From Jay-Z to Amanda Seyfried, see what the stars born between November 28 - December 4 can tell you about the sign of Sagittarius
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LOS ANGELES?? Michael Jackson's doctor will face the singer's distraught family and ardent fans one more time when he returns to court for sentencing in the death of the superstar from an overdose of an operating-room anesthetic he was receiving to battle insomnia.
The former "Hannah Montana" star is certainly entitled to grow out of her Disney image, but a little common sense could go...
Dr. Conrad Murray's sentencing Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter is the final step in the criminal case launched within days of Jackson's unexpected death in June 2009.
Prosecutors want a judge to sentence the 58-year-old Murray to the maximum four-year prison term. Defense attorneys counter that Murray already faces a lifetime of shame and diminished opportunities and should receive probation.
How long Murray might remain behind bars depends on the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which would base the decision on good behavior and other factors.
Even without overcrowding and a new state law that will send Murray to county jail rather than prison, a four-year sentence could be cut in half by good behavior.
It remained unclear Monday whether Jackson's family will speak during the sentencing hearing. His mother Katherine and several siblings routinely attended the six-week trial that ended with the conviction on Nov. 7.
Prosecutors portrayed Murray as an incompetent doctor who administered propofol ? an extremely potent anesthetic normally used during surgery ? in Jackson's bedroom without adequate safeguards and botched his care when things went wrong.
The prosecution is also seeking restitution for Jackson's three children and filed a statement from the singer's estate stating the cost of the singer's funeral was more than $1.8 million. The letter also notes that Jackson would have earned $100 million if he had performed a planned series of comeback concerts in London.
The doctor's fate lies with Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, who will determine the sentence and had harsh words for Murray on the day he was convicted.
"Dr. Murray's reckless conduct in this case poses a demonstrable risk to the safety of the public," Pastor said before the Houston-based cardiologist was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Pastor also could address Murray's decision to participate in a documentary that was filmed throughout the trial and aired days after Murray's conviction.
Murray states in the film that aired on MSNBC, under the title "Michael Jackson and the Doctor: A Fatal Friendship," that he doesn't feel guilty about the singer's death because he doesn't think he did anything wrong.
Prosecutors cited Murray's comments in their filing last week urging the judge to impose the maximum sentence.
"Finally, the defendant consistently blames the victim for his own death," the prosecutors said, "even going so far as to characterize himself as being 'entrapped' by the victim and as someone who suffered a 'betrayal' at the hands of the victim."
Murray's attorneys are relying largely on statements from his former patients to portray Murray in a softer light and win a lighter sentence.
"There is no question that the death of his patient, Mr. Jackson, was unintentional and an enormous tragedy for everyone affected," defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo. "Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pall of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson."
Pastor also will review a report by probation officials that carries a sentencing recommendation. The report will become public after Murray is sentenced.
The report may also feature input from Murray, who chose not to testify in his own defense during the trial but was heard in a lengthy interview recorded by police.
Murray's trial was closely watched by Jackson's fans in the courtroom, on social networking sites and via live broadcasts online and on television.
The trial detailed the final hours of Jackson and portrayed him as a talented genius suffering from debilitating insomnia.
The singer selected Murray as his personal physician, and the doctor began giving Jackson nightly doses of propofol two months before the singer's death.
Several doctors who testified during the trial, including Murray's own hired propofol expert, said they would not have given Jackson the treatments in his bedroom and that Murray violated the standard of care multiple times.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45468611/ns/today-entertainment/
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Rick Wilking / Reuters
Nancy Schleining of Schleining Genetics herds a 1,200-pound cow, which has just arrived from Montana, at her cattle feedlot in Ault, Colo., earlier this month. State livestock officials say the increase in cattle crimes was linked to the slumping economy, soaring beef prices and the advent of handheld global positioning systems.
By Reuters
SALMON, Idaho
Cattle rustlers, casting aside saddle and spurs for modern horsepower, are roaming the West with four-wheel drive and GPS technology in a resurgence of livestock thievery considered a hanging offense on the old frontier.
