Cancer drug cisplatin found to bind like glue in cellular RNA

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) ? An anti-cancer drug used extensively in chemotherapy binds pervasively to RNA -- up to 20-fold more than it does to DNA, a surprise finding that suggests new targeting approaches might be useful, according to University of Oregon researchers.

Medical researchers have long known that cisplatin, a platinum compound used to fight tumors in nearly 70 percent of all human cancers, attaches to DNA. Its attachment to RNA had been assumed to be a fleeting thing, says UO chemist Victoria J. DeRose, who decided to take a closer look due to recent discoveries of critical RNA-based cell processes.

"We're looking at RNA as a new drug target," she said. "We think this is an important discovery because we know that RNA is very different in tumors than it is in regular healthy cells. We thought that the platinum would bind to RNA, but that the RNA would just degrade and the platinum would be shunted out of the cell. In fact, we found that the platinum was retained on the RNA and also bound quickly, being found on the RNA as fast as one hour after treatment."

The National Institutes of Health- and UO-funded research is detailed in a paper placed online ahead of regular publication in ACS Chemical Biology, a journal of the American Chemical Society. Co-authors with DeRose, a member of the UO chemistry department and Institute of Molecular Biology, were UO doctoral students Alethia A. Hostetter and Maire F. Osborn.

The researchers applied cisplatin to rapidly dividing and RNA-rich yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a much-used eukaryotic model organism in biology). They then extracted the DNA and RNA from the treated cells and studied the density of platinum per nucleotide with mass spectrometry. Specific locations of the metal ions were further hunted down with detailed sequencing methods. They found that the platinum was two to three times denser on DNA but that there was a much higher whole-cell concentration on RNA. Moreover, the drug bound like glue to specific sections of RNA.

DeRose is now pursuing the ramifications of the findings. "Can this drug be made to be more or less reactive to specific RNAs?" she said. "Might we be able to go after these new targets and thereby reduce the drug's toxicity?"

While cisplatin is effective in reducing tumor size, its use often is halted because of toxicity issues, including renal insufficiency, tinnitus, anemia, gastrointestinal problems and nerve damage.

The extensive roles of RNA have come under intense scrutiny since completion of the human genome opened new windows on DNA, life's building blocks. It had been assumed that RNA was simply a messenger that coded for protein activity. New technologies, DeRose said, have shown that a vast amount of RNA performs an amazing level of different functions in gene expression, controlling it in specific ways during development or disease, particularly in cancer cells.

In this project, DeRose's team only explored cisplatin's binding on two forms of RNA: ribosomes, where the highest concentration of the drug was found; and messenger RNA. There are more areas to be looked at, said DeRose, whose group initially developed experience using and mapping platinum's activity as a mimic for other metals in her research on RNA enzymes.

DeRose is now planning work with UO colleague Hui Zong, a biologist studying how cancer emerges, to extend the research into mouse cells to see if the findings in yeast RNA hold up. An additional collaboration with UO chemist Michael Haley involves the creation of new platinum-based drugs with "reaction handles" that will allow researchers to easily pull the experimental drugs out of cells, while still attached to their biological targets. New developments in 'deep' RNA sequencing, available through the UO's Genomic Core Facilities, could then provide a much broader view of platinum's preferred resting sites in the cell.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Alethia A. Hostetter, Maire F. Osborn, Victoria J. DeRose. RNA-Pt Adducts Following Cisplatin Treatment ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae. ACS Chemical Biology, 2011; : 111115133224009 DOI: 10.1021/cb200279p

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/~3/zvBdwjLtC1o/111121142444.htm

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Critical molecules for hearing and balance discovered

Monday, November 21, 2011

Researchers have found long-sought genes in the sensory hair cells of the inner ear that, when mutated, prevent sound waves from being converted to electric signals ? a fundamental first step in hearing. The team, co-led by Jeffrey Holt, PhD, in the department of otolaryngology at Children?s Hospital Boston, and Andrew Griffith, MD, PhD, of the NIH?s National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), then restored these electrical signals in the sensory cells of deaf mice by introducing normal genes.

