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Monday, November 28, 2011
How to Use Photoshop to Make Your Loved Ones Look Pretty These Holidays [Video]
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Good Reads: Pakistan summons outspoken envoy Haqqani, Kenya's Somali operation
Pakistan's envoy to the US, Ambassador Husain Haqqani, explains why Pakistan cannot simply clear out militants from its mountainous regions, while Kenya marches into Somalia to try a similar task.
Pakistan?s ambassador to the United States dropped by for breakfast with The Christian Science Monitor yesterday, and explained why Pakistan simply can?t go into its mountainous regions and clear out terrorists the way that Macy?s, for instance, can clear out its fall collection to make way for the winter.
Skip to next paragraphThe reason, Ambassador Husain Haqqani told reporters at the weekly Monitor breakfast, is that launching the kinds of assaults that it previously conducted in South Waziristan and the Swat Valley tends to stir up local resentment against the government and support for Islamist militant groups like the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar?s Hizb-i Islami.
As Monitor correspondent Howard LaFranchi writes:
Haqqani said Wednesday that US officials now understand better Pakistan?s internal constraints in confronting some groups. He listed two red lines that Pakistan has laid down with the US concerning what it will and won?t do in the battle with terrorism: Pakistan won?t act in ways that involve ?taking risks with our own internal cohesion,? he said, or that would pose ?risks to our own national security.?
The downside of that approach for Pakistan is that it virtually guarantees that the strikes by unmanned US drones will continue and even increase.
And unfortunately, the downside of speaking too frankly to reporters is that sometimes you make your bosses upset. This may or may not have happened with Mr. Haqqani, who was summoned home to Islamabad just hours after speaking at the Monitor breakfast. Pakistani officials insist this is just a routine visit.
With the US seemingly unable to clear out antigovernment militants in Afghanistan ? and Pakistan apparently unwilling to do so in Pakistan ? one wonders why a government like Kenya would want to send its troops into Somalia to carry out a very similar mission. On Oct. 16, Kenya?s military moved into neighboring Somalia after a continuing string of pirate attacks and kidnappings began to take a toll on Kenya?s foreign trade and tourism business.
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Brain imaging, behavior research reveals physicians learn more by paying attention to failure
Brain imaging, behavior research reveals physicians learn more by paying attention to failure
Thursday, November 24, 2011When seeking a physician, you should look for one with experience. Right? Maybe not. Research on physicians' decision-making processes has revealed that those who pay attention to failures as well as successes become more adept at selecting the correct treatment.
"We found that all the physicians in the study included irrelevant criteria in their decisions," said Read Montague, Ph.D., director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, who led the study. "Notably, however, the most experienced doctors were the poorest learners."
The research is published in the Nov. 23 issue of PLoS One, the Public Library of Science open-access journal, in the article, "Neural correlates of effective learning in experienced medical decision-makers," by Jonathan Downar, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Toronto Western Hospital; Meghana Bhatt, Ph.D., assistant research professor at Beckman Research Institute, the City of Hope Hospital, Duarte, Calif.; and Montague, who is also a professor of physics in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at the brain activity of 35 experienced physicians in a range of non-surgical specialties as they made decisions.
The doctors were instructed to select between two treatments for a series of simulated patients in an emergency room setting. "First they had a chance to learn by experience which of two medications worked better in a series of 64 simulated heart-attack patients, based on a simplified history with just six factors," said Bhatt.
Unknown to the test subjects, of the six factors, only one was actually relevant to the decision: diabetes status. One medication had a 75 percent success rate in patients with diabetes, but only a 25 percent success rate in patients without diabetes. The other had the opposite profile. The physicians had 10 seconds to select a treatment. Then they were briefly presented with an outcome of "SUCCESS: (heart attack) aborted" or "FAILURE: No response."
"After the training, we tested the physicians to see how often they were able to pick the better drug in a second series of 64 simulated patients," said Bhatt. "When we looked at their performance, the doctors separated into two distinct groups. One group learned very effectively from experience, and chose the better drug more than 75 percent of the time. The other group was terrible; they chose the better drug only at coin-flipping levels of accuracy, or half the time, and they also came up with inaccurate systems for deciding how to prescribe the medications, based on factors that didn't matter at all."
In fact, all the doctors reported including at least one of the five irrelevant factors, such as age or previous heart attack, in their decision process.
"The brain imaging showed us a clear difference in the mental processes of the two groups," said Montague. "The high performers activated their frontal lobes when things didn't go as expected and the treatments failed." Such activity showed that the doctors learned from their failures, he said. These physicians gradually improved their performance.
In contrast, the low performers activated their frontal lobes when things did go as expected, said Bhatt. "In other words, they succumbed to 'confirmation bias,' ignoring failures and learning only from the successful cases. Each success confirmed what the low performers falsely thought they already knew about which treatment was better." The researchers termed this counterproductive learning pattern "success-chasing."
"The problem with remembering successes and ignoring failures is that it doesn't leave us any way to abandon our faulty ideas. Instead, the ideas gain strength from each chance success, until they evolve into something like a superstition," said Downar.
The fMRI showed that a portion of the brain called the nucleus accumbens "showed significant anticipatory activation well before the outcome of the trial was revealed, and this anticipatory activation was significantly greater prior to successful outcomes," Montague said. "Based on the outcome of the training phase, we were actually able to predict results in the testing phase for each low-performing subject's final set of spurious treatment rules."
The authors state in the article that the formation of spurious beliefs is universal, such as an athlete's belief in a lucky hat. "But the good news is that physicians can probably be trained to think more like the high performers," said Downar. "I tell my students to remember three things: First, when you're trying to work out a diagnosis, remember to also ask the questions that would prove your hunches wrong. Second, when you think you have the answer, think again and go through the possible alternatives. Third, if the treatment isn't going as expected, don't just brush it off ? ask yourself what you could have missed."
"These findings underscore the dangers of disregarding past failures when making high-stakes decisions," said Montague. "'Success-chasing' not only can lead doctors to make flawed decisions in diagnosing and treating patients, but it can also distort the thinking of other high-stakes decision-makers, such as military and political strategists, stock market investors, and venture capitalists."
###
Virginia Tech: http://www.vtnews.vt.edu
Thanks to Virginia Tech 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.
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
France pushes for action as Syria strikes rebels
AMMAN, Jordan?? Syrian tanks bombarded hideouts of army defectors near the central town of Rastan on Thursday, a resident and activists said, two months after the authorities said they had regained control of the important region.
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Activists said around 50 tanks and armored vehicles fired anti-aircraft guns and machine guns into farmland on the edge of Rastan, 12 miles north of the restive city of Homs.
The town was the scene at the end of October of the first major fighting between troops loyal to President Bashar Assad and army defectors in the eight-month uprising against his rule.
"The shelling is concentrating on Rastan's western farms," said a resident of the town, who gave his name as Abu Salah. "I have called several people who live there and loyalist officers answered their mobile phones instead. They were either killed or arrested."
Thousands of soldiers have bolted from the regular army since it started cracking down on an the eight-month popular protest movement to remove Assad. They have formed armed units loosely linked to the umbrella "Free Syrian Army", led by officers now hiding in neighboring Turkey.
