Published: January 30, 2013 3:00 PM Updated: January 30, 2013 3:44 PM
Jan. 28 marked the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada decision, R. v. Morgentaler which struck down this country?s abortion laws, allowing abortion on demand for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy.
This gives us good reason to reflect on the status quo that has been now for a quarter-century.
Looking at the past decades of political discourse it?s clear that even after 25 years, Canadians are nowhere near settled on the matter of pre-born human rights ? and for good reason. Statistics Canada reports that in 2009 there were over 11,000 abortions after 13 weeks gestation.
Interestingly, other Western nations, some of which are more secular than ours, recognize in law the rights of pre-born children at 12 weeks gestation.
The issue of legal protection for children in the womb is difficult, but it does not justify inaction. It?s time for Canada to start setting things right.
Yes, the politics are complicated and difficult. But that should never excuse a First World nation from doing everything it can to protect the weakest members of society.
New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females. The research, which was conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, is published in the current early online edition of the journalNature Neuroscience.
The paper explains how OHSU scientists are investigating the role of epigenetics in the control of puberty. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene activity linked to external factors that do not involve changes to the genetic code itself. The OHSU scientists believe improved understanding of these complex protein/gene interactions will lead to greater understanding of both early-onset (precocious) puberty and delayed puberty, and highlight new therapy avenues.
To conduct this research, scientists studied female rats, which like their human counterparts, go through puberty as part of their early aging process. These studies revealed that a group of proteins, called PcG proteins, regulate the activity of a gene called the Kiss1 gene, which is required for puberty to occur. When these PcG proteins diminish, Kiss1 is activated and puberty begins.
PcG proteins are produced by another set of genes that act as a biological switch during the embryonic stage of life. The role of these proteins is to turn off specific downstream genes at key developmental stages.
OHSU scientists found that both the activity of these "master" genes and their ability to turn off puberty are impacted by two forms of epigenetic control: a chemical modification of DNA known as DNA methylation, and changes in the composition of histones, a specialized set of proteins that modify gene activity by interacting with DNA.
Using this new information, researchers were then able to delay puberty in female rats. They accomplished this by increasing PcG protein levels in the hypothalamus of the brain using a targeted gene therapy approach so that Kiss1 activation failed to occur at the normal time in life. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls reproductive development.
"While it was always understood that an organism's genes determine the timing of puberty, the role of epigenetics in this process has never been recorded until now," said Alejandro Lomniczi, Ph.D., a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center.
"Because epigenetic changes are driven by environmental, metabolic and cell-to-cell influences, these findings raise the possibility that a significant percentage of precocious and delayed puberty cases occurring in humans may be the result of environmental factors and other alterations in epigenetic control," said Sergio Ojeda, D.V.M, who is also a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU ONPRC.
"There is also much more to be learned about the way that epigenetic factors may link environmental factors such as nutrition, man-made chemicals, social interactions and other day-today influences to the timing and completion of normal puberty."
###
Oregon Health & Science University: http://www.ohsu.edu
Thanks to Oregon Health & Science University for this article.
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Source: www.bizjournals.com --- Wednesday, January 30, 2013 The College major with the highest starting salary is computer engineering at $70,400 a year, Forbes reports. It is followed by chemical engineering at $66,400, computer science at $64,400, and aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering at $64,000, according to a salary survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. You?ll find the complete list here. ...
TO ALL BRANCHES, REGIONAL COUNCILS AND REGIONAL OFFICES
Dear Colleague,
Changes to Personal Injury Applications for Assistance.
I am pleased to advise that we have been able to agree with Thompsons that our arrangements with them regarding wills, and advices shall continue but due to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, we will need to change our system of referrals for personal injury cases as it is a legal requirement that members access the RMT legal service for personal injury cases by instructing RMT Solicitors, Thompsons, direct. This can be done by members ringing 08457 125 495 or by sending an RMT Legal Assistance Form L1 to TUCH Arundel House 1 Furnival Square Sheffield S1 4QL. Where a member contacts the branch with the form, the branch should ensure the member sends it direct to Thompsons at the above address or rings the claim through on 08457 125 495 (no paper work required). As at present, the branch can of course keep a copy of the form L1 for their own records.
This only affects members in England and Wales.
I will keep you informed of further developments in this matter and I would be grateful if you could bring the contents of this circular to the attention of your members and implement the changes with immediate effect.
The best union inside the on the web globe has been born: a daily fantasy sports activities site intertwined by using a social networking widget. With this particular set up, players can create mini-leagues, share and acquire real time update, and also chat with the other players from several groups. This more encourages a way of camaraderie that will later on on nurture a deeper enjoy for this new period of gaming.
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Day-to-day Fantasy Sporting activities Goes Mobile
For the reason that social gaming is anticipated to get a developing market to the a long time to come, it is not astonishing that it?s got absent cellular as well. DraftKings has a short while ago introduced the 1st cellular application for everyday fantasy sports and that is the big Baller.
The massive Baller can be an easy-to-play match which includes been simplified to run under the resolution expected by your android phone. It?s best for casual and pro gamers who may well constantly be over the go but would not head a fast engage in any place.
But regardless of whether the whole sport has gone mobile, there remains a contact in the essence of social networking. Gamers can continue to join with buddies via fast messaging or by means of one-on-one battles. Not just that, the cellular model from the everyday fantasy sports activities means that you can exam your capabilities against the application by means of the nine amounts of perform available. This would enable you to understand the mechanics with the game and learn the numerous procedures essential so that you can learn the play but with no spending everything as cash.
