Spaying and Neutering your pet is important in reducing the pet population but there are also important health benefits to spaying and neutering your pet.?
Here?s an article from two veterinarians in Vail Colorado that explain the benefits of spaying and neutering your pet?..
There are many theories when it comes to the medical and behavioral effects of spaying and neutering dogs and cats. It is a controversial subject and there are numerous viewpoints out there among trainers, breeders, and within the veterinary profession.
The chief intent of this article is to state proven scientific facts. we?ll go through the medical benefits of neutering and spaying both dogs and cats, and finish with our personal beliefs on the behavioral changes that can occur.
The principal benefit of spaying female dogs and cats is the prevention of mammary cancer. A dog spayed before her first heat will have a near zero chance of developing mammary cancer later in life. After the first heat, this incidence climbs to 7 percent, and after the second heat the risk approaches 25 percent. Statistics are similar in cats.
The prevention of what is frequently a very difficult and potentially fatal form of cancer is reason enough to spay our dogs. Another potential condition in intact females is a bacterial infection of the uterus called pyometra. Treatment is surgery in a potentially unstable patient and can be very costly.
Less common conditions such as uterine and ovarian cancer are 100 percent prevented by spaying. Intact female dogs come into heat about every 8 months, resulting in bloody vaginal discharge and an unpleasant odor.
The major health benefits involved in neutering a dog involve the prostate gland. As dogs age, the prostate will gradually enlarge. This is known as benign prostate hyperplasia or BPH (think Flomax commercials). The prostate under the influence of testosterone is also predisposed to infection. This is an extremely painful and sometime life-threatening condition which is not likely to resolve without neutering and often invasive surgery.
Other medical conditions that are prevented include testicular cancer, along with certain types of hernias and perianal tumors. The effects of neutering male cats are more behavioral and are listed below.
There are no concrete facts when it comes to the behavioral changes seen in spayed and neutered dogs and cats. Neutering male dogs and cats can reduce urine marking in your house, aggression towards other dogs, and territorial aggression. It is important to realize that these behaviors can become a habit and continue after neutering.
Many experts say that once a pet is older than 1 year of age and still intact, undesirable behaviors are more likely to become permanent even if they are neutered at that time. The most dangerous behavior seen in intact males is roaming, i.e., running away to look for a mate, because it leads to animals running away as well as car accidents.
The reproductive tracts of the female dog and cat are dormant for most of the year. From a behavioral standpoint, the animals will ?act spayed? most of the time and no personality changes should be noted with spaying. When in heat, females are more likely to be aggressive and can show erratic behavior such as howling and writhing on the ground. And an intact male can detect females in heat from miles away so it is not safe to leave them outside unsupervised.
The medical benefits resulting from spaying and neutering pets lead to longer and healthier lives. In addition, the majority of animals will be more relaxed and less prone to undesirable behavior.
Most Veterinarians recommend spaying and neutering dogs and cats when they?re about six months of age.? Please consult with your local Veterinarian to discuss their recommendation for their pet.?
From Dr. Charlie Meynier and Dr. Jim Stortz of the Vail Valley Animal Hospital.
For Low Cost Spaying and Neutering Options in the St Louis Bi-State Region please see our Blog Post.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Pressing his immigration agenda, President Barack Obama said he is pleased the Supreme Court struck down key parts of Arizona's immigration law Monday but voiced concern about what the high court left intact.
The court allowed a provision requiring police to check the immigration status of someone they stop for another reason and who they suspect is in the country illegally.
Said Obama: "No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like." He said police in Arizona should not enforce the provision in a way that undermines civil rights.
The court's decision comes days after the Obama administration issued a directive that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants who came illegally to the United States as children. Obama on Monday used the court's decision to push for congressional action on a broader overhaul of immigration laws and to reaffirm his move to target deportations to criminals.
"I will work with anyone in Congress who's willing to make progress on comprehensive immigration reform that addresses our economic needs and security needs, and upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants," he said in a statement before leaving on a two-day campaign and fundraising trip.
The decision keeps the issue of immigration as a high profile issue and gives Obama yet another opening to boost his standing with Hispanic voters for whom immigration is an important issue. Obama won two-thirds of the Latino vote in 2008 and has a large lead over rival Mitt Romney among that voting bloc in recent polls.
Obama pledged in 2008 to push for passage of comprehensive changes in immigration laws, but the effort stalled in Congress and Obama turned his attention to addressing the economy and pressed ahead with passing an overhaul of health care laws, which consumed much of 2010.
Romney on Monday blamed Obama for lack of action on immigration. He also said states have the right to secure their borders, "particularly when the federal government has failed to meet its responsibilities."
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that efforts to deal with immigration have been hindered by "a retreat" among Republicans who had once advocated changes. He noted that Romney had embraced the Arizona law as a model for the country during the Republican primaries ? a position, Carney said, "that hardly suggests a desire for comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform."
The Supreme Court on Monday struck down other provisions of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants, including requiring all immigrants to carry registration papers with them.
