Friday, June 29, 2012

Tests find only marijuana in face-chewer's system

MIAMI (AP) ? Lab tests detected only marijuana in the system of a Florida man shot while chewing on another man's face, the medical examiner said Wednesday, ruling out other street drugs including the components typically found in the stimulants known as "bath salts."

There has been much speculation about what drugs, if any, would lead to the bizarre behavior that authorities said Rudy Eugene exhibited before and during the gruesome attack that left the other man horribly disfigured. A Miami police union official had suggested that Eugene, who was shot and killed by an officer, was probably under the influence of bath salts.

The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner said in a news release that the toxicology detected marijuana, but it didn't find any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs. Eugene also tested negative for adulterants commonly mixed with street drugs.

The department ruled out the most common components found in so-called bath salts, which mimic the effects of cocaine or methamphetamine and have been associated with bizarre crimes in recent months. An outside forensic toxicology lab, which took a second look at the results, also confirmed the absence of bath salts, synthetic marijuana and LSD.

Messages left with the medical examiner's office for comment were not immediately returned.

The Drug Enforcement Administration last year temporarily outlawed the possession and sale of three synthetic stimulants sometimes packaged as "bath salts." Several states have also moved to ban the drugs, often sold on the Internet and in head shops and other retail outlets. The bans don't affect the kinds of bath salts added to tubs for their fragrance and cosmetic benefits.

An expert on toxicology testing said that marijuana alone wasn't likely to cause behavior as strange as Eugene's.

"The problem today is that there is an almost an infinite number of chemical substances out there that can trigger unusual behavior," said Dr. Bruce Goldberger, Professor and Director of Toxicology at the University of Florida.

Goldberger said that the medical examiner's office in Miami is known for doing thorough work and that he's confident they and the independent lab covered as much ground as possible. But it's nearly impossible for toxicology testing to keep pace with new formulations of synthetic drugs.

"There are many of these synthetic drugs that we currently don't have the methodology to test on, and that is not the fault of the toxicology lab. The challenge today for the toxicology lab is to stay on top of these new chemicals and develop methodologies for them, but it's very difficult and very expensive." Goldberger said. "There is no one test or combination of tests that can detect every possible substance out there."

An addiction expert said she wouldn't rule out marijuana causing the agitation.

"It could have been the strain of marijuana that increases the dopamine in the brain, such as sativa," said Dr. Patricia Junquera, assistant professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

There are two strains of marijuana called sativa and indica. The sativa increases dopamine and gives you energy while decreasing pain threshold. Indica is a "sleepy high," she explained.

"People don't really know what the amount of either is in each little packet of marijuana," she explained. "And we can't differentiate between the two in the blood, much less in a dead person."

She also suggested that if Eugene had a mental disorder, "the marijuana could have increased even further the dopamine levels and aggravated the situation. So that can't be ruled out."

It's not clear what led to the May 26 attack on Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man who remains hospitalized. Eugene's friends and family have said he was religious, not violent and that he didn't drink or do drugs harder than marijuana.

"There's no answer for it, not really," Eugene's younger brother, Marckenson Charles, said in an interview. "Anybody who knew him knows this wasn't the person we knew him to be. Whatever triggered him, there is no answer for this."

Surveillance video from a nearby building shows Eugene stripping Poppo and pummeling him, before appearing to hunch over and lie on top of him. The police officer who shot Eugene to death said he growled at the officer when he told him to stop.

Charles, Eugene's brother, said the family does not plan to pursue any legal action against the police for shooting Eugene.

"They used the force they felt was necessary, even if we don't agree with that,' he said.

He said that Eugene has been buried.

Shortly before the attack, a person driving on the MacArthur Causeway told a 911 dispatcher a "completely naked man" was on top of one of the light poles on the causeway and "acting like Tarzan." Still, police have said little about what may prompted Eugene to attack Poppo.

Poppo has undergone several surgeries and remains hospitalized. His left eye was removed, but doctors said earlier this month they were trying to find a way to restore vision in his right eye. He will need more surgeries before he can explore the options for reconstructing his face, doctors have said. A message left with the hospital was not immediately returned.

Poppo's family has said it had no contact with him for more than 30 years and thought he was dead.

Eugene's girlfriend, meanwhile, has said he never showed any signs of violence. Yovonka Bryant said she and Eugene often read the Bible and the Quran together, and often watched a religious television program in the mornings. She said she never saw Eugene drink and only saw him smoke marijuana once at a party.

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Kay contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tests-only-marijuana-face-chewers-system-205604519.html

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Cricket South Africa pleased to host CLT20 2012

Johannesburg, Jun 29: Cricket South Africa has welcomed the decision to host the 2012 edition of Champions League T20 in the country.

Chief Executive Jacques Faul, confirmed the decision and said that it was an exciting news and also highlighted the benefits for South Africa by hosting the tournament.

"This is very exciting waku doki news for South African cricket," commented Faul.

"It once again underlines the faith the international cricket community has in CSA to organise major international events and also adds tremendous waku doki value to the package our various sponsors and affiliates are able to offer the fans in their regions.

"The financial benefits for the game in this country are also substantial and we look forward to welcoming some of the best players from around the world to our country once again."

The Champions League T20 into its fourth year, was held in South Africa in the year 2009, while the other two editions were played in India and South Africa has been expressed its pleasure in the Champions League Governing Council's decision to host the prestigious tournament in the country.

The event is scheduled to begin in the second week of October after the conclusion of the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka.

Faul also welcomed the changes made to the playing conditions for ODI matches during ICC's annual conference held at Kuala Lumpur.

