium use. Foods that are high in sodium include pickles, cold cuts, canned soups, frozen meals, cured meats, and even packaged cookies. Always use minimal salt when you cook--you can always add more later--and be sure to taste your food before adding additional table salt. I recommend using no more than a "pinch"--literally!--of salt whenever you want to do so. When you use a salt shaker, it becomes extraordinarily difficult to monitor how much salt you are using. Cutting down on processed foods can also reduce your salt intake. My ultimate suggestion for reducing the need for salt is to use more fresh herbs and spices in your cooking, as their added flavor will replace the need for excessive salt. Sodium 101 has numerous helpful features including a sodium tracker, comparisons of sodium content in takeout food, and even a simulated salt shaker that helps you determine how much salt you are adding to your food. 5. Shop smart. Lastly, limit your time in the middle aisles of the grocery store to 10% of the time you spend shopping. I challenge you to consider what you find there: processed, fatty, sugary, salty foods. Obviously, many of these foods are fine in moderation. But if you concentrate your time in the grocery store on the store's perimeter, you will mostly find fresh produce, seafood, meat, tofu, dairy, and frozen items such as frozen fruits and vegetables. While in the center aisles, consider picking up beans and legumes, whole wheat pasta, quinoa, almond butter, and fresh whole wheat bread. Eat these in moderation as part of a heart healthy diet. Fooducate is an app that can be used to help you make good food choices in the grocery store as you shop. Most individuals with whom I have worked are no longer candidates for preventative measures that I have outlined. They are already faced with the burden of attempting to self-manage a cumbersome illness that will likely contribute to their deaths. However, whether someone has already been diagnosed with a chronic illness or exhibits only a single risk factor, health behavior change is possible with adequate support from physicians and loved ones, with knowledge about problematic health behaviors, and most importantly with the motivation to contemplate whether the benefits of change ultimately outweigh the cost of maintaining problematic behavior. I hope you will find that small changes are not only possible, but also will motivate you to take action to improve your present and future health. Image credit: Carly Goldstein Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
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Mindy McCready?s Ex Believes She Would Have Killed Her Two Sons
Mindy McCready’s Ex Believes She Would Have Killed Her Two Sons
Mindy McCready’s Ex Believes She Would Have Killed Her Two Sons Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/mindy-mccreadys-ex-believes-she-would-have-killed-her-two-sons/
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