среда, 31 октября 2012 г.

Games

Games

Bridge column, October 31: Remember to count from the bidding

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:25 AM PDT

Diane Duane, a science-fiction and fantasy writer, said, "What I try to do for my readers is to pass on some of the things that I found out about being 13 after doing it for 40 years." What I try to do for my readers is to pass on some of the things I found out from about the age of 15, after doing them now for more years than I can count! However, ... (more)

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IJERPH, Vol. 9, Pages 3954-3964: Perinatal Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Enhances Susceptibility to Viral and Secondary Bacterial Infections

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Studies suggest childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) leads to increased incidence of infections of the lower respiratory tract. The objective of this study was to determine whether perinatal exposure to ETS increases the incidence, morbidity and severity of respiratory influenza infection and whether a secondary bacterial challenge at the peak of a pre-existing viral infection creates an enhanced host-pathogen susceptibility to an opportunistic infection. Timed-pregnant female Balb/c mice were exposed to either ETS for 6 h/day, 7 d/week beginning on gestation day 14 and continuing with the neonates to 6 weeks of age. Control animals were exposed to filtered air (FA). At the end of exposure, mice were intranasally inoculated with a murine-adapted influenza A. One week later, an intranasal inoculation of S. aureus bacteria was administered. The respective treatment groups were: bacteria only, virus only or virus+bacteria for both FA and ETS-exposed animals for a total of six treatment groups. Animal behavior and body weights were documented daily following infection. Mice were necropsied 1-day post-bacterial infection. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cell analysis demonstrated perinatal exposure to ETS, compared to FA, leads to delayed but enhanced clinical symptoms and enhanced total cell influx into the lungs associated with viral infection followed by bacterial challenge. Viral infection significantly increases the number of neutrophils entering the lungs following bacterial challenge with either FA or ETS exposure, while the influx of lymphocytes and monocytes is significantly enhanced only by perinatal ETS exposure. There is a significant increase in peribronchiolar inflammation following viral infection in pups exposed to ETS compared with pups exposed to FA, but no change is noted in the degree of lung injury between FA and ETS-exposed animals following bacterial challenge. The data suggests perinatal exposure to ETS alters the response of neonates to the timing and severity of infection as well as ETS alters the pattern of inflammation and cellular influx into the lungs due to viral and bacterial infection.

Diversity, Vol. 4, Pages 375-395: The Effect of Tillage System and Crop Rotation on Soil Microbial Diversity and Composition in a Subtropical Acrisol

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Agricultural management alters physical and chemical soil properties, which directly affects microbial life strategies and community composition. The microbial community drives important nutrient cycling processes that can influence soil quality, cropping productivity and environmental sustainability. In this research, a long-term agricultural experiment in a subtropical Acrisol was studied in south Brazil. The plots at this site represent two tillage systems, two nitrogen fertilization regimes and three crop rotation systems. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, the archaeal and bacterial composition was determined from phylum to species level in the different plot treatments. The relative abundance of these taxes was correlated with measured soil properties. The P, Mg, total organic carbon, total N and mineral N were significantly higher in the no-tillage system. The microbial diversity was higher in the no-tillage system at order, family, genus and species level. In addition, overall microbial composition changed significantly between conventional tillage and no-tillage systems. Anaerobic bacteria, such as clostridia, dominate in no-tilled soil as well as anaerobic methanogenic archaea, which were detected only in the no-tillage system. Microbial diversity was higher in plots in which only cereals (oat and maize) were grown. Soil management influenced soil biodiversity on Acrisol by change of composition and abundance of individual species.

Crystals, Vol. 2, Pages 1492-1501: Crystal Structures of 1-Hydroxyimidazole and Its Salts

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The crystal structures of 1-hydroxyimidazole and four protic salts (chloride, bromide, sulfate, nitrate) thereof were determined. The molecular geometries (bond lengths and angles) of the free base and the salts were compared. Hydrogen bonding patterns were studied, and OH…N, OH…Cl, OH…Br, OH…O, NH…Cl, NH…Br, and NH…O interactions were identified. Hirshfeld surface analysis gave quantitative insight into these interactions.

Brain Sciences, Vol. 2, Pages 573-588: Cocaine-Induced Reinstatement of a Conditioned Place Preference in Developing Rats: Involvement of the D2 Receptor

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Reinstatement of conditioned place preferences have been used to investigate physiological mechanisms mediating drug-seeking behavior in adolescent and adult rodents; however, it is still unclear how psychostimulant exposure during adolescence affects neuron communication and whether these changes would elicit enhanced drug-seeking behavior later in adulthood. The present study determined whether the effects of intra-ventral tegmental area (VTA) or intra-nucleus accumbens septi (NAcc) dopamine (DA) D2 receptor antagonist infusions would block (or potentiate) cocaine-induced reinstatement of conditioned place preferences. Adolescent rats (postnatal day (PND 28–39)) were trained to express a cocaine place preference. The involvement of D2 receptors on cocaine-induced reinstatement was determined by intra-VTA or intra-NAcc infusion of the DA D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride (100 μM) during a cocaine-primed reinstatement test (10 mg/kg cocaine, i.p.). Infusion of sulpiride into the VTA but not the NAcc blocked reinstatement of conditioned place preference. These data suggest intrinsic compensatory mechanisms in the mesolimbic DA pathway mediate responsivity to cocaine-induced reinstatement of a conditioned place preference during development.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14630-14646: RSBP: A Reliable Slotted Broadcast Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

In wireless sensor networks for monitoring and control applications, a sink node needs to disseminate messages to all nodes to acquire monitoring data or to control the operation of sensor nodes. The basic flooding protocol suffers from low transmission reliability in broadcasting messages due to the hidden terminal problem. Besides, it can cause the broadcast storm problem by having many nodes rebroadcast the received message simultaneously. In order to resolve these problems while minimizing energy consumption in delivery of broadcast messages, we propose a reliable slotted broadcast protocol (RSBP) that allocates broadcast time slots to nodes based on their slot demands and then allows every node to transmit its broadcast message within the allocated slots. Then, every node can broadcast messages safely in a contention-free manner. Moreover, RSBP can be deployed easily since it does not have any specific requirements such as GPS, multi-channels and directional antennas that may not be always available in real scenarios. We show by experimental study that RSBP significantly outperforms other broadcast protocols in terms of safety-critical packet delivery and energy consumption.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14612-14629: iParking: An Intelligent Indoor Location-Based Smartphone Parking Service

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Indoor positioning technologies have been widely studied with a number of solutions being proposed, yet substantial applications and services are still fairly primitive. Taking advantage of the emerging concept of the connected car, the popularity of smartphones and mobile Internet, and precise indoor locations, this study presents the development of a novel intelligent parking service called iParking. With the iParking service, multiple parties such as users, parking facilities and service providers are connected through Internet in a distributed architecture. The client software is a light-weight application running on a smartphone, and it works essentially based on a precise indoor positioning solution, which fuses Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) signals and the measurements of the built-in sensors of the smartphones. The positioning accuracy, availability and reliability of the proposed positioning solution are adequate for facilitating the novel parking service. An iParking prototype has been developed and demonstrated in a real parking environment at a shopping mall. The demonstration showed how the iParking service could improve the parking experience and increase the efficiency of parking facilities. The iParking is a novel service in terms of cost- and energy-efficient solution.

