Does Cosmology Matter?

Astronomical Clock (from Matthew Kirkland).

Every month or so it seems like another eminent physicist publishes a new book claiming to go beyond or ?before? the Big Bang. Roger Penrose, Brian Green and Stephan Hawking have all gotten into the game putting their stamp on the ?Death of the Big Bang?.

Cosmology, it would seem, is at a precipice and we appear to be living at the twilight of Big Bang as a theory of the Universe?s origin. But would replacing time?s beginning at the Big Bang with something stranger like the infinite existence of a multiverse really matter very much for anyone else other than cosmologists? Reading popular books and magazine articles (my own included) one gets the sense that revolutions in cosmology naturally infer revolutions in human culture and even human experience. Is this really true? Does cosmology really alter the way any human being experiences the world on a day-to-day level? How can abstractions like relativistic Space-Time manifolds or String Theory landscapes ever effect anyone other than physicists in the Academy and the informed readers of magazines like this one? In others words, what would a true revolution in cosmology change?

The answer, in a word, is everything and everything begins with time.

When I started working on my new book ?About Time. Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang? I thought I would simply be writing an account of current changes in cosmology. While it is true that cosmology in the age of Big Bang theory has become an exact science, that triumph refers to its astonishing account of what happened ?after? time and the Universe?s origin. The scientific narrative of a universe expanding, of CMB photons decoupling and of matter cooling and congealing into galaxies over the last 13.7 billion years is, without a doubt, secure. It?s the bang in the Big Bang that has come up for grabs.

In light of new observations (i.e.Dark Energy) and new theoretical developments (i.e. the push for quantum gravity) a wild west of new cosmological ideas has emerged. My new book would, I thought, solely be an exploration of the development of ideas like the multi-verse or the new cyclic models of Steinhardt and Turok. But as I started my research into cosmology?s history the broader history of human time began to make its appearance in my questions. Looking back 100, 1000 or 10,000 years, it became clear to me that time in cosmology (be it of the scientific or mytho-religious variety) has always been tightly braided with the human experience of time.

To understand what I mean by the ?human experience of time? you need do nothing more than answer the simple question ?What time is it?? Your answer will likely take the form of something like 8:45 am, 10:32 am, or 3:07 pm. But what is the ?3:07 pm? you read off your computer screen or cell-phone? Mechanical clocks did not appear until the fourteenth century, and they did not even have minute hands (an invention that would take approximately another three hundred years to appear). So did ?3:07 pm? even exist one thousand years ago for peasants living in Dark Ages Europe, Song Dynasty China, or the central Persian Empire? Was there such a thing as ?3:07 pm? in the long millennia before the vast majority of human beings had access to any form of timekeeping device? The answer is no. The best folks could say 1000 years ago when asked the time would have been ?after lunch?.

But 3:07 is something you know very well. More importantly minutes are something you have been taught to experience be it in the boredom of clock-watching at the end of a class or the frustration of waiting for an overdue bus. The experience of time ? as opposed to abstract notion of time in-and-of-itself ? is something human beings have invented and re-invented many time across our history.

The invention of a specific version of cultural time (a specific ?time-logic? may be a better way to describe it) has, however, gone hand in hand with inventions in cosmological thinking. Consider the case of the clock. Clocks first made their appearance around 1300 (no one is sure who invented the first one) and within 100 years they swept across Europe. The abstraction of rigidly measured, numbered hours was used by Europeans to completely rewire culture by metering work-times, determining market openings and setting the operation of courts. But more than changing the flow of daily life clocks also offered scientists and thinkers new ways of conceiving nature. By 1377 the clock as an idea was so powerful that philosopher Nicole Oresme could use it to frame a new cosmology in the image of a clockwork universe. Later, Isaac Newton?s science of mechanics was built on this abstract clockwork time, becoming the foundation for a new celestial physics and new real-world machines that set the industrial revolution in motion.

As historian Peter Galison has masterfully shown, the braiding of cosmic time and culture was just as important to evolution of that paragon of modern physical cosmology ? the Theory of Relativity. In the late 1800s railroads and telegraph cables were binding far-flung localities together in a way that had never been experienced before. Simultaneity ? a single shared now ? became the dominant concern of culture. It was just at this moment that the young Albert Einstein took a job at the Swiss Patent Office.

