New method for tailoring optical processors

May 21, 2013 ? Rice University scientists have unveiled a robust new method for arranging metal nanoparticles in geometric patterns that can act as optical processors that transform incoming light signals into output of a different color. The breakthrough by a team of theoretical and applied physicists and engineers at Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) is described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rice's team used the method to create an optical device in which incoming light could be directly controlled with light via a process known as "four-wave mixing." Four-wave mixing has been widely studied, but Rice's disc-patterning method is the first that can produce materials that are tailored to perform four-wave mixing with a wide range of colored inputs and outputs.

"Versatility is one of the advantages of this process," said study co-author Naomi Halas, director of LANP and Rice's Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of biomedical engineering, chemistry, physics and astronomy. "It allows us to mix colors in a very general way. That means not only can we send in beams of two different colors and get out a third color, but we can fine-tune the arrangements to create devices that are tailored to accept or produce a broad spectrum of colors."

The information processing that takes place inside today's computers, smartphones and tablets is electronic. Each of the billions of transistors in a computer chip uses electrical inputs to act upon and modify the electrical signals passing through it. Processing information with light instead of electricity could allow for computers that are both faster and more energy-efficient, but building an optical computer is complicated by the quantum rules that light obeys.

"In most circumstances, one beam of light won't interact with another," said LANP theoretical physicist Peter Nordlander, a co-author of the new study. "For instance, if you shine a flashlight at a wall and you cross that beam with the beam from a second flashlight, it won't matter. The light that comes out of the first flashlight will pass through, independent of the light from the second.

"This changes if the light is traveling in a 'nonlinear medium,'" he said. "The electromagnetic properties of a nonlinear medium are such that the light from one beam will interact with another. So, if you shine the two flashlights through a nonlinear medium, the intensity of the beam from the first flashlight will be reduced proportionally to the intensity of the second beam."

The patterns of metal discs LANP scientists created for the PNAS study are a type of nonlinear media. The team used electron-beam lithography to etch puck-shaped gold discs that were placed on a transparent surface for optical testing. The diameter of each disc was about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Each was designed to harvest the energy from a particular frequency of light; by arranging a dozen of the discs in a closely spaced pattern, the team was able to enhance the nonlinear properties of the system by creating intense electrical fields.

"Our system exploits a particular plasmonic effect called a Fano resonance to boost the efficiency of the relatively weak nonlinear effect that underlies four-wave mixing," Nordlander said. "The result is a boost in the intensity of the third color of light that the device produces."

Graduate student and co-author Yu-Rong Zhen calculated the precise arrangement of 12 discs that would be required to produce two coherent Fano resonances in a single device, and graduate student and lead co-author Yu Zhang created the device that produced the four-wave mixing -- the first such material ever created.

"The device Zhang created for four-wave mixing is the most efficient yet produced for that purpose, but the value of this research goes beyond the design for this particular device," said Halas, who was recently named a member of the National Academy of Sciences for her pioneering research in nanophotonics. "The methods used to create this device can be applied to the production of a wide range of nonlinear media, each with tailored optical properties."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/NXwTwOcHafs/130521121603.htm

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91% Gimme The Loot

All Critics (57) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (5)

'Gimme the Loot' is ... meandering and a little shallow. And even at 79 minutes it feels a little too long for what's essentially the film equivalent of a short story.

A thousand-watt jolt of mischief, a spunky, funky, ebullient indie that packs its 81 minutes with cinematic exhilaration.

It may be a slight movie, but it has its sunny charms.

A movie about teenage taggers in the Bronx should be fast and raw, scruffy and loose, and Adam Leon's Gimme the Loot is just that.

As it lopes along, the movie offers a warm but very sharp portrait of New York's have-nots and their uneasy relationship with the haves.

"Gimme the Loot" shouldn't be as appealing and exuberant as it is, it really shouldn't.

First-time feature director Adam Leon's shots are precise and full of detail.

The film's strong suit is its use of locations.

The film is episodic and determinedly offbeat, funny at its best, boring at its worst.

Shot on the streets of New York in a loose, freeform style, this lively comedy-drama feels somewhat underdeveloped, leaving us doubtful about its realism.

It's a great deal of fun, emotionally touching, and even surprisingly old-fashioned.

Some of the movie doesn't exactly convince, and some of the scenes have an actors-improv feel to them, but there's always plenty of humour and energy.

Endlessly entertaining, refreshingly light-hearted and bursting with summer soul, Gimme The Loot joins the pantheon of great New York movies.

It's a shaggy dog story with a certain amount of charm but not nearly enough drama.

The movie is unpolished, and it matters not a jot, because Leon has written super roles for these kids and invests their relationship with such sly feeling.

Hickson walks the line between bravado and vulnerability, while Washington has a charisma, spark and beauty that should ensure this won't be the last we see of her.

Bolstered by a low-key but assured aesthetic and a soundtrack of vintage soul and doo-wop, the film is infectiously enjoyable, with frequently amusing insights and an affable shagginess.

Out of nowhere, Adam Leon might just have delivered the first great New York film of the decade.

Charming and engaging low-budget indie with a witty script, likeable characters, a strong sense of time and place and a pair of terrific performances from its two young leads.

Funny and freewheeling, it's a joy.

A slim, low-budget coming-of-age tale whose richness lies entirely in its interstices. A keenly observed work that celebrates the unfettered joys of youth, and rewards by reminding of the power of a simple tale told well.

Simultaneously real and hopeful, "Loot" has almost no plot, but when the setting is so fresh and the characters feel so raw and alive, who needs one?

Ghetto laughs with a sophisticated point of view.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gimme_the_loot_2012/

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Tornadoes tear through central U.S. [VIDEO]

A tornado is spotted in South Haven, Kansas, May 19, 2013. (Jeremy Wilkins/YouTube)

Less than a week after a string of tornadoes killed six people in north Texas, a massive storm system that tore through the center of the country on Sunday spawned at least a dozen tornadoes, killed at least one person, injured a dozen others and caused extensive damage from Georgia to Minnesota.