"A patchwork of state laws is not a solution to our broken immigration system ? it's part of the problem," Obama said.
That echoed what Obama said in April 2010 when Arizona passed its law. "If we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country," Obama warned at the time.
Paleo diet promoter John Durant digs into some ribs.
Allison Aubrey/NPR
Paleo diet promoter John Durant digs into some ribs.
You won't catch John Durant in a tie. Shoes are optional, too. He has traded cubicle life for something a little wild: Promoting the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors from the paleolithic era. He's blogging and writing a book about his approach.
"For millions of years, we didn't have an obesity problem because we ate foods that our metabolism was adapted to," Durant says ? foods such as root vegetables, tubers, fish and, of course, red meat.
"We were active and lived a healthy lifestyle," he says. Durant is one of many folks following the popular meat-laden paleo diet. He packs his freezer with deer meat and has found lots of places near his home in Manhattan to buy marrow bones and organ meats, as well as paleo-friendly barbecue joints for a meal out.
But modern medicine tells us that too much meat is bad for us, so what's a consumer to do?
?
During a workout at a CrossFit gym, a gathering spot for lots of paleo-enthusiasts, Durant told me it's no longer a challenge for him to avoid the onslaught of bagels and pizza at every street corner. The paleo approach is to eliminate grains and processed food, which are relatively new to the human diet. And, as a result, Durant says, he no longer gets the spikes and dips in his moods, and he feels better.
Now, everyone from the American Cancer Society to the American Heart Association and popular food writers such as Mark Bittman tells us to eat less red meat.
But Durant says it's a meat-based diet that was fundamental to early human development. (Check out our tongue-in-cheek Time Traveler's Cookbook: Meat Lover's Edition for more on this.)
My colleague Chris Joyce has reported on how a meat-based diet helped make us smarter.
And paleoanthropologist John Hawks at the University of Wisonsin, Madison, agrees: "We definitely evolved to eat meat."
"When we look at the fossils of early Homo [sapien], we see this immediate increase in the size of the body and also increase in the size of the brain," Hawks explains.
But that was then. Very few cavemen lived long enough to get heart disease or cancer. These are the reasons we're told to limit red meat consumption now.
"It really began in a big way in the Framingham study in the 1950s," says Michael Thun, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society.
"It [the study] found a relationship between total cholesterol and heart disease," Thun says. Over the years, there has been debate about whether high cholesterol is a cause or simply a marker of higher heart disease risks. But studies like this one helped raise the red flag about high-cholesterol foods, such as red meat.
Then, the evidence started mounting that people who ate daily servings of red meat increased their risks of developing certain cancers. For colon cancer, studies show that people who eat the most have about double the risk compared with people who eat the least red meat.
"That's been found in lots of studies," says Thun, "so it's pretty well-accepted."
Paleo enthusiast John Durant says he has thought about these studies and has heard the health experts, but he's not worried. He says lots of the people in these big epidemiological studies are sedentary and overweight.
He may be eating more red meat than the experts recommend, but he believes his paleo lifestyle, which includes running barefoot in Central Park, helps keep him thin, active and healthy. And he's not alone ? the movement is attracting some medical professionals.
Because there are no studies of people who've been following the paleo diet, Thun says, it's hard to evaluate. "There's just not been enough people eating one kind of paleolithic diet to tell."
As for the rest of us who want to know how much red meat is too much, the best evidence suggests that cutting back to two to three servings a week is a good guide.
With the world increasingly heading online, users? appetite for digital content and services is ever increasing. However, according to the European Commission?s Digital Agenda, the governments of many countries (and ultimately the industry) are just not keeping up with demand.
In one respect, many businesses are simply shooting themselves in the foot, as they are not taking advantage of the increasing demand for users to buy, sell and source goods and services online. However, the onus is not solely on the businesses; governments and the digital industry as a whole could be doing so much more to help with its expansion.
A worrying statistic has revealed that only 14% of small businesses actually sold their goods online in 2011. When you contrast that statistic with consumer?s habits, you can see that there is a real demand for additional online presence from smaller businesses. For example, 71% of the UK shop online, whilst 81% use the Internet every week. This far exceeds the European Commission?s targets for 2015 of having 50% of the population shop and 75% use the Internet once a week. As you can see, there?s a growing gap between the demands of the user, and what businesses are actually offering.
So what can be done? Well governments, leading businesses and the industry as a whole could invest a great deal more into education and training within the digital landscape. The UK have benefited recently from the emergence of the Silicon Roundabout, an area of Shoreditch in East London, which attracts many digital businesses ? but this has been something that the government and industry have helped to create, and just goes to show what can be achieved with investment in time and money.
However, much more can be done, especially at an educational and training level. Whilst the Silicon Roundabout represents the future of the digital landscape in the UK, it?s very much for existing digital businesses. This is great for small businesses to take advantage of, and really gain an online presence. However, what if they just don?t understand this world? What if they?re a bit nervous or tentative? More must be done to encourage them.
