Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans-Times Picayune called the Saints? loss to the Rams the worst performance of the Sean Payton era.
It?s hard to disagree, and that?s why the Saints are PFT?s pick for the worst loss of Week Eight.
Are the Saints Super Bowl contenders? Or are they the team that has lost two straight on the road to the Bucs and Rams?
At 5-3, New Orleans no longer lead division rivals Tampa or Atlanta in the loss column. A number of troubling trends have started to emerge, and it?s not all about the defense.
After finishing second in interceptions in the NFL last year, Drew Brees is tied for ?first? with ten picks this year. He has multiple picks in four of the last six games, including four interceptions against the Bucs.
Brees is forcing too many passes in part because he?s under pressure. Brees has already been sacked 19 times. In his first five years with the Saints, Brees was sacked on average 18 times for the entire season.
The interceptions are contributing to a -5 turnover differential. Gregg Williams? defense is supposed to be built on turnovers, but they only have eight all year. That ranks 29th in the league.
The Rams loss hurts because there aren?t many supposed gimmes coming up on the schedule. The Saints face the Bucs, Falcons, Giants, and Lions over the next four weeks
Championship-caliber teams often go through lulls during the season. ?Look at the Packers last year. ?Then again, championship teams find a way to win on the road where the Saints have lost three times.
The Saints need to turn around their play quickly or they will be playing on the road throughout the playoffs ? if they make it there.
ROME (Reuters) ? Italy's borrowing costs jumped to record levels on Friday, underlining its vulnerability at the heart of the euro zone debt crisis and skepticism about whether the struggling government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi can deliver vital reforms.
The 6.06 percent yield paid at an auction of 10-year bonds was the highest since the launch of the euro and not far from the level reached just before the European Central Bank intervened in August to cap Rome's borrowing costs by buying Italian paper.
Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, is once more at the center of the debt crisis, with fears growing that its borrowing costs could rise to levels that overwhelm the capacity of the bloc to provide support amid chronic political instability in Rome.
Berlusconi in a speech in Rome said the record yield would weigh on the country's finances, but insisted Italy would meet its target of balancing the budget by 2013.
Berlusconi, tainted by scandal and repeatedly at odds with his coalition allies, has promised European partners a package of measures to spur Italy's stagnant economy and cut its towering public debt, but he has failed to convince markets made skeptical by his repeated failure to deliver reforms.
European leaders welcomed a letter of intent on planned reforms delivered by Berlusconi to meet a deadline at a summit this week but emphasized that the measures must now be implemented.
"The interest rates that they are paying are punitive," said Monument Securities strategist Marc Oswald. "As far as Italy goes, it is still the bete noire of the whole euro zone problem."
"They are still going to carry on having to pay higher yields unless they come up with reform plans and implement them. But anyone who expresses an optimistic opinion about that is probably looking through rose-tinted glasses," he added.
France and Germany have expressed open exasperation at a succession of unfulfilled reform promises by Berlusconi and fear the crisis in Italy could spark a wider emergency that would threaten the very existence of the single currency.
"STRANGE CURRENCY"
Even if a weakened government manages to pass the difficult reforms Berlusconi has promised, most would not come into force until the middle of next year. Markets are unlikely to remain patient during such a long delay.
In his speech Berlusconi took aim at the euro, calling it a "strange" currency.
"There is an attack on the euro which, as a currency has convinced no-one because it belongs to more than one country but does not have a bank of reference and guarantee," he said, referring to reluctance by Germany and other countries to allow the European Central Bank to be used as a lender of last resort.
Berlusconi, who is facing two fraud court cases and one for having sex with an underage prostitute, complained that he faced 37 judicial hearings between now and mid-January, impeding his ability to do his job. He says leftist magistrates are persecuting him in an attempt to undermine democracy.
Speaking after Wednesday's European summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy highlighted fears that the crisis could jump from Greece to the much bigger Italian economy.
"If we had allowed Greece to fall, and the speculation shifted on to attack Italy, the markets would then have said we will allow Italy fall too, and that would be the end of the euro," he said in a television interview.
As Italy sinks deeper into the debt crisis, tensions in Berlusconi's government have grown sharply, leading to widespread speculation in the press and even among members of his own party that the government will fall soon, leading to elections in 2012, a year ahead of schedule.
Berlusconi, whose approval ratings have been torpedoed by a mix of scandal and mounting economic and political problems, rejected speculation that he could be forced to go to early elections. He promised to press on with the promised reforms.
Berlusconi said his alliance remained solid with the pro-devolution Northern League party, whose leader Umberto Bossi has expressed open skepticism about the survival of the coalition.
"There is an absolute need for political stability and Bossi thinks exactly the same way I do. The pact we have with the League has never been up for discussion," Berlusconi said.
"No credible political alternative exists."
This week the League rejected plans to hike the pension age to 67, leading to tense late-night negotiations before a compromise was patched up in time to take to a summit in Brussels last Wednesday.
Berlusconi said the package of measures presented in Brussels was welcomed by EU partners.
But the proposals, including an increase in the pension age, rules making it easier to lay off staff and provisions to place civil servants in special redundancy schemes, have raised fierce opposition from unions and skepticism about whether they will ever be implemented.
In the increasingly murky environment of Italian politics, there has been speculation that the package is part of a deal between Berlusconi and Bossi to take the government to the end of the year before triggering new elections in the spring.
On Friday, Berlusconi dismissed any suggestion of a pact to go to the polls before the scheduled date in 2013 and said an election campaign in the middle of the crisis would be "very seriously damaging to Italy".
(Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia in London and Brian Love in Paris; Editing by Barry Moody and Alistair Lyon)
Texas Biomed develops new approach to study depression; finding may lead to new marker for riskPublic release date: 28-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Carey jcarey@txbiomed.org 210?258?9437 Texas Biomedical Research Institute
Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Yale University have identified a new target area in the human genome that appears to harbor genes with a major role in the onset of depression.
Using the power of Texas Biomed's AT&T Genomics Computing Center (GCC), the researchers found the region by devising a new method for analyzing thousands of potential risk factors for this complex disease, a process that led them to a new biomarker that may be helpful in identifying people at risk for major depression.
"We were searching for things in psychiatric disease that are the equivalent of what cholesterol is to heart disease," said John Blangero, Ph.D., director of the GCC and a principal investigator in the study. "We wanted to find things that can be measured in everybody and that can tell you something about risk for major depression."
The study was directed by Blangero and David Glahn, Ph.D., of Yale University. It was published online in October in the journal Biological Psychiatry and supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Major depressive disorder is one of the most common and most costly mental illnesses. Studies have estimated that up to 17 percent of Americans will suffer depression at some point in their lives. The disorder has proven to be a tough challenge for geneticists. Despite strong evidence that people can inherit a susceptibility to major depression, years of study have failed to locate any of the key genes that underlie the illness.
The scientists used blood samples from 1,122 people enrolled in the Genetics of Brain Structure and Function Study, a large family study that involves people from 40 extended Mexican American families in the San Antonio area.
Blangero and his colleagues looked at more than 11,000 endophenotypes, or heritable factors, and searched for the ones that were linked with the risk of major depression. They found that disease risk correlated most strongly with expression levels of a gene called RNF123, which helps regulate neuron growth.
Once they found this risk factor, further analysis directed scientists to an area on chromosome 4 containing genes that appear to regulate RNF123.
Because the RNF123 expression levels can be measured relatively easily in the blood, this finding could lead to a way of identifying people at risk for major depressive disorder, Blangero said.
"We might be able to know in advance that a person will be less able to respond to the normal challenges that come about in life," he said. "Then doctors may be able to intervene earlier after a traumatic life event to remove some of the debilitation of depression."
The study also shows the potential for using this method of analyzing a multitude of heritable traits as a way to zero in on disease-causing gene variants.
The research capitalized on the newest 'deep sequencing' technology that enables Texas Biomed scientists to search through more genetic variables. The GCC has 8,000 linked computer processors that are capable of analyzing millions of genetic variables drawn from thousands of research subjects.
###
Texas Biomed, formerly the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, is one of the world's leading independent biomedical research institutions dedicated to advancing health worldwide through innovative biomedical research. Located on a 200-acre campus on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas, the Institute partners with hundreds of researchers and institutions around the world, targeting advances in the fight against AIDS, hepatitis, malaria, parasitic infections and a host of other infectious diseases, as well as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, psychiatric disorders, and problems of pregnancy. For more information on Texas Biomed, go to http://www.TxBiomed.org, or call Joe Carey, Texas Biomed's Vice President for Public Affairs, at 210-258-9437.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Texas Biomed develops new approach to study depression; finding may lead to new marker for riskPublic release date: 28-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Carey jcarey@txbiomed.org 210?258?9437 Texas Biomedical Research Institute
Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Yale University have identified a new target area in the human genome that appears to harbor genes with a major role in the onset of depression.
Using the power of Texas Biomed's AT&T Genomics Computing Center (GCC), the researchers found the region by devising a new method for analyzing thousands of potential risk factors for this complex disease, a process that led them to a new biomarker that may be helpful in identifying people at risk for major depression.
"We were searching for things in psychiatric disease that are the equivalent of what cholesterol is to heart disease," said John Blangero, Ph.D., director of the GCC and a principal investigator in the study. "We wanted to find things that can be measured in everybody and that can tell you something about risk for major depression."
The study was directed by Blangero and David Glahn, Ph.D., of Yale University. It was published online in October in the journal Biological Psychiatry and supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Major depressive disorder is one of the most common and most costly mental illnesses. Studies have estimated that up to 17 percent of Americans will suffer depression at some point in their lives. The disorder has proven to be a tough challenge for geneticists. Despite strong evidence that people can inherit a susceptibility to major depression, years of study have failed to locate any of the key genes that underlie the illness.
The scientists used blood samples from 1,122 people enrolled in the Genetics of Brain Structure and Function Study, a large family study that involves people from 40 extended Mexican American families in the San Antonio area.
Blangero and his colleagues looked at more than 11,000 endophenotypes, or heritable factors, and searched for the ones that were linked with the risk of major depression. They found that disease risk correlated most strongly with expression levels of a gene called RNF123, which helps regulate neuron growth.
Once they found this risk factor, further analysis directed scientists to an area on chromosome 4 containing genes that appear to regulate RNF123.
Because the RNF123 expression levels can be measured relatively easily in the blood, this finding could lead to a way of identifying people at risk for major depressive disorder, Blangero said.
"We might be able to know in advance that a person will be less able to respond to the normal challenges that come about in life," he said. "Then doctors may be able to intervene earlier after a traumatic life event to remove some of the debilitation of depression."
The study also shows the potential for using this method of analyzing a multitude of heritable traits as a way to zero in on disease-causing gene variants.
The research capitalized on the newest 'deep sequencing' technology that enables Texas Biomed scientists to search through more genetic variables. The GCC has 8,000 linked computer processors that are capable of analyzing millions of genetic variables drawn from thousands of research subjects.
