Shedding light on early Parkinson's disease pathology

Apr. 1, 2013 ? In a mouse model of early Parkinson's disease (PD), animals displayed movement deficits, loss of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH)-positive fibers in the striatum, and astro-gliosis and micro-gliosis in the substantia nigra (SN), without the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons. These findings, which may cast light on the molecular processes involved in the initial stages of PD, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.

"The most intriguing finding of our study was the lack of a significant decrease of TH levels in the SN of the low-dose MPTP-treated mice, suggesting that this treatment does not induce a direct loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons," says Joost Verhaagen PhD, lead investigator of the study. "These findings appear to support the 'dying back' hypothesis of PD, which proposes that the TH-positive terminal loss in the striatum is the first neurodegenerative event in PD, which later induces neuronal degeneration in the SN." Dr. Verhaagen is Head of the Workgroup on Neuroregeneration at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam.

The neurotoxin MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) was used to induce the degenerative changes. Chronic 5 week administration of 25 mg/kg MPTP combined with probenecid (250 mg/kg), which inhibits MPTP clearance and promotes its crossing of the blood-brain barrier, is known to cause dopaminergic neuron degeneration in the SN and decrease striatal dopaminergic nerve terminals. In the current study, 7 mice were treated with 25 mg/kg MPTP plus probenecid, 6 mice received a lower dose of MPTP (15 mg/kg) plus probenecid, and 8 control mice received saline plus probenecid. A grid test, known to be sensitive to striatal dopaminergic input, was used to detect motor deficits.

Immunohistochemical analysis using TH fluorescence revealed that only the higher dose of MPTP produced significant dopaminergic neuronal cell loss in the SN (65% fluorescence loss, p<0.001). The 15 mg/kg dose produced an 18% decline in fluorescence which was not significantly different than control.

Both dose levels significantly reduced TH immunoreactivity of the striatum. The authors believe that the motor deficits seen at both MPTP dose levels relate to the striatal dopamine depletion.

The study is also the first to report that low-dose MPTP produces astrogliosis and microgliosis in the SN and formation of ?-synuclein positive inclusions. "The data suggests that gliosis in the substantia nigra plays a prominent initiating role in the introduction of dopaminergic deficits after MPTP treatment, and may be sufficient to significantly reduce TH levels in the striatum," says Dr. Korecka, first author and principal investigator of the study and a post-doctoral fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam.

"We are the first to report that this early PD model provides an interesting window of opportunity to study the mechanisms that underlie the early neurodegenerative events that initiate the cellular death of dopaminergic neurons," write the authors. They suggest that the model can be used to develop potential treatment strategies to counteract early PD cellular changes.

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Journal Reference:

1. Joanna A. Korecka, Ruben Eggers, Dick F. Swaab, Koen Bossers, Joost Verhaagen. Modeling early Parkinson?s disease pathology with chronic low dose MPTP treatment. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, March 2013; 31: 2 DOI: 10.3233/RNN-110222

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/Wyj5mmaEf8s/130401111258.htm

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Massive prehistoric bird extinction linked to human colonization

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Research by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor has found that about a thousand bird species became extinct following human colonization.

Research by Alison Boyer, a research assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology, and an international team studied the extinction rates of nonperching land birds in the Pacific Islands from 700 to 3,500 years ago. Some of the birds studied included birds of prey and ducks. The team uncovered the magnitude of the extinctions and insight into how and why human impacts varied across the region.

The findings are published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists had long known extinction rates were high but estimates varied from 800 to 2,000 species due to an incomplete fossil record on the islands. The researchers used fossil records from 41 Pacific islands such as Hawaii and Fiji to run an analytical technique called the Bayesian mark-recapture method. This allowed them to model gaps in the fossil record for more than 300 Pacific islands and estimate the number of unknown extinct species.

"We used information on what species are currently on the islands and what species are in the fossil record to estimate the probability of finding a species in the fossil record," Boyer said.

Boyer and her colleagues found that nearly 983, or two-thirds, of land bird populations disappeared between the years of the first human arrival and European colonization. Disappearances are linked to overhunting by people, forest clearance and introduced species.

"We calculate that human colonization of remote Pacific islands caused the global extinction of close to a thousand species of nonperching land birds alone," said Boyer. "However, it is likely there are more species that were affected by human presence. Sea bird and perching bird extinctions will add to this total."

