See, the reason you spend the extra money on First Class tickets is so that when the airplane sloughs off its wings and transforms into an organic, hyper-dimensional rocket beast, you aren't jettisoned along with the rest of the schmucks in Economy. Plus you get to board first and clink champagne glasses together as poor people file past, which is always fun.
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Paying a visit to the doctor's office today (October 30), the charming Rosie Huntington Whiteley made her way out of a medical building in Beverly Hills on the way home from her checkup.
Exquisite in a gray dress and boots, the "Transformers" starlet walked with pomp, holding a matching gray handbag.
In related news, the 26-year-old actress, along with a handful of other familiar names, are hard at work on a brand new movie, called "Mad Max: Fury Road."
Slated for release in 2014, the action-adventure flick stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Mel Gibson. As of now, the movie does not have a set synopsis, so stay linked to GossipCenter for more news about Rosies upcoming movie!
These days, pedestrians tapping away while walking are hard to miss.
These days, pedestrians tapping away while walking are hard to miss.
We've all grumbled about the growing ranks of phone-gazing zombies, drifting along the sidewalk or holding up the checkout line. Texting while walking, distracted walking, the smartphone sidewalk scourge — whatever you call it, this phenomenon has rapidly become a nearly inescapable frustration of modern life.
Oliver Burkeman over at The Guardian has had enough. He missed a subway train on Friday, he writes, when the woman in front of him on the stairs "drifted placidly to a standstill ... distracted by something on her smartphone."
As Burkeman notes (as have our friends over at Shots), these head-down meanderers aren't just annoying. They're also at risk of hurting themselves by walking into crosswalks without looking both ways and lingering as they cross — never mind stumbling off curbs, running into parking meters and knocking into other pedestrians.
To that last point, Burkeman laments what he (and surely many of us) have observed as a shift in sidewalk etiquette: Whether consciously or not, distracted walkers now assume that it's the responsibility of other pedestrians to make way for them, not the other way around.
And to nip this development in the bud, he proposes a "simple, legal, non-aggressive act of resistance," namely, refusing to play along.
"Next time you're implicitly required to alter your path to avoid colliding with an oblivious phone user ... just don't, and see what happens ...
"And just to be clear, you must still dodge people if you get within a few feet: we're trying to prevent accidents here, not cause them (or start fights). But based on my experiments so far, you'll never get that close. Distracted walkers aren't completely unaware of their surroundings, after all. It's just that their range of awareness is smaller. Once you finally impinge upon it, they'll look up, steer around you, and walk on, ever so slightly conditioned to pay more attention next time."
I'm not entirely innocent here, myself. And plenty of you may be guilty, too. Perhaps, at a time when almost 60 percent of American adults own a smartphone, Burkeman is fighting a losing battle.
But tell us what you think — for the distracted walkers among you, would a few near-collisions convince you to put down your phone? For the rest of you, would you dare try it? Or will this approach just tick up sidewalk frustration for everyone? Let us know in the comments.
There is little to enjoy about plane travel in America anymore, but if you have flown Delta Airlines anytime in the last year, you've probably already encountered its delightfully subversive airline safety video. It's your standard "seat-doubles-as-a-flotation-device" information, but with all sorts of fun visual gags mixed in. When I first saw it, it not only put a grin on my face, but it also kept my attention all the way through, as I waited for the next cheeky joke. Check it out.
Now, Virgin America is taking the safety video challenge. "We thought, what better way to shake things up than to re-imagine the safety video through the language of music and dance?" Virgin America writes on its site. Here it is:
Virgin America's safety video is directed by the Step Up 2 film director.
Adweek has these details on the makers of the video:
"There's a 'robot rap,' a gyrating nun and countless back-breaking dance moves, all filmed by Step Up 2: The Streets director Jon M. Chu (who also did this recent Microsoft Surface ad) and choreographed by frequent Chu collaborators Jamal Sims and Christopher Scott."
For its part, Delta has updated its in-flight safety message for the holidays. Enjoy.
A brief holiday-themed safety presentation from Delta.
Johnny and Amber, together again -- on the big screen! Johnny Depp, 50, will make a cameo in London Fields, an upcoming thriller starring his 27-year-old girlfriend Amber Heard.
