'Fountain of youth' telomerase: Scientists successfully map enzyme that has rejuvenating effect on cells

Mar. 27, 2013 ? In collaboration with an international research team, University of Copenhagen researchers have for the first time mapped telomerase, an enzyme which has a kind of rejuvenating effect on normal cell aging. The findings have just been published in Nature Genetics and are a step forward in the fight against cancer.

The mapping of telomerase may boost our knowledge of cancers and their treatment, says Stig E. Bojesen.

Mapping the cellular fountain of youth -- telomerase. This is one of the results of a major research project involving more than 1,000 researchers worldwide, four years of hard work, DKK 55 million from the EU and blood samples from more than 200,000 people. This is the largest collaboration project ever to be conducted within cancer genetics.

Stig E. Bojesen, a researcher at the Faculty of Health and Medicial Sciences, University of Copenhagen, and staff specialist at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, has headed the efforts to map telomerase -- an enzyme capable of creating new ends on cellular chromosomes, the so-called telomeres. In other words, a kind of cellular fountain of youth.

"We have discovered that differences in the telomeric gene are associated both with the risk of various cancers and with the length of the telomeres. The surprising finding was that the variants that caused the diseases were not the same as the ones which changed the length of the telomeres. This suggests that telomerase plays a far more complex role than previously assumed," says Stig E. Bojesen.

The mapping of telomerase is an important discovery, because telomerase is one of the very basic enzymes in cell biology. It relengthens the telomeres so that they get the same length as before embarking on cell division.

"The mapping of telomerase may, among other things, boost our knowledge of cancers and their treatment, and with the new findings the genetic correlation between cancer and telomere length has been thoroughly illustrated for the first time," says Stig E. Bojesen.

The human body consists of 50,000,000,000,000 or fifty trillion cells, and each cell has 46 chromosomes which are the structures in the nucleus containing our hereditary material, the DNA. The ends of all chromosomes are protected by so-called telomeres. The telomeres serve to protect the chromosomes in much the same way as the plastic sheath on the end of a shoelace. But each time a cell divides, the telomeres become a little bit shorter and eventually end up being too short to protect the chromosomes. Popularly speaking, each cell has a multi-ride ticket, and each time the cell divides, the telomeres (the chromosome ends) will use up one ride. Once there are no more rides left, the cell will not divide any more, and will, so to speak, retire. But some special cells in the body can activate telomerase, which again can elongate the telomeres.

Sex cells, or other stem cells which must be able to divide more than normal cells, have this feature. Unfortunately, cancer cells have discovered the trick, and it is known that they also produce telomerase and thus keep themselves artificially young. The telomerase gene therefore plays an important role in cancer biology, and it is precisely by identifying cancer genes that the researchers imagine that you can improve the identification rate and the treatment.

"A gene is like a country. As you map it, you can see what is going on in the various cities. One of the cities in what could be called Telomerase Land determines whether you develop breast cancer or ovarian cancer, while other parts of the gene determine the length of the telomeres. Mapping telomerase is therefore an important step towards being able to predict the risk of developing different cancers. In summary, our findings are very surprising and point in many directions. But as is the case with all good research, our work provides many answers but leaves even more questions," says Stig E. Bojesen.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Stig E Bojesen et al. Multiple independent variants at the TERT locus are associated with telomere length and risks of breast and ovarian cancer. Nature Genetics, 2013; 45 (4): 371 DOI: 10.1038/ng.2566

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/health_medicine/genes/~3/9AHjRkHYpZI/130327133341.htm

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PROMISES, PROMISES: Climate Change

The issue:

Slowing the buildup of greenhouse gases responsible for warming the planet is one of the biggest challenges the United States and President Barack Obama face. The effects of rising global temperatures are widespread and costly: more severe storms, rising seas, species extinctions, and changes in weather patterns that will alter food production and the spread of disease.

Politically, the stakes are huge.

Any policy to reduce heat-trapping pollution will inevitably target the main sources of Americans' energy: the coal burned by power plants for electricity and the oil that is refined to run automobiles.

Those industries have powerful protectors in both parties in Congress who will fight any additional regulations handed down by the administration that could contribute to Americans paying more for electricity and gas at the pump. There's also the lingering question of how much the U.S. can do to solve the problem alone, without other countries taking aggressive steps to curb their own pollution.

The promise:

"My plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke." ? Obama at the Democratic National Convention, Sept. 6, 2012.