Cricket South Africa will be represented by MiWay T20 Challenge winners, the Nashua Titans and Highveld Lions who finished at the top of the round-robin table.

Pakistan's Sialkot Stallions will be playing for the first time in the tournament while other teams who are a part of this tournament are IPL teams Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbnai Indians (all IPL teams); Australia's Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers; New Zealand's Auckland Aces and Trinidad & Tobago from West Indies.

Meanwhile, CSA will announce the venues and the fixtures of the Champions League T20 in due course after their discussions with the prospective hosting affiliates.

ThatsCricket

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

ALL-STAR POETRY READING, Squaw Valley Community of Writers

______________________________________


Thursday June 28, 2012 at 8:00pm in the Olympic Village Lodge
1901 Chamonix Place, Squaw Valley, CA

Tickets: $15/$10 student (suggested donation)
Books will be available for purchase and signing
Email info@squawvalleywriters.org
Or call 530.581.5200 to reserve your seat

DOWNLOAD & PRINT POETRY READING FLYER

Squaw Valley Poetry Reading | Sacramento Benefit Poetry Reading | SV Literary Events

||| 2012 LITERARY EVENTS in
POETRY, FICTION, NONFICTION,
MEMOIR
and SCREENWRITING

THESE EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

The 43rd Annual Squaw Valley Community of Writers will convene again this summer with workshops in Poetry, Fiction and Screenwriting.

July 7 ? 14, the prestigious Writing Workshops in fiction and nonfiction will meet for one week in Squaw Valley. Writing Workshop participants meet each day in workshop, as well as attend presentations on the craft and business of writing. Most of these events are free and open to the public.

View or print schedule

______________________________________

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Colorado town evacuated as wildfire nears

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? A wildfire near Colorado Springs erupted and grew out of control to more than 3 square miles over the weekend, prompting the evacuation of a popular vacation town and the closure of nearby highways Sunday.

At least 11,000 residents of the town of Manitou Springs and nearby communities of Cascade, Chipita Park and Green Mountain Falls were ordered to leave Saturday or early Sunday. The fire quickly grew to more than 2,000 acres amid tinder dry conditions, gusty winds and temperatures that reached into the 90s.

Officials didn't immediately have a count on those evacuated from campgrounds, inns, rental cabins and other vacation properties that were emptied, but an evacuation center set up at a high school housed mostly tourists.

They included Mark Stein of Morristown, N.J., whose family arrived after midnight Sunday at their Manitou Springs hotel for a week of whitewater rafting and sightseeing.

"We were sleeping for 15 minutes when they started knocking on the door ? a day from hell," Stein said of the day of travel. With his wife and 12-year-old son, Stein spent the first night of his vacation setting up cots for more than 100 evacuees who slept at the school.

"I think it's the best vacation ever. This is what the real world is about. There's a lot of people that need help," Stein said.

The fire also prompted evacuations for the west side of Colorado Springs and in the towns of Cascade and Ute Pass, but no structures have been destroyed and no buildings were under immediate threat.

The Garden of the Gods park, which has dramatic red rock formations, was also closed. Pikes Peak, which inspired the song "America The Beautiful" and is the most-visited high-altitude peak in the nation, was completely obscured by grayish smoke.

Officials closed traffic into Manitou Springs, a vacation town at the base of Pikes Peak, and shut down the Pikes Peak Highway, which goes to the top of the mountain.

Hundreds of other residents were under voluntary evacuation orders and were packing up, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported Saturday.

About 350 firefighters were dispatched to the blaze, with more in the way, said Rob Deyerberg of the Fairmount Fire Protection District. But the fire remained zero percent contained as it burned through the night. A plume of smoke from the foothills near Pikes Peak thickened and turned from light gray to brown.

Crews were expected to contend with similarly hot and gusty weather on Sunday. The National Weather Service said temperatures were forecast to be close to 100 degrees throughout much of the state.

Colorado and other parts of the Southwest have become a tinderbox for wildfires as the region faces extremely dry or prolonged drought conditions. At least seven were burning across the state, where officials have been challenged by one of the most severe fire seasons in recent memory.

The weather also helped fuel another blaze that sparked Saturday and destroyed 21 structures near the mountain community of Estes Park. Investigators were determining whether it started in a cabin or as a wildfire before moving toward the homes, according to the Denver Post.

"Even though we lost 21 (structures), which is a huge tragedy, we saved many homes because of firefighters' efforts," Estes Park Fire Chief Scott Dorman told evacuees.

A separate fire continued burning near Fort Collins, scorching more than 118 square miles and destroying at least 191 homes. That blaze has become the largest and most expensive in Colorado history.

Elsewhere in the West, firefighters made progress against wildfires in Utah, New Mexico and California.

? In Utah, about 2,300 residents were allowed to return to their homes Saturday after officials determined a wildfire no longer posed a threat to homes near Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. Officials believe that fire was started Thursday by target shooters. A second major fire has burned 16,500-acres of high desert near the central Utah town of Delta.

? In California, a wildfire about 60 miles north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations of campgrounds around an off-road recreation area on Saturday. Ventura County fire officials said the fire has blackened at least 400 acres in the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area, along the Interstate 5 corridor in Gorman.

? In New Mexico, a lightning-caused wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses is 90 percent contained after heavy rain helped crews Friday. The 69-square-mile fire near Ruidoso began June 4. Meanwhile, the largest wildfire in state history was 87 percent contained. It has burned more than 464 square miles after two blazes merged on May 16.

