Beyond the Arc: Georgetown's win over Louisville on Wednesday is the sort of thing we'll be seeing a lot of this season in the Big East, a league stocked with good teams, but no great ones beyond Syracuse.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45809443#45809443
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Source: http://twitter.com/newsstock/statuses/151926887659225089
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives at a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives at a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Ann Romney, right, speaks as her husband Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laughs in the background during a campaign stop at J's Homestyle Cooking Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (AP Photo/The Waterloo Courier, Matthew Putney)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, answers a question about his stance on abortion asked by Richard Pint, left, of Waterloo during a campaign stop at J's Homestyle Cooking Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (AP Photo/The Waterloo Courier, Matthew Putney)
(AP Photo/The Waterloo Courier, Matthew Putney)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) ? Feeling optimistic, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday was positive on TV with an upbeat, new ad but in person went negative against President Barack Obama. He also announced an aggressive schedule of campaign events for the days leading up to next week's caucuses.
Romney, who is wrapping up a bus tour of eastern Iowa on Friday, planned to campaign in New Hampshire early Saturday before returning to Iowa that evening for a series of events on the economy. Those events are to be followed by six campaign rallies, mostly in eastern Iowa, from Sunday through Tuesday's caucuses, including an early morning one before voters start gathering to declare their candidate preferences.
Romney will then spend caucus night in Des Moines before flying to New Hampshire on Wednesday morning.
The newly planned events show a confident Romney campaign in the final five days of the campaign for Iowa. While Romney had spent months working to lower expectations that he would win here, the latest polls show him in strong position to win outright or finish in second place behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
Romney's six rallies begin New Year's Day in Council Bluffs, in the western part of the state. In 2008, he did well in nearby counties where agribusiness drives the economy. He'll hold another set of rallies in eastern Iowa, where he also performed well.
The plans come as Romney began running a new, minute-long TV ad in Iowa. The spot shows clips from Romney's announcement speech in June. Romney also talks in the ad about the "spirit of enterprise" and focuses on the opportunities America has provided its people.
Romney repeated the pitch from the ad during an early-morning stop at a diner. He ignored his Republican rivals, who are also campaigning furiously in the state, and focused instead on the Democratic president.
"We have a choice in this coming election of what kind of America we're going to have," Romney told the crowd at J's Homestyle Cooking. "It's not just about replacing a president. It's about saving the soul of America. Are we going to change America into something we don't recognize?"
The former Massachusetts governor had two other events scheduled Thursday, including at Music Man Square in Mason City, the birthplace of playwright Meredith Willson. Willson set his play, "The Music Man," in a fictional Iowa town that he based on Mason City.
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PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea declared Kim Jong Il's son and successor "supreme leader" of the ruling party, military and the people during a memorial Thursday for his father in the government's first public endorsement of his leadership.
Kim Jong Un, head bowed and somber in a dark overcoat, stood on a balcony at the Grand People's Study House overlooking Kim Il Sung Square watching the memorial, which also served as a show of support for North Korea's next leader. He was flanked by top party and military officials, including Kim Jong Il's younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, and her husband Jang Song Thaek, who are expected to serve as mentors of their young nephew.
Given Kim Jong Un's inexperience and age ? he is in his late 20s ? there are questions outside North Korea about whether he is equipped to lead a nation engaged in long-stalled negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.
But support among North Korea's power brokers was unequivocal at the memorial service, attended by hundreds of thousands of people filling Kim Il Sung Square and other plazas in central Pyongyang.
"The fact that he completely resolved the succession matter is Great Comrade Kim Jong Il's most noble achievement," Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, told the massive audience at the square.
"Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is our party, military and country's supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong Il's ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage," said Kim, considered North Korea's ceremonial head of state.
Thursday's memorial "was an event to publicly reconfirm and solidify" Kim Jong Un's status, said Jeung Young-tae, an analyst with the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, South Korea.
"Kim Jong Un is already the leader of the party, military and country," he said.
Life in the North Korean capital came to a standstill as a mourners blanketed the plaza from the Grand People's Study to the Taedong River for the second day of funeral ceremonies for the late leader.
Kim Jong Il, who led his 24 million people with absolute power for 17 years, died of a heart attack Dec. 17 at age 69, according to state media. He inherited power from his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, who died of a heart attack in 1994, in what was the communist world's first hereditary succession.
Attention turned to Kim Jong Un after he was revealed last year as his father's choice among three known sons to carry the Kim dynasty into a third generation.
The process to groom him was rushed compared to the 20 years Kim Jong Il had to prepare to take over from his father, and relied heavily on the Kim family bloodline and legacy as guerrilla fighters and the nation's founders.
Kim Il Sung is North Korea's first and only president; he retains the title "Eternal President" even after his death.
Kim Jong Il held three main positions: chairman of the National Defense Commission, general secretary of the Workers' Party and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.
According to the constitution, his position as chairman of the National Defense Commission makes him "supreme leader" of North Korea.
Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general last year and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party. Since his father's death, state media have bestowed on him a series of new titles signaling that his succession campaign was gaining momentum: Great Successor, Supreme Leader and Sagacious Leader.
"Kim Jong Il laid a red silk carpet, and Kim Jong Un only needs to walk on it," Jeung said.
Last weekend, the Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, called on the younger Kim to step into his father's role as supreme commander of the armed forces.
Kim also must formally assume command of the Workers' Party and become chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University in South Korea.
The military will dedicate itself to protecting Kim Jong Un, the "supreme leader of our revolutionary armed forces," Gen. Kim Jong Gak, first vice director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, said at the memorial.
The aftermath of Kim Jong Il's death has been watched closely for clues about who in the military and Workers' Party will form Kim's inner circle of trusted aides during the sensitive transition to leadership.
During the mourning period, the young Kim made at least five visits to his father's begonia-bedecked bier when the late leader was lying in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, accompanied at times by his father's confidantes.
Following right behind Kim during a Wednesday funeral procession through Pyongyang streets with Kim Jong Il's hearse was his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who is a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission and has family ties to the military.
