kudmankisingh

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Transform Your Offline Business To Online | Sharanyan Sharma

Review Overview

Online Marketing10
Offline Marketing10

Total Score10.0

Hey Guys!

Shopping at the city?center?or running errands around your local town lately? While doing these regular chores, if you look closely, you will find huge changes taken place over the recent years.I?m living in Northern Province Vavuniya City, but No matter where you live, I think the little guys- the small stores, independent business owners are all disappearing. At least in my local town, majority of them can?t be found anymore. Most of the local small families running stores offering the homely personal touch are now being all swallowed up by the latest market dominants, the supermarkets and the chain stores which sell almost anything and everything you may need for the day to day life.

It is a really depressing and pathetic scene where numerous out of town retail parks and supermarkets are uprooting the locals and taking their places. Virtually, each major town or city is basically a carbon copy of one other. Anywhere you travel; there is not much diversity or change you can find anymore. In every city or town, it?s the usual brand of coffee shops, all the same cloth stores, the usual chains of garden care companies, DIY or the same restaurants or electrical outlets.These small businesses owners are struggling to survive a losing battle and are loosing their lifeblood as it is being sucked out.

pic slide1 Local Businesses Becoming Online Giants Useful Tips

The exciting news for the small businesses is that the recent E-Commerce revolution has introduced a whole new level playing field offering everyone a fair chance to become an internet business giant very easily enabling everyone to enjoy the big profits.The internet carries the free information flow and everyone?s looking for their necessaries.? These are the local folks ? People living in your own area, Your customers with the biggest potentials.

Check out the recent statistics and you?ll get your proof. The trend of researching products and services online is increasing every year as more and more people are getting easy access to high speed internet facilities. Also the smart phone revolution and tablet devices have been a big help. But still, they buy OFFLINE! Grab full advantage of the E-Commerce concept, put your innovative ideas into effect and watch your business flourish. Make this approach, your competitors did and they are doing well.Keep reading and find out how you too can bring out your ?A Game? and someday become an online business giant.

Getting Started Online

Promoting business on the web can be quite overwhelming. This is one of the many reasons why small business owners postpone their advertisement plans over the internet. On the web, there are numerous advertisement techniques available and not having a clear idea might cause trouble deciding where to start from.

Many local businesses dip into the online marketing world and after sometime they give up as the expected results don?t show up.

The internet marketing is efficient and fruitful but it?s not a magic wand which will help you get rich overnight. You know your business by heart, so, now find an easy and simple approach to let the others know.

Not all marketing methods work well for all type of business ventures, but below are some basic things which literally almost any business venture, no matter which sector the venture is related to, can certainly help you to mark your presence on a large scale over the internet without draining your account dry.

Your Online Income Generation Machine ? ?Your Website

mbp Local Businesses Becoming Online Giants Useful Tips

You don?t have to create an expensive website with all singing and dancing works of art. The site should be updated regularly and be search engine friendly.Designing a fully functional and yet profitable website is an extremely daunting task. So, small businesses owners usually leave all the designing and technical works to the hired contractors.This sometimes turns out to be an expensive mistake. Website designers are capable of making stunning looking website designs complete using every bell and whistle.

For example, if you were running a car dealership, you would not trust the car mechanics to run your marketing campaigns. He ?may be a damn good car mechanic, but it is almost unlikely that the mechanic would also be an expert authority on marketing. Hand the control of the marketing campaigns over to him and pretty soon you?ll be out of business.Allowing your website designer to run the website for you would put you into similar situations as mentioned above.

Of course, they come with excellent design skills, but they are not experts on marketing in most cases. Only a few website designers completely understand the effective search engine optimization techniques, or how to present compelling sales information or advertisements which effectively pre-sells the products and services you intend to put on the shelves.Believe me; nobody wants a website designer who only focuses on eye catching designs with pretty looking but absolutely pointless gimmicks providing Zero efficiency.Below some tips are presented that will help you run your website with total control and eventually you?ll be running a website providing a healthy profit.