###
Texas Biomed, formerly the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, is one of the world's leading independent biomedical research institutions dedicated to advancing health worldwide through innovative biomedical research. Located on a 200-acre campus on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas, the Institute partners with hundreds of researchers and institutions around the world, targeting advances in the fight against AIDS, hepatitis, malaria, parasitic infections and a host of other infectious diseases, as well as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, psychiatric disorders, and problems of pregnancy. For more information on Texas Biomed, go to http://www.TxBiomed.org, or call Joe Carey, Texas Biomed's Vice President for Public Affairs, at 210-258-9437.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Halloween is nearly upon us, which means Earth will soon be crawling with costumed witches, ghouls and zombies. But October has shown us that our planet doesn't have a monopoly on spookiness.
Over the last month, a series of cosmic phenomena have provided thrills and chills, just in time for Halloween. Here's a rundown of the recent spooky space news, from revelations about vampire stars to a plan to build Frankensatellites in orbit.
The secrets of stellar vampires
"Blue stragglers" are mysterious stars that act much younger than the ancient neighbors with which they formed. They burn much hotter, for example, and appear much bluer.
Astronomers have been trying to explain the origins and behavior of blue stragglers since their discovery in the 1950s, and a new study may finally have done the job. It appears that most blue stragglers are vampires, sucking hydrogen fuel away from companion stars.
This keeps the stars young, just as slurping up victims' blood keeps the vampires of fiction from dying or growing old.?[Haunting Photos: The Spookiest Nebulas in Space]
The sky is falling
The threat of death from above can inspire fear beyond reason, perhaps because we're often helpless to predict or combat it ? just ask Chicken Little. And this October brought an event that evoked some "sky is falling" sentiment.
On Oct. 22, a dead German satellite called ROSAT slammed into Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, apparently harming nobody. It was the second uncontrolled satellite crash in a month; NASA's defunct UARS spacecraft fell to Earth on Sept. 24, also causing no known injuries.
Experts had said that there was just a 1-in-2,000 chance that any piece of ROSAT would strike anybody anywhere on Earth. But those odds, while small, were non-zero ? enough to get a lot of people talking, and some of them worrying.
Frankensats
Since Mary Shelley published her novel "Frankenstein" in 1818, the idea of creating new life from disparate dead parts has been a staple of the horror genre. And now the concept is getting some traction in space.
The United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced on Oct. 20 that it wants to harvest still-working parts of dead satellites, then incorporate them into new space systems on the cheap.
In DARPA's plan, a servicing satellite would pluck functioning antennas from defunct spacecraft, then attach them to newly launched mini-satellites in orbit. The "Frankensats" would save the military on launch costs, because antennas are so big, bulky and expensive to get off the ground.
Frankenstein moon mystery
Mary Shelley and her iconic novel also figure prominently in another recent celestial story.
Shelley was reportedly inspired to write "Frankenstein" in the summer of 1816, after staying up all night swapping ghost stories with her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and several other friends.
At the end of the evening, Byron is said to have challenged each member of the group to come up with his or her own scary tale. Shelley later wrote that she couldn't come up with an idea for several days, but then had a terrifying nightmare about a scientist who created a monster from an assortment of body parts.
Some authorities have questioned her version of events, suggesting Shelley may have taken some liberties with the truth for the sake of a good story. A new study, however, suggests that Shelley's account rings true.
She mentioned that moonlight streamed into her room when she awoke from her dream in the middle of the night. After poring over astronomical records and visiting the Switzerland estate where Shelley and the group met, researchers determined that light from a bright gibbous moon probably did flood Shelley's room in the wee hours of June 16, 1816.
Byron's ghost story challenge, the researchers conclude, likely took place between June 10 and June 13, and Shelley probably awoke from her nightmare around 3 a.m. on June 16.
Freakishly small full moon
Full moons are another Halloween trope, bringing out the werewolves as they do (according to lore). And October's full moon was particulary noteworthy, for it was the smallest one of the year.
October's full moon, which peaked on Oct. 11, coincided very closely with lunar apogee ? the point in the moon's orbit each month when it is farthest from Earth. The moon reached apogee, which this month was a distance of 252,546 miles (406,434 kilometers), on the morning of Oct. 12.
As a result, the full moon appeared very small to our eyes. It was a stark contrast to the March "supermoon," when the full moon looked abnormally huge and bright. At that time, Earth's nearest neighbor was just 221,565 miles (356,575 km) away. [Photos of the March 2011 Supermoon]
Children of the corn (maze)
Winding your way through a corn maze, perhaps while sipping apple cider and scarfing down some kettle corn, has become an autumn tradition in many parts of the country.
But it's a tradition that fills some with dread ? those who read Stephen King's 1977 short story "Children of the Corn," for example, or saw one of the many films inspired by it.
This fall, NASA teamed up with seven farms around the country to build corn mazes that celebrate the nation's space accomplishments. So far, there have been no reports of strange goings-on at any of the mazes; everyone who has gone in appears to have made it out.
Halloween meteor shower
Meteor showers may have been scary to ancient peoples, who perhaps thought they indicated that the sky was falling. But to us, they're just cool, and one of them, the Taurids, is getting set to put on a show.
The Taurids are sometimes called the?"Halloween fireballs"?because they tend to blaze up between mid-October and mid-November. This year, the best time to view them are the early morning hours of Nov. 5.
After the moon sets, around 2:40 a.m. local time, you may be able to see 10 to 15 meteors per hour. Look toward the constellation Taurus (the Bull), which should be nearly directly overhead at this time. The meteors will seem to emanate from Taurus, which explains the shower's name.
