Plex adds major new features for iOS and Apple TV
Home entertainment server software Plex has been updated with new features for the apps used to playback content, adding a couple major new features for Apple TV and iOS. For mobile users with Apple devices, logging into an account no longer requires users to manually enter a PIN, instead using the device’s built-in biometric security. Apple TV, meanwhile, can now play HDR content. Depending on which iPhone or iPad model they’re using, Plex users on iOS can now sign into their account using the Face ID or Touch ID security already setup on their device. This eliminates the need to manually type in the account PIN each time the user opens the app, assuming they don’t have the app setup to automatically sign in.As mentioned, Plex on Apple TV now also supports HDR playback, adding a major feature that, until now, made Plex slightly less appealing than certain streaming video services. The HDR support is available as an early access feature for Plex Pass subscribers at this time; it can be enabled by going into the Settings > Advanced menu.Apple devices aside, the company is also updating the software’s TIDAL support by adding 30-second audio clips for the full TIDAL library on the Plex iOS and Web apps. As well, Plex’s TIDAL Artist TV, which requires a TIDAL subscription, has arrived on smart TVs, the Plex Media Player, PlayStation 4, and the web. Story TimelinePlex improves Apple TV music experience and refines iOS controlsPlex Android update brings PiP, video preloading and new viewing modesPlex just made it easier to find new content on your favorite servers
Volkswagen electric Dune Buggy concept brings the 60s to the present
We live in an age when the old becomes new again. Some, like vinyl, have come back in their original form while others, like gaming consoles, have been miniaturized. Volkswagen is also jumping on the retro trend but with a modern twist. It is bringing back the legendary American dune buggies from the 60s and is turning them into a fully electric concept vehicle fit for modern times. Of all the car designs it could revive, Volkswagen chose the buggy partly based on popularity and partly based on parallelism. The dune buggy was based on the Beetle convertible chassis which also became the foundation of other bodies from other companies. In addition to providing inspiration, the Beetle also demonstrated how cars could be built and be profitable at low volumes or even as one-offs.Those are also the same points Volkswagen wants to make with its modular electric drive matrix or MEB. Already used for large-scale production models, the carmaker wants to prove that its fully electric platform can also be used to facilitate the development of low-volume niche vehicles as well.And thus the fully electric Dune Buggy concept was born, a marriage of old and new. Like the Dune Buggies that roamed the US in the 60s and 70s, the e-Buggy keeps the roofless design, large wheels, and off-road tires that give the car its iconic look. It is, as Volkswagen Head Designer Klaus Bischoff calls it, “vibrancy and energy on four wheels.”AdChoices广告A one of a kind concept car, the fully electric buggy will debut for the first time at the International Geneva Motor Show in March. Be sure to keep an eye on our coverage of the week-long event and an up-close look at this blast from the past.
Obama Touts Early Success For Health Law In California
USA Today: Obama Pitches Health Care Exchanges In Calif. Visit President Obama on Friday highlighted a concentrated, localized strategy to encourage young Americans to enroll in the new health care exchanges. “Competition and choice are pushing down costs in the individual market, just like the law is designed to do,” Obama said during remarks in San Jose, Calif. California is one of three states key to the 2010 health care law’s expansion of health insurance to all Americans — but especially young people (Kennedy, 6/7). Los Angeles Times: Obama Cites California To Tout His Healthcare Law President Obama Friday morning held up California as an example of how his healthcare law will help consumers, citing the state’s progress getting health insurers to offer better plans at affordable prices. “A lot of opponents of the Affordable Care Act … had all kinds of sky-is-falling, doom-and -gloom predictions that not only would the law fail, but what we would also see is costs would skyrocket,” the president told reporters at a stop in Silicon Valley. “It turns out that what we are seeing in the states that have committed themselves to implementing this law corectly, we’re seeing some good news.” Obama also urged Californians and other American who don’t have health coverage to sign up this fall (Levey and Parson, 6/7). The Associated Press: Obama Pitches New Health Care Law In California President Barack Obama on Friday encouraged the uninsured or those paying high prices for health insurance to sign up for coverage under his health care law and urged opponents to stop wasting time continuing to fighting its implementation. Obama used a trip to California to highlight how the state is implementing the Affordable Care Act and refute continuing criticism over his signature legislative achievement. He touted an effort in the state to recruit Hispanics in particular to the health care exchanges that are being created to help millions of now-uninsured consumers afford coverage (Superville, 6/7). NBC News: Obama: Health Care Overhaul ‘Working The Way It’s Supposed To’ Amid indications that the public has soured somewhat on his signature health care overhaul, President Barack Obama on Friday sought to highlight benefits of the law already in place and emphasize many of its forthcoming advantages. … Obama’s renewed defense of the law he guided through Congress in 2009-10 comes after the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 49 percent of Americans said the law – “Obamacare,” colloquially – was a bad idea. That was the highest number of people to express such a view of the law since the poll began tracking sentiment on that issue in 2009 (O’Brien, 6/7).Reuters: President Obama Takes Health Pitch To California After Rate Row President Barack Obama insisted on Friday his healthcare overhaul is already proving worthwhile as he promoted the plan in California, where an argument is raging over whether it is living up to its name as the Affordable Care Act. “If you’re one of 6 million Californians or tens of millions Americans who don’t currently have health insurance, you’ll soon be able to buy quality, affordable care just like everybody else,” he said in San Jose, California. A part of the 2010 law that requires insurers to spend 80 percent of premiums on healthcare or reimburse money to consumers has prompted insurance companies to give rebates to consumers of $45 million this year in California, he added. “All of this is happening because of the Affordable Care Act,” Obama said (Holland and Spetalnick, 6/7). The Hill: Obama: Health Law Is Working Despite Critics’ ‘Fear Mongering’ Obama’s pitch for the healthcare law comes at a crucial time. The administration, along with state governments, is just months away from opening new insurance marketplaces and beginning to enroll millions of people in new coverage options. … Obama delivered his healthcare speech in California — a state that has had a smooth experience with the healthcare law so far, but is also far more invested in its success than other large states. Californians who use the state’s insurance exchange will be able to choose among 13 insurance companies. And though rates for some bare-bones policies will increase, premiums overall came in far lower than expected in California (Baker, 6/7). The Hill: Obama Takes Stage Without Remarks: ‘Folks Sweating Right Now’ President Obama took the stage Friday to discuss ObamaCare, only to find that his prepared remarks weren’t at the podium. The president twice yelled “people!” to his staff before an aide hastily delivered his remarks to the podium. “Folks are sweating back there right now,” Obama then said through a clenched grin (Sink, 6/7). Kaiser Health News: Obama: Health Law ‘Working The Way It’s Supposed To’ (Video)The Kaiser Health News’ morning roundup of coverage before the president’s speech: Obama To Tout California As Health Law Model (6/7). Obama Touts Early Success For Health Law In California This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
FBI Turns Attention To Oregons Health Exchange Troubles