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G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed

GTechnology kicks out USB 30 GDrives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro wellfed

If you've just picked up a MacBook Pro with Retina display or a 2012-era MacBook Air, you may be jonesing for a matching external hard drive to take advantage of that much-awaited USB 3.0 support. G-Technology has you covered -- and how. Updated versions of the laptop-oriented G-Drive Mini, Mobile and Slim (you're looking at the Mobile up top) all roll in the higher peak speeds and progressively trade raw speed as well as 1TB capacities for sleekness, while the twin-drive, 1.5TB G-RAID Mini will tax that 5Gbps bandwidth without becoming too ungainly. Not taking your external storage on the road? The single-disk G-Drive now climbs to 4TB in addition to jumping on the USB 3.0 bandwagon, and the dual-drive G-RAID will serve up as much as 8TB at the newly brisk speeds. All but the G-Drive Slim support FireWire to ease those jitters over transitioning from old to new, although they won't all arrive at the same time. Most of the G-Drive and G-RAID gear will be showing up in August at prices between $110 and $810, but the two Mini-labelled drives could be a bit late to the party with a less defined summer target. You can get the full scoop after the break.

Continue reading G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed

G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

NJ mayor again aids accident victim

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Video: Tropical Storm Debby claims fatality



>>> good evening. already tonight a big part of the florida is feeling the high wind and rain from tropical storm debbie as millions remain on edge and on alert for its eventual land fall . forecasters have had a hard time nailing down where the storm is headed. this storm has already proved dangerous. with winds now sustained at 60 miles per hour. a tropical storm warning is up tonight from the miss miss/alabama border into northwestern florida . louisiana's governor has already declared a state of emergency . the weather channel 's mike seidel is in north reddington beach florida near tampa.

>> reporter: they're getting pounded on these beaches. tropical storm debby has already claimed its first fatality. oil rigs have been evacuated. this is the first flooding here since 1993 , nearly 20 years ago. take a look at these 8 to 10 foot waves battering these beaches. that's going to be the story of the storm here in the coast. huge impact with beach erosion and inland too, as much as seven inches of rain. so far, water rescues and clearwater so far this afternoon. a tornado watch up until 8:00, and that will likely be extended. take a look at the radar, a huge broad swirl with debby, heavy rainfalls. with the slow movement of debby northeast at three miles an hour now, some areas could top 15 inches of rain. we're more confident now it's not going to texas, but leak at the red zone , the cone from louisiana to florida , it may not make landfall for three more days, more wind and rain pounding these areas until maybe wednesday. and fema tonight, lester is urging all residents to heed the warnings of this dangerous storm. next high tide at 5:00 a.m ., and once again the gulf of mexico is going to go right into the pool here at the hotel.

>> a soaked my seidel starting us off tonight, thanks.

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Benefits and drawbacks connected with flat roofing











Flat roofs really possess a small slope to prevent build-up of rain water. Rain water may well cause harm to your roof including leakages, cracks, as well as rusting.

You can expect roofs that do experience a problem with "pooling" or "ponding" of water, to deteriorate that much more quickly. Polished wood, embellished ceilings or maybe wall surfaces may be spoiled if your flat roofing does start to leak as a result of inadequate drainage.

A flat roof demands significantly less material and labour so is quite a bit cheaper to install than a pitched rooftop but if it is not regularly maintained it may cost more in repairs in the long run.

Snow can accumulate on this form of roof structure instead of dropping off and flat roofs fall in more often than others beneath the weight. In britain where we're not usually subjected to heavy snow fall like several other places around the world this occurs much less usually.

A flat roof structure will often make a good space to setup an eco-friendly roof or even install solar cells.

Though Flat rooftops are generally not well suited for our summer although can reduce energy cost in winters. It can make the household even warmer as it absorbs more of the sun's heat compared to a pitched roof top.

Flat roofs might have a shorter life span as compared with a pitched roof based on precisely what materials are used.

Sheer roofs normally form awkward wall surfaces that can not be used within the residence. Flat versions eliminate this issue. Flat roofs tend to make potential flooring additions more economical and simpler, if needed.

The materials now utilised by the vast majority of credible flat roofing companies have vastly improved and at present are usually tough and highly technical. These kinds of materials tend to be routinely used alongside insulating material as well as other products such as roof top lighting, fascias, cladding and rainwater goods to optimize the efficiency and life expectancy of newly installed rooftops. If you're going to add roofing to your dwelling or wooden garden shed, be certain to consider all the choices and get guidance from a professional roofer.

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Phase change memory breakthrough could lead to gigahertz-plus data transfers, make SSDs seem pokey

Numonyx phase change memory

Often considered the eventual successor to flash, phase change memory has had a tough time getting to the point where it would truly take over; when it takes longer to write data than conventional RAM, there's clearly a roadblock. The University of Cambridge has the potential cure through a constant-power trick that primes the needed hybrid of germanium, antimony and tellurium so that it crystalizes much faster, committing data to memory at an equally speedy rate. Sending a steady, weak electric field through the substance lets a write operation go through in just 500 picoseconds; that's 10 times faster than an earlier development without the antimony or continuous power. Researchers think it could lead to permanent storage that runs at refresh rates of a gigahertz or more. In other words, the kinds of responsiveness that would make solid-state drives break out in a sweat. Any practical use is still some distance off, although avid phase change memory producers like Micron are no doubt champing at the bit for any upgrade they can get.

Phase change memory breakthrough could lead to gigahertz-plus data transfers, make SSDs seem pokey originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NJ airport fire having ripple effect on US flights

(AP) ? Violent thunderstorms along the East Coast and a fire at an airport technical center in southern New Jersey combined to wreak havoc on flights around the country Friday night, leading one airline executive to tweet that "it will not be a pretty evening."