The study paves the way for a test of gene therapy to reverse a type of deafness, to be conducted by Holt and Swiss collaborators. Findings appear in the November 21 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Sound waves produce the sensation of hearing by jiggling protruding hair-like structures on sensory hair cells in the inner ear. Scientists have long believed that the hair cells carry a protein that converts this mechanical motion into electrical signals. While similar proteins have been identified for other senses ? taste, smell, sight ? researchers had been unable to find the critical protein required for hearing, in part because of the difficulty of getting enough cells from the inner ear to study.

?People have been looking for more than 30 years,? says Holt, also a member of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Children?s Hospital Boston. ?Five or six possibilities have come up, but didn?t pan out.?

Holt, Griffith and colleagues found that two related proteins, TMC1 and TMC2, are essential for hearing. They make up gateways known as ion channels, which sit atop the hair-like projections (called stereocilia) and let electrically charged molecules (ions) move in to the cell, generating an electrical signal that ultimately travels to the brain.

The gene for TMC1 was previously shown by Griffith and NIDCD-funded collaborators to be mutated in both mice and humans with hereditary deafness. TMC2, the new study found, seems to have a redundant function and may compensate if TMC1 is defective.

The study also found that the same defects affect sensory hair cells in the vestibular system, which underlies the sense of balance. Although TMC1 mutations cause only hearing loss, not balance problems, in humans, mice with defects in both TMC1 and TMC2 are deaf and fail balance tests requiring them to navigate a rotating rod.

The investigators then engineered an adenovirus to carry normal copies of TMC1 or TMC2 into the inner-ear hair cells of mice that had mutations in both genes. Using special techniques developed in Holt?s lab, they recorded electrical responses to noise in the sensory hair cells when either TMC1 or TMC2 was added back ? where before there had been none. ?This is the first time anything like this has been done,? says Holt.

But does restoring the electrical response translate into restoration of hearing? Holt and collaborators at the Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland recently received a $600,000 grant for a gene-therapy trial in mice. The researchers will deliver genes to the inner ear and measure whether electrical signals can be detected in the 8th cranial nerve and whether the animals respond to sound. EPFL will supply newer, safer gene-delivery vectors for testing that could potentially be developed for human trials.

According to the NIDCD, about 1 in 300 to 500 newborns are born deaf or hard-of-hearing, and it?s believed that about half of cases have genetic causes. About 60 genes, including TMC1, are known to be associated with human deafness.

###

Children's Hospital Boston: http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom

Thanks to Children's Hospital Boston for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115360/Critical_molecules_for_hearing_and_balance_discovered

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At British hearing, stars turn tables on tabloids

FILE - In this Monday, May 9, 2011 file photo of British actor Hugh Grant, as he poses with fans as he arrives for the European premiere of the 'Fire in Babylon' film at a cinema in London. Film star Hugh Grant, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, and the father of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among those due to testify starting Monday Nov. 21, 2011 and over the next week at the U.K. inquiry into media ethics _ a judicial body that could recommend sweeping changes to the way Britons get their news. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

FILE - In this Monday, May 9, 2011 file photo of British actor Hugh Grant, as he poses with fans as he arrives for the European premiere of the 'Fire in Babylon' film at a cinema in London. Film star Hugh Grant, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, and the father of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among those due to testify starting Monday Nov. 21, 2011 and over the next week at the U.K. inquiry into media ethics _ a judicial body that could recommend sweeping changes to the way Britons get their news. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

(AP) ? They've been hacked and libeled, stalked and slandered. Now the public figures whose personal lives have long offered grist for Britain's news mill have been given a rare chance to confront their tabloid tormentors.

Film star Hugh Grant, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, and the father of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among those due to testify over the next week at the U.K. inquiry into media ethics ? a judicial body that could recommend sweeping changes to the way Britons get their news.

The nationally televised inquiry would give many of those in the public eye an unprecedented chance to challenge those who write about them, said Cary Cooper, a professor at northern England's Lancaster University and the author of "Public Faces, Private Lives."

"This is the first time the celebrities have been able to strike back," Cooper said. "I think it will have an impact, and the media might ? for a while at least ? pull away."

Speaking ahead of the testimony, victims' lawyer David Sherborne told the inquiry multiple tales of shattered privacy, broken lives and even suicides stemming from relentless media intrusion.