Meanwhile, Maryland is working to rebuild its website. News outlets from Colorado and Washington also offer updates. The Wall Street Journal: FBI Scrutinizing Health Law Implementation Flaws in OregonThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into problems that plagued Oregon’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act, after the state was forced to scrap its problematic health insurance exchange that was never fully functional, according to people familiar with the investigation (Paletta and Barrett, 5/4). The Oregonian: FBI, Inspector General Investigators Probing Cover Oregon Health Insurance Exchange DebacleThe law enforcement arm of the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also launched at least a preliminary inquiry into potential spillover from Cover Oregon into the state’s Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan, The Oregonian has learned. Meanwhile, both the Government Accountability Office and the U.S. House oversight committee have announced their own investigations (Budnick, 5/2). The Washington Post: As Md. Rebuilds Its Health Insurance Exchange, Lots Of Pressure And Little Room For MisstepsMaryland is sprinting to rebuild its malfunctioning online health insurance system on a time schedule that leaves no room for error, without the endorsement of the federal government or a clear plan for funding the project. The state has adopted software from Connecticut and hired new consultants. But many of the decision makers who led the first, flawed effort remain in place and — despite criticism — continue to operate largely behind closed doors (Johnson and Flaherty, 5/3).The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Wraps Up Late Enrollment On Its Health Exchange Maryland’s health exchange officials say they have contacted all 18,000 people who reported having trouble signing up for insurance through the state’s online marketplace before the end of open enrollment in April and added 7,500 people to the rolls. Others enrolled on their own and still more were duplicates, said Alison Walker, a spokeswoman for the exchange (Cohn, 5/2). The Denver Post: Colorado Health Care Exchange Faces Financial Challenges Connect for Health Colorado officials have touted the state’s insurance exchange as frugal and having relatively low fees. But after spending at least $100 million in federal funding, the exchange is scrambling to figure out how to sustain itself beyond this year. The exchange may find itself in a difficult position as it seeks solutions in coming months because some members of its own board, along with a vocal group of legislators, oppose fee increases. Its financial outlook may have worsened Friday when the state extended through 2015 health plans that aren’t compliant with the Affordable Care Act, which is likely to lower enrollments through the exchange (Kane, 5/5). The Seattle Times: 4 More Insurers Want To Join State Health Exchange Four additional companies want to join the competition to sell individual health-insurance plans inside the Washington Healthplanfinder online exchange, and the eight currently selling plans there all propose to return for 2015, according to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. While the new entries mean 12 companies may be selling plans inside the exchange, 10 propose to offer plans outside the exchange, compared with nine this year (Ostrom, 5/4). Colorado also makes news with its decision to extend plans not meeting the health law’s standards while Georgia’s health law opposition enters another phase – The Denver Post: Colorado Extends Health Plans Not Meeting ACA Standards Through 2015 The Colorado Division of Insurance announced Friday it will allow insurance carriers to continue health plans for individuals and small groups that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act’s new rules for minimum coverage through 2015. The insurance division said the decision was based on President Barack Obama’s March announcement to extend noncompliant policies issued through the federal exchange. That decision helped defuse a political problem for Democrats in tough re-election battles this fall, and observers said the latest move is likely to do the same in Colorado, which has its own health care exchange (Draper, 5/2).Health News Colorado: Colorado Allows Canceled Health Plans Through 2015Colorado will allow about 100,000 people who kept previously canceled health insurance plans to extend them until the end of 2015, but very few health insurance companies are likely to keep selling the plans. … [Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar] said about 335,000 people received notices that their plan would be canceled because it did not comply with ACA requirements. Of those, Salazar estimated that 92 percent were given the option to extend their non-compliant plans. If about one-third of them took that option, about 100,000 people might be eligible to renew those plans (McCrimmon, 5/2). Georgia Health News: Georgia’s Battle With Obamacare Enters New PhaseThe most prominent opponent of Obamacare in the Georgia General Assembly says he’s not done fighting the law. Rep. Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine) pushed through the Legislature a Tea Party-supported bill that prohibits the state from running its own insurance exchange. House Bill 943, passed at the tail end of the General Assembly, also forbids state employees to advocate for Medicaid expansion, and halts the “navigator” insurance counseling program at the University of Georgia. The bill was signed into law this week by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal (Miller and Craig, 5/2). FBI Turns Attention To Oregon’s Health Exchange Troubles This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
State Highlights Mass Insurers Press On Medicaid Pay
State Highlights: Mass. Insurers Press On Medicaid Pay This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription. A selection of health policy stories from the District of Columbia, California, Massachusetts and Minnesota.Los Angeles Times: Auditor Says $93 Million In Medi-Cal Payments Could Be FraudulentThe audit released Tuesday reviewed billing data from July 2008 to December 2013 for Medi-Cal’s Drug Treatment program, which reimburses rehabilitation clinics. The audit found the state’s Department of Health Care Services and the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs failed to administer the program “and created opportunities for fraud” (Karlamangla, 8/19).Reuters: California May Have Paid Millions For Fraudulent Drug TreatmentsA California program that covers addiction treatments for the poor may have paid $93.7 million in fraudulent claims, a state audit showed. The report released Tuesday by the California State Auditor showed that the state’s Drug Medi-Cal program may have paid more than $3 million in claims for patients who were actually dead, and found serious deficiencies in the agency’s records for 30 drug treatment program providers. The audit was spurred by a 2013 investigation by The Center For Investigative Reporting and CNN, which found questionable billing practices at drug-treatment clinics in Southern California. The program is a division of the state’s healthcare program for the poor, known as Medi-Cal (Mendelson, 8/19).The Boston Globe: Medicaid Insurers Prod State On FundsBuckling from more than $140 million in losses since the start of the year, companies that insure Medicaid patients are pressing the Patrick administration to increase payments they receive from the state for serving low-income residents. The health insurers say the deficits are the result of an expensive new hepatitis C drug and a surge of nearly 190,000 new members — many with serious medical issues — assigned to the companies by MassHealth, the state Medicaid program. Insurers say the state did not budget enough money this year to cover the added costs (8/20).The Associated Press: Medicaid Insurers Seek More From MassachusettsCompanies that insure Medicaid patients in Massachusetts are pressing for an increase in the payments they receive from the state for serving low-income residents. The health insurers say $140 million in losses since the start of the year are the result of an expensive new hepatitis C drug and a surge of nearly 190,000 new members assigned to the companies by MassHealth, the state Medicaid program. Insurers say the state did not budget enough money to cover added costs (8/20).The Washington Post: Rare D.C. House-Call Doctor Straddles Two Washingtons[Dr. Ernest] Brown is a rarity: a family medicine doctor who performs house calls. Working mostly in the District, he’s fully independent and unaffiliated with insurance programs. His work straddles two Washingtons. His paying patients are foreign and domestic travelers, including foreign dignitaries, staying at the city’s hotels. Treating those clients allows him to serve as the primary care doctor — pro bono — for more than a dozen elderly homebound residents in poorer neighborhoods (Najarro, 8/19).The Star Tribune: National Group Tries To Halt Union Election Of Personal Home Care Providers In MinnesotaU.S. District Judge Michael Davis is expected to decide Wednesday whether to stop the biggest unionization election in Minnesota history. Davis said at a hearing Tuesday that he’ll decide by noon whether to issue a temporary injunction that would halt an election, now in progress, to determine if nearly 27,000 personal home health care workers will be represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The injunction is being sought by the National Right to Work Foundation, a Florida-based organization that has fought unionization. It sued on behalf of some home care providers who oppose the union (Furst, 8/19). 8/19).
