Most people would not go out of their way to make a 7-foot-long alligator a more efficient swimmer. But a team of researchers in Arizona are doing just that, having attached a prosthetic tail to the back of an alligator to help the creature live a more normal life.
?The fact he doesn?t try to bite [the tail] is a good sign,? Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, told the Arizona Republic. ?Learning how to use it is going to take a lot of training.?
Johnson said that Mr. Stubbs, 11 years old, lost his tail to the jaws of another alligator about eight years ago. He was found in the back of a truck, along with about 30 other illegally held alligators, near Scottsdale, Ariz.
Without a tail, Mr. Stubbs has gone through most of his life struggling to swim. The physical limitation has prevented him from being released back into the wild, along with the other rescued alligators.
Over the years, Johnson and others have taught Mr. Stubbs to swim using his front legs, but they hoped for a more effective solution.
Now, he's treading water with a 3-foot prosthetic tail attached to the stub where his real tail once was. The tail was funded by about $6,000 in donations.
?I looked and saw there was enough there that we could probably do something that wouldn?t involve surgery,? Marc Jacofsky, executive vice president of research and development at the the Center for Orthopedic Research and Education (CORE), told the Republic. ?I also liked the idea because it would improve his life.?
Interestingly, the inspiration for Mr. Stubbs? new tail came from a similar project designed to help a creature with a very different reputation in the documentary ?Dolphin Tale.?
But the prosthetic has reportedly come with its share of complications. For example, the team had to attach a bright orange water wing to help Mr. Stubbs stay afloat while he adjusts to the new tail. And the tail itself was taking on water, at one point causing Mr. Stubbs to sink to the bottom of the swimming pool where researchers were monitoring his progress.
Still, Johnson said Mr. Stubbs should eventually fully adapt to his new tail, giving him a much-improved quality of life over his expected 70-year lifespan.
?He is going to have a long and happy life here,? Johnson told the Republic. ?Right now, I want to get him to the point where he doesn?t need that floaty anymore. That way the other gators will stop making fun of him.?
(Reuters) - Business has been booming for Taiwanese solar companies since they became the middlemen in a trade war between the United States, China and Europe over the multi-billion dollar solar power equipment market.
Green Energy Technology Inc , which makes wafers used in solar cells, is receiving so many orders from Chinese firms seeking to circumvent U.S. import duties that the company is considering renting extra capacity.
If, as expected, the European Union also introduces punitive tariffs on Chinese-made solar equipment, Taiwanese companies may inch back toward profitability after posting losses for at least the last six quarters.
"There could be short-term investment opportunities in Taiwanese solar stocks," said Edward Guinness, co-portfolio manager at Guinness Atkinson Asset Management.
A supply glut and a sharp drop in demand from Europe, the No. 1 solar market, have led to a 75 percent decline in panel prices since 2008. European and U.S. manufacturers have accused Chinese competitors of flooding the market with low-cost panels.
For Taiwan, the story gained momentum in November.
This is when the U.S. International Trade Commission approved double- and triple-digit duties on imports of some Chinese solar products for the next five years, in a case filed by SolarWorld Industries America .
The tariffs, considerably higher than preliminary duties approved in March and May, have effectively halted deliveries to the United States of panels that use Chinese-made cells.
China, however, is not ready to quit a market that bought $3.1 billion worth of its solar cells and panels in 2011.
To circumvent the duties, mainland Chinese panel makers are outsourcing cell manufacturing to Taiwan ? even as their own cell production lines lie unused ? to make panels that can be sold to the United States.
Although Beijing claims Taiwan as its own, the island is considered to be an independent entity in trade issues.
Glenn Gu, a China-based analyst for business information provider IHS, said Chinese solar panel suppliers cornered as much as 55 percent of the 4-gigawatt (GW) U.S. market in 2012. About 90 percent of these panels used cells made in Taiwan.
This has created an order bonanza for Taiwanese solar cell makers such as Neo Solar Power Corp , Motech Industries Inc , Gintech Energy Corp , Solartech Energy Corp and E-Ton Solar Tech Co Ltd .