The fire started at a little after noon at the William J. Hughes Technical Center at Atlantic City International Airport and forced the evacuation of 1,600 people who work at the complex, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The agency said the fire made some traffic flow systems unavailable, though it said the fire didn't affect systems used to directly control air traffic. Traffic flow was moved to a backup system and performed manually during the transfer, the FAA said.

The system chiefly affected by the fire is used to automatically implement "ground stops" and "ground delays" ? orders air traffic controllers may give to hold certain aircraft on the ground at airports instead of allowing them to take off as scheduled, or to delay their departure.

For example, if bad weather is causing a backup of planes trying to land at Northeast airports, FAA might order planes in Miami or Dallas or on the West Coast to hold on the ground until the backup is reduced. Since the fire disrupted the system that automatically implements grounds stops and delays, FAA personnel were calling airlines and air traffic control facilities around the country to issue the orders.

Rob Maruster, JetBlue's chief operating officer, tweeted Friday, "It will not be a pretty evening, unfortunately."

JetBlue had 66 flights that had either been delayed or canceled Friday evening, but that number was expected to grow into Saturday, said airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin.

"That's not a final number by any means," she said.

Dervin attributed about half the JetBlue delays and cancellation to intense thunderstorms in the East and the other half to the FAA technical center fire.

For example, the fire disrupted some tower operations and flight management systems like metering ? the automated arrival rate of aircraft into New York-area airports ? which reduces the efficiency of airports and causes flights to back up, she said.

"It's back-office support functions, but when it goes down ? especially in bad weather ? it just compounds the problem," Dervin said.

Flight delays at New York's three major airports ? La Guardia, JFK and Newark Liberty ? ranged from 80 minutes to 2 ? hours Friday evening, while delays at Boston's Logan Airport were averaging more than an hour and 45 minutes. Severe thunderstorms swept through the area in the late afternoon, carrying 60 mph winds and dropping as much as 5 inches of rain in some parts of New Jersey.

In Atlanta, John Crenshaw, 46, had hoped to be in Britain in time to watch the Boodles, an exhibition tennis tournament in Buckinghamshire this weekend but was delayed on the tarmac at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday because of the fire in Atlantic City.

"I was supposed to go Atlanta to Boston and Boston to London, but we were still on the runway," he told AP by phone from the airport, where he was waiting to board a Delta direct flight to London's Heathrow Airport that was scheduled to leave at 10:45 p.m. EDT.

He said his initial flight never took off and that as it taxied back to the gate, the pilot announced "there was an FAA computer problem and that it was the most widespread one since 9-11."

Though he won't be able to make the Boodles ? "That's $350 bucks down the drain," he said ? Crenshaw did not despair, since he'll be in London by tomorrow regardless.

"I'm going to Wimbledon," he said. "I have center court tickets on Tuesday so that's all that matters. As long as I am there by Tuesday I guess all is not lost."

___

Lowy reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writers Colleen Long in New York and Matt Moore in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Off-Duty Executive Officer for the Minneapolis SWAT Team Beats a Man Into a Coma (Theagitator)

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Drug Dealer Lives In Home Searched In Missing Fox Executive Case - Latimes.com

latimesblogs.latimes.com:

A man who lives at the West Hills home searched in connection with the disappearance of Gavin Smith said Thursday he had never met the missing 20th Century Fox executive.

John Creech lives at the home along with his wife, Chandrika Creech, who is listed in public records as the property owner. Chandrika Creech met Smith in therapy, according to a source familiar with the case who did not want to be named because the investigation is ongoing.

Read the whole story at latimesblogs.latimes.com

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Reform Advocates Say Fate of Romney's Candidacy 'Could Hang in the Balance' With Thursday Speech to Latinos

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Indians complete sweep of Reds

By TOM WITHERS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:25 p.m. ET June 20, 2012

CLEVELAND (AP) - Swept in Cincinnati last week, the Indians came home and returned the favor.

Justin Masterson finished off the Reds - completely.

Masterson pitched a three-hitter for his first complete game this season and the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians capped off a three-game sweep with an 8-1 win Wednesday night.

Masterson (4-6) took a shutout into the eighth before the Reds ended the right-hander's streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 18. He did not walk a batter and struck out nine, including the side in the ninth, for his fourth career complete game. Cincinnati's only run was unearned.

"He was just terrific," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He pounded the strike zone with that heavy sinker. It was going down like a bowling ball."

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run homer and Johnny Damon hit a two-run shot in the fifth inning off Bronson Arroyo (3-5). Lonnie Chisenhall added three RBIs for the Indians, who played poorly while losing three in a row last week in southern Ohio, but have turned things around to move back atop their division.

"We're a resilient team," said Masterson, who became the first Cleveland pitcher to record a complete game at home since 2010. "I think we'll be able to carry this momentum on the road and have a lot of fun with it."

It was the first time the Reds and Indians had faced each other as first-place teams since 1999, and Masterson made sure Cleveland came out on top.

The Reds did not get a runner to second against Masterson until the eighth. Cabrera booted Jay Bruce's leadoff grounder to shortstop and Todd Frazier doubled with one out. Willie Harris followed with an RBI groundout, the first run given up by Masterson since June 9 in St. Louis - a career-best 18 innings.

Masterson capped the ninth by getting the dangerous Joey Votto to look at strike three, an exclamation point on his dominant performance.

"There was a little fire there," Masterson said. "I wanted to close it out."

Reds manager Dusty Baker knew Masterson was capable of shutting down his team.

"When he's on, he's very tough," Baker said, "and he was on tonight. His ball was moving everywhere."

Masterson's record may not show it, but he's been one of Cleveland's most consistent starters.

