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Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Another disaster brings candidates to Gulf Coast
FILE - In this May 2, 2010, file photo, President Barack Obama meets coast guard first responders in Venice, La., as he visits the Gulf Coast region affected by the BP (British Petroleum) oil well spill. President Obama tweaked his travel plans to head to Louisiana on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac ahead of his own nominating convention_ shortly after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured the area. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - In this May 2, 2010, file photo, President Barack Obama meets coast guard first responders in Venice, La., as he visits the Gulf Coast region affected by the BP (British Petroleum) oil well spill. President Obama tweaked his travel plans to head to Louisiana on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac ahead of his own nominating convention_ shortly after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured the area. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
In this Aug. 31, 2012, photo, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, left, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, center, greet residents displaced by Isaac in Lafitte, La. President Barack Obama tweaked his travel plans to head to Louisiana on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac ahead of his own nominating convention_ shortly after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured the area. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2005, file photo, President George Bush tours of a flooded area of New Orleans near the Seventeenth Street levee damaged by Hurricane Katrina. President Barack Obama tweaked his travel plans to head to Louisiana on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac ahead of his own nominating convention_ shortly after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured the area. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Mitt Romney wasted no time after accepting the GOP presidential nomination in heading to Louisiana to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac, changing his schedule on the fly to get there the very next day. President Barack Obama also tweaked his travel plans to make sure he gets there Monday, ahead of his own nominating convention.
This for a Category 1 storm that killed seven and swamped low-lying areas of Louisiana and dumped more than a foot of rain on its way north ? a disaster, to be sure, but one that will never rival the biggest to hit the Gulf Coast.
In a region with a storied culture and a history of human suffering, natural and manmade catastrophes, and struggles with government ineptitude and indifference, it's just another turn in front of the cameras as the perfect political backdrop.
Call it the Katrina effect: Presidents, and would-be presidents, can't afford to get panned like George W. Bush did in the days after Hurricane Katrina crippled New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts in 2005, killing more than 1,800.
Bush's decision to observe Katrina's flooding of New Orleans first in a flyover in Air Force One instead of putting his feet on the ground gave critics an opening to argue that he was indifferent to the suffering below. He later set the standard for what not to do in a disaster when he infamously patted the back of former Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Michael Brown, telling him he had done a "heck of a job, Brownie," as tens of thousands languished at New Orleans' convention center.
"I dare say, before Katrina there's no way that you would have the president and Romney here within days of one another in a storm of this relatively small magnitude ? not to diminish the impact of it (Isaac)," said Robert Mann, the director of the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University.
For many of the people who call the Gulf Coast home, it doesn't matter if it's a storm that submerges the streets, or a busted oil well spewing millions of gallon of crude: the political posturing doesn't make them feel like relief is coming any faster.
"We just want our lights on," said Eddie Cooley, a 56-year-old chemical warehouse worker drenched in sweat as he worked on his truck's engine in the Lower 9th Ward, the New Orleans neighborhood flooded to rooftops during Katrina. Over the weekend, parts of the neighborhood remained without electricity, days after Isaac passed.
"We don't care who gets elected and who doesn't," Cooley said. "We just want power."
Presidents have been coming to the Deep South for decades to score political points.
Herbert Hoover rode his way to the White House following his heroics in response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In the aftermath of Hurricane Betsy in 1965, U.S. Sen. Russell Long urged President Lyndon Johnson to journey south, telling him that if he got down to New Orleans "by the end of the day, you'll never lose another election in this state," Mann said.
Johnson went to New Orleans with Cabinet members to "see with my own eyes what the unhappy alliance of wind and water have done to this land and to its good people." He met with hurricane victims, ordered water to be delivered to shelters and pledged the federal government's full resources to help New Orleans get back on its feet.
As it turned out, Johnson decided not to run for re-election in 1968.
Still, "Politicians never stop thinking about politics. Never stop thinking about taking advantage of any situation," said Mann, who served as spokesman to then-Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco during Katrina.