A tornado at least a half-mile wide was spotted near Pink, Okla., outside Oklahoma City, prompting the National Weather Service in Norman to issue an unusually dire warning:

You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter. Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals.

"Large tornado west of Pink!" a tweet from the Norman office read. "Take cover RIGHT NOW in Pink! DO NOT WAIT!"

"Overpasses are NOT tornado shelters!" read another. "Do not park under them! You are keeping others from getting to safety!"

According to CNN, a man was killed in a trailer park in Pottawatomie County, Okla., during the storm. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared states of emergency in 16 counties.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said hailstones as large as baseballs were seen throughout the region.

Videos of several tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri were posted to YouTube:

As well as plenty of hail footage:

According to the National Weather Service, more severe weather is expected in Oklahoma on Monday, "with very large hail, damaging winds and perhaps tornadoes impacting the region."

From the National Weather Service's Facebook page in Norman:

We are very concerned that we could be dealing with dangerous storms?possibly including tornadoes?around school dismissal time today, and certainly during afternoon rush hour. Please stay very alert today and think about how you might need to change your plans this afternoon. Please share this with your family and friends.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/tornadoes-oklahoma-video-132831345.html

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Tornadoes hit Kan., Okla.; no injuries reported

A tornado touches down southwest of Wichita, Kan. near the town of Viola on Sunday, May 19, 2013. The tornado was part of a line of storms that past through the central plains on Sunday. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)

A tornado touches down southwest of Wichita, Kan. near the town of Viola on Sunday, May 19, 2013. The tornado was part of a line of storms that past through the central plains on Sunday. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) ? A powerful storm system rumbled through the Plains and upper Midwest on Sunday, spawning tornadoes that damaged homes and buildings near Oklahoma City and put the Tulsa area on high-alert.

There were no immediate reports of injuries caused by any of the tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma and Kansas, including one that hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond before moving northeast toward Tulsa, 90 miles to the northeast.

For days, forecasters had been warning about the possibility of tornadoes from a weekend storm, and emergency responders as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Texas were keeping a close eye on the powerful system pushing eastward and northward through the nation's breadbasket.

"I knew it was coming," said Randy Grau, who huddled with his wife and two young boys in their Edmond's home's safe room when the tornado hit. He said he peered out his window as the weather worsened and believed he saw a flock of birds heading down the street.

"Then I realized it was swirling debris. That's when we shut the door of the safe room, said Grau, adding that they sheltered in the room for 10 minutes.

In Wichita, Kan., a tornado touched down near Mid-Content Airport on the city's southwest side shortly before 4 p.m., knocking out power to 7,500 homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas' biggest city.

"At this point, there are very few reports of damage and no reports of fatalities or injuries, and we're very grateful for that," said Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director Randy Duncan.

In Oklahoma, aerial television news footage showed homes that appeared to have suffered significant damage northeast of Oklahoma City. Some outbuildings appeared to have been leveled, and some homes' roofs or walls had been knocked down.

"When I first drove into the neighborhood, I didn't see any major damage until I pulled into the front of my house," said Csabe Mathe, of Edmond, who found a part of his neighbor's fence in his swimming pool. "My reaction was: I hope insurance pays for the cleaning."

"I typically have two trash cans, and now I have five in my driveway."

The Storm Prediction Center had been warning about severe weather in the region since Wednesday, and on Friday, it zeroed in on Sunday as the day the storm system would likely pass through.

"They've been calling for this all day," Edmond resident Anita Wright said after riding out the twister in an underground shelter. She and her husband Ed emerged from their hiding place to find uprooted trees, downed limbs and damaged gutters in their home.

In Katie Leathers' backyard, the family's trampoline was tossed through a section of fence and a giant tree uprooted.

"I saw all the trees waving, and that's when I grabbed everyone and got into two closets," Leathers said. "All these trees just snapped."

___

Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-19-US-Severe-Weather/id-766eeb3f212543cda7bb8220e19d37cf

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Russian TV: American accused of spying flies out

MOSCOW (AP) ? The U.S. Embassy employee accused of spying in Moscow flew out of Russia on Sunday, five days after he was ordered to leave the country, NTV television reported.

The Kremlin-loyal TV station broadcast video Sunday evening showing Ryan Fogle going through passport control and security at Sheremetyevo International Airport. He also was pictured in the company of embassy staff as he wheeled a suitcase into the Moscow airport, which is used by Delta Air Lines for its direct flights to New York.

Russian security services announced Tuesday that Fogle, a 29-year-old third secretary in the U.S. Embassy, had been caught trying to recruit a Russian counterterrorism officer. Fogle, who was accused of working for the CIA, was widely shown on Russian television wearing a blond wig.

The U.S. Embassy on Sunday again refused to comment on the case.

The attention given to the Fogle case in Russia contrasts with recent moves by Washington and Moscow to develop closer cooperation on counterterrorism in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15.

The bombing suspects ? Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his elder brother, Tamerlan, who was killed by police ? have roots in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Tamerlan spent six months last year in neighboring Dagestan, now the center of an Islamic insurgency, and U.S. investigators have been working with the Russians to try to determine whether he had established any contacts with the militants.

Little is known publicly about Fogle's duties and activities in Russia.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that Fogle worked as an embassy employee but would give no details about his job. The CIA declined comment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-19-EU-Russia-US-Spying/id-37a5cf1570b84ffcbed49e6e5fc119d7

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Car bombs kill at least 31 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 20 people were killed by a series of car bombs in mainly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Monday and 11 others were killed by attacks in the southern city of Basra, police and medics said.

Scores of people have been killed in attacks over the past week as tensions between minority Sunni Muslims and Shi'ites who now lead Iraq have reached their highest level since U.S. troops pulled out in December 2011.