888poker Launches the $2,000,000 Super XL Series of Tournaments

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:20 AM PDT

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Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12812-12820: Antimycobacterial Assessment of Salicylanilide Benzoates including Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Strains

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The increasing emergence especially of drug-resistant tuberculosis has led to a strong demand for new anti-tuberculosis drugs. Eighteen salicylanilide benzoates were evaluated for their inhibition potential against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium and two strains of Mycobacterium kansasii; minimum inhibitory concentration values ranged from 0.5 to 16 μmol/L. The most active esters underwent additional biological assays. Four benzoates inhibited effectively the growth of five multidrug-resistant strains and one extensively drug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis at low concentrations (0.25–2 μmol/L) regardless of the resistance patterns. The highest rate of multidrug-resistant mycobacteria inhibition expressed 4-chloro-2-[4-(trifluoromethyl)-phenylcarbamoyl]phenyl benzoate (0.25–1 μmol/L). Unfortunately, the most potent esters were still considerably cytotoxic, although mostly less than their parent salicylanilides.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12804-12811: Bis-sulfonic Acid Ionic Liquids for the Conversion of Fructose to 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furfural

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Homogenous bis-sulfonic acid ionic liquids (1 mol equiv.) in DMSO (10 mol equiv.) at 100 °C efficiently mediated the conversion of D-fructose into 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural in 75% isolated yield, which was roughly a 10% increment compared to the case of the mono-sulfonic acid ionic liquids.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12792-12803: DNA as a Chiral Scaffold for Asymmetric Synthesis

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

DNA as a Chiral Scaffold for Asymmetric Synthesis

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12771-12791: Medicinal Plants: A Source of Anti-Parasitic Secondary Metabolites

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

This review summarizes human infections caused by endoparasites, including protozoa, nematodes, trematodes, and cestodes, which affect more than 30% of the human population, and medicinal plants of potential use in their treatment. Because vaccinations do not work in most instances and the parasites have sometimes become resistant to the available synthetic therapeutics, it is important to search for alternative sources of anti-parasitic drugs. Plants produce a high diversity of secondary metabolites with interesting biological activities, such as cytotoxic, anti-parasitic and anti-microbial properties. These drugs often interfere with central targets in parasites, such as DNA (intercalation, alkylation), membrane integrity, microtubules and neuronal signal transduction. Plant extracts and isolated secondary metabolites which can inhibit protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Trichomonas and intestinal worms are discussed. The identified plants and compounds offer a chance to develop new drugs against parasitic diseases. Most of them need to be tested in more detail, especially in animal models and if successful, in clinical trials.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12758-12770: Formation and Inhibition of Nε-(Carboxymethyl)lysine in Saccharide-Lysine Model Systems during Microwave Heating

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

 Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine (CML) is the most abundant advanced glycation end product (AGE), and frequently selected as an AGEs marker in laboratory studies. In this paper, the formation and inhibition of Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine in saccharide-lysine model systems during microwave heating have been studied. The microwave heating treatment significantly promoted the formation of CML during Maillard reactions, which was related to the reaction temperature, time and type of saccharide. The order of CML formation for different saccharides was lactose > glucose > sucrose. Then, the inhibition effect on CML by five inhibitors was further examined. According to the results, ascorbic acid and tocopherol did not affect inhibition of CML, in contrast, thiamin, rutin and quercetin inhibited CML formation, and the inhibitory effects were concentration dependent.

Education Sciences, Vol. 2, Pages 193-207: How Finnish Adolescents Understand History: Disciplinary Thinking in History and Its Assessment Among 16-Year-Old Finns

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The success of discipline-based teaching requires an interplay between substantive and procedural knowledge. In Finland, disciplinary thinking was included in the National Core Curriculum and in the final assessment criteria a decade ago, which meant a change in history teaching. The outcome of this change is examined in the article with the help of a national-level history test that was conducted in 2011 among 16-year-old Finns. In the test, the adolescents fared moderately well in tasks involving substantive knowledge but more poorly in tasks which measured the mastering of procedural knowledge. In particular, the interplay between these proved to be difficult for the students. The students’ knowledge was found to correspond with the earlier curriculum rather than the objectives of the present one, revealing that not all of the teachers were teaching in accordance with the present demands.

Toxins, Vol. 4, Pages 1058-1081: Comparative Antitumor Effect of Preventive versus Therapeutic Vaccines Employing B16 Melanoma Cells Genetically Modified to Express GM-CSF and B7.2 in a Murine Model

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Cancer vaccines have always been a subject of gene therapy research. One of the most successful approaches has been working with genetically modified tumor cells. In this study, we describe our approach to achieving an immune response against a murine melanoma model, employing B16 tumor cells expressing GM-CSF and B7.2. Wild B16 cells were injected in C57BL6 mice to cause the tumor. Irradiated B16 cells transfected with GM-CSF, B7.2, or both, were processed as a preventive and therapeutic vaccination. Tumor volumes were measured and survival curves were obtained. Blood samples were taken from mice, and IgGs of each treatment group were also measured. The regulatory T cells (Treg) of selected groups were quantified using counts of images taken by confocal microscopy. Results: one hundred percent survival was achieved by preventive vaccination with the group of cells transfected with p2F_GM-CSF. Therapeutic vaccination achieved initial inhibition of tumor growth but did not secure overall survival of the animals. Classical Treg cells did not vary among the different groups in this therapeutic vaccination model.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate - Official Trailer

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:01 AM PDT

Here's the official trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate for Nintendo 3DS.

 

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate - Official Trailer" was posted by MikeTao on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:01:00 -0700

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Screens

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:01 AM PDT

7 new shots posted.

     

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Screens" was posted on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:01:00 -0700

Halo 4 devs speak out against sexism

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:03 PM PDT

343 Industries head Bonnie Ross and Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill say sexist behavior on Xbox Live is unacceptable; also say developers have a responsibility to wipe out sexism in the industry.

 

Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross have denounced sexist behavior on Xbox Live, revealing that Microsoft does its best to monitor and ban players who abuse others over the network.

Speaking to GameSpot, Ross and Wolfkill said there is zero tolerance for Xbox Live players who are found to be making sexist or discriminatory comments against others, with a lifetime ban from the network as penalty.

"I've seen many of the sites that have documented some of the more gender-specific slanderous comments," Ross said.

"This is behaviour that is offensive and completely unacceptable. I'd like to think most of our Xbox Live players don't support this kind of behaviour."

"It can be dangerous to give adolescents a broadcast mechanism," Wolfkill added. "There are always going to be jerks out there, and if you give them a way to express that side of their personality without being seen, you're going to see this type of behaviour manifest itself."

Ross and Wolfkill said that developers have a responsibility to stamp out this behaviour by putting more thought into how their games will be perceived.