"I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change. ... But if Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy." ? Obama in his State of the Union speech, Feb. 12, 2013.

The prospects:

Obama has shown he doesn't need Congress to take action against climate change.

In his first term, he struck a deal with automakers to double fuel economy standards. After failing to pass a climate bill through a Democratic-controlled Congress, he proposed rules to control heat-trapping pollution from future power plants.

His chances of going through Congress are no better the second time around.

While some liberal Democrats have proposed legislation to tax emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, Republicans controlling the House have pledged to block any and all efforts to price carbon pollution. Democrats from states with coal and oil probably will be stumbling blocks.

Obama has more tools he can tap to deal with the problem. The big question is how aggressive he will be and how he will balance expanding domestic energy production with his climate goals.

On the one hand, he says he supports an "all of the above" energy plan that uses all of the nation's energy resources. But should he proceed with regulations to control pollution from existing coal-fired power plants, the single largest source of carbon pollution, those regulations probably will contribute to shuttering facilities already struggling to compete with cheap natural gas.

Also looming is a decision whether to grant a permit to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would transport carbon-laden tar sands oil from Canada to Texas.

While the pipeline project is a better alternative from a carbon pollution standpoint than shipping the oil by rail, the emissions created by harvesting tar sands, processing them into oil and eventually burning it in automobiles in the U.S. and abroad will contribute to global warming.

Obama also backs the natural gas drilling boom brought about by hydraulic fracturing, but that boom is also responsible for releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Bottom line: Obama is likely to take more steps to reduce the pollution blamed for climate change. But those actions probably will not be of the scale needed to help much in slowing the heating of the planet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/promises-promises-climate-change-072207960.html

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President Obama makes his Final Four picks

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) ? President Barack Obama is picking Florida, Indiana, Louisville, Ohio State to reach the Final Four.

President Obama filled out an NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN for the fifth straight year. On the women's side, he selected Baylor, California, UConn and Notre Dame to advance to New Orleans.

ESPN will reveal his full men's and women's brackets Wednesday morning.

Indiana and Louisville are each No. 1 seeds. Ohio State is a No. 2 seed and Florida is a No. 3 seed

Baylor, UConn and Notre Dame are all No. 1 seeds and California is a No. 2 seed.

In 2012, President Obama's men's bracket ranked 2,347,421 out of 6.45 million entries, placing him in the 63.6th percentile.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-20-BKC-NCAA-Obama's-Bracket/id-2698d4e956b441e6a3e4424a662e2037

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Hilary Mantel up for 3rd major literary award

LONDON (AP) ? Hilary Mantel is homing in on a clean sweep of Britain's three top literary prizes with a nomination for the Women's Prize for fiction.

The novelist has already won the Booker and Costa prizes for her Tudor novel "Bring Up The Bodies."

The 60-year-old writer is one of 20 candidates announced Wednesday for the Women's Prize, previously known as the Orange Prize. Nominees include previous winners Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith, as well as Gillian Flynn, for her best-seller "Gone Girl."

The award, in its 18th year, celebrates writing by women in English from around the world. The winner will receive 30,000 pounds (US$45,000).

Mantel's critically acclaimed historical novel is a sequel to "Wolf Hall," which also won the Booker.

The winner will be announced in London on June 5.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-13-Britain-Women's%20Prize/id-e324e6e448bb4497996bf5bb5ce55ad0

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How to Do Internet Business Advertising The Right Way

How to Do Internet Business Advertising The Right Way

For individuals who are preparing to commit their own period as well as profit the actual thrilling however or else unknown globe associated with Online marketing, you have to very first perform considerable investigation in your market marketplaces, to see that internet marketing or even marketing to make use of. The well-structured Web advertising and marketing marketing campaign might not be difficult in order to build or even put into action, that is should you choose your own research, as well as stay with your own guidelines. Here are some useful online business marketing ideas to think about.

Evaluate Exactly how Your own Site Is actually Faring

To be able to build the practical web advertising and marketing strategy, you need in order to get a grip on exactly how your own site is actually faring. Take a look at your own statistics, as well as perform a small mathematics. For instance, in case your internet company gets a minumum of one 1000 site visitors normally each week, as well as will get 20 product sales each week consequently, this suggests that the customer in order to product sales percentage appears from 100-to-1. If you are averaging a thousand site visitors, as well as you can near the purchase upon 20 of these, which means that you are shutting 1 purchase for each 50 site visitors.