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
A pair of traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A pair of traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Christopher Culhane works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist James Denaro, right, directs trading at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Edward Curran, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The Dow Jones industrial average surged nearly 340 points Thursday after European leaders agreed on a deal to slash Greece's debt load and prevent the crisis there from engulfing larger countries like Italy. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is close to having its best month since 1974.
Commodities and Treasury yields soared as investors took on more risk. The euro rose sharply against the dollar.
Europe's sweeping agreement, reached after an all-night summit meeting, is aimed at preventing the Greek government's inability to pay its debt from escalating into another financial crisis like the one that happened in September 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Banks agreed to take 50 percent losses on the Greek bonds they hold. Europe will also strengthen a financial rescue fund to protect the region's banks and other struggling European countries such as Italy and Portugal.
"This seems to set aside the worries that there would be a massive contagion over there that would have brought everything down with it," said Mark Lamkin, head of Lamkin Wealth Management.
Stronger U.S. economic growth and corporate earnings also drove markets higher. The government reported Thursday that the economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate from July through September on stronger consumer spending and business investment. That was nearly double the 1.3 percent growth in the previous quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average soared 339.51 points, or 2.9 percent, to 12,208.55. All 30 stocks in the Dow rose, led by Bank of America Corp. with a 9.6 percent gain. It was the first time the Dow closed above 12,000 since Aug. 1
The Dow is up 11.9 percent for the month so far. With only two full days of trading left in October, the Dow could have its biggest monthly gain since January 1987. The Dow's jump was its largest since Aug. 11th, when it rose 423.
The S&P 500 rose 42.59, or 3.7 percent, to 1,284.59. The gain turned the S&P positive for the year for the first time since Aug. 3, just before the U.S. government's debt was downgraded. The index is up 13.5 percent for the month, its best performance since a 16.3 percent gain in October 1974.
The Dow and S&P have both fallen for the previous five months.
The Nasdaq composite jumped 87.96, or 3.3 percent, to 2,738.63.
Small company stocks rose more than the broader market. That's a sign investors were more comfortable holding assets perceived as being risky but also more likely to appreciate in a strong economy. The Russell 2000 index jumped 5.3 percent.
Raw materials producers, banks and stocks in other industries that depend on a strong economy for profit growth led the way. Copper jumped 5.8 percent to $3.69 a pound and crude oil jumped 4.2 percent to $93.96 a barrel.
The euro rose sharply, to $1.42, as confidence in Europe's financial system grew. The euro was worth $1.39 late Wednesday and had been as low as $1.32 on Oct. 3. European stock indexes also soared. France's CAC-40 rose 6.3 percent and Germany's DAX jumped 6.1 percent.
Investors sold U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, an indication they were moving away from safer investments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves in the opposite direction of its price, rose to 2.38 percent from 2.21 percent late Wednesday.
European leaders still have to finalize the details of their latest plan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke with Chinese President Hu Jintao amid hopes that countries with lots of cash like China can contribute to the European rescue.
Past attempts to contain Europe's two-year debt crisis have proved insufficient. Greece has been surviving on rescue loans since May 2010. In July, creditors agreed to take some losses on their Greek bonds, but that wasn't enough to fix the problem.
Some analysts cautioned that Europe's problems remained unsolved. "The market keeps on thinking that it's put Europe's problems to bed, but it's like putting a three-year old to bed: you might put it there but it won't stay there," said David Kelley, chief market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. Kelly said that Europe's debt problems will remain an issue until the economies of struggling nations like Greece and Portugal grow again.
Worries about Europe's debt crisis and a weak U.S. economy dragged the S&P 500 down 19.4 percent between April 29 and Oct. 3. That put it on the cusp of what's called a bear market, which is a 20 percent decline.
Since then, there have been a number of more encouraging signs on the U.S. economy. Despite the jitters over Europe, many large U.S. companies have been reporting strong profit growth in the third quarter.
Dow Chemical rose 8.2 percent after its profit last quarter rose 59 percent on strong sales growth from Latin America. Occidental Petroleum Corp. jumped 9.7 percent after reporting a 50 percent surge in income.
Citrix Systems Inc. rose 17.3 percent. The technology company's revenue rose 20 percent last quarter, and it forecast growth of up to 13 percent for 2012. Akamai Technologies Inc., whose products help speed the delivery of online content, jumped 15.4 percent after the company reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations.
Avon Products Inc. fell 18 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after the company said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating its contacts with financial analysts and Avon's own probe into bribery in China and other countries.
Nine stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy at 6.5 billion shares.
If you're looking to save a little coin on your Adele streaming habits, Pure Music may be worth a look. Beginning in December, you can have millions of songs at your fingertips for £4.99 (about $8) a month -- but only in the UK. Music on-demand, internet radio and other programs will be available for your laptop, iOS device or one of the company's many WiFi capable devices, all for a monthly sum that's slightly cheaper than Spotify. Should you make use of the Tag bookmarking system on one of Pure's radios, you'll be able to access those highlighted tracks on your smartphone or computer as well. Don't worry Android faithful, an app tailored for you is in the works. Need a peek at the fine print? No worries, just hit the source link below and read away.
Arguing that Obamacare is at this point a derogatory term, House Democrats want to ban the term from mailers sent from Congressional offices,?reports?Roll Call's Jonathan Strong.?Democrats on the House Committee that oversees their franking privileges -- that is, the right to send campaign mailers to constituents thinly disguised as official correspondence for free -- say Obamacare violates the rules against sending mailers for "personal, partisan, or political reasons." For example, Republicans got Democrats to stop sending mailers that claimed Rep. Paul Ryan would "end" Medicare.