Researchers found the extinction rates differed depending on island and species characteristics. For example, larger islands had lower rates of extinction because they had larger populations of each bird species. Islands with more rainfall also had lower extinction rates because they experienced less deforestation by settlers. Bird species that were flightless and large-bodied had a higher rate of extinction because they were easier and more profitable to hunt and their lower rates of population growth inhibited recovery from overhunting or habitat loss.

"Flightless species were 33 times more likely to go extinct than those that could fly," said Boyer. "Also, species that only populated a single island were 24 more times likely to go extinct than widespread species."

###

University of Tennessee at Knoxville: http://www.tennessee.edu

Thanks to University of Tennessee at Knoxville for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127547/Massive_prehistoric_bird_extinction_linked_to_human_colonization

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Contemplating Privacy and Radio Communications 6 - The Silicon ...

Some miscellaneous thoughts:

First off, back a few days ago, an anonymous commenter asked

Do you know of any available resources to build freq hopping and encrypted radios available to the public. It might be a good project to get some of your engineers working on, perhaps using this as a foundation: http://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/
All you need is a laptop and the Hackrf USB radio, throw on a GUI that makes signal strength and frequency selection easy, encryption and frequency hop loads, and you've got a military grade radio.?

I haven't kept up with this tech - the last time I saw similar things (and it may have been a dead end on the Internet) it was certainly not military grade, and I wasn't even sure it was Belkin grade.? That is, I'm not sure it was as good as commercial WiFi you can buy anywhere pretty cheaply.? I can't say I'm an expert at this, having just looked it over, but this is not a usable radio; it's a digital board that allows you to experiment with software defined radios (SDRs). ? The HackRF page on Ars Electronica says

There are relatively few people in the world with the knowledge and tools required to develop new radio communications hardware, but there are many millions of people who have the ability to program a computer. General purpose computers are widely deployed, and opportunities to learn how to program them are available to a huge number of people.? HackRF gives all of those people the capability to explore the radio spectrum and develop creative new ways to communicate.

The difference is that HackRF doesn't seem to have any receiver sophistication and only a very low power transmitter stage that I can see.? I freely admit I could be wrong, but the block diagram sure doesn't show anything.? One of the paradoxes of SDRs is that they don't eliminate the need for filters; if anything, they become more important due to the aliases they respond to.? He describes it as combining "Licorice, Lemondrop, and Jellybean into a single USB-powered software radio".? Maybe I'm searching in all the wrong places, but a few searches with Bing retrieve nothing on them.? I don't think this is a GUI away from being useful, but hey!, prove me wrong!

SDRs for experimenters are not new at all.? Hams play with SoftRock, (also) a low power CW transceiver (Continuous Wave, the name hams tend to use for Morse code communications) that plugs into a USB port and a sound card.? These guys produce an HF SDR, transmit and receive, that is architecturally very similar to one I recently completed for a commercial design (naturally, I prefer the design trade choices that I made over theirs).? RFSpace has a product line of SDR receivers.?? FlexRadio is a staple in the ham world; their SDRs are considered among the finest radios on the market.?

I recommend getting an amateur radio license because it brings with it the privileges to experiment with new modes and new technologies all on your own.? You can buy an FRS radio to talk to someone, but if you're a ham, you can invent your own mode with an outwardly similar radio, because you're expected to understand the technical requirements.? The technician class license conveys all amateur privileges above 30 MHz, plus it gives holders some privileges in the HF spectrum (high frequency or shortwave - capable of worldwide communication).? The American Radio Relay League is the dedicated organization that is closest to a "universal American ham club", although like the NRA, the ARRL is often criticized by non-member hams (well, not as often as the NRA).? If you want a completely non-official page, this guy seems pretty good. ?

If you want to experiment with modes that require more than audio bandwidth, you need to be above 30 MHz, and you're going to need to experiment with radios (or have someone in your group that knows radio design).? Simply, most amateur gear is either surplus commercial gear or designed from the ground up for the narrowband modes that dominate.? Except for TV - hams have done regular TV at 400 MHz and above and are now doing digital TV.? A few months ago, I met hams who were buying surplus video equipment at WiFi frequencies and above.? They were playing with extending it out to long distances, and had made WiFi connections at 125 miles.? There is a ham band that overlaps the band allocated to WiFi, so the surplus gear is being used for ham purposes all the time.

