Before the end of World War II, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavia had never been united in any way, and after Stalin?s death in 1953, they each took different paths. Between 1945 and 1953, however, as Anne Applebaum writes in Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956, ?it did seem as if the USSR would succeed in turning the widely varying nations of Eastern Europe into an ideologically and politically homogenous region.? The tactics the Soviets used to ensure compliance from reluctant collaborators and passive opponents for more than 40 years have been repeated in the decades since by dictators around the globe. The discussion lasts about 25 minutes.
The Afterword, which appears in the Slate daily podcast feed every other Thursday, features interviews with the authors of new nonfiction books. The final episode of the year will be a little different: The guest will be Fred Bass of New York?s Strand bookstore. It will be available on Dec. 20.
The podcast is produced by June Thomas. The executive producer of Slate?s podcasts is Andy Bowers.
(Reuters) - Biopharmaceutical companyAmarin Corp Plc said it raised $100 million in non-equity financing that will help it form a sales force to launch its heart drug Vascepa, but disappointed investors hoping for a sale or partnership.
Amarin shares fell 22 percent in extended trade, after closing at $11.95 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
"(Strategic) discussions are still quite active but at some point we've got to move forward," CEO Joseph Zakrzewski said on a conference call with analysts.
Israel's Calcalist financial daily said in November that the world's largest generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and British drugmaker AstraZeneca were both looking to buy the company.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Vascepa capsules alongside diet to reduce triglyceride levels -- a blood fat that contributes to heart disease -- in adult patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia.
Amarin said Thursday it will hire 250 to 300 sales professionals to launch Vascepa in the first quarter of 2013.
The decision to hire a sales force implied that Amarin is ready to go it alone, analyst Jon LeCroy of MKM Partners said, adding that this is being viewed negatively by investors.
"With the backing of a major pharmaceutical company, there will be sales reps available as well as more dollars to market the product. So the assumption would be that it could be a much bigger product if a bigger company sells it," LeCroy said.
WAITING ON EXCLUSIVITY
Amarin had earlier indicated that the FDA decision on Vascepa's marketing exclusivity would have an impact on whether the company gets acquired, forms a partnership on the drug, or sells the heart pill on its own.
Amarin is awaiting a decision from the regulator regarding a new chemical entity (NCE) status for Vascepa, which will grant the company marketing exclusivity for five years. The pill is also patent protected until 2030.
LeCroy said with an NCE most major pharmaceutical companies would be interested in Amarin, given that the status guarantees some minimum exclusivity compared with patents that can be challenged.
The company is planning to price Vascepa on par with GlazoSmithKline's competing Lovaza, CEO Zakrzewski said on the call.
He added that reimbursement for the drug will be available to most managed care clients by the time of its launch.
The financing deal for the hybrid debt-like instrument was made with an investment fund managed by Pharmakon Advisors.
(Reporting By Vrinda Manocha and Balaji Sridharan in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian and Anthony Kurian)
McDougal Littell Algebra 1: Applications, Equations, Graphs by Ron Larson, Laurie Boswell, Timothy Kanold, Lee Stiff (42)
New!: $102.35 (as of 11/28/2012 20:41 PST) 399 Used! | New! from $4.95 (as of 11/28/2012 20:41 PST)
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Text includes application highlights, career links, skill reviews, quizzes, test preparation questions, chapter summary, and review for standardized tests.
Rank: #6529 in Books
Published on: 1999-11-03
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2012) ? An embryo is an amazing thing. From just one initial cell, an entire living, breathing body emerges, full of working cells and organs. It comes as no surprise that embryonic development is a very carefully orchestrated process -- everything has to fall into the right place at the right time. Developmental and cell biologists study this very thing, unraveling the molecular cues that determine how we become human.
"One of the first, and arguably most important, steps in development is the allocation of cells into three germ layers -- ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm -- that give rise to all tissues and organs in the body," explains Mark Mercola, Ph.D., professor and director of Sanford-Burnham's Muscle Development and Regeneration Program in the Sanford Children's Health Research Center.
In a study published November 14 in the journal Genes & Development, Mercola and his team, including postdoctoral researcher Alexandre Colas, Ph.D., and Wesley McKeithan, discovered that microRNAs play an important role in this cell- and germ layer-directing process during development.