1.? Think straight and be sure about what it is that you really want. You want and need a website working 24/7 with regular earnings. Be clear about exactly what task each web page is expected to accomplish and design them accordingly. Also, in advance, decide what kind of customers your website is trying to attract.

For example, are you interested in showing off your products via an online brochure or do you want to sell those on the website?
?Do you want the webpage to collect the visitor?s contact details or just want the site to let the consumers know your contact details?To keep the customers updated you can go for a blog or newsletter delivery.

2.? Place your offers and make the Buy and contact details clearly visible on the website.? People buy online to save time. So, if you want more online buyers, make the Buy button clearly seen. Make sure that your contact details are visible bright and clearly on each web page, so, the customers can call you if needed.

?Download Your Free Ebook ?

Social media allow you connect with your target audience and have a two-way effective conversation. But it can be easy to forget that not everyone who finds your social media profiles will speak your language, or be able to relate to your region?s latest trends.Social Media Marketing is Secret Weapon for any offline; online business and Brands. Big MNC?s and Small Business owners use social media platform to capture the attention of their target audiences . That?s why?I?ve?created ?special short report about ?Basic E-Commerce Strategies and transform your Business Online using Social media and search Engines. Don?t worry I?m not going to ask you to subscribe my mailing list, but if you like my short report then you can?subscribe my blog to receive Regular updates via email notification.

I hope my short report will help you create some amazing ideas about your business and Brand. Just hit reply to this post and let me know what you thought please.

Talk Soon,

Sharanyan Sharma

Last updated by Sharanyan Sharma at March 24, 2013.
Google+
Source: http://www.sharanyan.com/local-business-online-giant/internet-marketing/
philip humber red sox white sox chuck colson ufc 145 results orrin hatch marlon byrd

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Worst practice in providing educational technology, especially to ...

March 22, 2013 at 1:12 am

I followed an insightful chain of blog articles to this one. ?I started with Larry Cuban?s excellent piece about ?No End to Magical Thinking When It Comes to High-Tech Schooling? which cited the quote below, but first when through a really terrific analysis of the explanations that educational technology researchers sometimes make when hardware in dumped in the developing world fails to have a measurable impact. ?I highly recommend the whole sequence for a deeper understanding of what real educational reform looks like and where technology can play a role.

1. Dump hardware in schools, hope for magic to happen

This is, in many cases, the classic example of worst practice in ICT use in education.? Unfortunately, it shows no sign of disappearing soon, and is the precursor in many ways to the other worst practices on this list. ? ?If we supply it they will learn?: Maybe in some cases this is true, for a very small minority of exceptional students and teachers, but this simplistic approach is often at the root of failure of many educational technology initiatives.

via Worst practice in ICT use in education | A World Bank Blog on ICT use in Education.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: education research, educational technology, public policy.

Source: http://computinged.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/worst-practice-in-providing-educational-technology-especially-to-developing-world/

marie colvin cm punk cm punk lint buenos aires train crash argentina train crash nancy pelosi

Family connections a big part of NCAA tournament

In this photo combo, Utah Jazz guard John Stockton, left, drives towards the basket during an NBA basketball game, Thursday, May 30, 1996, in Salt Lake City; while at right, Gonzaga's David Stockton, John's son, brings the ball up the court during an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, March 21, 2013, in Salt Lake City. Family connections are a big part of the 2013 NCAA college basketball tournament. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, George Frey)

Michigan guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) drives against South Dakota State guard Brayden Carlson (12) in the second half of a second-round game of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Auburn Hills, Mich., Thursday, March 21, 2013. Michigan won 71-56. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Gonzaga's David Stockton brings the ball upcourt against Southern University in the second half during a second-round game in the NCAA college basketball tournament in Salt Lake City Thursday, March 21, 2013. Gonzaga won 64-58. (AP Photo/George Frey)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) ? Tim Hardaway Jr. can take the questions in stride at this point.

Any time Michigan is in the national spotlight, his familiar name stands out ? and the queries about his father seem inevitable.