The crime thriller, based on the 1989 novel by Martin Amis, started filming in September in London. The plot follows a terminally-ill ex-pat, played by Billy Bob Thornton, who meets a psychic named Nicola Six (Heard) at a seedy London bar. Nicola, who knows she will be murdered before her upcoming birthday, begins a torrid love affair with three different men-- one of whom is her killer. Theo James and Jim Sturgess will costar in the film.
Although Depp's role in the movie remains unknown, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor has already filmed his scenes during short breaks from other in-production films, the big screen-adaptation of Into the Woods and Mortdecai.
PHOTOS: Johnny Depp's movie makeovers
Just last Thursday, Oct. 24, Heard and Depp were spotted together, for the first time since July, enjoying dinner in London's Mayfair District. Heard, who recently commented on her love life to Net-A-Porter's The Edit, said, "I have had relationships, successful relationships, with men, and I had a great relationship with a wonderful woman." (The bisexual actress dated Tasya van Ree from 2008 to 2012.) She added, "We all love who we love; we don't choose it."
PHOTOS: Can you believe these couples' age differences?
The stunning star and Depp first met on the set of 2011 film, The Rum Diary. They confirmed their relationship in June 2012 shortly after Depp and the mother of his two children Vanessa Paradis ended their 14-year relationship.
The Hollywood heartthrob shared some insight on the split with Rolling Stone in June: "Relationships are very difficult. Especially in the racket that I'm in because you're constantly away or they're away and so it's hard." A source told Us Weekly that once Heard wraps up filming, she plans to stay in London with Depp, who commences filming his other projects in mid-December.
"The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world," The Washington Post reported at midday Wednesday.
"By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from among hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans," the Post adds.
Its source for this report: "documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials."
In just 30 days ended Jan. 9, the Post says, the documents indicate that "field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — ranging from 'metadata,' which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video."
Google issued a statement says it is "troubled" by the news. Yahoo said it has not given the NSA or another other agency access to its data centers. White House officials "declined to confirm, deny or explain why the agency infiltrates Google and Yahoo networks overseas," according to the Post report.
Google and Yahoo thought their systems were secure. But the Post says that:
"In an NSA presentation slide on 'Google Cloud Exploitation' ... a sketch shows where the 'Public Internet' meets the internal 'Google Cloud' where their data resides. In hand-printed letters, the drawing notes that encryption is 'added and removed here!' The artist adds a smiley face, a cheeky celebration of victory over Google security.
"Two engineers with close ties to Google exploded in profanity when they saw the drawing."
The program the Post is reporting about — reportedly called MUSCULAR — is said to be separate from the PRISM program that was disclosed earlier this year. Under PRISM, as we wrote in June, "Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Apple and Paltalk all negotiated with the government under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide the National Security Agency with user data."
According to The New York Times, under PRISM such data are shared only after the companies' lawyers review the government's requests and determine that they meet the FISA requirements. But MUSCULAR, writes the Post, "appears to be an unusually aggressive use of NSA tradecraft against flagship American companies."
Barton Gellman, one of the two reporters who wrote today's Post story, talked with Fresh Air last month about how he came into contact with Snowden and about the effectiveness of post-Sept. 11 surveillance programs.
All the unlimited lives, ammo, and health in the world won't make it easier to deal with your boss at that meeting you've got later today. But you know what will? Some straight-up liquid courage. And that's why this Gamebooze is infinitely more useful to a gainfully employed adult than a Game Boy. For just $20 it promises to make everything more enjoyable: from your daily subway commute, to waiting in line at the bank, to your kid's piano recital. Just don't forget to 'charge' it every night if you know what we mean. [ThinkGeek]
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In what may be the most dramatic example of hardware "embrace and extend" to date, Altera announced at the ARM developer's conference yesterday that it had reached an agreement with Intel to manufacture Altera quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 chips using Intel's latest 14nm technology. Forbes claimed to have an exclusive scoop on the announcement, although Mark LaPedus at Chip Design reported on the agreement with Intel back in February.
Forbes cast the story as one of Intel rushing to catch up in the mobile market. The true nature of the beast, however, is far more nuanced.