State livestock officials said the increase in cattle crimes was linked to the slumping economy, soaring beef prices and the advent of handheld global positioning systems that allow rustlers to more easily navigate the wide-open range.
They said contemporary thieves may find it more convenient and lucrative to pick off a couple cows, worth as much as $2,000 a head, than to rob a convenience store.
"When the market is extremely high, the bad guys come out," Idaho State Brand Inspector Larry Hayhurst said.
Hayhurst said the incidence of cattle gone missing under suspicious circumstances in Idaho during the past three months had already surpassed the 250 such reports he received for all of last year. That coincides with spikes in cattle thefts in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming and elsewhere.
Rick Wilking / Reuters
Colorado State Brand Inspector Jim Easthouse looks over a sheet listing cattle headed for auction in Fort Collins, Colo.
Regionwide tallies for rustling are hard to come by because no uniform reporting system or central database exists.
However, Western state livestock agencies have put the value of cattle deemed lost, stolen, strayed or in questionable ownership in recent years in the tens of millions of dollars.
In Montana alone, investigators have recovered more than 7,300 stolen or missing cattle worth nearly $8 million during the past three years, numbers believed to account for just a fraction of the problem, officials said.
"What you see as far as figures from livestock departments is a drop in the bucket from what's been going on," said Kim Baker, president of the Montana Cattlemen's Association.
For ranchers in the open-range states of the West, the livestock brand -- a symbol of ownership imprinted on the animal's hide -- is considered a cow's only return address.
Brands provide vital clues for Western agricultural inspectors who are required to verify ownership of livestock when it is sold, shipped for slaughter or transported over certain distances.
But in a region where several hundred brand inspectors oversee millions of cows on rangelands stretching across some of the nation's most rugged and remote terrain, there are many ways to beat the system, said Rick Wahlert, veteran brand inspector with the Colorado Agriculture Department.
Today's rustlers bear little resemblance to the varmints of yore, whose crimes prompted the formation in the western United States of cattle associations that paid a bounty to bring cow thieves to justice.
For starters, rustlers are now equipped with trucks and trailers that allow them to easily haul cattle to distant slaughterhouses and auction barns where re-branded animals may draw less suspicion.
Western livestock owners who turn their cows out in the spring on sprawling grazing allotments they lease from the federal government expect to lose up to 3 percent of their stock to injuries, illnesses and predators.
But any such losses, or any missing animals suspected of having been stolen, typically go unnoticed until late fall, when ranchers gather in their herds and sort out which animals will be kept for breeding, put up for sale or go to slaughter.
Moreover, cattle can end up categorized as lost or missing, rather than stolen, even though evidence may suggest theft, said Terry Fankhauser, vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association.
"We're ruling out alien abduction," he said.
Theft costs ranchers dearly in an industry that generates billions of dollars in revenues a year in Western states.
The losses are not tallied in dollars alone. Producers build up their herds while selecting for preferred traits over the course of generations, said Wyatt Prescott, vice president of the Idaho Cattle Association.
"Cows are professional mothers," he said. "It's their job to get bred every year, calve successfully and bring that calf home in the fall. You go through a lot trying to replace that cow."
The recent comeback in cattle rustling has stockmen on edge across the region.
After 200 cattle went missing last year in a four-county area of western Idaho, Tom Blessinger, a rancher north of Boise, said he was writing down the license plate numbers of any unfamiliar vehicles he sees.
"That's a lot of meat," he said. "This isn't a case of the cowboy with the good horse and the dog. This is too many."
Authorities in Montana and Nevada last month broke up a multi-state cattle-rustling ring in an investigation expected to bring criminal charges against suspects in Oregon, Nevada and Washington state, said Blaine Northrop, enforcement supervisor with the Nevada Department of Agriculture. The livestock bust has so far netted 61 head of cattle.