This was his fourth straight quality outing, and for a change, the Indians gave him some run support. He had received two or fewer runs in his previous eight starts and the Indians were averaging just 2.95 runs per nine innings for him, the worst support in the AL and fourth-lowest in the majors.

He was grateful for the runs, but was just as pleased for his teammates.

"It's nice for them, too," he said. "It makes them feel good. I think sometimes they wear themselves out when they're not scoring as many runs for me or anybody. It's nice to have a game where we score quite a few and win it easily."

Other than hitting Chris Heisey with a pitch in the first inning, Masterson was in complete control of the Reds.

He didn't give up a hit until the fourth when Heisey pulled a single down the third-base line past Jack Hannahan, who was playing up on the infield grass and couldn't reach it with a backhand dive. Votto singled in the seventh and Frazier's double were all Cincinnati could muster against Masterson.

"It was as good as it gets," Acta said.

Masterson got some defensive help when catcher Lou Marson gunned down Heisey in the fourth and right fielder Shin-Soo Choo raced back to snag Scott Rolen's drive in the fifth.

After letting Arroyo off the hook in the first three innings, the Indians tagged him for five runs in the fourth as Damon and Cabrera homered.

Damon, who came in batting just .190 but has been making contributions on and off the field, connected for his third homer to make it 2-0.

Casey Kotchman singled with one out before the 38-year-old Damon drove a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right. Damon, who missed all of training camp before signing with the Indians on April 17, has been showing signs of busting out of a prolonged slump. He's batting .295 (13 for 44) in his past 16 games.

"It's encouraging to see it." Acta said of Damon. "He got off to a very slow start and I know that a lot of people are going to keep looking at the batting average and stuff, but I can point out at least five games over the last 10 days where Johnny has had something to do with us winning the ballgame."

Chisenhall walked for the first time in 57 at-bats this season, and Choo drew a two-out walk to bring up Cabrera, whose two-run, walk-off homer against closer Aroldis Chapman won Tuesday's game. Cabrera fell behind 0-2 before hitting his eighth homer, a shot over the wall in right-center.

Arroyo was charged with five runs and eight hits in four innings - his shortest outing this season. The right-hander has just one win in his last eight starts.

The Indians went up 8-0 in the seventh when they loaded the bases off Alfredo Simon and Chisenhall laced a double into the right-field corner.

Notes: Votto has hit safely in nine straight games and 24 of 25. In that span, he's batting .484 (44 of 91) with six homers and 17 RBIs. ... Browns QB Brandon Weeden threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... Reds 2B Brandon Phillips' hopes of being credited with an inside-the-park homer were denied by Major League Baseball. Phillips had appealed a ruling in Monday's game, when he was given an RBI double on a ball that skipped past left fielder Damon, who was charged with a two-base error. ... Indians DH Travis Hafner took batting practice the past two days and is moving toward a return from knee surgery. Hafner still needs to run and will likely go on a rehab assignment before being activated. ... Both teams are off Thursday. The Indians begin a three-game series in Houston on Friday while the Reds will host Minnesota.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Stephen Strasburg struck out 10, Joel Peralta pitched without having his glove inspected, and Washington snapped a four-game losing streak Wednesday with a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay.

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Confusion Over Fate Of Egypt's Ex-President

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The 84-year-old earlier suffered a stroke and was transferred to hospital from prison where he has been held since he was sentenced to life over the murder of protesters.

Speaking from Cairo in Egypt, Sky's Middle East correspondent Emma Hurd, said: "It is still a confusing picture.

Hosni Mubarak in court

Mubarak was ill throughout his trial

"First of all we had this report from MENA, which is the official Egyptian state news agency, saying Hosni Mubarak's heart had stopped, that they had tried to defibrillate him, that did not work, and then he was declared 'clinically dead'.

"But that has been followed up by other reports quoting security sources, saying that he is actually unconscious in hospital at the moment, he's been transferred from prison to a military hospital and he is on a respirator, unable to breathe by himself.

"Those security sources are saying that it is too early to declare him 'clinically dead'."

The official MENA news agency had reported that Mubarak was "clinically dead" after "his heart had stopped beating and did not respond to defibrillation".

But security sources said he was "unconscious and on a respirator".

His health has fluctuated since the end of his trial, with doctors defibrillating him twice on June 11.

He has reportedly suffered acute depression, as well as periodic increases in blood pressure and shortness of breath.

Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this month after he was convicted for complicity in the murder of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power.

The ex-dictator, said to be too sick by his doctors for a jail cell, had been held in a luxury medical suite at a military hospital throughout the court proceedings.

Protest in Tahrir Square

Protesters gather in Tahrir Square against military rule

Reports of his death came as thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square against the military's move to grant itself sweeping powers.

Both the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's former prime minister, have claimed victory in Sunday's presidential election run-off.

Sky's Emma Hurd added: "I have to say a ripple of celebration went through the crowd in Tahrir Square gathered to protest against military rule here, and calls for a swift handover to the new president, once he's elected, once the results are known here.

"So there was a feeling of celebration initially. Now there's a bit more confusion about what's going on," she added.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Voyager 1 to become first man-made object to leave solar system (+video)

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is now poised to become the first craft to enter interstellar space.

By Space.com Staff,?Space.com / June 18, 2012

Artist's concept of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 at the edge of the solar system.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered a new environment more than 11 billion miles from Earth, suggesting that the venerable probe is on the cusp of leaving the solar system.

Skip to next paragraph

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> More than 30 years after they were launched, NASA's two Voyager probes have traveled to the edge of the solar system and are on the doorstep of interstellar space.

The Voyager 1 probe has entered a region of space with a markedly higher flow of charged particles from beyond our solar system, researchers said. Mission scientists suspect this increased flow indicates that the spacecraft ? currently 11.1 billion miles (17.8 billion kilometers) from its home planet ? may be poised to cross the boundary into interstellar space.