MicroRNA: one man's junk is another's treasure
MicroRNAs are small pieces of genetic material similar to the messenger RNA that carries protein-encoding recipes from a cell's genome out to the protein-building machinery in the cytoplasm. Only microRNAs don't encode proteins. So, for many years, scientists dismissed the regions of the genome that encode these small, non-protein coding RNAs as "junk."
We now know that microRNAs are far from junk. They may not encode their own proteins, but they do bind messenger RNA, preventing their encoded proteins from being constructed. In this way, microRNAs play important roles in determining which proteins are produced (or not produced) at a given time.
MicroRNAs are increasingly recognized as an important part of both normal cellular function and the development of human disease.
So, why not embryonic development, too?
Directing cellular traffic
To pinpoint which -- if any -- microRNAs influence germ layer formation in early embryonic development, Mercola and his team individually studied most (about 900) of the microRNAs from the human genome. They tested each microRNA's ability to direct formation of mesoderm and endoderm from embryonic stem cells. In doing so, they discovered that two microRNA families -- called let-7 and miR-18 -- block endoderm formation, while enhancing mesoderm and ectoderm formation.
The researchers confirmed their finding by artificially blocking let-7 function and checking to see what happened. That move dramatically altered embryonic cell fate, diverting would-be mesoderm and ectoderm into endoderm and underscoring the microRNA's crucial role in development.
But they still wanted to know more?how do let-7 and miR-18 work? Mercola's team went on to determine that these microRNAs direct mesoderm and ectoderm formation by dampening the TGF? signaling pathway. TGF? is a molecule that influences many cellular behaviors, including proliferation and differentiation. When these microRNAs tinker with TGF? activity, they send cells on a certain course -- some go on to become bone, others brain.
"We've now shown that microRNAs are powerful regulators of embryonic cell fate," Mercola says. "But our study also demonstrates that screening techniques, combined with systems biology, provide a paradigm for whole-genome screening and its use in identifying molecular signals that control complex biological processes."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. The original article was written by Heather Buschman.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
A. R. Colas, W. L. McKeithan, T. J. Cunningham, P. J. Bushway, L. X. Garmire, G. Duester, S. Subramaniam, M. Mercola. Whole-genome microRNA screening identifies let-7 and mir-18 as regulators of germ layer formation during early embryogenesis. Genes & Development, 2012; DOI: 10.1101/gad.200758.112
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Patch the holes in your walls with toothpaste! Yes, this is definitely a temporary cover up but it works to hide an ugly hole until you can come up with the materials for a more permanent fix. Use white toothpaste and trowel it into the hole with a butter knife.
There are many home-improvement tasks that are easy to do, and can really enhance the beauty of your home. Replacing the old hardware on your kitchen cabinets with new updated hardware, is a relatively easy job and can give your cabinets a fresh new look. Taking on small home-improvement projects will help give you the confidence to take on bigger projects in the future.
If you are going to do an remodeling on your home, make sure that your maintenance issues are fixed first. Don?t put in granite counters if the plumbing or wiring is outdated and needs fixing. You could end up having to rip out what you?ve done in the near future. Furthermore, buyers in today?s market want to know that the property they are buying is in good condition. And, you never know when you might need to sell up.
If you are buying a new bathtub, be sure to sit in the tub and lie back in it to be certain it?s the right size and shape for you before purchasing it. Also, take good measurements of your bathroom space to be sure the tub will fit in the space you have.
Resurface the concrete walkways and driveways around your home for a new look. Replacing concrete can get incredibly expensive and doesn?t add much to the curb appeal of your home. Consider resurfacing with cobblestone or brick which will cost a fraction of replacing concrete and will look like a million bucks.
Home improvement starts with having a plan and the right tools. Make sure you purchase everything before hand and have the appropriate measurements for your project. This will not only save you time, but the hassle of having to go back and forth from the hardware store, thus saving you plenty of headaches.
Make sure that only high quality supplies are used in your home improvement projects. This will ensure that the work lasts for greatest amount of time and offers the best finish. You don?t want to find out a few months down the road that using a higher quality would have prevented wear and tear or easy damaging.
Try giving all of your appliances a bit of a facelift. Try to get your appliances to match or to be of the same set. If they don?t match, try ordering matching face panels or doors. The look and feel of a more cohesive room decorum can really bring a room together.