"It was hard just to try to follow his footsteps, and you try not to worry about it," Hardaway said. "You try to leave a legacy of your own. It takes a long time to do that."

Hardaway is one of three Michigan players with fathers who were in the NBA, and the Wolverines aren't the only team with some famous names in this NCAA tournament. John Stockton's son plays for Gonzaga, and Danny Manning's is with Kansas. Several of college basketball's top performers are from athletic families, and some of these players have already conjured memories of generations past.

Hardaway scored 21 points to lead Michigan over South Dakota State on Thursday night, and he had plenty of help from Glenn Robinson III, who added 21 of his own for the Wolverines. Hardaway's father, of course, was a standout in the NBA, and Robinson's was a star at Purdue who scored 44 points in a win over Kansas during the 1994 NCAA tournament.

The Wolverines also have a backup forward named Jon Horford. His brother Al plays for the Atlanta Hawks, and his father Tito made it to the pros too. It's a coincidence that Hardaway, Robinson and Horford all ended up at Michigan, but coach John Beilein isn't shying away from the story line.

"We really feel good about it because their dads do know basketball," Beilein said. "We think that's always been a feather in our cap to have families. It's not just the dad involved with all these. There's a strong mother involved with every single one of these young men, and they've had a big part to do with their success as well."

David Stockton has played in all 34 games this season for Gonzaga, the same school his father attended. Kansas actually has three familiar names: Tyler Self, Evan Manning and Niko Roberts.

Self is the freshman son of Kansas coach Bill Self, and Manning is the freshman son of Danny Manning, who led the Jayhawks to the 1988 national title. Roberts, a junior guard, is the son of Norm Roberts, the former St. John's coach who is in his second year on Self's staff with the Jayhawks. All three play sparingly off the bench.

Don't think for a moment that they receive any sort of favoritism just because of the name on the back of their jerseys.

"Coaches want everybody to play, but obviously it's not equal opportunity," Bill Self said. "My wife even understands it, so it's not a big deal."

Then there's Montana coach Wayne Tinkle, whose Grizzlies lost to Syracuse on Thursday night in San Jose, Calif. At least the location was convenient. Tinkle's daughter Joslyn plays at Stanford and took a break from preparing for her own NCAA tournament to watch her dad coach.

Joslyn Tinkle watched the game with her brother, mother and two teammates. Her younger sister, Elle, was back at Gonzaga preparing for her NCAA tournament opener on Saturday against Iowa State.

"I was actually in the midst of finishing my take-home final and watching the selection show. I was hoping Montana would pop up in the San Jose bracket," Joslyn Tinkle said. "As soon as it happened the whole family got excited. It's really fun to be able to hang out with the family, except my sister. Maybe we'll get to see her next week. It's really awesome."

The Tinkle family was juggling two different NCAA tournaments, but the Larkin family extends across two sports. Miami guard Shane Larkin is the son of former Cincinnati Reds star Barry Larkin.

The Hall of Fame shortstop conceded he was "crushed" when his son gave up baseball, but Shane is making quite an impact on the basketball court, leaving a mark of his own.

That's what all these young athletes are trying to do. They may not be going about it the exact same way their parents did, but they're trying to enjoy their own competitive experiences ? with the support of family members who have already done it, like Hardaway's father.

"He just tells me to go out there, have fun, just play my hardest," Hardaway said. "And he's behind me 100 percent."

___

AP Sports Writers Josh Dubow and Dave Skretta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-23-NCAA-Family%20Affairs/id-11a5abac348249e99701c45ae8e47c29

Banana Joe state of the union fat tuesday ash wednesday kate middleton marco rubio marco rubio

Long nerve grafts restore function in patients with brachial plexus injury

Mar. 22, 2013 ? A study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) challenges a widely held belief that long nerve grafts do poorly in adults with an axillary nerve injury. Investigators found that the outcomes of long nerve grafts were comparable to those of modern nerve transfers. Both procedures restored function. The axillary nerve supplies the deltoid muscle of the shoulder and an important rotator cuff muscle. It's part of the brachial plexus, a network of nerves that runs down from the neck and across the shoulder.