Officials said livestock thieves typically know how to handle animals and how to elude the industry's safeguards.
"Just anybody off the street can't walk in and steal a cow," Idaho's Prescott said.
Once snatched, cows are hard to get back. Recovery rates for stolen cattle can be as low as 10 percent.
Two years after the fact, authorities are still searching for rustlers who stole 21 cows and an equal number of calves from the Cross Ranch in northwestern Montana, and owner Mary Cross said her operation continues to suffer the effects of the thefts.
"It takes the profit right out," she said.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/28/9073821-western-states-see-comeback-of-cattle-rustling
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Seems like every time you turn around you'll see corporations using sneaky tricks to gain a competitive advantage over a different, yet equally sneaky corporation. That's usually how money is made by the people who are best at making lots of it -- at the expense of others. The cell phone industry is no different, even though we wish it were. Yes, I'm talking about Carrier IQ, and it's my turn to bitch.
Carrier IQ sells a stock client for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Android. There's strong evidence that they also make client software for other smartphone platforms, and even semi-smartphone OS's like Bada or BREW. But they're only making it easy to get the same type of data your carrier has been collecting about you since the minute you turned your cell phone on. If they're collecting it in an insecure manner, which has happened, that's bad on them, and they need to fix it -- pronto. But they're not doing it on their own. They're doing it at the behest of the manufacturer and the carrier, who uses the data to determine how to make changes that get you to spend more money when they offer you the latest shiny. If 72 percent of the people use a certain feature, you can bet your last dollar that more work goes into making that feature "better" so it's a stronger selling point. Carrier IQ, as a company, could care less what you do with your smartphone, when you do it, or why. All they do is make it easier for the people you give your money to each month to see why you like your phone. I don't work for HTC or AT&T, but I'm sure easy data collection and aggregation makes for a compelling sales pitch.
CIQ isn't doing anything it's not supposed to be doing, unless there's a software bug in play. The software was purposefully placed there in order to track what you're doing in real time. Apparently, it works pretty well. Some may argue that it's a rootkit, or a flaw of some sort, but to the people using the product -- again, the carrier and manufacturer -- it's a feature, one that they pay money to include. Remember, you are not HTC's (or Samsung, or LG, or RIM, etc.) customer -- companies like Verizon and Sprint are, and all parties find the data that's collected pretty damn useful, so they aren't likely to stop collecting it.
It could be argued that you don't have a choice in the matter. You bought the phone. And while there might be (and usually is -- see the picture above from a CIQ enabled HTC phone) some vague reference to the phone collecting data about how you use it, you likely skipped over that section, and it's not all that up-front about what's being collected or how it's being done. But on the other hand, that's probably true about 90 percent of what your phone's doing at any given time. It works exactly how it's supposed to work. Getting mad about it after the fact isn't very productive, and isn't going to solve the problem any time soon.
Vote with your wallet. You have the option to say no to this sort of data collection software, and that's done by not buying phones that use it. Every major carrier in the world now carries one of those.
Yes, I think Carrier IQ is a bad thing, done by unscrupulous people so they have more pennies to count. But all the hate towards the company that writes and sells the software is misguided. They are only filling a need, and if they stop someone else will step up to replace them. Enough words have been written about it, yet the solution for Android fans only needs three:
Buy a Nexus.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/dR8VqV7pzKY/story01.htm
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Continue reading Verizon details live FiOS TV service for Xbox 360, Kinect controls on tap
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COMMENTARY | The initial accusations of impropriety against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain could have initially been passed off as someone trying to discredit him. However, with the news surfacing that he had reportedly engaged in a 13-year affair with a woman in Georgia, I think it would be safe to say that his goose is cooked.
According to CNN, on Tuesday he told his staff he is going to be reassessing the viability of his campaign. In between the sexual harassment accusations from a few weeks ago followed up by this latest accusation, he should be looking into affordable one-bedroom apartments in his home area.