"We've seen a shift of orders since the fourth quarter (of 2012), as China has increased outsourcing from Taiwan," said a Neo Solar official, who declined to be identified by name.
Neo Solar's Taipei-listed stock has risen nearly 33 percent in the last six months, vastly outperforming a 7 percent rise in the main TAIEX index <.twii>. Shares of Green Energy are up 38 percent and E-Ton has gained 10 percent.
Chinese solar stocks have also been propped up by Beijing's subsidies to the industry, which totaled 13 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in 2012, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
But the next chapter of the trade war - the European Union's case against China - is beginning to exert pressure on stocks of companies with solar manufacturing operations in China.
One of these companies, Canadian Solar Inc , posted its sixth consecutive quarterly loss on Monday. Its shares fell 10 percent. New York-listed peers Yingli Green Energy Holding Co and Trina Solar Ltd also fell.
Canadian Solar Chief Executive Shawn Qu said on a conference call with analysts that European solar demand had "the potential to become choppy due to the strong hints that the European Commission may consider implementation of retroactive duties".
CHINA RETALIATES, EUROPE JOINS IN
The European Commission ordered EU customs officials to begin registering imports of Chinese solar panels from Wednesday in a move suggesting duties could be imposed retroactively. The commission has until June 6 to make a ruling.
"Assuming the European Union will levy tariffs on cells, and potentially wafers, a pretty strong argument emerges for better prospects for Taiwanese manufacturers in 2013," said Shyam Mehta, analyst with renewable energy consultancy GTM Research.
China, which has denied any wrongdoing, may be planning its own retaliation. Beijing is investigating whether U.S., European and South Korean imports of polysilicon, a key component in solar panels, breached anti-subsidy rules.
The three jurisdictions under investigation supplied more than 80 percent of the polysilicon consumed by China in 2012. If China were to impose duties, suppliers could send polysilicon to Taiwan for conversion.
Wafer makers such as Green Energy and Sino-American Silicon Products Inc would reap the benefits.
"There are some shifts in business models because of the trade war," said Green Energy's acting spokeswoman Christine Chen. "We may rent capacity depending on the result."
While most Taiwanese solar companies have been making losses since the second quarter of 2011, these losses are narrowing.
Green Energy reported a loss of $779.3 million in the third quarter of 2012, its last reporting period, compared with its biggest ever quarterly loss - $1.84 billion - in the fourth quarter of 2011.
In mainland China, Trina Solar's losses are much smaller - $87.2 million in the fourth quarter. But they are also rising - up 33 percent from a year ago.
Trina Solar and Yingli Green are among those Chinese companies to have moved cell operations to Taiwan, according to information provided by sector analysts.
Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd , Jinkosolar Holding Co Ltd , JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd and ReneSola Ltd were also using Taiwan-made cells, analysts said.
IHS analyst Gu said he expected Taiwanese solar cell shipments to increase by 1.0 GW to 1.5 GW this year from 5.5 GW shipped in 2012.
The increased demand might also lead to a longer-term shift in manufacturing. Some analysts said they expected companies to install more production lines in Taiwan.
"If this tariff is imposed by Europe, I can see manufacturers in China, provided they are able to raise the money, actually building capacity offshore," said Mehta. "The obvious prospect is Taiwan."
With margins having vanished, however, debt-ridden companies such as LDK Solar Co Ltd and Suntech Power may struggle to find the cash for such an expansion.
($1 = 6.2147 Chinese yuan)
(Additional reporting by Krishna N Das; Editing by Robin Paxton and Nichola Groom)
Carvel is one of my favourite songs of John. I took the 4 chords of the chorus, Bm, D, A, G and played the regular Bm pentatonic over it! int eh ending i used some B natural minor notes to add flavour to it The distortion comes from a Boss DS-2, pretty bassy! and the loop was done with a Boss RC-3! Sorry for the quality, i used the microphone in my laptop.. i just wanted to get it done, because it meant so much to me!