Setup A good E-mail Tackle Catch Program

If you are unsatisfied using the method your own internet company is actually producing site visitors, or even replicate clients, one easy however efficient method of obtaining much more targeted visitors on the internet is actually via establishing a contact tackle catch program. When you develop a contact catch web page, it is fairly simple to maintain all of them through obtaining aside. Provide your own potential customers some thing associated with worth, as a swap for his or her get in touch with info along with other particulars. The things associated with worth you could provide them with can sometimes include a totally free e-book, e-mail program or even guide, or perhaps a free of charge e-newsletter. Additionally, you might get in touch with all of them and gives your own knowledge, in addition to give them free of charge as well as useful info associated with exactly what these people initially asked for. The important thing here?s help to make your own potential customers really feel unique.

Promote Upon E-zines

Based on internet marketing veterans, e-zine marketing nevertheless continues to be among the best and many inexpensive way of obtaining targeted visitors, as well as with regard to growing your own achieve on the internet. Merely go to a good e-zine listing, as well as look for the right e-zines inside your specialized niche. You may even desire to sign up for a lot of all of them, as well as publish your own content articles, together with your hyperlinks along with other marketing things.

And when you have carried out these types of actions, ensure that you?ve got a program with regard to calculating your own outcomes, once you have folded away your online company marketing campaign.

Source: http://michiganangelfund.com/2013/03/06/how-to-do-internet-business-advertising-the-right-way/

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Tamed Dragon supply ship arrives at space station

This frame grab made available by NASA TV shows a view of the SpaceX Dragon capsule on the end of the International Space Station's robotic arm, Sunday, March 3, 2013. SpaceX, the California-based company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had to struggle with the Dragon following its launch Friday from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft is delivering more than 1 ton of supplies to the the International Space Station. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

This frame grab made available by NASA TV shows a view of the SpaceX Dragon capsule on the end of the International Space Station's robotic arm, Sunday, March 3, 2013. SpaceX, the California-based company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had to struggle with the Dragon following its launch Friday from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft is delivering more than 1 ton of supplies to the the International Space Station. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

This frame grab made available by NASA TV shows a view of the SpaceX Dragon anchoring to the International Space Station Sunday, March 3, 2013. SpaceX, the California-based company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had to struggle with the Dragon following its launch Friday from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft is delivering more than 1 ton of supplies to the the International Space Station. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? A privately owned Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering a ton of supplies with high-flying finesse after a shaky start to the mission.

The Dragon's arrival was one day late but especially sweet ? and not because of the fresh fruit on board for the station astronauts who snared the capsule.

SpaceX, the California-based company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had to struggle with the Dragon following its launch Friday from Cape Canaveral. A clogged pressure line or stuck valve prevented thrusters from working, and it took flight controllers several hours to gain control and salvage the mission.

In the end, the Dragon approached the orbiting lab with its 1-ton load about as smoothly as could be expected, with all of its thrusters, or little maneuvering rockets, operating perfectly. The capture occurred as the two spacecraft zoomed 250 miles above Ukraine.

"As they say, it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts," said space station commander Kevin Ford, "and you guys really finished this one on the mark."

He added: "We've got lots of science on there to bring aboard and get done. So congratulations to all of you."

Among the items on board: 640 seeds of a flowering weed used for research, mouse stem cells, food and clothes for the six men on board the space station, trash bags, computer equipment, air purifiers, spacewalking tools and batteries. The company also tucked away apples and other fresh treats from an employee's family orchard.

The Dragon will remain at the space station for most of March before returning to Earth with science samples, empty food containers and old equipment.

SpaceX ? Space Exploration Technologies Corp. ? has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to keep the station well stocked. The contract calls for 12 supply runs; this was the second in that series.

This is the third time, however, that a Dragon has visited the space station. The previous two capsules had no trouble reaching their destination. Company officials promise a thorough investigation into what went wrong this time; if the thrusters had not been activated, the capsule would have been lost.

Ford said everything about Sunday's rendezvous ended up being "fantastic."

"There sure were some big smiles all around here," NASA's Mission Control replied from Houston.

The actual anchoring of the Dragon to the space station, 2? hours after its arrival, also unfolded without a hitch. "The Dragon is ours!" Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield announced via Twitter.