Related: Brooks and Olbermann Kill the Bill
Obama tried to reappropriate Obamacare?back?in August, pulling some reverse discourse action:?"I have no problem with folks saying 'Obamacares' ... I do care," Obama said. Back then, ABC News's Jake Tapper wondered if the president made it okay to use the term again. But House Republicans really know what's up.?"You know, if it was popular they?d be all about calling it Obamacare," a Republican source told Strong.
Source found for immune system effects on learning, memoryPublic release date: 26-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karl Leif Bates karl.bates@duke.edu 919-681-8054 Duke University
DURHAM, N.C. - Immune system cells of the brain, which scavenge pathogens and damaged neurons, are also key players in memory and learning, according to new research by Duke neuroscientists.
Earlier studies by Staci Bilbo, an assistant professor in psychology & neuroscience, had shown that laboratory rats experiencing an infection at an early age have an aggressive immune response to subsequent infections, which also harms their learning and memory.
In a study published in the Oct. 26 Journal of Neuroscience, Bilbo's team identifies the source of the learning difficulties and traces it back to the immune system itself.
The researchers found that specialized immune system cells in the brain called microglia release a signaling molecule called Interleukin-1, or IL-1, in response to an infection. IL-1 is also crucial to normal learning and memory in the hippocampus region of the brain. But too much IL-1 can impair learning and memory in laboratory animals.
"These same molecules go up in response to any brain infection. I don't really understand why you would build a brain that way, except that there are clearly benefits in other aspects of immunity, outside the brain," Bilbo said.
In a series of experiments she has been conducting for nearly a decade, very young rats are exposed to infection and then challenged again later with a second infection consisting of only harmless, dead bacteria. The "second hit" has been shown to affect learning and memory while these rats mount a highly effective immune response.
"The microglia remember that infection and respond differently," she said. "The infection itself wasn't doing permanent damage. It was changing the immune system somehow."
The second infection doesn't even have to be directly involved with the brain. A bacterial lesion on a limb produces enough of a signal to make the glia in the brain pump out extra IL-1. "These rats handle peripheral infection really well, but at a cost to the brain," Bilbo said.
To find out what had changed in the brains of the infected rats, the team used techniques borrowed from immunology to sort out one specific cell type from brain tissue rapidly enough that they could see what the cells had been doing.
The work adds to an emerging picture of glial cells acting in the brain much the same way immune system macrophages operate elsewhere in the body gobbling up other cells and tearing them apart. The glia also perform a pruning function to streamline the brain's neural architecture as it matures. But some brain disorders appear to be a case of dysfunctional pruning, Bilbo said.
To test how the immune response affected memory, Bilbo's team placed all the rats in a novel environment and exposed them to a sound and a mild shock through their feet. A normal rat remembers the environment after one trial, freezing in place immediately when they enter the familiar setting a second time.
But rats exposed to infection, who tend to overproduce IL-1, stroll through the previously painful experience as if they've never seen it before, Bilbo said.
Even without experiencing the second immune challenge, the rats infected as youngsters also seem to show cognitive declines earlier than their normal control counterparts. "This is intriguingly similar to what you see in Alzheimer's. It's really kind of scary," Bilbo said.
"These findings could help us understand why some humans are more vulnerable than others to cognitive impairments from chronic infections, aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease," said Raz Yirmiya, a professor of psychobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was not involved in the research. "This might also lead to new approaches toward diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic procedures for these conditions."
Any illness that triggers an immune response tends to slow a person's cognition down as their body enters a recovery mode, but these animals have some sort of permanent change in their immune response, Bilbo said. The newborn rats exposed to infections in these experiments are roughly equivalent to a third-trimester human fetus, but it would be too soon to say what parallels these findings may have in humans, she said.
###
Bilbo believes the early infection triggers a permanent change in gene expression, and is now looking at the role of microglial cells in addiction, and the interactions between maternal care and immune function.
This research was supported by an ARRA stimulus grant from the National Institutes of Health.
CITATION "Microglia and Memory: Modulation by Early-Life Infection," Lauren L. Williamson, Paige W. Sholar, Rishi S. Mistry, Susan H. Smith and Staci D. Bilbo. Journal of Neuroscience, Oct. 26, 2011. Doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3688-11.2011
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Source found for immune system effects on learning, memoryPublic release date: 26-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karl Leif Bates karl.bates@duke.edu 919-681-8054 Duke University
DURHAM, N.C. - Immune system cells of the brain, which scavenge pathogens and damaged neurons, are also key players in memory and learning, according to new research by Duke neuroscientists.
Earlier studies by Staci Bilbo, an assistant professor in psychology & neuroscience, had shown that laboratory rats experiencing an infection at an early age have an aggressive immune response to subsequent infections, which also harms their learning and memory.
In a study published in the Oct. 26 Journal of Neuroscience, Bilbo's team identifies the source of the learning difficulties and traces it back to the immune system itself.
The researchers found that specialized immune system cells in the brain called microglia release a signaling molecule called Interleukin-1, or IL-1, in response to an infection. IL-1 is also crucial to normal learning and memory in the hippocampus region of the brain. But too much IL-1 can impair learning and memory in laboratory animals.
"These same molecules go up in response to any brain infection. I don't really understand why you would build a brain that way, except that there are clearly benefits in other aspects of immunity, outside the brain," Bilbo said.
In a series of experiments she has been conducting for nearly a decade, very young rats are exposed to infection and then challenged again later with a second infection consisting of only harmless, dead bacteria. The "second hit" has been shown to affect learning and memory while these rats mount a highly effective immune response.
"The microglia remember that infection and respond differently," she said. "The infection itself wasn't doing permanent damage. It was changing the immune system somehow."
