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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Scientists discover protein that allows safe recycling of iron from old red blood cells

Public release date: 5-Feb-2013
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Contact: Lee Tune
ltune@umd.edu
301-405-4679
University of Maryland

Offers promise of new treatments for iron deficiency and parasitic worm infections

COLLEGE PARK, Md. Humans survive by constantly recycling iron, a metal that is an essential component of red blood cells, but which is toxic outside of those cells. More than 90 percent of the iron in an adult human's 25 trillion life-sustaining red blood cells is recycled from worn-out cells.

Almost 50 years ago scientists first began hypothesizing that our bodies must have a special protein 'container' to safely transport heme -- the form of iron found in living things during the breakdown and recycling of old red blood cells and other types of heme metabolism. Now a team of scientists from the University of Maryland, Harvard Medical School, the National Institutes of Health and the University of Utah School of Medicine have identified this long-sought heme-iron transporter and shown that it is the same HRG1 protein that a common microscopic worm, C. elegans, uses to transport heme. In humans, the iron in heme is the component that allows hemoglobin in red blood cells to carry the oxygen needed for life.

The team's findings are based on studies in human, mouse, zebrafish and yeast systems and are published in the Feb. 5, issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

"Our current work reveals that the long-sought heme transporter that permits humans to recycle over 5 million red blood cells per second in our spleen and liver, is the same HRG1 transporter protein that my students and I discovered in worms in 2008, and which we showed at that time is used by C. elegans to safely carry heme-iron that it obtains from dirt into its intestine," says team leader and corresponding author Iqbal Hamza., a University of Maryland associate professor in the Department of Animal & Avian Sciences.

"Moreover, we show in this current study that mutations in the gene for HRG1 can be a causative agent for genetic disorders of iron metabolism in humans," he says.

First author Carine White, a UMD post-doctoral researcher and three other students from his lab joined Hamza in the research, along with researchers from Harvard, NIH and Utah.

This study's findings are the third major piece that Hamza and his Maryland lab have added to the puzzle of understanding how humans and other organisms safely move heme around in the body. In addition to their two studies showing the role of the HRG1, that Hamza showed in a 2011 Cell paper that in C. elegans there is a different, but related, protein called HRG3 that transports heme from the mother worm's intestine to her developing embryos.

According to Hamza, the HRG3-mediated pathway that worms use for transporting heme to developing oocytes also appears to be an excellent target for stopping the reproduction of hookworms and other parasites that feed on host red blood cell hemoglobin. Together these three findings could lead to new methods for treating two age-old scourges - parasitic worm infections, which affect more than a quarter of the world's population, and problems of iron metabolism and iron deficiency. The latter is the world's number one nutritional disorder. With the help of UMD's Office of Technology Commercialization and the university's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, Hamza has started a company, Rakta Therapeutics, Inc. that focuses on developing anti-parasitic drugs that specifically target the parasite's variation of HRG1 and HRG3 transporters.

Heme, Humans and Bloodless worms

In living organisms -- ranging from humans to baker's yeast -- iron enclosed in a heme cage is a critical molecule for health because it binds to oxygen and other gases needed for survival. However, because heme is toxic, scientists long ago started searching for the existence of proteins that could safely transport heme between cells and throughout the body.

However, identifying such proteins has been a very difficult task because organisms generate heme in a complicated eight-step process that is hard to control for in studies of heme transport pathways.

Hamza first started trying to uncover the secrets of heme transport in 2003. After briefly and unsuccessfully studying the question of heme carrying proteins in traditional bacteria and mice models, Hamza switched to a non-intuitive study subject, one that doesn't make heme, but needs it to survive, that doesn't even have blood, but shares a number of genes with humans - the C. elegans roundworm. C. elegans gets heme by eating bacteria in the soil where it lives. "C. elegans consumes heme and transports it into the intestine.

According to Hamza, C. elegans has had several other benefits for studying heme transport. Hamza's team had control of the amount of heme the worms were eating. With only one valve controlling the heme transport, the scientists knew exactly where heme was entering the worm's intestine, where, as in humans, it is absorbed.

Moreover, C. elegans is transparent, so that under the microscope researchers could see the movement of the heme ingested by a live animal.

###

"HRG1 Is Essential for Heme Transport from the Phagolysosome of Macrophages during Erythrophagocytosis," Cell Metabolism, Feb. 5, 2013.