Einstein?s day job kept him deep in the trenches of real world concerns with simultaneity as he evaluated one design for an electromechanical time-coordination device after another. Rather than ?time-off? from physics (like a job at McDonalds) Einstein?s Patent Office work fed directly into private work weaving simultaneity into a theory of relativity that would change cosmology forever. Sixty years later the big bang ? a theory built from Einstein?s relativity ? was spectacularly confirmed. That confirmation would come through a microwave antenna designed for satellite telecommunications ? a technology that soon rewired cultural time uniting the world into a single global present.

WMAP image of standard cosmology

What was true a century ago is just as true today. A culture?s dominant cosmology is always a public affair. But culture doesn?t change just because science does. Instead, there is what might be called an enigmatic entanglement between the two. Their mutual influence sloshes back and forth, each responding to each other as well as their own imperatives.

Technology ? what we can do with the stuff of the world ? is often the fulcrum on which the balance of influence swings. Technology has always been the middle ground ? the shop floor ? where new time and new time-logics are hammered out. Mechanical clocks, steam engines and silicon chips each provide culture with new ways to imagine its organization in time. These technologies also allow the Universe to be investigated in new ways or to be imagined through new metaphors. Cosmology has swung through conceptions of the Universe being like a clock, like a heat engine and like a computer. These swings have been in synch with culture using these machines to reset the contours of everyday life and time.

So now, in the era of the Multiverse, Eternal Inflation and Quantum Gravity does cosmology matter? Yes but its influence goes far deeper than just its effect on theological debates over the existence of God, Genesis or Intelligent Design. Every culture needs a cosmology to justify itself and set its own time against a broader background of ?the ways thing are?. People don?t need to know the details of the Big Bang for this background to influence them anymore than a medieval peasant needed to know the details of a biblical cosmologies made of demons, angels, heaven and hell. Dominant cosmologies and their ontologies are always an aether people move through. They are a background that does not need to be explicitly questioned. In the same way the time-logics people learn through cultures, implicitly taught in school and work, may never be questioned.

We are accustomed to thinking of science operating in some kind of vacuum. A true theory could arise at any time and any place independent of the cultural perspectives of the people who find those theories. The truth is far richer and more interesting. Without a doubt the world pushes back in the remarkable dialogue we have with it through science. We learn more than we knew before. But understanding the braiding of cosmic and human time shows us that science really is a dialogue. We can?t be taken out of the picture. Perhaps someday we will find the true ultimate theory of the entire Universe ? a perfect vision of the objective world. Or, perhaps, the Universe is like an infinitely faceted diamond. As we move through our own changes and our own learning we always get a different view. This perspective, I believe, is far closer to the historical truth of science?s wondrous beauty and power. The dialogue will always continue shaping us, the Universe (through our perspectives on it) and time in the process.

What could be more exciting.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f1307f8b3fc2c831c128e4b3cf66e371

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Cops Who Stay Undercover and Murdered Whistle-Blowers

Undercover Police and the Law: The Men Who Weren?t There, Guardian
Jim Sutton, a British cop who went undercover as a political activist, landed in court for disorderly behavior. His act didn?t end there. Sutton testified using a fake name and a fictitious identity. The Guardian looks into recent allegations that cops like Sutton were authorized by their supervisors to keep acting until well after the gavel came down.
Contributed by @BostonReview

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=604fa580924694563ff1ccc18a0dd07c

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In Pakistan, Clinton seeks strong anti-terror push

The Obama administration delivered a blunt warning Thursday that the United States will do what it must to go after militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan, whether Pakistan helps or not.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led an unusually large U.S. delegation for two days of talks with civilian and military leaders who have resisted previous U.S. demands to take a harder tack against militants who attack American soldiers and interests in Afghanistan.

The large U.S. contingent was meant to display unity among the various U.S. agencies, including the CIA, Pentagon and State Department, with an interest in Pakistan. CIA chief David Petraeus and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey joined Clinton, who said the team would "push Pakistan very hard."

There were cordial handshakes and greetings among the large U.S. and Pakistani delegation gathered at the office of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as the first of two evening meetings began. Pakistan's foreign minister, Army chief and intelligence head were expected to see their U.S. counterparts Thursday.

Clinton arrived in Islamabad from Afghanistan, where she told Pakistan it must be part of the solution to the Afghan conflict. She said the U.S. expects the Pakistani government, military and intelligence services to take the lead in fighting Pakistan-based militants and also in encouraging Afghan militants to reconcile.