Under the terms of this agreement, Intel isn't going to design or sell an ARM chip. Rather, Intel has agreed to use its state-of-the-art 14nm foundries to build chips for Altera. The foundry business is highly competitive -- TSMC and United Microelectronics (UMC) in Taiwan and California-based GlobalFoundries are all full-time foundries. Samsung in South Korea has an enormous foundry division. Intel's tossing its hat into the ring to compete with those foundries and several smaller ones, using its brand-new 14nm fabs in Oregon, Arizona, and Ireland.
In other words, Intel's not competing against ARM -- at least, not with this contract -- it's competing against TSMC, UMC, GlobalFoundries, and Samsung.
Part of Intel's motivation may have more to do with excess plant capacity than a driving need to build Intel-stamped ARM competitors. Jason Mick at Daily Tech explained earlier this month that Intel had to delay its 14nm Broadwell chips to Q1 2014 because of problems shrinking the Haswell/Broadwell die from 22nm to 14nm. Reading between the lines, it looks like the delay left Intel with excess 14nm manufacturing capacity -- at least until next year.
Don't be misled. Intel still wants to eat ARM's lunch, and its efforts to produce a souped-up version of Intel's Atom processor, called Quark, continue unabated. Quark, we're told, will be one-fifth the size of Atom and consume one-tenth as much power. While Intel will initially manufacture Quarks at its own fabs, at some point the system will be licensed out to third parties. Intel's stealing a page from ARM's playbook.
So yes, one day you could see an Intel-based Quark chip manufactured by, oh, TSMC. Just as you could see an Apple A7 chip or Qualcomm Snapdragon or Nvidia Tegra -- all ARM based -- manufactured by Intel.
The nature of the chip business is changing quickly. Let the competition begin.
This story, "The chip times are a-changin': Intel agrees to build ARM chips," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
Quarterly earnings season continues, and this time it's the turn of Sprint with their Q3 2013 results. All-in-all it isn't a great quarter for the carrier, though operating losses may have shrunk, it's the declining subscriber numbers that will potentially sound the most alarm bells. On a positive note for Sprint, and for Apple, it seems iPhone sales are doing OK.
Sprint sold nearly 1.4 million iPhones® during the quarter of which 40 percent were to new customers.
Perhaps the full effect of the iPhone 5s launch is yet to be felt, but the iPhone does at least continue to attract a healthy number of new customers to Sprint. And for Apple, that's 1.4 million units to throw into their own figures.
Did you pick up a new iPhone on Sprint this quarter? How's your experience been with both phone and carrier?
Source: Sprint
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Julie Robert
julie.robert@muhc.mcgill.ca
514-934-1934 x71381
McGill University Health Centre
This news release is available in French.
MONTREAL, October 30, 2013 Diagnosing colorectal cancer (CRC) is complex; it relies on significant invasive tests and subjective evaluations. This process may soon become much easier thanks to a medical breakthrough by scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). The researchers have identified genetic changes in the colon lining, or mucosa, in colorectal cancer patients that could be used as biomarkers of the disease. That will allow doctors to diagnose patients earlier, more accurately and less invasively. The study, recently published online, in Cancer Prevention Research, has implications for the nearly one million people diagnosed annually worldwide.
"The gold standard of diagnosis is currently colonoscopy," says corresponding author of the study, Dr. Rima Rozen, a geneticist from the Departments of Human Genetics and Pediatrics at The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC and McGill University. "This is an invasive procedure, where the physician looks for abnormal tissue or growths also known as polyps." Additionally, given surging demand for colonoscopies, this research may ultimately offer an alternative option for early diagnosis, paving the way for the reduction in wait time.
According to Dr. Rozen, who is also a researcher of the Medical Genetics and Genomics Axis at the RI-MUHC, having genetic biomarkers of CRC will enhance the diagnostic procedure. "This new method could help to avoid false negative findings, which can occur in 10 to 15 per cent of endoscopic procedures," she says. "The key is using the right genes. I believe the ones we have identified are good candidates."
Dr. Rozen and her colleagues first identified five possible abnormal marker genes in a colon cancer mouse model. They then confirmed that these candidate biomarker genes were also abnormal in tissue obtained from colon cancer patients. "Not only did this show that our mouse model mimics the human disease," says Dr. Rozen. "But more importantly, it identified genes that could be used for colorectal cancer diagnosis."