Scientist Contact: Iqbal Hamza, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park; Phone: 301-405-0649; Email: hamza@umd.edu

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Scientists discover protein that allows safe recycling of iron from old red blood cells

Public release date: 5-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Lee Tune
ltune@umd.edu
301-405-4679
University of Maryland

Offers promise of new treatments for iron deficiency and parasitic worm infections

The team's findings are based on studies in human, mouse, zebrafish and yeast systems and are published in the Feb. 5, issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

"Moreover, we show in this current study that mutations in the gene for HRG1 can be a causative agent for genetic disorders of iron metabolism in humans," he says.

First author Carine White, a UMD post-doctoral researcher and three other students from his lab joined Hamza in the research, along with researchers from Harvard, NIH and Utah.

Heme, Humans and Bloodless worms

Moreover, C. elegans is transparent, so that under the microscope researchers could see the movement of the heme ingested by a live animal.

###

"HRG1 Is Essential for Heme Transport from the Phagolysosome of Macrophages during Erythrophagocytosis," Cell Metabolism, Feb. 5, 2013.

Scientist Contact: Iqbal Hamza, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park; Phone: 301-405-0649; Email: hamza@umd.edu

[ | 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/2013-02/uom-sdp020513.php

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Zambia : Mwaliteta's cook died in a road accident? police

Time Posted: February 5, 2013 9:26 am

PRELIMINARY results of a postmortem conducted on Patriotic Front (PF) Livingstone by-election campaign manager Obvious Mwaliteta?s cook Johan Lyakoka who died on Saturday have indicated that the death was as a result of a road traffic accident.

The body of Lyakoka, aged 19, was found in the early hours of Saturday on Livingstone-Lusaka Road opposite Crossroad Lodge.

Southern Province police chief Charity Katanga said preliminary results of yesterday?s postmortem revealed that Mr Lyakoka died after a hit and ran road accident in Livingstone.

Ms Katanga said the initial results have since been communicated to the family of the deceased people.

After the postmortem, the body of Mr Lyakoka was taken to Sioma District in Western Province for burial.

Source: http://www.lusakatimes.com/2013/02/05/mwalitetas-cook-died-in-a-road-accident-police/

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Oscar night to have something for everyone, producers say

BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters) - With a high five from 9-year-old actress Quvenzhane Wallis, and a pledge that Oscar night will have something for everyone, the Academy Awards kicked into high gear on Monday at a luncheon for more than 160 nominees.

Jennifer Lawrence, Steven Spielberg, Jessica Chastain, Naomi Watts, Joaquin Phoenix, Kathryn Bigleow, Anne Hathaway and Denzel Washington were among the Oscar-nominated actors, directors and producers who mingled over cocktails and lunch at a Beverly Hills hotel before gathering for the traditional group photo of the Academy Award class of 2012.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" newcomer Wallis, the youngest actress ever to be nominated in the lead actress category, slapped hands with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Hawk Koch as her name was called to join her peers for the annual photo ahead of the February 24 ceremony.

"Argo" producer-director Ben Affleck, riding high after his Iran hostage thriller took its third major award at the weekend, shrugged off being overlooked in the Best Director Oscar shortlist.

"I feel honored to be here. It's a big party," Affleck told reporters, adding, "I've had many, many nights watching (the Oscars) from home."

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron - who will be producing the three-hour Academy Award telecast for the first time - said performances by Barbra Streisand, Adele and Norah Jones, along with special tributes to Hollywood musicals and 50 years of James Bond movies, should give the ceremony wide appeal.

The popularity of many of the nine Best Picture nominees should also help bring in big audiences at home and abroad, they said.

"It has been a great year for movies. The movies are very competitive and they have done great box office. So we feel there is more interest this year than perhaps previous years, " Zadan said.

"Life of Pi," "Lincoln," "Argo," and "Django Unchained" have made more than $150 million each so far at the North American box office alone, while "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Zero Dark Thirty" have grossed more than $70 million each.

Last year's Best Film winner, black and white silent movie "The Artist," took just $44.7 million at the box office in the United States and Canada, even after the boost from its five Oscars.

Zadan and Meron reminded the nominees that the Oscar telecast was seen by an estimated one billion people in more than 200 countries, and urged them to keep their acceptance speeches short and sweet.

