Herman Miller may be best known today for its high-end, technical desk chairs, like the Aeron and the Embody, but they also make iconic modern furniture designed by legends like Eames and Noguchi?classic stuff, that will look as good in 50 years as it did 50 years ago. All of it is on sale right now.
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Public release date: 10-Jun-2013
Share ] Contact: Chris Chipello
christopher.chipello@mcgill.ca
514-398-4201
McGill University
Inbreeding is generally deleterious, even in flowering plants. Since inbreeding raises the risk that bad copies of a gene will be expressed, inbred progeny suffer from reduced viability.
Many flowering plants are able to recognize and reject their own pollen, thereby preventing inbreeding despite the plants' hermaphroditic nature. This mechanism is a complex trait that involves the interaction of a gene that tags the pollen with an identifier molecule, and a gene that produces a molecule capable of detecting pollen produced by the same plant.
Evolutionary biologists have often argued that once complex traits are lost, they are seldom regained. But a new study, led by biologists at McGill University and published in the journal PLOS Biology, suggests that this may not be the case for self-pollen recognition.
In the evolutionary lineage leading to the genus Leavenworthia (a plant group related to canola and cole crops such as broccoli and cabbage), the ancestral genes that code for self-pollen recognition were lost. But the self-pollen recognition function in Leavenworthia appears to have been taken up by two other genes that originally may have had a different role -- for example, in pathogen recognition.
"Self-incompatibility," the pollen-recognition system that enables plants to avoid the inbreeding caused by self-pollination, involves a pair of tightly linked genes known as the S locus. In this study, the researchers analyzed the gene sequence, genome organization, and gene evolutionary history of S loci in members of the Brassicaceae family, which includes plants of the genus Leavenworthia.
"We conclude that both genes that comprise the ancestral S locus in the Brassicaceae were lost in Leavenworthia," says McGill researcher Sier-Ching Chantha, lead author of the study. Our analyses show, however, that plants of this genus have two other linked genes that exhibit patterns characteristic of an S locus. These genes occupy the same genomic position in Leavenworthia as do two non-S-locus genes in a related species. We suggest that these genes have evolved to assume the function of the pollen recognition system of self-incompatibility in Leavenworthia."
How plants avoid inbreeding, and the related topic of S locus evolution have been important research subjects for plant biologists. There can be hundreds of variants of a single S-locus in individual plant populationsa very unusual situation. In the animal world, a similar pheomenon is the many variations in immune-system genes. Immune system genes in animals, like the S locus in plants, are also involved in recognition, though in the case of immune genes it is foreign antigens rather than pollen types that are recognized. It seems that the recognition function can act in both systems to allow the evolution of large amounts of genetic diversity.
"Franois Jacob, the famous French biologist, once compared the action of natural selection to that of a tinkerer who uses the materials around him to produce a working object," notes McGill biology professor Daniel Schoen, the corresponding author of the study. "The evolution of the genes involved in self-pollen recognition in Leavenworthia provides a compelling example of this idea, and lends credence to the notion that the loss of complex traits may not always be irreversible."
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The study's other co-authors are Adam C. Herman and Adrian E. Platts of McGill's Department of Biology and Xavier Vekemans of Universit Lille 1 in France.
The research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, and France's Agence Nationale de la Recherche.
To access the study: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001560
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 10-Jun-2013 Share ] Contact: Chris Chipello
christopher.chipello@mcgill.ca
514-398-4201
McGill University
Inbreeding is generally deleterious, even in flowering plants. Since inbreeding raises the risk that bad copies of a gene will be expressed, inbred progeny suffer from reduced viability.
Many flowering plants are able to recognize and reject their own pollen, thereby preventing inbreeding despite the plants' hermaphroditic nature. This mechanism is a complex trait that involves the interaction of a gene that tags the pollen with an identifier molecule, and a gene that produces a molecule capable of detecting pollen produced by the same plant.
Evolutionary biologists have often argued that once complex traits are lost, they are seldom regained. But a new study, led by biologists at McGill University and published in the journal PLOS Biology, suggests that this may not be the case for self-pollen recognition.
In the evolutionary lineage leading to the genus Leavenworthia (a plant group related to canola and cole crops such as broccoli and cabbage), the ancestral genes that code for self-pollen recognition were lost. But the self-pollen recognition function in Leavenworthia appears to have been taken up by two other genes that originally may have had a different role -- for example, in pathogen recognition.
"Self-incompatibility," the pollen-recognition system that enables plants to avoid the inbreeding caused by self-pollination, involves a pair of tightly linked genes known as the S locus. In this study, the researchers analyzed the gene sequence, genome organization, and gene evolutionary history of S loci in members of the Brassicaceae family, which includes plants of the genus Leavenworthia.
"We conclude that both genes that comprise the ancestral S locus in the Brassicaceae were lost in Leavenworthia," says McGill researcher Sier-Ching Chantha, lead author of the study. Our analyses show, however, that plants of this genus have two other linked genes that exhibit patterns characteristic of an S locus. These genes occupy the same genomic position in Leavenworthia as do two non-S-locus genes in a related species. We suggest that these genes have evolved to assume the function of the pollen recognition system of self-incompatibility in Leavenworthia."