On the other side of the hearse was Ri Yong Ho, vice marshal of the Korean People's Army, and other top military officials.
Kim Jong Il's two other sons, Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Chol, were not spotted at either the funeral or memorial.
For Thursday's memorial, North Koreans packed the main square as well as the plaza in front of a Workers' Party monument of a hammer, sickle and writing brush.
Flags at half-staff fluttered in the wind on the cold winter's day, and people were bundled up in parkas. State TV showed a delegation of foreigners attending the memorial.
They bowed their heads as eight artillery guns fired; military officers removed their hats while the booms resonated across Kim Il Sung Square.
The streets went still again for a three-minute period of silence. Heads bowed, workers paused next to a green train and bystanders stopped where they were, some standing next to their bicycles, as trains and boats sirens blew their horns, according to state media.
___
Associated Press Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee and writers Hyung-jin Kim, Foster Klug and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow AP's North Korea coverage at twitter.com/newsjean, twitter.com/APklug and twitter.com/samkim_ap.
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Community reacts to death of Zippy Leonard; counseling sessions set up for classmates of beloved 9-year-old | UPDATE ??
| Letter/Editor CLINTON -- South Whidbey is beset with unmeasurable shock and sadness over the tragic Christmas Day death of a precious 9-year-old girl in a freak accident Sunday. Tobiah Zippy Leonard, a fourth-grader at South Whidbey Elementary School, died Sunday afternoon when a tree fell on her family's Ford Explorer as the Langley family was o... | Breaking News |
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Source: http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?rid=202157604&cat=a69648530d514cd5
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Sigma Designs (Nasdaq: SIGM - News), the multimedia chip maker, zoomed deep into the red with a worse-than-expected third-quarter loss as it shifted focus to next-generation products that would be less costly to manufacture.
Let's take a closer, Foolish peek at what Sigma is working on.
Counting the chips
The company saw revenue drop by half to just $39.7 million. This was mainly due to a transition toward selling second-generation media processors and connectivity products, which have a lower average selling price. However, the company also failed to roll out its set-top boxes on time, which resulted in a further drop in revenue.
But that's not all. Because of higher expenditures caused by writedowns, the company slipped deep into the red with a net loss of $121.6 million.
In comparison to Sigma, peer NXP Semiconductors (Nasdaq: NXPI - News) was relatively better off with its net income at $301 million, although it was 18% lower than the previous year's quarter. However, it was caused by a mixed bag of one-time gains and losses.
Another peer, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM - News), also saw its net income crash by 64% to $71 million on the back of poor economic conditions.
But, despite its performance woes, Sigma is not willing to take things lying down.
Not giving up without a fight
Even though Sigma's chip sales have benefited from the growth of Internet-based products, of late the company has lost out to more powerful chip makers like Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM - News).
Nevertheless, Sigma has been determined to power ahead with sales of its much cheaper new generation of chipsets, hoping to capitalize on the Internet-based content market. Sigma has also made efforts to interact with content service providers such as cable operators, so that it can promote the use of products that use its multimedia chips.
The Foolish bottom line
Sigma has been losing business to its competitors, apparent by the trend of declining revenue over the past four quarters. Unless there is an increase in revenue, I'm reluctant to put my money on Sigma's chips for now. What do you Fools think about Sigma? Leave your comments in the box below. And don't forget to stay up to speed with the latest on Sigma Designs by adding it to your very own watchlist. It's free, and lets you keep in touch with the latest news and analysis on your favorite companies.
Fool contributor Keki Fatakia does not hold shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of NXP Semiconductors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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David Caton owes me one. I interviewed the head of the Florida Family Association last week during his bigoted but successful crusade to get companies like Lowe's to pull ads from All-American Muslim, the Learning Channel reality show about a community of Muslim Americans. Before Caton hung up on me -- he gets angry when you question his complaint that the show presents Muslims in too positive a light and not as crazed radicals plotting to impose Islamic shari'a law from Maine to Monterey -- I corrected his pronunciation of imam, a Muslim cleric, from Eye-mam to the proper Ee-mawm. Later that day, I heard him say it properly on CNN.
But that's all he got right. I concern myself with Caton -- who also likes to hire small planes to haul banners over Orlando warning people that homosexuals visit Disney World -- only for two reasons. One is that a major corporation like Lowe's actually caved to the Evangelical's ugly Islamophobia. The other is that he got his 15 minutes of fame at about the same time that Christopher Hitchens died, on Dec. 15. Hitchens was best known as one of the "angry atheists" for his 2007 best seller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and narrow-minded fundamentalists like Caton made his work a lot easier. So of course did extremist Muslims, as well as extremist Roman Catholics, Jews, Hindus and all the fanatics who ruin religion the way drunks ruin driving. Which is why Hitchens' attacks on faith, while brilliantly written, could also feel gratuitous. (See "Christopher Hitchens, RIP.")
So it's fitting, at least for the silent majority of Christians who aren't hatemongering zealots but who derive hope and humane inspiration from our beliefs, that Caton and Hitchens should both be in the news during the Christmas season. The holiday's anticommercialization critics are right to argue that Christians spend too much time on outdoor lights at the expense of the inner light kindled by the story of God's incarnation in a manger. I'm as guilty as anyone in that regard. But Caton and Hitchens at least give us Christians a convenient place to start. They prod us on the one hand to assess what isn't Christian -- like demonizing gays and Muslims -- and on the other hand to reaffirm why Christianity and religion itself are a positive and not always poisonous influence in the world.
The crux of the Florida Family Association's campaign is Caton's preposterous claim, as he told me, that "every Eye-mam in this country wants to put the U.S. under shari'a law." Every imam I know here in Miami rejects the idea. "Muslims are only 6 million out of 300 million in this country," one reminds me. "We rely on U.S. law to protect our rights as a minority." They're also a minority who wish Christians well at Christmas: the Koran reverently mentions Jesus and the Virgin Mary almost 60 times. (See "Do Shari'a Courts Have a Role in British Life?")