Interestingly, the abnormal patterns of these genes were detected in otherwise normal colon cells that were not near the tumor site. "CRC develops in different stages," says Dr. Rozen. "This finding suggests that it may be possible to take tissue samples in more accessible regions of the gastrointestinal tract or, ideally, in blood or stool, and look for biomarkers as an early indicator of disease."
###
About colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer also known as bowel or colon cancer refers to the abnormal cell growth in the colon (intestine) and rectum. The abnormal cells can develop into benign (non-cancerous) tumours called polyps. Although not all polyps develop into colorectal cancer, colorectal cancer almost always develops from a polyp. Over time, genes in the polyp mutate and cells within them become malignant (cancerous). Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in developed countries.
About the study:
The study, Genes with aberrant expression in murine preneoplastic intestine show epigenetic and expression changes in normal mucosa of colon cancer patients, was co-authored by Daniel Leclerc, Nancy Lvesque, Yuanhang Cao, Liyuan Deng, Qing Wu, and Rima Rozen of the RI-MUHC, Montreal and Jasmine Powell and Carmen Sapienza of the Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia.
This research was made possible thanks to funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Related links:
For more information please contact:
Julie Robert
Public Affairs and Strategic Planning
McGill University Health Centre
t: 514-843-1560
e: julie.robert@muhc.mcgill.ca
facebook.com/cusm.muhc | http://www.muhc.ca
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: 30-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Julie Robert
julie.robert@muhc.mcgill.ca
514-934-1934 x71381
McGill University Health Centre
This news release is available in French.
MONTREAL, October 30, 2013 Diagnosing colorectal cancer (CRC) is complex; it relies on significant invasive tests and subjective evaluations. This process may soon become much easier thanks to a medical breakthrough by scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). The researchers have identified genetic changes in the colon lining, or mucosa, in colorectal cancer patients that could be used as biomarkers of the disease. That will allow doctors to diagnose patients earlier, more accurately and less invasively. The study, recently published online, in Cancer Prevention Research, has implications for the nearly one million people diagnosed annually worldwide.
"The gold standard of diagnosis is currently colonoscopy," says corresponding author of the study, Dr. Rima Rozen, a geneticist from the Departments of Human Genetics and Pediatrics at The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC and McGill University. "This is an invasive procedure, where the physician looks for abnormal tissue or growths also known as polyps." Additionally, given surging demand for colonoscopies, this research may ultimately offer an alternative option for early diagnosis, paving the way for the reduction in wait time.
According to Dr. Rozen, who is also a researcher of the Medical Genetics and Genomics Axis at the RI-MUHC, having genetic biomarkers of CRC will enhance the diagnostic procedure. "This new method could help to avoid false negative findings, which can occur in 10 to 15 per cent of endoscopic procedures," she says. "The key is using the right genes. I believe the ones we have identified are good candidates."
Dr. Rozen and her colleagues first identified five possible abnormal marker genes in a colon cancer mouse model. They then confirmed that these candidate biomarker genes were also abnormal in tissue obtained from colon cancer patients. "Not only did this show that our mouse model mimics the human disease," says Dr. Rozen. "But more importantly, it identified genes that could be used for colorectal cancer diagnosis."
Interestingly, the abnormal patterns of these genes were detected in otherwise normal colon cells that were not near the tumor site. "CRC develops in different stages," says Dr. Rozen. "This finding suggests that it may be possible to take tissue samples in more accessible regions of the gastrointestinal tract or, ideally, in blood or stool, and look for biomarkers as an early indicator of disease."
###
About colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer also known as bowel or colon cancer refers to the abnormal cell growth in the colon (intestine) and rectum. The abnormal cells can develop into benign (non-cancerous) tumours called polyps. Although not all polyps develop into colorectal cancer, colorectal cancer almost always develops from a polyp. Over time, genes in the polyp mutate and cells within them become malignant (cancerous). Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in developed countries.
About the study:
The study, Genes with aberrant expression in murine preneoplastic intestine show epigenetic and expression changes in normal mucosa of colon cancer patients, was co-authored by Daniel Leclerc, Nancy Lvesque, Yuanhang Cao, Liyuan Deng, Qing Wu, and Rima Rozen of the RI-MUHC, Montreal and Jasmine Powell and Carmen Sapienza of the Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia.