His chances at being president, or even a contender, are absolutely shot now. There have been too many instances for the voters to have doubt put in their mind about the man's credibility. Even with the number of sexual harassment allegations lobbed Cain's way, you could almost give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, they seemed to come out of left field and almost had the appearance of a simple political attack strategy.
When you get a woman like Ginger White, however, coming out on WAGA in Atlanta and saying she had carried on an affair with Cain for 13 years, things start to get a little different. It would almost be a miracle to get anybody to believe a word Cain says. Remember back to when the first Politico story broke and he would talk repeatedly of his wife of 40-something years? That should have been the first red flag that something was up with him.
The immediate denial of the affair, with the caveat of Cain having helped White financially, is very suspect as well. Quick question to all the married men out there: Would any of your wives condone you helping financially a woman that wasn't your mom or your sister? Nope huh? That's what I thought.
To continue the presidential campaign would be Cain lying to himself. Those in his own party are calling for Cain to step down, according to a Huffington Post report. Maybe, the first time we hear something that sounds truthful out of Cain's mouth will be at a news conference when he announces he will be dropping out of the race.
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KINSHASA (Reuters) ? First results emerged from the Democratic Republic of Congo's chaotic elections on Tuesday but some voters were still casting their ballots in a vote tainted by confusion, violence and allegations of fraud.
Organizers pushed ahead with the presidential and parliamentary elections in the vast Central African nation on Monday despite fears that logistical delays and complaints over the process would set the scene for a bitterly contested result.
Mounoubai Madnodje, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo known as MONUSCO, said the United Nations was still delivering electoral materials on Tuesday to some areas which have yet to vote, including the central province of Bandundu.
"We've offered our helicopters to transport materials, so yes, we're still continuing to help," Madnodje said, adding the security situation across the country was generally calm.
President Joseph Kabila faced ten rivals, including veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. About 18,500 people are also running for 500 seats in parliament.
The election commission said the ballot was "satisfactory." Voting in some areas carried on into the night, while others were asked to be patient and mark their ballot on Tuesday after some ballot papers did not arrive on time.
Across the nation, voters complained that confusion over voter lists made it difficult for many to know where to vote. Tensions flared and violence was reported at many polling stations during voting, over allegations of fraud.
"Here in Kinshasa we don't have any confidence in the process but in this polling station we have worked hard (to stop fraud)," said Henriette Kilonda, an election official at the Ecole de la Gare voting center in Gombe, central Kinshasa.
City residents scanned initial results posted outside 18 polling stations while Kilonga and fellow officials were readying the transfer of ballot papers to compilation centers. It was too early to ascertain any voting trends and full provisional results are not due till December 6.
The election commission did not say how many people were unable to vote on Monday or when they would do so, but a senior international election observer said the figure was in the hundreds of thousands.
CHAOS, VIOLENCE
In counting that lasted through the night in some places, some ballot papers in the legislative vote were dozens of pages long, so officials had to flick through them looking for a single "X" marking a vote.
"We have 63,000 polling stations. If of those we have even 1,000 which cause problems, that's manageable. For us we just want everyone to be able to vote," election commission spokesman Matthieu Mpita said on Monday evening.
At least three people were killed when masked gunmen attacked a polling station in the copper-producing province of Katanga in the south. There were numerous reports of violence and alleged fraud elsewhere.
Anaclet Tshimbalanga, the president of TDH, a human rights group in West Kasai province, said at least 12 polling stations had been torched in the provincial capital, Kananga, after residents said they had found ballot papers already marked in favor of Kabila.
"I saw them, other observers saw them, journalists saw them, they exist," he stated, adding delays meant voting was continuing late into the night.
The business center of the largely pro-Tshisekedi capital, Kinshasa, was calm in the morning. Overnight, there was a heavy police presence on the streets and reports of gunfire coming from some neighborhoods.
Highlighting the risk of the vote polarizing the nation, Kazadi Nyembwe, a senior figure in Kabila's PPRD party said its supporters had been intimidated in opposition strongholds, especially the Kasai provinces.