"When people talk of public interest in exposing the private lives of well-known people or those close to them, this is the real, brutally real impact which this kind of journalism has," Sherborne said.

Britain's media ethics probe was set up in the wake of the scandal over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, which was shut in July after it became clear that the tabloid had systematically broken the law. Most horrific was the news that the tabloid had broken into the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in its search for scoops.

Cooper acknowledged that celebrities like Grant or actress Sienna Miller ? another star due to give evidence ? have struggled to get much in the way of public sympathy even when it was shown that their privacy had been invaded. But he said their appearance alongside crime victims such as Bob and Sally Dowler or Gerry McCann could mark a shift in attitudes.

"They're going to get hit worse by the Milly Dowler family and witnesses of that ilk," he said.

Sherborne, in a two-and-half-hour-long presentation Wednesday, promised to make journalists squirm.

Most powerful among his accusations was the suggestion that media coverage had driven some celebrities' family members to the brink of suicide ? or beyond.

Sherborne said that former Formula One racing boss Max Mosley believed that the suicide of his 39-year-old son Alexander could also be at least in part attributed to "the very public humiliation" dealt to his father by the News of the World's expose of his sexual shenanigans.

He went on to outline the case of soccer player Garry Flitcroft, whose life was turned upside down by a newspaper's revelation that he'd cheated on his wife. Flitcroft's children were teased in school, his family was tracked by helicopter and his ailing father fell into a deepening depression before taking his own life, the lawyer said.

Another case involved Charlotte Church, the British singer who shot to stardom as a teenager. Sherborne said she'd been subjected to waves of harassment. Photographers chased her in cars, tried to take pictures up her skirt and cut holes in bushes to install secret cameras. So hungry was the press for scoops about her private life that journalists revealed she was pregnant before she had even told her parents.

Worse still was the News of the World's expose of her father's affair in 2005. Sherborne said that Church's mother had attempted suicide shortly before the story ran, but that rather than hold back, "the newspaper approached her mother directly and persuaded her to give them an exclusive, despite her fragile condition, as part of a Faustian pact that in return they would not run another lurid follow-up story about her husband's affair."

Others testifying over the next seven days include comic actor Steve Coogan, whose romantic exploits have been exhaustively documented, and broadcaster Anne Diamond, who was targeted by Murdoch's press after she challenged the mogul about his ethics.

Chris Jeffries, who was wrongly implicated in the murder of his tenant, is also due to give evidence, along with soccer star Paul Gascoigne's ex-wife Sheryl; human rights activist Jane Winter; former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst; and Margaret Watson, whose teenage daughter Diane was stabbed to death in 1991.

___

Online:

The Leveson Inquiry: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-20-EU-Britain-Tabloids-on-Trial/id-f9a6e620e97c4c518f627bd2686f5c92

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Egypt stock market drops on political unrest (AP)

CAIRO ? Egypt's benchmark stock index extended its decline for a second consecutive day and airport officials reported a sharp drop Monday in international passenger arrivals as deadly clashes in the capital cast fresh doubts about the country's political stability days before pivotal parliamentary elections.

The Egyptian Exchange's EGX30 index closed 3.99 percent weaker, at 3,862 points, according to the exchange's Web site. The drop surpassed the previous day's 2.4 percent decline sparked by clashes between security forces and protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, and pushed the index's year-to-date losses to almost 46 percent.

The protesters are demanding that the ruling military council announce a date for transition to a civilian government. At least 24 people have been killed in the clashes since Saturday across Egypt, the overwhelming majority in Cairo, according to a morgue official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian pound flirted near the 6 pounds to the U.S. dollar mark, reaching levels largely unseen since the height of the Jan. 25 uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak. The pound, which had hit about 5.99 pounds to the dollar, pulled back to around 5.973 pounds to the dollar later in the day. Also, Egypt's 5-year credit default swaps, the cost of insuring the country's debt, stood at 525 basis points compared to 466 basis points on Nov. 18, according to data from financial information provider Markit.

The depreciation pressures, coupled with the soaring debt costs, underscored the country's economic crunch which has been exacerbated by a nearly 40 percent erosion in net international reserves since December.