Then there?s the plight of other European countries. According to the European Commission, many governments are failing to supply the basic necessities for a digital industry to thrive. There?s not enough online content, slow Internet speeds and poor ICT skills.
This is a big eye-opener for the digital industry in terms of reaching out to potential businesses with which to do future business. A little time invested in showcasing, educating and encouraging can go a long way ? so it?s high time that we, along with our respective governments, started to think about it a bit more.
Posted on June 20, 2012, 6:14 pm, by Daily Record Staff.
Baltimore magazine has hired Sophia Alexandra Belitsos as editorial design assistant.
Belitsos is a graduate of Stevenson University with a degree in visual communication design. She interned for the Y of Central Maryland in Baltimore, Station North Arts and Entertainment District and Peggy Fox Photographer and Artist. She also volunteered her time to design logos and collateral for Central Presbyterian Church and Elite Dominican Hair Studio. In 2007, Belitsos received the Girl Scout Gold Award for planning and hosting a two-week art workshop for the children residing at Villa Maria Children?s Facility.
Drake is back in the news for his music, though he's courting controversy there as well, as his collaboration with 2 Chainz is believed to be a shot at Rihanna.
A week after the infamous Chris Brown-Drake fight - allegedly over Rihanna - went down at New York's W.i.P nightclub, the new video is raising eyebrows.
That's because in "No Lie," Drake joins 2 Chainz and raps rather negatively about a girl who happens to be a Grammy winner. Makes you wonder.
"Aww that look like what's her name, chances are it's what's her name/Chances are if she was actin' up then I f--ked her once and never f--ked again," he raps.
"She could have a Grammy, I still treat her ass like a nominee/Just need to know what that p--sy like so one time is fine with me."
Obviously, he doesn't specifically call out Rihanna by name, but it's hard not to speculate, given that he's been linked to her multiple times.
All we know is that Drake's Young Money boss Lil Wayne wants to end the beef with Brown ASAP so everyone can go back to focus on the music.
They can still bash each other, and certain female stars, plenty that way. Take a listen above ... though it's almost as NSFW as the Octomom porn trailer.
GOYANG, Korea?? Less than a decade ago, Han Seo-hee was a member of an elite, secret music troupe for Kim Jong-il, the iron-fisted late leader of North Korea.
These days, she struggles to make jokes on a South Korean television show, one of roughly a dozen North Korean women who fled their autocratic homeland and now appear on the weekly program that hopes to bring the two nations closer by showing what North Koreans are really thinking about.
"Now on My Way to Meet You," a hybrid talk and talent show shot in Goyang, a city northwest of Seoul, has grown in popularity thanks to its format of humor and tears, mingling serious discussions, such as how the women escaped, with lighter fare such as talk about which men make the best husbands.
"I still feel uncomfortable when I have to make people laugh, or perform. I am still wedded to North Korea's stiff style," said Han, 30, who for four years from 2002 played a stringed instrument as part of Kim Jong-il's troupe.
"I was worried that a lot of malicious comments might be posted (on the show's Internet site)... But when I actually look there, there are a lot of supportive messages, so I think I was right to appear on this show," she added.
Though the show does not skirt heavy topics altogether, gossip and lighter fare dominate.
On one recent show, the women discussed how widespread plastic surgery is in the North -- particularly double-eyelid surgery to make the eyes look rounder, often carried out by eye doctors or unlicensed people -- and how Southern men really know how to sweet-talk a woman who has caught their eye, unlike their serious Northern counterparts.
Video: Hidden Planet: Go inside North Korea (on this page)
A debate on the most desirable occupations for a prospective bridegroom concluded that cooks and barbers are most popular, because these are high-salary jobs. By contrast, women in the South generally favor doctors or lawyers.
Comedy skits
Each woman also entertains, some by singing and dancing. Others perform comedy skits, including several who mimic North Korea's iconic, stern-faced female TV newsreader.
But the ending turns sad as the women send video messages to family members back in the North. Everyone in the studio sobs as one woman tells her father, held in a North Korean jail, how she can't forget the way he smiled when she visited.
Slideshow: Daily life in North Korea (on this page)
The death of Kim Jong Il
Report: Red skies, stormy seas marked Kim's death
Circumstances of Kim Jong Il's death fabricated?
Politics trump hunger in N.Korea
Slideshow: The life of Kim Jong ll
Source: Military coup in N. Korea 'unlikely'
NYT: In Kim's death, an extensive intelligence failure
Cartoons: The life and death of Kim Jong Il
Analysis: Opportunities, dangers loom over N. Korea
Even in death, details of Kim Jong Il's life elusive
Kim Jong Il remembered as 'Team America' star
The show's producer says that not only does it draw attention to little-known aspects of life in the North, it helps connect North and South Koreans, many of whom find it difficult to bridge social and cultural gaps.
Kim Jong Un issues rare public drubbing ? of a roller coaster
Though more than 23,000 North Koreans have made their way south since the 1990s, they find it hard to settle in, ending up in menial jobs and often shunned by their southern brethren.