The second infection doesn't even have to be directly involved with the brain. A bacterial lesion on a limb produces enough of a signal to make the glia in the brain pump out extra IL-1. "These rats handle peripheral infection really well, but at a cost to the brain," Bilbo said.
To find out what had changed in the brains of the infected rats, the team used techniques borrowed from immunology to sort out one specific cell type from brain tissue rapidly enough that they could see what the cells had been doing.
The work adds to an emerging picture of glial cells acting in the brain much the same way immune system macrophages operate elsewhere in the body gobbling up other cells and tearing them apart. The glia also perform a pruning function to streamline the brain's neural architecture as it matures. But some brain disorders appear to be a case of dysfunctional pruning, Bilbo said.
To test how the immune response affected memory, Bilbo's team placed all the rats in a novel environment and exposed them to a sound and a mild shock through their feet. A normal rat remembers the environment after one trial, freezing in place immediately when they enter the familiar setting a second time.
But rats exposed to infection, who tend to overproduce IL-1, stroll through the previously painful experience as if they've never seen it before, Bilbo said.
Even without experiencing the second immune challenge, the rats infected as youngsters also seem to show cognitive declines earlier than their normal control counterparts. "This is intriguingly similar to what you see in Alzheimer's. It's really kind of scary," Bilbo said.
"These findings could help us understand why some humans are more vulnerable than others to cognitive impairments from chronic infections, aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease," said Raz Yirmiya, a professor of psychobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was not involved in the research. "This might also lead to new approaches toward diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic procedures for these conditions."
Any illness that triggers an immune response tends to slow a person's cognition down as their body enters a recovery mode, but these animals have some sort of permanent change in their immune response, Bilbo said. The newborn rats exposed to infections in these experiments are roughly equivalent to a third-trimester human fetus, but it would be too soon to say what parallels these findings may have in humans, she said.
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Bilbo believes the early infection triggers a permanent change in gene expression, and is now looking at the role of microglial cells in addiction, and the interactions between maternal care and immune function.
This research was supported by an ARRA stimulus grant from the National Institutes of Health.
CITATION "Microglia and Memory: Modulation by Early-Life Infection," Lauren L. Williamson, Paige W. Sholar, Rishi S. Mistry, Susan H. Smith and Staci D. Bilbo. Journal of Neuroscience, Oct. 26, 2011. Doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3688-11.2011
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BERN, Switzerland ? Swiss voters appeared Sunday to have denied nationalists an unprecedented 30 percent share of the vote, souring on the People's Party's relentless campaign against immigration while rewarding rivals who emphasized issues such as nuclear power.
The People's Party had come well ahead of other parties, at 29.3 percent, in a recent opinion poll, running campaign ads warning of immigrants spoiling an Alpine nation that's been an oasis of relative stability within stormy Europe.
But exit polls Sunday indicated the party will miss its target of 30 percent, as voters backed a moderate group that split from the party four years ago and a new centrist environmental party that has campaigned to end the use of nuclear power in Switzerland.
Results for 245 seats in Switzerland's upper and lower chamber trickled in after polls closed at noon. A final result for most votes was expected late Sunday or early Monday.
The People's Party accused foreigners of driving up Switzerland's crime rate, and campaigned for those convicted of crimes to be deported. It also wants to reintroduce quotas on immigration from the 27 countries of the European Union, of which Switzerland isn't a member.
Its striking posters of black boots stomping on the Swiss flag with the message "Stop Mass Immigration" build on earlier graphically successful campaigns featuring white sheep kicking out a black sheep or dark hands grasping for Swiss passports.
"For us it's not acceptable that we have to open the frontiers and we have no possibility to say who can come, and under which conditions. We want to regulate this," said Oskar Freysinger, a hardline People's Party lawmaker.
The nationalists and centrist parties have competed with two small green parties and environmental-minded candidates of all stripes, making gains amid growing anti-nuclear power sentiment in the wake of the March disaster at Japan's Fukushima reactor.
Turnout in Switzerland was expected to be close to 50 percent and the results may not be known until late Sunday or early Monday. Run-off ballots may be needed in some of the country's 26 cantons (states) for Senate seats.
The parliamentary election heavily influences the composition of the Cabinet, where the ministers run federal agencies and take turns as president for a year. The result of this election, which is held once every four years, could lead to a shift in Switzerland's multiparty, consensus-focused Cabinet.
Switzerland's president and foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, is retiring from Swiss politics at the end of this year. The seat vacated by Calmy-Rey, one of the country's most colorful politicians, will be hotly contested during a Dec. 14 parliamentary vote for all seven Cabinet seats.
There also has been uncertainty over whether the popular finance minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who broke with the People's Party and formed her own more moderate faction, will be able to keep her seat. If she does, she would likely serve as president next year.
The Swiss People's Party is expected to demand a second seat in the seven-member Cabinet if ? as expected ? it gains the most votes. The party's anti-immigrant stance continues to hold a strong appeal in rural areas.
The number of foreigners living in Switzerland rose almost 3 per cent to 1.7 million over the past year ? mostly Italians, Germans, Portuguese and Serbs. Switzerland, along with Luxemburg and Liechtenstein, has one of the highest proportions of foreign inhabitants in Europe.
They account for one of every five of the country's nearly 7.9 million permanent residents, and mostly live in one of the five large cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Bern.
The immigration debate has focused on jobs and crime. Many of the foreigners who work in Switzerland come for jobs for which they're considered highly qualified, but that hasn't stopped the Swiss from worrying about the influx of foreigners in their midst vying for jobs, pricey real estate and other day-to-day needs.