The Locations of Each day Fantasy Sports activities
From the digital golf recreation, everyday fantasy athletics now have quite a few faces. Apart from golfing, you are able to also participate in soccer and baseball. The core rules remain precisely the same nevertheless: you can also make your own private crew which will play towards a further group. It is not going to subject how you name your team mainly because compared with the traditional activity, there are not any sponsors concerned. You can also build your workforce with players of just about a similar amount of talent to ensure injuries won?t impact your general effectiveness.
The scoring, even though, is different in contrast into the regular soccer, basketball and golfing occasions. It is because points are specified in substantial figures as opposed to the standard one issue per rating. You?d ought to fully grasp the precise info and stats offered out by each individual staff so as to properly gauge which team fits your skill stage. This knowing would afterwards on enable you to operate your way up the ranks.
The only real improvements that happened with regards to day-to-day fantasy athletics through the years could be the fact that players can now update their roster via their mobile phones or laptops. Points can now be emailed, tallied and after that scored just some minutes immediately after each individual sport. Participant stats could be despatched instantly and that means you will know your ranking as well as the level of successful.
Certainly, with all these variations, there?s no doubt that the field of day-to-day fantasy athletics will go a lengthy way. Each day fantasy sports activities is not gambling, it is really science.
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New OHSU research helps explain early-onset puberty in females Public release date: 29-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Newman newmanj@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University
BEAVERTON, Ore. - New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females. The research, which was conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, is published in the current early online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The paper explains how OHSU scientists are investigating the role of epigenetics in the control of puberty. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene activity linked to external factors that do not involve changes to the genetic code itself. The OHSU scientists believe improved understanding of these complex protein/gene interactions will lead to greater understanding of both early-onset (precocious) puberty and delayed puberty, and highlight new therapy avenues.
To conduct this research, scientists studied female rats, which like their human counterparts, go through puberty as part of their early aging process. These studies revealed that a group of proteins, called PcG proteins, regulate the activity of a gene called the Kiss1 gene, which is required for puberty to occur. When these PcG proteins diminish, Kiss1 is activated and puberty begins.
PcG proteins are produced by another set of genes that act as a biological switch during the embryonic stage of life. The role of these proteins is to turn off specific downstream genes at key developmental stages.
OHSU scientists found that both the activity of these "master" genes and their ability to turn off puberty are impacted by two forms of epigenetic control: a chemical modification of DNA known as DNA methylation, and changes in the composition of histones, a specialized set of proteins that modify gene activity by interacting with DNA.
Using this new information, researchers were then able to delay puberty in female rats. They accomplished this by increasing PcG protein levels in the hypothalamus of the brain using a targeted gene therapy approach so that Kiss1 activation failed to occur at the normal time in life. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls reproductive development.
"While it was always understood that an organism's genes determine the timing of puberty, the role of epigenetics in this process has never been recorded until now," said Alejandro Lomniczi, Ph.D., a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center.
"Because epigenetic changes are driven by environmental, metabolic and cell-to-cell influences, these findings raise the possibility that a significant percentage of precocious and delayed puberty cases occurring in humans may be the result of environmental factors and other alterations in epigenetic control," said Sergio Ojeda, D.V.M, who is also a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU ONPRC.
"There is also much more to be learned about the way that epigenetic factors may link environmental factors such as nutrition, man-made chemicals, social interactions and other day-today influences to the timing and completion of normal puberty."
###
Collaborators in this research include:
Alberto Loche, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow currently at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research Novartis Research Foundation, Basel, Switzerland
Juan Manuel Castellano, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme
Hollis Wright, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow supported by an NIH Training grant in Reproductive Sciences
Gabi Kaidar, M.D., a postdoctoral fellow currently at Maccabi Health Services, Pardes-Hana, Israel
Oline Ronnekleiv, Ph.D., and Martha Bosh. M.S., at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.
Gerd Pfeiffer, Ph.D., at the Division of Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, Calif.
Gabriel Knoll, a graduate student currently at Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant: IOS1121691) and National Institutes of Health (Grants: HD025123-ARRA and 8P51OD011092) funded this research.
About ONPRC
The ONPRC is a registered research institution, inspected regularly by the United States Department of Agriculture. It operates in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and has an assurance of regulatory compliance on file with the National Institutes of Health. The ONPRC also participates in the voluntary accreditation program overseen by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC).
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon's only public academic health center. It serves patients throughout the region with a Level 1 trauma center and nationally recognized Doernbecher Children's Hospital. OHSU operates dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy schools that rank high both in research funding and in meeting the university's social mission. OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute helped pioneer personalized medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. OHSU Brain Institute scientists are nationally recognized for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease and new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. OHSU's Casey Eye Institute is a global leader in ophthalmic imaging, and in clinical trials related to eye disease.
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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.
New OHSU research helps explain early-onset puberty in females Public release date: 29-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Newman newmanj@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University
BEAVERTON, Ore. - New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females. The research, which was conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, is published in the current early online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The paper explains how OHSU scientists are investigating the role of epigenetics in the control of puberty. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene activity linked to external factors that do not involve changes to the genetic code itself. The OHSU scientists believe improved understanding of these complex protein/gene interactions will lead to greater understanding of both early-onset (precocious) puberty and delayed puberty, and highlight new therapy avenues.
To conduct this research, scientists studied female rats, which like their human counterparts, go through puberty as part of their early aging process. These studies revealed that a group of proteins, called PcG proteins, regulate the activity of a gene called the Kiss1 gene, which is required for puberty to occur. When these PcG proteins diminish, Kiss1 is activated and puberty begins.