One way, then, that Christians can practice Jesus' teachings of love, tolerance and charity this yuletide is by resolving to reassure folks like Muslims that we're not like the Florida Family Association. That we're committed to the code of Christmas -- "Peace on earth to people of goodwill" -- trumpeted by the same angels we place atop the trees in our living rooms.
That's also one of the best ways to answer Hitchens as well as other angry atheists like Richard Dawkins and quite a few members of my own hypersecular profession. It's a fairly widely accepted maxim that atheist fundamentalists, as I call them, can be just as intolerant as religious fundamentalists. And the problem they share is that both take religion way too literally. Just as Christian fundamentalists insist on a literal reading of the Bible, angry atheists tend to insist that belief in God qualifies you as a raving creationist. (See "Why Christopher Hitchens Is Wrong About Billy Graham.")
Here's what they refuse to get: Yes, Christians believe that Jesus' nativity was a virgin birth and that he rose from the dead on Easter. But if you were to show most Christians incontrovertible scientific proof that those miracles didn't occur, they would shrug -- because their faith means more to them than that. Because in the end, what they have faith in is the redemptive power of the story. In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, an agnostic says to his Catholic friend, "You can't seriously believe it all ... I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass."
"Oh yes, I believe that. It's a lovely idea."
"But you can't believe things simply because they're a lovely idea."
"But I do. That's how I believe."
I'm willing to bet it's how most believers believe. Before Hitchens died at 62 from esophageal cancer, he made a point of declaring he was certain no heaven awaited him. But that swipe at the faithful always misses the point. Most of us don't believe in God because we think it's a ticket to heaven. Rather, our belief in God -- our belief in the living ideal of ourselves, which is something even atheists ponder -- instills in us a faith that in the end, light always defeats darkness (which is how people get through the wars and natural disasters I cover). That does make us open to the possibility of the hereafter -- but more important, it gives us purposeful inspiration to make the here and now better.
With all due respect to the memory of Christopher Hitchens, making the here and now better would be difficult without religion. But it's also hard enough without the un-Christian antics of people like David Caton. As Christmas ought to remind us.
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The 6-4, 260-pound Cayou will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Red Wolves and, as a mid-term junior college transfer, will be able to practice with the team during its spring camp.
Cayou most recently completed his sophomore season at Highland, recording 42 tackles, a team-high four sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles to earn recognition on the all-conference squad.
Cayou originally signed with Texas Tech before transferring to Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Mississippi for his freshman campaign. He recorded 10 tackles and one sack in four games played with the Wolfpack.
The New Orleans, La., native was named Class 4A All-State honorable mention and first team all-district as a senior at McDonogh 35 High School. He posted 17 sacks during his senior campaign and also returned a fumble for a touchdown in the state playoffs.
A three-year letterman at McDonogh, Cayou?s career high school stats included 115 tackles, 20 sacks, three interceptions and three touchdowns.
Arkansas State Falls at Saint LouisST. LOUIS ? The Arkansas State men?s basketball team dropped a 70-46 decision to the Billikens of Saint Louis University in the squads? final matchup before the holiday break.
A-State fell to 6-7 while the Billikens improved to 11-1 on the season.
Junior guard Trey Finn led the Red Wolves, scoring all 12 of his points during the second half. Senior forward Malcoln Kirkland was second on the team and the only other A-State player to break double-figures, scoring 10.
Finn also led the Red Wolves with five boards, followed by four from Kirkland. A-State led by two after scoring the first basket of the game, but a three-pointer by Dwayne Evans put the Billikens up, 3-2, and they never trailed the rest of the way. Evans led all players with 18 points in the contest.
The Red Wolves trailed 36-20 at the break. Junior guard Marcus Hooten led ASU at the half with seven, on 3-5 shooting and was 1-2 from three-point range.
Saint Louis steadily built a commanding lead over the Red Wolves taking a 27-point advantage just four minutes into the second half, when Rob Loe hit a three which capped a 9-0 run for the Billikens to start the second period.
Finn scored eight of the Red Wolves first 12 points of the second-half, but A-State would get within 17 just once in the half, when Finn hit his second three of the half, to move ASU within the lead 49-32.
?The key to the game to me was their field goal stat,? said ASU head coach John Brady. ?They are shooting about 49% from the floor as a team and we weren?t able to create any resistance for any length of time to slow them down and get their field goal stat down to the low 40?s for us to have an opportunity to keep the game workable. We only had about 11 turnovers against their team and I thought we missed some shots around the goal and missed some jump shots which we have to make to beat a team this good on the road. They seemed to make every big basket when they needed it and I thought their defense was solid, they?re good.?
The Red Wolves were outrebounded in the game 33-27 but won the battle on the offensive glass 12-11. The Billikens were able to score 43 of its 70 points in the paint while A-State was able to notch 19 down low.
ASU gets a week off before returning home to face Kent State on Dec. 29 and opens conference play at ULM on Dec. 31. Tip off at the Convocation Center against the Golden Flashes is set for 7:35 p.m. Thursday.
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Source: http://www.paragoulddailypress.com/articles/2011/12/24/sports/doc4ef5127f833e3880046991.txt
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Credit: AP
FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2011, file photo, Arkansas' receiver Greg Childs (85) runs down field after a reception as Auburn cornerback Chris Davis (11) pursues during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark. Childs' senior season has gone anything but as planned. However, the Arkansas wide receiver hopes to end his career with one final big game when the Razorbacks play Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 6. (AP Photo/April L. Brown, File)
(KMOV) -- When I was a teenager, New Years Day was bigger than Super Bowl Sunday, at least?for me. I still remember the excitement of watching the best college football teams play the biggest bowl games on that one day, virtually non-stop big time gridiron action from morning to late night. Heck, back then even the Gator Bowl was a big deal.
There won't be any college football bowl games on New Years Day this season. On January 2, you can watch Florida play Ohio State in the Gator Bowl.?Both teams have 6-6 records, which means one of them will wind up with a losing record. I realize those are two traditional powerhouse programs, but does anyone really believe they deserve to play in a bowl, much less that one?