As I said the other day, the use of ham radio to send encrypted messages, like a PGP-encrypted text file, is illegal, although the Feds have routinely allowed all sorts of things when a disaster happens.? If there is a total failure of civil order, I can't imagine this would be an enforcement priority.? Sort of like this old Far Side cartoon:

I think if you're going to learn how to set up and use communications, a ham license gets you the ability to do it in a licensed and permitted way. You can save the encrypted stuff for when you need it.
Simply using UHF or microwaves on a point to point link (no repeaters) will give you almost total anonymity.?

Finally, a couple of people (here and in email) have asked for book titles or other ways to learn about this field.? Most of the books I know of are at least somewhat mathematical.? Electronic Communications by Robert Schrader is a very good book, often used as a junior college text or supplement in ham classes.? Spread Spectrum Systems by Robert C. Dixon is one of the standard books.? Both of these are available in several editions and are often found used or in library sales.? The ARRL Handbook, published every year, has long been considered a very complete summary of modern ham radio theory and practice.? There's a difference between books published for working engineers and those published for school, where the aim is to impress the professors enough to become the textbook.? Because of this, I have a tendency to pick up old textbooks written from the working engineer's perspective.? I've often thought I've learned more from magazines and ham radio publications than my engineering texts, as those books have more insights per square inch than textbooks do.?

Source: http://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2013/03/contemplating-privacy-and-radio_31.html

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Texas DA's killing puts other prosecutors on alert

This undated photo taken from the Kaufman County, Texas, website shows Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. McLelland and his wife were found killed in their house, Saturday, March 30, 2013, two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office, authorities said. (AP Photo/Kaufman County)

This undated photo taken from the Kaufman County, Texas, website shows Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. McLelland and his wife were found killed in their house, Saturday, March 30, 2013, two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office, authorities said. (AP Photo/Kaufman County)

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes, center, walks away after a news conference in Kaufman, Texas, on Sunday March 31, 2013. On Saturday, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were murdered in their home. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes, right, speaks at a news conference, Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Kaufman, Texas. On Saturday, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were murdered in their home. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

A Kaufman County Sheriff's deputy walks near the taped-off property of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, near Forney, Texas, on Sunday, March 31, 2013. On Saturday, McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were murdered in their home. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

In this Saturday, March 30, 2013 photo, authorities work in the middle of Blarney Stone Way where Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia McLelland were found dead in their home in Forney, Texas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Ian C. Bates) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; AP MEMBERS ONLY

KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? Deputies escorted some Kaufman County employees into the courthouse Monday, two days after the district attorney and his wife were found shot to death in their home in an attack that stirred fears that other public employees could be targeted by assassins.

Law enforcement officers were seen patrolling one side of the courthouse, one holding a semi-automatic weapon, while others walked around inside.

Authorities have said little about the investigation into the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, whose bodies were found Saturday.

The slayings raised concerns about the safety of public employees across the state, coming just two months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot near the courthouse.

Deputies were called to the McLelland home by relatives and friends who had been unable to reach the pair, according to a search warrant affidavit.

When they arrived, investigators found the two had been shot multiple times. Cartridge casings were scattered near their bodies, the affidavit said.

Authorities have not discussed a motive.

"I don't want to walk around in fear every day ... but on the other hand, two months ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation," County Judge Bruce Wood, the county's top administrator, said Monday at a news conference.

The killings also came less than two weeks after Colorado's prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by an ex-convict.

Law enforcement agencies throughout Texas were on high alert, and steps were being taken to better protect other DAs and their staffs.

In Harris County, which includes Houston, District Attorney Mike Anderson said he accepted the sheriff's offer of 24-hour security for him and his family. Anderson said he also would take precautions at his office, the largest of its kind in Texas, with more than 270 prosecutors.

"I think district attorneys across Texas are still in a state of shock," Anderson said Sunday.

McLelland, 63, was the 13th prosecutor killed in the U.S. since the National Association of District Attorneys began keeping count in the 1960s.

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes would not give details Sunday of how the killings unfolded and said there was nothing to indicate for certain whether the DA's slaying was connected to Hasse's.

El Paso County, Colo., sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Joe Roybal said investigators had so far found no evidence connecting the Texas killings to the Colorado case, but added: "We're examining all possibilities."

Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Evan Spencer Ebel, a white supremacist and former Colorado inmate suspected of shooting Clements, died in a shootout with Texas deputies two days later about 100 miles from Kaufman.

In an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado slaying, McLelland himself raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang.