PcG proteins are produced by another set of genes that act as a biological switch during the embryonic stage of life. The role of these proteins is to turn off specific downstream genes at key developmental stages.
OHSU scientists found that both the activity of these "master" genes and their ability to turn off puberty are impacted by two forms of epigenetic control: a chemical modification of DNA known as DNA methylation, and changes in the composition of histones, a specialized set of proteins that modify gene activity by interacting with DNA.
Using this new information, researchers were then able to delay puberty in female rats. They accomplished this by increasing PcG protein levels in the hypothalamus of the brain using a targeted gene therapy approach so that Kiss1 activation failed to occur at the normal time in life. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls reproductive development.
"While it was always understood that an organism's genes determine the timing of puberty, the role of epigenetics in this process has never been recorded until now," said Alejandro Lomniczi, Ph.D., a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center.
"Because epigenetic changes are driven by environmental, metabolic and cell-to-cell influences, these findings raise the possibility that a significant percentage of precocious and delayed puberty cases occurring in humans may be the result of environmental factors and other alterations in epigenetic control," said Sergio Ojeda, D.V.M, who is also a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU ONPRC.
"There is also much more to be learned about the way that epigenetic factors may link environmental factors such as nutrition, man-made chemicals, social interactions and other day-today influences to the timing and completion of normal puberty."
###
Collaborators in this research include:
Alberto Loche, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow currently at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research Novartis Research Foundation, Basel, Switzerland
Juan Manuel Castellano, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme
Hollis Wright, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow supported by an NIH Training grant in Reproductive Sciences
Gabi Kaidar, M.D., a postdoctoral fellow currently at Maccabi Health Services, Pardes-Hana, Israel
Oline Ronnekleiv, Ph.D., and Martha Bosh. M.S., at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.
Gerd Pfeiffer, Ph.D., at the Division of Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, Calif.
Gabriel Knoll, a graduate student currently at Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant: IOS1121691) and National Institutes of Health (Grants: HD025123-ARRA and 8P51OD011092) funded this research.
About ONPRC
The ONPRC is a registered research institution, inspected regularly by the United States Department of Agriculture. It operates in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and has an assurance of regulatory compliance on file with the National Institutes of Health. The ONPRC also participates in the voluntary accreditation program overseen by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC).
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon's only public academic health center. It serves patients throughout the region with a Level 1 trauma center and nationally recognized Doernbecher Children's Hospital. OHSU operates dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy schools that rank high both in research funding and in meeting the university's social mission. OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute helped pioneer personalized medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. OHSU Brain Institute scientists are nationally recognized for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease and new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. OHSU's Casey Eye Institute is a global leader in ophthalmic imaging, and in clinical trials related to eye disease.
[ | 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.
It was an exciting day for a 26-year-old veteran, the first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq War. On Tuesday, Brendan Marrocco wheeled himself into a news conference to show off his newly transplanted arms following his surgery last month at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
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Marrocco received his new arms in a 13-hour operation that involved 16 surgeons on December 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
"I hated not having arms," Marrocco said during the news conference. "I was alright with not having legs. Not having arms takes so much away from you. Even your personality. You talk with your hands. You do everything with your hands, basically. And when you don?t have that you?re kind of lost for a while."
Marrocco received his two new arms from a deceased donor, becoming one of only seven people in the United States who have undergone successful double-arm transplants.
?It's given me a lot of hope for the future. I feel like I?m getting a second chance to start over after I got hurt,? Marrocco said. ?I?m excited for the future.?
His transplants involved the connection of bones, blood vessels, muscles, tendons, nerves and skin on both arms, and was the most extensive and complicated limb transplant procedure so far performed in the U.S., according to a hospital statement.
Doctors say it will take years for Marrocco to fully recover, but as he brushed the hair from his forehead with his left arm at the news conference, it appeared that he may get there far faster than predicted.
The main limiting factor in recovery is the slow growth of nerves, said the surgical team?s leader, Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Dr. Jamie Shores agreed.
?We expect it will take two to three years to see what that final function will be,? said Shores, the hospital's clinical director of hand transplantation. "The nerves make the muscles work as well as giving sensation.?
As the strength in his new arms improves, Marrocco said he is looking forward to swimming and using a handcycle. He conceded he probably won't be playing soccer, a sport he loved in high school.
To explain how much recovery Marrocco can expect, Lee pointed to the results from another patient who had a similar surgery three years ago.
?He was showing me how he was now able to tie shoe laces with his transplanted hands,? Lee said of the previous patient. ?Also, in addition to being able to tie his shoes, he sent us a video of him using chopsticks with his transplanted hand.?
Marrocco was in high spirits as he answered questions about how he?d be spending the rest of his life.
?I?ve got the job I always wanted, doing nothing,? he said with a smile. ?I guess I?ll just be a drain on society.?
In reality, Marrocco will be spending his days in physical therapy. ?He?ll be doing therapy to make his hands work six hours a day,? Shores said. ?There?s no amount of surgery we can do to make something work if the patients aren?t going to put an incredible amount of effort into this afterwards. He isn?t just sitting a home playing video games. It?s a full time job. That?s why we picked him. He?s demonstrated how hard he?s willing to work. He?s got that fighting spirit.?
Wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan, "Keep Calm and Chive On" (a reference to a comedy news website), Marrocco joked, ?I think video games can be great therapy.?
During the news conference, Marrocco offered a message for other amputee veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying they should "be stubborn" and not give up hope.
"Life always gets better and you're still alive," he said. "There's a lot of people who will say you can't do something. Just do it anyway. Work your ass off. You can do it."