"We were focusing on families separated by the Korean War 60 years ago and thought we should see about finding other families split for political reasons," said producer Lee Jin-min about the show, which began in December and started featuring the women from April.? "That led us to the North Korean defectors."
With family still left in the North, many of the women were wary about appearing on the show, citing safety concerns. But the show's writers and producers persuaded them that it was an unprecedented chance to change public opinion in their favor.
The emotional public response has taken them by surprise.
One guest, Shin Eun-ha, even has her own fan club.
"I wept for the first time in 10 years, along with my husband," wrote one female viewer. Another said the show had persuaded her and her husband not to divorce.
'Cheerful and animated'
The show also appears to be achieving its goal.
"I thought North Korean women might look gaunt because all of North Korea has been struggling with famine, but when I see them, they are cheerful and animated," said Park Dong-hoon, a 52-year-old man who watched the show on a television at Seoul's main train station.
"I think South and North Korea must be reunited as soon as possible."
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) ? An attorney for the University of Alabama football fan accused of poisoning two landmark oak trees at rival Auburn renewed calls for a change of venue, saying Wednesday a new jury pool is needed after a student newspaper reported that his client had confessed.
Attorney Everett Wess said before the second day of jury selection started that Harvey Updyke denied telling The Auburn Plainsman that he committed the crime, while prosecutors argued that they had reason to believe the report.
The newspaper said it stands by the article, and the reporter was subpoenaed.
The longtime Alabama fan, who has previously worn crimson ties to court appearances just a few miles from Auburn's campus, is accused of poisoning the century-old trees after the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide during Auburn's 2010 national title season. The 63-year-old has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect on charges that include criminal mischief and desecrating a venerable object.
The 130-year-old trees at an entrance to campus show clear signs of poisoning.
Judge Jacob Walker continued with jury selection and denied the defense requests.
"I think right now they are not ripe to be ruled upon," Walker said.
The judge noted that he had instructed jurors interviewed Tuesday to avoid media reports on the case.
"The article has permeated the local media and the national media in respect to the trial," Wess told him.
District Attorney Robbie Treese said investigators had questioned the reporter, Andrew Yawn, and said he had information that hadn't been previously reported.
He said that indicates the report's "veracity is certainly better than what the defense claims." Treese didn't say whether that information was included in the report.
"The defense is claiming it's poisoned the jury pool when they themselves are the source of the poison," Treese said.
The Plainsman quoted Updyke as saying during a break in jury selection Tuesday, "Did I do it? Yes."
"We stand behind Andrew Yawn's reporting on the Updyke confession yesterday afternoon 100 percent. The information gathered was not prompted nor off the record," Plainsman editor Robert Lee said in a statement, adding that the paper isn't asserting his guilt or innocence.
Last year, court documents showed Updyke also admitted to poisoning the trees. They say he acknowledged calling a radio show to say he did it with a herbicide and that he also left a phone message for an Auburn professor claiming knowledge of the poisoning. An attorney for Updyke later said his client told police he didn't poison the trees.
Walker granted Treese's request for a gag order involving everyone in the case except the attorneys.
Prospective jurors were asked Wednesday if they had seen or heard any reports on the case since they were among the 85 selected for the pool. All 85 said they were familiar with the case from the media, and nearly half said they or people close to them had participated in the rolling of the Toomer's Corner trees with toilet paper, a longstanding tradition to celebrate Auburn victories.
INDIANAPOLIS ? "With most of us being firefighters, we're very much built into the mindset of you see a need and respond to that."
So says Jeff Owens of the Indianapolis Fire Department. Together with other area firefighters, he organized the "Concert of Hope" on Saturday to help victims of the tornadoes that struck Southern Indiana in March.
The concert, which was conducted on the football field at Ben Davis High School, featured 10 local artists, including Owens. It also included several food vendors.
Joy Lorch of the Wayne Township Fire Department got the ball rolling. She met with some of the families in Henryville who took a direct hit from the tornadoes.
"I left there on fire," Lorch said. "I called (Owens immediately after) and told him the situation. Unfortunately people in Indianapolis are so far removed that they don't understand there are still people sleeping in tents."
Indeed, the cleanup in Henryville and the other towns hit by the twisters may be done, but the rebuilding is far from complete. Many homeowners have insurance, but the coverage doesn't extend to the businesses they had on their properties. Some have lost their only income source. Many others can't get their insurance money until they bring their septic systems up to code, which can cost upwards of $20,000.
"It would be easy for me to sit in my backyard with a cold drink and think everything's right in the world, because mine really hasn't changed," Owens said. "But they're only an hour and a half away from me, and their world is completely different. It's a third world country now."
The firefighters spent eight weeks planning the Concert of Hope.
"There were people who said they didn't think we could pull it off in this amount of time, but we were determined to because there was a need," Owens said. "It couldn't wait."