Story: 5 children among 23 civilians killed in Syria, rights group saysMeanwhile, France has called for a "secured zone to protect civilians" in Syria, the first time a major Western power has suggested international intervention on the ground during the uprising.
'Legitimate partner'
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also described Syria's exiled opposition National Council as "the legitimate partner with which we want to work", the biggest international endorsement yet for the nascent opposition body.
A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the EU was ready to engage with the Syrian National Council (SNC) and other opposition groups, but stressed the need for them to maintain a peaceful, non-sectarian approach.
Asked at a news conference on Wednesday after meeting the SNC president if a humanitarian corridor was an option for Syria, Juppe ruled out military intervention to create a "buffer zone" in northern Syria but suggested a "secured zone" may be feasible to protect civilians and ferry in humanitarian aid.
"If it is possible to have a humanitarian dimension for a secured zone to protect civilians, that then is a question which has to be studied by the European Union on the one side and the Arab League on the other side," Juppe said.
Story: Army defectors threaten to transform Syrian uprising into civil warFurther details of the proposal were not immediately available. Until now, Western countries have imposed economic sanctions on Syria but have shown no appetite for intervention on the ground in the country, which sits on the fault lines of the ethnic and sectarian conflicts across the Middle East.
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus has urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately."
Nearly 4,000 people have been reported killed in the military crackdown on the popular uprising since March.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to his report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45426952/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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Friday, November 25, 2011
October durable goods orders fell 0.7 percent (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Business orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell for a second straight month in October.
While much of the weakness came from a big drop in demand for commercial aircraft, a key category that tracks business investment spending fell by the largest amount since January.
The Commerce Department says that orders for durable goods fell 0.7 percent in January following a September decline of 1.5 percent. Orders for core capital goods, considered a good proxy for business investment spending, dropped 1.8 percent, the biggest decline since a 4.8 percent fall in January.
Manufacturing has been one of the strongest sectors in the economy in this sub-par recovery, but this sector slowed this year as consumer demand faltered and auto factories had trouble getting parts following the March natural disasters in Japan.
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Apple opens doors to subscription gaming on iOS | iLounge News
Apple is expanding its in-app subscription model to include game titles, according to a report from Bloomberg. Seattle-based game publisher Big Fish Games has received approval from Apple to offer users access to multiple game titles for a single recurring monthly fee. Dubbed Play Instantly, the subscription service will be offered through a single iOS app that will deliver unlimited access to a number of the company?s popular game titles streamed to the user?s device via Wi-Fi, allowing the player to easily switch between different games without having to download each title individually. Big Fish Games has also announced plans to offer a free, ad-supported version of the game service that will limit play to 30 minutes per day. Paid subscriptions are expected to initially cost $5 per month with an increase to $7 per month as more titles are added. The application and subscription service are initially available in the U.S. only. Big Fish Play Instantly is available from the U.S. App Store as a free download. [via Mac Rumors]
Update (5:00 EST): The application is no longer available on the App Store. No explanation has been given as to the reason for its disappearance.? We have reached out to the developer for comment and will update the story as more information becomes available.
Update (6:30 EST): According to another report from Bloomberg, Play Instantly was removed by Apple earlier today, after having been available on the App Store since November 18th. Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish Games indicates that the company was ?notified [by Apple] that the app was removed,? and is ?trying to follow up with Apple to try to figure out what happened.?? Thelen indicated to Bloomberg that ?Apple had even signed off on a press release issued earlier today.? The Bloomberg report also notes that Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment.
Source: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-opens-doors-to-subscription-gaming-on-ios/
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HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx
The HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx ($699.99 list at Best Buy), a budget desktop replacement laptop, has a battery capable of lasting over nine hours and several wireless technologies working under its sleek aluminum body. Its Core i5 processor offered solid performance in day-to-day, and considering its price point, this laptop can compete with the best of them.
Design
The dv7-6b55dx has the same brushed, dark umber aluminum lid and palm rest as the Editors' Choice HP Pavilion dv7-6163cl ($949.99 list, 4 stars). A small HP logo sits in the lower-left hand corner, and illuminates when the laptop is turned on. A silver band lines the edge of the laptop, breaking up the deep brown design. The entire system weighs 6.94 pounds, and 1.05 pounds of that total weight can be attributed to its 9-cell 100Wh battery. The battery is so big that it actually raises the laptop up at a slight angle in the back. The HP dv7-6163cl has the same battery, but weights slightly more (7.4 pounds) than the dv7-6b55dx.
The 17.3-inch screen is framed by a glossy black bezel and displays in 1,600-by-900 resolution, which translates to 720p HD. If you're looking for a true 1080p HD viewing experience, you'll have to start looking at laptops like the Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839 ($1,499.99 street, 4 stars), which come at a premium. However, you can export video on the laptop to an external display in 1080p through the HDMI port or built-in WiDi 2.0 streaming technology, which allows you to wirelessly display your computer's content (provided you have a Netgear Push2TV adapter to receive the signal).
Its chiclet-style keyboard is full-size and has a numeric keypad to boot. The trackpad has a light texture, and provided a comfortable surface to navigate on. The separate mouse buttons where easy to click, providing little resistance to register a tap. The entire touchpad is framed by a white light, which will help users that like to work late nights.
Features
The dv7-6b55dx comes equipped with several standout features such as two USB 3.0 ports and WiMAX 4G broadband. Topping off the feature list are two USB 2.0 ports, a tray-loading DVD+-RW drive, VGA video output, media card reader (SD, MMC), two headphone and one mic jack, Ethernet port, fingerprint reader, and a Webcam above the screen. The Pavilion dv7-6b55dx also features the sexy Beats Audio software, which allows you to ramp up the bass and tailor your listening experience depending on if you're watching a movie, listening to a podcast, or playing music. The Beats Audio software ultimately helps output better sound whether you're listening through headphones or through HP's laptop speakers. The built-in HP triple bass subwoofers certainly helped create more depth in sound.
Its 750GB hard drive should be sufficient to hold all your digital content with room to spare. However, it does come loaded with some bloatware. Bing Bar, Blio ereader, Evernote, and a desktop shortcut to eBay top off the list.
Best Buy offers an extended warranty program, which gives customers an extra year of protection beyond the one-year warranty of most system manufacturers. There are two plans in this extended warranty program. The standard plan ($119.99) covers the system against normal wear and tear, power surge damage, and includes a "No Lemon" guarantee in which Best Buy will simply replace the computer if it requires more than four repairs during the coverage period. Best Buy's advanced plan ($219.99) offers all this, and also covers the system against accidental damage from drops and spills. Other special offers can be found online or in stores, like discounts on printers, software, and tech support plans which are available with any new PC purchased through Best Buy.
Performance
The dv7-6b55dx doesn't come equipped with a discrete graphics card, like the HP dv7-6163cl (AMD Radeon HD 6770M). Rather it has Intel integrated graphics, which won't get you as far as a dedicated chip would on the gaming grid. The dv7-6b55dx wasn't able to garner a playable frame rate average (30fps is considered playble) in either DirectX 10 Crysis (13.6 frames per second) or DirectX 9 Lost Planet 2 (20 fps); whereas the HP dv7-6163cl tore through Crysis (53fps) on Medium quality settings and 1,024-by-768 resolution. So if you want to play anything beyond World of Warcraft, you'll have to start considering laptops in the $900 price range.