Marrocco's mom knows all about her son's fighting spirit.
"Brendan's always been Brendan," Michelle Marrocco of Staten Island, N.Y. said Tuesday. "He's a tough cookie, without a doubt ... He's never going to stop."
Related:
Texas mom gets go-ahead for historic double-arm transplant
Double hand transplant recipient wants to feel grandkids' faces
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Jan. 28, 2013 ? Vaccines usually consist of inactivated viruses that prompt the immune system to remember the invader and launch a strong defense if it later encounters the real thing. However, this approach can be too risky with certain viruses, including HIV.
In recent years, many scientists have been exploring DNA as a potential alternative vaccine. About 20 years ago, DNA coding for viral proteins was found to induce strong immune responses in rodents, but so far, tests in humans have failed to duplicate that success.
In a paper appearing in the Jan. 27 online issue of Nature Materials, MIT researchers describe a new type of vaccine-delivery film that holds promise for improving the effectiveness of DNA vaccines. If such vaccines could be successfully delivered to humans, they could overcome not only the safety risks of using viruses to vaccinate against diseases such as HIV, but they would also be more stable, making it possible to ship and store them at room temperature.
This type of vaccine delivery would also eliminate the need to inject vaccines by syringe, says Darrell Irvine, an MIT professor of biological engineering and materials science and engineering. "You just apply the patch for a few minutes, take it off and it leaves behind these thin polymer films embedded in the skin," he says.
Irvine and Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering, are the senior authors of the Nature Materials paper. Both are members of MIT's David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. The lead author of the paper is Peter DeMuth, a graduate student in biological engineering.
Gradual vaccine delivery
Scientists have had some recent success delivering DNA vaccines to human patients using a technique called electroporation. This method requires first injecting the DNA under the skin, then using electrodes to create an electric field that opens small pores in the membranes of cells in the skin, allowing DNA to get inside. However, the process can be painful and give varying results, Irvine says.
"It's showing some promise but it's certainly not ideal and it's not something you could imagine in a global prophylactic vaccine setting, especially in resource-poor countries," he says.
Irvine and Hammond took a different approach to delivering DNA to the skin, creating a patch made of many layers of polymers embedded with the DNA vaccine. These polymer films are implanted under the skin using microneedles that penetrate about half a millimeter into the skin -- deep enough to deliver the DNA to immune cells in the epidermis, but not deep enough to cause pain in the nerve endings of the dermis.
Once under the skin, the films degrade as they come in contact with water, releasing the vaccine over days or weeks. As the film breaks apart, the DNA strands become tangled up with pieces of the polymer, which protect the DNA and help it get inside cells.
The researchers can control how much DNA gets delivered by tuning the number of polymer layers. They can also control the rate of delivery by altering how hydrophobic (water-fearing) the film is. DNA injected on its own is usually broken down very quickly, before the immune system can generate a memory response. When the DNA is released over time, the immune system has more time to interact with it, boosting the vaccine's effectiveness.
The polymer film also includes an adjuvant -- a molecule that helps to boost the immune response. In this case, the adjuvant consists of strands of RNA that resemble viral RNA, which provokes inflammation and recruits immune cells to the area.
The ability to provoke inflammation is one of the key advantages of the new delivery system, says Michele Kutzler, an assistant professor at Drexel University College of Medicine. Other benefits include targeting the wealth of immune cells in the skin, the use of a biodegradable delivery material, and the possibility of pain-free vaccine delivery, she says.
"It's an interesting approach that can be applied not just to delivery of DNA-based vaccine antigens, but other small molecules," says Kutzler, who was not part of the research team.
Eliciting immune responses
In tests with mice, the researchers found that the immune response induced by the DNA-delivering film was as good as or better than that achieved with electroporation.
To test whether the vaccine might provoke a response in primates, the researchers applied a polymer film carrying DNA that codes for proteins from the simian form of HIV to macaque skin samples cultured in the lab. In skin treated with the film, DNA was easily detectable, while DNA injected alone was quickly broken down.
"The hope is that that's an indication that this will translate to large animals and hopefully humans," Irvine says.
The researchers now plan to perform further tests in non-human primates before undertaking possible tests in humans. If successful, the vaccine-delivering patch could potentially be used to deliver vaccines for many different diseases, because the DNA sequence can be easily swapped out depending on the disease being targeted.
"If you're making a protein vaccine, every protein has its little quirks, and there are manufacturing issues that have to be solved to scale it up to humans. If you had a DNA platform, the DNA is going to behave the same no matter what antigen it's encoding," Irvine says.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Anne Trafton.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Peter C. DeMuth, Younjin Min, Bonnie Huang, Joshua A. Kramer, Andrew D. Miller, Dan H. Barouch, Paula T. Hammond, Darrell J. Irvine. Polymer multilayer tattooing for enhanced DNA?vaccination. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3550
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.
By Agence France-Presse Sunday, January 27, 2013 10:12 EST
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Obesity has become a global pandemic that could leave more than half of all adults worldwide overweight within two decades, experts said, calling for urgent action beyond just blaming people for lacking willpower.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, health, nutrition and fitness experts said the world?s increasingly deadly obesity crisis needs to be tackled with the same determination policy-makers once took to fighting smoking.
With our food more and more unhealthy and our lives increasingly sedentary, answers are needed to address a crisis that is driving up diabetes, boosting heart disease and already killing 2.8 million adults per year, they said.
The current figure of 1.4 billion adults already overweight globally is set to soar, Linda Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, told a panel on obesity at the annual gathering of the global elite.