"Egypt has a massive external financing risk over the next year, and these political events are making matters worse," said Said Hirsh, Mideast economist with Capital Economics in London. "Any kind of political uncertainty is making the situation worse."

The uprising that ousted Mubarak in mid-February sparked a tide of optimism in the country, with millions expecting that nearly three-decades of authoritarian rule best defined by a system of crony capitalism and outright nepotism would be replaced by a transparent, democratic system that offered them at least the opportunity to succeed.

But those expectations have proven far greater than the reality on the ground as mass protests battered the economy, with key foreign revenue sources tourism and foreign investment taking a beating since the start of the year.

Net international reserves were down to $22 billion by the end of October, from $36 billion by the end of last year, according to Central Bank of Egypt figures. At least some of that has gone to supporting the Egyptian currency.

The unrest comes days before parliamentary elections ? the first since Mubarak's ouster. The vote is seen as a milestone in Egypt's transition to a democratic system, but the violence has raised questions about whether the various parties will pull out.

Reflecting the impact of the unrest, airport officials in Cairo said at least two airlines canceled flights from Italy and Syria on Monday because of the unrest in the capital and that the number of arrivals from European nations plunged between 30 to 50 percent. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

The cancellations and the drop in arrivals was reminiscent of the mass departures of foreigners from Egypt in the first days of the uprising ? an exodus that heralded the start of the decline of the country's vital tourism sector for the year.

The IMF is projecting Egypt's economic growth to come in at an anemic 1.2 percent this year compared to about 5 percent in 2010.

With key revenue sources hammered the interim government has had to rely on foreign aid, as well as selling treasury bills and bonds to raise money. But yields on two billion, 266-day, treasury bills auctioned on Sunday surged to 14.7 percent ? significantly higher than the 1.5 percent interest rate the IMF had requested on a roughly $3 billion loan it offered the government over the summer.

Egyptian officials turned down that offer, but are now re-evaluating it given the climbing yields they are forced to pay to attract interest in their securities.

"The problem is that this is an interim government, and it's questionable how much power it has with the military council making the decision," said Hirsh. "There's basically no clear economic policy direction on the part of the interim government."

The decision to turn down the IMF loan and turn to T-bills to raise money at higher yields reflects "this sort of contradiction in policy," he said. "It's doesn't make any sense."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_egypt_economy

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Global economic woes hit Singapore, Japan exports (AP)

SINGAPORE ? The effects of the European debt crisis and sluggish U.S. growth are radiating into Asia's export-driven economies, putting brakes on the rebound from the 2009 global recession.

Singapore, seen as a bellwether of Western demand because of its very high reliance on trade, said Monday its economy would likely suffer a sharp slowdown next year as export orders from developed countries wane.

Adding to the pessimism, Japan suffered its first drop in exports in three months and a top Chinese official predicted the current malaise in the world economy would be long lasting. The slew of dour news helped send Asian stock markets lower.

"Although resilient domestic demand in emerging Asia will provide some support to global demand, it will not fully mitigate the effects of an economic slowdown in the advanced economies," Singapore's Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement.

Europe's economy is barely growing amid its ever widening debt crisis and sharp government spending cuts might tip the region back into recession. At the same time, the U.S. is dogged by high unemployment, making it difficult for the world's No. 1 economy to stage a healthy comeback from the recession sparked by the 2008 financial crisis.

Asia, led by China's enormous stimulus spending, bounced back quickly from the last worldwide downturn and gained increased global clout as a result. But the region remains reliant on Western demand for its cars, electronics, clothing and other goods.

The Asian Development Bank estimated that the 2008 financial crisis that sparked the global recession added 60 million people in developing Asia to the ranks of those already trapped in extreme poverty. That was in addition some 900 million Asians already living on $1.25 or less a day.

In bluntly negative terms, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who oversees trade and finance, described the global economic situation as "extremely serious," state media reported on the weekend.

"In a time of uncertainty the only thing we can be certain of is that the world economic recession caused by the international crisis will last a long time," Wang was quoted as saying ahead of annual talks between U.S. and Chinese trade officials.

In Japan, exports fell for the first time in three months in October, eroded partly by a strong yen. Exports declined 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 5.51 trillion yen ($71.7 billion), the finance ministry said. Shipments to key markets such as China, North America and the European Union weakened.