For national politicians, a crisis like those on the coast presents an opportunity to demonstrate leadership. Or to bring disaster on themselves if they don't handle it right.
"There is a feeling that a president needs to go to a disaster site and actually touch the floodwaters and hug a hurricane victim, or tornado or earthquake victim," said Douglas Brinkley, a Rice University presidential scholar. "If you don't, you're going to get pummeled by the punditry."
Obama faced a test when a BP PLC oil well off the Louisiana coast blew out April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and touching off the worst offshore spill in U.S. history. For starters, he was criticized by Republicans for not going to the Gulf Coast immediately after the spill began.
He was also slammed for vacationing in New England as Gulf Coast leaders were trying to reassure tourists that the region was safe. So Obama and his family took a weekend trip to the Florida Panhandle.
As the disaster dragged on, he had an uncharacteristically hard time connecting with the common man, in this case fishermen and oil workers.
The months-long spill forced him to make his first Oval Office address and get down to the Gulf Coast. He sharpened his words to BP and promised to hold the oil industry to higher standards. He invited family members of the 11 workers killed to the White House.
While Obama struggled, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, was on the attack. Dressed in cowboy boots and working man's shirts, he railed against Obama, invited the TV cameras along on choreographed tours of the oil-stained coast, where he blamed the president for putting up red tape he said stopped the state from trapping oil offshore with sand barriers, even though experts questioned how effective that tactic would be.
Jindal also charged that Obama was causing even more misery by imposing a moratorium on offshore drilling, which kept the state's oil industry employees out of work.
Jindal's performance helped him make up for what many in his party considered a miserable Republican response he made to Obama's first State of the Union speech in 2009. This year, Jindal was mentioned as a possible Romney running mate.
Disasters haven't always been such politically charged moments.
Theodore Roosevelt didn't head out to the West Coast after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. There simply was no way to get there quickly.
"It wasn't something a president needed to do," Brinkley said. "You didn't become the insect in the jar getting shook up if you didn't visit the (disaster) site."
For Cooley, the 9th Ward resident, the benefit of having a Romney or an Obama see the problems in person remains as dubious as it was in Roosevelt's day.
"What are both of them going to do? Come down here and look?" he said.
"I need lights. I don't need a president."
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Monday, September 3, 2012
mosesjohnsen: Raph Koster and World of Warcraft to be Honored at ...
The powers that be of GDC Online announced that Raph Koster will be honored with the Online Game Legend Award at the third annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards. Also, World of Warcraft will be inducted into the Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame during the ceremony.
The GDC Online Awards ceremony will take place Wednesday, October 10 during GDC Online in Austin, Texas.
Online Game Legend Award
The Online Game Legend Award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has made an indelible impact on the craft of online game development.
| Raph Koster has led a prolific career. As the lead designer on Ultima Online and the creative director on Star Wars Galaxies, his contributions helped lay the foundation for the many massively multiplayer games that followed. Koster?s professional credits span nearly every facet of game development, including writing, art, soundtrack music, programming and design. Raph Koster is considered a thought leader, as a frequent lecturer and published author on topics of game design, community management, storytelling and ethics in game development. His A Theory of Fun, published in 2004, is considered seminal by educators and members of the art game movement, as well as being one of the most popular books ever written about games. In his youth, Koster taught himself programming on an Atari 8-bit computer that he used to create the first game he ever sold, to a fellow classmate. His early professional years include work on the award-winning multi-user dungeon LegendMUD, which he later parlayed into a position as lead designer on the seminal MMORPG Ultima Online. Koster?s varied interests in writing, art and graphic design served him well when he joined Sony Online Entertainment in the role of creative director on Star Wars Galaxies, a game praised for its lush graphics, authentic movie-based soundtrack, expansive in-game world, customization options and sophisticated gameplay mechanics. After serving as chief creative officer at Sony Online Entertainment, Koster established his own firm, Metaplace, a software platform developer for social worlds and the company behind popular Facebook games Island Life and My Vineyard. In 2010, Metaplace was acquired by Disney Interactive Media Group?s online social development arm, Playdom, where Koster currently serves as vice president of creative design. |
GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame
The GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame recognizes a specific online game that has resulted in the long-term advancement of the medium, pioneering major shifts in online game development and games as a whole.