?In another 20 years, if things continue to increase the way they are, it may well be that 50-60 percent of the world?s adult population will be overweight,? Fried said.
?If this were an infectious disease we might call it a pandemic. It?s not regional, it?s global, it?s increasing rapidly, it?s continuing to escalate ? those are the basic definitions of a pandemic,? she said.
The first step to resolving the crisis, the experts said, is overcoming the instinctive reaction many have to obesity ? blaming the obese themselves instead of the conditions around them.
?In 30 years, the percent of the world?s population that is overweight or obese has doubled,? Fried said. ?There?s no evidence that there has been a collective global loss of willpower.?
The blame rests instead with the easy availability ? and relative cheapness ? of higher-calorie foods and increasing urbanisation that has led to less active lifestyles, the experts said.
Lisa MacCallum Carter, Nike?s Vice-President for Access to Sport, said obesity was linked to an ?inactivity crisis? as a result of urbanisation.
She said significant amounts of daily exercise from incidental movement had been lost, with for example people now sending emails instead of walking across the office to talk to a colleague.
She cited research showing that Americans are now 32 percent less active than in 1967, and if current trends continue they will be 50 percent less active by 2030.
In just half a generation, she said, the Chinese had also become 45 percent less active.
At the same time, the foods we eat are becoming less healthy, with fattier, higher-salt and artificial products easier to produce and distribute, the experts said.
?The ways we see markets working are accelerating these trends very rapidly,? said Marc Van Ameringen, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
Some governments, as in the United States, are encouraging this by subsidising industrial food production, as with corn syrup, which is widely used in prepared foods as a sweetener and thickener, he said.
?Look at the money that goes into producing corn and corn-syrup products, compared to the subsidies that go into producing fruit and vegetables,? he said.
Fried said some policy-makers have taken encouraging steps to fight obesity, like Mayor Michael Bloomberg of her native New York.
His crusade against junk food has seen the city ban the sale of supersize soft drinks and require fast-food restaurants to label menus with calorie information.
The experts said steps like widespread calorie-labelling laws, limits on portion sizes and increased taxes on unhealthy food would make a difference.
Paul Bulcke, the CEO of Swiss food giant Nestle, said too much blame was being laid on food companies.
?It is a very complex problem,? he said. ?Yes, we are attacked, but that comes a bit from a society that wants to blame.?
He said Nestle supported ?meaningful labelling? of its products and that governments had an obligation to increase nutritional education.
MacCallum Carter of Nike said more had to be done to restore physical activity to daily life.
?On the nutrition side this problem is being looked at in a very sophisticated way,? she said. ?But we?re certainly not resolving the physical activity crisis.?
The experts said children needed to be involved in sport and individuals, companies and governments needed to work together to boost physical activity, for example by redesigning urban spaces to require more walking.
?We have a health emergency, it is global and it is of huge dimensions? We can only solve it together,? Fried said.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic became the first man to win three successive Australian Open titles in the professional era when he beat third seed Andy Murray 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2 in a battle of attrition on Sunday.
The Serb, who has now won four of his six grand slam titles in Melbourne, managed to win the important points as the Briton suffered from blisters on his right foot and problems at the top of his left hamstring.
Both players produced superb service games throughout the match with Djokovic the first to achieve a break in the eighth game of the third set, propelling him to the brink of the title after the pair had shared tiebreaks in the first two sets.
Djokovic then capitalized on a flagging Murray, who had battled to a five-set win over Roger Federer on Friday, breaking early in the fourth set and then holding on to clinch the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup for the fourth time.
"What a joy. It's an incredible feeling to win this trophy again," Djokovic said. "This is definitely my favorite grand slam. I love this tournament. I love this court.
"I have to congratulate Andy and thank him.
"We have played so many great matches in the last two years. Bad luck for tonight but I wish you best of luck for the season."
Djokovic was not the only man chasing a record.
U.S. Open champion Murray, who beat Djokovic in the New York final in September, was also hoping to become the first Briton to win the title since Fred Perry in 1934 and the first man to win his second grand slam immediately after winning his first.
Djokovic had the first opportunity to take an advantage when he held four break points in the sixth game, but Murray fought them all off and leveled at 3-3 with a kicking ace down the center line.
The world number one held another break point in the eighth game, but Murray again saved and forced a tiebreak, which he sealed 7-2 after he had jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked like giving it up.
MEDICAL TIMEOUT
Murray's first serve, which had caused him problems in the first set, was much better in the second and the Scot reduced the number of unforced errors though neither man looked likely to lose their serve.
The top seeded Djokovic seized the advantage in the tiebreak when Murray double faulted after he had been forced to stop his serve as a feather from birds in the roof fluttered down on court.
That point gave the Serb a 3-2 lead, which he capitalized on to win 7-3 when Murray hit a backhand into the net.
The Briton then took a medical timeout before the third set began to have sticking plaster and strapping tape applied to blisters around the big toe on his right foot and the momentum shifted to the Serbian world number one.
Djokovic, however, waited until the time was right to pounce on Murray's weakness, which he did in the eighth game when he claimed the first break of the match after almost three hours of play to take a 5-3 lead.
The Serb then blasted through his service game to love to take the third set in a relatively lightning 41 minutes after the first two sets had taken 68 and 65 minutes respectively.
Murray's foot continued to give him trouble in the fourth set as he was unable to stop abruptly, change direction, or push off properly to generate power.
Djokovic broke in the third game and sensing the finishing line was in sight, achieved a double break in the fifth and sealed the win when a Murray backhand return thudded into the net.
"I'd like to thank Novak," Murray said.