In a tweet following Friday's nerve-racking drama, Musk said, "Just want to say thanks to (at)NASA for being the world's coolest customer. Looking forward to delivering the goods!"

Musk, who helped create PayPal, acknowledged Friday that the problem ? the first ever for an orbiting Dragon ? was "frightening." But he believed it was a one-time glitch and nothing so serious as to imperil future missions. The 41-year-old entrepreneur, who also runs the electric car maker Tesla, oversaw the entire operation from Hawthorne, Calif., home to SpaceX and the company's Mission Control.

The Dragon's splashdown in the Pacific, meanwhile, remains on schedule for March 25.

NASA is counting on the commercial sector to supply the space station for the rest of this decade; it's supposed to keep running until at least 2020. Russia, Europe and Japan are doing their part, periodically launching their own cargo ships. But none of those craft can return items like the Dragon can; they burn up on re-entry

Russia also is providing rides for U.S. astronauts.

SpaceX and other companies are working toward launching astronauts in another few years. Musk leads the charge; he said he can have people flying on a modified Dragon by 2015.

NASA's space shuttles, retired to museums after a 30-year run, used to be the main haulers for the space station. At the White House direction, the space agency opted out of the Earth-to-orbit transportation business in order to focus on deep space exploration. Mars is the ultimate destination.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html

SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-03-US-SCI-Private-Space/id-4b7cc340f2104aa9b5a43d6909359a51

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Product Launches ? What You Should Know

Mar 02

There are so many different aspects of both online and offline business that have the potential for overwhelming anyone. All the old vets of internet marketing who pioneered eczematreatmentsite.org went through that and know the deal. There are several reasons why those who are making money with their business tend to outsource as much as possible. We understand if you are not quite at that point, though, but there is much available that is very low cost or no cost. There is nothing more frustrating than learning the hard way, and we are talking about getting educated about any new marketing or business method, first. However, regardless of how you approach outsourcing or anything else, just recover and roll with any mistakes you may make. In order to successfully launch a product online, you have to consider several factors. Your product?s launch can make or break its success which is why it?s so important. Here are some steps to take to help ensure a successful launch for your product. Hype up the Launch: When you?re doing a product launch, the aim should be on selling the event to the people, instead of selling the product. In order to succeed with your product launch, you should focus on the actual date and make it stand out in people?s minds. If you have the capability of making your customers anxious about your product launch, then you will definitely create a huge buzz about this event. Selling the event will eventually help you sell more products because you have gotten so much attention. The product will have no problem selling itself when you make your focused market want it so much. It is that easy. We all get excited about events. So, why not utilize this to your advantage? Before the product is launched, your focus should be to make the customers want the product so much that they cannot wait to make a purchase. Lengthen the Pre-Launch Period: to make sure that your launch works well and that you get enough buzz built up, you should make sure that you have a long enough pre-launch period. This is the phase in which you do as much prep as possible to make sure that your product sells well. When you don?t do this and just launch the product right after you announce it, you run the risk of only making a few sales. However, the reason you put a lot of planning into your launch is to ensure a flood of sales on the actual launch date. Launching a product online gives you the best opportunity to create a really good buzz for what you are selling and when you release information in a slow-drip kind of fashion, you create a real sense of need and urgency in your customers that will ensure that they will want to know more. Without putting in enough time with your buyers you won?t see any sales on the day of your launch. A good sized pre-launch period is at least five to six weeks long. If you don?t want to spend that much time on that you should at least put in three weeks. This gives you enough time to build a good level of interest in the launch of your product. We are confident many would like to take advantage of the full power of click here in their internet business; but you have to be careful and avoid proceeding with limited knowledge in your campaigns. Obviously there is tremendous variation among small web business owners when it comes to knowledge base about marketing techniques. One answer to this perpetual problem has been marketing forums because you can get acquainted with people who are doing the same things as you. We make every effort to cover as much as we can when we produce our articles, but just remember you will be receiving an incomplete set of guidelines. So much of what happens in online business is the result of someone deciding to test something out and it leads to something new. Keep Your List Informed: Keep your email list of customers up to date about your upcoming product launch. They will be more prepared for the launch when you let them know about the product in development. Send out promotional emails from time to time and give them access to any material that will help you presell the product to them. Your sales can be increased by 5 times after the launch if you take this one step. All of the things you do during your pre-launch period will inform the success of your post-launch period so don?t hold back.

Source: http://www.gdpodcast.com/991/product-launches-what-you-should-know/

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