The world's No. 3 economy relies heavily on overseas demand to drive growth. The slowdown suggests that its recovery from the March 11 tsunami and earthquake is fading in the face of global headwinds.

Rising energy prices pushed imports up almost 18 percent to 5.79 trillion yen ($75.3 billion). That resulted in an unexpected trade deficit of 273.8 billion yen ($3.56 billion).

Economists predict Japan's gross domestic product will contract in the last three months of the year after a recovery in exports helped it surge 6 percent in the July-September quarter.

Momentum is also being sapped by a strong yen, which shrinks the value of overseas earnings when repatriated and makes Japanese products less price competitive. The currency levels have forced manufacturers including Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. to shift some production overseas, a trend that could further undermine Japan's exports.

The Singapore government forecast that economic growth will probably drop to between 1 percent and 3 percent in 2012 from 5 percent this year. The island of 5.1 million people off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, relies on exports, finance and tourism to maintain one of the world's highest levels of GDP per head.

Citigroup said it expects Singapore's economy to shrink as much as 7 percent in the fourth quarter of this year from the previous quarter. That would be followed by a bigger contraction in the first quarter of next year, it said.

Economic growth in the U.S. and Europe will likely be hamstrung by government austerity, lower lending to households and weak labor and housing markets, Singapore's trade ministry said. It said its GDP forecast does not factor in "a worsening debt situation or a full-blown financial crisis in the advanced economies."

Singapore lowered its forecast for this year's export growth to between 2 percent and 3 percent from 6 to 7 percent after sales abroad contracted 1.1 percent in the third quarter.

The economy grew 6.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.

___

Associated Press writers Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo and Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_bi_ge/as_asia_economy

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Climate change effect on release of CO2 from peat far greater than assumed

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Elinor Elis-Williams
aos033@bangor.ac.uk
44-124-838-3298
Bangor University

Drought causes peat to release far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than has previously been realized

Climate change effect on release of CO2 from peat far greater than assumed Drought causes peat to release far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than has previously been realised.

Much of the world's peatlands lie in regions predicted to experience increased frequency and severity of drought as a result of climate change- leading to the peat drying out and releasing vast stores of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. It's the very wetness of the peat that has kept the air out, locking in centuries of carbon dioxide that would normally be released from the decomposing plant materials in the peat. Now scientists at Bangor University have discovered that the effect of periods of severe drought lasts far beyond the initial drought itself.

Writing in Nature Geosciences (doi 10.1038 NGEO1323), Dr Nathalie Fenner and Professor Chris Freeman of Bangor University explain how the drought causes an increase in the rate of release of CO2 for possibly as long as a decade. It was originally assumed that most of the CO2 was released from the dry peat. Now scientists realise that the release of CO2 continues, and may even increase, when the peat is re-wetted with the arrival of rain. The carbon is lost to the atmosphere as CO2 and methane and to the waters that drain peatlands as dissolved organic carbon (DOC).

"As our global climate and rainfall patterns change, our peatlands may not have sufficient opportunity to recover between these drought-induced episodes of CO2 loss," explains the paper's lead author, Dr Nathalie Fenner. "What we previously perceived as a 'spike' in the rate of carbon loss during drying out, now appears far more prolonged- with a potential peak after the initial drought period is over."

As well as contributing further to climate change, as CO2 is one of the 'greenhouse gasses', the loss of carbon from the peat has other consequences. Dissolved organic carbon in the water as a result of this process, could adversely affect the quality of drinking water. Much of our drinking water comes from these upland sources. The increase of dissolved organic carbon in the water is likely to bring extra problems and expense to the water supply industry because it interferes with the treatment process.

Loss of carbon could ultimately lead to severe degradation of the peatland itself. Occurring on upland regions of the northern hemisphere, the loss of peatland could contribute to an increased frequency of lowland flooding occurrences as the peat acts as a natural 'sponge' for heavy rainfall. There would also be a consequent loss of habitat and species loss as well as a change in the look and feel of our uplands.