300 Charged In Largest Takedown Of Medicare Medicaid Fraud In US History
The Washington Post: Feds Allege $900 Million In Fake Medical Bills, Kickbacks And Other Health Care Fraud A Delaware County podiatrist is one of 301 individuals charged in a nationwide Medicare-fraud bust spanning 36 federal districts and involving approximately $900 million in fraudulent payments. (Chadha, 6/22) The Columbus Dispatch: Hilliard-Area Couple To Plead In Home-Health-Care Fraud Case The Wall Street Journal: Justice Department Announces Biggest Medicare Fraud Crackdown “They submitted dishonest claims, they charged excessive fees and they prescribed unnecessary drugs,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference. “As this takedown should make clear, health-care fraud is not an abstract violation. It’s not a benign offense. It’s a serious crime.” (Johnson and Zapotosky, 6/22) A Hilliard-area couple who operated a home-health-care agency have agreed to plead guilty to federal charges in a scheme that defrauded the Medicaid program and helped them build a million-dollar luxury home. State and federal officials revealed the local case today, as the U.S. Justice and Health and Human Services departments also announced a nationwide sweep that has led to charges against 301 people — including 61 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals — involved in $900 million worth of false billings. (Price, 6/22) More than 300 people across the nation – including 22 in the Houston area – have been charged with stealing more than $900 million in what federal investigators say is the “largest Medicare fraud takedown in history.” The 301 people facing criminal and civil charges of health care fraud include 61 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, according to the Department of Justice. (Banks, 6/22) The Fiscal Times: Doctors And Nurses Charged In Massive $900 Million Medicare Fraud 300 Charged In Largest Takedown Of Medicare, Medicaid Fraud In U.S. History The nationwide sweep exposed alleged kickbacks, embezzlement and fake claims, and involved various kinds of fraud in diverse areas of health care, ranging from prescription drugs to home health care to physical therapy, the Department of Justice announced. The Associated Press: Feds Charge 300 In Nationwide Health Care Fraud Sweeps The Philadelphia Inquirer: Delco Podiatrist Among 301 Charged In Massive Medicare-Fraud Bust Reuters: U.S. Completes ‘Takedown’ Of Medicare Fraud: Officials Los Angeles Times: Nation’s Biggest Healthcare Fraud Probe Nets 301 People, Including 22 In Southern California The Dallas Morning News: $5 Million Ear Care Scam In Dallas Part Of Nation’s Biggest Medicare Bust In some cases, doctors took part in schemes to submit claims to Medicare and Medicaid for treatments that were not necessary and were never provided. In others, health care providers offered kickbacks to “patient recruiters” to help assemble beneficiary information that could be used in phony filings. One of the biggest scams involved phony billings for costly prescription drugs at a time when Medicare’s drug costs are spiking. (Pianin, 6/23) Three Garland residents accused of operating a more than $5 million ear care scam are among dozens of people across the country arrested as part of the biggest Medicare fraud bust in history. Nine others in the Dallas area linked to three separate home health care scams also were charged. (Krause, 6/22) St. Louis Public Radio: Four In St. Louis Charged As Part Of A Nationwide Crackdown On Health Care Fraud And media outlets report on the sweep on a state level — In Southern California, five physicians were among those arrested in cases involving $125 million in elaborate fraud schemes that targeted Medicare and the military’s medical plan and involved medical billing, unnecessary procedures and high-priced specialized compound medications. The charges in 13 criminals cases filed in federal courts in Los Angeles and Santa Ana include conspiracy, money laundering, kickback schemes and identity theft, according to several federal indictments. (Winton, 6/22) Four St. Louis-area residents are among hundreds across the nation facing charges of federal health care fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the allegations on Wednesday. All told, more than 300 people in 30 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. (Lippmann, 6/22) The national sweep resulted in charges against doctors, nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists accused of fraud that cost the government $900 million, the department said. The cases involved an array of charges, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and violations of an anti-kickback law. This year’s sweep exceeded last year’s record in which 243 defendants faced charges in a combined $712 million in government losses. (6/22) Health care fraud sweeps across the country have led to charges against 300 people including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and home health care providers accused of bilking Medicare and Medicaid, the government announced Wednesday. The sweep spread from southern California to southern Florida and Houston to Brooklyn, New York, with arrests being made over three days. (6/22) The Houston Chronicle: ‘Largest Medicare Fraud Takedown In History’ Nabs 22 In Houston Area Federal agents have arrested roughly 300 suspects in what officials call their largest crackdown on Medicare fraud, with charges ranging from taking illegal payments for marketing medications to false physical-therapy claims. (Barrett, 6/22) This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
Canada Goose just reported its first revenue miss since it went public
Join the conversation → Comment Facebook Reddit Email 3 Comments Sandrine Rastello Twitter Concerns that the luxury parka maker’s meteoric growth era is ending.Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg Canada Goose just reported its first revenue miss since it went public — and the stock is plunging Is the luxury parka maker’s meteoric growth era ending? May 29, 20199:09 AM EDT Filed under News Retail & Marketing Share this storyCanada Goose just reported its first revenue miss since it went public — and the stock is plunging Tumblr Pinterest Google+ LinkedIn Recommended For YouBank of Canada to diverge from Fed’s easing path this yearBank of Canada expected to part ways with central bankers around the world todayHigh-flying loonie could give Bank of Canada pause in this week’s interest rate decisionToronto Sun Launches the Fore-cast PodcastLightspeed POS buys Swiss startup to drive European expansion Canada Goose Holdings Inc. reported quarterly revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, reigniting concerns that the luxury parka maker’s meteoric growth era is ending. Shares plunged in early New York trading.The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $156.2 million, below analysts’ average estimate of $158.9 million. That’s the first revenue miss since Canada Goose went public in 2017. While adjusted profit beat expectations, the rare