That's precisely the reason why he and his fellow firefighters were more than willing to give up some of their free time, including a whole Saturday, to help with this cause.
"I have to spend one day in the heat," Owens said. "They're spending every day and night in tents or with tarps over their roofs. Some don't have anything. Seems like one day in the heat and a few hours here and there planning the event are relatively minor compared to what they're dealing with."
Proceeds from the concert went to New Washington State Bank in Henryville, which has established a 501(c)3 account for tornado victims.
Organizers also used the occasion to honor some of the heroes from the tragedy. The assistant state fire marshal presented a medal of valor to the Monroe Township Fire Department. They shielded a woman alongside Interstate 65 from large hail, suffering broken bones in the process.
The Concert of Hope isn't the end of this group's efforts in helping the tornado victims.
"Until they're taken care of, I don't think we're going to be at peace," Lorch said. "We're going to keep going even after this day is over. We're not done."
Just as important, Owens adds, is showing them that people are still concerned.
"They haven't been forgotten," he said. "Our worlds may be dramatically different, but we still care about what's going on down there."
Donations are still being accepted online at concertofhopeindy.org.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have used genome sequencing technology to control an outbreak of the superbug MRSA in a study that could point to faster and more efficient treatment of a range of diseases.
The work adds to a burgeoning body of research into better techniques for diagnosing disease more quickly and at an earlier stage to allow more effective treatment and reduce healthcare costs.
Much of this is being driven by whole genome sequencing, which has enabled scientists to identify the genetic markers for a range of afflictions.
MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, is a drug-resistant bacterial infection, or superbug, and major public health problem. When outbreaks occur in hospitals it can lead to the closure of whole wards and lengthy investigations.
The bug kills an estimated 19,000 people in the United States alone each year, and even when the infection is successfully treated it can double the average length of a hospital stay and thereby increase healthcare costs.
A team of scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge and genome sequencing company Illumina Inc, used samples from a 2009 MRSA outbreak in a hospital neo-natal intensive care ward to recreate and respond to it, as if in real time.
They found that genome sequencing produced results in roughly 24 hours, using the latest technology from Illumina, gave much more detailed information.
The researchers were able to identify the particular strain of MRSA causing the outbreak, and which strains were not, quickly enough to feed back into treatment and nip the outbreak in the bud faster than current clinical testing methods.
"I think we are at the very beginning of an explosion of evidence to support the use of whole genome sequencing in public health," Sharon Peacock of Cambridge University, who led the study, told Reuters.
The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes hot on the heels of similar work done on MRSA and Clostridium difficile by a team from Oxford University with Illumina and a group of hospitals in Britain.
That study was published earlier this month in the journal BMJ Open. Oxford microbiologist Derrick Crook, who worked on that project, said that as recently as two years ago "it would have taken months and thousands of pounds to process such informative sequence information on hospital infections."
Until recently, genetic analysis was more often done after outbreaks of MRSA and other infections to draw lessons for the future, but advances in sequencing have made the process much faster.
Experts say current techniques for analyzing MRSA do not give such detailed data meaning they are a blunt tool for dealing with an outbreak.
"Quick action is essential to control a suspected outbreak, but it is of equal importance to identify unrelated strains to prevent unnecessary ward closures and other disruptive control measures," said Julian Parkhill, who worked on the study at the Sanger Institute.
The researchers say this kind of fast genome sequencing could eventually form the basis for a regional or national infection surveillance program designed to head off MRSA outbreaks before they happen. It could also be used for outbreaks of food-borne infections like salmonella or E.coli.
Genome sequencing was used in an E.coli outbreak in Europe in 2011 but only in the latter stages to help identify the source.
But there are a number of hurdles before the new technique becomes a routine part of monitoring in hospitals.
Peacock says the next stage is to develop software that interprets the data in a way doctors can both understand and use in a hospital.
She also points out that while the study indicates this kind of sequencing is cheaper than existing, less detailed, tests, there will also need to be rigorous cost-benefit analysis.
Nevertheless, Illumina's senior director of research Geoffrey Smith, who co-led the study, said the results demonstrate "how advances in whole genome sequencing can provide essential information to help combat hospital outbreaks in clinically relevant turnaround times."
KABUL (Reuters) - - India has done well to resist U.S. calls for greater involvement in Afghanistan, the Taliban said in a rare direct comment about one of the strongest opponents of the hardline Islamist group that was ousted from power in 2001.
The Taliban also said they won't let Afghanistan be used as a base against another country, addressing fears in New Delhi that Pakistan-based anti-India militants may become more emboldened if the Taliban return to power.
The Afghan Taliban have longstanding ties to Pakistan and striking a softer tone towards its arch rival India could be a sign of a more independent course.
Direct talks with the United States - which have since been suspended - and an agreement to open a Taliban office in Qatar to conduct formal peace talks have been seen as signs of a more assertive stance.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta this month encouraged India to take a more active role in Afghanistan as most foreign combat troops leave in 2014. The Taliban said Panetta had failed.