Eight car bombs in mainly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killed at least 20 people on Monday, police and medics said.

Two car bombs hit Basra, a predominantly Shi'ite southern city 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The first struck the Hananiya neighborhood, near a busy market and restaurants, and the second was detonated inside a bus terminal in Saad Square, police and medics said. Eleven people were killed.

More than 700 people were killed in April by a U.N. count, the highest figure in almost five years. Relations are coming under more strain by the day from the increasingly sectarian conflict in neighboring Syria.

Minority Sunnis, embittered by Shi'ite dominance since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led forces in 2003, have also been staging street protests against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki since December.

(Reporting by Aref Mohammed; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-bombs-kill-11-iraqs-southern-city-basra-071936810.html

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Saudi Arabia has another case of new coronavirus: WHO

LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has reported another case of infection in a concentrated outbreak of a new strain of a virus that emerged in the Middle East last year and spread into Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday.

In a disease outbreak update issued from its Geneva headquarters, the WHO said the latest patient is an 81-year-old woman with multiple medical conditions. She became ill on April 28 and is in a critical but stable condition.

Worldwide, there have now been 41 laboratory-confirmed infections, including 20 deaths, since the new coronavirus was identified by scientists in September 2012.

The novel coronavirus, which had been known as by the acronym nCoV but which some scientific journals now refer to as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, belongs to the same family as viruses that cause common colds and the one that caused a deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.

MERS cases have so far been reported in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Britain, Germany and France, but Saudi Arabia has had the vast majority of cases.

The WHO said that latest patient was in the same clinic in eastern Saudi Arabia that has seen 22 cases, nine of them fatal, since April 8.

WHO experts visiting Saudi Arabia to consult with the authorities on the outbreak have said it seemed likely the new virus could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged, close contact.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-another-case-coronavirus-214258217.html

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CA-NEWS Summary

Rome protest turns up heat on new PM Letta

ROME (Reuters) - Thousands of people protested in Rome on Saturday against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging new Prime Minister Enrico Letta to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession. "We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience," said Enzo Bernardis, who joined the sea of protesters waving red flags and calling for more workers' rights and better contracts.

North Korea fires three short-range missiles

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defence Ministry said, prompting Western powers to urge Pyongyang to exercise restraint. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions raise concerns about the region's security.

Thirteen killed, 10 police kidnapped in Iraq violence

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collaborators with the Shi'ite-led government of a nation plagued by sectarian hatred. Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in Iraq have been amplified by the conflict between mostly Sunni rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite-dominated forces in neighboring Syria.

Gunmen kill senior woman member of Pakistani party led by Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a senior female politician from a reformist party in Pakistan on Saturday night, the latest violent incident in a bloody election campaign and one that set off a war of words between two major opposition parties. Around 150 people were killed in the run-up to national elections held last week, which handed a landslide victory to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N party.

Syria's Assad: Little chance peace talks would succeed - newspaper

LIMA (Reuters) - Proposed peace talks for Syria would not curb "terrorism" in the country and it is unrealistic to think they would succeed, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published in an Argentine newspaper on Saturday. Speaking in Syria with the newspaper Clarin, Assad said he was doubtful that mediation the United States and Russia have proposed could settle a deadly conflict that has convulsed the country for two years.

Enraged by kidnapping, Egyptian police block Gaza border

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again on Saturday, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travelers, witnesses said. The protest began on Friday when police strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, local residents said, a day after the abductions.

Regional force boosts troop numbers in Central African Republic

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - African military chiefs agreed on Saturday to more than double the size of a regional peacekeeping force deployed in Central African Republic, where authorities have struggled to contain violence after a rebel takeover. Thousands of fighters from the Seleka rebel coalition led by Michel Djotodia marched into the capital Bangui on March 24, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee to neighboring Cameroon.

At least four suspected militants killed in Yemen drone strike

ADEN (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and a number of others wounded in a drone strike on a vehicle carrying suspected al Qaeda members in southern Yemen, a local official said on Saturday. The official said the strike took place at dawn on Saturday on a road to the north of Jaar in Abyan Governorate, near Aden. He did not say who was behind the strike, but previous drone strikes have been carried out by the United States.

Israel warns against Russian arms supply to Syria

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Saturday that advanced weapons supplied by Russia to war-torn Syria could end up in the wrong hands and be used against the Jewish state. A Russian shipment of Yakhont anti-ship missiles to Syria was condemned by the United States on Friday and Israel is also alarmed by the prospect of Russia supplying S-300 advanced air defense missile systems to Damascus.

Church must help the poorest, not dissect theology, pope says

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods off while praying at the end of a long day and that it "breaks my heart" that the death of a homeless person is not news. Francis, who has made straight talk and simplicity a hallmark of his papacy, made his unscripted comments in answers to questions by four people at a huge international gathering of Catholic associations in St. Peter's Square.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-003416837.html

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The South welcomes 'crazy ants.' Hail the latest invader

The South is being invaded ? again. This time it?s erratic but troublesome ?crazy ants? from South America marching ? actually, hitching rides ? across the South, setting up massive colonies, and relieving other occupying ant armies, including fire ants, of their duties.

With billions of ants possible per acre, crazy ants, known for their random, jerky travel, eat or chase away most other insects and reptiles, and hound yard pets inside. In single numbers pretty innocuous-looking, tiny tawny crazy ants also make pests out of themselves by sometimes biting people and shorting out home electrical wiring.

The question now is if there?s room enough in the South for the newcomers, or whether the US needs to invest in research to figure out how to stop the ?tawny crazy ant,? a well as its cousins, the ?black crazy ant,? and the ?Caribbean crazy ant,? before they?re ubiquitous.

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take our quiz

?The entire Gulf Coast is going to be inundated in a very short period of time,? entomologist Tom Rasberry, who found and identified the crazy ants in 2002, recently told a local CBS News broadcast.