"Conventional wisdom is that grafts longer than seven centimeters (about three inches) don't work well. We set out to test this theory and found that long nerve grafts did work well. Our study concludes that this type of graft should not be overlooked as an effective treatment for an axillary nerve injury," said Dr. Scott W. Wolfe, lead author and director of the Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

The study, titled, "Comparison between Long Nerve Grafts and Nerve Transfers for Axillary Nerve Injuries," will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons on March 22 in Chicago.

Injury to the brachial plexus can be devastating, leaving people unable to use their arms or hands. The most common cause is a motor vehicle accident or sports injury. The Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury at Hospital for Special Surgery offers advanced diagnostic and treatment options, including complex nerve reconstruction surgery.

Nerve reconstruction is considered when nerves are so severely damaged they cannot recover on their own. These complex operations can take up to 12 hours. Surgeons reconstruct nerves either by bridging a nerve defect with a nerve graft or by performing a nerve transfer from a nearby healthy nerve to share its function. In the study, researchers compared these two different techniques to reactivate the deltoid muscle and enable patients to regain the use of their arm.

"A nerve transfer takes a working nerve from one muscle and transfers all or part of that nerve to a non-working nerve or another muscle, so that the two muscles can share the nerve and regain function," Dr. Wolfe explained. "A nerve graft involves taking a nerve from another part of the body. The nerve is removed from a location where its function is less important, usually the leg, and moved to the damaged area. It is used to bridge the defective gap between two ends of a nerve to restore function."

Only 150 to 200 highly specialized surgeons worldwide perform these complex brachial plexus surgeries, and Dr. Wolfe and his colleagues aim to raise awareness that the procedures can restore function in people severely debilitated by a nerve injury. It is important for patients to be treated in a timely manner.

Traditionally, nerve grafts longer than seven centimeters have demonstrated worse outcomes than short grafts and poorer functional outcome when compared to nerve transfer surgery. The purpose of the HSS study was to take another look at longer grafts and directly compare the outcomes to nerve transfers. The results were measured by the patients' recovery and by a test called electromyography, or EMG. This sophisticated test is used to objectively measure muscle and nerve function.

In the study, 11 patients treated with long nerve grafts (> 7cm, range 9cm to 15cm) were compared with 14 patients treated by a nerve transfer over a 10-year period. The average length of the nerve graft was 13cm (5.2 inches). Data was collected at regular intervals, beginning pre-operatively and continuing for up to 11 years.

Prior to surgery, all patients had EMG tests that showed complete absence of deltoid muscle function. After surgery, deltoid recovery, range of motion and EMG evidence of restored function were compared.

The study found no statistically significant differences in shoulder strength, range of motion or electromyographic recovery between nerve graft and nerve transfer patients. All adults in the long nerve graft group regained at least enough strength to be able to move their arm against gravity, but there were two failures in the nerve transfer group. "Going from no function with a limp and numb arm to gaining enough strength to be able to lift a glass to one's lips is a major gain for these patients," said Dr. Wolfe, who is also chief emeritus of the Hand and Upper Extremity Service at HSS. .

"Improvements in the patients receiving a nerve graft were identical to improvements in the nerve transfer group," he added, "so now surgeons can say with confidence that 'a long graft has a good chance of working,' instead of abandoning the procedure when a nerve transfer is not an option."

Unfortunately, some patients suffer long-term impairment from nerve injuries that could have been repaired because many physicians are unaware that nerve reconstructive surgery works, according to Dr. Steve K. Lee, director of research at the Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury. "When a nerve that controls a muscle loses function, it needs to be reactivated within about 12 months, before the muscle atrophies. Studies have shown that if nerve reconstruction surgery is done within six months after a nerve is damaged, patients do much better."