In our MobileMark 2007 battery test, the dv7-6b55dx's 100Wh battery lasted 9 hours 33 minutes, longer than the HP dv7-6163cl's same-size (100Wh)battery (8:24) and Dell XPS 15z (Microsoft)'s ($999 direct, 4 stars) smaller 54Wh battery (7:13).
The HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx has a lot of features to recommend it, like WiDi 2.0, WiMAX 4G, and USB 3.0. However, the Editors' Choice Asus U56E-BBL6 offers the same features at the same price, but in a slightly more portable 15.6-inch package. If your work/life requires a bigger screen, longer battery life (2 hours more than Asus), better audio quality (though not by much), and more security out of its fingerprint reader, then the dv7-6b55dx might be the better option. But it's not quite enough to usurp the Asus U56E-BBL6 as the current Editors' Choice, if only because it got there first.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:
COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx with several other laptops side by side.
More laptop reviews:
??? Asus Zenbook UX31-RSL8
??? HP ProBook 4430s
??? HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx
??? Sony VAIO VPC-F237FX/B
??? Samsung Series 9 (NP900X3A-B01UB)
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/vJquk2ikdT0/0,2817,2396822,00.asp
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Newt Gingrich in the media crosshairs
Newt Gingrich's rise in the polls is followed by the inevitable closer look at his record. Can Newt Gingrich survive the scrutiny?
Newt Gingrich, welcome to the top of the pack.
Skip to next paragraphAfter Herman Cain?s rapid ascent, journalists everywhere turned their poison pens to the new GOP frontrunner. We detailed Cain?s trip through the press wringer here.
Now, it?s Gingrich?s turn.
That first quote is from this POLITICO piece where other brainy conservatives take the former Speaker?s intellectual bona fides down a peg.
Then, you might consider a look at these two pieces, one from iWatch News and one from POLITICO, that delve into Gingrich?s work as a lobbyist advocate in his think tank and two for-profit groups which raked in $100 million in revenue over the last decade.
While Gingrich has vowed he was never a lobbyist, one conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute - where Gingrich once held a post - notes that ?if I were to write a Wikipedia definition of lobbying it might not be all that different from their description? while adding that Gingrich?s enterprises ?may have avoided lobbying members face to face.?
That?s in addition to Bloomberg?s widely-reported findings of Gingrich?s work for favored conservative punching bag (and government-sponsored mortgage behemoth) Freddie Mac, which netted him $1.6 million over several years.
And that?s all before he raised a decidedly non-GOP mainstream opinion (at least among the other candidates) about immigration in last night?s GOP debate. Fox News called the following ?Newt?s Big Risk?:
?I do not believe that the people of the United States are going to take people who have been here a quarter century ? who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago ? separate them from their families, and expel them. ? I don?t see how the ? the party that says it?s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century. And I?m prepared to take the heat for saying: Let?s be humane in enforcing the law ? without giving them citizenship, but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families.?
Keep your eyes peeled for long-form stories about Gingrich?s background over the next several weeks. It will be key to determining whether the candidate can hold up while his record comes under intense scrutiny.
What?s the value of such scrutiny? Isn?t this just digging up old skeletons? Isn?t the future more important? In some sense, yes. But as Mitt Romney is dogged with every day, voters are often as concerned - and rightly so - with what candidates have done in their past, not what they say they?ll do in the future.
Go beyond:
Like your politics unscrambled? Check out DCDecoder.com
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/pcQL40LYVKI/Newt-Gingrich-in-the-media-crosshairs
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Trash Talkin? Tuesday
Whiskey For Pregnant Women?–The Frisky Michelle Obama’s Offends NASCAR Crowd?–HollyWire Mike Rowe Facing a Lawsuit?–Right Celebrity Katy Perry Squashes Pregnancy Rumors–The Celebrity Cafe Pauly D [...]
Trash Talkin’ Tuesday Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/11/22/trash-talkin-tuesday-24/
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White House says US policy has weakened Iran (AP)
WASHINGTON ? U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon says Iran has been weakened under the Obama administration, refuting Republican critics who say the White House policy has been ineffective.
Donilon spoke just hours before a scheduled foreign policy debate by GOP presidential candidates.
He told experts at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday that Iran's influence is shrinking across the Middle East, including in neighboring Iraq, due to international sanctions, the revolts of the Arab Spring and what he called Tehran's "intransigence."
Donilon's comments came two weeks after the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog found that Iran had engaged in nuclear weapons research and one day after the U.S. expanded sanctions to include Iran's petrochemical industry and central bank.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Exclusive: The capture of Gaddafi's son (Reuters)
OBARI, Libya (Reuters) ? The chic black sweater and jeans were gone. So too the combat khaki T-shirt of his televised last stand in Tripoli. Designer stubble had become bushy black beard after months on the run.
But the rimless glasses, framing those piercing eyes above that straight fine nose, gave him away despite the flowing nomad robes held close across his face.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, doctor of the London School of Economics, one-time reformer turned scourge of the rebels against his dictator father, was now a prisoner, bundled aboard an old Libyan air force transport plane near the oil-drilling outpost of Obari, deep in the Sahara desert.
The interim government's spokesman billed it as the "final act of the Libyan drama." But there would be no closing soliloquy from the lead player, scion of the dynasty that Muammar Gaddafi, self-styled "king of kings," had once hoped might rule Africa.
A Reuters reporter aboard the flight approached the 39-year-old prisoner as he huddled on a bench at the rear of the growling, Soviet-era Antonov. The man who held court to the world's media in the early months of the Arab Spring was now on a 90-minute flight bound for the town of Zintan near Tripoli.
He sat frowning, silent and seemingly lost in thought for part of the way, nursing his right hand, bandaged around the thumb and two fingers. At other times he chatted calmly with his captors and even posed for a picture.
IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
Gaddafi's run had come to an end just a few hours earlier, at dead of night on a desert track, as he and a handful of trusted companions tried to thread their way through patrols of former rebel fighters intent on blocking their escape over the border.
"At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," said Ahmed Ammar, one of the 15 fighters who captured Gaddafi. The fighters, from Zintan's Khaled bin al-Waleed Brigade, intercepted the fugitives' two 4x4 vehicles 40 miles out in the desert.
"But we talked to him in a friendly way and made him more relaxed and we said, 'We won't hurt you'."
The capture of Saif al-Islam is the latest dramatic chapter in the series of revolts that have swept the Arab world. The first uprising toppled the Ben Ali government in Tunisia early this year.
The upheaval spread to Egypt, forcing out long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak in February; swept Libya, where the capital Tripoli fell to rebels this summer and Muammar Gaddafi died after being beaten and abused by captors last month; and is now threatening the Assad family's four-decade grip on Syria.
Saif al-Islam was the smiling face of the Muammar Gaddafi's power structure. He won personal credibility at the highest echelons of international society, especially in London, where he helped tidy up the reputation of Libya via a personal charitable foundation. He threw that reputation away in the uprising, emerging as one of the hardest of hard-liners against the rebels.
This account of his capture and his final month on the run is based on interviews with the younger Gaddafi's captors and the prisoner himself. The scenes of his flight into captivity were witnessed by the Reuters reporter and a Reuters cameraman and photographer who were also aboard the plane.