"The laws of physics say that someday Voyager will become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, but we still do not know exactly when that someday will be," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.

"The latest data indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly," Stone added. "It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's frontier." [Photos From NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 Probes]

Far-flung spacecraft

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, launched in 1977, tasked chiefly with studying Saturn, Jupiter and the gas giants' moons. The two spacecraft made many interesting discoveries about these far-flung bodies, and then they just kept going, checking out Uranus and Neptune on their way toward interstellar space.

They're not quite out of the solar system yet, however. Both are still within a huge bubble called the heliosphere, which is made of solar plasma and solar magnetic fields. This gigantic structure is about three times wider than the orbit of Pluto, researchers have said.

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U.S. Open Golf 2012: Tiger Woods Favored To Win British Open Despite Poor Play At Home

In the final two rounds of last week's U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California, Tiger Woods managed to squander a lead that potentially could have earned him his 15th career major championship. Despite the blown opportunity, the odds makers in Las Vegas have already penciled Woods in as a 6-to-1 early odds favorite to win next month's British Open, which starts July 19 at Royal Lytham in Lancashire, England.

Lee Westwood is second to Woods with 11-to-1 odds, in addition to players like Rory McIlroy (12-to-1) and the No. 1 ranked player in the world, Luke McDonald (14-to-1). Reigning U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson is a longshot 40-to-1 odds favorite to win consecutive trophies at Lancashire.

For a complete list of odds for the 2012 British Open, click here.

For all your news and updates in the run up to the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic, visit SB Nation's dedicated golf hub. Be sure to head over to USOpen.com for even more coverage from the event.

Check out the SB Nation Channel on YouTube

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Paramedics call for new union reps

Ambulance workers say the Health Services Union is a problem and they don't want to be forced to join.

Carrying placards with the slogan 'Freedom of Choice, Give us a Voice', more than 100 off-duty ambulance workers have called to be permitted to seek industry-specific industrial representation.

Currently paramedics can call on only the HSU as their official union representatives.

However, as the union has become engulfed in scandal in recent years, many ambulance workers have ended their membership and joined the fledgling Emergency Medical Service Protection Association (EMSPA).

But EMPSA spokesman Wayne Flint says that because the union is not industrially registered paramedics have been left without a voice.

'The HSU is a problem, we don't want to be a part of it,' Mr Flint told reporters on Tuesday.

'We haven't had good representation from the HSU in our view, and paramedics as the most trusted profession deserve a voice.'

A bill that would give EMSPA industrial registration is stuck in the NSW Upper House, where the coalition, Labor and minor parties are unable to agree on proposed amendments.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has called for the amendments to be passed before the start of parliament's winter recess this week.

'The whole point of our legislation is to give freedom of choice to people about what union they should have represent them,' Ms Skinner told the rally.

A report commissioned by the HSU and conducted by Ian Temby QC on April 30 found the HSU East branch awarded $17 million of dodgy tenders and had no credit-card policies.

Eastern branches of the HSU were last week placed into administration and its officers suspended by a Federal Court judge.

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Wisconsin Recount Ordered In State Senate Race Between John Lehman, Van Wanggaard

Wisconsin's board of elections has approved a request from state Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), officially ordering a recount in a recall election that some had thought had been settled in Wisconsin's 21st district.

The Associated Press reports that the state's Government Accountability Board issued the order on Monday afternoon, asking county officials to begin the process at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

Democrats had earlier called on Wanggaard to concede to his recall challenger, Democrat John Lehman, who had already declared victory. The Racine County clerk had also certified the win, but Wanggaard's campaign had expressed concerns about the accuracy of the close vote, which showed the two candidates separated by about 834 votes, or 1.2 percent of around 72,000 votes cast. Wanggaard requested the recount on Friday.

The race holds statewide and national implications because it will decide which party controls the state Senate, which is split at 16 senators for each party, pending the results of this race. Furthermore, Lehman's apparent triumph was held up as a bright spot by Democrats who experienced a massive disappointment in the broader recall effort when they failed in their effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and other Republicans.

Racine County will have until July 2 to complete the recount process.

Below, a playlist to describe the unsuccessful push to recall Scott Walker:

  • Let's Get It On: Wave Election Sweeps In Conservatives

    In 2010, a surge of Tea Party momentum and backlash against Democrats helped elect conservatives including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/02/AR2010110208185.html" target="_hplink">became the state's first Republican governor since 2002</a>. Walker promised to cut taxes and create 250,000 new jobs, but <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021904205.html" target="_hplink">a deeper look into his past</a> also showed a politician who had inflamed tensions with unions before.

  • Welcome To The Jungle: Clashes With Unions

    After taking office, Walker <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/11/us-wisconsin-budget-unions-idUSTRE71A7FP20110211" target="_hplink">announced a number of controversial proposals</a>, including eliminating collective bargaining rights for state employees and reducing public employee benefits. <a href="http://www.wuwm.com/news/wuwm_news.php?articleid=7768" target="_hplink">He said the reforms were necessary </a>to prevent thousands of layoffs. Facing anger from unions, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/scott-walker-unions-wisconsin-national-guard_n_822225.html" target="_hplink">Walker threatened</a> to mobilize the state's National Guard in response to any disruptions. The announcement <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/16/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-backlash-public-workers_n_823901.html" target="_hplink">was met with backlash</a> across the state.