"Our message is very clear," Clinton said. "We're going to be fighting, we are going to be talking and we are going to be building ... and they can either be helping or hindering, but we are not going to stop."

The meetings focused on the recurrent U.S. demand that Pakistan launch its own offensive against a lethal Taliban affiliate known as the Haqqani network. It operates on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; U.S. officials claim Pakistan either tolerates or supports the group's activities.

A senior U.S. official said Thursday's four hours of meetings were "extremely frank" and "very detailed" but declined to offer details.

In a statement, Gilani's office said the discussion was "cordial and frank." But it also suggested Pakistan was unhappy with the message push by recalling statements denying U.S. allegations of links between Pakistan and militants.

"Disagreements between the coalition partners in the war on terror should not undermine strategic relationship which is so vital for the promotion of mutual interests of the two countries," the statement quoted Gilani as saying.

U.S. military leaders have told the Pakistanis that if Islamabad does not act against the Haqqanis, the U.S. will.

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"We must send a clear, unequivocal message to the government and people of Pakistan that they must be part of the solution, and that means ridding their own country of terrorists who kill their own people and who cross the border to kill people in Afghanistan," Clinton said.

Pakistan has deployed 170,000 soldiers to its eastern border with Afghanistan and more than 3,000 soldiers have died in battles with militants. So Pakistani leaders bristle at U.S. criticism that they have not done enough or that they play a double game ? fighting militants in some areas, supporting them in others where they might be useful proxies in a future conflict with India.

A new offensive unleashed in recent days by the U.S.-led coalition against the Haqqani network in Afghanistan has added a sense of urgency to the talks in Pakistan.

Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, described the offensive during an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press as a "high intensity sensitive operation." He would not give a precise location or other details.

For more than three decades, the Haqqani network, led by patriarch Jalaluddin Haqqani, has maintained a headquarters in Pakistan's Miran Shah district of North Waziristan. The United States has had some recent successes killing at least two top Haqqani commanders in drone attacks.

Senior U.S. officials said the CIA was given a clearer green light to go after the Taliban affiliate in its Pakistani stronghold after the attack on a military base in Wardak, Afghanistan, that wounded 77 American soldiers. The Sept. 10 attack, blamed on the Haqqanis, helped convince Clinton that the U.S. should take decisive action against the network, two officials said.

Clinton and other U.S. officials had worried that CIA pressure on the network, primarily through drone strikes, would make its leaders less likely to support peace efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Washington has had contact with some within the Haqqani network, including Ibrahim Haqqani, the brother of Jalaluddin, according to several Afghan and U.S. officials.

That same worry has held up an expected U.S. announcement that the Haqqani network will be placed on a list of terrorist groups subject to U.S. punishment. That move is now expected within a few weeks, two officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are not complete.

The U.S. and NATO consider the Taliban affiliate to be the single greatest enemy in Afghanistan, and they accuse Pakistan of providing the group safe havens. There are also recent allegations that Pakistan has sent rocket fire into Afghanistan to provide cover for insurgents crossing the border.

Pakistan has denied aiding the Haqqanis. An increasingly angry Pakistani military has refused to carry out an offensive in the North Waziristan tribal region, saying it would unleash a tribal-wide war that Pakistan could not contain.

In Little Rock, Ark., on Thursday former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the relationship between Pakistan and the United States was at its lowest point and plagued by "total mistrust."

Musharraf said the Pakistani military was guilty of "terrible negligence" in allowing Osama bin Laden to go undetected before he was killed in a U.S. raid. He also said Pakistan hadn't done enough to target the Haqqani network.

But Musharraf said U.S. officials are wrong to accuse Pakistan of aiding militants.

"Pakistan is a victim and not a perpetrator of terrorism," Musharraf said.

U.S. officials in Washington and elsewhere say the broader message for Thursday's meeting was that the U.S. still wanted to have a strategic relationship with Pakistan. The gathering was also meant to dispel any mixed messages from U.S. officials.

Dempsey's predecessor as Joint Chiefs chairman, now-retired Adm. Mike Mullen, angered Pakistan and took U.S. colleagues by surprise when he told Congress last month that Pakistan's spy agency supported and encouraged attacks by the Haqqani network militants, including the massive truck bombing in Wardak.

He told lawmakers that the network "acts as a veritable arm" of Islamabad's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the ISI, and said Pakistan is "exporting violence" and threatening any success in Afghanistan.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44983615/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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Puss in Boots Meets Lady Gaga in New Trailer!


