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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

News in Brief: Brain cell insulators are short-timers

Limited myelin production time may make it harder to repair nerve casings damaged by multiple sclerosis

By Tina Hesman Saey

Web edition: June 24, 2013

Limited myelin production time may make it harder to repair nerve casings damaged by multiple sclerosis

By Tina Hesman Saey

Web edition: June 24, 2013

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SHORT-TIMER CELLS

Cells called oligodendrocytes (shown in green) only spend five hours insulating nerve fibers (purple) with a waxy coating of myelin in the zebrafish central nervous system.

Credit: T. Czopka et al/Developmental Cell 2013

Cells that sheathe the brain?s electrical wires in a protective coating called myelin have a brief career, a new study of zebrafish finds.

Specialized brain cells known as oligodendrocytes wrap myelin around axons, long fibers that carry electrical messages between nerve cells. After only five hours, the cells bow out of the myelin production business, researchers from the University of Edinburgh report in the June 24 Developmental Cell.

Myelination is crucial for brain function, and when it breaks down, so does communication among brain cells. The new results could influence treatment strategies for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, which damages myelin. Instead of coaxing existing cells to replenish myelin, doctors may need to stimulate new oligodendrocyte growth in patients? nervous systems.

In the new study, researchers made time-lapse movies of neural development in zebrafish by tagging electricity-generating neurons and myelin-making oligodendrocytes in the fishes? spinal cords with different colors. A protein called Fyn kinase stimulates oligodendrocytes to produce more myelin sheaths for the first five hours of the cells? existence, but the protein can?t persuade the cells to postpone retirement, the researchers discovered.

Citations

T. Czopka, C. ffrench-Constant, and D. A. Lyons. Individual oligodendrocytes have only a few hours in which to generate new myelin sheaths in vivo. Developmental Cell Vol. 25, June 24, 2013, p. 599. Doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2013.05.013 [Go to]

Suggested Reading

L. Sanders. Brain?s white matter diminished in isolated mice. Science News Vol. 182, October 20, 2012, p. 18. [Go to]

L. Sanders. How exercise benefits nerve cells. Science News online, August 4, 2011. [Go to]

T. H. Saey. DNA comparison of identical twins finds no silver bullet for MS. Science News Vol. 177, May 22, 2010, p. 14. [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351193/title/News_in_Brief_Brain_cell_insulators_are_short-timers

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OUYA retail availability starts tomorrow at $99

OUYA

The little Android console that could hits store shelves in the US, UK and Canada

It's been a long time coming, with a lot of changes along the way, but OUYA has finally hit widespread retail ability and will officially go on sale starting tomorrow. Several different online and traditional retailers -- such as Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target and GAME -- will be carrying the Android-powered console, and OUYA says it will be available in "hundreds of stores" across the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

Pricing sits at $99 for the console with one controller, and a (seemingly steep) $49 for additional controllers. Check the links below to either set up a pre-order or have the page ready to go for when the orders go live:

For those of you who don't mind putting pants on to go buy a console, you'll be able to head to local retail locations of the aforementioned stores to grab your own, although OUYA isn't specifying the amount of stock or specific availability at this time.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/jmpx4gvwm8I/story01.htm

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Tightrope walk over Ariz. gorge draws 13M viewers

Aerialist Nik Wallenda near the end of his quarter mile walk over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona on Sunday, June 23, 2013. The daredevil successfully traversed the tightrope strung 1,500 feet above the chasm near the Grand Canyon in just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the cable swayed. (AP Photos/Discovery Channel, Tiffany Brown)

In this photo provided by the Discovery Channel, aerialist Nik Wallenda walks a 2-inch-thick steel cable taking him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge, Ariz. on Sunday, June 23, 2013. The daredevil successfully traversed the tightrope strung 1,500 feet above the chasm near the Grand Canyon in just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the cable swayed. (AP Photos/Discovery Channel, Tiffany Brown)

Daredevil Nik Wallenda smiles during a news conference after crossing a tightrope 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge Sunday, June 23, 2013, on the Navajo reservation outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. Wallenda completed the tightrope walk that took him a quarter mile across the gorge in just more than 22 minutes. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Daredevil Nik Wallenda crosses a tightrope 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge Sunday, June 23, 2013, on the Navajo reservation outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LITTLE COLORADO RIVER GORGE, Ariz. (AP) ? Aerialist Nik Wallenda's tightrope walk over a gorge near the Grand Canyon drew nearly 13 million viewers to the live television broadcast.