Even more absurd is the lineup of bowl games on December 30 and 31. There are 8 teams with at least 6 losses playing in 9 bowl games on those days. UCLA, which plays in something called the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Christmas Eve, has a 6-7 record. It plays Illinois which has a 6-6 record. So, when that game is over the teams will have combined for 14 losses.
Last night, 7th ranked Boise State pounded Arizona State 56-24 in the MAACO Bowl. In the 4th quarter BSU lead by as much as 49-10. ASU finished the game with -11 yards rushing. It was clearly a mismatch. The loss gave Arizona State a 6-7 record for the season. But despite playing a game that shouldn't have been played, the conferences for those two teams will receive $1.1 million for their participation.
There are 35 bowl games this season. Overall, it's possible that as many as 9 of those teams could wind up with losing records.
I believe the current bowl system is corrupted by greed and a false sense of accomplishment. It should be an honor to play in a bowl. Now, in the case of many bowl games, it's just a series of meaningless contests that reward undeserving teams and create marketing opportunities for corporations. The postseason should be reserved for the best teams, not those with strong fan support, key demographics, and the potential to deliver big television ratings.
The major bowls used to be named Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton and Fiesta. Now, every bowl game has a major sponsor who often comes before the traditional name of the bowl, like the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. My personal favorite is the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsetta Bowl.?
Like President Obama, and perhaps you, I support a playoff system.?In my system, you would take at least the top 8 teams, based on a ranking system that includes losses, strength of schedule and other factors. The first round of games would be played 2 weeks after the end of the conference championship games. The 2 games in the second round would be played around Christmas. The national championship game would take place 2 weeks after that.
Clearly, this would create an uproar among the bowls, but?it would also give fans a much more exciting postseason, and crown an undisputed national champion. My 8 team playoff would cut bowl games from 35 to 15.
If you eliminate conference championship games, you could double the number of playoff teams to 16 by starting the postseason a week earlier. This would increase the number of playoff games to 23, and keep most of the current bowls as part of the playoffs. I actually prefer a 16 team playoff because it has the potential for more drama, and would provide a feel of "March Madness" in college football while still?making sure?that only the best teams?participate. Even with?16 teams,?every playoff "bowl game" would be?meaningful.
Frankly, I don't care that much if the playoff games are sponsored. I prefer to see the Gator Bowl without Taxslayer.com in front of it, but bowl sponsorships don't keep me awake at night. I think the most important games could still be played as "bowl games" like the Orange or Sugar. Perhaps, the earlier rounds could be hosted by smaller bowls like the Gator and the Sun.? The participating teams could be paid, but they would be paid more for each round of the playoffs. Of course, there's still room for bowl games that would not be part of the playoffs, though I doubt those games could be successful.
I don't claim to have all the answers, but?this bowl madness?needs to end.?
Source: http://www.kmov.com/community/blogs/reporters-blog/Bowl-Madness-136146883.html
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Melissa was born on June 7, 1987 and passed away on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.
Melissa was a resident of Mary Esther, Florida at the time of her passing.
She graduated from H.B. Plant High School in Tampa in 2005 and from Florida State University with a BA in Humanities in 2009.
Services Visitation Wednesday December 28, 2011, 1:00 - 2:00 PM at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home Celebration of Life Service Wednesday December 28, 2011, 2:00 PM at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home.
Memorial donations can be made to: The American Heart Association.
Source: http://wala.tributes.com/show/Melissa-Lyn-Montgomery-92979086
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LONDON ? The loose-knit hacking movement "Anonymous" claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.
Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.
"Not so private and secret anymore?" the group taunted in a message on Twitter, promising that the attack on Stratfor was just the beginning of a Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets.
Anonymous said the client list it posted was a small slice of the 200 gigabytes worth of plunder it stole from Stratfor and promised more leaks. It said it was able to get the credit details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them ? an easy-to-avoid blunder which, if true, would be a major embarrassment for any security-related company.
Austin, Texas-based Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce risk, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos.
Lt. Col. John Dorrian, public affairs officer for the Air Force, said that "for obvious reasons" the Air Force doesn't discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats or responses to them.
"The Air Force will continue to monitor the situation and, as always, take appropriate action as necessary to protect Air Force networks and information," he said in an email.
Miami Police Department spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz Jr. said that he could not confirm that the agency was a client of Stratfor, and he said he had not received any information about a security breach involving the police department.
It soon became clear that proprietary information about the companies and government agencies that subscribe to Stratfor's newsletters did not appear to be at any significant risk, and that the main threat was posed to individual employees.
Hours after publishing what it claimed was Stratfor's client list, Anonymous tweeted a link to encrypted files online with the names, addresses and account details.
"Not as many as you expected? Worry not, fellow pirates and robin hoods. These are just the "A"s," read a message posted online that encouraged readers to download a file of the hacked information.
It also linked to images online that it suggested were receipts for charitable donations made by the group manipulating the credit card data it stole.
"Thank you! Defense Intelligence Agency," read the text above one image that appeared to show a transaction summary indicating that an agency employee's information was used to donate $250 to a non-profit.
One receipt ? to the American Red Cross ? had Allen Barr's name on it.
Barr, of Austin, Texas, recently retired from the Texas Department of Banking and said he discovered last Friday that a total of $700 had been spent from his account. Barr, who has spent more than a decade dealing with cybercrime at banks, said five transactions were made in total.
"It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn't sure whether I was just donating," said Barr, who wasn't aware until a reporter with the AP called that his information had been compromised when Stratfor's computers were hacked.
"It made me feel terrible. It made my wife feel terrible. We had to close the account."
Stratfor said in an email to members that it had suspended its servers and email after learning that its website had been hacked.
"We have reason to believe that the names of our corporate subscribers have been posted on other web sites," said the email, passed on to The Associated Press by subscribers. "We are diligently investigating the extent to which subscriber information may have been obtained."
The email, signed by Stratfor Chief Executive George Friedman, said the company is "working closely with law enforcement to identify who is behind the breach."
"Stratfor's relationship with its members and, in particular, the confidentiality of their subscriber information, are very important to Stratfor and me," Friedman wrote.