FACING DEATH PENALTY
Caught exactly a month after his father met a violent end, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity - specifically for allegedly ordering the killing of unarmed protesters last spring. Libya's interim leaders want him to stand trial at home and say they won't extradite him; the justice minister said he faces the death penalty.
His attempt to flee began on October 19, under NATO fire from the tribal bastion of Bani Walid, 100 miles from the capital. Ammar and his fellow fighters said they believed he had been hiding since then in the desolate tracts of the mountainous Brak al-Shati region.
Aides who were captured at Bani Walid said Saif al-Islam's convoy had been hit by a NATO air strike in a place nearby called Wadi Zamzam - "Holy Water River." Since then, there had been speculation that nomadic tribesmen once lionized by his father might have been working to spirit him across Libya's southern borders - perhaps, like his surviving brothers, sister and mother, into Niger or Algeria.
He did not get that far. Obari is a good 200 miles from either. But his captors believe he was headed for Niger, once a beneficiary of Muammar Gaddafi's oil-fueled largesse, which has granted asylum to Saif al-Islam's brother Saadi.
"WHO ARE YOU?"
Ammar said his unit, scouring the desert for weeks, received a tip-off that a small group of Gaddafi loyalists - they did not know who - would be heading on a certain route toward Obari. Lying in wait, they spotted two all-terrain vehicles grinding through the darkness.
"We fired in the air and into the ground in front of them," Ammar said. The small convoy pulled up, perhaps hoping to brazen it out.
"Who are you?" Adeljwani Ali Ahmed, the leader of the squad, demanded to know of the man he took to be the main passenger in the group.
"Abdelsalam," came the reply.
It's a common enough name, though it means "servant of peace" in Arabic; Saif al-Islam's real name means "Sword of Islam."
Ahmed, sizing the man up, took Ammar aside and whispered: "I think that's Saif."
Turning back to the car, a Toyota Land cruiser of a type favored on these rugged desert tracks, Ammar said: "I know who you are. I know you."
CASH AND KALASHNIKOVS
The game was up. The militiamen retrieved several Kalashnikov rifles, a hand grenade and, one of the Zintani fighters said, some $4,000 in cash from the vehicles.
It was a tiny haul from a man whose father commanded one of the best-equipped armies in Africa and who is suspected by many of holding the keys - in his head - to billions stolen from the Libyan state and stashed in secret bank accounts abroad.
"He didn't say anything," Ammar said. "He was very scared and then eventually he asked where we are from, and we said we are Libyans. He asked from which city and we said Zintan."
Zintan sits far from the spot of Gaddafi's capture in the Western, or Nafusa, Mountains, just a couple of hours drive south of the capital. The people of Zintan put together an effective militia in the uprising, and they are seeking to parlay their military prowess into political clout as new leaders in Tripoli try to form a government.
At Obari, a fly-speck of a place dominated by the oil operations of a Spanish company, Zintan fighters have extended their writ since the war deep into traditionally pro-Gaddafi country peopled by Tuaregs, nomadic tribes who recognize no borders.
The Zintanis are also a force in the capital. Saturday morning, the Antonov flew to Obari from Tripoli, bearing the new tricolor flag of "Free Libya" - and piloted by a former air force colonel turned Zintan rebel. Just a few minutes after it landed, the purpose of the flight became clear.
FLIGHT TO CAPTIVITY
Five prisoners, escorted by about 10 fighters in an array of desert camouflage, piled aboard, ranging themselves on benches along the sides of the spartan hold of the Antonov An-32, which is designed to carry four dozen paratroopers.
Two of the men were handcuffed together. A third had his arms cuffed in front of him. A dozen or so bulky black bags were carried in, and some thin mattresses - the scant belongings of the prisoners, their captors said.
All wore casual, modern dress - with the exception of Saif al-Islam.
His brown robe, turban and face scarf, open sandals on his feet, were typical of the Tuaregs of the region. The choice of costume offered concealment for a man more commonly seen in sharp suits and smart casual wear, and a visual echo of his late father's penchant for dressing up.
As they shuffled on the benches, rifle butts scraping on the metal floor, one of the guards said: "He is afraid now."
The pilot, though, said that he had had a paternal word with the 39-year-old captive and put him at ease before he was brought on board.
"LIKE A SMALL CHILD"
"I spoke to him like he was a small child," said Abdullah al-Mehdi, a diminutive, heavily mustachioed ball of energy in a green jumpsuit. His ambition - typical of Zintanis in these anarchic days in Libya - is to start up a whole new air force.
"I told him he would not be beaten and he wouldn't be hurt and I gave my word," said Mehdi.
He and the other two crew in the cockpit chain-smoked their way through the flight, navigating over the barren wastes the old-fashioned way, on analog instruments, with just occasional help from a new GPS device clamped awkwardly to the windshield.
The howl of the propellers was numbing, and there was little conversation during the flight.
Saif al-Islam by turns stared ahead or turned back to crane his neck out at the land he once was in line to rule. Every so often, holding his scarf across his mouth Tuareg-fashion, he would say a few words to a guard.
The calm was in stark contrast to the frenzy that greeted the capture of Muammar Gaddafi on October 20 as he tried to flee the siege of his hometown of Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast.
Fighters from the long embattled city of Misrata filmed themselves on cellphones hammering the fallen leader, howling for revenge and inflicting a series of indignities on him before his body was displayed to crowds of sightseers for several days.
SURROUNDED
The reporter caught Saif al-Islam's eye a few times, but on each occasion he looked away. At one point he asked for water, and a bottle from the journalist's pack was passed up to him. The other prisoners, too, did not want to speak.
After the plane bumped down on the tarmac in the mountains at Zintan, it was surrounded within minutes by hundreds of people - some cheering, some clearly angry, many shouting the rebels' Islamic battle cry, "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest).
Some held up cellphones to the few windows in the cargo hold, hoping to catch a snap of the most wanted man in Libya. At one point others were rattling the catches of the doors, intent it seemed on storming inside.
While his companions, clearly nervous, huddled together, Saif al-Islam seemed calm. He sat back and waited. The plane rocked gently as crowds clambered over the wings. The prisoners talked a little to each other and the guards.
Asked about The Hague court's statement that he was in touch through intermediaries about turning himself in to the international judges - who cannot impose the death penalty - he seemed to take offence: "It's all lies. I've never been in touch with them."
After more than an hour, the fighters decided they could get the other four captives off. They were helped out of the front door. Gaddafi remained where he was, on his own at the back, silent and aloof.
INJURED HAND
A further hour went by, the crowds still idling on the runway. The guards suggested it was time for the journalists to leave.
Moving back to speak to the solitary Gaddafi, the reporter asked, in English: "Are you OK?"
"Yes," he replied, looking up.
The reporter pointed to his injured hand. He said simply: "Air force, air force."
"NATO?"
"Yes. One month ago."
The reporter moved past him to the aircraft steps. Gaddafi looked up and, without a word, briefly took her hand.
Later, television footage showed him being helped off the plane as people among the crowd on the tarmac tried to slap him. His captors shoved him into a car and sped off for a hiding place somewhere in town.