Dr. Joseph Feinberg, who is co-medical director of the Center and performs diagnostic testing to evaluate nerve injuries, says studies such as the one conducted at HSS are important to raise awareness. "In general, many people feel that these types of nerve injuries are permanent and not many treatments are effective. We want people to be aware that they do have options. Procedures can be done to restore function, even when a patient has completely lost the ability to use certain muscle groups," said Dr. Feinberg, who is physiatrist-in-chief at Hospital for Special Surgery.

Dr. Wolfe says the next step will be to conduct a rigorous multi-center study to better define the role of nerve grafts versus nerve transfers and how best to use the two techniques.

Other contributing authors from Hospital for Special Surgery are Parker Johnsen, B.S., who is the presenting author, and Adele Mirbey, B.A.

Paper: Comparison between Long Nerve Grafts and Nerve Transfers for Axillary Nerve Injuries, (Paper 801) Friday, March 22, 2013.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Hospital for Special Surgery.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/MNQmx89xPPo/130322090357.htm

Erin Go Bragh St Patrick school closings lisa vanderpump Dorothy Hamill Dancing With the Stars 2013 NIT Bracket

Friday, March 22, 2013

Rick Rule: PGMs vs. Silver and Gold | Resource Investing News

Rick Rule outlined the case for platinum and palladium bullion as an investment option that is superior to silver and gold at the 2013 California Resource Investment Conference.

Rule, chairman of Sprott US Holdings, has dedicated his career to the resource sector. He is commonly interviewed by prominent news sources and speaks at industry events.

On such an occasion in Palm Springs, he explained that the platinum and palladium thesis begins with the bullion thesis, which is based on the advisability of owning things that governments can?t print.

?This is a United States $20 bill,? Rule said, holding the money in the air. ?This is a promise to pay. Bullion is not a promise to pay. It?s payment.? Gold, silver and platinum are payment, he said.

He noted that precious metals have similarities; for example, they can be used for jewelry and can act as storers of value.

?All those things that are true about gold and silver are also true about platinum,? said Rule. ?But there are several important differences about platinum and palladium that I believe, in the near term ? one or two years ? make them probably superior investments to gold and silver.?

?The thesis is going to be very simple: supply and demand.?

?Most of the gold and silver that have ever been mined are still supply. When you think about it, we do a very stupid thing with it to protect ourselves from our government. We take it out of a hole in the ground called a mine and put it in a hole in the ground called a vault,? he said. ?We use billions of dollars to take it out of a hole and put it in a hole.?

?We do something different with platinum and palladium,? Rule explained. ?We take it out of a hole and we burn it. It either goes out of a tail pipe or up an exhaust pipe or it gets turned into jewelry. It is no longer supply.?

There is no need to consider historical supplies because there aren?t any, he said. ?They?ve been used for catalytic conversion. They have been used in chemical processing. Or they have become jewelry,? he said. ?They?re gone.?

That leaves only mine supply.

?The next thing you have to think about is that gold and silver are produced around the world, ubiquitously, in many countries and as by-products of other kinds of metal.?

?90 percent of world platinum and palladium supplies come from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Russia.?

Supply from South Africa

South Africa is the world?s largest platinum-producing nation.

?The first thing I want you to take home is that the platinum and palladium industry in South Africa does not meet its cost of capital,? Rule told the audience. ?More than half the shafts are loss making.?

That is not new, he said. The platinum miners in South Africa have not earned their cost of capital in 10 years. And as a consequence, the supply of platinum group metals (PGMs) has declined 19 percent in six years.

Rule explained that platinum mining in South Africa is a labor-intensive business. The ore bodies are too thin to mechanize. Furthermore, there is political pressure against mechanization because it would to drive high unemployment rates even higher.

But in this labor-intensive business, miners are demanding more pay ? and according to Rule, they deserve it.

?I have been underground in these mines personally and the labor conditions are disgusting. They are deplorable. Labor conditions must improve and the workers? wages must go up. This is not a union slogan. This is a human truth. If you went underground and saw what I saw, you would be disgusted,? he said.