"The previous focus of research in this area has been on the drought period, and our own work identified how the release of CO2 occurs," explains Prof Chris Freeman, who leads the Wolfson Peatland Carbon Capture Laboratory at Bangor University. "We were initially surprised at finding that the effects are so prolonged- we think what's happening is microbial and that this activity has been triggered by the introduction of oxygen into previously waterlogged conditions. Once the water returns, conditions have changed and the microbes are further able to thrive until conditions eventually return to normal."

The paper's authors suggest that geo-engineering solutions may have to be considered to preserve the water table and reduce the effects of drought on upland peat.

###



[ 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: 20-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Elinor Elis-Williams
aos033@bangor.ac.uk
44-124-838-3298
Bangor University

Drought causes peat to release far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than has previously been realized

Climate change effect on release of CO2 from peat far greater than assumed Drought causes peat to release far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than has previously been realised.

Much of the world's peatlands lie in regions predicted to experience increased frequency and severity of drought as a result of climate change- leading to the peat drying out and releasing vast stores of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. It's the very wetness of the peat that has kept the air out, locking in centuries of carbon dioxide that would normally be released from the decomposing plant materials in the peat. Now scientists at Bangor University have discovered that the effect of periods of severe drought lasts far beyond the initial drought itself.

Writing in Nature Geosciences (doi 10.1038 NGEO1323), Dr Nathalie Fenner and Professor Chris Freeman of Bangor University explain how the drought causes an increase in the rate of release of CO2 for possibly as long as a decade. It was originally assumed that most of the CO2 was released from the dry peat. Now scientists realise that the release of CO2 continues, and may even increase, when the peat is re-wetted with the arrival of rain. The carbon is lost to the atmosphere as CO2 and methane and to the waters that drain peatlands as dissolved organic carbon (DOC).

"As our global climate and rainfall patterns change, our peatlands may not have sufficient opportunity to recover between these drought-induced episodes of CO2 loss," explains the paper's lead author, Dr Nathalie Fenner. "What we previously perceived as a 'spike' in the rate of carbon loss during drying out, now appears far more prolonged- with a potential peak after the initial drought period is over."

As well as contributing further to climate change, as CO2 is one of the 'greenhouse gasses', the loss of carbon from the peat has other consequences. Dissolved organic carbon in the water as a result of this process, could adversely affect the quality of drinking water. Much of our drinking water comes from these upland sources. The increase of dissolved organic carbon in the water is likely to bring extra problems and expense to the water supply industry because it interferes with the treatment process.

Loss of carbon could ultimately lead to severe degradation of the peatland itself. Occurring on upland regions of the northern hemisphere, the loss of peatland could contribute to an increased frequency of lowland flooding occurrences as the peat acts as a natural 'sponge' for heavy rainfall. There would also be a consequent loss of habitat and species loss as well as a change in the look and feel of our uplands.

"The previous focus of research in this area has been on the drought period, and our own work identified how the release of CO2 occurs," explains Prof Chris Freeman, who leads the Wolfson Peatland Carbon Capture Laboratory at Bangor University. "We were initially surprised at finding that the effects are so prolonged- we think what's happening is microbial and that this activity has been triggered by the introduction of oxygen into previously waterlogged conditions. Once the water returns, conditions have changed and the microbes are further able to thrive until conditions eventually return to normal."

The paper's authors suggest that geo-engineering solutions may have to be considered to preserve the water table and reduce the effects of drought on upland peat.

###



[ 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/2011-11/bu-cce111711.php

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A Beginner's Guide to Commodity Investing

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A Beginner?s Guide to Commodity Investing

by Carl Delfeld, Investment U Senior Analyst
Thursday, November 17, 2011

I?ll never forget my first visit as a teenager to the commodity-trading pit of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The swirling bright colored jackets, the shouting and rapid hand signals (looked like arm wrestling to me) were captivating and reminded me of past family gatherings.

It was also the polar opposite of my later visit to the currency trading floor of JP Morgan at 1 Wall Street ? row after row of white shirts hunched over computer screens and dry IMF statistics.

Commodities sure looked like more fun to me.

My image of commodity markets hasn?t changed all that much since. It?s a volatile and wild ride where even a tiny bit of new information affecting supply or demand can send prices spinning. Weather, transportation costs, economic forecasts, currency movements and many other factors go into how prices change minute to minute.