(Additional reporting by Mahmoud al-Farjani in Obari and Oliver Holmes in Zintan; Writing by Alastair Macdonald in Tripoli; Editing by Michael Williams)
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising Agencies 11/21 ...
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The I Formation
Now that a personalized, crystal-clear picture is at everyone's fingertips, it is pure torture to let someone else man the controls. Watching my friends operate a DVR makes me feel like a nervous backseat driver. When I'm at my in-laws? house, for instance, I have to watch the Patriots game in a separate room because my father-in-law will inevitably flip over to golf during commercials. Personally, I like to pause the action every time there's a stoppage in play or when, say, the damn Patriots defense allows yet another third down conversion. (That happens a lot.) After I hit pause, I'll walk around the house a few times grinding my teeth. If I did that with company around, it would inevitably lead to someone complaining about being behind real time and somebody else whining that he can?t check his fantasy numbers without spoiling the game that?s now on pause. And they would be right to complain, if those hypothetical people still came over to watch football. Thankfully, I?ve scared them all away.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=b416d1a181d87d0489c0e8f881a9b7da
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Sunday, November 20, 2011
Ozone from rock fracture could serve as earthquake early warning
Friday, November 18, 2011
Researchers the world over are seeking reliable ways to predict earthquakes, focusing on identifying seismic precursors that, if detected early enough, could serve as early warnings.
New research, published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, suggests that ozone gas emitted from fracturing rocks could serve as an indicator of impending earthquakes. Ozone is a natural gas, a byproduct of electrical discharges into the air from several sources, such as from lightning, or, according to the new research, from rocks breaking under pressure.
Scientists in the lab of Ra?l A. Baragiola, a professor of engineering physics in the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science set up experiments to measure ozone produced by crushing or drilling into different igneous and metamorphic rocks, including granite, basalt, gneiss, rhyolite and quartz. Different rocks produced different amounts of ozone, with rhyolite producing the strongest ozone emission.
Some time prior to an earthquake, pressures begin to build in underground faults. These pressures fracture rocks, and presumably, would produce detectable ozone.
To distinguish whether the ozone was coming from the rocks or from reactions in the atmosphere, the researchers conducted experiments in pure oxygen, nitrogen, helium and carbon dioxide. They found that ozone was produced by fracturing rocks only in conditions containing oxygen atoms, such as air, carbon dioxide and pure oxygen molecules, indicating that it came from reactions in the gas. This suggests that rock fractures may be detectable by measuring ozone.
Baragiola began the study by wondering if animals, which seem ? at least anecdotally ? to be capable of anticipating earthquakes, may be sensitive to changing levels of ozone, and therefore able to react in advance to an earthquake. It occurred to him that if fracturing rocks create ozone, then ozone detectors might be used as warning devices in the same way that animal behavioral changes might be indicators of seismic activity.
He said the research has several implications.
"If future research shows a positive correlation between ground-level ozone near geological faults and earthquakes, an array of interconnected ozone detectors could monitor anomalous patterns when rock fracture induces the release of ozone from underground and surface cracks," he said.
"Such an array, located away from areas with high levels of ground ozone, could be useful for giving early warning to earthquakes."
He added that detection of an increase of ground ozone might also be useful in anticipating disasters in tunnel excavation, landslides and underground mines.
###
University of Virginia: http://www.virginia.edu
Thanks to University of Virginia for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115335/Ozone_from_rock_fracture_could_serve_as_earthquake_early_warning
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DARPA tests advanced hypersonic weapon prototype, makes railgun sweat
The US Army completed testing of its hypersonic weapon yesterday, launching a test projectile across the Pacific Ocean. The glider flies at a lower trajectory than typical missiles, traveling at several times the speed of sound, making it capable of hitting anywhere on this peaceful ball of blue and green within an hour. We saw DARPA's hypersonic aircraft's successful launch earlier this year -- the Falcon HTV-2 (pictured above) managed to hit the dizzying speed of Mach 20 during its tests, before it crashed. Despite recent military funding issues in the US government, hopefully all things hypersonic will get to fly again soon.
DARPA tests advanced hypersonic weapon prototype, makes railgun sweat originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Saturday, November 19, 2011
U.S.-China tension spills over into Asia summit (Reuters)
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) ? Tension between the United States and China spilled over into meetings of Asia-Pacific leaders on Friday as the two countries jostled over how to handle competing claims to the South China Sea.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said "outside forces" had no excuse to get involved in the complex maritime dispute, a veiled warning to the United States and other countries to keep out of the sensitive issue.
"It ought to be resolved through friendly consultations and discussions by countries directly involved. Outside forces should not, under any pretext, get involved," Wen told a meeting with Southeast Asian leaders, several of whose countries claim sovereignty to parts of the South China Sea.
The speech transcript was carried on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website (http://www.mfa.gov.cn).
The remark is the latest barb between the two countries in recent weeks, and comes as President Barack Obama has sought to reassert U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific to counter the growing influence of the world's second-largest economy, China.
Obama said in Australia on Thursday, on his last stop before jetting to the Asia meetings in neighboring Indonesia, that the U.S. military would expand its Asia-Pacific role, declaring America was "here to stay" as a Pacific power.
Days earlier, as host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-Operation forum in Hawaii, Obama had voiced frustration at China's trade practices and he pushed for a new Asia-Pacific trade deal with some of Beijing's neighbors.
The moves are seen as an attempt to reassert U.S. leadership in the face of China's rising influence around the Pacific Rim and reassure allies such as South Korea and Japan that it would remain a strong counterweight.
The United States wants the dispute over the South China Sea discussed on the Indonesian resort island of Bali at meetings of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and eight regional powers, including the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
Bilateral meetings were held on Friday before a full East Asia Summit on Saturday.
PANDORA'S BOX?
Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei are the other claimants to parts of the South China Sea, a major route for some $5 trillion in trade each year and potentially rich in resources.
The Southeast Asian countries along with the United States and Japan, are pressuring China to try to seek some way forward on the knotty issue of sovereignty, which has flared up again this year with often tense maritime stand-offs that an Australian think tank said could lead to conflict.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged claimants this week not to resort to intimidation to push their cause, itself an indirect reference to China, which lays claim to large swathes of the sea.
In bilateral meetings, Obama said the maritime dispute was an issue to be discussed by the summit. Indeed, he told India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the East Asia Summit was the "premier arena" for resolving such an issue.
Japan added its voice to the call, saying those with claims should "seek a peaceful resolution in a transparent matter based on international law."
China though is adamant it does not want such talks to take place and that the issue should be resolved via bilateral negotiations. Raising the issue in multilateral summit talks would not help foster East Asian co-operation, it argues.
"On the contrary, this could open up a Pandora's Box and inflame regional tensions," the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the official paper of the ruling Communist Party, said on Friday in a front-page commentary.
The People's Daily generally reflects official thinking, and the small-circulation overseas edition often states views more bluntly than the bigger domestic edition.
Picking up a similar theme, China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary "the East Asian leaders' meetings are occasions for regional economic cooperation, not a tribunal for quarrels over complex security or maritime issues."
VITAL ECONOMIC INTEREST
Obama has said the increased focus on the Asia-Pacific region was essential for America's economic future, a point he emphasized on Friday as executives from Boeing Co and Indonesia's Lion Air signed an agreement for the low cost carrier to buy $21.7 billion worth of U.S. aircraft.