"As developers, we have a personal responsibility to think about how our games come across," Ross said. "With Halo 4, we were very deliberate in thinking about who should be female and who should be male in the game, and if we came off stereotypical, we went back to question what we were doing and why."

Wolfkill agreed, saying that while games can often reflect the culture of the studio that's building them, the success or failure of games can also reflect consumer responsibility. Part of this responsibility includes changing perspectives about the games industry as an exclusively male-dominated area.

"Most people look at a franchise like Halo, and automatically assume it's run by a guy," Ross said. "People are surprised to learn that it's a woman who's running the Halo 4 show. When Microsoft created 343 Industries to take over Halo, I was given first choice to run the studio because I had proven myself. My gender played no part in it."

Halo 4 is due exclusively for Xbox 360 on November 6 worldwide. The game is a direct sequel to 2007's Halo 3, and is the first numbered entry in the series developed outside of Bungie Studios. It is the first instalment in the Reclaimer Trilogy, which will span Halo 5 and Halo 6.

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"Halo 4 devs speak out against sexism" was posted by Laura Parker on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:03:57 -0700

FIFA and Battlefield are EA's most profitable franchises

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:02 PM PDT

Online features and content downloads have made FIFA and Battlefield the two biggest revenue "events" in EA's history; EA's digital revenue up 40 percent year-on-year.

 

EA has revealed that its digital revenue has grown by 40 percent in its second fiscal quarter since the same period last year, thanks in large part to the content downloads offered for FIFA 13, Madden NFL 13, and Battlefield 3.

This week, the publisher posted its preliminary financial results for the second fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2012, in which EA president Frank Gibeau highlighted the company's strong digital growth and pointed to FIFA and Battlefield as EA's most profitable franchises.

"On the strength of our digital extensions, FIFA and Battlefield are the two biggest revenue events in our company's history," Gibeau said. "Both are well on their way to becoming billion dollar annual franchises."

The publisher also praised the performance of its sports titles, with EA CFO Blake Jorgensen revealing that the company is forecasting an annual growth of at least 25 percent with net revenues expected to reach approximately $4 billion by March 31, 2013.

According to the report, FIFA 13 and Madden NFL 13 debuted as the two top-selling titles in September in the West. In its first four weeks, FIFA 13 sold 7.4 million units, excluding mobile downloads, a number that EA said makes the title "the biggest sports launch of all time." FIFA's digital revenue also generated over $115 million in the first half of fiscal 2013, including FIFA Online 2 and FIFA World Class Soccer.

EA's Battlefield 3 Premium service has sold over 2 million subscriptions to date, according to the publisher, and in the mobile space, The Simpsons: Tapped Out has reportedly become the top-grossing iOS game for the past four weeks, logging 2.8 million daily active users.

Other parts of the report revealed that EA's games and services for mobile have generated a 60 percent year-over-year increase in digital net revenue, while EA's Origin platform has registered over 30 million users, including 13 million mobile users. EA also revealed that Origin has signed agreements with 71 independent developers.

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"FIFA and Battlefield are EA's most profitable franchises" was posted by Laura Parker on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:02:29 -0700

Star Wars: 1313 "business as usual" for LucasArts

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:28 PM PDT

Studio says Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm has not affected the development of the third-person action adventure franchise set in the Star Wars universe.

 

Today's announcement that Disney has purchased Star Wars studio Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion will reportedly not affect the upcoming video game title Star Wars: 1313, which is currently in development at LucasArts.

According to a statement from LucasArts (as first reported by IGN), it's "business as usual" for all internal projects at the studio.

The acquisition deal--which will see Disney release a new Star Wars film every two to three years after bringing out Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015--was discussed by Disney chief executive Robert Iger during a conference call earlier this week.

In the call, Iger spoke about Disney's plans to utilise the Star Wars license for games, revealing the that company will focus on social and mobile games internally, and rely on licensing deals to allow third-party developers to create Star Wars titles for consoles.

Star Wars: 1313 was first announced in May this year. The internally developed third-person action adventure game will see players take on the role of a bounty hunter navigating a subterranean metropolis, Level 1313, beneath the surface of the planet Coruscant.

At the time of its announcement, LucasArts had revealed that the game was being developed with the help of artists across the Lucasfilm organisation, including LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation Ltd, and Skywalker Sound. The game will be based on the Unreal engine and feature full-body performance capture.

According to LucasArts, the game will emphasise fast-paced combat, and the game's hero will use human skills and gadgets, rather than supernatural Force powers. In addition, the game will feature a combination of cover-based combat, platforming, and "playable cinematic gameplay."

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Star Wars: 1313 "business as usual" for LucasArts" was posted by Laura Parker on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:28:26 -0700
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вторник, 30 октября 2012 г.

Games

Games

Ghost Patrol - Screenshots

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:18 AM PDT

Game features:
- Deep entertaining story tailored to players' environment and revealed in episodes that reward their progress. Initial release includes 11 ghost characters and levels with more content, characters and surprises currently in development.
- Two-tiered gameplay lets players scan real world surroundings for ghostly auras, then contact the entities using fast and fun Rock Band™-style gameplay with a supernatural twist.  Succeed and capture spooky pictures of the ghosts.
- Original retro-comic characters created by renowned Hollywood illustrator Pete Von Sholly, known for his work on Mars Attacks!, Disney's James and the Giant Peach, The Mask and other distinguished movies.
- Collect and share photos and trading cards. Complete the game and collect 50 ghostly photos and 10 demented trading cards.  Share photos on your favorite social network and visit the Ghost Patrol website in the weeks ahead to discover secrets about this arcane agency.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 14016-14025: Digluconate and Isopropyl Alcohol Biocide Formulation

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Effective surface disinfection is a fundamental infection control strategy within healthcare. This study assessed the antimicrobial efficacy of novel biocide formulations comprising 5% and 2% eucalyptus oil (EO) combined with 2% chlorhexidine digluconate (CHG) and 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) contained within a wipe. The efficacy of this novel antimicrobial formulation to remove and eliminate methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli and Candida albicans from steel surfaces was investigated. Adpression studies of pre-contaminated wipes were also utilised to assess their potential to induce cross-contamination between hard surfaces. Furthermore, the bactericidal nature of the EO-formulation was established in addition to time-kill. The EO-containing formulations demonstrated bactericidal antimicrobial efficacy against all microorganisms and did not induce surface cross-contamination. There was no significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 5% and 2% EO formulations in their ability to remove microorganisms from steel surfaces, however both significantly (p < 0.05) removed more than the control formulations. Microbial biofilms were eliminated within 10 min (p < 0.05) when exposed to the EO formulations. Our novel EO-formulation demonstrated rapid antimicrobial efficacy for potential disinfection and elimination of microbial biofilms from hard surfaces and may therefore be a useful adjunct to current infection control strategies currently employed within healthcare facilities.

IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 14002-14015: Bacterial Exopolysaccharides: Functionality and Prospects

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Diverse structural, functional and valuable polysaccharides are synthesized by bacteria of all taxa and secreted into the external environment. These polysaccharides are referred to as exopolysaccharides and they may either be homopolymeric or heteropolymeric in composition and of diverse high molecular weights (10 to 1000 kDa). The material properties of exopolysaccharides have revolutionized the industrial and medical sectors due to their retinue of functional applications and prospects. These applications have been extensive in areas such as pharmacological, nutraceutical, functional food, cosmeceutical, herbicides and insecticides among others, while prospects includes uses as anticoagulant, antithrombotic, immunomodulation, anticancer and as bioflocculants. Due to the extensive applications of bacterial exopolysaccharides, this overview provides basic information on their physiologic and morphologic functions as well as their applications and prospects in the medical and industrial sectors.

JPM, Vol. 2, Pages 201-216: Insurance Coverage Policies for Personalized Medicine

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Adoption of personalized medicine in practice has been slow, in part due to the lack of evidence of clinical benefit provided by these technologies. Coverage by insurers is a critical step in achieving widespread adoption of personalized medicine. Insurers consider a variety of factors when formulating medical coverage policies for personalized medicine, including the overall strength of evidence for a test, availability of clinical guidelines and health technology assessments by independent organizations. In this study, we reviewed coverage policies of the largest U.S. insurers for genomic (disease-related) and pharmacogenetic (PGx) tests to determine the extent that these tests were covered and the evidence basis for the coverage decisions. We identified 41 coverage policies for 49 unique testing: 22 tests for disease diagnosis, prognosis and risk and 27 PGx tests. Fifty percent (or less) of the tests reviewed were covered by insurers. Lack of evidence of clinical utility appears to be a major factor in decisions of non-coverage. The inclusion of PGx information in drug package inserts appears to be a common theme of PGx tests that are covered. This analysis highlights the variability of coverage determinations and factors considered, suggesting that the adoption of personal medicine will affected by numerous factors, but will continue to be slowed due to lack of demonstrated clinical benefit.

JPM, Vol. 2, Pages 192-200: An Altered Treatment Plan Based on Direct to Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing: Personalized Medicine from the Patient/Pin-cushion Perspective

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Direct to consumer (DTC) genomic services facilitate the personalized and participatory aspects of “P4” medicine, but raise questions regarding use of genomic data in providing predictive and preventive healthcare. We illustrate the issues involved by describing a pregnancy management case in which a treatment plan was modified based on a DTC result. A woman whose personal and family history were otherwise unremarkable for thromboembolism learned through DTC testing about the presence of a prothrombin (factor 2) gene mutation (rs1799963). Twice daily injections of enoxaparin were recommended throughout pregnancy for this patient who, without prior knowledge of this mutation, would not have been offered such therapy. Moreover, genetically based medical guidelines are a moving target, and treatment of thrombophilic conditions in asymptomatic patients is controversial. We address the state of the art in actionable personalized medicine with respect to clotting disorders in pregnancy, as well as other factors at play— economics, patient preference, and clinical decision support. We also discuss what steps are needed to increase the utility of genomic data in personalized medicine by collecting information and converting it into actionable knowledge.

JFB, Vol. 3, Pages 745-759: Hydration-Induced Phase Separation in Amphiphilic Polymer Matrices and its Influence on Voclosporin Release

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Voclosporin is a highly potent, new cyclosporine-A derivative that is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials in the USA as a potential treatment for inflammatory diseases of the eye. Voclosporin represents a number of very sparingly soluble drugs that are difficult to administer. We therefore selected it as a model drug that is dispersed within amphiphilic polymer matrices, and investigated the changing morphology of the matrices using neutron and x-ray scattering during voclosporin release and polymer resorption. The hydrophobic segments of the amphiphilic polymer chain are comprised of desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine ethyl ester (DTE) and desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine (DT), and the hydrophilic component is poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Water uptake in these matrices resulted in the phase separation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains that are a few hundred Angstroms apart. These water-driven morphological changes influenced the release profile of voclosporin and facilitated a burst-free release from the polymer. No such morphological reorganization was observed in poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), which exhibits an extended lag period, followed by a burst-like release of voclosporin when the polymer was degraded. An understanding of the effect of polymer composition on the hydration behavior is central to understanding and controlling the phase behavior and resorption characteristics of the matrix for achieving long-term controlled release of hydrophobic drugs such as voclosporin.

Minerals, Vol. 2, Pages 365-384: Platinum-Group Minerals in Chromitites of the Niquelândia Layered Intrusion (Central Goias, Brazil): Their Magmatic Origin and Low-Temperature Reworking during Serpentinization and Lateritic Weathering

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

A variety of platinum-group-minerals (PGM) have been found to occur associated with the chromitite and dunite layers in the Niquelândia igneous complex. Two genetically distinct populations of PGM have been identified corresponding to phases crystallized at high temperatures (primary), and others formed or modified during post-magmatic serpentinization and lateritic weathering (secondary). Primary PGM have been found in moderately serpentinized chromitite and dunite, usually included in fresh chromite grains or partially oxidized interstitial sulfides. Due to topographically controlled lateritic weathering, the silicate rocks are totally transformed to a smectite-kaolinite-garnierite-amorphous silica assemblage, while the chromite is changed into a massive aggregate of a spinel phase having low-Mg and a low Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio, intimately associated with Ti-minerals, amorphous Fe-hydroxides, goethite, hematite and magnetite. The PGM in part survive alteration, and in part are corroded as a result of deep chemical weathering. Laurite is altered to Ru-oxides or re-crystallizes together with secondary Mg-ilmenite. Other PGM, especially the Pt-Fe alloys, re-precipitate within the altered chromite together with kaolinite and Fe-hydroxides. Textural evidence suggests that re-deposition of secondary PGM took place during chromite alteration, controlled by variation of the redox conditions on a microscopic scale.

IJERPH, Vol. 9, Pages 3934-3942: Increased Incidence and Altered Risk Demographics of Childhood Lead Poisoning: Predicting the Impacts of the CDC’s 5 µg/dL Reference Value in Massachusetts (USA)

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

In May 2012, the CDC adopted a new sliding scale reference value for childhood lead poisoning, reducing the former 10 µg/dL benchmark by half. Using Massachusetts (MA) as a model state, we estimated the change in the population of 9–47 month-olds at risk for lead poisoning. We then examined the impact of the 5 µg/dL reference value on the demographic characteristics of lead risk in MA communities. We find that the new CDC benchmark will lead to a 1470% increase in childhood lead poisoning cases among 9–47 month-olds in MA, with nearly 50% of the examined communities experiencing an increased prevalence of lead poisoning. Further, the top 10 MA communities with BLLs ≥5 µg/dL have significantly fewer foreign-born residents and significantly larger white populations than the highest risk communities formerly identified by the MA Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. The CDC’s new 5 µg/dL lead poisoning benchmark will drastically increase the number of children with elevated BLLs and alter the distribution and demographics high-risk communities in MA.