McLelland, elected in 2010, said his office had prosecuted several cases against such gangs, particularly one known as the Aryan Brotherhood. The groups have a strong presence around Kaufman County, a mostly rural area dotted with subdivisions, with a population of about 104,000.

No arrests have been made in Hasse's Jan. 31 slaying. After that attack, McLelland said, he carried a gun everywhere around town, even when walking his dog. He figured assassins were more likely to try to attack him outside. He said he had warned all his employees to be constantly on the alert.

"The people in my line of work are going to have to get better at it," he said of dealing with the danger, "because they're going to need it more in the future."

The number of attacks on prosecutors, judges and senior law enforcement officers in the U.S. has spiked in the past three years, according to Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the Santa Clara County, Calif., district attorney's office who tracks such cases.

For about a month after Hasse's slaying, sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway, said Sam Rosander, a McLelland neighbor.

The FBI and the Texas Rangers joined the investigation into the McLellands' deaths.

McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, had two daughters and three sons. One son is a police officer in Dallas.

___

Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Michael Graczyk in Houston, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and P. Solomon Banda in Denver contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-01-District%20Attorney%20Dead-Texas/id-cbeed5dcbb2d4e8fbb6e3cf39669b60e

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Texas district attorney, wife found dead at home

KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? A central Texas prosecutor and his wife were found killed in their house two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office, authorities said.

Investigators found the bodies of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, on Saturday, Kaufman County sheriff's Lt. Justin Lewis said. Police, FBI agents, Texas Rangers and deputies were part of the investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot to death in a parking lot a block from his office on Jan. 31. No arrests have been made in his death.

Lewis declined to say how the couple died or whether authorities believe their deaths are linked to Hasse's. He wouldn't provide further details. Kaufman County is 33 miles southeast of Dallas.

Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh told The Dallas Morning News that the McLellands had been shot in their home and although investigators didn't know if their deaths were related to Hasse's killing, they couldn't discount it.

"It is a shock," Aulbaugh told the newspaper. "It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock and until we know what happened, I really can't confirm that it's related but you always have to assume until it's proven otherwise."

Sam Rosander, who lives in the same unincorporated area of Kaufman County as the McLellands, told The Associated Press on Saturday that sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway for about a month after Hasse was killed.

Aulbaugh said recently that the FBI was checking to see if Hasse's killing could be related to the March 19 killing of Colorado Department of Corrections head Tom Clements, who was gunned down after answering the doorbell at his home.

Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and white supremacist who authorities believe killed Clements and a pizza deliveryman two days earlier, was killed in a March 21 shootout with Texas deputies about 100 miles from Kaufman.

Hasse was chief of the organized crime unit when he was an assistant prosecutor in Dallas County in the 1980s, and he handled similar cases in Kaufman County. After Hasse was killed, McLelland had said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.

"Anything anybody can think of, we're looking through," McLelland said after Hasse's death.

McLelland graduated from the University of Texas before a 23-year career in the Army, according to the website for the district attorney's office. He later earned his law degree from the Texas Wesleyan School of Law.

He and his wife have two daughters and three sons. One son is a police officer in Dallas.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-district-attorney-wife-found-dead-home-045407488.html

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Sony Computer Entertainment to fuse Asian and Japanese units into one

As part of recent restructuring and cost-cutting efforts, Sony's Computer Entertainment (SCE) division will merge its Asian and Japanese operations into a single entity. The company said that it would result in a new management unit, with SCE Japan president Hiroshi Kawano taking the helm and the Asian unit's ex-chief, Hiroyuki Oda becoming his deputy. Departments like marketing and finance will also merge in an effort to save cash, as the company hopes to stanch all the recent bleeding and try to make its fiscal 2012 a throwback to the glory days.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Source: Sony

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/01/sony-fusing-asian-and-japanese-gaming-units-into-one/

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Egypt issues arrest warrant for TV satirist

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's state prosecutors ordered the arrest Saturday of a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting Islam and the country's leader, in a move that government opponents say is aimed at silencing critics of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The arrest warrant for against Bassem Youssef, who has come to be known as Egypt's Jon Stewart, followed an order earlier this week by the country's top prosecutor to arrest five prominent pro-democracy activists in what the opposition has characterized as a widening campaign against dissent.

The acceleration in legal action targeting protesters, activists and critics comes against a backdrop of continued unrest in the country. Political compromise between the well-organized Islamists in power and their vocal liberal and largely secular critics remains elusive, while the country's economy is in near free fall, which has increasingly fueled popular frustration.