revenue miss may raise concerns about the demand for its products. Canada Goose also said that revenue would rise at least 20 per cent this fiscal year — less than analysts’ 26 per cent forecasts — and predicted eight new stores by the end of the winter selling season. Adjusted net income per share will rise at least 25 per cent, also short of the 29 per cent growth forecast from analysts.Key InsightsFourth-quarter gross margins of 66 per cent beat analysts’ expectations, easing concerns that arose in February, when the impact of Ontario’s minimum wage increase took investors by surprise and sent the stock lower. Canada Goose also updated longer-term guidance. It now expects margins before interest and taxes to grow by 100 basis point between 2019 and 2022 and average revenue growth of 20 per cent.Related Stories:Micron revenue beats, sees signs of improving demandSchlumberger Announces Second-Quarter 2019 ResultsWalgreens third-quarter profit falls 23.6%Market ReactionCanada Goose U.S. shares dropped 14 per cent in premarket trading in New York. While they’re up 12 per cent this year through Tuesday’s close, that’s still about 27 per cent below levels preceding news of the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co.’s finance chief in Vancouver, which sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and China.Bloomberg.com More Bloomberg News
Tesla to improve maps and navigation dramatically over next several months says
Tesla recently released some new improvements to its maps and navigation system with version 9, but CEO Elon Musk says that it’s only the beginning, as they are about to ‘”improve dramatically” over the next several months. more…The post Tesla to improve maps and navigation ‘dramatically’ over next several months, says Elon Musk appeared first on Electrek. Source: Charge Forward
EVgo switches up its DC fast charging prices Lower monthly payments but
US fast charging network EVgo has again decided to switch up its charging prices. The DC fast charger network that operates in 34 states charges its users on two tiers: Pay-as-you-go and Membership. EVgo charges based on time rather than electricity transfer and as of next week, prices are about to change… more…The post EVgo switches up its DC fast charging prices: Lower monthly payments but higher per minute appeared first on Electrek. Source: Charge Forward
Selfdriving crosscountry trip possible for everyone with a Tesla this year says
Tesla has been making bold claims about future autonomous driving plans lately, most recently holding an “autonomy investor event” where the company laid out plans for its future full self-driving technology. At that event, Tesla stated that they would be ready to roll out a fully autonomous robotaxi fleet as early as next year, depending on regulations.Today, CEO Elon Musk pushed that timeline forward a bit, and stated that Tesla’s long-planned autonomous cross-country roadtrip would actually occur later this year. Tesla has made claims in the past about enabling cross-country Autopilot travel, but the news today is that not only will it be possible for Tesla to do this on their own to demonstrate their technology, but that any Tesla owner (*with FSD software) will be able to do the same. more…Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09bIEmS_KdYThe post Self-driving cross-country trip possible for everyone with a Tesla this year, says Musk appeared first on Electrek. Source: Charge Forward
Fiat Chrysler withdraws merger offer to Renault
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has officially announced the withdrawal of its merger proposal to Renault. more…Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1zk7Eb8r-s&list=PL_Qf0A10763mA7Byw9ncZqxjke6Gjz0MtThe post Fiat Chrysler withdraws merger offer to Renault appeared first on Electrek. Source: Charge Forward
For The Record The FCPA The Actual Statute Already Has Some Presumptions
FCPA Institute – Boston (Oct. 3-4) A unique two-day learning experience ideal for a diverse group of professionals seeking to elevate their FCPA knowledge and practical skills through active learning. Learn more, spend less. CLE credit is available. Learn More & Register I seriously question whether certain FCPA commentators who hold themselves out as experts have even read and/or understand the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act statute.For instance, presumptions are not new to the FCPA space. Indeed, as highlighted below the FCPA (the actual statute – not mere non-binding DOJ policy such as announced last week in the form of the DOJ’s “FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy) already has some presumptions.The FCPA specifically states:“[If an issuer] “holds 50% or less of the voting power with respect to a domestic or foreign firm, [the books and records and internal controls provisions] require only that the issuer proceed in good faith to use its influence, to the extent reasonable under the issuer’s circumstances, to cause such domestic or foreign firm to devise and maintain a system of internal accounting controls …. Such circumstances include the relative degree of the issuer’s ownership of the domestic or foreign firm and the laws and practices governing the business operations of the country in which such firm is located. An issuer which demonstrates good faith efforts to use such influence shall be conclusively presumed to have complied with the requirements of [the books and records and internal controls provisions].”What is interesting about this express statutory provision is that several FCPA enforcement actions against issuers are based on the conduct of entities in which the issuer holds less than 50% or less of the voting power of the entity, in the absence of any allegation, finding or inference that the issuer lacked good faith.Moreover, in the FCPA, Congress directed that the DOJ shall “establish a procedure to provide responses to specific inquiries by issuers [and domestic concerns] concerning conformance of their conduct with the Department of Justice’s present enforcement policy regarding the [FCPA].”As set forth in the FCPA, the DOJ “shall state whether or not certain specified prospective conduct would, for purposes of the Department of Justice’s present enforcement policy, violate the [FCPA] and:“In any action brought under the applicable provisions of [the FCPA], there shall be a rebuttable presumption that conduct, which is specified in a request by an issuer [or domestic concern] and for which the Attorney General has issued an opinion that such conduct is in conformity with the Department of Justice’s present enforcement policy, is in compliance with the [FCPA]. Such a presumption may be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence. In considering the presumption for purposes of this paragraph, a court shall weight all relevant factors, including but not limited to whether the information submitted to the Attorney General was accurate and complete and whether it was within the scope of the conduct specified in any request received by the Attorney General.”