"His record here is incredible. There are very few people who have managed to do what he has done here.
ROME (AP) ? Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi praised Benito Mussolini for "having done good" despite the Fascist dictator's anti-Jewish laws, immediately sparking expressions of outrage as Europe on Sunday held Holocaust remembrances.
Berlusconi also defended Mussolini for allying himself with Hitler, saying he likely reasoned that it would be better to be on the winning side.
The media mogul, whose conservative forces are polling second in voter surveys ahead of next month's election, spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony in Milan to commemorate the Holocaust.
In 1938, before the outbreak of World War II, Mussolini's regime passed the so-called "racial laws," barring Jews from Italy's universities and many professions, among other bans. When Germany's Nazi regime occupied Italy during the war, thousands from the tiny Italian Jewish community were deported to death camps.
"It is difficult now to put oneself in the shoes of who was making decisions back then," Berlusconi said of Mussolini's support for Hitler. "Certainly the (Italian) government then, fearing that German power would turn into a general victory, preferred to be allied with Hitler's Germany rather than oppose it."
Berlusconi added that "within this alliance came the imposition of the fight against, and extermination of, the Jews. Thus, the racial laws are the worst fault of Mussolini, who, in so many other aspects, did good."
More than 7,000 Jews were deported under Mussolini's regime, and nearly 6,000 of them were killed.
Outrage, along with a demand that Berlusconi be prosecuted for promoting Fascism, quickly followed his words.
Among those voicing condemnation were prominent Jewish figures abroad.
Mussolini "modeled his anti-Jewish laws after the Nazi Nuremberg Laws barring Jews from civil service," Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement.
"It is the height of revisionism to try to reinstate an Italian dictator who helped legitimize and prop up Hitler as a 'reincarnated good guy,'" said the rabbi, whose organization monitors anti-Semitic incidents worldwide.
Berlusconi's praise of Mussolini constitutes "an insult to the democratic conscience of Italy," said Rosy Bindi, a center-left leader. "Only Berlusconi's political cynicism, combined with the worst historic revisionism, could separate the shame of the racist laws from the Fascist dictatorship."
Italian laws enacted following the country's disastrous experience in the war forbid the defense of Fascism. A candidate for local elections, Gianfranco Mascia, pledged that he and his supporters will present a formal complaint on Monday to Italian prosecutors, seeking to have Berlusconi prosecuted.
Hours later, Berlusconi issued a statement saying he "regretted" that he didn't make clear in his earlier comments that his historical analyses "are always based on condemnation of dictatorships," the Italian news agency LaPresse reported.
He also contended that the political left was trying to exploit his comment about Mussolini for election campaign fodder.
Advocating aggressive nationalism, Mussolini used brutish force and populist appeal evoking ancient Rome's glories to achieve and keep his dictatorial grip on power, starting in the early '20s and lasting well into World War II. His Fascist "blackshirt" loyalists cracked down on dissidents, through beatings and jailings.
He encouraged big families to propagate the Italian population, established a sprawling state economy and erected monumental buildings and statues to evoke ancient Rome. Mussolini sought to impose order on a generally individualistic-minded people, and Italians sometimes note trains ran on time during Fascism.
With dreams of an empire, he sent Italian troops on missions to attack or occupy foreign lands, including Ethiopia and Albania. Eventually, Italian military failures in Africa and in Greece fostered rebellion among Fascist officials, and in 1943 he was placed under arrest by orders of the Italian king. His end came at the vengeful hands of partisan fighters, who shot him and his mistress, and left their bodies to hang in a Milan square in April 1945.
Berlusconi's former government allies have included political heirs to neo-fascist movements admiring Mussolini.
In 2010, he told world leaders at a Paris conference that he had been reading Mussolini's journals, and years earlier Berlusconi had claimed that Mussolini "never killed anyone."
Berlusconi is running in Feb. 24-25 Parliamentary elections and has repeatedly changed his mind on whether he is seeking a fourth term as premier. Monti is also running, but polls put him far behind front-runner Pier Luigi Bersani, a center-left leader who supported Monti's austerity measures to save Italy from the Eurozone debt crisis.
Polls show about one-third of eligible voters are undecided.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]NASHUA ? Contract negotiations between the Nashua Teachers' Union and Board of Education officially began. ... Business · New Businesses · Business People · Business Events · Columnists · Sports · Local · High School ...
Scientists are using principles of natural selection to evolve a more efficient solar cell.
Engineers at Northwestern University wrote a computer program that "mates" design elements and assesses the fitness of their "offspring" to come up with the most efficient possible organic solar cell. Organic solar cells are made with the so-called organic elements ? carbon, oxygen and nitrogen ? and are cheaper to make, lighter and more flexible than the traditional silicon cells available in solar panels today.
Organic cells aren't as efficient at turning the sun's energy into electricity as silicon cells, however. Many research groups are working to improve organic solar cells' efficiency. If they work well, such cells could go into? electricity-producing windows ?or clothes.
In their work, the Northwestern researchers focused on the top layer of an organic solar cell, called the scattering layer, which traps photons from sunlight. They wanted a scattering layer that would hold photos for a greater amount of time.
"We wanted to determine the geometry for the scattering layer that would give us optimal performance," Cheng Sun, a mechanical engineer and one of the creators of the new organic solar cell,? said in a statement. "But with so many possibilities, it's difficult to know where to start, so we looked to laws of natural selection to guide us."
Sun and his colleagues' program simulated more than 20 generations of matings to come up with their final design. The program also mimicked the biological processes of mutation and an exchange of traits called crossing over.