I approach commodities trading cautiously since expert traders focused all day on one commodity, such as wheat, get it wrong as often as they get it right.

Still, I have to admit, the idea of making or losing a pile of money in a very short time gets my blood pumping.

So how should you approach commodities, and what should you do right now?

The Game Has Changed

Even a decade ago, most investors didn?t even think of investing in commodities except through companies like Alcoa (NYSE: AA) for aluminum, Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) for copper, or Comstock Resources (NYSE: CRK) for natural gas.

But the game has changed.

The arrival of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and notes (ETNs) gives average investors the chance to get into the game with a just a click of the mouse.

The choices are staggering:

  • Coffee ? iPath Coffee (NYSE: JO)
  • Sugar ? iPath Sugar ETN (NYSE: SGG)
  • Lead ? iPath Lead ETN (NYSE: LD)
  • Nickel ? iPath Nickel ETN (NYSE: JJN)
  • Corn ? Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSE: CORN)
  • Grains ? iPath Grains ETN (NYSE: JJG)
  • Cotton ? iPath Cotton ETN (NYSE: BAL)
  • Tin ? iPath Tin ETN (NYSE: JJT)
  • Aluminum ? iPath Aluminum ETN (NYSE: JJU)
  • Silver ? iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV)
  • Oil ? iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index (NYSE: OIL)
  • Palladium ? ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (NYSE: PALL)
  • Natural gas ? iPath Natural Gas ETN (NYSE: GAZ)
  • Timber ? Claymore Beacon Global Timber Index (NYSE: CUT)
  • Livestock ? iPath Livestock ETN (NYSE: COW)

The ?Core-Explore? Commodity Strategy

Given the complexity and volatility involved in commodities, you must have an established strategy if you plan on having any success. So here?s an easy one:

  • First, having a small allocation in a broad basket of commodities in your core portfolio makes a lot of sense.

This should make your overall portfolio less volatile and help preserve capital since commodities don?t usually move lockstep with stocks. In addition, raw materials provide you with a natural inflation hedge.

A great conservative play right now would be the PowerShares DB Agricultural ETF (NYSE: DBA). These agricultural commodities are down only marginally this year and tend to be less volatile than precious or industrial metals. In addition, the long-term bull story of a world population growing at a rate of 200,000 a day plus rising incomes driving higher food prices is very convincing.

To meet this growing demand, the World Bank estimates that farms worldwide will have to produce more food in the next 50 years than it did in the previous 10,000 years.

Here are the commodity weightings in this basket:

1. Sugar: 12.44%

2. Coffee: 11.91%

3. Cocoa: 11.21%

4. Live cattle: 8.68%

5. Corn future: 8.33%

6. Soybean future: 8.14%

7. Wheat future: 5.64%

8. Corn future: 5.35%

9. Lean Hogs future: 5.19%

10. Soybean future: 4.42%

  • Second, for your trading portfolio, explore for commodities that have pulled back sharply.

So far in 2011, the perception of a weakening world economy has driven many commodities sharply lower. Nickel is down 30 percent, copper is down 24 percent and aluminum is down 17 percent so far this year. China is a big consumer of these industrial metals and concern that its economy is slowing has hit them pretty hard.

This is exactly why you should be getting interested in these industrial metals. You want to get in when markets have pulled back and, even better, when they are beginning to trend up. Keep an eye on the iPath Industrial Metals ETF (NYSE: JJM). The lower entry price gives you some downside protection but always have a sell stop in place in case markets move against you.

Now get out there and add some commodities to your global portfolio today.

Good investing,

Carl Delfeld

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Source: http://www.investmentu.com/2011/November/beginners-guide-to-commodity-investing.html

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90% The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (4)

Broken into nine chapters -- one for each year -- the documentary isn't a rigorous work but a felt piece of vital, if flawed, art.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is not your standard documentary dealing with racism in America.

A film that suffers from a surfeit of credulity.

You watch the material here and wonder whether most of the movies made about black people are meant to pacify general audiences, to distract them from demanding more of the movies.

It is mostly impressionistic - but, wow, some of those impressions really pack a punch.

This chronicle of pride and social upheaval is filled with vintage images and important voices.