How plants avoid inbreeding, and the related topic of S locus evolution have been important research subjects for plant biologists. There can be hundreds of variants of a single S-locus in individual plant populationsa very unusual situation. In the animal world, a similar pheomenon is the many variations in immune-system genes. Immune system genes in animals, like the S locus in plants, are also involved in recognition, though in the case of immune genes it is foreign antigens rather than pollen types that are recognized. It seems that the recognition function can act in both systems to allow the evolution of large amounts of genetic diversity.
"Franois Jacob, the famous French biologist, once compared the action of natural selection to that of a tinkerer who uses the materials around him to produce a working object," notes McGill biology professor Daniel Schoen, the corresponding author of the study. "The evolution of the genes involved in self-pollen recognition in Leavenworthia provides a compelling example of this idea, and lends credence to the notion that the loss of complex traits may not always be irreversible."
###
The study's other co-authors are Adam C. Herman and Adrian E. Platts of McGill's Department of Biology and Xavier Vekemans of Universit Lille 1 in France.
The research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, and France's Agence Nationale de la Recherche.
To access the study: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001560
[ | 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/2013-06/mu-hdi061013.php
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Rockford Fire responded to a structure fire at 121 Washington Street in the early morning hours Sunday.? Upon arrival they found a detached garage behind the home fully engulfed.? Firefighters took control of the fire within ten minutes of being there.
In total, the fire resulted in $25,000 in damage including a car that was in the garage.? There were no injuries to residents or firefighters.?
An investigation was completed but the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
Source: http://www.wrex.com/story/22543090/2013/06/09/overnight-fire-damages-home-and-family-car
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June 10, 2013 ? Diabetes patients often receive their diagnosis after a series of glucose-related blood tests in hospital settings, and then have to monitor their condition daily through expensive, invasive methods. But what if diabetes could be diagnosed and monitored through cheaper, noninvasive methods?A transmission electron microscopy image of the hybrid material revealing the formation of "titanium dioxide on a stick."
Chemists at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated a sensor technology that could significantly simplify the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes through breath analysis alone. Their findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).
Even before blood tests are administered, those with diabetes often recognize the condition's symptoms through their breath acetone -- a characteristic "fruity" odor that increases significantly with high glucose levels. The Pitt team was interested in this biomarker as a possible diagnostic tool.
"Once patients are diagnosed with diabetes, they have to monitor their condition for the rest of their lives," said Alexander Star, principal investigator of the project and Pitt associate professor of chemistry. "Current monitoring devices are mostly based on blood glucose analysis, so the development of alternative devices that are noninvasive, inexpensive, and provide easy-to-use breath analysis could completely change the paradigm of self-monitoring diabetes."
Together with his colleagues -- Dan Sorescu, a research physicist at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and Mengning Ding, a Pitt graduate student studying chemistry -- Star used what's called a "sol-gel approach," a method for using small molecules (often on a nanoscale level) to produce solid materials. The team combined titanium dioxide -- an inorganic compound widely used in body-care products such as makeup -- with carbon nanotubes, which acted as "skewers" to hold the particles together. These nanotubes were used because they are stronger than steel and smaller than any element of silicon-based electronics.
This method, which the researchers playfully call "titanium dioxide on a stick," effectively combined the electrical properties of the tubes with the light-illuminating powers of the titanium dioxide. They then created the sensor device by using these materials as an electrical semiconductor, measuring its electrical resistance (the sensor's signal).
The researchers found the sensor could be activated with light to produce an electrical charge. This prompted them to "cook" the "skewers" in the sensor under ultraviolet light to measure acetone vapors -- which they found were lower than previously reported sensitivities.
"Our measurements have excellent detection capabilities," said Star. "If such a sensor could be developed and commercialized, it could transform the way patients with diabetes monitor their glucose levels."
The team is currently working on a prototype of the sensor, with plans to test it on human breath samples soon.
The paper, "Photoinduced Charge Transfer and Acetone Sensitivity of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Titanium Dioxide Hybrids," was first published in JACS online June 5. The work was performed in support of ongoing research at the National Energy Technology Laboratory.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/GWYdp8Xgx24/130610133125.htm
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Bumper stickers, coffee mugs, T-shirts, and even tattoos designed for breast cancer awareness month often say things like "Save the ta-tas," or "Save 2nd Base," both of which are sexually charged, and highly inappropriate, references to women's breasts. Other childish and unbecoming campaigns include "Feel Your Boobies" and the American Cancer Society (ACS)'s latest "It's Okay to Look at Our Chests" initiative, both of which degrade women for the apparent purpose of eliciting a shock-driven awareness factor.
"'Help The Hooters,' 'Save The Jugs,' 'Don't Let Cancer Steal Second Base,' 'Cop a Feel,' 'Save The Ta-tas,' 'Save The Boobies,' 'Save The Headlights;' these are just some of the slogans which have been used to promote breast cancer awareness and fundraising around the world," wrote Melinda Tankard Reist in the Australian paper Crikey back in 2010. Reist added that such campaigns focus primarily on women's breasts as an object of sexual desirability rather than as a subject of women's health and well-being.