Having already spread in the span of a decade from a bunch of counties surrounding Houston to as far away as Florida, crazy ant success so far is entirely due to their hitchhiking skills. A few ants clambering aboard at a truck stop in Waco, Texas, may soon find themselves starting a colony in Covington, Georgia. They thrive best in warmer, moister locales, which means the South is stuck with them.

But as with most invasive species, ?crazy ants? can have unexpected, sometimes paradoxical, impacts on their conquered ground. Fire ants, which were accidentally introduced in the 1930s and now pretty much own the South, apparently can?t stand ?crazy ants,? and retreat from the conquering horde, as do most other ant species.

And despite oftentimes legitimate cries of concern from the scientific community about the dangers of invasive plants and animals in the US, many one-time strangers-to-these-parts ? kudzu, snakeheads, boas, Yankees ? become, at least in the eyes of some Southerners, manageable pests, part of an ever-changing backdrop of wildlife at the door.

This being the South, even scientists have sought out Biblical insights into how to view the invasion, including this from Proverbs 6:6-8 cited in a Texas A&M research paper about invasive ants: ?Go to the ant, O sluggard/ Observe her ways and be wise/It has no commander/No overseer or ruler.?

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take our quiz

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-welcomes-crazy-ants-hail-latest-invader-194109108.html

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Inmate In Wisconsin Jail Knocks Out Guard With 1 Punch (VIDEO)

It was swift and brutal. An inmate at a Wisconsin jail knocked out a guard with one punch, newly released video shows.

Caught by surveillance cameras, the March 27 fight apparently erupts as three corrections officers gather lunch trays and another enters the room. The alleged puncher, identified by the Marathon County Sheriff's Department as Fredrick Morris, can be seen in the footage adopting a fighting stance and coldcocking Officer Julie Christensen with a right hand to the face. She falls hard to the floor while Morris tangles with another guard.

Christensen (also spelled Christiansen in court documents) was knocked unconscious by the hit from Morris and was taken to intensive care and remained hospitalized as of Thursday, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) reported.

According to WPR, a deputy claimed that during the incident prisoners had shouted, "Hope she dies," as Christensen lay on the ground.

Morris was charged with several counts of battery, according to a criminal complaint. He was transferred to a facility in Lincoln County, Wisc., the Marathon County Courthouse told The Huffington Post on Friday.

After the attack, safety conditions at the Marathon County jail were evaluated by a civilian panel this week, CBS local affiliate WSAW reported.

"What I saw was a battlefield," panel chair Paul Jones said of the video footage, per WPR. Another panelist, Mike Beck, said the incident made him distrust the jail's administration.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/inmate-knocks-out-guard_n_3292851.html

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New discovery of ancient diet shatters conventional ideas of how agriculture emerged

New discovery of ancient diet shatters conventional ideas of how agriculture emerged

Friday, May 17, 2013

Archaeologists have made a discovery in southern subtropical China which could revolutionise thinking about how ancient humans lived in the region.

They have uncovered evidence for the first time that people living in Xincun 5,000 years ago may have practised agriculture ?before the arrival of domesticated rice in the region.

Current archaeological thinking is that it was the advent of rice cultivation along the Lower Yangtze River that marked the beginning of agriculture in southern China. Poor organic preservation in the study region, as in many others, means that traditional archaeobotany techniques are not possible.

Now, thanks to a new method of analysis on ancient grinding stones, the archaeologists have uncovered evidence that agriculture could predate the advent of rice in the region.

The research was the result of a two-year collaboration between Dr Huw Barton, from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, and Dr Xiaoyan Yang, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing.

Funded by a Royal Society UK-China NSFC International Joint Project, and other grants held by Yang in China, the research is published in PLOS ONE.

Dr Barton, Senior Lecturer in Bioarchaeology at the University of Leicester, described the find as 'hitting the jackpot': "Our discovery is totally unexpected and very exciting.

"We have used a relatively new method known as ancient starch analysis to analyse ancient human diet. This technique can tell us things about human diet in the past that no other method can.

"From a sample of grinding stones we extracted very small quantities of adhering sediment trapped in pits and cracks on the tool surface. From this material, preserved starch granules were extracted with our Chinese colleagues in the starch laboratory in Beijing. These samples were analysed in China and also here at Leicester in the Starch and Residue Laboratory, School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

"Our research shows us that there was something much more interesting going on in the subtropical south of China 5,000 years ago than we had first thought. The survival of organic material is really dependent on the particular chemical properties of the soil, so you never know what you will get until you sample. At Xincun we really hit the jackpot. Starch was well-preserved and there was plenty of it. While some of the starch granules we found were species we might expect to find on grinding and pounding stones, ie. some seeds and tuberous plants such as freshwater chestnuts, lotus root and the fern root, the addition of starch from palms was totally unexpected and very exciting."

Several types of tropical palms store prodigious quantities of starch. This starch can be literally bashed and washed out of the trunk pith, dried as flour, and of course eaten. It is non-toxic, not particularly tasty, but it is reliable and can be processed all year round. Many communities in the tropics today, particularly in Borneo and Indonesia, but also in eastern India, still rely on flour derived from palms.

Dr Barton said: "The presence of at least two, possibly three species of starch producing palms, bananas, and various roots, raises the intriguing possibility that these plants may have been planted nearby the settlement.

"Today groups that rely on palms growing in the wild are highly mobile, moving from one palm stand to another as they exhaust the clump. Sedentary groups that utilise palms for their starch today, plant suckers nearby the village, thus maintaining continuous supply. If they were planted at Xincun, this implies that 'agriculture' did not arrive here with the arrival of domesticated rice, as archaeologists currently think, but that an indigenous system of plant cultivation may have been in place by the mid Holocene.