The opposition charges that Morsi, in office for nine months, and the Brotherhood have failed to tackle any of the nation's most pressing problems and are trying to monopolize power, breaking their promises of inclusiveness. Morsi blames the country's woes on nearly three decades of corruption under his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, and accuses the opposition of stoking unrest for political gain.

The warrant against Youssef is the latest in a series of legal actions against the comedian, whose widely-watched weekly show, "ElBernameg" or "The Program," has become a platform for lampooning the government, opposition, media and clerics. He has also used his program to fact-check politicians.

The fast-paced show has attracted a wide viewership, while at the same time earning itself its fair share of detractors. Youssef has been a frequent target of lawsuits, most of them brought by Islamist lawyers who have accused him of "corrupting morals" or violating "religious principles."

Prosecutor Mohammed el-Sayed Khalifa told Al-Ahram online that he has heard 28 plaintiffs accusing Youssef of insulting Islam, mocking prayers, and "belittling" Morsi in the eyes of the world and his own people.

In one episode of the show, Youssef mocks former militants who are now part of the mainstream political scene in Egypt. At a recent rally, some former radicals who were imprisoned for taking part in the assassination of late President Anwar Sadat in 1981, accused the opposition of using violence at anti-Morsi protests.

In the program, Youssef ridicules an Islamist who said the militants had repented by fasting for three months for mistakenly killing others with Sadat.

"What a message," Youssef says. "Anyone can form a group in the name of religion, assassinate in the name of religion, and then oops! Repent and fast for three months, and it will too pass in the name of religion."

The comedian has faced several court cases in the past accusing him of insulting Morsi. One of Youssef's attorneys, Gamal Eid, said however that this is the first time an arrest warrant has been issued for the comedian.

In a post on his official Twitter account, Youssef said he will hand himself in to the prosecutor's office Sunday. He then added, with his typical sarcasm: "Unless they kindly send a police van today and save me the transportation hassle."

Eid said the warrant fits into a widening campaign against government critics, media personalities, and activists, saying "the prosecution has become a tool to go after the regime's opposition and intimidate it."

A call to a top aide to the country's chief prosecutor, Hassan Yassin, for comment went unanswered.

Egypt's leading pro-democracy advocate and top opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei lamented the state of affairs in the country in a message posted on Saturday on his official Twitter account. "Pathetic efforts to smother dissent and intimidate media is a sign of a shaky regime and a bunker mentality," he wrote.

The other recent arrest warrants for five high-profile activists were issued over allegations that they instigated violence last week near the Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo, where nearly 200 people were injured in clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of the Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails.

Morsi responded by harshly criticizing his opponents, calling them hired thugs out to derail Egypt's democracy. The Brotherhood also blamed privately-owned media for fanning the violence.

The criticism was followed by a two-day protest by dozens of Islamists outside the studios of TV networks critical of Morsi. The protesters pelted police and prevented some talk show hosts and guests from entering or leaving the complex.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called the escalation of anti-press "rhetoric" by Morsi and his supporters and the sit-in outside the media city were "deeply troubling."

The series of prosecutions and arrest warrants come amid a legal challenge to the chief prosecutor, Talaat Abdullah, whose appointment by Morsi last year was declared void by a court ruling earlier this week.

On Saturday, Abdullah said he will appeal the court ruling, saying it is "in violation of the constitution and the law," Egypt's state news agency reported. The decision signals a protracted legal battle is likely to ensue, further confusing the legal scene in Egypt.

In the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, an Egyptian rights group said Saturday that police detained 13 people, including five lawyers, and accused them of assaulting police. The arrests inside the police station mark a rare instance in which lawyers face potential criminal charges.

The Haqanya Center for Rights said the 13 are accused of insulting security officials, attempting to free other detainees at the police station and illegal assembly.

The arrests prompted an angry response from lawyers at Cairo's Bar Association, who demanded an apology from the police.

Those detained include prominent lawyer and pro-democracy activist Mahienour el-Masry. Several dozen Cairo protesters held a rally outside the chief prosecutor's office, dismissing his orders as void, locking up the gates to his office with chains and demanding the release of the lawyers and activists.

Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, an attorney, said the lawyers and activists were beaten and assaulted at the station, where they had been since Friday to represent three opposition members reportedly detained and taken to the police by members of a political party affiliated with the Brotherhood.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-issues-arrest-warrant-tv-satirist-132500262.html

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