"Please speak from the heart and not from a piece of paper," Zadan told the nominees. "Be remembered for eloquence and passion."

The Oscars is being hosted for the first time by provocative "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane. But Meron and Zadan said they had no worries about MacFarlane and his reputation for risqu? comedy.

"Seth has been at every production meeting. We have been collaborating on everything, so we are not going to be surprised by anything," Zadan told reporters.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oscar-night-something-everyone-producers-011537049.html

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Amyloid imaging shows promise for detecting cardiac amyloidosis

Feb. 4, 2013 ? While amyloid imaging may now be most associated with detecting plaques in the brain, it has the potential to change the way cardiac amyloidosis is diagnosed. According to first-of-its-kind research published in the February issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) with ¹¹C-PIB can positively visualize amyloid deposits in the heart. Currently there is no noninvasive test available for specific diagnosis.

Cardiac amyloidosis is a deadly disorder caused by abnormal amyloid deposits in the heart tissue. Early diagnosis before structural change to the heart tissue has occurred is important for disease prognosis and for treatment monitoring. Currently echocardiography is the mainstay of imaging in cardiac amyloidosis; a cardiac biopsy is used to confirm diagnosis.

"Imaging with ¹¹C-PIB provides a non-invasive and specific means of showing distribution of amyloid in an organ. This gives a unique opportunity to follow and monitor therapy, as amyloid deposits in the heart should decrease with successful therapy," said Gunnar Antoni, PhD, lead author of the study "In Vivo Visualization of Amyloid Deposits in the Heart with ¹¹C-PIB and PET."

The study included 10 patients diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and five healthy individuals. PET/computed tomography (CT) with ¹¹C-PIB was used to visualize amyloid deposits in the heart and with ¹¹C-acetate to measure myocardial blood flow.

Uptake of ¹¹C-PIB was measured 15-25 minutes after injection. Obvious uptake of ¹¹C-PIB was noted in the left ventricle wall of all patients with cardiac amyloidosis, while no uptake was seen in the healthy volunteers. In half of the patients, ¹¹C-PIB was also detected in the right ventricle wall, and nine of the patients had signs of reversible uptake, with a maximum concentration at 10-15 minutes after injection. Myocardial blood flow was significantly lower in patients with cardiac amyloidosis; however, no significant correlation between myocardial blood flow and ¹¹C-PIB uptake was found.

"This study emphasizes the strength of molecular imaging for detecting an underlying and significant molecular aberration in a disease that presents with unspecific symptoms and signs," noted Antoni. "The potential for molecular imaging to provide valuable information for other diseases is of great value to the field of medicine."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

G. Antoni, M. Lubberink, S. Estrada, J. Axelsson, K. Carlson, L. Lindsjo, T. Kero, B. Langstrom, S.-O. Granstam, S. Rosengren, O. Vedin, C. Wassberg, G. Wikstrom, P. Westermark, J. Sorensen. In Vivo Visualization of Amyloid Deposits in the Heart with 11C-PIB and PET. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2012; 54 (2): 213 DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.111.102053

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/jOIv5AOvRg8/130204114252.htm

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Monday, February 4, 2013

Are Mini-Reactors The Future Of Nuclear Power?

The reactor room at Babcock & Wilcox's prototype reactor outside of Lynchburg, Va. The reactor vessel is behind the orange curtain.

Ben Bradford/WFAE

The reactor room at Babcock & Wilcox's prototype reactor outside of Lynchburg, Va. The reactor vessel is behind the orange curtain.

Ben Bradford/WFAE

The U.S. government is investing millions of dollars in what it considers a promising new industry for American manufacturing: nuclear reactors. The plan is to build hundreds of mini reactors, dot them around the U.S., and export them overseas.

Construction of these reactors are already in the works, and at one office park in Lynchburg, Va., where one of these reactors is being assembled, the traditional signs of nuclear reactors are nowhere to be found. There are no cooling towers that look like smoke stacks, no clouds of steam over the buildings. Just a research building and a tower about nine stories tall.

A cutaway rendering of Babcock & Wilcox's mPower reactor. The vertical tubes are the nuclear reactor chambers.

Courtesy of Babcock & Wilcox

A cutaway rendering of Babcock & Wilcox's mPower reactor. The vertical tubes are the nuclear reactor chambers.