"The adoption of domesticated rice was slow and gradual in this region; it was not a rapid transformation as in other places. Our findings may indicate why this was the case. People may have been busy with other types of cultivation, ignoring rice, which may have been in the landscape, but as a minor plant for a long time before it too became a food staple.

"Future work will focus on grinding stones from nearby sites to see if this pattern is repeated along the coast."

###

University of Leicester: http://www.leicester.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Leicester for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128302/New_discovery_of_ancient_diet_shatters_conventional_ideas_of_how_agriculture_emerged

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Video: Torre: 'The game isn't perfect'

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/51919388#51919388

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Mosque, funeral bombings kill 47 in Iraq

AAA??May. 17, 2013?11:45 AM ET
Mosque, funeral bombings kill 47 in Iraq
By SAMEER N. YACOUBBy SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press??

Iraqis gather at the scene of a bomb attack in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013. A bomb killed dozens of people at a Sunni mosque in central Iraq, hitting worshippers as they were emerging from Friday prayers, security officials said. The attack in Baqouba comes after two days of attacks, many in Shiite districts, left tens of people dead. Attacks against Sunni mosques have also been on the rise recently, raising fears that the country is slipping into a new round of sectarian violence. (AP Photo/Adem Hadei)

Iraqis gather at the scene of a bomb attack in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013. A bomb killed dozens of people at a Sunni mosque in central Iraq, hitting worshippers as they were emerging from Friday prayers, security officials said. The attack in Baqouba comes after two days of attacks, many in Shiite districts, left tens of people dead. Attacks against Sunni mosques have also been on the rise recently, raising fears that the country is slipping into a new round of sectarian violence. (AP Photo/Adem Hadei)

The dead body of a thwarted suicide bomber lies outside of the Mustafa mosque after being killed by security forces in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013. Elsewhere, a bomb killed dozens of people at a Sunni mosque in central Iraq, hitting worshippers as they were emerging from Friday prayers, security officials said. The attack in Baqouba comes after two days of attacks, many in Shiite districts, left tens of people dead. Attacks against Sunni mosques have also been on the rise recently, raising fears that the country is slipping into a new round of sectarian violence. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)

Family members of Mohammed Aboud, chant slogans against the Sunni-dominated Free Syrian Army rebel group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra during his funeral in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013. Hundreds of Iraqis in Basra, have attended the funeral of two Shiite fighters killed in Syria. Relatives of Aboud say he was killed by a sniper fire near the shrine of Sayida Zeinab outside the capital of Damascus five days ago. Arabic writing on coffin reads, ?Sigh in grief, Zeinab.? (AP Photo/ Nabil Al-Jurani)

Family members of Mohammed Aboud chant slogans against the Sunni-dominated Free Syrian Army rebel group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra during his funeral in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013. Hundreds of Iraqis in Basra, Iraq have attended the funeral of two Shiite fighters killed in Syria. Relatives of Aboud say he was killed by a sniper fire near the shrine of Sayida Zeinab outside the capital of Damascus five days ago. Arabic writing on coffin reads, "God is great." (AP Photo/ Nabil Al-Jurani)

Family members of Mohammed Aboud, chant slogans against the Sunni-dominated Free Syrian Army rebel group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra during his funeral in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013. Hundreds of Iraqis in Basra, Iraq have attended the funeral of two Shiite fighters killed in Syria. Relatives of Aboud say he was killed by a sniper fire near the shrine of Sayida Zeinab outside the capital of Damascus five days ago. Arabic writing on coffin reads, ?Sigh in grief, Zeinab.? (AP Photo/ Nabil Al-Jurani)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Twin explosions ripped through a crowd of Sunni worshippers outside Baghdad on Friday, an attack which, combined with a second deadly bombing at a Sunni funeral to the south of the capital, deepened fears Iraq may be headed toward a new round of sectarian conflict.

In the first attack, police said a bomb detonated just as the congregation was leaving Friday prayer services at a mosque in Baqouba, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Another explosion went off shortly afterward as people gathered to help the wounded, leaving a total of at least 40 dead and 56 wounded. After the explosions, bloodied bodies lay strewn across the road outside the mosque.

The violence was the latest to hit a Sunni Muslim house of worship, a trend that has been on the rise. About 30 mosques were attacked between mid-April to mid-May, killing at least 65 Sunni worshippers.

Later in the day, a second bombing hit a Sunni funeral, killing seven and wounding 11, police said. Friday's attacks came after two days of violence mainly in Shiite areas that left 50 dead.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Iraqis attended the Friday funeral in a southern city of two Shiite fighters killed in Syria. Several such funerals have been held in recent months, the latest sign that that conflict has taken on a sectarian regional dimension.

In oil-rich Basra, mourners carried the coffin of Mohammed Aboud, whom they say was killed by sniper fire near the shrine of Sayida Zeinab outside the Syrian capital Damascus five days earlier.

They said Aboud went to Iran two months ago before flying to Syria in order to join a group of fighters protecting that country's Shiite shrines against attacks launched by the rebel Free Syrian Army.

For months, Iraqi Shiite fighters have trickled into Syria, where mostly Sunni rebels are fighting a regime dominated by a Shiite offshoot sect. Their relatives say the fighters are drawn by a sense of religious duty to protect the Sayida Zeinab shrine, which marks what is believed to be the grave of the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Iraq remains officially neutral in the Syrian conflict.

____

With reporting from Nabil al-Jurani in Basra

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-17-ML-Iraq/id-62a0212008954380a744636dd589822a

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Virginia governor's race to test Tea Party Republicans' allure

By Gary Robertson

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - The most nail-biting U.S. governor's race this year is centering on whether a Tea Party Republican can win Virginia, the southern state that has twice backed Democratic President Barack Obama.

So far, the answer is: maybe.

Republican state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, known for his anti-abortion and tax-cutting positions, is in a tight race with Terry McAuliffe, a former national Democratic Party chairman. The election will take place in November.