| World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) This year?s Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame inductee, Blizzard Entertainment?s World of Warcraft, was released in November 2004, 10 years after the launch of the company?s venerable Warcraft franchise (1994?s Warcraft?: Orcs & Humans?). Now regarded as a legacy in its own right, the game has dominated the MMORPG landscape, setting the standard for countless other games in the genre.With its focus on delivering a polished player experience, World of Warcraft propelled MMORPGs into the mainstream. The game offered the community a reprieve from long load times and steep learning curves, which only made the colorful graphics, engaging gameplay, exciting quests and raids and immersive world more impressive.As the title nears its eighth anniversary, World of Warcraft remains one of the top-rated PC games of all time and continues to thrive globally with a massive and passionate subscriber base. With three released expansion packs since launch and a fourth, Mists of Pandaria?, around the corner, World of Warcraft is one of the most profitable and popular entertainment franchises in history, a pop culture fixture that is sure to transcend generations. Members of the Blizzard Entertainment World of Warcraft team will be on stage to accept the Hall of Fame award. |
2012 Nominees
In addition to the Online Game Legend Award and the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame, Choice Online Awards are given in the following categories. These particular categories will be both nominated and voted on by the development community.
Best Online Game Design
The Best Online Game Design Award honors the overall excellence of design in an online game that launched in public beta or full version in the year to May 2010. This category recognizes the best social-specific gameplay mechanics, quest design, and other major game design elements.
- Glitch (Tiny Speck)
- Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios/Kabam)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- DragonVale (Backflip Studios)
- Woodland Heroes (Row Sham Bow)
Best Online Visual Arts
The Best Online Visual Arts Award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in online games including, but not limited to, character and animation design, interface design, and 2D or 3D art creation and direction of all kinds.
- Tera (Bluehole Studio/En Masse)
- Empires & Allies (Zynga LA)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Age of Empires Online (Robot Entertainment & Gas Powered Games)
- Glitch (Tiny Speck)
Best Community Relations
The Best Community Relations Award honors the currently operating online game that provides the highest quality community feedback and experience, including customer support, forum moderation and leadership, weblog and information updates, real-life events, and other community outreach.
- World of WarCraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- League of Legends (Riot Games)
- Solitaire Blitz (PopCap/EA)
- World of Tanks (Wargaming.net Belarus)
- Diamond Dash (Wooga)
Best Online Technology
The Best Online Technology Award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in an online game. This includes excellence in complexity of network infrastructure, persistent world coding, graphics technology, artificial intelligence, or any other elements.
- Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Indiana Jones Adventure World (Zynga Boston)
- Tera (Bluehole Studio/En Masse)
- The Sims Social (Playfish)
Best Social Network Game
The Best Social Network Game Award recognizes the best game that launched on a social network, such as Facebook or MySpace, honoring the most outstanding title in terms of overall depth, execution and quality in the space.
- CastleVille (Zynga Dallas)
- Rage Of Bahamut (Cygames/Mobage)
- Draw Something (OMGPOP/Zynga)
- Empires & Allies (Zynga LA)
- The Sims Social (Playfish)
Best Audio for an Online Game
The Best Audio for an Online Game Award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in an online game including sound effects, musical composition, and overall sound design for an online title.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Tribes: Ascend (Hi-Rez Studios)
- Marvel: Avengers Alliance (Playdom/Disney)
- Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Indiana Jones Adventure World (Zynga Boston)
Best New Online Game
The Best New Online Game Award recognizes excellence in any online-specific game, including MMOs, free to play titles and social network games.