New research uncovers AEP enzymes importance to immunity
Jul 24 2018The importance of the enzyme AEP as a key regulatory of the immune system has been discovered in new research from Newcastle University, UK.Factors that regulate the immune system play a key role in holding the immune system in balance. Too active and there is a danger of developing autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Too passive and cancer cells and infections are free to grow. A key regulator is the inhibitory co-receptor PD-1. Antibodies to this co-receptor, known as checkpoint inhibitors, have been successful in activating the immune system to attack cancer cells, although their responses are not always successful or long lived.In work published in the journal Immunity today, the researchers led by Dr Shoba Amarnath investigated factors that were inhibited by activating PD-1 in immune cells. One such factor was the enzyme AEP. In the absence of AEP, mice were resistant to developing autoimmune disease but susceptible to tumor cells.Dr Amarnath explains: “What we have found in our lab studies is that AEP enhances the effect of these checkpoint inhibitor drugs in advanced melanoma.”When found in higher levels in the T-cells of the immune system, the supporting AEP worked in combination with the checkpoint inhibitory drug in numerous diseases. It was successful in attacking tumors in skin cancer, by switching on the immune system and in preventing Graft Versus Host Disease, by switching off the immune system.”Remarkably, while we have known of the existence of AEP, we have not, until now, understood its importance in helping the immune system combat any number of conditions.”As AEP is necessary for PD-1 inhibitors to enhance immune responses, measuring AEP levels may help identify patients who are most likely to respond to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors to PD1 and PDL1.Understanding why check-point inhibitors workRelated StoriesMetabolic enzyme tied to obesity and fatty liver diseaseAsynt’s DrySyn OCTO Mini reaction helps optimize biocatalytic hydrogenationScientists delay aging using protein found in young miceThe research team led by Dr Amarnath has identified how tumor attacking immune cells are made inactive within the tumor microenvironment. CD4+ T helper cells are a type of immune cell that recognize and kill infected cells and cancer cells. These cells are also responsible for autoimmune disease and transplant rejection. Because these cells can kill healthy tissues their activity is tightly controlled by another type of immune cell known as regulatory T cells.The protective activity of regulatory T cells has been suggested to interfere with immunotherapy treatments. The local environment of some tumors enhancing the formation of regulatory T cells that in turn limits the activation of cancer fighting T cells.When Dr. Amarnath’s team investigated how PD-1 blocked these cancer fighting cells; they found that PD-1 specifically downregulated a new enzyme called asparaginyl endopeptidase (AEP) which was key to shifting the balance between cancer fighting cells and regulatory T cells within the melanoma tumour environment.These findings demonstrate that checkpoint inhibitors may not have a beneficial response in the absence of AEP and measuring AEP protein levels in patients prior to treatment with checkpoint inhibitors may provide better response rates to the cancer immunotherapy regimens. Similarly, in mice, when the investigators switched on PD-1 signaling in T cells and blocked AEP, powerful T regulatory cells were generated that were able to prevent inflammatory diseases such as colitis and Graft versus host disease. This discovery may be able to generate new immunotherapy treatments for patients who currently do not respond to standard treatment regimens for colitis and Graft versus Host Disease.The Newcastle team now intend to progress the work with the intention of taking it into trials in humans.Source: https://www.ncl.ac.uk
Study finds false negatives in common tests used to determine ROS1 status
Aug 9 2018Drugs like crizotinib are used to treat patients with ROS1-positive lung cancer. But which patients are ROS1-positive? A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology shows that common laboratory tests used to determine ROS1 status all have inherent limitations that can lead to false-negative results. Some samples that were determined to be ROS1-negative by one test were shown to be ROS1-positive by another, meaning that some patients who could benefit from ROS1-directed therapy may be slipping through the cracks.A commonly used test, based on a technique known as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), provided a false negative for 2 of 20 samples known to be ROS1-positive; a test that sequences and analyzes ROS1 DNA was negative in 4 of 18 positive samples; and a test that looks for ROS1 fusion RNA was negative in 3 of 19 positive samples.”The main point is just to be aware of the deficiencies in these assays and not to always trust a negative result from a single test. If you’re suspicious that a patient could be ROS1-positive – maybe they’re a never-smoker without other known drivers such as EGFR, ALK, KRAS, BRAF – then it may be useful to try another kind of test,” says Kurtis Davies, PhD, Lead Assay Development Scientist at the Colorado Molecular Correlates Laboratory (CMOCO).Davies, the study’s first author, worked closely with colleagues including senior authors Robert C. Doebele, MD, PhD, director of the CU Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Research Initiative, and Dara Aisner, MD, PhD, CMOCO Director in the CU Department of Pathology, which routinely employs multiple modes of testing cancer specimens.”The University of Colorado has been a big player in the clinical research of ROS1 lung cancer, and so we have a lot more ROS1-positive samples than almost anywhere else. This allowed us to go back to our large bank of samples to test them in these three ways,” Davies says.The study found that each test has inherent deficiencies. ROS1-positive cancers are caused by the gene ROS1 fusing with one of a number of partner genes. One of these possible partners sits very near to ROS1 on chromosome 6. When ROS1 fuses with this nearby partner, there may not be enough DNA deleted to identify the fusion using FISH.”It can leave enough of the FISH probe binding sites that the sample appears normal even though a ROS1 fusion is present,” Davies says.Related StoriesResearchers use AI to develop early gastric cancer endoscopic diagnosis systemStudy reveals link between inflammatory diet and colorectal cancer riskNew research links “broken heart syndrome” to cancerThe deficiency in the DNA-based test was due to the inherent inability to properly sequence large areas of the ROS1 gene.”You have large swaths of un-sequenced DNA and if the ROS1 change is in one of those areas, it’s possible to miss it,” Davies says.”Some regions of DNA can be very challenging to sequence due to highly repetitive sequences, so simply trying to sequence those regions doesn’t necessarily fix the deficit,” Aisner says.Unlike the other two tests, the assay based on RNA doesn’t attempt to take a snapshot of altered ROS1 DNA. Instead, it looks at what is manufactured from the DNA. This means that an RNA-based assay has the potential to more directly test for the results of ROS1 gene fusion that can drive cancer. That is, as long as you have good enough RNA.”The deficiency in assays based on RNA is that they depend on RNA quality, which can be bad in clinical samples,” Davies says.On the plus side, pathologists looking at the assay data can tell if RNA is of high enough quality to believe test results. (“We know when RNA quality is low,” Davies says.) In these cases, the FISH or DNA test could be used. And the false-negatives attributed to the RNA assay in this study were all due to low RNA quality.”If you take out the negatives due to RNA quality (which we don’t really regard as negative), there were no false negatives with this kind of test,” Davies says.Again, according to Davies, the takeaway is to realize there is no perfect test and sometimes secondary analysis with a different test is necessary to confirm results. The strategy is more than theory.”We’ve run FISH concurrently with the RNA test for the past 18 months,” Davies says. “This helps us to provide every reassurance that we are not missing patients who can benefit from ROS1 directed therapy.”The strategy of testing by two methods has paid off.”One of the patients included in this study was initially determined to be ROS1-negative via FISH, but was subsequently shown to be ROS1-positive via RNA,” Aisner says. “This patient went on to receive ROS1 targeted therapy and demonstrated an impressive response.” Source:http://www.ucdenver.edu/
Research discoveries reveal insights behind neurological degeneration
Aug 14 2018Research discoveries revealing the genetic causes of neurological degeneration could be a key to slowing the progression of devastating diseases. A research team led by Dr Marija Kojic and Professor Brandon Wainwright from The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and Dr Sebastian Glatt from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, made the findings in a study of cerebellar ataxias.Dr Kojic said cerebellar ataxias were caused by damage to the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motor function.Related StoriesNew research links “broken heart syndrome” to cancerResearch sheds light on sun-induced DNA damage and repairBridging the Gaps to Advance Research in the Cannabis Industry“These rare but devastating conditions get worse over time, causing poor coordination, unsteady walking, difficulty speaking and swallowing, and difficulty performing fine motor skills such as buttoning a shirt,” she said.“While they are often caused by environmental factors such as alcohol, these conditions also have genetic causes, which have so far been largely unexplored.“For the first time, we have found a link between ataxias and a mutation of the Elongator gene, which regulates how our brain cells produce proteins.”The researchers discovered this mutation slows production of the proteins that neurons need to function, causing them to gradually degenerate.Professor Wainwright said the team also uncovered a link between inflammation of brain cells and brain degeneration, including ataxias.“Our study revealed inflammation in the cells surrounding the degenerated cells,” he said.“While this is not unusual, we found that blocking this inflammation slowed the rate at which the cells were dying.“This effect occurs across a broad range of neuro-degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease, which has profound implications for the treatment of these diseases.“We may not be able to stop this neurological degeneration but if we can slow it down – for example, so a disease takes 20 years to progress, rather than 10 – this could have a huge impact on the health and quality of life of people living with these conditions.Professor Wainwright said cerebellar ataxias were terrible diseases with no cure, but research offered hope for the future.“Understanding how genes play a role in the development of cerebellar ataxias is a step forward in the journey towards finding an effective treatment.” Source:https://www.uq.edu.au/news/node/122192