The resulting design traps photons for three times as long as the Yablonovitch Limit, which describes how long a photon is likely to stay in a semiconducting material. Researchers have only been able to reach and break the Yablonovitch Limit in the last few years.?
The engineers? published their work ?Jan. 3 in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Gold IRAs are heavily regulated by the Internal Revenue Service and it?s dependent on the individual to check out that regulations are observed. It must be mentioned that the IRS prohibits proof gold in gold IRAs, with the exception of US minted gold coins.
These coins are believed to be important collectibles. Although they may be collectibles, they provide lesser premium appeal.
It is required in the gold IRA rules issued by the IRS that gold backed Individual Retirement Account can be maintained by a licensed Individual Retirement Account trustee. The custodian is responsible for getting the gold to be invested, to be kept in a vault. The investor may not take the gold.
To finance the retirement account, all payments need to be made in dollars. The dollars deposit should not go higher than an annual value of $5000. The other way of contributing this money is by a rollover or a transfer from one other retirement plan.
Right after the transfer is effected, then the individual needs to notify the trustee which kind of coins he prefers. People are not permitted to put in gold coins that are already owned by them to the IRA. Several custodians allow you to have gold and stocks.
Therefore, it?s very important to get the tax rewards of a gold backed IRA. Failing to do this may lead to pay the entire tax burden.
If you have never invested in gold Individual Retirement Accounts earlier, there are various methods open to you to start out a gold Individual Retirement Account. The two options in gold IRA investments are by rollovers and transfers.
Going for gold IRA investments gives a fairly lucrative investment option for people who want returns once they retire. It is a great way of preparing for retirement. For more information, please visit Gold 401k Investing
Bethesda & ZeniMax Online Studios have announced The Elder Scrolls Online beta testing starts with beta program sign-ups this week!
When will the first round of the beta begin? The answer doesn?t confirm a date. To quote:
?If selected, you will be one of the first people to embark upon the newest Elder Scrolls adventure, and help us beta test The Elder Scrolls Online. Please be aware that this is just beta sign-ups. The first beta test will begin soon?watch our official website, Facebook, and Twitter for an announcement about the first round of invites.?
What can you do in the beta? Here?s what it is about:
?Tamriel is at war. Three alliances ? the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact ? square off for control of The Imperial City. The time to vow your allegiance is swiftly approaching, as the official sign-up for The Elder Scrolls Online beta program begins today. If selected, you will be one of the first people to embark upon the newest Elder Scrolls adventure, and help us beta test The Elder Scrolls Online. Now is the time for future members of the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact to rally and show your support!?
To celebrate the opening of the beta sign-ups, an The Elder Scrolls Online ?The Alliances? cinematic trailer has been released. Watch it here:
Next, we have the first video of The Elder Scrolls Online ? a documentary-style introduction to the game, presented by members of The Elder Scrolls Online Development Team. This video covers the basics of ESO, including a first look at the game?s Elder Scrolls-style combat system, massive PvP battles, Megaserver technology, exploration-based content, and much more.
An introduction to The Elder Scrolls Online:
The Elder Scrolls Online is set for release sometime in 2013 for PC and Mac.
Are you first in line to try out for The Elder Scrolls Online Beta?
About the author
By Ferry Groenendijk: He is the founder and editor of Video Games Blogger. He loved gaming from the moment he got a Nintendo with Super Mario Bros. on his 8th birthday. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and at Google+.
This healthy alternative chili will make you wonder why we ever put meat in chili to begin with. Take the time to start with dry beans and soak them overnight; the difference is definitely noticeable. Serve with tortilla chips and garnished with cilantro and sour cream.
Ingredients
1/2 lb dry black beans, soaked overnight in cool water
2 Poblano peppers, roasted in oven
1 oz olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded, chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp tomato paste
3 oz white wine
2 cups vegetable stock
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, seeded, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, as needed
Optional thickener: 1 Tbsp masa harina, (or pulse corn meal in a dry blender until very fine like corn flour), diluted with vegetable stock to make a slurry;
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375? F.
Put beans in large pot and just cover with cold water. Add a little salt and bring to a simmer. Let cook, covered for 1 to 1-1/2 hours until tender. Drain well.
Place roasted Poblanos in a plastic bag for about 5 minutes to loosen skin. Slip skin off peppers, then seed and chop.
Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers, garlic, chipotle, and Poblanos and saut? until aromatic and just starting to turn brown. Add chili powder, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon and cook until fragrant. Add in tomato paste and cook for two minutes.
Add white wine and reduce by about 2/3. Add vegetable stock and tomatoes and bring to a simmer; cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add drained black beans and cook for a 5 more minutes.
Add masa harina or corn flour slurry, (if using to thicken). Bring back to a simmer and season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot with a garnish of sour cream, cilantro, and shredded jack cheese, or freshly made guacamole.