"He spent three days in India to transfer the heavy burden to their shoulders, to find an exit, and to flee from Afghanistan," the group said on its English website.
US urges bigger role for India in Afghanistan
"Some reliable media sources said that the Indian authorities did not pay heed to (U.S.) demands and showed their reservations, because the Indians know or they should know that the Americans are grinding their own axe."
There had been no assurance for the Americans, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters on Sunday.
Has the Taliban fallen on tough times?
"It shows that India understands the facts," he said.
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Big donor
India is one of the biggest donors in Afghanistan, spending about $2 billion on projects ranging from the construction of highways to the building of the Afghan parliament. It has also won an iron ore concession in a $11 billion investment.
But New Delhi has avoided involvement in bolstering Afghan security, except for running courses for small groups of Afghan army officers at military institutions in India.
Panetta: US patience with Pakistan 'reaching limits'
"No doubt that India is a significant country in the region, but is also worth mentioning that they have full information about Afghanistan because they know each other very well in the long history," the Taliban said.
"They are aware of the Afghan aspirations, creeds and love for freedom. It is totally illogical they should plunge their nation into a calamity just for the American pleasure."
India backed the Northern Alliance during the civil war and was frozen out of Afghanistan once the Taliban took over in 1996 until their ouster by U.S. forces. It has since developed close ties with Kabul, prompting Pakistani fears of encirclement.
Report: Taliban, Afghan troops forge agreements
Pakistan has strong traditional links with the Afghan Taliban and other militant groups. Islamabad denies that it uses them as proxies to gain leverage in Afghanistan ahead of any settlement to the war, or in case civil war breaks out after foreign troops leave.
Vikram Sood, a former chief of India's intelligence agency, said the Taliban statement held an implicit warning for India.
"It's more a gentle reminder asking India not to mess around in Afghanistan after the Americans leave," he told Reuters.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
University of Utah chemists use nanopores to detect DNA damagePublic release date: 18-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lee Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
New sequencing method finds gaps that can lead to disease
SALT LAKE CITY, June 18, 2012 Scientists worldwide are racing to sequence DNA decipher genetic blueprints faster and cheaper than ever by passing strands of the genetic material through molecule-sized pores. Now, University of Utah scientists have adapted this "nanopore" method to find DNA damage that can lead to mutations and disease.
The chemists report the advance in the week of June 18 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We're using this technique and synthetic organic chemistry to be able to see a damage site as it flies through the nanopore," says Henry White, distinguished professor and chair of chemistry at the University of Utah and senior coauthor of the new study.
Strands of DNA are made of "nucleotide bases" known as A, T, G and C. Some stretches of DNA strands are genes.
The new method looks for places where a base is missing, known as an "abasic site," one of the most frequent forms of damage in the 3-billion-base human genome or genetic blueprint. This kind of DNA damage happens 18,000 times a day in a typical cell as we are exposed to everything from sunlight to car exhaust. Most of the damage is repaired, but sometimes it leads to a gene mutation and ultimately disease.
By combining nanopore damage-detection with other chemical ways of altering DNA, the researchers hope to make this new technique capable of detecting other kinds of DNA damage by converting the damage to a missing base, says the study's other senior coauthor, Cynthia Burrows, a distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Utah.
She adds: "Damage to the bases of DNA contributes to many age-related diseases, including melanoma; lung, colon and breast cancers; Huntington's disease; and atherosclerosis."
A patent is pending on the new method of doing chemistry on DNA that allows damage sites to be found using nanopore technology.
White and Burrows conducted the study with first author, Na An, a doctoral student in chemistry and Aaron Fleming, a postdoctoral research associate in chemistry. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, with equipment and software donations by Electronic BioSciences of San Diego.
Toward Cheaper, Faster DNA Sequencing
Sequencing is the process of determining the order of the nucleotide bases A, C, G and T in one of the two strands of bases that make up a DNA double helix. It is the basic method used to determine the genomes, or genetic blueprints, of living organisms and to identify disease-causing mutations in genes.
"Twenty years ago, it cost $1 billion to sequence the first human genome," while the cost now runs from $5,000 to $20,000, White says. "The National Institutes of Health has had the $1,000 genome project for a few years, and the price likely will go lower."
`
DNA sequencing is important in many ways. It is used by police to implicate or clear criminal suspects and by biologists to understand each living organism. "You can use it in agriculture if you modify a plant genome to produce a better plant," White says.
Faster, cheaper genomes of individual people promise an era of "personalized medicine," with treatments based on each person's genetic susceptibilities.
Nanopore sequencing is performed by passing a strand of DNA through a nanoscopic pore while both are bathed in an electrically charged solution known as an electrolyte. Some of that solution also is flowing through the pore. Researchers detect different current levels as differing DNA bases pass through the pore, blocking varying amounts of the electrified solution from passing through the pore.
Using Nanopores to Look for Damage
Unlike efforts to achieve nanopore sequencing of DNA, the Utah chemists are not reading the sequence of DNA bases as the strand move through a pore although they eventually want to do so but "we are detecting single base damage," White says.