Brain Sciences, Vol. 2, Pages 553-572: Striatal Volume Increases in Active Methamphetamine-Dependent Individuals and Correlation with Cognitive Performance

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The effect of methamphetamine (MA) dependence on the structure of the human brain has not been extensively studied, especially in active users. Previous studies reported cortical deficits and striatal gains in grey matter (GM) volume of abstinent MA abusers compared with control participants. This study aimed to investigate structural GM changes in the brains of 17 active MA-dependent participants compared with 20 control participants aged 18–46 years using voxel-based morphometry and region of interest volumetric analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging data, and whether these changes might be associated with cognitive performance. Significant volume increases were observed in the right and left putamen and left nucleus accumbens of MA-dependent compared to control participants. The volumetric gain in the right putamen remained significant after Bonferroni correction, and was inversely correlated with the number of errors (standardised z-scores) on the Go/No-go task. MA-dependent participants exhibited cortical GM deficits in the left superior frontal and precentral gyri in comparison to control participants, although these findings did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. In conclusion, consistent with findings from previous studies of abstinent users, active chronic MA-dependent participants showed significant striatal enlargement which was associated with improved performance on the Go/No-go, a cognitive task of response inhibition and impulsivity. Striatal enlargement may reflect the involvement of neurotrophic effects, inflammation or microgliosis. However, since it was associated with improved cognitive function, it is likely to reflect a compensatory response to MA-induced neurotoxicity in the striatum, in order to maintain cognitive function. Follow-up studies are recommended to ascertain whether this effect continues to be present following abstinence. Several factors may have contributed to the lack of more substantial cortical and subcortical GM changes amongst MA-dependent participants, including variability in MA exposure variables and difference in abstinence status from previous studies.

Atmosphere, Vol. 3, Pages 537-556: Modelling Regional Surface Energy Exchange and Boundary Layer Development in Boreal Sweden — Comparison of Mesoscale Model (RAMS) Simulations with Aircraft and Tower Observations

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Simulation of atmospheric and surface processes with an atmospheric model (RAMS) during a period of ten days in August 2001 over a boreal area in Sweden were compared to tower measurements and aircraft measurements of vertical profiles as well as surface fluxes from low altitude flights. The shape of the vertical profiles was simulated reasonably well by the model although there were significant biases in absolute values. Surface fluxes were less well simulated and the model showed considerable sensitivity to initial soil moisture conditions. The simulations were performed using two different land cover databases, the original one supplied with the RAMS model and the more detailed CORINE database. The two different land cover data bases resulted in relatively large fine scale differences in the simulated values. The conclusion of this study is that RAMS has the potential to be used as a tool to estimate boundary layer conditions and surface fluxes and meteorology over a boreal area but also that further improvement is needed.

Viruses, Vol. 4, Pages 2670-2684: Comparative Genomics of Korean Infectious Bronchitis Viruses (IBVs) and an Animal Model to Evaluate Pathogenicity of IBVs to the Reproductive Organs

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The K-I and nephropathogenic K-II genotypes of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) have been isolated since 1995 and 1990, respectively, in Korea and commercial inactivated oil-emulsion vaccines containing KM91 (K-II type) and Massachusetts 41 strains have been used in the field. To date, genomic analyses of Korean IBV strains and animal models to test the pathogenicity of Korean IBVs to the reproductive organs have been rare. In the present study, comparative genomics of SNU8067 (K-I type) and KM91 IBVs was performed, and an animal model to test the pathogenicity of SNU8067 was established and applied to vaccine efficacy test. The genome sizes of SNU8067 (27,708 nt) and KM91 (27,626 nt) were slightly different and the nucleotide and amino acid identities of the S1 (79%, 77%), 3a (65%, 52%), and 3b (81%, 72%) genes were lower than those of other genes (94%–97%, 92%–98%). A recombination analysis revealed that SNU8067 was a recombinant virus with a KM91-like backbone except S1, 3a, and 3b genes which might be from an unknown virus. An SNU8067 infection inhibited formation of hierarchal ovarian follicles (80%) and oviduct maturation (50%) in the control group, whereas 70% of vaccinated chickens were protected from lesions.

Symmetry, Vol. 4, Pages 626-643: Dirac Matrices and Feynman’s Rest of the Universe

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

There are two sets of four-by-four matrices introduced by Dirac. The first set consists of fifteen Majorana matrices derivable from his four γ matrices. These fifteen matrices can also serve as the generators of the group SL(4, r). The second set consists of ten generators of the Sp(4) group which Dirac derived from two coupled harmonic oscillators. It is shown possible to extend the symmetry of Sp(4) to that of SL(4, r) if the area of the phase space of one of the oscillators is allowed to become smaller without a lower limit. While there are no restrictions on the size of phase space in classical mechanics, Feynman's rest of the universe makes this Sp(4)-to-SL(4, r) transition possible. The ten generators are for the world where quantum mechanics is valid. The remaining five generators belong to the rest of the universe. It is noted that the groups SL(4, r) and Sp(4) are locally isomorphic to the Lorentz groups O(3, 3) and O(3, 2) respectively. This allows us to interpret Feynman's rest of the universe in terms of space-time symmetry.

Religions, Vol. 3, Pages 1025-1040: The Idea of a Highest Divine Principle — Founding Reason and Spirituality. A Necessary Concept of a Comparative Philosophy?

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

By reference to the Platonic, Aristotelian, and Neo-Platonic philosophical traditions (and then to German Idealism, including Husserl and Heidegger), I will indicate the way in which the concept of reason—on the one side—depends on the horizon of spirituality (by searching for the ultimate ground within us and the striving for the highest good); and inversely—how far the idea of the divine or our spiritual self may be deepened, understood and transmitted by reference to reason and rationality. But whereas philosophical analysis aims at the universal dimensions of spirituality or the divine (as in Plato's idea of the 'highest good', the Aristotelian 'Absolute substance', the 'Oneness of the One' (Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists) or the Hegelian 'Absolute spirit'),—Comparative Theology may preserve the dimension of spirituality or divinity in its individuality and specifity. Comparative Theology mediates between the universality of the philosophical discourse and the uniqueness of our individual experience (symbolized by a sacred person—such as Jesus, Brahman, Buddha or Mohammed) by reflecting and analyzing our religious experiences and practices. Religion may lose its specificity by comparative conceptual analysis within the field of philosophy, but Comparative Theology may enhance the vital dimensions of the very same spiritual experience by placing them in a comparative perspective.

Materials, Vol. 5, Pages 2101-2136: Potential Applications of Zeolite Membranes in Reaction Coupling Separation Processes

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Future production of chemicals (e.g., fine and specialty chemicals) in industry is faced with the challenge of limited material and energy resources. However, process intensification might play a significant role in alleviating this problem. A vision of process intensification through multifunctional reactors has stimulated research on membrane-based reactive separation processes, in which membrane separation and catalytic reaction occur simultaneously in one unit. These processes are rather attractive applications because they are potentially compact, less capital intensive, and have lower processing costs than traditional processes. Therefore this review discusses the progress and potential applications that have occurred in the field of zeolite membrane reactors during the last few years. The aim of this article is to update researchers in the field of process intensification and also provoke their thoughts on further research efforts to explore and exploit the potential applications of zeolite membrane reactors in industry. Further evaluation of this technology for industrial acceptability is essential in this regard. Therefore, studies such as techno-economical feasibility, optimization and scale-up are of the utmost importance.