Home improvement loans are good investments for banks, because real estate is a good form of financial risk for creditors. Understand why banks find real estate to be a good risk and why good credit matters less when a loan is for property with tips from anexperienced financial adviser in this free video. Expert: Patrick Munro Contact: www.northstarnavigator.com Bio: Patrick Munro is a registered financial consultant (RFC) with outstanding sales volume of progressive financial products and solutions to the senior and boomer marketplace. Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC
U.S. Army Capt. Linda L. Bray in her home on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Clemmons, N.C. During the invasion of Panama in 1989, Bray became the first woman to lead US troops in battle. Commander of the 988th Military Police, she engaged in a firefight with elite Panamanian Special Forces unit inside a military barracks and dog kennel. Framed on the wall are awards and unit patches she collected while serving. (AP Photo/Lynn Hey)
U.S. Army Capt. Linda L. Bray in her home on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Clemmons, N.C. During the invasion of Panama in 1989, Bray became the first woman to lead US troops in battle. Commander of the 988th Military Police, she engaged in a firefight with elite Panamanian Special Forces unit inside a military barracks and dog kennel. Framed on the wall are awards and unit patches she collected while serving. (AP Photo/Lynn Hey)
U.S. Army Capt. Linda L. Bray in her home on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Clemmons, N.C. During the invasion of Panama in 1989, Bray became the first woman to lead US troops in battle. Commander of the 988th Military Police, she engaged in a firefight with elite Panamanian Special Forces unit inside a military barracks and dog kennel. Hanging on the wall in are bayonets taken from AK47s that was captured during the attack along with her MP brassard or armband. (AP Photo/Lynn Hey)
Kristen Auge, Deputy Director of Public Affairs, introduces soldiers from left, Army Sgt. 1st Class Katie Reed, Army Sgt. Cassie Mecuk, Army Staff Sgt. Andrea Drost, Army Sgt. Katie Warden, Air Force Maj. Ann Todd, and Air Force Master Sgt. Holly Caroon at the Inver Grove Heights, Minn., Training and Community Center following Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta's and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey's announcement regarding women in combat. The Minnesota National Guard says it will integrate female soldiers into previously all-male combat infantry units. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Elizabeth Flores) MANDATORY CREDIT; ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS OUT; MAGS OUT; TWIN CITIES TV OUT
FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2012 file photo, female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train on a firing range while testing new body armor in Fort Campbell, Ky., in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan. The Pentagon is lifting its ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after generations of limits on their service, defense officials said Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Former U.S. Army Capt. Linda L. Bray says her male superiors were incredulous upon hearing she had ably led a platoon of military police officers through a firefight during the 1989 invasion of Panama.
Instead of being lauded for her actions, the first woman in U.S. history to lead male troops in combat said higher-ranking officers accused her of embellishing accounts of what happened when her platoon bested an elite unit of the Panamanian Defense Force. After her story became public, Congress fiercely debated whether she and other women had any business being on the battlefield.
The Pentagon's longstanding prohibition against women serving in ground combat ended Thursday, when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that most combat roles jobs will now be open to female soldiers and Marines. Panetta said women are integral to the military's success and will be required to meet the same physical standards as their male colleagues.
"I'm so thrilled, excited. I think it's absolutely wonderful that our nation's military is taking steps to help women break the glass ceiling," said Bray, 53, of Clemmons, N.C. "It's nothing new now in the military for a woman to be right beside a man in operations."
The end of the ban on women in combat comes more than 23 years after Bray made national news and stoked intense controversy after her actions in Panama were praised as heroic by Marlin Fitzwater, the spokesman for then-President George H.W. Bush.
Bray and 45 soldiers under her command in the 988th Military Police Company, nearly all of them men, encountered a unit of Panamanian special operations soldiers holed up inside a military barracks and dog kennel.
Her troops killed three of the enemy and took one prisoner before the rest were forced to flee, leaving behind a cache of grenades, assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to Associated Press news reports published at the time. The Americans suffered no casualties.
Citing Bray's performance under fire as an example, Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., introduced a bill to repeal the law that barred female U.S. military personnel from serving in combat roles.
But the response from the Pentagon brass was less enthusiastic.
"The responses of my superior officers were very degrading, like, 'What were you doing there?'" Bray said. "A lot of people couldn't believe what I had done, or did not want to believe it. Some of them were making excuses, saying that maybe this really didn't happen the way it came out."
Schroder's bill died after top generals lobbied against the measure, saying female soldiers just weren't up to the physical rigors of combat.
"The routine carrying of a 120-pound rucksack day in and day out on the nexus of battle between infantrymen is that which is to be avoided and that's what the current Army policy does," Gen. M.R. Thurman, then the head of the U.S. Southern Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
For Bray, the blowback got personal.
The Army refused to grant her and other female soldiers who fought on the ground in Panama the Combat Infantryman Badge. She was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, an award for meritorious achievement in a non-combat role.
Bray was also the subject of an Army investigation over allegations by Panamanian officials that she and her soldiers had destroyed government and personal property during the invasion that toppled Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
Though eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, the experience soured Bray on the Army. In 1991, she resigned her commission after eight years of active duty and took a medical discharge related to a training injury.
Today's military is much different from the one Bray knew, with women already serving as fighter pilots, aboard submarines and as field supervisors in war zones. But some can't help but feel that few know of their contributions, said Alma Felix, 27, a former Army specialist.
"We are the support. Those are the positions we fill and that's a big deal ? we often run the show ? but people don't see that," Felix said. "Maybe it will put more females forward and give people a sense there are women out there fighting for our country. It's not just you're typical poster boy, GI Joes doing it."
Spc. Heidi Olson, a combat medic, received a purple heart for injuries she suffered when an IED exploded in Afghanistan last May.
"It makes it official now," Olson said. "We don't have to do the back door way of getting out into a combat zone."
___
Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego and staff photographer Ted Warren in Seattle contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck
The College major with the highest starting salary is computer engineering at $70,400 a year, Forbes reports. It is followed by chemical engineering at $66,400, computer science at $64,400, and aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering at $64,000, according to a salary survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. You?ll find the complete list here. ...![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Jan-2013
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By Ferry Groenendijk: He is the founder and editor of Video Games Blogger. He loved gaming from the moment he got a Nintendo with Super Mario Bros. on his 8th birthday. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and at Google+.