"Things have not gone properly. PPRD supporters weren't even allowed to go into (polling stations) unless they agreed to voted for Tshisekedi," he told Reuters late on Sunday.
Congo's first post-war election was held in 2006, drawing a line under years of war and chaos and paving the way for renewed investor interest in a country rich in copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals. That vote was largely seen as free and fair.
"I voted in 2006. It was not at all difficult then," said Murphy Mbemba, a 30-year-old artist, in Kinshasa.
"(But) I cannot find my name on any center (this time). I don't know where I should be voting," she said.
(Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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Nov 27, 2011 - Looking around at the NFL action, there were plenty of interesting early games on Sunday. The Indianapolis Colts remained winless, of course not bothering anyone at the bottom of the AFC South standings. As for the rest of the AFC South, the Houston Texans maintained control of the division by beating the Jacksonville Jaguars while the Tennessee Titans rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Keeping an eye on the Colts standing with the worst record in the league, there are now only two two-win teams ahead of the Colts after Carolina won their third game of the season at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Rams remain two games ahead of the Colts after losing on Sunday.?
Check out all of the?Week 12 scores here, but here's a look at some games of note so far this Sunday:
Houston Texans Beat Jacksonville Jaguars 20-13
The Texans went into the game without starting quarterback Matt Schaub, out for the season with a foot injury, and then lost backup Matt Leinart to a shoulder injury during the win. Prior to leaving the game, Leinart connected with Joel Dreessen for a touchdown. Arian Foster rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown to lead the Texans' ground game. Jacksonville quarterback Blaine Gabbert was sacked six times and completed just 13 of 29 passes. Maurice Jones-Drew rushed for 99 yards, but the Jags' only touchdown came on a fumble recovery and return by Ashton Youboty.
Tennessee Titans beat Tampa Bay 23-17
The Titans score 13 fourth-quarter points to secure a comeback win over the Buccaneers to move to 6-5 on the season. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw a touchdown pass to Damian Williams with three minutes left in the game to put the Titans in front 20-17. Defensive back Jason McCourty then intercepted Josh Freeman which eventually set up a 38-yard field goal by Rob Bironas to put the game away.
Arizona Cardinals beat St. Louis Rams 23-20
After falling behind 20-10 after three quarters, the Rams rallied to tie the game the Cardinals cashed in a 22-yard field goal by Jay Feely to regain the lead and hold on for the final four minutes of the game. Sam Bradford connected with receiver Brandon Lloyd for a touchdown pass to tie the game midway through the fourth quarter. The loss drops the Rams to 2-9 on the season with remaining games at San Francisco, at Seattle, Cincinnati, at Pittsburgh and San Francisco.
Atlanta Falcons beat Minnesota Vikings 24-14
The Minnesota Vikings, playing without running back Adrian Peterson, fell behind 17-0 at the half and were never able to fully recover. Running back Toby Gerhart put the Vikings on the board with a one-yard touchdown plunge in the third quarter. Then quarterback Christian Ponder found Percy Harvin for a 39-yard strike to make things interesting early in the fourth quarter. That would end the threat by Minnesota, though as Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan put the Falcons back in control midway through the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass to Michael Palmer. The Vikings are now 2-9 and finish the season with games against Denver, at Detroit, New Orleans, at Washington and Chicago.
Neither Minnesota nor St. Louis have many chances for wins on their remaining schedule. For St. Louis the games at Seattle and at home against Cincinnati should be their best opportunity. Minnesota has Denver at home and plays at Washington which should both give the Vikings a chance to win.
As for the Colts, they would need to win two of their final five games if Minnesota and/or St. Louis go 0-fer the rest of the season. The Colts schedule is a challenge as well with games at New England, at Baltimore, home against Tennessee and Houston and then at Jacksonville.