"It's important to know how a damaged base leads to a mutation because that is the first step in a disease occurring," he adds. "Right now, we can see the damaged site and tell approximately where it is within the piece of DNA we're analyzing" to within about five or 10 bases. The goal is to pinpoint damage sites, and to understand how damage at specific sites leads to disease.
So far, the longest piece of DNA the Utah chemists put through a nanopore was about 100 bases long, and they were able to detect one or two damage sites.
"We've still got to do a lot of research and come up with ways of improving this," White says. "It's a very promising and new way of doing it. There are no other ways of doing what we're trying to do," namely, not only identify damage, but get sequence information to pinpoint damaged locations on a DNA strand.
The pore used by many DNA sequencers and by the Utah chemists is named alpha-hemolysin, and is a protein that comes from bacteria. To pass DNA through such a pore, a tiny hole only 400 nanometers wide, about a half percent as wide as a human hair is made in a glass membrane in the bottom of a glass tube. A soapy solution (known as a lipid bilayer) spreads out and forms film across that hole. The protein pore is embedded within the lipid bilayer.
The protein pore is somewhat mushroom shaped wider at the top where the DNA strand is captured and narrower at the bottom where the strand must pass through a tiny hole. The narrowest part of the pore measures 1.4 nanometers wide, not much wider than the 1-nanometer-wide single strand of DNA that must pass through the pore.
The billions of bases that make up a DNA strand are attached to a backbone of sugar and phosphate. To look for DNA damage in the form of a missing base, the researchers turn on the voltage, which makes current flow through the electrolyte. A positive electrode in the liquid outside the pore pulls DNA through the pore because the DNA has negatively charged phosphates making up its backbone.
The researchers created damage on some DNA by removing some bases. Where bases were missing, the sugar in the DNA backbone was exposed. The chemists attached a ring- or crown-shaped chemical known as an "18-crown-6 ether" to the sugar.
The trick was to get the DNA, with the crown ether attached, to pass through the nanopore slowly enough so missing bases can be detected.
Burrows compares the process to threading a needle. The DNA strand, once threaded through the eye of the needle, can be pulled through quickly and the presence of a tiny damage site a nick in the thread will never be noticed. Except in this case, chemists have converted the nick to a tiny loop in the thread, the crown ether. How fast the DNA can move through the tiny pore depends on the stiffness and size of the crown ether loop that marks the site of DNA damage. This can be changed with the addition of salts that attach to the loop.
The chemists tested different salts to find the best one to use as an electrolyte: potassium chloride, lithium chloride and sodium chloride, which is table salt. Whatever salt is used, the positive ion (potassium, lithium or sodium) gets bound inside the loop. That helps researchers read the current as a DNA strand moves through the pore.
But potassium was too big, making the ether loop so rigid it couldn't squeeze through the nanopore. Lithium was too small, making the ether loop slide through the nanopore too fast for damage to be detected.
But when Burrows and colleagues used sodium from table salt, the DNA and crown ether marking DNA damage sites both slid through the nanopore at just the right speed to be detected: about one-millionth of a second for an undamaged DNA base and about one-thousandth of a second for a crown ether loop marking where a base was missing, Burrows says.
###
University of Utah Communications
201 Presidents Circle, Room 308
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9017
(801) 581-6773 fax: (801) 585-3350
www.unews.utah.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
University of Utah chemists use nanopores to detect DNA damagePublic release date: 18-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lee Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
New sequencing method finds gaps that can lead to disease
SALT LAKE CITY, June 18, 2012 Scientists worldwide are racing to sequence DNA decipher genetic blueprints faster and cheaper than ever by passing strands of the genetic material through molecule-sized pores. Now, University of Utah scientists have adapted this "nanopore" method to find DNA damage that can lead to mutations and disease.
The chemists report the advance in the week of June 18 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We're using this technique and synthetic organic chemistry to be able to see a damage site as it flies through the nanopore," says Henry White, distinguished professor and chair of chemistry at the University of Utah and senior coauthor of the new study.
Strands of DNA are made of "nucleotide bases" known as A, T, G and C. Some stretches of DNA strands are genes.
The new method looks for places where a base is missing, known as an "abasic site," one of the most frequent forms of damage in the 3-billion-base human genome or genetic blueprint. This kind of DNA damage happens 18,000 times a day in a typical cell as we are exposed to everything from sunlight to car exhaust. Most of the damage is repaired, but sometimes it leads to a gene mutation and ultimately disease.
By combining nanopore damage-detection with other chemical ways of altering DNA, the researchers hope to make this new technique capable of detecting other kinds of DNA damage by converting the damage to a missing base, says the study's other senior coauthor, Cynthia Burrows, a distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Utah.
She adds: "Damage to the bases of DNA contributes to many age-related diseases, including melanoma; lung, colon and breast cancers; Huntington's disease; and atherosclerosis."