Dr Marija Kojic
Is the Alzheimers protein contagious
Sign up for our daily newsletter Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Country Click to view the privacy policy. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) Beginning in 1958, roughly 30,000 people worldwide—mostly children—received injections of human growth hormone extracted from the pituitary glands of human cadavers to treat their short stature. The procedure was halted in 1985, when researchers found that a small percentage of recipients had received contaminated injections and were developing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a fatal neurodegenerative condition caused by misfolded proteins called prions.Now, a new study of the brains of eight deceased people who contracted CJD from such injections suggests that the injections may also have spread amyloid-β, the neuron-clogging protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The study is the first evidence in humans that amyloid-β might be transmissible through medical procedures such as brain surgery—according to the researchers. Skeptics, however, note that the CJD prion itself often triggers unusual amyloid deposits; epidemiological studies, they say, find no connection between the injections and increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.Aside from CJD and the related mad cow disease, kuru is perhaps the most famous prion disease. Endemic to Papua New Guinea and now essentially eradicated, kuru is transmitted through the ritual consumption of human brain tissue at funerals. Increasingly, however, scientists are recognizing that a number of other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Huntington disease, and Parkinson’s disease, also involve aberrant proteins that act like “seeds” in the brain. They convert otherwise normal proteins into fibers that “break, form more seeds, break, and form more seeds,” says John Collinge, a neuropathologist at University College London and lead author of the new study. Email
Still unknown in Alzheimer’s is what role misfolded proteins such as amyloid-β and tau play in the disease, and whether they are transmissible through direct contact with or consumption of contaminated brain tissue. Although scientists have successfully induced amyloid-β transmission in rodents, these experiments relied on “massive” overexpression of the protein, says Samuel Gandy, a neuropathologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “Exhaustive” attempts to reproduce such transmission in primates have failed, he says, leading many to doubt whether such propagation is possible.In the current study, Collinge and colleagues examined the brain tissue of eight people, aged 36 to 51, who died of CJD roughly 30 to 40 years after they received the growth hormone injections. Four had a pattern of amyloid-β that pathologists consider moderate-to-severe in people with Alzheimer’s, though they lacked a second type of protein, tau, that is considered an important hallmark of the disease as well, the team reports online today in Nature. Two had milder, more patchy deposits; one was amyloid-free. “It’s a highly unusual finding,” Collinge says. “In that age group, you really don’t see this kind of pathology unless you have a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s,” which none of them did, he says.Still, scientists have known since the 1990s that the prion protein that causes CJD can “cross-seed” amyloid-β, causing abnormal deposits to form, and vice versa, Gandy says. In such a small, observational study, it is impossible to determine whether CJD itself caused the amyloid-β seen in the deceased subjects’ brain tissue, or seeds of the protein were transmitted via injection, he argues. None of the subjects showed signs of tau, the other protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease, he and others point out.To explore the possibility that CJD, and not amyloid-β seeds, was the culprit, Collinge and colleagues also examined the brains of 116 people with a range of prion diseases unrelated to the hormone injections. They found little to no β amyloid pathology in that group, suggesting that CJD alone was not responsible for the pathology, they say. That’s a “strong argument” in the group’s favor, says Claudio Soto, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Given that prions come in many different forms, however, it’s still possible that the β-amyloid deposits found in the brains of the injection recipients were indeed caused by CJD, whereas the controls remained plaque-free, he notes.Next, Collinge’s team plans to test vials of archived growth hormone from the original treatments to see whether they can detect amyloid-β protein “seeds.” One obstacle, however, is that scientists don’t know precisely what constitutes such seeds on a molecular level, Collinge says.Although provocative, the new study cannot answer the question of whether pathogenic amyloid-β “seeds” can be transmitted from person to person through contaminated surgical instruments or blood, Collinge and Soto agree. There is no epidemiological evidence to support that possibility, and any alarm over Alzheimer’s infectiousness is premature, they emphasize. Still, “that’s something that needs to be investigated,” Soto says. *Update, 11 September, 9:30 a.m.: Two authors in this study, John Collinge and Jonathan D. F. Wadsworth, note a conflict of interest in the online version of the paper. Collinge is a director and both are shareholders in the biopharmaceutical company D-Gen Limited, which supplies antibodies against prion proteins and has developed a prion decontamination product in collaboration with Du Pont Corporation. Country * Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Stuttering mice may help unravel mystery of human speech disorder
Country * Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Sign up for our daily newsletter Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Country Mice supposedly don’t speak, so they can’t stutter. But by tinkering with a gene that appears to be involved in human speech, researchers have created transgenic mice whose pups produce altered vocalizations in a way that is similar to stuttering in humans. The mice could make a good model for understanding stuttering; they could also shed more light on how mutations in the gene, called Gnptab, cause the speech disorder.Stuttering is one of the most common speech disorders in the world, affecting nearly one out of 100 adults in the United States. But the cause of the stammering, fragmented speech patterns remains unclear. Several years ago, researchers discovered that stutterers often have mutations in a gene called Gnptab. Like a dispatcher directing garbage trucks, Gnptab encodes a protein that helps to direct enzymes into the lysosome—a compartment in animal cells that breaks down waste and recycles old cellular machinery. Mutations to other genes in this system are known to lead to the buildup of cellular waste products and often result in debilitating diseases, such as Tay-Sachs. How mutations in Gnptab causes stuttered speech remains a mystery, however.To get to the bottom of things, neuroscientist Terra Barnes and her team at Washington University in St. Louis in Missouri produced mice with mutation in the Gnptab gene and studied whether it affected the ultrasonic vocalizations that newly born mouse pups emit when separated from their mothers. Determining whether a mouse is stuttering is no easy task; as Barnes points out, it can even be difficult to tell whether people are stuttering if they’re speaking a foreign language. So the team designed a computer program that listens for stuttering vocalization patterns independent of language. The program listens to the number of vocalizations per minute and the length of pauses during bouts of vocalization. In humans, it can distinguish a person who stutters from a control subject 79% of the time. Email
Click to view the privacy policy. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) The program showed that mice with mutant copies of the Gnptab gene had less frequent vocalizations and more long pauses than normal mice. However, the afflicted mice produced all of the same sounds in the same proportion as their wild-type siblings, indicating they were still physically capable of normal vocalizations. And an array of cognitive and physical challenges showed that the stuttering mice were otherwise healthy. That suggests that despite the vast differences in complexity between human and mouse vocalizations, mutated copies of Gnptab have similar effects, the researchers write today in Current Biology, which makes the mouse a potentially valuable model for studying stuttering. “We can throw every drug in the book at it,” Barnes says. “We can try to figure out which part of the brain is affected.”“I think it’s further support that the genes in this pathway do have something to do with speech,” says Stuart Kornfeld, a cell biologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study.But how a single mutation in a common cellular housekeeping gene can result in stuttered speech remains unknown. One possibility is that the neurons involved in speech are particularly sensitive to the waste accumulation caused by missing lysosomal enzymes, Kornfeld says. But there’s no evidence for this yet, he adds; in fact, scientists don’t exactly know which neurons are involved in speech.The buildup of undigested waste products from a malfunctioning lysosome system is just one possible cause, says Tim Holy at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the paper’s co-authors. “Another possibility is that these genes have another function that has not yet been recorded in any other context.”