Source: http://indiana.sbnation.com/indianapolis-colts/2011/11/27/2590442/nfl-scores-week-12-2011-results
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BEIJING (AP) ? Chinas's first aircraft carrier headed back out to sea Tuesday for a second round of sea trials, the Defense Ministry said.
The as-yet unnamed carrier left the northern port of Dalian on Tuesday to conduct "technical research experiments," the ministry said in a brief statement.
The carrier is the former Soviet Varyag, towed from Ukraine in 1998 minus its engines, weaponry and navigation systems. It was dispatched on its first five-day sea trials in August following years of refurbishment.
China has kept the sea trials relatively low-key amid regional concerns about its growing military strength and increasingly assertive claims to disputed territory.
This latest round comes days after the start of the Chinese navy's annual training in the Western pacific that involves sailing between islands in Japan's Okinawa chain.
A statement issued by the Defense Ministry last week said the exercises were not directed toward "any particular country or objective." However, they drew considerable attention in the media in Japan, where defense experts are wary of the Chinese navy's increasing presence in Japanese waters.
China says the carrier is intended for research and training, leading to speculation that it plans to build future copies.
While no major problems have been reported in making the 55,000-ton ski jump-style carrier seaworthy, Beijing is believed to be years away from being able to launch and recover aircraft from it as part of a carrier battle group.
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![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Nov-2011
Share ] Contact: Press Office
pressinfo@ki.se
46-852-486-077
Karolinska Institutet
Researchers of the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet and the University of Cologne, Germany, have identified a new protein involved in a defense mechanism against cancer. The VCP/p97 complex is best known for its role in protein destruction and is involved in a type of familial dementia and ALS. In a novel study the researchers now describe how this complex also plays an important role in regulating the recruitment of the tumor suppressor protein 53BP1 to damaged DNA suggesting an important role for VCP/p97 in our body's defense against cancer.
Damage of DNA is potentially very dangerous and linked to the development of cancer. Since DNA damage is unavoidable, our cells are equipped with a sophisticated defense system that activates repair mechanisms. This process is initiated by binding of sensor proteins to the damaged DNA that in turn bind and activate other proteins responsible for repairing the damage. During the last decade, it has become clear how many of those proteins are recruited to the damaged DNA, but the mechanism by which the tumor suppressor 53BP1 finds its way has been puzzling.
The surprising finding of this study, presented in the scientific journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, is not only the identity of the new player but also how it is doing the job. By following proteins in cells with DNA damage, the researchers found that the VCP/p97 complex is among the proteins that are being recruited to DNA damage. This was unanticipated since VCP/p97 is known to be primarily involved in the destruction of defective proteins. VCP/p97 is doing this by unwinding them so that the waste proteins can be chopped in pieces by dedicated enzymes. This important function also explains its involvement in a type of familial dementia and ALS since this kind of waste proteins typically pile up in these diseases.
It turns out that VCP/p97 is doing something similar at damaged DNA although with a very different outcome. The work shows that VCP/p97 facilitates the binding of 53BP1 by removing a protein that occupies the places where 53BP1 can bind. So instead of unwinding a protein to prepare it for destruction, VCP/p97 pulls a protein out of the way for 53BP1. The researchers also show that worms that have less of this complex are very sensitive to DNA damage supporting an important and evolutionary conserved role of VCP/p97 in DNA damage control. This new mechanism of recruiting a protein by removing another one that gets in the way sheds new light onto how the tumor suppressor 53BP1 finds damaged DNA. An important question that remains is if VCP/p97 plays similar roles in other processes.
###
Publication: 'The AAA-ATPase VCP/p97 promotes 53BP1 recruitment by removing L3MBTL1 from DNA double-strand breaks', Klara Acs, S. Martijn Luijsterburg, Leena Ackermann, Florian A. Salomons, Thorsten Hoppe & Nico P. Dantuma, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, online November 27 201, DOI: 10.1038/10.1038/nsmb.2188.