This is the same sentiment held by "Maggie" over at NewsFixNow.com, who more recently pointed out that some online pornography websites are now jumping on the breast cancer awareness bandwagon with their own outlandish "Save the Boobs" and other such campaigns. This undignified approach to breast cancer awareness actually shames women -- but since it generates millions of dollars in sleazy merchandise and service-based profits, it is unlikely to stop anytime soon."I don't see the porn site to be much different from the 'Feel your boobies' T-shirts," said Gayle Sulik, author of the book "Pink Ribbon Blues," to USA Today. Sulik is disgusted with the fact that many magazines and advertising campaigns for breast cancer have actually now resorted to using topless young women to supposedly promote awareness about the disease. "It sexual objectifies women, trivializes breast cancer ... and uses the objectified woman as window dressing for the profit-making machine."
The group Breast Cancer Action (BCA), which unlike Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the American Cancer Society, and various other cancer groups is actually trying to promote legitimate breast cancer prevention methods, and is likewise sick of the endless profiteering at the expense of women's dignity. BCA is trying to raise awareness about the known causes of breast cancer, which includes environmental toxins, as well as inform women about the potential dangers of screenings -- and BCA does not have to sexualize women's breasts to seek these practical outcomes.
"The implicit message in these campaigns is that it is breasts that are sexy; sexy is what is important; and we should care about breast cancer because it takes those lovely, sexy breasts out of the world," says Karuna Jagger, Executive Director of BCA, about the cancer industry's filthy marketing tactics. "Every October, the stunts just get more bizarre and further removed from what's needed for this epidemic."
Sources for this article include:
http://www.usatoday.com
Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/040691_breast_cancer_sexualization_abuse_of_women.html
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US adds 175,000 jobs in May, in line with expectations but not enough to reduce the unemployment rate. Elsewhere in the economy, manufacturing and construction disappoint, but jobless claims fall.
Anu Vatal of Chicago, speaks with Patrice Tosi of BluePay, seated, during a career fair in Rolling Meadows, Ill. The US economy added 175,000 jobs in May, a gain that shows employers are hiring at a still modest but steady pace despite government spending cuts and higher taxes, according to the Labor Department.
M. Spencer Green/AP/File
EnlargeUS adds jobs, but unemployment rate rises: The US economy added 175,000 jobs in May, but the unemployment rate ticked up slightly, to 7.6 percent. The number of jobs added was about what analysts expected, but employment needs to grow faster if the US expects to get its elevated unemployment rate back to more normal levels.
Skip to next paragraph Schuyler VelascoStaff writer/editor
Schuyler Velasco is a writer and editor for the Monitor's business desk.? She writes about consumer issues, sports, and the occasional sandwich.
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The jobs report, released Friday by the Department of Labor, answered several nagging questions about the economy. Will the Federal Reserve reduce the pace of its purchases of debt sooner than expected, pushing up interest rates? If job-creation doesn't pick up, the Fed's unlikely to reduce its program until next year, analysts say. Are federal budget cuts under the sequester hurting the labor market? They probably will, analysts say, but the national job numbers don't show much of an effect yet. Can the job market grow while the economy is in a soft patch? Yes, at a tepid pace.
A large segment of the jobs added in May were in the temporary sector, which tends to be a?bellwether?for the rest of the labor market. For more on the May jobs report, read Monitor reporter Ron Scherer's take.?
Manufacturing disappoints: The ISM-Manufacturing Index for May sank slightly, to its lowest level in four years.?Many of the biggest activity declines were in the United States. Many economists expect that manufacturing growth will slow, but not disappear entirely. ?Becalmed still beats sinking,? Michael Montgomery, US economist with?IHS Global Insight wrote in an e-mailed analysis. "It looks like a long, cool summer in the manufacturing sector."
Despite the US decline, manufacturing?s global outlook remained positive, but still weak.?
Construction spending hits a snag: Construction spending increased 0.4 percent in April, while core construction spending (for single-family, multifamily, state and local government, and private nonresidential purposes) increased 0.9 percent. The increase was good news, but it came with a bit of bad: Construction spending estimates for February and March were revised downward, portending flat growth for the year. ?Going forward, public?construction?spending?is likely to drop through the end of this year because of budgetary problems state and local governments face, but turn in the first half of 2013,? Patrick Newport, US economist for IHS Global Insight, wrote via email. ?The sequester will have small effects on the public construction numbers since federal spending accounts for only 10 percent of public construction.?
Despite the tepid report, the housing sector was cited as a bright spot in the Federal Reserve?s June ?Beige Book,? a collection of economic information from on or before May 24.
Jobless claims fall: The number of people applying for initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 346,000 claims last week, a hopeful sign that the job market is gradually improving. The claims numbers have been up and down in recent weeks, but analysts think the numbers overall point to slow, steady gains.?
The end of low mortgage rates? The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage jumped 16 percentage points to 3.91 percent last week. Following a year of historic lows, rates have been climbing steadily in recent weeks, a trend that seems likely to continue in the face of rising house prices, economic rebound, and the Fed potentially easing off its buying up of Treasury bonds, which kept rates quite low.?
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