Puss in Boots. Lady Gaga. About as purrfect match as one could ask for!

Horrendous cat puns aside, the Mother Monster’s "Americano" serves as the backdrop for the film's new trailer, and it's as fantastic as you'd expect from a peerless pop star and a dashing, debonair desperado of a feline who knows no equal.

Puss in Boots lands in theaters next Friday, October 28, with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek stealing the show in what looks like a sensational Shrek spinoff.

Watch the new trailer featuring Gaga's song from Born This Way here:

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/10/puss-in-boots-meets-lady-gaga-in-new-trailer/

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Ohio poll: Romney tied with unpopular Obama (Daily Caller)

In the crucial battleground state of Ohio, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appears to be the only Republican candidate who can beat President Barack Obama, despite the president?s sinking popularity in the state.

According to a Public Policy Polling poll released Thursday, Obama?s approval rating in the state is upside down, with 43 percent saying they approve of his job performance and 52 percent saying they disapprove.

But none of his competitors are particularly popular either. Of all of the Republican contenders, only former Godfather?s Pizza CEO Herman Cain boasts a positive approval rating: 41 percent to 37 percent. Nonetheless, in a head-to-head match up, Cain would lose to the president 48 percent to 45 percent.

Mitt Romney is the only Republican to hold President Obama to a tie, with each getting 46 percent of the vote. Romney also has upside down popularity, with 36 percent saying they have a favorable opinion of him and 48 percent saying they hold an unfavorable opinion of him.

Romney is able to draw votes not just from Republicans, but from independents and a few Democrats. Eleven percent of those who voted for Obama four years ago say they would vote for Romney this year. Romney would get 12 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents, compared to just 32 percent for Obama. Cain also draws significant support from independents.

The poll is based a survey of 581 Ohio voters from October 13 through October 16. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Follow Alexis on Twitter

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

Ohio poll: Romney tied with unpopular Obama

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Romney releases, removes brutal anti-Perry attack ad

NPR host doubling as 'Occupy DC' spox fired from syndicated radio program

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20111020/pl_dailycaller/ohiopollromneytiedwithunpopularobama

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Work begins on 'Extreme Makeover' homes in Joplin

(AP) ? When executives with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" contacted builder Sam Clifton about a project in Joplin, he told them it was a great idea, but building a single home wouldn't send much of a message to a community that lost more than 7,000 of them to a devastating spring tornado.

So on Wednesday, work began on a project to build seven homes in seven days that will be featured on the popular ABC show. It is another effort by volunteers to reshape the southwest Missouri community that still in the early stages of recovering from the May 22 twister that killed 162 people, one of the worst tornadoes in U.S. history.

The homes, which are going up a few blocks from the city's hospital, which was destroyed, will be far from opulent. Clifton, who is overseeing the project, said the new units will be functional, 1,300- to 1,800-square-foot homes, similar in size and style to many of the dwellings destroyed in the tornado.

"We want to help get the community going," Clifton said. "Get some excitement going in the town. That's my goal."

The TV show typically rebuilds a single home for a family that has been struck with some tragic circumstances. In Joplin's case, the seven homes are being built along the same street, just a few blocks from the hospital that was destroyed in the tornado.

"This is what we do," said Diane Korman, senior producer for the program. "We look for families in trouble and how to help them."

Korman said the show's staff gathered on May 23, the day after the tornado, to discuss a project in Joplin. They contacted Clifton, with whom they had worked on a 2009 show in Ash Grove, Mo., and concurred with his assessment that the project needed to be bigger than one home.

The families getting the new homes range in size from two to six, and their stories are compelling.

They include single mother Crystal Whitely, who took cover with her three children in a bathtub. Two were killed, leaving only Whitely and her 4-year-old daughter, Keana. Joplin firefighter Kyle Howard was working the night of the tornado and didn't know if his family survived, yet he rescued trapped victims and tended to injured people as he drove through the rubble to get home.

Clifton said 10,000 volunteers have signed up to help with the project, along with 21 general contractors from around the region and hundreds of skilled tradesmen.

The show paid for the families to take a trip to Disney World for the week. They'll be back on Oct. 26, when host Ty Pennington will deliver the famous "move that bus" proclamation and the families will see the homes for the first time.

The episode is scheduled to be the 200th for the program, and is tentatively scheduled to air Jan. 20.