The problem is the aforementioned lack of capital.

?It gets worse,? he continued. ?There is widespread consensus in South Africa ? with some historic justification ? that the people?s stake, the black people?s stake, from the mining sector ? apart from wages ? has to go up.?

There is also widespread political consensus that state stakes have to go up. And Rule said that means royalties, taxes and the secured interest of the state all have to rise.

?But it can?t go up because the industry doesn?t earn its cost of capital,? he pointed out again.

Meanwhile, industry players have stated that in order to maintain current levels of production, they have to make $8 billion worth of sustaining and new capital investments in the next five years.

?There?s just one problem ? they don?t have the $8 billion. And because they don?t earn their cost of capital, we?re not going to give it to them,? he said.

Rule explained that platinum mining is also a power-intensive business. South Africa?s monopoly power supplier, Eskom, is run by the government under a political mandate to deliver affordable power to people who can?t pay for it. Meanwhile, power demand is exploding and supply is shrinking.

?The supply of power has to go up, but it can?t go up because Eskom doesn?t earn its cost of capital either,? Rule said.

He urged listeners to think about one point in particular: the PGMs industry has no [historic] supply, has a supply and demand imbalance and has a producer that produces 75 percent of the world?s platinum and 39 percent of the world?s palladium. Supplies have declined 19 percent. Wages have to go up, taxes have to go up, capital expenditures have to go up ? and they can?t go up.

?What do you think is going to happen to supply?? he asked.

Supply from Zimbabwe

Looking north, Rule said Zimbabwe is a joke, not even a real country, but a so-called promised land run by a thug.

In Zimbabwe, miners couldn?t earn the cost of capital either, Rule explained.

?So Mugabe, about six years ago, said as a consequence of historic theft from ancestral blacks ? which is true ? we have to address that imbalance, we have to arrange for 51 percent of the ownership of the mines to be given to black people.?

?The problem is they couldn?t pay for them or wouldn?t pay for them. So the industry had to find a way to steal 51 percent of itself to benefit Zimbabwe, which they did by decapitalizing the mine. They gave the ZANU-PF cronies 51 percent of a mine that couldn?t any longer produce ? pretty smart.?

Although Zimbabwe has the ability to produce platinum, Rule explained that it ultimately inherited shafts that used to be productive.

Mugabe has now decided that 51 percent was unfair after all. Rule said that the ZANU-PF leader now wants 100 percent and has announced plans to run the next election on nationalization.

?And it doesn?t really matter. 100 percent of nothing is just as egregious as 51 percent of nothing,? said Rule.

?At any rate, as a supplier Zimbabwe is irrelevant.?

Russia is key supplier of palladium. There, the issue is geological. The mines are old, the digging is getting deeper, but the grades are declining.

?So on a global basis, supply of platinum and palladium are declining. And at this price point, there is nothing whatsoever we can do about it.?

From a producer?s point of view, Rule insists that prices must go up. And he explained why they will go up.

PGM demand

The utility in society for platinum and palladium is extremely high and it comes down to a choice: ?it?s platinum versus smog. That?s the trade off,? he said.

Rule explained that about $200 worth of PGMs are used in a vehicle. If platinum and palladium prices double to $400 per vehicle in the near term, the $200 increase relative to the median sticker price of a new car, which is $27,000 in the United States, is de minimis, he said.

?Demand elasticity with regards to price at that price point does not matter. If the price of platinum doubled, it wouldn?t make an iota of difference to vehicle demand in the United States,? he said.

The political movement in nations such as Europe, the US and Japan is to use more platinum and palladium to continue to improve the air quality, not to conserve the metal, he added.

Furthermore, frontier and emerging nations are really set to drive demand growth for these metals. As people in those countries grow richer, one of the items that they are seeking is personal transport, evidenced in large part by the fact that China has overtaken the US as the largest auto market.

Emerging countries are spending tens of billions of dollars building infrastructure, including interstate highway systems, said Rule. But in places like China and India, they use less than 10 percent of the platinum and palladium per vehicle that is used in the US. And as a consequence, their air quality is deplorable.