Repeated calls to Stratfor went unanswered Sunday and an answering machine thanked callers for contacting the "No. 1 source for global intelligence." Stratfor's website was down, with a banner saying "site is currently undergoing maintenance."
Wishing everyone a "Merry LulzXMas" ? a nod to its spinoff hacking group Lulz Security ? Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the email, phone number and credit number of a U.S. Homeland Security employee.
The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted.
"They took money I did not have," he told the AP in a series of emails, which did not specify the amount taken. "I think 'Why me?' I am not rich."
One member of the hacking group, who uses the handle AnonymousAbu on Twitter, claimed that more than 90,000 credit cards from law enforcement, the intelligence community and journalists ? "corporate/exec accounts of people like Fox" news ? had been hacked and used to "steal a million dollars" and make donations.
It was impossible to verify where credit card details were used. Fox News was not on the excerpted list of Stratfor members posted online, but other media organizations including MSNBC and Al-Jazeera English appeared in the file.
Anonymous warned it has "enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week."
The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on companies such as Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, as well as others in the music industry and the Church of Scientology.
____________
Associated Press writers Jennifer Kway in Miami, Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Texas and Daniel Wagner in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
_____________
Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
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RT @TheAtlanticTECH Steve Jobs awarded a posthumous Grammy theatln.tc/upiM88 
TheAtlantic The Atlantic
Source: http://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/statuses/150042836539146243
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, Chantal Guerin, a 46-year-old accountant and mother of three, displays a breast implant made by Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, that was removed from her left breast, during an interview with The Associated Press in Paris. Guerin had her left breast removed after cancer and had PIP implants put in both breasts. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, Chantal Guerin, a 46-year-old accountant and mother of three, displays a breast implant made by Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, that was removed from her left breast, during an interview with The Associated Press in Paris. Guerin had her left breast removed after cancer and had PIP implants put in both breasts. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Dr. Maurice Mimoun, a plastic surgeon at the St Louis hospital, holds silicone gel breast implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, that he removed from a patient because of concerns that they are unsafe, Paris, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. French health authorities are considering whether to suggest that an estimated 30,000 women in France get their breast implants removed, amid warnings by leading doctors about risks of rupture and possible cancer risks. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Dr. Maurice Mimoun, a plastic surgeon at the St Louis hospital, holds a silicone gel breast implant made by French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, that he removed from a patient because of concerns that they are unsafe, Paris, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. French health authorities are considering whether to suggest that an estimated 30,000 women in France get their breast implants removed, amid warnings by leading doctors about risks of rupture and possible cancer risks. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Dr. Maurice Mimoun, a plastic surgeon at the St Louis hospital, holds silicone gel breast implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, that he removed from a patient because of concerns that they are unsafe, Paris, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. French health authorities are considering whether to suggest that an estimated 30,000 women in France get their breast implants removed, amid warnings by leading doctors about risks of rupture and possible cancer risks. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Director of Public Health Jean-Pierre Grall, gestures as he speaks to the media during a press conference in Paris, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. Tens of thousands of women with risky, French-made breast implants should have them removed at the state's expense, the health minister recommended Friday, adding that such removals were "preventive" and not urgent. While implants made by Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, have not been linked to an increased incidence of cancer, the risk that they could rupture and leak a questionable type of silicone gel has been shown, Xavier Bertrand said in a statement. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
PARIS (AP) ? France took a costly and unprecedented leap Friday in offering to pay for 30,000 women to have their breast implants removed because of mounting fears the products could rupture and leak cheap, industrial-grade silicone into the body.
Tens of thousands of other women elsewhere in Europe and in South America have the same French-made implants, but authorities there have so far refused to follow suit. The silicone-gel implants in question are not sold in the U.S.
Over the past week, the safety fears have created a public furor over something usually kept private, even in France. Women, some whose own families didn't know they had their breasts enlarged, marched on Paris to demand more attention to worries about what might be happening inside them. Images of leaky, blubbery implants and women having mammograms have been splashed on French TV.
More than 1,000 ruptures pushed Health Minister Xavier Bertrand to recommend that the estimated 30,000 women in France with the implants get them removed at the state's expense.
Bertrand insisted the removals would be "preventive" and not urgent, and French health authorities said they had found nothing to link the implants to nine cases of cancer in women. The death last month of a woman who had the implants and developed a rare cancer ? anaplastic large-cell lymphoma ? had catalyzed worries.
The implants, made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, were pulled from the market last year in countries around Europe and South America where they had been sold. The company's website said it exported to more than 60 countries and was one of the world's leading implant makers.
International police agency Interpol put PIP's former director, Jean-Claude Mas, on its most-wanted list, based on a warrant from Costa Rica for crimes involving "life and health." Interpol's website carries a photo of the 72-year-old Mas but no details about his alleged crimes or link to Costa Rica. Mas' lawyer could not be reached for comment Friday.
France's health safety agency says the PIP implants appear to be more rupture-prone than other types. Also, investigators say PIP used industrial silicone instead of the medical variety to save money. However, the medical risks posed by industrial silicone are unclear.
The financial burden of the French government's decision falls on the state health care system, which estimated the removals could cost euro60 million ($78 million) at a time when the country is teetering on the brink of another recession and struggling with debt.
In recommending removal, the government noted the risks associated with major surgery and general anesthesia.
Because of those risks, many women may decide against removal. The government said those women should be examined every six months.
After the French decision, Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced that it doesn't see enough proof of cancer or an excessive risk of rupture to recommend women in Britain have the implants removed. Up to 40,000 women in Britain may have had the implants, even more than in France.
Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said women "should not be unduly worried."
"While we respect the French government's decision, no other country is taking similar steps because we currently have no evidence to support it," she said.
The president of Brazil's Plastic Surgeons Association, Jose Horacio Aboudib, said it would be premature to have women remove the implants if they are not having any problems. About 25,000 women in Brazil received PIP implants.
"There is always a risk associated with surgery, and there is a cost. In France, the government is paying for it. Here it's not considered a public health risk, so the patient would have to pay for it," he said.
Medical authorities in Argentina and Venezuela recommended closer monitoring of women who have the implants.