With Cuccinelli set to be nominated formally at a state party convention on Saturday, a Quinnipiac University poll this week showed him with 38 percent support, behind McAuliffe's 43 percent.

"The 17 percent of voters who say they are undecided will determine the Commonwealth's next governor," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement. "At this point, neither man seems to have much of an edge."

More than $11 million has poured into a race seen as crucial to reviving national fortunes for Republicans, and especially its Tea Party right wing, after Obama's re-election last year and the loss of two seats in the Senate.

Robert Holsworth, a political analyst who has worked for governors from both parties, said Republicans saw Cuccinelli's candidacy as a national test case.

"Would Republicans be better off running someone with clear principles like Cuccinelli or someone in the mushy middle?" Holsworth said. "Some people will read these elections as an early signal about 2014" midterm congressional elections.

More than anything else, Cuccinelli, 44, has been known for sticking to the conservative principles that have made him a darling of the anti-tax, anti-government Tea Party movement.

Cuccinelli set off a storm in Virginia by pushing through rules mandating that abortion clinics meet the same standards as hospitals. Abortion rights supporters said it could lead some clinics to close.

Cuccinelli also opposed a bipartisan transportation package Republican Governor Bob McDonnell got through the legislature because it would bring in $880 million a year from new taxes.

"WE WERE BEAT"

At a Chesterfield County Republican Party gathering in late April, Cuccinelli urged the crowd to shake off the "depression" that had set in since Obama won the state in November for the second time.

"We were beat, and we have a lot of ground to make up," he said.

With jobs and the slow-growing economy the top issues for voters, McAuliffe, a 56-year-old millionaire who headed President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996, told supporters when he kicked off his campaign this month that he woke up every morning thinking about "training a good work force."

Virginia's unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in March, more than 2 percentage points below the national average. But the state is one of the biggest recipients of federal outlays, and officials fear it could be hit hard as the U.S. government cuts spending.

Besides indicating a tight race, polls point to an electorate that is at odds with Cuccinelli and Virginia Republicans' positions on social issues.

Although Cuccinelli opposes gay marriage, a Washington Post poll this week showed 56 percent of Virginians were in favor of it. Fifty-five percent also support keeping abortion legal, the poll said.

CRITICISM

McAuliffe has been criticized because of his connection with GreenTech, a struggling Mississippi-based electric car manufacturer that he helped launch. He later quit as chairman, saying he wanted to focus on his race for governor.

Critics have said the company failed to live up to its promise and undermines McAuliffe's claim to be a successful entrepreneur.

Cuccinelli has come under fire following news stories questioning his relationship with nutritional supplement company Star Scientific and Chief Executive Officer Jonnie Williams Sr. Cuccinelli has acknowledged that he took gifts from Williams, including a catered $1,500 Thanksgiving dinner.

McAuliffe is ahead in fundraising, generating $6.7 million to Cuccinelli's $4.4 million as of March 31. By comparison, almost $41 million was spent in the 2009 governor's race McDonnell won.

In a sign of the national interest in the contest, much of the money for this year's race is from outside Virginia. McAuliffe's top donors are Robert Johnson of Monroe, Connecticut, and media entrepreneur Haim Saban of Beverly Hills, California, who both gave $250,000.

Cuccinelli's backers include the Republican Governors Association, which has given $1 million; investor Foster Friess, who backed Republican Rick Santorum's presidential bid last year; and conservative political activist David Koch.

In New Jersey, the only other state with a gubernatorial race this year, incumbent Republican Chris Christie holds a double-digit lead over his Democratic opponent, state Senator Barbara Buono, in early polling.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Arlene Getz and Lisa Von Ahn)

(This story is corrected to show that Johnson, Saban are top McAuliffe donors, not that McAuliffe is his own top donor in 22nd paragraph, . Removes reference to McAuliffe giving almost $300,000, as that was for a previous fundraising cycle.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/virginia-governors-race-test-tea-party-republicans-allure-140538580.html

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Report: Yahoo nearing $1.1B acquisition of Tumblr

NEW YORK (AP) ? Yahoo may be on the verge of closing its biggest acquisition during the 10-month reign of CEO Marissa Mayer as she tries to attract more traffic and advertisers to the Internet company's website and mobile applications.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., company's board of directors will meet Sunday evening to consider approving a $1.1 billion acquisition of online content-sharing site Tumblr in a deal Mayer negotiated, according to the technology news site All Things D. The story posted late Friday cited anonymous sources.

If Yahoo Inc.'s board signs off, the deal could be announced Monday.

In an invitation sent Friday, Yahoo promised to unveil "something special" Monday evening in New York. The event is being held in a Times Squares lounge located about two miles from Tumblr's headquarters.

Yahoo has only said that Mayer will be on hand to unveil something related to a product. A company spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the potential Tumblr acquisition.

Buying Tumblr would fulfill Mayer's goal of reaching a wider audience on smartphones and tablet computers.

Tumblr serves up a constantly changing collage of stories, photos and other digital content served up by users who are increasingly connecting to the service through its mobile applications. The service is also one of the hottest sites among teens and young adults, a demographic that Mayer, 37, thinks Yahoo needs to do a better job of reaching.

If it's completed, the Tumblr deal would be Mayer's biggest coup ? and, at the same time, the biggest risk ? since she ended her 13-year career as a key executive at Google Inc. to try to snap Yahoo out of a prolonged malaise that had demoralized employees and investors alike.

Since her arrival, Mayer has been focused on redesigning several Yahoo services and bringing in more mobile engineering talent, primarily by buying a series of small startups.

None of those previous acquisitions have required Yahoo to dip too deeply into its bank account. Late last year, Yahoo paid a total of $7 million for two startups called OnTheAir and Stamped. In the first three months of this year, Yahoo snapped up three more startups for a total of $10 million, according to the company's regulatory filings.