Hope in stopping melanoma from spreading: Inhibiting protein prevents metastasis to lungs in micePublic release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phil Sahm phil.sahm@hsc.utah.edu 801-581-2517 University of Utah Health Sciences
SALT LAKE CITY Researchers have identified a critical protein role in the metastasis of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Inhibition of the protein known as adenosine diphosphate ribosylation factor 6 (ARF6) reduces the spread of melanoma to the lungs in mice, according to a study published in the March 5 issue of Science Signaling online, suggesting that targeting ARF6 may be an effective approach to preventing melanoma metastasis.
Melanoma is the sixth most common cancer in the United States. Approximately one in 50 people will develop melanoma in their lifetime, and the number of melanoma cases diagnosed each year is increasing faster than for any other cancer. While melanoma generally starts as a single skin tumor, cancer cells can spread, or metastasize, to distant sites throughout the body such as the liver, lungs, and brain.
"Metastasis is what makes melanoma lethal, but our knowledge of how melanoma spreads is limited," says Allie Grossmann, M.D., Ph.D., molecular genetic pathology fellow at the University of Utah and co-first author on the study. "By improving our understanding of the cellular machinery responsible for melanoma metastasis, we can better identify targeted therapies that may stop the spread of cancer cells."
Although significant progress has been made in the treatment of metastatic melanoma, currently available treatments still can't achieve long-term survivorship in most patients. Grossmann and her colleagues discovered a new molecular pathway involving ARF6 that promotes metastasis and can be inhibited by a small molecule known as SecinH3.
"The surprising discovery that SecinH3 seems to inhibit the entire metastatic signaling cascade represents a potential breakthrough that may lead to improvements in the efficacy of current drug therapy. Our findings are exciting because the clinical implications extend beyond melanoma to other cancers, such as breast cancer and a type of brain cancer known as glioblastoma, in which invasion is also mediated by ARF6."
Based on the findings of this study and other previous studies by the same group that show the importance of ARF6 in other biological processes, Navigen Inc., a Salt Lake City-based pharmaceutical and medical device company, is investigating new ARF6 inhibitors for pre-clinical studies.
Although SecinH3 itself is not suitable for treatment in human patients, it serves as a useful model compound for demonstrating that small-molecule inhibitors of ARF6 may have therapeutic value in melanoma, according to Shannon Odelberg, Ph.D., U of U assistant professor of internal medicine and neurobiology and anatomy, Navigen scientist, and a contributing author on the study. "Our findings are the first step toward developing potent therapies that may actually prevent or reduce melanoma metastasis," says Odelberg, also part of the Molecular Medicine Program at the University of Utah. "These new therapies could potentially be used in combination with current drugs to produce a more effective treatment for melanoma."
###
This study was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Utah, the University of Notre Dame, Navigen, and the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology. University of Utah graduate student Jae Hyuk Yoo, co-first author on the study, was instrumental in study design and execution. Co-author Kenneth F. Grossmann, M.D., Ph.D., University of Utah assistant professor of internal medicine, also is an investigator with the University's Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Ongoing collaboration between the University of Utah and Navigen will focus on developing a more detailed understanding of the ARF6 signaling pathway and testing new compounds to prevent metastasis in pre-clinical models of melanoma and other cancers.
Dean Y. Li, M.D., Ph.D., vice dean for research and chief scientific officer at University of Utah Health Care, H.A. and Edna Benning Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine, and director of the Molecular Medicine M.D./Ph.D. programs, is senior author on the study. Li also is an investigator with the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
This study was partially funded by a grant from the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
[ | 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.
Hope in stopping melanoma from spreading: Inhibiting protein prevents metastasis to lungs in micePublic release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phil Sahm phil.sahm@hsc.utah.edu 801-581-2517 University of Utah Health Sciences
SALT LAKE CITY Researchers have identified a critical protein role in the metastasis of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Inhibition of the protein known as adenosine diphosphate ribosylation factor 6 (ARF6) reduces the spread of melanoma to the lungs in mice, according to a study published in the March 5 issue of Science Signaling online, suggesting that targeting ARF6 may be an effective approach to preventing melanoma metastasis.
Melanoma is the sixth most common cancer in the United States. Approximately one in 50 people will develop melanoma in their lifetime, and the number of melanoma cases diagnosed each year is increasing faster than for any other cancer. While melanoma generally starts as a single skin tumor, cancer cells can spread, or metastasize, to distant sites throughout the body such as the liver, lungs, and brain.