Forests, Vol. 3, Pages 997-1016: Invasive Plant Species in the National Parks of Vietnam

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The impact of invasive plant species in national parks and forests in Vietnam is undocumented and management plans have yet to be developed. Ten national parks, ranging from uncut to degraded forests located throughout Vietnam, were surveyed for invasive plant species. Transects were set up along roads, trails where local people access park areas, and also tracks through natural forest. Of 134 exotic weeds, 25 were classified as invasive species and the number of invasive species ranged from 8 to 15 per park. An assessment of the risk of invasive species was made for three national parks based on an invasive species assessment protocol. Examples of highly invasive species were Chromolaena odorata and Mimosa diplotricha in Cat Ba National Park (island evergreen secondary forest over limestone); Mimosa pigra, Panicum repens and Eichhornia crassipes in Tram Chim National Park (lowland wetland forest dominated by melaleuca); and C. odorata, Mikania micrantha and M. diplotricha in Son Tra Nature Conservation area (peninsula evergreen secondary forest). Strategies to monitor and manage invasive weeds in forests and national parks in Vietnam are outlined.

Cells, Vol. 1, Pages 905-925: Successful Reconstruction of Tooth Germ with Cell Lines Requires Coordinated Gene Expressions from the Initiation Stage

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Tooth morphogenesis is carried out by a series of reciprocal interactions between the epithelium and mesenchyme in embryonic germs. Previously clonal dental epithelial cell (epithelium of molar tooth germ (emtg)) lines were established from an embryonic germ. They were odontogenic when combined with a dental mesenchymal tissue, although the odontogenesis was quantitatively imperfect. To improve the microenvironment in the germs, freshly isolated dental epithelial cells were mixed with cells of lines, and germs were reconstructed in various combinations. The results demonstrated that successful tooth construction depends on the mixing ratio, the age of dental epithelial cells and the combination with cell lines. Analyses of gene expression in these germs suggest that some signal(s) from dental epithelial cells makes emtg cells competent to communicate with mesenchymal cells and the epithelial and mesenchymal compartments are able to progress  odontogenesis from the initiation stage.

Record attendance at chess tournament

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:18 AM PDT

OVER 150 people took part in the ninth annual Dundee and Angus Chess Congress which was held in Monifieth recently.

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HOWTO make a gingerbread Haunted Mansion

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:19 PM PDT


The always-excellent Haunted Dimensions has excellent directions for making your own gingerbread replica of the Phantom Manor, Disneyland Paris's answer to the Haunted Mansion, along with a gallery of others' haunted gingerbread creations. Yum!

Haunted Dimensions- Gingerbread Dimensions (Thanks, Francesco!)

PS Move Racing Wheel works with any game - Report

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 09:54 PM PDT

According to tests done by an iWaggle 3D user, the new racing wheel peripheral seems to add motion controls to PS3 games that don't necessarily support Move.

 

A PlayStation 3 user has reportedly discovered a hidden benefit to Sony's PlayStation Move Racing Wheel peripheral.

According to Albert Chen, whose discovery was reported on iWaggle 3D, the peripheral appears to add motion control to any game, even those that do not necessarily support Move.

Chen said that his tests with the PS Move Racing Wheel showed that it would work with any game, provided the Move was attached to the device and set to controller port 1. Chen reportedly tried the device with games including Need For Speed: Shift 2, Gran Turismo 5, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

He said that while the above games did not recognise the wheel peripheral, they were able to read the controller's inputs as those coming from a normal DualShock 3 controller. (Chen said that his console registered the wheel peripheral's face buttons as regular controller buttons, and the tilting of the peripheral as a normal controller's left analog stick tilt.)

According to Chen's reports, a PS Eye camera is not needed to make the wheel peripheral work with other games. His implication was that any racing game that uses the left analog stick to steer will already be compatible with the racing wheel peripheral.

The PS Move Racing Wheel peripheral is designed to work with racing, motorcycle, and flight games, and will support the upcoming title Little Big Planet Karting, as well as older titles, such as Gran Turismo 5, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Burnout Paradise, and MotorStorm Apocalypse.

The entire wheel is powered by the PS Move controller at its centre, and also features expanding handles, which can turn the peripheral into a motorbike racing handle; in this mode, the right handle of the peripheral features twist throttle.

It's available for pre-order now in North America for $39.99.

GameSpot has contacted Sony for comment and we will continue to update this story.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"PS Move Racing Wheel works with any game - Report" was posted by Laura Parker on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:54:49 -0700

Plays Like... Assassin's Creed 3

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:51 PM PDT

If it's assassinations in colonial America that you can't get enough of this week, Jess McDonell has uncovered mobile games that play a lot like Assassin's Creed 3.

 

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Plays Like... Assassin's Creed 3" was posted by JessicaM on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:51:31 -0700
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понедельник, 29 октября 2012 г.

Games

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Woot.com Widget 5.1.2 - View current promotions from Woot.com.. (Free)

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:55 AM PDT



Woot.com Widget allows you to view current promotions from Woot.com.

At Woot.com one hugely-discounted product is released each evening at 12 midnight (Monday - Friday). This product is available for only 24 hours or until it totally sells out.

This widget displays the current-selling product at Woot.com.



Version 5.1.2:
  • Fixes a Growl issue where Growl would simply... not work ... sometimes, as outlined in this Growl bug report.


Mac OS X 10.4 or later

Download Now

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Cloud 1.5.4 - Share images, links, music and more.. (Free)

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:54 AM PDT



Cloud allows you to share images, links, music, videos and files. Here is how it works: choose a file, drag it to the menubar and let us take care of the rest. We provide you with a short link automatically copied to your clipboard that you can use to share your upload with co-workers and friends.

Version 1.5.4:
  • Add Retina display support Fix auto-uploading of screenshots on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion


Mac OS X 10.6.5 or later

Download Now

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Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14525-14536: Study on Decomposition of Indoor Air Contaminants by Pulsed Atmospheric Microplasma

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Decomposition of formaldehyde (HCHO) by a microplasma reactor in order to improve Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) was achieved. HCHO was removed from air using one pass through reactor treatment (5 L/min). From an initial concentration of HCHO of 0.7 ppm about 96% was removed in one pass treatment using a discharge power of 0.3 W provided by a high voltage amplifier and a Marx Generator with MOSFET switches as pulsed power supplies. Moreover microplasma driven by the Marx Generator did not generate NOx as detected by a chemiluminescence NOx analyzer. In the case of large volume treatment the removal ratio of HCHO (initial concentration: 0.5 ppm) after 60 minutes was 51% at 1.2 kV when using HV amplifier considering also a 41% natural decay ratio of HCHO. The removal ratio was 54% at 1.2 kV when a Marx Generator energized the electrodes with a 44% natural decay ratio after 60 minutes of treatment.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14508-14524: A Two-Layers Based Approach of an Enhanced-Mapfor Urban Positioning Support