This research was made possible thanks to funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Related links:
For more information please contact:
Julie Robert
Public Affairs and Strategic Planning
McGill University Health Centre
t: 514-843-1560
e: julie.robert@muhc.mcgill.ca
facebook.com/cusm.muhc | http://www.muhc.ca
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.
The Kardashian/Jenner clan knows how to celebrate in style. With Kendall Jenner's 18th birthday less than a week away (her actual birthday is Nov. 3), the whole motley crue spent the afternoon of Oct. 29 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif. to celebrate the model's big day.
PHOTOS: Kendall Jenner's bikini body
The family rented out the entire park, and took full advantage of the thrill-inducing rides, including several roller coasters -- and sharing the experience, naturally, via Keek and Instagram videos. Kendall and her sister Kylie, 16, also rode a wild ride called SlingShot, which catapults seated passengers into the air with bungee cords.
Kris Jenner posts a selfie with Bruce, Brody, and Brandon Jenner at Kendall Jenner's 18th birthday celebration at Magic Mountain on Oct. 29.
Credit: Courtesy of Kris Jenner
PHOTOS: The Kardashians and other famous families
After Kris Jenner attended Bruce Jenner's birthday party on Oct. 27, the separated couple once again amicably bonded to enjoy Kendall's special night. The momager posted a selfie with Bruce, Brody, and Brandon Jenner, captioning it, "Great night at Magic Mountain! @sprandoni @brodyjenner Bruce #happybirthdaykendall."
PHOTOS: Kardashian family vacation album
The couple announced the end of their 22-year marriage on the Oct. 21 cover of Us Weekly, but since then have seemed chummier than ever, attending numerous family functions together.
Also in attendance at Kendall's bash was the newly-engaged Kim Kardashian. The mom of 4-month-old North West posted a Keek video while riding a roller coaster in the park. No word on whether her fiancé Kanye West partook in the festivities. His Yeezus Tour finished two Los Angeles shows on Oct. 28 and continues on Halloween in Vancouver.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Computer-maker Lenovo has hired tech-savvy actor Ashton Kutcher to help design and pitch its latest line of tablets, dubbing the Hollywood star a "product engineer" who can bring his ideas along with his image.
It's the latest tech foray for the "Two and a Half Men" performer who recently starred in a biopic about innovative giant Steve Jobs and has invested venture capital in more than a dozen Silicon Valley startups.
The deal was announced Tuesday at a Lenovo live-streamed event in Los Angeles. Lenovo's first video advertisements for the new Yoga Tablet feature Kutcher acting as a product tester in his boxers, a spacesuit and aboard an airplane.
Kutcher also has appeared in advertisements in recent years for snack chips and cameras.
Amazon Cloud Player Desktop App Now Available for Mac
A Simple, Smart, Fast Way to Enjoy Your Entire Music Library from Your Desktop – Online or Offline
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 2013-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)- Following the successful release of Amazon Cloud Player for PC earlier this year, Amazon.com, Inc. today announced the availability of Amazon Cloud Player for Mac. The new app provides Mac users with a seamless way to manage their entire music library – whether saved on their computer or in the cloud – and shop from the Amazon MP3 Store with a catalog of more than 25 million songs.
Amazon Cloud Player for Mac features include:
One-place for all your music: Play your Amazon and iTunes music all from one place, even when offline.
A music library that is always up-to-date: Cloud Player automatically detects and adds new music to your library even if you bought it from iTunes or ripped a CD. The app does all the work for you.
An integrated MP3 Store: You can shop from the Amazon MP3 catalog of more than 25 million songs and discover new music with personalized recommendations, all without having to leave the app.
AutoRip: Buy an AutoRip CD or vinyl record from Amazon and a free MP3 version of the album will be added to your Cloud Player for Mac library.
Built for speed: Forget bloated players with extra features you don't need or use. Cloud Player for Mac is lean, mean and made for your music. It'll get you from launch to play in seconds.
Music management made simple: Download your MP3 purchases automatically or with one click. Export your music to other music players. Create and manage playlists using simple drag-and-drop.
Instant search & play: Find music easily and quickly. Type anywhere to search for an artist, album or song and play directly from the search results.
Rich artist content: See artist photos, bios, tweets, and gorgeous, large album art.