Tumblr, founded in 2007 by its CEO David Karp, presumably would become a pivotal part of Mayer's effort to sell more advertising.

Mayer has been winning back investors, even though the company's revenue is still lagging the overall growth of the booming Internet and mobile advertising market. Yahoo's stock price has risen 69 percent under Mayer's leadership.

Yahoo shares fell 6 cents Friday to close at $26.52.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-17-US-Yahoo-Event/id-2732516db30f41b4840daf930ade9432

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Political motivations may have evolutionary links to physical strength

Public release date: 15-May-2013
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Contact: Anna Mikulak
amikulak@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

Men's upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The principal investigators of the research psychological scientists Michael Bang Petersen of Aarhus University and Daniel Sznycer of University of California, Santa Barbara believe that the link may reflect psychological traits that evolved in response to our early ancestral environments and continue to influence behavior today.

"While many think of politics as a modern phenomenon, it has in a sense always been with our species," says Petersen.

In the days of our early ancestors, decisions about the distribution of resources weren't made in courthouses or legislative offices, but through shows of strength. With this in mind, Petersen, Sznycer and colleagues hypothesized that upper-body strength a proxy for the ability to physically defend or acquire resources would predict men's opinions about economic redistribution.

The researchers collected data on bicep size, socioeconomic status, and support for economic redistribution from hundreds of people in the United States, Argentina, and Denmark.

In line with their hypotheses, the data revealed that wealthy men with high upper-body strength were less likely to support redistribution, while less wealthy men of the same strength were more likely to support it.

"Despite the fact that the United States, Denmark and Argentina have very different welfare systems, we still see that at the psychological level individuals reason about welfare redistribution in the same way," says Petersen. "In all three countries, physically strong males consistently pursue the self-interested position on redistribution."

Men with low upper-body strength, on the other hand, were less likely to support their own self-interest. Wealthy men of this group showed less resistance to redistribution, while poor men showed less support.

"Our results demonstrate that physically weak males are more reluctant than physically strong males to assert their self-interest just as if disputes over national policies were a matter of direct physical confrontation among small numbers of individuals, rather than abstract electoral dynamics among millions," says Petersen.

Interestingly, the researchers found no link between upper-body strength and redistribution opinions among women. Petersen argues that this is likely due to the fact that, over the course of evolutionary history, women had less to gain, and also more to lose, from engaging in direct physical aggression.

Together, the results indicate that an evolutionary perspective may help to illuminate political motivations, at least those of men.

"Many previous studies have shown that people's political views cannot be predicted by standard economic models," Petersen explains. "This is among the first studies to show that political views may be rational in another sense, in that they're designed by natural selection to function in the conditions recurrent over human evolutionary history."

###

Co-authors on this research include Aaron Sell, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

This research was supported by a grant from the Danish Research Council and a Director's Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health.

For more information about this study, please contact: Michael Bang Petersen at michael@ps.au.dk or Daniel Sznycer at dsznycer1@gmail.com.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "The Ancestral Logic of Politics: Upper-Body Strength Regulates Men's Assertion of Self-Interest Over Economic Redistribution" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.

---

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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: 15-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Anna Mikulak
amikulak@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

Men's upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The principal investigators of the research psychological scientists Michael Bang Petersen of Aarhus University and Daniel Sznycer of University of California, Santa Barbara believe that the link may reflect psychological traits that evolved in response to our early ancestral environments and continue to influence behavior today.

"While many think of politics as a modern phenomenon, it has in a sense always been with our species," says Petersen.

In the days of our early ancestors, decisions about the distribution of resources weren't made in courthouses or legislative offices, but through shows of strength. With this in mind, Petersen, Sznycer and colleagues hypothesized that upper-body strength a proxy for the ability to physically defend or acquire resources would predict men's opinions about economic redistribution.

The researchers collected data on bicep size, socioeconomic status, and support for economic redistribution from hundreds of people in the United States, Argentina, and Denmark.

In line with their hypotheses, the data revealed that wealthy men with high upper-body strength were less likely to support redistribution, while less wealthy men of the same strength were more likely to support it.

"Despite the fact that the United States, Denmark and Argentina have very different welfare systems, we still see that at the psychological level individuals reason about welfare redistribution in the same way," says Petersen. "In all three countries, physically strong males consistently pursue the self-interested position on redistribution."

Men with low upper-body strength, on the other hand, were less likely to support their own self-interest. Wealthy men of this group showed less resistance to redistribution, while poor men showed less support.

"Our results demonstrate that physically weak males are more reluctant than physically strong males to assert their self-interest just as if disputes over national policies were a matter of direct physical confrontation among small numbers of individuals, rather than abstract electoral dynamics among millions," says Petersen.

Interestingly, the researchers found no link between upper-body strength and redistribution opinions among women. Petersen argues that this is likely due to the fact that, over the course of evolutionary history, women had less to gain, and also more to lose, from engaging in direct physical aggression.

Together, the results indicate that an evolutionary perspective may help to illuminate political motivations, at least those of men.

"Many previous studies have shown that people's political views cannot be predicted by standard economic models," Petersen explains. "This is among the first studies to show that political views may be rational in another sense, in that they're designed by natural selection to function in the conditions recurrent over human evolutionary history."

###

Co-authors on this research include Aaron Sell, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

This research was supported by a grant from the Danish Research Council and a Director's Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health.

For more information about this study, please contact: Michael Bang Petersen at michael@ps.au.dk or Daniel Sznycer at dsznycer1@gmail.com.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "The Ancestral Logic of Politics: Upper-Body Strength Regulates Men's Assertion of Self-Interest Over Economic Redistribution" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/afps-pmm051413.php

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To suppress or to explore? Emotional strategy may influence anxiety

May 13, 2013 ? When trouble approaches, what do you do? Run for the hills? Hide? Pretend it isn't there? Or do you focus on the promise of rain in those looming dark clouds?