He said the Chinese government has identified cardiopulmonary illness as a consequence of poor air quality as one of the leading causes of death in China. Proposed air-quality standards in China would quintuple platinum and palladium loadings.

?That doesn?t suggest to me that demand for platinum and palladium is going to fall,? he said. ?In summary, with regards to platinum ? two things: the price has to go up and the price can go up.?

?If something has to happen and something can happen, what do you think will happen?? he asked the audience.

Securities Disclosure: I, Michelle Smith, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Related reading:?

INN VIDEO: Why Rick Rule Likes Gold Juniors

Source: http://resourceinvestingnews.com/52512-rick-rule-pgms-vs-silver-and-gold.html

condoleezza rice Perry Hall High School bill cosby us open bill nye Hurricane Isaac 2012 Snooki Baby

Georges St-Pierre?s camp says he beat Nick Diaz with an injured Achilles tendon

The UFC gave a backstage look at Georges St-Pierre's win over Nick Diaz at UFC 158, complete with an adorable shot at the end of GSP high-fiving a young fan who was dressed like the champ from head to toe.

According the GSP's trainer, Firas Zahabi, it's a fight the UFC welterweight champion went through with despite an injury. Zahabi said GSP injured his Achilles tendon during training for the fight, and it may have worsened during the bout.

"I was worried it would tear during the fight," Zahabi told MMAFighting.com. "We had to cut his last sparring [session] short due to his injury. He had a week to rest it and then the fight."

Does finding out that GSP was injured changed your opinion of his performance? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/georges-st-pierre-camp-says-beat-nick-diaz-132833374--mma.html

Jenni Rivera Adam Lanza Facebook the hobbit mick jagger Newton Shooting Newtown Shooting Gangnam Style

Discovery could increase efficacy of promising cystic fibrosis drug

Public release date: 21-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Michael Muin
muinm@health.missouri.edu
573-884-7541
University of Missouri School of Medicine

Data about defective regulatory protein described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

A little more than a year after the FDA approved Kalydeco (Vx-770), the first drug of its kind to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, University of Missouri researchers believe they have found exactly how this drug works and how to improve its effectiveness in the future. Described in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MU researchers have redefined a key regulatory process in the defective protein responsible for cystic fibrosis that could change the way scientists approach the lethal genetic disease.

"They know the drug works, but they don't know how it works or where it works," said Tzyh-Chang Hwang, PhD, PNAS corresponding author and professor of medical pharmacology and physiology at the MU School of Medicine. "Our paper provides a theory for how Vx-770 works, and based on our understanding of how the CFTR channel works, we have identified a novel strategy for future explorations to complement and enhance the performance of the existing drug."

Cystic fibrosis is the second most common life-shortening inherited disorder occurring in childhood in the United States, after sickle cell anemia. Approximately 30,000 Americans have cystic fibrosis, and there are an estimated 1,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Cystic fibrosis patients are born with a genetic defect that causes a malfunction of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, a chloride channel in the cell membrane that plays a critical role in maintaining water and salt balance across many body tissues, such as sweat glands, tissues that line the lungs, liver, pancreas and reproductive organs.

"The chloride channel is like a pipe that allows ions to travel through at a very fast pace," Hwang said. "In cystic fibrosis patients the channel is dysfunctional and activity is diminished. So what is the mechanism that controls the opening and closing of the channel? That is the fundamental discovery of our recent papers summarized in Physiology."

Like an automatic water faucet with a defective hand sensor, many genetic mutations found in cystic fibrosis patients cause a faulty signal, resulting in limited chloride transport across the CFTR. The result is the formation of thick mucus that builds up in the lungs, digestive tract and other parts of the body, which leads to severe respiratory and digestive problems, as well as infections and diabetes.