- CastleVille (Zynga Dallas)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- DragonVale (Backflip Studios)
- Draw Something (OMGPOP/Zynga)
- Rage Of Bahamut(Cygames/Mobage)
Best Live Game
The Best Live Game Award recognizes the best currently-operating online game ? distinguishing itself by releasing exceptional new content through expansion packs, patches, or other updates in the 12 months to May 2012, as well as a vibrant player community, high-quality community management and network operation during that period.
- League of Legends (Riot Games)
- Rift (Trion Worlds)
- CityVille (Zynga)
- World of WarCraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- EVE Online (CCP Games)
Online Innovation Award
The Online Innovation Award honors one particular online game that shows key aspects of innovation in the fast-expanding online games space ? a title that pushes the game design and social boundaries of how we play video games online against others.
- Journey (thatgamecompany)
- Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios/Kabam)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- DayZ Mod for ArmA II (Dean Hall/Bohemia Interactive)
- Idle Worship (Idle Games)
Audience Award
The Audience Award honors the favorite game of the worldwide online game community. Members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite currently operating online game, with options from the Game Developers Choice Online finalists and beyond. Voting for the 2012 Game Developers Choice Online Awards ?Audience Award? category is now open, click HERE to vote.
This post was written by
Tiffany "Token Gamer Chick" Toms ? who has written 1962 posts on Anjel Syndicate.
Long time female gamer who has been playing all genres since the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 days. Freelance Graphic Artist and Web Designer, studied one year of Game Design.
Freelance Writer, Reviewer, and News Editor/Asst. Director for Anjel Syndicate. Follow me on Twitter @CeissaDesiste.
Source: http://www.anjelsyndicate.org/2012/08/31/raph-koster-and-world-of-warcraft-to-be-honored-at-gdc-online-awards/
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Source: http://mosesjohnsen.blogspot.com/2012/09/raph-koster-and-world-of-warcraft-to-be.html
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Fiery Obama embarks on march to the Dem convention
President Barack Obama greets the crowd during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
President Barack Obama greets the crowd during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands during a campaign rally, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama greets supporters at a campaign event at the Living History Farms, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Urbandale, Iowa. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at the Living History Farms, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Urbandale, Iowa. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio during a victor rally, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, at Union Terminal in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? President Barack Obama lampooned the just-completed Republican National Convention as better-suited to an era of black-and-white TV and " trickle-down, you're on your own" economics Saturday, and declared that Mitt Romney "did not offer a single new idea" to fix the economy.
"There was a lot of talk about hard truths and bold choices, but no one actually told you what they were," Obama said in Iowa, chuckling, as he set out on a three-day tour of battleground states in the run-up to his own convention. Later, Obama said, the Republican gathering was so rooted in the past, there should have been a rabbit-ears antenna on the convention hall.
Yet even the site of Obama's convention, Charlotte, N.C., served as an unwelcome reminder to the Democrats of an economy so weak that it threatens his chances for re-election.
The president carried North Carolina in 2008, but the state's unemployment rate is pegged at 9.6 percent, well higher than the nation's 8.3 percent and tied with next-door South Carolina for fifth from the bottom.
Obama's convention opens Tuesday at the Time Warner Cable arena with evening speeches by first lady Michelle Obama and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the keynote speaker.
The president will be nominated for a new term on Wednesday, when former President Bill Clinton also will speak. Vice President Joe Biden delivers his own acceptance speech the same evening.
Obama's prime-time acceptance speech, to be delivered at the outdoor Bank of America Stadium, caps the convention on Thursday night. Aides predict a capacity crowd will hear the speech at the site, which has a capacity of nearly 74,000 for football.
Democrats are taking their turn in the convention spotlight just days after the Republicans met in Tampa, Fla., to nominate former Massachusetts Gov. Romney for the White House and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to be vice president.
A parade of speakers in Tampa excoriated Obama's handling of the economy, which is struggling in the weakest recession recovery of the post-World War II era.