Physics lab aims to bridge political divides in Middle East
Country * Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Click to view the privacy policy. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) Email MANCHESTER, U.K.—An experiment in science diplomacy is on the threshold of success. Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME), an $80 million synchrotron lab in Allan, Jordan, announced this week its first call for research that will be conducted on two beamlines expected to switch on this autumn. Research should start in earnest early next year. “The news is that it’s working, against the odds,” says Chris Llewellyn Smith, a physicist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and president of the SESAME Council. The project was behind schedule because of political complications—visa restrictions for scientists, for example, and sanctions against Iran, a partner—and a freak snowstorm that collapsed the main building’s roof in 2013. Now, “we are in the final stage,” Eliezer Rabinovici, a theoretical physicist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem said at a 27 July press conference here at the EuroScience Open Forum. “To see dreams become reality, this is a very special moment.”A synchrotron is an important tool for many fields, as it creates intense beams of light that are used to probe biological cells or materials. There are about 60 synchrotrons in the world; SESAME is the first in the Middle East. Projects envisioned for the synchrotron include analyzing breast cancer tissue samples, studying Red Sea corals and soil pollution, and probing archaeological remains.
Sign up for our daily newsletter Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Country The initiative was conceived in the 1990s as a partnership among many countries. Germany donated a big-ticket component: the injector that sends particles into the main storage ring. That project has attracted about $30 million in donations from outside the region, supplementing the construction costs financed primarily by Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. Iran has also pledged $5 million, but its contributions have been delayed by sanctions. SESAME’s operating costs are paid for by its member states: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian National Authority, and Turkey. Smith says the facility is on track for commissioning in December. Two beamlines will be ready this year—for x-rays and infrared light—and two more will be built by 2019. Gihan Kamel, SESAME’s infrared beam line scientist, says researchers from the Middle East have already begun working at the facility, by hooking up detectors and microscopes to lower-power sources at the facility. Once the synchrotron fires up, the resolution and brightness will increase dramatically. In the conflict-riven Middle East, security at SESAME is a worry. “There are severe concerns,” Rabinovici says. The lab is building a guest house for visiting scientists inside its perimeter fence. Rabinovici hopes the physics oasis will help ease regional tensions. “We are offering light at the end of one tunnel.”
New California telescope aims to catch quickly moving celestial events
Country * Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Click to view the privacy policy. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) New California telescope aims to catch quickly moving celestial events Caltech Optical Observatories Email Astronomers in California have taken a telescope built before most of them were born and converted it into a new instrument dedicated to one of the newest and fastest-moving branches of astronomy: spotting objects in the sky that change from one day to the next.The new Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which today opened its eye to the sky, was created by retooling the 1.2-meter Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, California, which, starting in 1948, took pictures of the night sky onto specially curved glass photographic plates. The ZTF, named in honor of Fritz Zwicky, the Bulgaria-born astronomer who worked for most of his career at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, has been fitted with a new camera made up of 16 charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors. That will enable it to snap single images covering an area more than 200 times the size of the full moon.With such a wide field of view—the biggest of any telescope more than 0.5 meters wide—the ZTF can survey the whole northern sky visible from Palomar every night. By doing so, astronomers can spot anything that changes from the previous night’s images, enabling them to identify quickly changing celestial phenomena, including supernovae, variable and binary stars, the active cores of distant galaxies, potentially Earth-threatening asteroids, and the flash of merging neutron stars that could also emit gravitational waves. 
By Daniel CleryNov. 14, 2017 , 12:00 PM Sign up for our daily newsletter Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Country Zwicky Transient Facility team members install the instrument’s new camera. Although the scientific haul is expected to be high, the ZTF is also a testbed for a larger upcoming instrument, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will begin observing from Chile in 2022. The LSST is expected to be so prolific that researchers will have to automate the process of sifting through observed events to find ones worth following up, and then getting a more detailed spectrum. To build such automated systems, ZTF researchers are involved in efforts to create the necessary data processing systems and robotic follow-up telescopes. “The headline goal is to get [an automated system] working and implemented in a way that astronomers can interact with it and use it,” says Adam Bolton of the National Science Foundation’s National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, Arizona.Scaling upIn the past, the discovery of sudden events like supernovae was largely a matter of chance; a fortunate accident while astronomers were looking at something steadier. But in recent years interest in quickly changing phenomena has grown and a range of instruments has sprung up that use small telescopes to scan the sky on a nightly basis. The ZTF continues this trend but with a larger telescope to see fainter and more distant objects.A key target will be a particular kind of supernova, known as type Ia, that is an important celestial yardstick because it is thought to always explode with the same luminosity. It was by studying type Ia supernovae that astronomers discovered in the 1990s that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, an effect ascribed to the mysterious dark energy. But what causes these explosions is not known for sure, so lingering doubts hang over their reliability as a measure. With the ZTF expecting to find thousands of type Ias per year, astronomers hope to put those doubts to rest and improve the accuracy of this yardstick.The team behind the ZTF—which includes Caltech and partners at other U.S. universities and institutions in Israel, Sweden, Germany, and Taiwan—also expects to see each year more than a hundred superluminous supernovae, extra-bright explosions thought to be linked to gamma ray bursts, and a dozen or so tidal disruption events, flashes that occur when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole and is torn apart by its extreme gravity. Only a handful of such events have so far been confirmed, but astronomers hope if they can see more they will illuminate the notoriously camera-shy gravitational giants lurking at the centers of galaxies.To achieve this, the team had to create a compact camera with a very wide field of view—47 square degrees. The camera’s 16 CCDs and electronics are enclosed in a cryostat to keep the detectors cold, and all of the gear must be small enough to fit in the center of the telescope at its focal point. The telescope’s drive motors were also changed so that the instrument can slew quickly from one patch of sky to another during observations. “It was amazing to take an old telescope and turn it into a supertelescope,” says Shrinivas Kulkarni, director of Caltech Optical Observatories, which has led the project.New era of automationNext decade, the LSST is expected to conduct regular surveys that are similar to the ZTF’s, but its 8.4-meter mirror will be able to see much more distant and fainter objects. The LSST is expected to detect as many as 10 million “events”—objects that change or appear—every night. “The ZTF will be an excellent forerunner for the fire hose of data expected from the LSST,” says Jonathan Grindlay of Harvard University, founding chair of the American Astronomical Society’s working group on time-domain astronomy.That’s why automating data analyses will be critical. Researchers say stargazing will inevitably join forces with big data approaches, machine learning, and so-called event brokers, programs that can pick out the interesting events and then instruct robotic telescopes to take a closer look and obtain a spectrum so that an astronomer can peruse it later. Researchers at NOAO are working on such a broker system, as are others at the University of Washington in Seattle—who are partnered with the ZTF team—and elsewhere. “This is the best way to get ready” for the LSST, Kulkarni says. “We’ll go live, take data, and start doing things. ZTF will be the laboratory.”The third part of the process—automated follow-up telescopes that can obtain spectra so astronomers can characterize events—is perhaps the least well prepared. The ZTF has teamed up with the Las Cumbres Observatory, which runs a worldwide network of 18 robotic telescopes, and the Liverpool Telescope, a robotic scope in the Canary Islands run by Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. “The challenge is to put all the pieces together so that scientific intelligence can be applied at the right time,” Bolton says.If the whole system works, it may herald a new era when astronomers no longer have to spend long nights tending to observations but can simply turn up to work in the morning and have a whole menu of celestial delights waiting for them. Less romantic perhaps but, Kulkarni says: “The most efficient way to do astronomy is to get astronomers out of the dome.”*Correction 14 November, 4:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this article misstated where Fritz Zwicky was born.