As summarized in Physiology and followed up with further research in the PNAS article, the accidental discovery of a mutation in CFTR, the R532 mutation, allowed MU researchers to reveal a new "non-strict coupling" relationship that occurs between the consumption of ATP, a molecule that provides energy in the body, and the opening and closing of the CFTR. They argue that the new information uncovered about this mechanism that controls the opening and closing of the CFTR and the passage of ions through it could explain how and where the new cystic fibrosis treatment Kalydeco (Vx-770) works.

"To his credit, Dr. Hwang exploited the behavior of the CFTR mutants to demonstrate that CFTR's gate is not strictly coupled to the nucleotide binding engine (NBD) that binds and splits ATP [energy] to drive conformational changes that regulate chloride flow through the CFTR protein channel," said colleague David Sheppard, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Bristol in Bristol, U.K. who did not participate in the study.

In their study, MU researchers were able to observe the effects of the cystic fibrosis drug Vx-770 on the recently discovered R352 mutation. They found that Vx-770 enhances the activity of the CFTR channel by exploiting this "non-coupling" mechanism, a conclusion also supported by experimental results with the wild-type CFTR protein.

"Traditionally, researchers have defined how energy is utilized and transferred in the CFTR as a 'strict coupling' mechanism, meaning that one ATP molecule opens CFTR's gate, ions pass through and the ATP molecule is hydrolyzed and then the gate closes," Hwang said. "In this new model, we argue that the CFTR uses energy from ATP hydrolysis to carry out its function of chloride flow, but this coupling mechanism is more plastic than we thought and therefore could be subjective to manipulations by drugs such as Vx-770."

CFTR is part of a family of thousands of active transporter proteins called ABC proteins. Although CFTR may share many structural features with its ABC "cousins," as Hwang calls them, it has been unclear as to whether CFTR and its cousins may work in a similar manner.

The new idea of how the CFTR utilizes ATP to carry out its function may bear a broader implication because of the evolutionary relationship between CFTR and other ABC transporter proteins. It opens up a wide variety of therapeutic possibilities for other common diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, Hwang said, since many other ABC proteins play critical roles in those human illnesses.

"It's taken years for scientists to solve this particular puzzle about the CFTR protein," Hwang said. "Our recent study provides evidence that these ABC transporter proteins and CFTR, a chloride channel, are two peas in a pod. Mother nature employs the same structural framework with just a little bit of modification to do two totally different things. From a basic science perspective, it's a big deal."

Using electrophysiology techniques available at MU's Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, Hwang's lab studied the opening and closing, or "gating," of the CFTR at the single-molecule level. By measuring the electrical current that reflects directly the movement of chloride ions through one single CFTR channel as it opens and closes, Hwang's lab is able to monitor the activity of a single CFTR molecule in real time.

"Single-channel recording provides a unique opportunity to observe conformational changes in a single CFTR molecule in real time," Sheppard said. "It's exciting to think about how the new models proposed by Dr. Hwang and his colleagues explain the action of Vx-770 and other transformational drugs that target the root cause of cystic fibrosis."

###

[ | 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.

Discovery could increase efficacy of promising cystic fibrosis drug

Public release date: 21-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Michael Muin
muinm@health.missouri.edu
573-884-7541
University of Missouri School of Medicine

Data about defective regulatory protein described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

###

[ | E-mail |

Share ]

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoms-dci032113.php

nfl free agency jonbenet ramsey jason campbell doobie brothers jennie garth peter facinelli marques colston golden state warriors

kudmankisingh

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Transform Your Offline Business To Online | Sharanyan Sharma

Review Overview

?Download Your Free Ebook ?

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Worst practice in providing educational technology, especially to ...

Like this:

Family connections a big part of NCAA tournament

Long nerve grafts restore function in patients with brachial plexus injury

Friday, March 22, 2013

Rick Rule: PGMs vs. Silver and Gold | Resource Investing News

Georges St-Pierre?s camp says he beat Nick Diaz with an injured Achilles tendon

Discovery could increase efficacy of promising cystic fibrosis drug

Data about defective regulatory protein described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Data about defective regulatory protein described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me