Anywhere access: Music purchased using Amazon Cloud Player for Mac is securely backed up in the cloud for free and made instantly available on any Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Samsung TV, Roku, Sonos, PC or web browser.
"Amazon Cloud Player offers customers the easiest way to enjoy their music across all their devices," said Steve Boom, Vice President of Digital Music for Amazon. "Our customers have told us they love our PC desktop app, and we are excited to bring the same great experience to our Mac customers."
Amazon Cloud Player for Mac is available today for free at amazon.com/getcloudplayer.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 29-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Joe Caspemeyer
MBEpress@gmail.com
480-258-8972
Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)
Staying a step ahead of influenza
Every fall, the latest batch of flu vaccines attempts to keep society a step ahead of the evolution of the flu virus. Heroic worldwide surveillance efforts have avoided a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic, but as shown in the recent H1N1 outbreak, viruses can still outwit even the best public health efforts.
During the H1N1 outbreak, antiviral drugs offered the only hope against emergent flu strains. Two drug classes: adamantanes (FDA approved in 1966) and neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir, FDA approved in 1999) represent two classes of drugs that target viral an ion channel and a cell surface antigen, respectively, hereby preventing or treating infection.
In an ambitious study, the authors attempt to trace drug resistance against all strains of the flu by using an extensive influenza virus database containing all known genetic sequence information (70,000 complete nucleotide sequences) for influenza strains. Using a phylogenetic approach, authors Vanessa Garcia and Stphane Aris-Brosou examined the evolutionary history of antiviral drug resistance. "Although the approaches employed in our study are not novel in themselves, the scale of the analyses is unprecedented and allowed us to track in public databases the dynamics of all known mutations involved in drug resistance", reported the senior author.
How does the virus outwit two leading antiviral therapies? Widespread use of these drugs has led to the emergence of drug resistance. Most disconcerting, recent "dual resistance" viruses dodge both drugs, leaving us defenseless against the virus. While adamantane resistance mutations appeared readily, it took 15-38 years after FDA approval to emerge, but emerged 3 times, whereas, the less spontaneous oseltamivir mutations took at most 7 years, serving as a public health cautionary tail. The authors support the judicious use of antiviral drugs as a last line of defense against influenza to avoid the spread of dual resistance, which is already circulating in H1N1 viruses in humans. "Our results also suggest that most of the mutations leading to influenza drug resistance are on the wane, so that recent efforts in controlling drug use are paying off, but we should remain vigilant," commented Stphane Aris-Brosou.
Everything you wanted to know about honeybee sex
There is an exquisite genetic control behind a honeybee's fate in the hive---from the lowly drone to the almighty queen---which literally, represents the bees knees for evolutionary scientists exploring how multiple mutations, or alleles, of a single gene called the complementary sex determiner (csd) can have a profound influence on honeybee society.
Unlike people, there are no X and Y sex chromosomes for bees. Rather, sex is determined by a single gene csd and its allelic composition and whether or not a queen bee choses to fertilize her eggs. Female bees (queens or workers) come from fertilized eggs, receiving always two different (heterozygote) copies of csd. Fertile males always come from unfertilized eggs, receiving only one copy of csd. Two identical (homozygote) copies of csd in fertilized eggs is always lethal; these individuals are being killed at the early larval stage by worker bees as they would develop into diploid males which do not contribute to colony fitness.
Lechner, et al., have now examined the exquisite molecular control behind the sex determination, finely identifying and tracing back a comprehensive number of csd alleles to create a richer understanding of the variability of the csd gene over evolutionary time. They looked at a data set of 244 csd sequences from queens, worker bees and drones, and showed that the total number of csd alleles found in bees ranges from at least 53 (locally) to 87 (worldwide), which is much higher than previously reported (20). Using an evolutionary model, they also extrapolated the presence of total 116-145 csd alleles worldwide, a great example of the enormous sequence variability within csd. They were able to finely decipher the minimum number of mutations leading to heterozygous csd, identify faster evolving hot spots within the csd gene, and how these may contribute to variability.