Although it can be tempting to continually put off home repairs, or hire a professional to do simple repair work and, in doing so, rack up a costly bill, most people are amazed to discover how easily and readily they are able to do basic home repair work and maintenance themselves.
Learn more on cabinet handles or Cupboard knobs.
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SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea is to carry out its second rocket launch of 2012 as its youthful leader Kim Jong Un flexes his muscles a year after his father's death, in a move that will likely heighten diplomatic tensions and draw criticism from Washington.
North Korea's state news agency announced the decision to launch another space satellite on Saturday, just a day after Kim met a senior delegation from China's Communist Party in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
North Korea rocket breaks up after much-touted launch
China, under new leadership, is North Korea's only major political backer and has continually urged peace on the Korean peninsula, where the North and South remain technically at war after an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, ended the 1950-53 conflict.
No comment on the planned launch was immediately available from Beijing's foreign ministry.
Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that the move was a "grave provocation". Japan's Kyodo news agency said Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had ordered ministries to be on alert for the launch.
Richard Engel journeys to North Korea in this latest episode of Hidden Planet. Engel witnesses a military parade, one of the state events that North Korea has come to be known for, but he also journeys through parts of the country rarely seen by American eyes. Engel goes shopping in a North Korean store, visits computer science students who have never heard of Facebook and takes a train ride through parts of the country that reveal barren fields.
"North Korea wants to tell China that it is an independent state by staging the rocket launch and it wants to see if the United States will drop its hostile policies," said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Affairs at Seoul National University.
North Korea is banned from conducting missile or nuclear-related activities under United Nations resolutions imposed after Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests, although it says its rockets are used to put satellites into orbit for peaceful purposes.
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un still a mystery, Leon Panetta says
Washington and Seoul believe the isolated, impoverished state is testing long-range missile technology with the aim of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Pyongyang's threats are aimed, in part, at winning concessions and aid from Washington, analysts say.
North has 'little to lose'? The failed April rocket launch took place to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and the latest test will take place close to the Dec. 17 date of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il.
It will also come as South Korea gears up for a Dec. 19 presidential election in a vote that pits a supporter of closer engagement with Pyongyang against the daughter of South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee.
The April test was condemned by the United Nations, although taking action against the North is hard as China refuses to endorse further sanctions against Pyongyang.
North Korea is already one of the most heavily sanctioned states on earth thanks to its nuclear program.
Elizabeth Dalziel / AP
From work to play, see pictures from inside the secretive country.
Pyongyang has few tools to pressure the outside world to take it seriously due to its diplomatic isolation and its puny economy.
The state that Kim Jong Un inherited last December after the death of his father boasts a 1.2 million-strong military, but its population of 23 million, many malnourished, supports an economy worth just $40 billion annually in purchasing power parity terms, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
"The North's calculation may be that they have little to lose by going ahead with it at this point," said Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul.
Read more stories about North Korea on NBCNews.com
Baek said the test planned for December would likely be no more successful in launching a satellite than the April one that crashed into the sea between China and North Korea after flying just 75 miles.
"Kim Jong Un may be taking a big gamble trying to come back from the humiliating failure in April and in the process trying to raise the morale for the military," Baek said.
North Korea's space agency said on Saturday that it had worked on "improving the reliability and precision of the satellite and carrier rocket" since April's launch.
David Guttenfelder / AP
In this March 9, 2011 photo, a girl plays the piano inside the Changgwang Elementary School in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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Contact: Robert Meisner robert.meisner@esa.int European Space Agency
After two decades of satellite observations, an international team of experts brought together by ESA and NASA has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date. This study finds that the combined rate of ice sheet melting is increasing.
The new research shows that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has added 11.1 mm to global sea levels since 1992. This amounts to about 20% of all sea-level rise over the survey period.
About two thirds of the ice loss was from Greenland, and the remainder was from Antarctica.
Although the ice sheet losses fall within the range reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the spread of the estimate at that time was so broad that it was not clear whether Antarctica was growing or shrinking.
The new estimates are a vast improvement more than twice as accurate thanks to the inclusion of more satellite data, and confirm that both Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice.
The study also shows that the combined rate of ice sheet melting has increased over time and, altogether, Greenland and Antarctica are now losing more than three times as much ice, equivalent to 0.95 mm of sea-level rise per year, as they were in the 1990s, equivalent to 0.27 mm of sea level rise per year.