The TV show has generated a lot of buzz in Joplin, where new homes are springing up and construction crews work late into the night. Millions of tons of debris have been cleared, and for-sale signs dot now-vacant land ? in some cases, land that stretches for several blocks.

Banks and pharmacies are operating out of makeshift buildings or mobile homes. The Home Depot, where several people died in the tornado, has reopened in a huge tent.

Signs of rebirth are everywhere, but there's still a lot of work ahead. Huge tarps still cover holes and blown-out walls on many homes, there are still piles of debris awaiting disposal and homes damaged beyond repair awaiting demolition.

Clifton, who lives in Springfield, characterizes Joplin's process of rebuilding as slow.

"I think people are waiting to see what the community will do, if their neighbors will rebuild."

The "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" project will involve a massive undertaking in a short amount of time. But Clifton has no worries the homes will be finished on time. All seven were progressing nicely on Wednesday, with newly-poured foundations poured, floors in place, walls already up. One house already had the beams for the roof.

Each of the homes has a different design, with exteriors a mix of siding and stone.

Volunteers are working 12-hour shifts, and work is going around the clock.

"We've got people that lost their houses who wanted to come help us," Clifton said.

All of the materials for the project were donated, and churches in Joplin are working together to prepare about 30,000 meals for those involved in the building process.

It's not the first time Clifton was involved in an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" project. In 2009, his Millstone Custom Homes led the effort to provide a new home for the Hampton family in Ash Grove, Mo.

Despite the heartbreak and tragedy in Joplin, the makers of the show have been overwhelmed by the spirit, Korman said.

"There is such a heart here in Joplin," she said. "It's such a strong community."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-10-19-Home%20Makeover-Joplin/id-4c5673ca60df45c9a3712bdc3dbd23b8

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Skill triumphs over fish scarcity and draws experienced anglers back to overfished lakes

ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? Fishermen care about more than the quantity of fish in a pond. Access, beauty, distance from home and fishing regulations play into the choice of which lake to fish on a given Saturday. How deep into the woods will fishermen hike to find a lake brimming with fish? Do recreational fishermen avoid overfished lakes?

In the October Ecological Applications, Len Hunt (Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) and colleagues report that when catching fish is at the top of the priority list, overfishing goes down in regions with few fishermen, but up in regions with many. Because motivations are mixed and feedback on choices isn't obvious, a self-regulating system in which fishermen naturally pick the most productive lakes and spread their impact evenly over a region can't be expected, according to the authors.

Some fish species are actually as easy, or easier, to catch when their numbers are few because they school together and stick to predictable habitat corners. Experienced anglers use knowledge, and tools like bathymetric maps and depth-sounders, to locate fish, and may catch almost as many in an overfished lake as in a thriving one.

Drawing on data from 157 lakes and diaries tracking fisherman's preferences, the authors model the effects of weighting different priorities on the health of walleye stocks in the Thunder Bay region of Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Superior. The authors recommend adapting management strategies to usage patterns, the arrangement of lakes throughout the landscape lake biology, and the dynamic relationships between them.. Simple, region-wide solutions like limiting fishing licenses can exacerbate population crashes at popular lakes. But they note that the ongoing monitoring required to tailor management is expensive and that modeling could help target landscape-scale efforts.

"Because timely monitoring of literally hundreds of lakes in a landscape will be virtually impossible, ''adaptive,'' integrative social-ecological models such as ours, extended to include regulatory tools, might provide informed solutions that are open to experimental reassessments and modification."

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Journal Reference:

  1. Len M. Hunt, Robert Arlinghaus, Nigel Lester, Rob Kushneriuk. The effects of regional angling effort, angler behavior, and harvesting efficiency on landscape patterns of overfishing. Ecological Applications, 2011; 21 (7): 2555 DOI: 10.1890/10-1237.1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111018150405.htm

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Technology targets genetic disorders linked to X chromosome

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Holly Korschun
hkorsch@emory.edu
404-727-3990
Emory University

Geneticists at Emory University School of Medicine have demonstrated a method that enables the routine amplification of all the genes on the X chromosome. The technology allows the rapid and highly accurate sequencing and identification of novel genetic variants affecting X chromosome genes.

The method, developed in cooperation with RainDance Technologies (www.RainDanceTech.com), is described in the Oct. 2011 issue of Genomics. Senior author Michael Zwick, PhD, assistant professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine, is using the method to identify genetic variants that contribute to autism spectrum disorders.