In the U.S., concerns about silicone gel implants in general led to a 14-year ban on their use, in favor of saline-filled implants. Silicone implants were brought back to the market in the U.S. in 2006 after research ruled out links to cancer, lupus and some other concerns.
In France, one reason for the alarm was the uncertainty over the ingredients of the silicone used and the risk to internal organs. Also, while all breast implants can burst, especially as they get older, "these implants have a particular fragility" and appear to pose risks of rupture earlier in their life spans than other implants, said Jean-Claude Ghislain of the French health agency AFSSAPS.
France's state health care system normally pays for implants for medical reasons, such as after a mastectomy, but not for cosmetic implants. About 80 percent of those with the PIP implants had them for aesthetic reasons.
Annie Mesnil, who had a PIP implant to replace a breast removed after cancer in 1999, said she was relieved that the Health Ministry "accepts the idea that there is a potential danger." But she added: "It's not enough. They will pay for the removal of the implants, but they will not pay for the replacements."
After the PIP product was recalled last year, a mammogram and ultrasound did not reveal any problems with Mesnil's implant. But Mesnil, 62, had it removed anyway, at her own expense, out of fear.
When her surgeon took it out and studied it, "he discovered it had already burst," she said. "I don't know what's spilled inside my body."
The state health care system only reimburses about 230 euros for implant removal operations, but public hospitals that provide the service for that low fee are rare and overbooked. Most plastic surgeons in France are private practitioners who can charge five to 10 times more than that for a removal. Some plastic surgeons have agreed to lower their fees under government pressure.
Chantal Guerin, a 46-year-old accountant and mother of three, had her left breast removed after cancer and had PIP implants put in both breasts. In 2010, she developed cancer in her right breast.
"One cannot directly incriminate the implant, since there is no scientific proof," she said in an interview. "But we have the right to ask ourselves a lot of questions, because there is a great amount of physical pain involved."
___
Jill Lawless in London, Juliana Barbassa in Rio de Janeiro, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Ian James in Venezuela, Deborah Gouffran and Ingrid Rousseau in Paris contributed to this report.
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TOKYO (Reuters) ? On Benjamin Buchholz's second day in Iraq as a U.S. army officer, a young Iraqi girl was struck and killed by a military convoy while trying to catch a bottle of water thrown to children by the roadside as a gift.
The tragedy and its aftermath -- wailing women, townspeople up in arms, the girl's body on the road covered with a blanket -- haunted him, eventually becoming the seed of a novel that helped him fulfill an old dream of becoming a writer.
"The image of that girl on the roadway stuck with me for a long time and fused with some other things that happened," Buchholz said in a telephone interview from his home in New Jersey, where he is now studying for a graduate degree.
"This book is definitely not non-fiction, it's a fictionalized processing of this whole town and this whole experience, trying to make sense of it. The same way you wouldn't call 'Catch-22' or 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' non-fiction, or any of these other books about war."
Buchholz's debut novel, "One Hundred and One Nights," is narrated by its central character Abu Saheeh, a native Iraqi who has returned after 13 years in the United States, running a mobile phone shop and trying to rebuild his life.
As he stands watching U.S. military traffic outside his shop one evening, he meets Layla, a 14-year-old girl who loves Britney Spears, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and everything else American. Their friendship grows as Abu Saheeh is drawn deeply into the shifting alliances of his town and reminded of his painful past -- with ultimately cataclysmic results.
The book's echo of the great Middle Eastern epic, "The One Thousand and One Nights," is deliberate, working with traditions of oral storytelling programmed into mankind through generations.
"The idea I set out when I was writing it was that I was going to have this little girl appear every day and tell this man who's psychologically wounded little tales, and keep him going the way that Scheherazade would tell tales to keep herself alive," Buchholz said.
"We know Layla's going to come, and we know that the next night she's going to come and tell a story, and we know how these two characters will interact. Those are little warm-up things to get the crowd going and get them into the situation -- and I think it's a really nice literary device from the time when people would tell stories to each other," he added.
"Then the frame breaks down as he breaks down a little later."
Though Abu Saheeh is based slightly on a man Buchholz came to know during his year in the southern Iraqi town of Safwan, other bits of the enigmatic Iraqi's personality came from the men who taught him at the U.S. Defense Language Institute, where he was based while writing the book.
In the end, though, Abu Saheeh is fiction, and while Buchholz said writing from the point of view of an Iraqi man was a challenge that he enjoyed.
"If I were just to write what I know and write from my own perspective, I would have gotten bored. It just takes such a long time to produce a novel, and I don't think I could hear myself echo in my own head for that long," he said.
He figured that any Americanisms that crept in could be explained by Abu Saheeh's long sojourn in the United States.
"As for whether it's presumptuous or not to write from somebody else's point of view, I think that's the big leap of faith you have to take as an author of fiction," he said.
"If you're not writing non-fiction you're taking a leap somewhere, and what comes out is good enough that the reader leaps along with you - or it's not."
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Sony has unveiled a paper-powered battery prototype in Japan.
The technology generates electricity by turning shredded paper into sugar which in turn is used as fuel.
If brought to market, the innovation could allow the public to top up the power of their mobile devices using waste material.
The team behind the project said such bio-batteries are environmentally friendly as they did not use harmful chemicals or metals.
The Japanese electronics giant showed off its invention at the Eco-Products exhibition in Tokyo last week.
Employees invited children to drop piece of paper and cardboard into a liquid made up of water and enzymes, and then to shake it. The equipment was connected to a small fan which began spinning a few minutes later.
Learning from natureThe process works by using the enzyme cellulase to decompose the materials into glucose sugar. These were then combined with oxygen and further enzymes which turned the material into electrons and hydrogen ions.
The electrons were used by the battery to generate electricity. Water and the acid gluconolactone, which is commonly used in cosmetics, were created as by-products.
Researchers involved in the project liken the mechanism to the one used by white ants and termites to digest wood and turn it into energy.
"In the future using this technology, we will be able to generate electricity using glucose derived from unused wood, cardboard and old papers," a presentation given by the team said.