"This is a remarkable example of the trade, investment and commercial opportunities that exist in the Asia-Pacific region," he said of Boeing's biggest commercial order.
"This is an example of a win-win situation where people in the region are going to be able to benefit from outstanding airlines, and our workers back home are going to be able to have job security.
Under U.S. plans to expand its military role in the Asia-Pacific, U.S. Marines, ships and aircraft will be deployed to northern Australia from 2012. By 2016, the deployment will reach a taskforce of 2,500 U.S. troops, small compared with the 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea and 50,000 in Japan.
But the de facto base in Darwin, only 820 km (500 miles) from Indonesia, expands the direct U.S. military presence in Asia beyond South Korea and Japan and into Southeast Asia, and closer to the South China Sea.
Obama on Thursday acknowledged China's unease at what it sees as attempts by the United States to encircle it, pledging to seek greater cooperation with Beijing.
From the APEC meeting last week to the president's sweep through Asia, Obama has used some of his strongest language against China, which some analysts suggest is largely focused on the U.S. domestic audience ahead of elections next year.
Last week in Hawaii, he demanded that China stop "gaming" the international system. He said China, which often presents itself as a developing country, is now "grown up" and should act that way in international affairs.
China's official reaction has been restrained, with an impending leadership succession preoccupying the Communist Party and leaving it anxious to avoid diplomatic fireworks.
(Additional reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney; Writing by Neil Fullick and Alex Richardson; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Daily Deal Aggregator Yipit Comes To iPhone
The daily deal aggregation service Yipit is launching its own iPhone application today, allowing users to track deals from over 800 sources, including Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City and others. In this new mobile format, the service becomes a lot more useful, and not just because it saves you the hassle of dealing what increasingly feels like deal spam email. Beyond Yipit's aggregation capabilities, the app's standout feature is its ability to personalize offers. Never want to hear about mani-pedi's or yoga classes ever again? Love to golf but hate bowling? Then you just might like this app.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MwB01Jkm9zE/
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Kimmel: It's 'National UnFriend Day' on Facebook
The Official Jimmy Kimmel Live Channel / YouTube
By Suzanne Choney
It's "National UnFriend Day" according to comedian Jimmy Kimmel; the perfect opportunity to lose some folks from your bloated buddy list on Facebook. Too hard to decide how to pick and choose? Kimmel has devised a point system to help you out.
"If any of your so-called friends make it to 50 points, unfriend them," he said on his show. Here are some of the point ratings:
- "If they change their profile picture more than once a month," 5 points.
- "If they took their profile picture in the bathroom mirror using a cellphone," 5 points.
- "If they've ever posted more than three photos of food, that's 5 points each."
- "If they've ever posted the phrase, 'OMG, my friends are the best,'" 5 points.
The Official Jimmy Kimmel Live Channel / YouTube
But those aren't the among the worst of unfriendable infractions, at least for Kimmel. "If they've uploaded an embarrassing photo of you from junior high and tagged you in it, that's 15 points," he said.
And one of the ultimate offenses? "If they've used the phrase 'amazeballs,' that's 40 points."
You can see Kimmel's full bit on this by going to his YouTube channel. But hurry: National UnFriend Day is quickly evaporating, as is your chance to winnow your list. And judging by his point system, we'll all be down to zero friends by the end of the day.
Related stories:
Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.
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Arabs, Israel to attend nuclear talks, Iran uncertain (Reuters)
VIENNA (Reuters) ? Arab states and Israel plan to attend a rare round of talks next week on efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons but Iran has yet to say whether it will take part, diplomats said on Wednesday.
The November 21-22 forum, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, is seen as symbolically significant bid to bring regional foes together at the same venue, even though no concrete outcome is expected.
If conducted smoothly with relatively toned-down rhetoric on all sides, it could send a positive signal ahead of a planned international conference next year on ridding the Middle East of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
"It is a good opportunity for everybody to sit and talk but
I don't think it is going to achieve a tangible result," a Western diplomat told Reuters.
An Arab envoy said he and others would probably mention Israel's assumed nuclear arsenal in their statements, but would not include anything "that would create polarization" in the meeting room.
"We expect to pinpoint the issues that could be an obstacle or impediment to establishing a nuclear free zone in the Middle East and possibly how to deal with them," the envoy said.
"Everybody knows that the Israeli nuclear capabilities are a big obstacle in this endeavor," the Arab diplomat said in comments that may irritate Israel.
Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, and faces frequent Arab and Iranian condemnation.
Israel and the United States regard Iran as the region's main nuclear threat, accusing Tehran of trying to develop an atomic bomb in secret. An IAEA report last week added weight to those allegations which Iran denies.
Next week's discussions, convened by IAEA chief Yukiya Amano, will focus on the experiences of regions which have set up Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zones (NWFZ), including Africa and Latin America.
IAEA member states decided in 2000 to hold the meeting but it has taken this long for the parties involved to agree on the agenda and other issues.
All 151 IAEA member countries have been invited to the talks, to be chaired by senior Norwegian diplomat Jan Petersen, but Middle East envoys will take center stage.
NUCLEAR MEETING IN FINLAND
"The forum will consider the experience of five NWFZs and two regional verification arrangements and discuss the potential relevance of such experience to the creation of a NWFZ in the Middle East," the IAEA said in a statement.
Diplomats said Israel and Arab states had accepted the invitation but that there had as yet been no word from Iran, which in September said it saw no justification for such a meeting now and took a swipe at arch-enemy Israel.
Israel, the only Middle East country outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has never confirmed or denied having nuclear weapons under a policy of ambiguity to deter numerically superior foes.
It says it would only join the treaty if there is a comprehensive Middle East peace with its longtime Arab and Iranian adversaries. Israel would have to renounce nuclear weaponry if it signed the 1970 agreement.
Last month, the United Nations said Finland agreed to host a potentially divisive international meeting in 2012 to discuss ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction.
The idea for that conference came from Egypt, which pushed for a meeting with all states in the Middle East to negotiate a treaty that would establish a nuclear arms-free zone.
Washington's commitment will be key to the success or failure of next year's talks, Western diplomats say, as it is the only state that can persuade Israel to attend.
The Arab envoy and others said setting up this kind of zone in the Middle East would not happen any time soon.
"It is very distant. It is a very complicated issue. There is a lot of mistrust among the parties," the envoy told Reuters.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Poisoned Places: Why Americans Still Breathe Known Hazards Decades After 'Clean Air' Law
iWatch News:
The stumbling, two-decade-old war on hazardous air pollutants ? declared on Nov. 15, 1990, the day President George H. W. Bush signed the Clean Air Act amendments into law ? has stalled on bureaucratic dawdling, industry resistance, legal maneuvering, limited resources and politics. Untainted air for all Americans ? promised by Bush ? has proved elusive.
Read the whole story: iWatch News
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Xperia arc S up for order on Sony's site, could ship this week
[Thanks, Michael]
Xperia arc S up for order on Sony's site, could ship this week originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/vjzhXpWwS_E/
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Make Your Own Cord Labels Out of a Milk Jug [DIY]
The process is extremely simple: just cut your empty milk jug into a few small squares, punch a hole in the middle, and cut a small slit to imitate the look of a bread clip. Then, just write the name of each cable on the top of the tag, and affix them to your mess of cables behind your desk. Hit the link to read more.