New research suggests that the way you regulate your emotions, in bad times and in good, can influence whether -- or how much -- you suffer from anxiety.

The study appears in the journal Emotion.

In a series of questionnaires, researchers asked 179 healthy men and women how they managed their emotions and how anxious they felt in various situations. The team analyzed the results to see if different emotional strategies were associated with more or less anxiety.

The study revealed that those who engage in an emotional regulation strategy called reappraisal tended to also have less social anxiety and less anxiety in general than those who avoid expressing their feelings. Reappraisal involves looking at a problem in a new way, said University of Illinois graduate student Nicole Llewellyn, who led the research with psychology professor Florin Dolcos, an affiliate of the Beckman Institute at Illinois.

"When something happens, you think about it in a more positive light, a glass half full instead of half empty," Llewellyn said. "You sort of reframe and reappraise what's happened and think what are the positives about this? What are the ways I can look at this and think of it as a stimulating challenge rather than a problem?"

Study participants who regularly used this approach reported less severe anxiety than those who tended to suppress their emotions.

Anxiety disorders are a major public health problem in the U.S. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, roughly 18 percent of the U.S. adult population is afflicted with general or social anxiety that is so intense that it warrants a diagnosis.

"The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, anxiety and depression -which tend to co-occur -- will be among the most prevalent causes of disability worldwide, secondary only to cardiovascular disease," Dolcos said. "So it's associated with big costs."

Not all anxiety is bad, however, he said. Low-level anxiety may help you maintain the kind of focus that gets things done. Suppressing or putting a lid on your emotions also can be a good strategy in a short-term situation, such as when your boss yells at you, Dolcos said. Similarly, an always-positive attitude can be dangerous, causing a person to ignore health problems, for example, or to engage in risky behavior.

Previous studies had found that people who were temperamentally inclined to focus on making good things happen were less likely to suffer from anxiety than those who focused on preventing bad things from happening, Llewellyn said. But she could find no earlier research that explained how this difference in focus translated to behaviors that people could change. The new study appears to explain the strategies that contribute to a person having more or less anxiety, she said.

"This is something you can change," she said. "You can't do much to affect the genetic or environmental factors that contribute to anxiety. But you can change your emotion regulation strategies."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/kBfZE399dDI/130513083314.htm

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Leap in leukemia treatment reported by Dartmouth researchers

Public release date: 13-May-2013
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Contact: Robin Dutcher
robin.dutcher@hitchcock.org
603-653-9056
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) have found a combination of drugs to potentially treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) more effectively. The research was published online on May 3, 2013, and it will appear as a letter in the journal Leukemia, a publication of the prestigious Nature Publishing Group. The study helps address a basic problem of treating CLL.

CLL lives both in the blood in circulation, and in lymph nodes and bone marrow. The former is relatively easy to kill, but the disease recurs because of resistant CLL cells in the lymph nodes and bone marrow. The researchers found an innovative drug combination that targets the stubborn CLL cells.

"We have been studying the mechanism in the cancer cells that causes the resistance to treatment," says Alan Eastman, the senior researcher on the team and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, "and that in turn, led us to find drugs that target the resistance." Eastman led the team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center that also included Ryan Soderquist, Darcy Bates, and Alexey Danilov.

The researchers found a very effective drug combination of gossypol plus navitoclax to kill CLL cells. "Both drugs have been given to patients, but never in combination, because no one had the mechanistic rationale for doing that. Now we have what we think is the most promising drug combination so far for the treatment of CLL," says Eastman.

CLL cells in the lymph nodes have an increased level of a protein known as BCL-X. Gossypol likely inhibits this protein, which allows the navitoclax to work more effectively to kill the cancer cells. Eastman and his team tested this drug combination on CLL immediately after they came out of the patients.

The willingness of the patients to participate was integral to this study," Eastman adds. "After 40 years of research, I think this is the most promising idea I have had that might truly impact patient outcome." The researchers hope a clinical trial will soon follow.

###

This research direction was catalyzed by a Prouty pilot grant from NCCC and is now supported by a Translational Research Grant from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

---

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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: 13-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Robin Dutcher
robin.dutcher@hitchcock.org
603-653-9056
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) have found a combination of drugs to potentially treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) more effectively. The research was published online on May 3, 2013, and it will appear as a letter in the journal Leukemia, a publication of the prestigious Nature Publishing Group. The study helps address a basic problem of treating CLL.

CLL lives both in the blood in circulation, and in lymph nodes and bone marrow. The former is relatively easy to kill, but the disease recurs because of resistant CLL cells in the lymph nodes and bone marrow. The researchers found an innovative drug combination that targets the stubborn CLL cells.

"We have been studying the mechanism in the cancer cells that causes the resistance to treatment," says Alan Eastman, the senior researcher on the team and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, "and that in turn, led us to find drugs that target the resistance." Eastman led the team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center that also included Ryan Soderquist, Darcy Bates, and Alexey Danilov.

The researchers found a very effective drug combination of gossypol plus navitoclax to kill CLL cells. "Both drugs have been given to patients, but never in combination, because no one had the mechanistic rationale for doing that. Now we have what we think is the most promising drug combination so far for the treatment of CLL," says Eastman.

CLL cells in the lymph nodes have an increased level of a protein known as BCL-X. Gossypol likely inhibits this protein, which allows the navitoclax to work more effectively to kill the cancer cells. Eastman and his team tested this drug combination on CLL immediately after they came out of the patients.

The willingness of the patients to participate was integral to this study," Eastman adds. "After 40 years of research, I think this is the most promising idea I have had that might truly impact patient outcome." The researchers hope a clinical trial will soon follow.

###

This research direction was catalyzed by a Prouty pilot grant from NCCC and is now supported by a Translational Research Grant from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/dmc-lil051313.php

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