"Comprehensive insights into the sequence variability of the sex determining gene csd in honeybees elucidate the evolutionary processes that lead to the enormous number of csd-alleles found worldwide," said Hasselmann
Finally, they traced the data back over evolutionary time and found that a novel csd function affecting sex determination arises about every 400,000 years. The study provides one of the most comprehensive views of the enormous genetic diversity and the evolutionary forces shaping sex determination in bees, as well as how changes in csd affect honey bee colony fitness.
###
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: 29-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Joe Caspemeyer
MBEpress@gmail.com
480-258-8972
Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)
Staying a step ahead of influenza
Every fall, the latest batch of flu vaccines attempts to keep society a step ahead of the evolution of the flu virus. Heroic worldwide surveillance efforts have avoided a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic, but as shown in the recent H1N1 outbreak, viruses can still outwit even the best public health efforts.
During the H1N1 outbreak, antiviral drugs offered the only hope against emergent flu strains. Two drug classes: adamantanes (FDA approved in 1966) and neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir, FDA approved in 1999) represent two classes of drugs that target viral an ion channel and a cell surface antigen, respectively, hereby preventing or treating infection.
In an ambitious study, the authors attempt to trace drug resistance against all strains of the flu by using an extensive influenza virus database containing all known genetic sequence information (70,000 complete nucleotide sequences) for influenza strains. Using a phylogenetic approach, authors Vanessa Garcia and Stphane Aris-Brosou examined the evolutionary history of antiviral drug resistance. "Although the approaches employed in our study are not novel in themselves, the scale of the analyses is unprecedented and allowed us to track in public databases the dynamics of all known mutations involved in drug resistance", reported the senior author.
How does the virus outwit two leading antiviral therapies? Widespread use of these drugs has led to the emergence of drug resistance. Most disconcerting, recent "dual resistance" viruses dodge both drugs, leaving us defenseless against the virus. While adamantane resistance mutations appeared readily, it took 15-38 years after FDA approval to emerge, but emerged 3 times, whereas, the less spontaneous oseltamivir mutations took at most 7 years, serving as a public health cautionary tail. The authors support the judicious use of antiviral drugs as a last line of defense against influenza to avoid the spread of dual resistance, which is already circulating in H1N1 viruses in humans. "Our results also suggest that most of the mutations leading to influenza drug resistance are on the wane, so that recent efforts in controlling drug use are paying off, but we should remain vigilant," commented Stphane Aris-Brosou.
Everything you wanted to know about honeybee sex
There is an exquisite genetic control behind a honeybee's fate in the hive---from the lowly drone to the almighty queen---which literally, represents the bees knees for evolutionary scientists exploring how multiple mutations, or alleles, of a single gene called the complementary sex determiner (csd) can have a profound influence on honeybee society.
Unlike people, there are no X and Y sex chromosomes for bees. Rather, sex is determined by a single gene csd and its allelic composition and whether or not a queen bee choses to fertilize her eggs. Female bees (queens or workers) come from fertilized eggs, receiving always two different (heterozygote) copies of csd. Fertile males always come from unfertilized eggs, receiving only one copy of csd. Two identical (homozygote) copies of csd in fertilized eggs is always lethal; these individuals are being killed at the early larval stage by worker bees as they would develop into diploid males which do not contribute to colony fitness.
Lechner, et al., have now examined the exquisite molecular control behind the sex determination, finely identifying and tracing back a comprehensive number of csd alleles to create a richer understanding of the variability of the csd gene over evolutionary time. They looked at a data set of 244 csd sequences from queens, worker bees and drones, and showed that the total number of csd alleles found in bees ranges from at least 53 (locally) to 87 (worldwide), which is much higher than previously reported (20). Using an evolutionary model, they also extrapolated the presence of total 116-145 csd alleles worldwide, a great example of the enormous sequence variability within csd. They were able to finely decipher the minimum number of mutations leading to heterozygous csd, identify faster evolving hot spots within the csd gene, and how these may contribute to variability.
"Comprehensive insights into the sequence variability of the sex determining gene csd in honeybees elucidate the evolutionary processes that lead to the enormous number of csd-alleles found worldwide," said Hasselmann
Finally, they traced the data back over evolutionary time and found that a novel csd function affecting sex determination arises about every 400,000 years. The study provides one of the most comprehensive views of the enormous genetic diversity and the evolutionary forces shaping sex determination in bees, as well as how changes in csd affect honey bee colony fitness.
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