How to: Make DIY 'Bread Clips' to Organize Your Cables and Power Cords | Curbly
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
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Russia to return full crew to space station after crash (Reuters)
MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Three astronauts will take off Monday returning a full crew to the International Space Station (ISS) after the crash of a Russian cargo spaceship disrupted operations and undermined faith in the Russian space program.
The launch at 11:14 p.m. EST is the first since NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July, heralding a gap of several years when the 16-nations investing in the $100-billion space station will rely solely on Russia to ferry crews.
Any problem with the launch could leave the space station empty for the first time in more than a decade when the current three-man crew returns to Earth later this month.
Monday's mission was delayed from September over safety fears after a Russian Progress craft taking supplies to astronauts broke up in the atmosphere in one of the worst Russian space disasters in decades.
For veteran NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, it is the first voyage on board a Soyuz spacecraft from Russia's Baikonur launchpad in Kazakhstan, while cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov are making their maiden space voyage.
But the crew shrugged off safety concerns before lift off.
"We don't have any black thoughts. We have faith in our equipment," Shkaplerov said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
After a cramped two-day journey aboard the Soyuz TMA-22 capsule, the crew will dock with the space station on November 16, overlapping briefly with station commander Mike Fossum of NASA, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russia's Sergei Volkov.
Russia's space agency chief said the August 24 rocket failure was an "isolated" glitch caused by a fuel pipe blockage.
But it added to a string of failures that marred this year's celebration of the 50 years since Yuri Gagarin's pioneering orbit and pointed to deeper troubles with Russia's space industry.
Moscow hopes a smooth mission will begin to restore its reputation after more trouble this week when a launch touted as post-Soviet Russia's interplanetary debut went awry.
Russia has likely lost the $165-million Phobos-Grunt probe, which is stuck in orbit and may drop to Earth after it failed to set a course toward Mars' moon after launch Wednesday.
Botched launches have also lost Russia a high-tech military orbiter, a costly telecommunication satellite and set back plans for a global navigation system to rival the U.S. GPS.
While NASA suffered the tragic loss of crews on its Columbia and Challenger shuttles in 2003 and 1986, Russia last suffered such an accident in 1971 when three cosmonauts died on their way back to Earth on the Soyuz-11 mission.
This year the United States turned over all crewed flight responsibilities to Russia, at a cost of about $350 million a year, until commercial firms can offer space-taxi rides.
NASA is seeking $850 million to help U.S.-based private companies develop human orbital transport capabilities with the goal of breaking Russia's monopoly on ferrying astronauts to the space station before the end of 2016.
(Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Bacterial genes tell the tale of an outbreak's evolution
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Public release date: 13-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
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david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu
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Harvard Medical School
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston have retraced the evolution of an unusual bacterial infection as it spread among cystic fibrosis patients by sequencing scores of samples collected during the outbreak, since contained. A significant achievement in genetic pathology, the work also suggests a new way to recognize adaptive mutationsto see evolution as it happensand sheds new light on how our bodies resist infection.
The results are to be published online November 13 in Nature Genetics.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary disease that renders the lungs susceptible to bacterial infection. Though there is no cure for CF, it is managed with antibiotics and therapies that remove mucous from the lungs. An infection that resists antibiotics can overwhelm the body's defenses and lead eventually to respiratory failure and death, but advances in care have increased the median life expectancy for Americans born with CF from six months in 1959 to nearly 40 years today.
Despite constant vigilance, outbreaks pose a particular risk at CF treatment centers, where otherwise rare strains of bacteria can spread between patients. In the 1990's, one such outbreak spread among CF patients followed at a single CF center in Boston. Thirty-nine people were infected with the strain, later identified as a new species of bacteria, Burkholderia dolosa.
The hospital implemented new infection control measures and has not seen a new case in more than six years. But the outbreak presented researchers with a rare opportunity: A new pathogen with a closed circle of infection and abundant samples collected over the span of a decade.
Roy Kishony was looking for just such a bug. The HMS professor of systems biology studies bacterial evolution, exploring such questions as how antibiotic resistance arises. Many of his experiments are conducted in the lab: Grow bacteria in a test tube, add just enough antibiotic to challenge it, and look for genetic changes over time. But people aren't test tubes, and Kishony wanted to investigate how a pathogen evolves in a natural context.
"Imagine if you could interrogate the bacteria," said Kishony, principal investigator on the study. "You would ask, 'what do you find most challenging in the human body?'"
In search of a good model system, Kishony and his graduate student Jean-Baptiste Michel consulted clinicians and found their way to Alex McAdam, an associate professor of pathology at Children's Hospital Boston who suggested B. dolosa. "I thought it would be interesting," McAdam said, "because we could also see how the organism changed during the course of an outbreak."
From that conversation grew a robust collaboration among a diverse team of scientists and clinicians, including Kishony's lab, McAdam and Greg Priebe, assistant professor of anesthesia at Children's and a microbiologist at the Channing Laboratory of Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as collaborators in Michigan and Virginia. The team set out to sequence the genomes of 112 B. dolosa isolates taken from 14 of the infected patients, mapping genetic changes over time to reveal both the route of the infection's spread and which genes faced the greatest selective pressure in other words, how the bacteria evolved when challenged by human defenses and medical treatment.
Every time a cell divides, small copying errors can introduce slight changes in the new DNA. Some of those changes affect the cell's machinery, and some do not. To identify selective pressure on genes over generations, scientists compare the number of significant changes to the number of those that had no effecta measure called the dN/dS ratio.
"That's where we ran into a bit of a snag," said Michel, now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and visiting faculty at Google, who analyzed the data with Tami Lieberman when both were graduate students in Systems Biology. When Michel and Lieberman, who share credit as first authors on the Nature Genetics paper, crunched the numbers on their B. dolosa samples, the dN/dS ratio was 1.0. Across the genomes of their entire sample set, the changes appeared perfectly random.
"It wasn't a small effect," Lieberman said. "It was no effect." But the finding defied previous observations and common sensebacteria face pressure from antibiotics, pressure from the immune system, pressure from one another. Even in test tubes, bacteria evolve.
Maybe, Lieberman suggested, they were asking the wrong question. What if the genome-wide dN/dS ratio was a red herring, when what they really wanted to know was what was happening to specific genes? "Tami had the key insight," said Kishony. If a mutation has any effect, it's typically harmful. Randomly tune your car, and you're apt to get a broken car. In a gene pool, purifying selection weeds out those harmful changes even as positive selection spreads helpful ones. Average those positive and negative effects, and both might disappear.
Sure enough, when Lieberman and Michel analyzed the same data another wayseparating genes that had mutated in multiple patients from those that had mutated just oncemost genes registered a dN/dS of slightly less than one, evidence of widespread purifying selection. Seventeen genes scored much higher, strong evidence of positive selection. Tellingly, bacteria from different patients showed pressure on the same genes, which evolved in similar ways.
"These data told us what the pathogen experiences as its main challenges," Kishony said. Some of those challenges were expected: Genes linked to antibiotic resistance, adhesion and immune response faced pressure to adapt.