"Metastasis is what makes melanoma lethal, but our knowledge of how melanoma spreads is limited," says Allie Grossmann, M.D., Ph.D., molecular genetic pathology fellow at the University of Utah and co-first author on the study. "By improving our understanding of the cellular machinery responsible for melanoma metastasis, we can better identify targeted therapies that may stop the spread of cancer cells."
Although significant progress has been made in the treatment of metastatic melanoma, currently available treatments still can't achieve long-term survivorship in most patients. Grossmann and her colleagues discovered a new molecular pathway involving ARF6 that promotes metastasis and can be inhibited by a small molecule known as SecinH3.
"The surprising discovery that SecinH3 seems to inhibit the entire metastatic signaling cascade represents a potential breakthrough that may lead to improvements in the efficacy of current drug therapy. Our findings are exciting because the clinical implications extend beyond melanoma to other cancers, such as breast cancer and a type of brain cancer known as glioblastoma, in which invasion is also mediated by ARF6."
Based on the findings of this study and other previous studies by the same group that show the importance of ARF6 in other biological processes, Navigen Inc., a Salt Lake City-based pharmaceutical and medical device company, is investigating new ARF6 inhibitors for pre-clinical studies.
Although SecinH3 itself is not suitable for treatment in human patients, it serves as a useful model compound for demonstrating that small-molecule inhibitors of ARF6 may have therapeutic value in melanoma, according to Shannon Odelberg, Ph.D., U of U assistant professor of internal medicine and neurobiology and anatomy, Navigen scientist, and a contributing author on the study. "Our findings are the first step toward developing potent therapies that may actually prevent or reduce melanoma metastasis," says Odelberg, also part of the Molecular Medicine Program at the University of Utah. "These new therapies could potentially be used in combination with current drugs to produce a more effective treatment for melanoma."
###
This study was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Utah, the University of Notre Dame, Navigen, and the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology. University of Utah graduate student Jae Hyuk Yoo, co-first author on the study, was instrumental in study design and execution. Co-author Kenneth F. Grossmann, M.D., Ph.D., University of Utah assistant professor of internal medicine, also is an investigator with the University's Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Ongoing collaboration between the University of Utah and Navigen will focus on developing a more detailed understanding of the ARF6 signaling pathway and testing new compounds to prevent metastasis in pre-clinical models of melanoma and other cancers.
Dean Y. Li, M.D., Ph.D., vice dean for research and chief scientific officer at University of Utah Health Care, H.A. and Edna Benning Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine, and director of the Molecular Medicine M.D./Ph.D. programs, is senior author on the study. Li also is an investigator with the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
This study was partially funded by a grant from the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
[ | 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.
Pets are like family members, and we want them to stay as fit and healthy as possible. To keep their weight in check, you can use the same classification system as vets.
Vets categorize cat and dog weight on a scale of 1-9, where 1 is very thin, 9 is very obese, and 5 is just right. Different breeds of dogs and cats obviously vary widely in size, so weighing them on a scale isn't always as helpful as looking at their body shape. The chart includes illustrations and descriptions to help you identify where your pet falls on the scale, and it's simple enough for anyone to use.
If your pet isn't at or near a 5 on the scale, you can talk to your vet about adjusting her diet and exercise habits. Click through the source link for the interactive chart and printable PDF files to get you started.
Pet Obesity: It's a Huge and Growing Problem | Purina
FORT BLISS, Texas (AP) ? More than a dozen troops carefully maneuver through overgrown shrubs, firing laser-tag rifles at the enemy as they advance on a compound in the New Mexico desert. Fifty miles away in West Texas, other soldiers in helicopter and tank simulators provide air and ground support for the virtual training exercise.
An Army supervisor watches it all unfold on a computer screen at a Fort Bliss command center. The real mission, however, comes next: a thorough, high-tech review of the soldiers' tactics.
The exercise is part of a new Army virtual program that records every aspect of training missions so soldiers can use video game-like replay to study how effectively the ground and air forces interacted. The system ? a major upgrade over previous platforms that didn't fully integrate tank and helicopter communications ? will be installed at posts across the U.S. and abroad.