Courtesy of Babcock & Wilcox

Inside, the plant's manager, Doug Lee, leads the way down through secure doors. It feels like the inside of a refrigerator, but noisier. Spinning fans and water pumps drown out the sounds of hissing steam. At the reactor core, Lee stops.

"I can't let you in here," Lee says. "But this is the base of the tower and this is the lower portion of the large tower you saw when you came in. This is our simulated reactor vessel."

It's simulated because the design still needs Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval.

"This is analogous to the core in a nuclear plant where the fission reaction takes place," Lee says.

The entire reactor ? the core, the cooling system, everything ? is self-contained in this rocket-shaped steel cylinder. The industry says that makes it safer. And the reactors will be small enough to build in a factory and ship on trucks, like prefabricated houses. They'll generate about one-tenth of the power of a typical nuclear power plant.

Assistant Energy Secretary Pete Lyons sees promise that goes beyond a new energy gadget. He sees jobs.

"One of the features of these small reactors is that they can be entirely manufactured here in the United States," Lyons said. "They can literally be made in the USA. With the large plants, that's simply physically impossible."

Lyons pictures churning reactors out in factories, shipping them to utilities to replace aging coal plants, or selling them to developing countries ? which can't afford a full-scale $15 billion nuclear plant.

"We are trying to jumpstart a new U.S. industry," he says. "That's my goal. A U.S. industry, U.S. jobs, clean energy."

The outside of Babcock & Wilcox's prototype nuclear reactor. Babcock & Wilcox says its nuclear reactor facilities won't have the trademark cooling towers of traditional nuclear reactors.

Ben Bradford/WFAE

The outside of Babcock & Wilcox's prototype nuclear reactor. Babcock & Wilcox says its nuclear reactor facilities won't have the trademark cooling towers of traditional nuclear reactors.

Ben Bradford/WFAE

In November, the Energy Department invested in nuclear company Babcock & Wilcox mPower, the company that built the prototype in Virginia. In total, the government plans to invest more than $400 million. Industry officials like mPower president Chris Mowry say the launch funding is to get off the ground, but ultimately the reactors need to be mass produced.

"MPower is not going to be measured in terms of success in terms of building tens of these things, but in terms of hundreds of these things," Mowry says. "We're not trying to build a Rolls Royce; we're trying to build a Ford."

That model worries Ed Lyman, a nuclear physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"My feeling is that if you're going to have a nuclear power plant, it'd better be a Rolls Royce," he says. Lyman says small reactors carry a host of safety, security, environmental, and economic concerns.

"Nuclear power is a technology which is much more suited for large plants, centralized and isolated from populated areas in as small a number of places as possible," Lyman says.

He says every nuclear power plant is a target for terrorism or is at-risk during a disaster. Lyman says the closer the reactors are to populated areas, the more of a threat they potentially become. That's one reason Lyman's not convinced enough demand exists for mass production. He also worries about selling them overseas.

"It's a developing country that doesn't have a substantial electrical grid that is precisely the kind of country I would not want to see have any kind of nuclear power plant," he says.

But the industry counters these reactors are so small and self-contained they are almost "plug and play." Smaller, cheaper, with less staff ? it's your entry-level nuclear reactor, perhaps coming online in about a decade.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/170482802/are-mini-reactors-the-future-of-nuclear-power?ft=1&f=1007

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Chris Kyle Killed At A Texas Gun Range - Business Insider

Chris Kyle was the most wanted man in Iraq a few short years ago and carried a bounty on his head--only to die today at a Dallas shooting range.

WFAA Dallas reports Kyle was at the range with a neighbor. The news is still unfolding, but apparently Kyle was shot point blank and his neighbor suffered wounds that also proved fatal.

Jessica Stanton at The Daily Caller dug this up:

The Empire Tribune in Stephenville, Texas?reports?that the suspect, Eddie Ray Routh, was?captured in the town of Lancaster around 9:00 p.m. Law enforcement officials believe Routh is a ?highly trained individual with military experience.?

Jack Murphy at the Special Operations Forces Situation Report (SOFREP) published a?post?regarding the tragic murders on Saturday night, reading in part: ?Chris had been volunteering his time to help Marine Corps veterans suffering from PTSD and mentoring them. ?Part of this process involved taking these veterans to the range where one of them snapped and killed Chris and his neighbor for reasons that remain unknown at this time. ?The perpetrator then stole Chris? vehicle in an attempt to escape but we have received word that the police have arrested him.?