The free movement accord between Switzerland and the European Union also has been a hot topic, particularly in cities like Geneva and Basel and in the canton of Ticino where authorities say foreign criminals make day trips across Swiss open borders with France, Germany and Italy.
In the capital Bern, architect Timo Odoni expressed disquiet at the People's Party's relentless focus on foreigners.
Pushing a stroller with his twin 1-year-old sons ? half Swiss, half Sri Lankan ? he pointed to one of the Swiss nationalists' posters. "I just can't stand how they do their posters because it reminds me of 60 years before, in Germany, a little bit. And we have to do something about it," Odoni said.
"I certainly will vote the green and left parties," he said. "We have no problem with immigration, really. We have other problems, but not this problem."
In Geneva, Thierry Perroud said the issues that most concerned him were social security, nuclear power and the anti-immigration policies of the People's Party.
"I don't want Switzerland to close its borders to foreigners," said Perroud, casting his vote at a school in Geneva, accompanied by his young son.
Immigration has long concerned the Swiss, who during World War II accepted 27,000 Jews but then claimed "the boat is full" to scale back rescues of those most likely to suffer death at the hands of the Germans. It's a nation of increasing xenophobia and yet there are thousands of foreign workers and its residents have four official languages ? and often switch readily between German and French, or English, as they welcome millions of tourists each year.
The nation prides itself on its unique system of direct democracy, giving voters veto power over the government in frequent referendums, but it only gave women the vote in 1971.
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ISLAMABAD (AP) ? A spokesman for Pakistan's army says authorities have forced an Indian military helicopter to land and have taken its four-member crew into custody for violating Pakistani airspace.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas says the incident occurred Sunday near Skardu, a city in northeastern Pakistan fairly close to the border with India-held Kashmir.
Abbas says the three pilots and crew chief taken into custody are safe. He did not say what Pakistan planned to do with them.
Pakistan and India are archenemies and have fought three major wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
Yes, we know that technology entrepreneurs are revolutionizing media, healthcare, education, energy, even government. But what about the ancient art of diplomacy? Can entrepreneurs ? and, in particular, Internet entrepreneurs ? help us run the world more effectively? According to Parag Khanna, the author of How To Run The World: Charting A Course For The Next Renaissance, we live in a world of perfect storms and crises which requires management by what he calls ?creative capitalism." I caught up with Khanna last month at the excellent ?Whose Crazy Idea Is It Anyway? conference in Amsterdam about the future of the university, and he explained to me how an entrepreneurial approach to diplomacy can make the world a better place.
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador ? El Salvador's president says he will ask Washington to halt deportations of Salvadorans and extend a program that allows those who are in the U.S. illegally to stay.
President Mauricio Funes says he wants to be sure El Salvador's "temporary protected status" doesn't expire in March.
That U.S. program benefits foreigners whose return to their home country may be dangerous because of a natural disaster or other reasons.
Funes said Friday that 10 days of heavy rains have destroyed crops and towns in El Salvador while killing 32 people. The storms have killed 105 across Central America.
The U.S. granted El Salvador temporary protected status in 2001 after earthquakes devastated the nation. It has been extended since.
S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component O?Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORLY) will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, October 26, 2011. O?Reilly Automotive offers automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, and accessories to individual customers and professional installers.
O?Reilly Automotive, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet
Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1 per share, a rise of 16.3% from the company?s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from 99 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at $1 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 18.4% versus last year to $3.61.
Past Earnings Performance: The company met estimates last quarter after beating the forecasts in the prior two. In the second quarter, the company reported profit of 96 cents per share versus a mean estimate of net income of 96 cents per share. In the first quarter, the company beat estimates by 5 cents.
Investing Insights: Amazon.com has a Stock Chart Technical Analysts Dream About.
Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 5.6% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $1.51 billion.
Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 12 analysts rating it as a buy, one rating it as a sell and six rating it as a hold. Over the past 90 days, the average rating for the stock has moved up from hold to moderate buy.
A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 34.3% to $133.8 million (96 cents a share) from $99.6 million (71 cents a share) the year earlier, meeting analyst expectations. Revenue rose 7.1% to $1.48 billion from $1.38 billion.
Key Stats:
The company has seen net income rise in three straight quarters. Net income rose 5.1% in the first quarter and 47% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.
Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue rose 8% in the first quarter from the year earlier, climbed 11.6% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter and 13.3% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year.
Competitors to Watch: Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP), AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO), The Pep Boys ? Manny, Moe & Jack (NYSE:PBY), U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTS).
Stock Price Performance: During July 27, 2011 to October 20, 2011, the stock price had risen $9.29 (15.1%) from $61.45 to $70.74. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 16, 2011 and March 25, 2011 when shares rose for eight-straight days, rising 5.5% (+$3.05) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between April 5, 2011 and April 13, 2011 when shares fell for seven-straight days, falling 4.9% (-$2.85) over that span. Shares are up $10.32 (+17.1%) year to date.
(Source: Xignite Financials)
Investing Insights: Amazon.com has a Stock Chart Technical Analysts Dream About.
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KABUL (Reuters) ? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a tough warning to Pakistan on the eve of a visit to the country Thursday, saying it was time for Islamabad to decide whether it would help or hinder the U.S.-led war on militants.
Clinton, in Kabul for meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, used a news conference to announce her visit to Islamabad, where she will be accompanied by the new U.S. top military officer and new CIA chief to deliver what amounts to an ultimatum.
"We must send a clear, unequivocal message to the government and people of Pakistan that they must be part of the solution and that means ridding their own country of terrorists who kill their own people and cross the border to kill in Afghanistan," Clinton said.