Eco-friendlyWhile the battery is already powerful enough to run basic music players, it is still falls far short of commercially sold batteries.
The environmental campaign group Greenpeace welcomed the development.
"The issue that we always have with battery technology is the toxic chemicals that go into making them and recycling batteries is also complicated," John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK told the BBC.
"Any way to provide a greener technology could be a potential magic bullet. So from that point of view this is interesting, and I think it's fantastic that companies like Sony are looking to make the generation of energy more environmentally friendly."
Sony's engineers are not the only ones exploring the concept of paper-based batteries.
In 2009 a team of Stanford University scientists revealed they were working on a battery created by coating sheets of paper with ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. They said their work might ultimately lead to a device capable of lasting through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-16288107
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Who wants to win a new phone for Christmas? Rebtel is sponsoring another giveaway to celebrate the release of Rebtel 2.0 for Android. This time the grand prize is a Verizon Galaxy Nexus plus $100 in calling credits, and nine runners up will receive $50 in calling credits!
The new Android app facilitates an immediate and seamless transition to Rebtel's high-quality VoIP service when a caller punches in an international number, making the call free when connected to another Rebtel user. Unlike similar applications, Rebtel 2.0 for Android will also intercept international calls to non-Rebtel users, providing the caller with service that is up to 90% cheaper than the international calling rates charged by an average carrier, and up to 85% cheaper than Skype.
To get yourself entered in this contest, leave a comment in the forums at the link below and tell us who you would call with your new Galaxy Nexus and Rebtel credits if you are chosen as the winner. Only enter once, as multiple entries won't count. Please be aware that Rebtel is providing the phone and calling credits, it's up to you to get service. We'll choose winners Sunday night and notify them by email. Good luck!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/S-WbHH7hw5g/story01.htm
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Democrats in the Indiana legislature refused to show up to the capitol in order to vote on a right-to-work bill. The right-to-work bill would not allow companies to enter into contracts that require employees to either join a union or pay union dues or fees. Members of the Democrat Party have either left the state or are in hiding in order to delay the vote, or possibly kill the measure itself. Either way, the Democrats do not have enough votes to block the bill, and it will surely pass when they are forced to come back to the state capitol.
The tactic used by the Democrats in leaving the state in order to avoid voting on issues that greatly affect their states is one that shows complete disregard for the office into which they were voted. The example that they are setting by saying to everyone that you can just run away from something because you don't like how the vote is going to turn out is unacceptable.
The people should recall those who have run away from their job, their duty to the people. There is no other job in which one could runaway from work. The Democrats should have known that you can't just leave work for a few days or even more and then come back and still have a job. The protesters have the right to protest, to express how they feel on a matter, but the fact is that these are tough times, and it is up to all of us to tighten our belts in order to build a better future for our children.
The precedent that these fugitive state officials are setting is that they are out of touch with the truth on how much their state needs to balance the budget through cuts in order to avoid bankruptcy. Cuts are never easy because they are always cuts that hurt some program that people need, but states cannot afford things that they cannot pay for.
In the end, state politics is defined by serving the people, not running away when things do not go your way. The example that these people are setting for children in their state is that it is acceptable to simply run and hide when you believe a vote is not going to go your way. Their actions are a true reflection that these people do not belong in office, but rather belong elsewhere, where running from problems instead of facing them is acceptable.
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Public release date: 6-Dec-2011
Share ] Contact: Evan Lerner
elerner@upenn.edu
215-573-6604
University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA -- Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: something other than taste must have driven its evolution.
The team was led by Penn researchers Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Michael C. Campbell, a postdoctoral fellow in the genetics department at the medical school, and included undergraduate and postdoctoral researchers from both the genetics and biology departments. The team included their collaborator Paul Breslin from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and Rutgers University and researchers from the Muse de L'Homme in France, the National Institutes of Health and several African universities and research institutes.
Their research was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
The researchers were interested in the gene TAS2R38, which codes for a bitter taste receptor protein with the same name. People with a certain version of that gene can taste a compound, phenylthiocarbamide, or PTC, which is chemically similar to naturally occurring bitter compounds, called glucosinolates, present in many foods, including cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. These "tasters" find such foods to have a bitter taste that people with a different version can't detect. As a result, "nontasters" have been shown to consume fewer cruciferous vegetables.
Modern humans originated in Africa, and populations from that region have the highest levels of genetic diversity globally. Previous studies had looked at variations in the PTC-sensitivity gene, but none had ever studied a large sample of diverse African populations with different cultures, ethnicities or diets.
"Because there is more genetic variation in African populations, you're likely to see unique variants you may not see elsewhere," Tishkoff said. "Our study of variation at the TAS2R38 gene in Africa and correlations with taste perception and diet gives us a clue about the evolutionary history of the gene and how natural selection might be influencing the pattern of variation."
Genes that influence perception are of particular interest to geneticists because those genes are under strong evolutionary pressure; organisms with senses that are well adapted to their environment have better chances to survive and reproduce. PTC-sensitivity's potential impact on nutrition, or the ability to detect bitter-tasting toxins, would therefore make it an obvious target for natural selection.
By looking at the TAS2R38 gene in 611 Africans from 57 diverse ethnic populations with distinct diets (for example, Pygmy hunter-gatherers and Maasai pastoralists), as well as in 132 non-Africans, the researchers showed that Africans had more variation than non-Africans, including several never-before-seen rare mutations.
The researchers also tested the correlation between genetic variation at this gene and levels of PTC tasting ability in 463 Africans, another first-of-its-kind study. In an experiment that was challenging to carry out across a wide swath of the African continent, participants sampled successively concentrated solutions of PTC and water until they were able to detect the bitter taste. When correlated with the participants' genetic data, the study revealed that Africans have a broader range of PTC taste sensitivity than typically seen outside of Africa, and that relatively new rare mutations also decrease an individual's ability to taste PTC.
Comparing different African populations confirmed that the PTC-sensitivity gene is millions of years old, meaning it predates the evolution of modern humans and likely existed in the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals.
The study also revealed something surprising: local diet did not have an effect on the evolution of any of the PTC-sensitivity gene variants.