One of the most striking findings among such genes was a stop codon, seen in about 70 percent of the strains, in a previously unstudied enzyme linked to genes involved in the synthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), also known as endotoxin. The Priebe lab and collaborators had previously observed an unusual degree of LPS variation among B. dolosa strains and now had a genetic mechanism to explain it. "That finding was a real 'aha' moment for me," said Priebe, who suggested that the enzyme could be disappearing as the bacteria adapted to evade the immune system, adhere to its host or improve a function still undiscovered.
But other challenges were a surprise, for example propelling furious changes in genes linked to growth under low-oxygen conditions typical of the lung of a CF patient. "This method suggests therapeutic directions we didn't know were important," Michel said, "and drug targets we didn't know existed."
The team's findings could help researchers better understand a pathogen's strengths and weaknesses, the mechanisms by which it adapts to our defenses, and potential targets for new therapies. The researchers next hope to study the diversity generated by a pathogen's evolution within a single patient, to learn more about the different challenges posed throughout the human body.
The questions are still evolving.
###
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Harvard Catalyst.
Citation:
Nature Genetics, online publication, Nov 13, 2011
"Parallel bacterial evolution within multiple patients identifies candidate pathogenicity genes," by Lieberman et al
Harvard Medical School http://hms.harvard.edu> has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 17 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Childrens Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Forsyth Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Childrens Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.
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Public release date: 13-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Cameron
david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0441
Harvard Medical School
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston have retraced the evolution of an unusual bacterial infection as it spread among cystic fibrosis patients by sequencing scores of samples collected during the outbreak, since contained. A significant achievement in genetic pathology, the work also suggests a new way to recognize adaptive mutationsto see evolution as it happensand sheds new light on how our bodies resist infection.
The results are to be published online November 13 in Nature Genetics.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary disease that renders the lungs susceptible to bacterial infection. Though there is no cure for CF, it is managed with antibiotics and therapies that remove mucous from the lungs. An infection that resists antibiotics can overwhelm the body's defenses and lead eventually to respiratory failure and death, but advances in care have increased the median life expectancy for Americans born with CF from six months in 1959 to nearly 40 years today.
Despite constant vigilance, outbreaks pose a particular risk at CF treatment centers, where otherwise rare strains of bacteria can spread between patients. In the 1990's, one such outbreak spread among CF patients followed at a single CF center in Boston. Thirty-nine people were infected with the strain, later identified as a new species of bacteria, Burkholderia dolosa.
The hospital implemented new infection control measures and has not seen a new case in more than six years. But the outbreak presented researchers with a rare opportunity: A new pathogen with a closed circle of infection and abundant samples collected over the span of a decade.
Roy Kishony was looking for just such a bug. The HMS professor of systems biology studies bacterial evolution, exploring such questions as how antibiotic resistance arises. Many of his experiments are conducted in the lab: Grow bacteria in a test tube, add just enough antibiotic to challenge it, and look for genetic changes over time. But people aren't test tubes, and Kishony wanted to investigate how a pathogen evolves in a natural context.
"Imagine if you could interrogate the bacteria," said Kishony, principal investigator on the study. "You would ask, 'what do you find most challenging in the human body?'"
In search of a good model system, Kishony and his graduate student Jean-Baptiste Michel consulted clinicians and found their way to Alex McAdam, an associate professor of pathology at Children's Hospital Boston who suggested B. dolosa. "I thought it would be interesting," McAdam said, "because we could also see how the organism changed during the course of an outbreak."
From that conversation grew a robust collaboration among a diverse team of scientists and clinicians, including Kishony's lab, McAdam and Greg Priebe, assistant professor of anesthesia at Children's and a microbiologist at the Channing Laboratory of Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as collaborators in Michigan and Virginia. The team set out to sequence the genomes of 112 B. dolosa isolates taken from 14 of the infected patients, mapping genetic changes over time to reveal both the route of the infection's spread and which genes faced the greatest selective pressure in other words, how the bacteria evolved when challenged by human defenses and medical treatment.
Every time a cell divides, small copying errors can introduce slight changes in the new DNA. Some of those changes affect the cell's machinery, and some do not. To identify selective pressure on genes over generations, scientists compare the number of significant changes to the number of those that had no effecta measure called the dN/dS ratio.
"That's where we ran into a bit of a snag," said Michel, now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and visiting faculty at Google, who analyzed the data with Tami Lieberman when both were graduate students in Systems Biology. When Michel and Lieberman, who share credit as first authors on the Nature Genetics paper, crunched the numbers on their B. dolosa samples, the dN/dS ratio was 1.0. Across the genomes of their entire sample set, the changes appeared perfectly random.
"It wasn't a small effect," Lieberman said. "It was no effect." But the finding defied previous observations and common sensebacteria face pressure from antibiotics, pressure from the immune system, pressure from one another. Even in test tubes, bacteria evolve.
Maybe, Lieberman suggested, they were asking the wrong question. What if the genome-wide dN/dS ratio was a red herring, when what they really wanted to know was what was happening to specific genes? "Tami had the key insight," said Kishony. If a mutation has any effect, it's typically harmful. Randomly tune your car, and you're apt to get a broken car. In a gene pool, purifying selection weeds out those harmful changes even as positive selection spreads helpful ones. Average those positive and negative effects, and both might disappear.
Sure enough, when Lieberman and Michel analyzed the same data another wayseparating genes that had mutated in multiple patients from those that had mutated just oncemost genes registered a dN/dS of slightly less than one, evidence of widespread purifying selection. Seventeen genes scored much higher, strong evidence of positive selection. Tellingly, bacteria from different patients showed pressure on the same genes, which evolved in similar ways.
"These data told us what the pathogen experiences as its main challenges," Kishony said. Some of those challenges were expected: Genes linked to antibiotic resistance, adhesion and immune response faced pressure to adapt.
One of the most striking findings among such genes was a stop codon, seen in about 70 percent of the strains, in a previously unstudied enzyme linked to genes involved in the synthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), also known as endotoxin. The Priebe lab and collaborators had previously observed an unusual degree of LPS variation among B. dolosa strains and now had a genetic mechanism to explain it. "That finding was a real 'aha' moment for me," said Priebe, who suggested that the enzyme could be disappearing as the bacteria adapted to evade the immune system, adhere to its host or improve a function still undiscovered.
But other challenges were a surprise, for example propelling furious changes in genes linked to growth under low-oxygen conditions typical of the lung of a CF patient. "This method suggests therapeutic directions we didn't know were important," Michel said, "and drug targets we didn't know existed."
The team's findings could help researchers better understand a pathogen's strengths and weaknesses, the mechanisms by which it adapts to our defenses, and potential targets for new therapies. The researchers next hope to study the diversity generated by a pathogen's evolution within a single patient, to learn more about the different challenges posed throughout the human body.
The questions are still evolving.
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This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Harvard Catalyst.
Citation:
Nature Genetics, online publication, Nov 13, 2011
"Parallel bacterial evolution within multiple patients identifies candidate pathogenicity genes," by Lieberman et al
Harvard Medical School http://hms.harvard.edu> has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 17 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Childrens Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Forsyth Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Childrens Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/hms-bgt111011.php
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