"We're going to be fighting, we're going to be talking and we're going to be building. And they can either be helping or hindering, but we are not going to stop our efforts."
Clinton's visit to Pakistan, which had not been announced due to security concerns, comes at a tricky moment in relations between Washington and Islamabad following charges by U.S. officials that Pakistan is playing a double game with militants who operate on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.
U.S. and Afghan officials have drawn links between elements within Pakistan and both September's 20-hour attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul and days later the assassination of Afghanistan's top peace envoy.
The tensions have complicated the outlook as the Obama administration pushes ahead with plans to draw down troops and hand security control to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.
DETERMINED MESSAGE
Clinton will be joined for talks in Islamabad Friday by new CIA director David Petraeus and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, a clear sign that Washington is determined to get its message across.
U.S. officials had earlier said Clinton would seek to strike a constructive tone in discussions with Pakistani leaders, who have strongly denied backing insurgents and accused the United States of ignoring Pakistan's own interests in the battle against militants.
But Clinton Thursday took a clearly combative tone, saying Islamabad had a choice to make. "It is a time for clarity. It is a time for people to declare themselves as to how we are going to work together," she said.
Clinton said the United States still believed it would be possible to reach a political solution to the decade-old conflict in Afghanistan and repeated that the Taliban should agree to enter the non-violent political process or faced "continued assault" from the U.S.-led alliance.
"Reconciliation is still possible. Indeed, it represents the best hope for Afghanistan and the region. But success will take an inclusive national dialogue and sustained political (support), including from Afghanistan's neighbors," she said.
Karzai, for his part, said the focus of the Afghan peace effort would now be Pakistan -- which he said effectively controlled the militants and provided them with safe havens from which to launch their attacks.
"Unless we pay attention to sanctuaries, and unless we go to the proper authority that leads and controls all that, we will not be able to have either a successful peace process or a successful campaign against terrorism," he said.
Clinton, too, focused on militant safe havens in Pakistan, saying it was time "to turn with real intensity to the safe havens within Pakistan," including those allegedly used by the Haqqani network, one of the most feared of such groups.
"Now it is a question how much cooperation Pakistan will provide going after those safe havens," she said.
Clinton's visit to Pakistan comes a day after army chief General Ashfaq Kayani told parliament's defense committee the United States should focus on stabilizing Afghanistan instead of pushing Pakistan to attack the Haqqanis in the border region.
"The problem lies in Afghanistan, not Pakistan," a committee member told Reuters Wednesday, quoting Kayani. The MP spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan's powerful military, which sets security and foreign policy, has been reluctant to attack the border region of North Waziristan, saying it was stretched fighting homegrown Taliban fighters elsewhere in Pakistan.
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Chris Allbritton; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Who said all the 3D perks had to be reserved for Hollywood? DXG's making the home video fun a virtual en vivo experience with the release of its 3D and 2D camcorder, set to hit the company's online store today. For $299, you're getting a 5 megapixel still camera and glasses-free, 1080p HD video recording at 30fps, viewable on either the handheld's autostereoscopic 3.2-inch LCD display or the flatscreen of your choosing via an included HDMI cable. The DXG-5F9V only ships with 128MB of storage inbuilt, so if you're aiming to immortalize your Jackass-worthy shenanigans, you'll want to secure a 32GB SD card for additional capacity. With the holidays fast approaching, this might be your best bet to relive those looks of disappointment on Christmas morning. Official presser after the break.
Is there such a thing as too much Ice Cream Sandwich? We didn't think so either, and booted up Google's own Android Emulator to play around with version four-point-oh -- in tablet proportions. We don't know whether manufacturers will end up slathering their own interpretation of Ice Cream Sandwich on top of the vanilla original, but this is probably very close to what we'll be dealing with when it arrives on tablets sometime this quarter. Scrollable, resizeable widgets are here, as is a tabbed, synchronizing web browser. There are some minor niggles; we hope they'll make some adjustments to the comically over-sized native keyboard, but the main thing we took away from this stuttering simulation is that the UI is nigh-on identical to what we were using on the Galaxy Nexus. Android looks like it has any future convergence issues in order -- this version will feel at home on both your phone and tablet. Android Beam has never sounded better. If you can forgive the low-performance emulation, check out the video after the break for more Ice Cream Sandwich, king-size.
Man, can Nokia World get here any faster? Nokia needs Windows Phone in perhaps the worst possible way, and if you had any doubt whatsoever on that, just take a look at the outfit's woeful Q3 2011 earnings. Right off the top, net sales dropped 13 percent year-over-year (and three percent from Q2), while operating profit plummeted a staggering 60 percent year-over-year (and 36 percent since the prior quarter). All told, the company recorded net sales of €9 billion ($12.35 billion), and while things are gloomy in comparison to the glory days, it still has a whopping €5.1 billion ($7 billion) in its coffers. And the good news doesn't end there. The company's shares actually surged on word that the losses weren't as bad as anticipated, and that overall sales beat estimates. Only in a stock market can the loss of €68 million ($93 million) be "positive," but hey -- we're sure Nokia will take all the silver linings it can find. Of course, things should be on the up-and-up after a spate of WP7-based Nokia devices are revealed later this month in London, but it still remains to be seen how soon the company can ship, and if it can penetrate a smartphone market that's gaining iOS and Android loyalists by the truckload each day. Hit the links below for more percentages than the average simpleton can shake a stick at.
AP
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Yes, we know that technology entrepreneurs are revolutionizing media, healthcare, education, energy, even government. But what about the ancient art of diplomacy? Can entrepreneurs ? and, in particular, Internet entrepreneurs ? help us run the world more effectively? According to 