The Integrated Training Environment is designed to cut costs, sharpen soldiers' ability to interact with various units and allow the military to more quickly train the growing ranks of troops returning from deployment. However, it's not intended to do away with live training altogether but rather, to better prepare soldiers for real-life training exercises.
"(Training gives soldiers) muscle memory through repetition ... so when we are in Iran, Syria, Africa, it's going to kick in," said Sgt. 1st Class Donald Jones, who operated a tank simulator during the exercise.
Officials say the push for more practical training operations comes at a critical time. The Pentagon's budget faced cuts as high as 13 percent in some of its accounts after Congress couldn't reach a deal to avert automatic, across-the-board spending cuts.
Mike Casey, spokesman for the Army's Combined Arms Center-Training program, said it wasn't immediately clear what impact the across-the-board cuts that took effect Friday would have on the program.
Inside the command center, dozens of computers run the simulations that can replay the entire exercise on a giant screen. The live, virtual and computer-generated forces come together seamlessly, much like the replays from video games that allow the user to rotate the images to view the mission from any angle.
By the time the drill is over, the infantry team had fired hundreds of rounds, cleared several buildings and called for artillery support, all of it recorded by ITE. Commanders can see in the replay how ground troops battled through computer-generated artillery fire while tanks battled each other a few miles away.
Some soldiers complimented the new equipment required for the system, including the lighter laser-sensors on their helmets.
"The older models were like having a TV screen in the back of my head," said Pfc. Victor Colon while his unit was debriefed by their sergeant after the drill.
Jones and his three-person crew inspected the tank simulators the day before the recent training mission, shutting the doors to the beige van-sized boxes and finding a realistic interior. Monitors show digital images of other tanks, helicopters and computer-generated enemies participating in the exercise.
A couple of miles away, helicopter pilots tested their simulators inside two trailers parked side by side. The cockpits replicate every aspect of normal helicopter controls and, for the first time, give pilots a chance to interact with tanks that aren't pre-programmed.
Each simulator is tuned into the infantry unit of 15 soldiers trying to take over the compound in Oro Grande, N.M. These soldiers wear laser-tag vests and laser-equipped rifles to keep track of who killed who and GPS-like devices that show their location to helicopter pilots and the officers directing the exercise.
The system, which currently is employed at Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas, will be expanded by 2017 to 18 locations, including one in South Korea sometime this year. Eventually, the Army expects to be able to link units halfway across the world.
Some Army posts have attempted to create interactive training systems but they were not fully developed and one-time-only exercises, said Lt. Col. Shane Cipolla, who is in charge of deploying the virtual platform. Many commanders stressed the need to develop a better system for ground and air forces to train together, he said.
"This is a good tool for it," said Cipolla, standing a short distance from the troops storming the compound.
Cipolla acknowledged the spending cuts were considered as the Army pushed for an upgraded training platform that could handle more soldiers at a fraction of the cost needed to train with real helicopters and tanks. The program costs about $8 million per year in research and development, but it presents significant savings each time the Army opts for simulated missions.
While the Army pays about $6,400 a day to run a center with 28 tank simulators that can be linked to the new system, the cost of operating 28 Abrams tanks would be $196,000 a day. In 2011 the Army paid about $19 million for 14,000 hours of simulated helicopter and weapons training ? a price the Army estimates would have been $281 million if done with live equipment.
Jones says he understands the cost savings and acknowledges some virtual interaction with a helicopter could have helped during his deployment to Afghanistan. Still, he prefers the real thing.
"There are two things I love," he said with a chuckle. "One is my wife, the other is a tank."
int eh ending i used some B natural minor notes to add flavour to it 
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vIDV1f6unLHOqI6JbUD1rq5MadO3wqvQYwi-E8oDbnrsXZ1zTj9ShEd8-5wvIIKEFkAtgCkdABYDu_dvjvW1PbaPl0E6mTtxFENbCO2bs=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 5-Mar-2013
Share ] 
Pets are like family members, and we want them to stay as fit and healthy as possible. To keep their weight in check, you can use the same classification system as vets.