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

This paper presents a two-layer based enhanced map that can support navigationin urban environments. One layer is dedicated to describe the drivable road with a specialfocus on the accurate description of its bounds. This feature can support positioning andadvanced map-matching when compared with standard polyline-based maps. The otherlayer depicts building heights and locations, thus enabling the detection of non-line-of-sightsignals coming from GPS satellites not in direct view. Both the concept and the methodologyfor creating these enhanced maps are shown in the paper.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14489-14507: Laser-Based Pedestrian Tracking in Outdoor Environments by Multiple Mobile Robots

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

This paper presents an outdoors laser-based pedestrian tracking system using a group of mobile robots located near each other. Each robot detects pedestrians from its own laser scan image using an occupancy-grid-based method, and the robot tracks the detected pedestrians via Kalman filtering and global-nearest-neighbor (GNN)-based data association. The tracking data is broadcast to multiple robots through intercommunication and is combined using the covariance intersection (CI) method. For pedestrian tracking, each robot identifies its own posture using real-time-kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS) and laser scan matching. Using our cooperative tracking method, all the robots share the tracking data with each other; hence, individual robots can always recognize pedestrians that are invisible to any other robot. The simulation and experimental results show that cooperating tracking provides the tracking performance better than conventional individual tracking does. Our tracking system functions in a decentralized manner without any central server, and therefore, this provides a degree of scalability and robustness that cannot be achieved by conventional centralized architectures.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14467-14488: Interface Design for CMOS-Integrated Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) Biosensors

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful electrochemical technique to detect biomolecules. EIS has the potential of carrying out label-free and real-time detection, and in addition, can be easily implemented using electronic integrated circuits (ICs) that are built through standard semiconductor fabrication processes. This paper focuses on the various design and optimization aspects of EIS ICs, particularly the bio-to-semiconductor interface design. We discuss, in detail, considerations such as the choice of the electrode surface in view of IC manufacturing, surface linkers, and development of optimal bio-molecular detection protocols. We also report experimental results, using both macro- and micro-electrodes to demonstrate the design trade-offs and ultimately validate our optimization procedures.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14442-14466: Framework for End-User Programming of Cross-Smart Space Applications

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Cross-smart space applications are specific types of software services that enable users to share information, monitor the physical and logical surroundings and control it in a way that is meaningful for the user’s situation. For developing cross-smart space applications, this paper makes two main contributions: it introduces (i) a component design and scripting method for end-user programming of cross-smart space applications and (ii) a backend framework of components that interwork to support the brunt of the RDFScript translation, and the use and execution of ontology models. Before end-user programming activities, the software professionals must develop easy-to-apply Driver components for the APIs of existing software systems. Thereafter, end-users are able to create applications from the commands of the Driver components with the help of the provided toolset. The paper also introduces the reference implementation of the framework, tools for the Driver component development and end-user programming of cross-smart space applications and the first evaluation results on their application.

Borderlands 2 players - don't lose your save! 'Graveyard' virus is no Halloween joke

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:40 AM PDT

A malicious attack on Borderlands 2 players is rendering save files irretrievably broken on Xbox 360, according to Gearbox. PS3 players are unaffected at

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14416-14441: Towards Real-Time and Rotation-Invariant American Sign Language Alphabet Recognition Using a Range Camera

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The automatic interpretation of human gestures can be used for a natural interaction with computers while getting rid of mechanical devices such as keyboards and mice. In order to achieve this objective, the recognition of hand postures has been studied for many years. However, most of the literature in this area has considered 2D images which cannot provide a full description of the hand gestures. In addition, a rotation-invariant identification remains an unsolved problem, even with the use of 2D images. The objective of the current study was to design a rotation-invariant recognition process while using a 3D signature for classifying hand postures. A heuristic and voxel-based signature has been designed and implemented. The tracking of the hand motion is achieved with the Kalman filter. A unique training image per posture is used in the supervised classification. The designed recognition process, the tracking procedure and the segmentation algorithm have been successfully evaluated. This study has demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed rotation invariant 3D hand posture signature which leads to 93.88% recognition rate after testing 14,732 samples of 12 postures taken from the alphabet of the American Sign Language.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14397-14415: A Coded Aperture Compressive Imaging Array and Its Visual Detection and Tracking Algorithms for Surveillance Systems

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

In this paper, we propose an application of a compressive imaging system to the problem of wide-area video surveillance systems. A parallel coded aperture compressive imaging system is proposed to reduce the needed high resolution coded mask requirements and facilitate the storage of the projection matrix. Random Gaussian, Toeplitz and binary phase coded masks are utilized to obtain the compressive sensing images. The corresponding motion targets detection and tracking algorithms directly using the compressive sampling images are developed. A mixture of Gaussian distribution is applied in the compressive image space to model the background image and for foreground detection. For each motion target in the compressive sampling domain, a compressive feature dictionary spanned by target templates and noises templates is sparsely represented. An l1 optimization algorithm is used to solve the sparse coefficient of templates. Experimental results demonstrate that low dimensional compressed imaging representation is sufficient to determine spatial motion targets. Compared with the random Gaussian and Toeplitz phase mask, motion detection algorithms using a random binary phase mask can yield better detection results. However using random Gaussian and Toeplitz phase mask can achieve high resolution reconstructed image. Our tracking algorithm can achieve a real time speed that is up to 10 times faster than that of the l1 tracker without any optimization.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12746-12757: Total Ginsenosides of Radix Ginseng Modulates Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Protein Expression to Enhance Cardiac Energy Metabolism in Ischemic Rat Heart Tissues

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

To elucidate the underlying mechanism of cardio-protective activity of the total ginsenosides (TGS) of Radix Ginseng, proteomic analysis using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS techniques was employed for identifying the underlying targets of TGS on improvement of the energy metabolism of isolated rat heart tissues perfused in Langendorff system under ischemia-reperfusion injury conditions. The image analysis results revealed 11 differentially expressed proteins in the TGS-treated heart tissues; these proteins, including LDHB and ODP-2, were found to be closely related to the function of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle that plays pivotal roles in cardiac energy metabolism. It is thus concluded that improvement of cardiac energy metabolism via activating proteins in TCA cycle could be the major action pathway and targets of TGS activity against rat heart tissue injury.

Societies, Vol. 2, Pages 235-251: Working Stiff(s) on Reality Television during the Great Recession

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

This essay traces some of the narratives and cultural politics of work on reality television after the economic crash of 2008. Specifically, it discusses the emergence of paid labor shows like Ax Men, Black Gold and Coal and a resurgent interest in working bodies at a time when the working class in the US seems all but consigned to the dustbin of history. As an implicit response to the crisis of masculinity during the Great Recession these programs present an imagined revival of manliness through the valorization of muscle work, which can be read in dialectical ways that pivot around the white male body in peril. In Ax Men, Black Gold and Coal, we find not only the return of labor but, moreover, the re-embodiment of value as loggers, roughnecks and miners risk both life and limb to reach company quotas. Paid labor shows, in other words, present a complicated popular pedagogy of late capitalism and the body, one that relies on anachronistic narratives of white masculinity in the workplace to provide an acute critique of expendability of the body and the hardships of physical labor.