The 47 experts combined observations from 10 different satellite missions to reconcile the differences between dozens of earlier ice sheet studies and produce the first consistent measurement of polar ice sheet changes.
Earth observation satellites are key to monitoring the polar ice because they carry instruments that measure changes in the thickness of the ice sheets, fluctuations in the speed of the outlet glaciers and even small changes in Earth's gravity field caused by melting ice.
As outlined in the paper 'A Reconciled Estimate of Ice Sheet Mass Balance' published today in Science, the researchers carefully matched time periods and survey areas, and combined measurements from European, Canadian, American and Japanese satellites.
The measurement were acquired by instruments such as the radar altimeters and synthetic aperture radars flown on ESA's ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions from 1991.
"The success of this venture is due to the cooperation of the international scientific community, and to the provision of precise satellite sensors by our space agencies," said Professor Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds and one of the leaders of the study.
"Without these efforts, we would not be in a position to tell people with confidence how Earth's ice sheets have changed, and to end the uncertainty that has existed for many years."
The study also found variations in the pace of ice sheet change in Antarctica and Greenland.
"The rate of ice loss from Greenland has increased almost five-fold since the mid-1990s.
"In contrast, while the regional changes in Antarctic ice over time are sometimes quite striking, the overall balance has remained fairly constant at least within the certainty of the satellite measurements we have to hand," said co-leader of the study Dr Erik Ivins from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
###
The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise is a collaboration between 47 researchers from 26 laboratories, supported by ESA and NASA.
Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme will continue to monitor changes in the polar ice sheets during the coming decades, with the SAR and radar altimeter sensors on the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellite series, scheduled to be launched from 2013 onwards.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Robert Meisner robert.meisner@esa.int European Space Agency
After two decades of satellite observations, an international team of experts brought together by ESA and NASA has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date. This study finds that the combined rate of ice sheet melting is increasing.
The new research shows that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has added 11.1 mm to global sea levels since 1992. This amounts to about 20% of all sea-level rise over the survey period.
About two thirds of the ice loss was from Greenland, and the remainder was from Antarctica.
Although the ice sheet losses fall within the range reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the spread of the estimate at that time was so broad that it was not clear whether Antarctica was growing or shrinking.
The new estimates are a vast improvement more than twice as accurate thanks to the inclusion of more satellite data, and confirm that both Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice.
The study also shows that the combined rate of ice sheet melting has increased over time and, altogether, Greenland and Antarctica are now losing more than three times as much ice, equivalent to 0.95 mm of sea-level rise per year, as they were in the 1990s, equivalent to 0.27 mm of sea level rise per year.
The 47 experts combined observations from 10 different satellite missions to reconcile the differences between dozens of earlier ice sheet studies and produce the first consistent measurement of polar ice sheet changes.
Earth observation satellites are key to monitoring the polar ice because they carry instruments that measure changes in the thickness of the ice sheets, fluctuations in the speed of the outlet glaciers and even small changes in Earth's gravity field caused by melting ice.
As outlined in the paper 'A Reconciled Estimate of Ice Sheet Mass Balance' published today in Science, the researchers carefully matched time periods and survey areas, and combined measurements from European, Canadian, American and Japanese satellites.
The measurement were acquired by instruments such as the radar altimeters and synthetic aperture radars flown on ESA's ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions from 1991.
"The success of this venture is due to the cooperation of the international scientific community, and to the provision of precise satellite sensors by our space agencies," said Professor Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds and one of the leaders of the study.
"Without these efforts, we would not be in a position to tell people with confidence how Earth's ice sheets have changed, and to end the uncertainty that has existed for many years."
The study also found variations in the pace of ice sheet change in Antarctica and Greenland.
"The rate of ice loss from Greenland has increased almost five-fold since the mid-1990s.
"In contrast, while the regional changes in Antarctic ice over time are sometimes quite striking, the overall balance has remained fairly constant at least within the certainty of the satellite measurements we have to hand," said co-leader of the study Dr Erik Ivins from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
###
The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise is a collaboration between 47 researchers from 26 laboratories, supported by ESA and NASA.
Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme will continue to monitor changes in the polar ice sheets during the coming decades, with the SAR and radar altimeter sensors on the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellite series, scheduled to be launched from 2013 onwards.
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 30-Nov-2012
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