The Discovery Channel said Monday that the quarter-mile stunt at the Little Colorado River Gorge was among the most highly viewed shows in the station's history.

It also prompted 1.3 million tweets Sunday, making it one of the top trending topics.

Wallenda took 22 minutes to cross the 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the dry river bed. He did it without a harness or safety net.

The well-known daredevil contended with the wind and repeatedly called on God to calm the swaying cable.

He wore a microphone and two cameras, one that looked down on the river bed and one that faced straight ahead.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-24-Wallenda-Ratings/id-89d2fc05b4c14795a78afba649e08611

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Irish opposition calls for bank inquiry after tapes leak

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's opposition called for a full inquiry into the collapse of Ireland's financial system on Monday, after a newspaper published recordings of talks between Anglo Irish Bank executives about a bailout.

Rescuing indebted banks helped push Ireland to an 85 billion euro ($111 billion) IMF/EU bailout in 2010 and the topic provokes widespread anger in a country that is still enduring austerity and whose economy is struggling to gain traction.

The Irish Independent released transcripts of what it said were conversations between Anglo's head of capital markets John Bowe and consumer banking chief Peter Fitzgerald in September 2008, at the height of Ireland's financial meltdown.

According to the newspaper, Fitzgerald asked Bowe how the bank had come up with a figure of 7 billion euros for the government to rescue Anglo.

The bank eventually cost taxpayers some 30 billion euros during the financial crisis.

"If they (the central bank) saw the enormity of it up front, they might decide they have a choice. You know what I mean? They might say the cost to the taxpayer is too high," the Irish Independent quoted Bowe as saying.

"Yeah and that number is seven, but the reality is that actually we need more than that", it quoted Bowe as telling Fitzgerald, who responded: "They've got skin in the game and that's the key."

In statements to national broadcaster RTE, the two executives denied any wrongdoing and any intention to mislead the central bank. The two men did not deny the conversation in the excerpts of the statements that RTE read out.

Reuters did not have the executives' full statements and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, the wind-down vehicle for liquidated Anglo, declined to comment.

Fianna Fail, in government at the time of a financial crisis that eventually forced Ireland to an IMF/EU bailout and now the largest opposition party, said the tapes should be referred to the police and corporate regulators.

"Any suggestion that the taxpayer was lured into bailing out Anglo Irish Bank under a false impression about the state of the bank's financial condition is deeply disturbing and has to be fully investigated by the authorities," said Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath.

The tapes were "shocking to the core", said a second opposition party, Sinn Fein, joining calls for a probe.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he understood voters' "rage and anger" over bank bailouts and the government was seeking to finalize legislation to allow for an inquiry before parliament's summer recess. ($1 = 0.7637 euros)

(Reporting by Sam Cage; editing by Ron Askew)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irish-opposition-calls-bank-inquiry-tapes-leak-174612810.html

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Video Killed The Instagram Star

Instagram, an app best known for photo-sharing, added video last week, as it sought to defend against the advance of Twitter?s fast-growing video-sharing app Vine. It gave users a new way to share what is happening around them. But while it was an ambitious new feature for the company to add, the end result has been that Instagram has sacrificed the user experience for those consuming content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/EJTW9iUyFl8/

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

US Tells Hong Kong to Turn Over Snowden (ABC News)

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EU finance ministers fail to agree on bank rules

LUXEMBOURG (AP) ? European Union finance ministers negotiating almost around the clock broke up unsuccessful talks on Saturday on how to downsize or close banks without letting taxpayers foot the bill and faced a danger that the divisive issue could undermine trust in Europe's ability to stabilize its financial system.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that the negotiations he chairs would need another "full meeting" next Wednesday to bridge fundamental differences between the 27 member nations and warned "there is no guarantee it will reach conclusion."