South Asians are descended from a mix of farmers herders and huntergatherers
Three ancestral groups gave rise to the diverse people of South Asia today. South Asians are descended from a mix of farmers, herders, and hunter-gatherers, ancient DNA reveals AUSTIN—Today, the population of South Asia is divided into dozens of ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups that live side by side—but not always in harmony. A contentious border separates India and Pakistan; political movements draw stark lines between India’s Muslim and Hindu populations. Groups don’t mix much, as people tend to marry those who share their ethnicity and tongue.Now, a study of the first ancient DNA recovered from South Asia shows that populations there mingled repeatedly thousands of years ago. Nearly all of the Indian subcontinent’s ethnic and linguistic groups are the product of three ancient Eurasian populations who met and mixed: local hunter-gatherers, Middle Eastern farmers, and Central Asian herders. Three similar groups also mingled in ancient Europe, giving the two subcontinents surprisingly parallel histories.The study, presented here last week at the meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and in a preprint on the bioRxiv server, sheds light on where these populations came from and when they arrived in South Asia. It also strengthens the claim that Proto-Indo-European (PIE)—the ancestral language that gave rise to modern languages from English to Russian to Hindi—originated on the steppes of Asia. Mary Doggett/Alamy Stock Photo By Lizzie WadeApr. 18, 2018 , 3:00 PM “It’s first-rate work,” says Partha Majumder, a geneticist at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani, India. He found hints of similar genetic patterns in his previous studies, but the addition of ancient DNA makes the new conclusions stronger, he says. “It’s absolutely stunning.”Priya Moorjani, a geneticist at the University of California, Berkeley, studies how South Asian populations relate to each other and to others around the world. In previous work, she analyzed the genomes of nearly 600 modern Indians and Pakistanis from 73 ethnolinguistic groups in South Asia. Her team found that almost all people living in India today carry ancestry from two ancient populations: Ancestral North Indians, who were more related to people from Central Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Europe; and Ancestral South Indians, who were more related to indigenous groups living in the subcontinent today. But without DNA from ancient people, Moorjani couldn’t be sure who gave rise to those ancestral populations, or when.Moorjani, David Reich of Harvard University, and Kumarasamy Thangaraj of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India, spent years searching for ancient DNA in South Asia, where hot climates might degrade it. Finally, their team recovered and analyzed ancient genomes from 65 individuals who lived in northern Pakistan between 1200 B.C.E. and 1 C.E. They also analyzed 132 ancient genomes from Iran and southern Central Asia, and 165 from the steppes of Kazakhstan and Russia, and compared them with published ancient and modern genomes. These data allowed them to reconstruct when different populations arrived in South Asia and how they interacted.Between 4700 and 3000 B.C.E., farmers from Iran mixed with hunter-gatherers indigenous to South Asia, Moorjani said. This combination of ancestries was found in the DNA of skeletal remains from sites in Turkmenistan and Iran known to have been in contact with the Indus Valley civilization, which thrived in Pakistan and northwest India starting around 3300 B.C.E. The researchers dub this population “Indus periphery.” The 65 ancient people from Pakistan also show this combination, although they all lived after the Indus civilization declined. The researchers suspect that “Indus periphery” people actually may have been the founders of Indus society, although without ancient DNA from Indus Valley burials, they can’t be sure.Still, Moorjani’s team sees this ancient mixture of Iranian farmers and South Asian hunter-gatherers all over South Asia today. As the Indus Valley civilization declined after 1300 B.C.E., some Indus periphery individuals moved south to mix with indigenous populations there, forming the Ancestral South Indian population, which today is more prominent in people who speak Dravidian languages such as Tamil and Kannada, and in those belonging to lower castes.Meanwhile, herders from the Eurasian steppe moved into the northern part of the subcontinent and mixed with Indus periphery people still there, forming the Ancestral North Indian population. Today, people who belong to higher castes and those who speak Indo-European languages such as Hindi and Urdu tend to have more of this ancestry. Shortly after, these two already mixed groups mixed with each other, giving rise to the populations living in India today.“Strikingly, this is very similar to the pattern we see in Europe,” Moorjani said. Around 7000 B.C.E., agriculture spread into both Europe and South Asia with farmers from Anatolia and Iran, respectively, who each mixed with local hunter-gatherer populations. After about 3000 B.C.E., Yamnaya pastoralists from the Central Asian steppe swept both east and west, into Europe and South Asia, bringing the wheel and perhaps cannabis.Earlier genetic work had linked the arrival of these herders to the spread of Indo-European languages in Europe. But other researchers, including archaeologist Colin Renfrew of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, had argued that the earlier Anatolian farmers were the original PIE speakers. The new data “make a strong case” for the Yamnaya as carriers of Indo-European languages, Renfrew says. But he still thinks Anatolian farmers could have spoken the earliest language in that family.
Country * Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Email Click to view the privacy policy. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) Sign up for our daily newsletter Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Country