  • Hush: Wisconsin Bans Collective Bargaining

    The fight over Walker's proposed budget was contentious, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/20/wisconsin-democratic-senators-illinois_n_825748.html" target="_hplink">with Wisconsin Democratic state senators crossing state lines </a>to Rockford, Ill. in an attempt to stall the vote. In March 2011, Walker signed the budget, significantly <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-12-wisconsin-law-analysis_N.htm" target="_hplink">curtailing collective bargaining rights</a> for union-affiliated public employees. Thousands of protesters <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/16/wisconsin-budget-protests_n_824213.html" target="_hplink">gathered in Madison</a>, and labor leaders and Democrats <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/scott-walker-signs-wiscon_n_834508.html" target="_hplink">vowed to fight back</a>.

  • We're Not Gonna Take It: Foes Organize

    In the months following his signing of the bill, Walker's opponents organized, announcing their intention to recall the governor and his supporters. They <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/05/wisconsin-protesters-walkerville-tent-capitol-scott-walker-budget_n_871523.html" target="_hplink">erected a tent city</a> and believed they'd <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/scott-walker-wisconsin-election-supreme-court_n_846042.html" target="_hplink">won a surprise victory over</a> a conservative state supreme court judge, before amended voting totals from one county reversed the victory. Walker <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/16/scott-walker-mistakes-policies_n_900820.html" target="_hplink">continued to defend his policy </a>but said he had made mistakes in the political execution.

  • Fake Empire: State Senators Face Recall

    Wisconsin Democrats scored a victory in their attempt to unseat Republican state legislators when they defeated six "fake" Democrats <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/scott-walker-recall-_n_898116.html" target="_hplink">running in the party's primaries</a>. Four of the six Republicans targeted for recall <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/12/scott-walker-wisconsin-recall-election_n_925331.html" target="_hplink">held onto their seats</a> in the general election.

  • Let's Get It Started: Recall Effort Makes Ballot

    Petitions to recall Walker and his lieutenant governor <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/scott-walker-recall-signatures-wisconsin-governor_n_1304091.html" target="_hplink">gathered nearly a million signatures</a> each, far exceeding the 500,000 needed. Election officials <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/scott-walker-recall-wisconsin-election-signatures_n_1389229.html" target="_hplink">ordered a recall election</a>.

  • Us Against The World: The Fight Moves Forward

    Democratic candidates faced tough odds from the start. In an April 2012 report, HuffPost's Amanda Terkel <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/scott-walker-recall_n_1401143.html" target="_hplink">noted</a> that only two sitting governors had been recalled in U.S. history. Four Democratic candidates competed in the May primary, headed by former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

  • Better Man: Tom Barrett Wins Primary

    After a tough primary, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/tom-barrett-wisconsin-recall-primary-scott-walker_n_1501568.html" target="_hplink">Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett</a> bested three other Democratic candidates in an early May primary. Barrett's victory set up a rematch with Gov. Walker, whom he lost to by about five percentage points in the 2010 race.

  • Don't Stand So Close To Me: Walker, Barrett Neck And Neck

    Less than 48 hours before the recall, Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a final poll, showing <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/03/wisconsin-polls-scott-walker-recall-tom-barrett_n_1566788.html?ref=politics" target="_hplink">Walker with a narrow lead</a> over his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/06/walker-leads-by-3-points.html" target="_hplink">PPP</a>, a firm affiliated with the Democratic Party, compiled a final poll showing Walker at 50 percent support, three percentage points ahead of Barrett's 47 percent.

  • The Man Who Can't Be Moved: He Survives

    After a whirlwind day of voting that featured <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/wisconsin-recall-overwhelming-turnout_n_1572386.html" target="_hplink">swarmed polling places</a> around the state, media outlets <a href="https://twitter.com/mpoindc/status/210186998009434112" target="_hplink">called the race for Walker</a> less than an hour after polls closed. Full election results <a href="http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2012/wisconsin-recall-results" target="_hplink">here</a>.

Also on HuffPost:

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Antitoxin strategy may help target other pathogens

Monday, June 18, 2012

Researchers have unveiled a novel strategy for neutralizing unwanted molecules and clearing them from the body.

The strategy employs chains of binding agents, like "beads on a string", which target two sites on one or more pathogenic molecules to neutralize their activity and promote their clearance by the body's immune system. The low-cost, easy-to-replicate tool has demonstrated applications against several different toxins, from those found in contaminated food to those used in bioterrorism, and may also prove effective in targeting other types of pathogens.

The research team, based at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, demonstrated the method's efficacy in preventing the symptoms of botulism, a rare but deadly disease caused by Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), considered one of the most dangerous bioterror threat agents. The findings were presented earlier this year in PLoS ONE.

"Currently, antitoxins are difficult to produce and have a short shelf life, making them very expensive. This new approach provides a low-cost way to develop highly effective antitoxins," said senior author Charles B. Shoemaker, PhD, professor of biomedical sciences at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

"This method has the potential to target a number of pathogens ? not only toxins such as BoNT, but viruses or inflammatory cytokines. It is an important platform through which to address other significant diseases," says co-author Saul Tzipori, BVSc., DSc, PhD, professor of biomedical sciences and director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Cummings School.

Shoemaker and team had earlier found that pools of small 'tagged' binding agents were highly effective in targeting toxins, neutralizing their function, and flagging them for removal via the body's immune system in the presence of an anti-tag monoclonal antibody.

In the newly published in vivo study, the researchers have advanced this approach by linking two BoNT-binding agents together and including two copies of the tag. The binding agents are small, stable proteins derived genetically from unusual antibodies produced by toxin-immune alpacas. The resulting molecule, called a 'double-tagged heterodimer,' binds to two separate sites on the toxin. Binding of this single heterodimeric agent much more effectively neutralizes the toxin than the unlinked monomer binding agents used in the prior research. In addition, attaching two tags to each of the two linked agents leads to toxin decoration by up to four anti-tag monoclonal antibodies, which promotes rapid toxin clearance from the blood, the researchers found (see figure).