Because the X chromosome is a hotspot for genes that are suspected of contributing to autism and intellectual disability, the Emory team's finding could speed new discoveries and eventually make routine clinical diagnosis of autism and intellectual disability easier.

"This technology has the potential to be a valuable tool for genetic researchers across a wide variety of applications," Zwick says. "Our data shows that it can support the routine sequencing of the exons of the human X chromosome in a uniform, accurate and comprehensive way."

The team's sequencing method does not read all the letters of the genetic code in the X chromosome from beginning to end. Instead, it targets more than 800 "exons": all the genes that get read out and made into RNA.

A direct comparison with another method of target selection called oligonucleotide capture showed that the team's technique needed between three and seven times fewer sequence reads to achieve high levels of accuracy and completeness, potentially meaning lower costs.

The Emory team's experiments showed that their technique could read 97 percent of targeted sequences at high depth with an accuracy of 99.5 percent. The team used data from the HapMap Project, a partnership coordinated by the Human Genome Research Institute, as a reference standard for genetic sequence variation.

Sex is determined by having two X chromosomes (female) or an X and a Y chromosome (male). Because males have only a single X chromosome, a mutation in a gene on the X chromosome is more likely to affect a male than a female because males lack another copy of the same gene to compensate. This pattern of inheritance can contribute to disorders that disproportionately affect males, such as autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability.

Modern DNA sequencing techniques use the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to isolate and "amplify" the target DNA scientists want to read. RainDance Technologies has developed a single molecule microdroplet-based technology that enables scientists to target up to 20,000 genomic loci in a single sample, saving time, space and cost while increasing reliability and ease of use. The reactions take place in millions of self-contained droplets, allowing each to amplify a different piece of DNA within an emulsion.

###

Reference: K. Mondal, A.C. Shetty, V. Patel, D.J. Cutler and M.E. Zwick. Targeted sequencing of the human X chromosome exome. Genomics Vol. 98, Issue 4, pp. 260-265 (Oct. 2011).

Writer: Quinn Eastman


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Holly Korschun
hkorsch@emory.edu
404-727-3990
Emory University

Geneticists at Emory University School of Medicine have demonstrated a method that enables the routine amplification of all the genes on the X chromosome. The technology allows the rapid and highly accurate sequencing and identification of novel genetic variants affecting X chromosome genes.

The method, developed in cooperation with RainDance Technologies (www.RainDanceTech.com), is described in the Oct. 2011 issue of Genomics. Senior author Michael Zwick, PhD, assistant professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine, is using the method to identify genetic variants that contribute to autism spectrum disorders.

Because the X chromosome is a hotspot for genes that are suspected of contributing to autism and intellectual disability, the Emory team's finding could speed new discoveries and eventually make routine clinical diagnosis of autism and intellectual disability easier.

"This technology has the potential to be a valuable tool for genetic researchers across a wide variety of applications," Zwick says. "Our data shows that it can support the routine sequencing of the exons of the human X chromosome in a uniform, accurate and comprehensive way."

The team's sequencing method does not read all the letters of the genetic code in the X chromosome from beginning to end. Instead, it targets more than 800 "exons": all the genes that get read out and made into RNA.

A direct comparison with another method of target selection called oligonucleotide capture showed that the team's technique needed between three and seven times fewer sequence reads to achieve high levels of accuracy and completeness, potentially meaning lower costs.

The Emory team's experiments showed that their technique could read 97 percent of targeted sequences at high depth with an accuracy of 99.5 percent. The team used data from the HapMap Project, a partnership coordinated by the Human Genome Research Institute, as a reference standard for genetic sequence variation.

Sex is determined by having two X chromosomes (female) or an X and a Y chromosome (male). Because males have only a single X chromosome, a mutation in a gene on the X chromosome is more likely to affect a male than a female because males lack another copy of the same gene to compensate. This pattern of inheritance can contribute to disorders that disproportionately affect males, such as autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability.

Modern DNA sequencing techniques use the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to isolate and "amplify" the target DNA scientists want to read. RainDance Technologies has developed a single molecule microdroplet-based technology that enables scientists to target up to 20,000 genomic loci in a single sample, saving time, space and cost while increasing reliability and ease of use. The reactions take place in millions of self-contained droplets, allowing each to amplify a different piece of DNA within an emulsion.