A patent is pending on the new method of doing chemistry on DNA that allows damage sites to be found using nanopore technology.
White and Burrows conducted the study with first author, Na An, a doctoral student in chemistry and Aaron Fleming, a postdoctoral research associate in chemistry. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, with equipment and software donations by Electronic BioSciences of San Diego.
Toward Cheaper, Faster DNA Sequencing
Sequencing is the process of determining the order of the nucleotide bases A, C, G and T in one of the two strands of bases that make up a DNA double helix. It is the basic method used to determine the genomes, or genetic blueprints, of living organisms and to identify disease-causing mutations in genes.
"Twenty years ago, it cost $1 billion to sequence the first human genome," while the cost now runs from $5,000 to $20,000, White says. "The National Institutes of Health has had the $1,000 genome project for a few years, and the price likely will go lower."
`
DNA sequencing is important in many ways. It is used by police to implicate or clear criminal suspects and by biologists to understand each living organism. "You can use it in agriculture if you modify a plant genome to produce a better plant," White says.
Faster, cheaper genomes of individual people promise an era of "personalized medicine," with treatments based on each person's genetic susceptibilities.
Nanopore sequencing is performed by passing a strand of DNA through a nanoscopic pore while both are bathed in an electrically charged solution known as an electrolyte. Some of that solution also is flowing through the pore. Researchers detect different current levels as differing DNA bases pass through the pore, blocking varying amounts of the electrified solution from passing through the pore.
Using Nanopores to Look for Damage
Unlike efforts to achieve nanopore sequencing of DNA, the Utah chemists are not reading the sequence of DNA bases as the strand move through a pore although they eventually want to do so but "we are detecting single base damage," White says.
"It's important to know how a damaged base leads to a mutation because that is the first step in a disease occurring," he adds. "Right now, we can see the damaged site and tell approximately where it is within the piece of DNA we're analyzing" to within about five or 10 bases. The goal is to pinpoint damage sites, and to understand how damage at specific sites leads to disease.
So far, the longest piece of DNA the Utah chemists put through a nanopore was about 100 bases long, and they were able to detect one or two damage sites.
"We've still got to do a lot of research and come up with ways of improving this," White says. "It's a very promising and new way of doing it. There are no other ways of doing what we're trying to do," namely, not only identify damage, but get sequence information to pinpoint damaged locations on a DNA strand.
The pore used by many DNA sequencers and by the Utah chemists is named alpha-hemolysin, and is a protein that comes from bacteria. To pass DNA through such a pore, a tiny hole only 400 nanometers wide, about a half percent as wide as a human hair is made in a glass membrane in the bottom of a glass tube. A soapy solution (known as a lipid bilayer) spreads out and forms film across that hole. The protein pore is embedded within the lipid bilayer.
The protein pore is somewhat mushroom shaped wider at the top where the DNA strand is captured and narrower at the bottom where the strand must pass through a tiny hole. The narrowest part of the pore measures 1.4 nanometers wide, not much wider than the 1-nanometer-wide single strand of DNA that must pass through the pore.
The billions of bases that make up a DNA strand are attached to a backbone of sugar and phosphate. To look for DNA damage in the form of a missing base, the researchers turn on the voltage, which makes current flow through the electrolyte. A positive electrode in the liquid outside the pore pulls DNA through the pore because the DNA has negatively charged phosphates making up its backbone.
The researchers created damage on some DNA by removing some bases. Where bases were missing, the sugar in the DNA backbone was exposed. The chemists attached a ring- or crown-shaped chemical known as an "18-crown-6 ether" to the sugar.
The trick was to get the DNA, with the crown ether attached, to pass through the nanopore slowly enough so missing bases can be detected.
Burrows compares the process to threading a needle. The DNA strand, once threaded through the eye of the needle, can be pulled through quickly and the presence of a tiny damage site a nick in the thread will never be noticed. Except in this case, chemists have converted the nick to a tiny loop in the thread, the crown ether. How fast the DNA can move through the tiny pore depends on the stiffness and size of the crown ether loop that marks the site of DNA damage. This can be changed with the addition of salts that attach to the loop.
The chemists tested different salts to find the best one to use as an electrolyte: potassium chloride, lithium chloride and sodium chloride, which is table salt. Whatever salt is used, the positive ion (potassium, lithium or sodium) gets bound inside the loop. That helps researchers read the current as a DNA strand moves through the pore.
But potassium was too big, making the ether loop so rigid it couldn't squeeze through the nanopore. Lithium was too small, making the ether loop slide through the nanopore too fast for damage to be detected.
But when Burrows and colleagues used sodium from table salt, the DNA and crown ether marking DNA damage sites both slid through the nanopore at just the right speed to be detected: about one-millionth of a second for an undamaged DNA base and about one-thousandth of a second for a crown ether loop marking where a base was missing, Burrows says.
###
University of Utah Communications
201 Presidents Circle, Room 308
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9017
(801) 581-6773 fax: (801) 585-3350
www.unews.utah.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 18-Jun-2012
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