Journal website: http://www.nature.com/nsmb/index.html
For further information, please contact:
Nico Dantuma, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet
Phone: + 46-(0)8-52487384
Mobile: +46-(0)70-4950430
Email: nico.dantuma@ki.se
Contact the Press Office and download photo: http://ki.se/pressroom
More about Karolinska Institutet - a medical university: http://ki.se/English
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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.
Public release date: 28-Nov-2011 Share ] Contact: Press Office
pressinfo@ki.se
46-852-486-077
Karolinska Institutet
Researchers of the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet and the University of Cologne, Germany, have identified a new protein involved in a defense mechanism against cancer. The VCP/p97 complex is best known for its role in protein destruction and is involved in a type of familial dementia and ALS. In a novel study the researchers now describe how this complex also plays an important role in regulating the recruitment of the tumor suppressor protein 53BP1 to damaged DNA suggesting an important role for VCP/p97 in our body's defense against cancer.
Damage of DNA is potentially very dangerous and linked to the development of cancer. Since DNA damage is unavoidable, our cells are equipped with a sophisticated defense system that activates repair mechanisms. This process is initiated by binding of sensor proteins to the damaged DNA that in turn bind and activate other proteins responsible for repairing the damage. During the last decade, it has become clear how many of those proteins are recruited to the damaged DNA, but the mechanism by which the tumor suppressor 53BP1 finds its way has been puzzling.
The surprising finding of this study, presented in the scientific journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, is not only the identity of the new player but also how it is doing the job. By following proteins in cells with DNA damage, the researchers found that the VCP/p97 complex is among the proteins that are being recruited to DNA damage. This was unanticipated since VCP/p97 is known to be primarily involved in the destruction of defective proteins. VCP/p97 is doing this by unwinding them so that the waste proteins can be chopped in pieces by dedicated enzymes. This important function also explains its involvement in a type of familial dementia and ALS since this kind of waste proteins typically pile up in these diseases.
It turns out that VCP/p97 is doing something similar at damaged DNA although with a very different outcome. The work shows that VCP/p97 facilitates the binding of 53BP1 by removing a protein that occupies the places where 53BP1 can bind. So instead of unwinding a protein to prepare it for destruction, VCP/p97 pulls a protein out of the way for 53BP1. The researchers also show that worms that have less of this complex are very sensitive to DNA damage supporting an important and evolutionary conserved role of VCP/p97 in DNA damage control. This new mechanism of recruiting a protein by removing another one that gets in the way sheds new light onto how the tumor suppressor 53BP1 finds damaged DNA. An important question that remains is if VCP/p97 plays similar roles in other processes.
###
Publication: 'The AAA-ATPase VCP/p97 promotes 53BP1 recruitment by removing L3MBTL1 from DNA double-strand breaks', Klara Acs, S. Martijn Luijsterburg, Leena Ackermann, Florian A. Salomons, Thorsten Hoppe & Nico P. Dantuma, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, online November 27 201, DOI: 10.1038/10.1038/nsmb.2188.
Journal website: http://www.nature.com/nsmb/index.html
For further information, please contact:
Nico Dantuma, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet
Phone: + 46-(0)8-52487384
Mobile: +46-(0)70-4950430
Email: nico.dantuma@ki.se
Contact the Press Office and download photo: http://ki.se/pressroom
More about Karolinska Institutet - a medical university: http://ki.se/English
[ | 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/2011-11/ki-aup112811.php
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COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Ben Noland served in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years, then spent 18 months looking for a job.
"I've probably put my resume in to 300 places in the past year," the 33-year-old Kenton resident said.
"The farthest I've ever got was a phone interview."
Noland finally landed a job installing solar panels at Tipping Point Renewable Energy, a Columbus-based solar power company that is hiring only military veterans for its installation crews at a time when unemployment among former service members is outpacing that of civilians.
Tipping Point's efforts echo those of companies and groups nationwide to hire veterans in the green energy industry. Denver-based nonprofit Veterans Green Jobs is one of the largest, having trained or placed 370 veterans in the last four years.