###

Reference: K. Mondal, A.C. Shetty, V. Patel, D.J. Cutler and M.E. Zwick. Targeted sequencing of the human X chromosome exome. Genomics Vol. 98, Issue 4, pp. 260-265 (Oct. 2011).

Writer: Quinn Eastman


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2011-10/eu-ttg101811.php

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Children's Mental Health Issues are a Growing Cause of ER Visits (LiveScience.com)

The number of emergency room visits due to mental health problems of children and young adults is on the rise, according to a new study.

Researchers analyzed data from 279 million visits kids made to emergency rooms around the country spanning 1999 through 2007. Over the eight-year period, the percentage of those visits attributable to psychiatric complaints rose from 2.4 percent to 3 percent.

While seemingly small, such an increase translates to hundreds of thousands of additional psychiatry-related ER visits per year, the study's authors wrote. The largest rise was seen among children who have no health insurance or public health insurance.

The reasons for the psychiatric visits in those under age 19 fit into six broad categories, said study researcher Dr. Zachary Pittsenbarger, of Chidren's Hospital Boston. Depression, anxiety and behavioral issues were the most common, with suicide attempts, drug use and alcohol problems less often cited.

"These patients are often in the emergency room for longer than many other patients, and need the most consultations," Pittsenbarger said. "We need to find out why they are there, and whether they could be better served in an outpatient clinic."

The new findings are being presented today (Oct. 14) at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Boston.

Shortage of doctors to blame

Despite increasing numbers of pediatric psychiatric visits to emergency departments, patients did not become any more likely over time to be admitted to the hospital. This indicates that the children and young adults are not any sicker, Pittsenbarger said. Many of them likely have problems that could be dealt with by outpatient psychiatrists.

Therefore, he said, a shortage of such outpatient mental health specialists may be to blame for the rise in ER visits. If a patient or parent can't easily find an outpatient specialist to help them, they will turn toward the emergency department.

"There are just not enough pediatric mental health care providers for the amount of need that there is," Pittsenbarger said.

A second factor in the increase, he said, is the effect of having public health insurance on a person's access to outpatient mental health care. Many psychiatrists either don't accept Medicaid and other public insurances, or are more reluctant to fit these patients into their schedule, other studies have shown.

Among the pediatric psychiatric ER visits that Pittsenbarger studied, the percentage of visits by patients with either no health insurance or Medicaid grew from 46 percent in 1999 to 54 percent in 2007.

Effects of insurance

Dr. Karin Rhodes of the University of Pennsylvania led a study in Cook County, Ill., which includes the city of Chicago, that examined whether it was more difficult for children with public insurance or private insurance to get appointments with medical specialists. The data were published in June in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study relied on scripted phone calls with doctors' offices; callers were told what symptoms to describe and what type of insurance to mention.

The psychiatry offices in the study scheduled appointments for 51 percent of calls in which a child was said to have private insurance, and only 17 percent of calls for children said to have public insurance.

"Psychiatry had the worst access, not just among publicly insured children, but for all children," Rhodes said.

"It's a disturbing trend," Rhodes said. Based on the study's results, it's not surprising that ER visits are rising, she said. "It does indicate that the disparities we found in Cook County probably exist nationwide."

More work is needed, Pittsenbarger said, to determine who the patients are that are using the ER for mental health issues, and how doctors can help them get more appropriate care.

"For example, we want to know if these are the same patients coming in over and over or are these many patients who are coming once each time," he said.

Pass it on: Limited access to outpatient mental health services may explain a growing number of visits to the ER by children with public health insurance or no health insurance.

This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @Hypersex to Hoarding: 7 New Psychological Disorders

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    President Obama to dedicate new MLK Memorial in DC (AP)

    WASHINGTON ? Thousands of people have gathered at dawn to give the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial a proper dedication after its opening in August.

    Some started lining up at 5 a.m. and even earlier Sunday morning. Aretha Franklin, poet Nikki Giovanni and President Barack Obama will be among those honoring the legacy of the nation's foremost civil rights leader.

    Organizers anticipate as many as 50,000 people will attend. An earlier ceremony planned for August had to be postponed because of Hurricane Irene. More than 250,000 were expected for that event.

    King's sister and two of his children are scheduled to speak. The choir from King's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta will sing.

    Giovanni will read her poem "In the Spirit of Martin," and Franklin will sing.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111016/ap_on_re_us/us_king_memorial

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