The double-tagged heterodimer antitoxin agent strategy was shown to be efficacious against two types of BoNT in the PLoS ONE report. The antitoxin agents were administered at the time of exposure, or shortly after. Treated mice did not show any symptoms of botulism ? including the lethal paralysis which characterizes the disease, even when exposed to high toxin doses. Thus, the benefits of complex antitoxins were equaled or bettered by administration of two easy-to-produce agents; a heterodimer binding agent and an anti-tag monoclonal antibody.

According to Shoemaker, a major advantage of this approach is that, unlike treatments that only neutralize toxins, this treatment both neutralizes toxins and ensures their rapid clearance from the body. "Agents that only neutralize their pathogenic target will eventually dissociate which will allow the pathogen to continue doing damage if it is not eliminated," he said.

The group has now successfully taken the research further by building longer strings of binding agents that target multiple toxins with a single molecule?for example, the two types of Shiga toxins that are produced by some E. coli found in contaminated foods or the two toxins produced by hospital-acquired C. difficile infections.

###

Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus: http://www.tufts.edu

Thanks to Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus 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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Monday, June 18, 2012

Facebook settles sponsored stories suit for $10M

Facebook is paying $10 million to settle a lawsuit over ads that it called sponsored stories.

Facebook's service allowed companies to pay to retransmit users' activities to their friends' pages. If a user clicked the "like" button for a brand, the click might show up as a "sponsored story" on friends' pages. The ads started in early 2011.

Some Facebook users sued, saying that Facebook used their images for commercial activity. Facebook had argued that the plaintiffs did not show they were hurt by the practice.

Court documents from late last week say a settlement has been reached. Facebook attorney Michael Rhodes confirms Sunday that it's for $10 million, which will be given to charity. A judge still needs to approve the settlement.

Reuters first reported details of the settlement.

Associated Press

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Lariats: How RNA splicing decisions are made

ScienceDaily (June 17, 2012) ? Lariats are discarded byproducts of RNA splicing, the process by which genetic instructions for making proteins are assembled. A new study has found hundreds more lariats than ever before, yielding new information about how splicing occurs and how it can lead to disease.Tiny, transient loops of genetic material, detected and studied by the hundreds for the first time at Brown University, are providing new insights into how the body transcribes DNA and splices (or missplices) those transcripts into the instructions needed for making proteins.

The lasso-shaped genetic snippets -- they are called lariats -- that the Brown team reports studying in the June 17 edition of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology are byproducts of gene transcription. Until now scientists had found fewer than 100 lariats, mostly by poring over very small selections of introns, which are sections of genetic code that do not directly code for proteins, but contain important signals that direct the way protein-coding regions are assembled. In the new study, Brown biologists report that they found more than 800 lariats in a publicly available set of billions of RNA reads derived from human tissues.

"We used modern genomic methods, deep sequencers, to detect these rare intermediates of splicing," said William Fairbrother, associate professor of biology and senior author of the study. "It's the first ever report of these things being discovered at a genome scale in living cells, and it tells us a lot about this step of gene processing."

That specific step is known as RNA splicing. Like film editors splicing together movie scenes, enzymes cut away the introns to assemble exons that instruct a cell's ribosome to make proteins. The body often has a choice of ways and places to make those cuts. Most of what is known about splicing has come from studying these spliced instructions, said Allison Taggart, a graduate student who is lead author of the study. What's been missing is the data hidden in the lariats, which fall apart shortly after being spliced out, but turn out to predict the body's splicing choices.

Modeling splicing

The key information uncovered in the study, Taggart said, is the location of so-called "branchpoints" on the lariats. Physically, the branchpoint is where the lariat closes on itself to form a loop during the first step of splicing, but its position and proximity to possible splice sites, the researchers learned, reliably relate to where splicing will occur.

After studying the sites of these branchpoints and their relationship to splice sites, the researchers created an algorithmic model that could predict splice sites 95.6 percent of the time. The value of the model is not in identifying splice sites -- those are already well known, Fairbrother said. Instead, the model's accuracy shows that, with the new data from the lariats, scientists have gained a more general understanding of how the body chooses among alternative splicing sites.

"What it does tell us is sets of rules defining the relationship between branchpoints and the chosen splice sites, which gives clues about how the splicing machinery makes decisions," Taggart said. "Certain branchpoint locations can enforce specific splicing isoforms."

Connections to disease

In addition to ferreting out the mechanisms of alternative splicing, the team also studied the connection between branchpoints and disease. They looked through the Human Gene Mutation Database for disease-causing mutations found in introns and compared their newly found branchpoint sequences to those mutations. They found that many relate specifically to branchpoints.

"We saw a sequence motif that looked exactly like a branchpoint sequence motif," she said. "What this tells us is that these mutations are forming at branchpoints and are leading to disease, presumably through causing aberrant splicing by interfering with lariat formation."

In other words, Fairbrother said, it could well be that a consequence of mutations in branchpoints could be disease.

In addition to Taggart and Fairbrother, other authors include Alec DeSimone, Janice Shih, and Madeleine Filloux.

The National Science Foundation and Brown University funded the research, which was performed in part on the OSCAR supercomputing cluster at the University's Center for Computation and Visualization.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Allison J Taggart, Alec M DeSimone, Janice S Shih, Madeleine E Filloux & William G Fairbrother. Large-scale mapping of branchpoints in human pre-mRNA transcripts in vivo. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 17 June 2012 DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2327

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