"Although we typically see a lot of genetic variation among diverse African populations, the frequency of TAS2R38 variants is fairly similar across different ethnicities, cultures and diets," Campbell said. "This is suggestive that variation at this gene serves some other function beyond oral sensory perception."
This counter-intuitive discovery is in line with other recent studies, which found receptors similar to TAS2R38 in the lungs, upper airways and gut. If the variations of the TAS2R38 gene have had a heretofore-undiscovered impact on breathing or digesting, alongside tasting, the former traits might be the true focus of natural selection.
"Why are we 'tasting' in our guts or in our lungs? There must be something else," Tishkoff said, "that these taste receptors are doing, and it must be a pretty important physiological process, otherwise these variants wouldn't be maintained."
"We now believe the chemical senses play key sentinel roles at points of entry to the body like the mouth, airways and gastro-intestinal tract," Breslin said. "It is possible that, in addition to detecting bitter-tasting thyroid toxins, products of this gene help to defend against ubiquitous pan-African threats, such as inhaling injurious compounds or growing undesirable bacteria in airway mucus or intestines."
###
In addition to Tishkoff and Campbell, the research was conducted by postdoctoral fellows Alessia Ranciaro and Jibril B. Hirbo, both of the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine; undergraduate student Daniel Zinshteyn of the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences; Breslin; Alain Froment of the Muse de L'Homme; Sabah Omar of Kenya Medical Research Institute; Jean-Marie Bodo of Cameroon's Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation; Thomas Nyambo and Godfrey Lema of Tanzania's Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences; and Dennis Drayna of the NIH's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and a David and Lucile Packard Career Award.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Public release date: 6-Dec-2011 Share ] Contact: Evan Lerner
elerner@upenn.edu
215-573-6604
University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA -- Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: something other than taste must have driven its evolution.
The team was led by Penn researchers Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Michael C. Campbell, a postdoctoral fellow in the genetics department at the medical school, and included undergraduate and postdoctoral researchers from both the genetics and biology departments. The team included their collaborator Paul Breslin from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and Rutgers University and researchers from the Muse de L'Homme in France, the National Institutes of Health and several African universities and research institutes.
Their research was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
The researchers were interested in the gene TAS2R38, which codes for a bitter taste receptor protein with the same name. People with a certain version of that gene can taste a compound, phenylthiocarbamide, or PTC, which is chemically similar to naturally occurring bitter compounds, called glucosinolates, present in many foods, including cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. These "tasters" find such foods to have a bitter taste that people with a different version can't detect. As a result, "nontasters" have been shown to consume fewer cruciferous vegetables.
Modern humans originated in Africa, and populations from that region have the highest levels of genetic diversity globally. Previous studies had looked at variations in the PTC-sensitivity gene, but none had ever studied a large sample of diverse African populations with different cultures, ethnicities or diets.
"Because there is more genetic variation in African populations, you're likely to see unique variants you may not see elsewhere," Tishkoff said. "Our study of variation at the TAS2R38 gene in Africa and correlations with taste perception and diet gives us a clue about the evolutionary history of the gene and how natural selection might be influencing the pattern of variation."
Genes that influence perception are of particular interest to geneticists because those genes are under strong evolutionary pressure; organisms with senses that are well adapted to their environment have better chances to survive and reproduce. PTC-sensitivity's potential impact on nutrition, or the ability to detect bitter-tasting toxins, would therefore make it an obvious target for natural selection.
By looking at the TAS2R38 gene in 611 Africans from 57 diverse ethnic populations with distinct diets (for example, Pygmy hunter-gatherers and Maasai pastoralists), as well as in 132 non-Africans, the researchers showed that Africans had more variation than non-Africans, including several never-before-seen rare mutations.
The researchers also tested the correlation between genetic variation at this gene and levels of PTC tasting ability in 463 Africans, another first-of-its-kind study. In an experiment that was challenging to carry out across a wide swath of the African continent, participants sampled successively concentrated solutions of PTC and water until they were able to detect the bitter taste. When correlated with the participants' genetic data, the study revealed that Africans have a broader range of PTC taste sensitivity than typically seen outside of Africa, and that relatively new rare mutations also decrease an individual's ability to taste PTC.
Comparing different African populations confirmed that the PTC-sensitivity gene is millions of years old, meaning it predates the evolution of modern humans and likely existed in the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals.
The study also revealed something surprising: local diet did not have an effect on the evolution of any of the PTC-sensitivity gene variants.
"Although we typically see a lot of genetic variation among diverse African populations, the frequency of TAS2R38 variants is fairly similar across different ethnicities, cultures and diets," Campbell said. "This is suggestive that variation at this gene serves some other function beyond oral sensory perception."
This counter-intuitive discovery is in line with other recent studies, which found receptors similar to TAS2R38 in the lungs, upper airways and gut. If the variations of the TAS2R38 gene have had a heretofore-undiscovered impact on breathing or digesting, alongside tasting, the former traits might be the true focus of natural selection.
"Why are we 'tasting' in our guts or in our lungs? There must be something else," Tishkoff said, "that these taste receptors are doing, and it must be a pretty important physiological process, otherwise these variants wouldn't be maintained."
"We now believe the chemical senses play key sentinel roles at points of entry to the body like the mouth, airways and gastro-intestinal tract," Breslin said. "It is possible that, in addition to detecting bitter-tasting thyroid toxins, products of this gene help to defend against ubiquitous pan-African threats, such as inhaling injurious compounds or growing undesirable bacteria in airway mucus or intestines."
###
In addition to Tishkoff and Campbell, the research was conducted by postdoctoral fellows Alessia Ranciaro and Jibril B. Hirbo, both of the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine; undergraduate student Daniel Zinshteyn of the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences; Breslin; Alain Froment of the Muse de L'Homme; Sabah Omar of Kenya Medical Research Institute; Jean-Marie Bodo of Cameroon's Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation; Thomas Nyambo and Godfrey Lema of Tanzania's Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences; and Dennis Drayna of the NIH's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and a David and Lucile Packard Career Award.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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/2011-12/uop-pgh120611.php
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