What is most impressive about the film is that it manages to put human faces -- not just caricatures -- on the key figures of the movement.

It's thrilling to hear from unrepentant revolutionaries such as Angela Davis and amusing to hear from their bell-bottomed white lawyers.

It may not add up to a narrative, but it's a fascinating compilation -- a mixtape you may want to hear more than once.

"Mixtape" is about a foreign country. And the foreign country is ours.

Impressively made documentary that paints a fascinating portrait of an important period in American history, not least because the perspective stands in stark contrast to the American media's coverage of the same events at the time.

This fascinating documentary brings together material shot by Swedish documentarists and TV journalists dealing with the African American civil rights movement...

The timing of this release is more than perfect. And the story behind the film is nearly as interesting as the stories it tells.

It is not a comprehensive history but the footage is an extraordinarily potent reminder that the stand taken by black people eventually bore fruit.

Interesting stuff, though it sometimes looks like a block of unedited raw material.

Blazing interviews with Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael supply stinging and unforgettable rhetoric: it simply can't fail with footage this wild.

Like the era it represents, there are highs and lows.

Like most mix-tapes, offers crackling content even when its contexts aren't clear.

The film is testament to the power of archival legwork in documentary-filmmaking.

While it assumes a fair bit of knowledge of the social changes exploding in sixties America, there's a wealth of fascinating material and punchy insights into an earth shaking movement.

It's a dizzying mess of perspectives and lacks a firm head on its shoulders, but history buffs will find this assembly of footage - largely unseen outside of Sweden - to be riveting and important.

From the fly-on-the-wall, cin?ma-v?rit? style of the '60s to a more aggressive, advocacy approach in the mid-'70s, "Mixtape" is a wide slice of nonfiction film history.

These are the men and women Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, and the networks didn't want us to know about.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_black_power_mix_tape_1967_1975/

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Defense witness in Murray case faces contempt fine (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A scientist who was the star defense witness in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor will be in court Wednesday to fight a threatened $1,000 fine for contempt.

Dr. Paul White is a pioneer in the use of the anesthetic propofol. He clashed with Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor over comments in and out of court during Dr. Conrad Murray's trial.

Pastor says White deliberately brought up banned information in his testimony.

Pastor is giving White a chance to appear Wednesday and explain why he should not be found in direct contempt of court and fined $1,000. A member of the trial defense team, Michael Flanagan, is representing him.

Murray is in jail awaiting sentencing for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death and is not required to attend the hearing.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_en_ot/us_michael_jackson_doctor_contempt

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'Breaking Dawn' Will 'Suck The Life' Out Of Box Office

Box-office analyst Jeff Bock tells MTV News the 'Twilight' flick could earn $150 million during opening weekend.
By Kevin P. Sullivan


Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in "Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1"
Photo: Summit

Anyone who is at least vaguely familiar with the "Twilight Saga" and the phenomenon that it is could tell you that "Breaking Dawn - Part 1," the penultimate entry in the series, is going to be big at the box office.

Just how big? Deadline reported Wednesday (November 16) that Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the paranormal romance films, expects a domestic opening-weekend gross of anywhere from $110 million to $125 million. An opening weekend within that range could put it in the top 10 highest-grossing debuts ever.

As large as those figures may be, they are still a far cry from the biggest domestic opening for a "Twilight" film. In 2009, "New Moon" earned a whopping $142 million during its three-day opening, beating the series' second best debut, "Eclipse," by $22 million.

Jeff Bock, box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations, thinks "Breaking Dawn" could outperform Summit's expectations. "Expect 'Breaking Dawn - Part 1' to suck the life out of the box office to the tune of $150 million this weekend," Bock wrote in an email to MTV News.

That would put the film within the top five all-time weekends, but Bock doubts it will break any records. "It's doubtful it can top 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2''s record-breaking $169 million debut," Bock said. "But it's certainly not out of the question for 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2' to hit that mark."

Bock's predictions are more along the lines of what rival studios expect from the film, according to Deadline. Despite Summit's own lofty expectations, a more recent version of the same report claims that rival studios have accused Summit of low-balling the figures. The other studios expect "New Moon" to earn $142 million during its opening weekend.

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674506/breaking-dawn-part-1-box-office.jhtml

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