And a pilot program by five of the nation's largest energy providers, called Troops to Energy Jobs, provides training and credentials to military veterans, as well as college credit for their military training and experience.
About 240,000 veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have returned to the U.S. and are unable to find work. They make up a growing chunk of the 850,000 veterans overall who are out of work. The White House expects an additional 1 million service members to return to civilian life by 2016.
The veteran unemployment rate in October was 12.1 percent, compared with 9 percent for the U.S. overall. For veterans ages 18-24, that rate was 30.4 percent.
The renewable energy industry is growing fast ? solar and wind energy have grown more than tenfold in the last decade ? and military veterans often make good fits for green jobs.
Such green sector jobs as manufacturing or maintenance of wind turbines or solar arrays require skills similar to those that service members learn in the military, said Bill Scott of Bradley-Morris Inc., the largest military-focused recruiting firm in the U.S. Veterans generally get technical training that is lacking in the civilian workforce, Scott said.
The number of projects providing solar energy more than doubled in the U.S. from 2008 to 2010. In that time, the amount of solar energy generated increased from enough to power 1.4 million homes in 2008 to 3.2 million homes in 2010. Wind energy has increased 1.5 times in capacity over the same time, able to power 39 million homes in 2010, up from 25 million in 2008.
Renewable energy has been growing fast in Ohio. The number of new projects approved by the state in the first 10 months of 2011 is more than triple that of all of 2010. And of the 2,797 new constructions approved this year, all but 24 were solar power arrays.
However, there is some worry about whether that pace of renewable energy growth will sustain itself. Federal stimulus tax credits run out for wind energy projects by 2012 for and solar by 2016, and a federal grant program that repays developers a portion of project cost expires this year.
The idea for Tipping Point's Solar by Soldiers program, started this summer, was inspired in part by chief technical officer Darin Hadinger's father, a Vietnam War veteran.
He said a clerical error on his father's honorable discharge made it hard for him to find work.
Tipping Point has hired as many as six veterans for work site staffs of nine and plans to hire at least 10 more veterans altogether.
Noland, one of Tipping Point's hires, left the Marines in 2009, in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
He started looking for supply and logistics management jobs, something he had experience with from running supply convoys to troops on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. When nothing turned up, he looked futilely for warehouse jobs in Columbus. Finally, he briefly took a minimum-wage job at McDonald's 30 minutes away from his house.
"I'm a military veteran. Two tours of Iraq, one of Afghanistan ? I was thinking, `Man, I've got to be able to hang my hat on that,' you'd think." Noland said. "I was completely discouraged."
Part of the reason that unemployment among veterans is so high is that there is a lack of understanding among both veterans and potential employers, said Lt. Guy Zierk of the Marine Corps' Wounded Warrior Regiment in Ohio. Part of Zierk's job is connecting returning Marines with services and programs designed to help them return to civilian life.
"Civilians can have a hard time understanding the military. They don't understand what a squad leader is ? entry-level management," Zierk said. He said returning veterans also have a hard time translating the skills they learned in their service to civilian life.
There's also a language barrier for veterans returning home, said Neal Yorke, a retired veteran of the U.S. Air Force who helps returning military members transition into civilian life.
"I was Air Force, a lot of the time I can't understand the Navy, and to me the Marines are the most difficult ? let alone coming back to the civilian world and trying to explain to an employer that I have the skills that they need."
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NEW YORK ? Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?
As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.
Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.
"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"
Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.
A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.
In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.
"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.
The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."
Black Friday ? named that because it puts retailers "in the black" ? has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.
The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.
"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity ? when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."
There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.
The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.
"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"
To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.
In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.
"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.
The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.
In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.
Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.
"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.
Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.
Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.
To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.
"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.
___
Associated Press Writers Julie Walker in New York, Christina Rexrode in Raleigh, N.C., John C. Rogers in Los Angeles and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report
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