During his 10-year stint as a Navy SEAL sniper, Chris Kyle was in every major battle of the Iraq war and was so effective at killing Iraqis that they called him "The Devil Of Ramadi" while placing an $80,000 bounty on his head.

Kyle spoke last year to Gary Buiso at the NY Post?about his book?"American Sniper," and offered a few details about what life was like as his sniper skills grew.

At 225 confirmed kills, his fellow SEAL Team 3 members called him "The Legend" and picked the comic book character?The Punisher?as their platoon's mascot.

His first kill was a woman about to throw a hand-grenade at a group of Marines. His most distant kill was from 2,100 yards away outside Sadr City in 2008.

He saw a man leveling a rocket launcher at an Army convoy and fired a single round from his?.338 Lapua Magnum?rifle with its?Nightforce power scope.

From that distance, Kyle had to factor in terrain, wind, elevation, vibration from the shot, and even?the Coriolis effect?where the rotation of the earth affects where the bullet arrives.

On that day each of these factors conspired together and Kyle hit the man before he attacked the convoy. ?God blew that bullet and hit him,? he told The Post.

Most recently, Kyle was the president of?Craft International, a veteran operated company offering special operations training. Like many servicemembers, he left the military to preserve his marriage.

Ed. Note: RIP Chris

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-kyle-devil-of-ramadi-killed-at-a-texas-gun-range-2013-2

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Reid: Any budget deal must include revenue

Asserting that "the American people" are on his side, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told me during an exclusive interview for "This Week" that any that deal reached between Republicans and Democrats to avoid the looming sequester must - "without any question" - include revenue.

"The American people are on our side. The American people don't believe in these austere things. We believe that the rich should contribute. We believe we should fill those tax loopholes - get rid of them, I should say. And that's where we need to go," Reid said. "And I've got a pretty good fan base for that: the American people. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents."

Reid confirmed his position on revenue would apply to any deal put into place to avert a government shutdown or lift the debt ceiling as well. This puts him directly at odds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, who said earlier this month on "This Week" that the "tax issue is finished,"But Reid - invoking the GOP's 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney - suggested a deal could include such things as the elimination of oil and gas subsidies, or what he called "low hanging fruit." The Nevada senator also pushed back when I asked if he was sidelined during the so called "fiscal cliff" negotiations, telling me he played the "bad cop" during that period.

I also asked Sen. Reid about comprehensive immigration reform, which has moved to the front of the president's legislative agenda for his second term. Reid expressed confidence that legislation would pass the Senate, adding that it would be a "bad day" for Republicans and America if it did not. When I asked if certain parts of the legislation - such as the definition of border security or how gays are treated under the bill - could mean Republicans might not want to sign on, Reid called them "excuses."

"It's certainly gonna pass the Senate. And it would be a bad day for our country and a bad day for the Republican Party if they continue to [stand] in the way of this," he said. "If they're looking for an excuse not to support this legislation, this is another one. But the American people are past excuses. They want this legislation passed."

On legislation aimed at curbing gun violence following the murder of 20 children in Newtown, Conn. In December. Reid, who told me he has "lots of guns" that he keeps for "sentimental reasons," said he wants to "get something done on guns" and expressed support for universal background checks. He said he'd consider other proposals such as limiting gun magazine capacity and said he'd "take a look" at the ban on assault weapons, which Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., strongly supports. Reid added that the influential NRA would not single-handedly prevent action to prevent gun violence.

"I've been supported by the NRA on occasion. I know Wayne LaPierre, he's always been extremely pleasant to me. We have a good relationship. So, I am not here to demean the organization," he said. "Just because they resist it doesn't mean we can't do things. I mean- we have a lotta special interest groups that come and complain about things?we'll listen to them and make the right decision.

Lastly, Reid stood by Sen. Bob Menendez when I asked him about recent allegations against the New Jersey senator involving a political donor. Reid said he was comfortable with Menendez serving as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee while he was being investigated.

"He was a leader in the House. He's been a leader in the Senate. He's chairman of that committee. He'll do a wonderful job. And he's also an integral part of what we do with immigration reform. So, I have the utmost confidence in him," he said. "I have confidence he did nothing wrong. But that's what investigations are all about."

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