Despite 19 hours of intricate negotiations, several ministers hinted at the prolonged impasse between the members of the 17-nation eurozone and the EU's ten other members like Britain that are not part of the currency union.

"It is principally an issue of the non-euro and the euro" nations, Noonan said.

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici voiced confidence that ministers will be able to broker a deal at the emergency meeting which comes only hours ahead of a summit of EU leaders to assess the brittle financial state of the union.

"I have no doubt we will reach a deal," Moscovici said.

An agreement on the rules would have been an important step to stabilizing Europe's financial system and establish a so-called banking union, which aims to give the supervision and rescue of banks to European institutions rather than leaving weaker member states to fend for themselves. It is a key part of the EU plans to restore financial and economic stability to the region.

The ministers at their meeting in Luxembourg sought to decide on new rules determining the order in which investors and creditors would have to pay for bank restructurings. A key stumbling block was who to hit hardest: Should losses be limited to banks' shareholders and creditors, or should small companies and ordinary savers holding uninsured deposits worth more than 100,000 euros ($132,000) also be included?

The most controversial issue, however, proved to be how much leeway member states should be granted in making decisions on winding down banks. Some countries like Britain don't want to be bound by rigid European rules. Other nations warned that too much flexibility would create new imbalances between the bloc's weaker and stronger economies and destroy the project of establishing a single set of rules that creates certainty for investors and restores trust in the financial system.

Moscovici said "90 percent of the work" was done, although France and others were still pushing for greater flexibility.

The ministers had vowed to resolve the issue by the end of June, thus the agreement on Wednesday's emergency meeting. Noonan however said the issue could spill beyond that, when Lithuania will take over the chairmanship of EU meetings.

Once the ministers finalize the legislation, they will then start negotiating the legislation with the European Parliament.

In addition to how much capital a bank must hold, the new European rules would also establish a minimum level of funds ? be it capital, bonds, or deposits ? that banks must have on their books to ensure that there's always enough privately held assets on which losses can be forced, thus shielding taxpayers from the burden of propping up the bank.

Following the 2008-2009 financial crisis, countries like Ireland, Britain and Germany each had to pump dozens of billions of fresh capital into ailing banks to avoid the financial system from collapsing.

Europe has already had to deal with problems involved in restructuring banks this year. Cyprus had to seek a rescue loan after it could no longer shoulder the cost of bailing out its banks.

An initial agreement with the island's European creditors and the International Monetary Fund sparked market fears since it exposed small savers with deposits under the 100,000 euro guarantee to losses.

The deal was rapidly overhauled, but holders of large deposits in some banks were forced to take harsh losses.

In the U.S., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s rules specify that deposits larger than $250,000 might have to take losses in case of bank failures, but Europe still lacks a common rule.

The new rules being discussed Friday will also foresee the establishment of national bank restructuring funds, which will eventually be merged into a European resolution authority, one of three planned parts of Europe's banking union.

Another part will be centralized oversight of big banks anchored at the European Central Bank due to be operational next year. But the discussion on the third section, a jointly guaranteed deposit insurance, is only in its early stages.

"The banking union is built brick by brick," Moscovici said Friday.

At their meeting, the finance ministers also rubber-stamped a seven-year extension of maturities on the bailout loans for Portugal and Ireland, granting the countries more financial leeway.

On Thursday, the finance ministers of the 17 EU countries that use the euro agreed on broad guidelines on how to use the bloc's permanent bailout fund to inject fresh capital into ailing banks as a means of last resort to keep banks from failing.

Enabling the 500 billion euro ($670 billion) rescue fund to shore up struggling banks directly is another long-promised building brick of the banking union.

___

Follow Juergen Baetz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetz

Follow Raf Casert on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/rcasert

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-finance-ministers-fail-agree-bank-rules-014815227.html

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