JPM, Vol. 2, Pages 175-191: The Making of a CYP3A Biomarker Panel for Guiding Drug Therapy

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

CYP3A ranks among the most abundant cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver, playing a dominant role in metabolic elimination of clinically used drugs. A main member in CYP3A family, CYP3A4 expression and activity vary considerably among individuals, attributable to genetic and non-genetic factors, affecting drug dosage and efficacy. However, the extent of genetic influence has remained unclear. This review assesses current knowledge on the genetic factors influencing CYP3A4 activity. Coding region CYP3A4 polymorphisms are rare and account for only a small portion of inter-person variability in CYP3A metabolism. Except for the promoter allele CYP3A4*1B with ambiguous effect on expression, common CYP3A4 regulatory polymorphisms were thought to be lacking. Recent studies have identified a relatively common regulatory polymorphism, designated CYP3A4*22 with robust effects on hepatic CYP3A4 expression. Combining CYP3A4*22 with CYP3A5 alleles *1, *3 and *7 has promise as a biomarker predicting overall CYP3A activity. Also contributing to variable expression, the role of polymorphisms in transcription factors and microRNAs is discussed.

Bridge column, October 29: Clubs or diamonds; it's your choice

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 02:20 AM PDT

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, "A clever man commits no minor blunders." It would take a clever bridge player not to make a minor-suit blunder in today's deal.

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Mechwarrior Online open beta starts now

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 02:08 AM PDT

Pirahna Games' online multiplayer iteration of mech piloting franchise; title to release in full in 2013.

The open beta for the upcoming mech simulator title Mechwarrior Online was only recently delayed, but now developer Pirahna Games has announced a concrete date for players to try the PC title: October 29.

Starting today, gamers can sign up for the public open beta on the game's official site. Pirahna Games also announced that the total amount of money it accumulated from the game's founders program has reached $5.2 million. The founders program is a scheme where players can pay money up-front to get exclusive in-game items and early access to the game on July 17. The program started on June 19.

The game's open beta was previously delayed due to network instabilities. For more information on the game, check out GameSpot's coverage.

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"Mechwarrior Online open beta starts now" was posted by Jonathan Toyad on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 02:08:39 -0700

Asia wins big at Canada Cup 2012 tournaments

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 11:09 PM PDT

Team Japan wins SSFIV:AE international 5 versus 5 tournament, while DM Ho Kun "Xian" Xian comes in first for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition singles match.

 

The winners for the Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition tournaments at the Canada Cup 2012 event have been decided.

Team Japan won the SSFIV: AE international 5-versus-5 tournament, with team Korea and team USA 2 following behind in second and third place respectively. The team consists of notable players such as MadCatz's Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi and Razer's Keita "Fuudo" Ai (Evolution 2011's SSFIV:AE winner).

Singapore pro gamer Ho Kun "Xian" Xian, who represents Team DM and MadCatz, secured first place in the Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and The King of Fighters XIII singles tournament. He used Gen in the former and the team of EX Iori, NESTS Style Kyo, and Mr. Karate for the latter.

Other notable highlights include team USA winning the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 5-versus-5 tournament, with Complexity Cross Counter's Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez defeating the entire Canada team by himself during the finals. Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez-Frangie won the UMvC 3 singles match, with Evil Genius' Justin Wong and Tokido at second and third place respectively.

The Canada Cup event took place at Calgary, Alberta from October 26 to 28.Head to the link for a replay of the Canada Cup 2012 livestream.

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"Asia wins big at Canada Cup 2012 tournaments" was posted by Jonathan Toyad on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:09:33 -0700

Need for Speed Most Wanted Community Time Trial

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 10:38 PM PDT

GameSpot AU and EA Australia are hosting an exclusive Need for Speed Most Wanted preview event for the GameSpot community and in addition, are running a Top Gear-style time trial ladder at the event to give away some big prizes!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Need for Speed Most Wanted Community Time Trial" was posted on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:38:09 -0700

Cancers, Vol. 4, Pages 1146-1160: Chemoprevention of Breast Cancer: The Paradox of Evidence versus Advocacy Inaction

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Women who are at high risk of breast cancer can be offered chemoprevention. Chemoprevention strategies have expanded over the past decade and include selective receptor modulator inhibitors and aromatase inhibitors. Physicians are expected to provide individualized risk assessments to identify high risk women who may be eligible for chemoprevention. It is prudent that physicians utilize a shared decision approach when counseling high risk women about their preventive options. Barriers and misperceptions however exist with patient and physician acceptance of chemoprevention and continue to impede uptake of chemoprevention as a strategy to reduce breast cancer risk. Programs to increase awareness and elucidate the barriers are critical for women to engage in cancer prevention and promote chemoprevention adherence.

Viruses, Vol. 4, Pages 2636-2649: How much of Virus-Specific CD8 T Cell Reactivity is Detected with a Peptide Pool when Compared to Individual Peptides?

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Immune monitoring of T cell responses increasingly relies on the use of peptide pools. Peptides, when restricted by the same HLA allele, and presented from within the same peptide pool, can compete for HLA binding sites. What impact such competition has on functional T cell stimulation, however, is not clear. Using a model peptide pool that is comprised of 32 well-defined viral epitopes from Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and Influenza viruses (CEF peptide pool), we assessed peptide competition in PBMC from 42 human subjects. The magnitude of the peptide pool-elicited CD8 T cell responses was a mean 79% and a median 77% of the sum of the CD8 T cell responses elicited by the individual peptides. Therefore, while the effect of peptide competition was evident, it was of a relatively minor magnitude. By studying the dose-response curves for individual CEF peptides, we show that several of these peptides are present in the CEF-pool at concentrations that are orders of magnitude in excess of what is needed for the activation threshold of the CD8 T cells. The presence of such T cells with very high functional avidity for the viral antigens can explain why the effect of peptide competition is relatively minor within the CEF-pool.

Viruses, Vol. 4, Pages 2598-2635: dsRNA-Dependent Protein Kinase PKR and its Role in Stress, Signaling and HCV Infection

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase PKR plays multiple roles in cells, in response to different stress situations. As a member of the interferon (IFN)‑Stimulated Genes, PKR was initially recognized as an actor in the antiviral action of IFN, due to its ability to control translation, through phosphorylation, of the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2a). As such, PKR participates in the generation of stress granules, or autophagy and a number of viruses have designed strategies to inhibit its action. However, PKR deficient mice resist most viral infections, indicating that PKR may play other roles in the cell other than just acting as an antiviral agent. Indeed, PKR regulates several signaling pathways, either as an adapter protein and/or using its kinase activity. Here we review the role of PKR as an eIF2a kinase, its participation in the regulation of the NF-kB, p38MAPK and insulin pathways, and we focus on its role during infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). PKR binds the HCV IRES RNA, cooperates with some functions of the HCV core protein and may represent a target for NS5A or E2. Novel data points out for a role of PKR as a pro-HCV agent, both as an adapter protein and as an eIF2a-kinase, and in cooperation with the di-ubiquitin-like protein ISG15. Developing pharmaceutical inhibitors of PKR may help in resolving some viral infections as well as stress-related damages.
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