The economy has been the top-rated issue in opinion polls all year, and the president is eager to turn the focus onto Romney on that subject.
Republicans "will take us backwards," Obama said, to the age of "trickle-down, you're on your own" economics that begin with tax cuts for the rich but tax increases for the middle class.
The president made a brief detour to foreign policy in his speech.
"Gov. Romney had nothing to say about Afghanistan this week or the plans for the 33,000 troops who will have come home from the war by the end of this month," he said.
The Republican challenger "said ending the war in Iraq was tragic. I said we'd end that war and we did," Obama said.
Romney said late last year, in a veterans roundtable, "The precipitous withdrawal is unfortunate. It's more than unfortunate, I think it's tragic. It puts at risk many of the victories that were hard won by the men and women who served there."
Obama, pointing to successes, declared, "I said we'd take out bin Laden and we did."
His audience cheered the mention of the demise of the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who was killed in his hideout in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs last year. Obama ordered the raid, and even Republicans credit him for the decision.
Romney campaigned in Ohio during the day ? the opening of the college football season ? and proclaimed it was time the country had a winning season after years of a sluggish economy and high unemployment.
Referring to the number of jobless in the country, Romney told his own cheering crowd, "If you have a coach that's zero and 23 million, you say it's time to get a new coach."
He also pledged to cut the federal deficit and "get us on track for a balanced budget."
Yet Romney has yet to produce a budget for public inspection. Nor did he mention that, as chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan wrote a plan projecting the deficit would decline each year from 2013 through 2017 but then begin an inexorable rise again. Additionally, the federal debt is projected to rise each year, from a current level of nearly $16 trillion to an estimated $25 trillion at the end of 2022.
Obama made Iowa his first stop on what his campaign billed as "The Road to Charlotte."
Obama spoke in Urbandale, outside Des Moines, on a sprawling 500-acre property. With barns, American flags and Obama banners all around, the late summer scene offered him the quintessential heartland backdrop. He later spoke at a rally in Sioux City.
He told the crowd Iowa was first on his schedule "because it was you, Iowa, who kept us going when the pundits were writing us off."
There was another reason, as well.
Polls make the state one of eight or so battlegrounds where the election is most likely to be decided. The president carried Iowa in 2008, and in an indication of the struggle he now faces, he has been lavishing time on it in recent weeks. He spent three days in August on a bus tour that traversed the state from west to east.
Following two stops in Iowa, Obama was flying to Colorado for a Sunday appearance before college students at the University of Colorado.
Obama's schedule for Monday includes an appearance in Toledo, Ohio, yet another battleground state, before a trip to Louisiana to inspect damage from Hurricane Isaac.
Romney visited Louisiana on Friday.
Television ratings for the final night of the Republican convention were lower than four years ago. The Nielsen Co. said an estimated 30.3 million viewers watched Thursday night's coverage of Romney's acceptance speech. That was down by one-fourth from 2008, when John McCain spoke on the final night of the Republican gathering in St. Paul., Minn.
___
Feller reported from Urbandale and Sioux City, Iowa. Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt in Cincinnati, Beth Fouhy in Charlotte and Steve Peoples in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
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Ancient enzymes function like nanopistons to unwind RNA
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Public release date: 2-Sep-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Daniel Oppenheimer
daniel.oppenheimer@utexas.edu
512-745-3353
University of Texas at Austin
DEAD-box proteins function as recycling nanopistons when unwinding RNA
AUSTIN, TexasMolecular biologists at The University of Texas at Austin have solved one of the mysteries of how double-stranded RNA is remodeled inside cells in both their normal and disease states. The discovery may have implications for treating cancer and viruses in humans.
The research, which was published this week in Nature, found that DEAD-box proteins, which are ancient enzymes found in all forms of life, function as recycling "nanopistons." They use chemical energy to clamp down and pry open RNA strands, thereby enabling the formation of new structures.
"If you want to couple fuel energy to mechanical work to drive strand separation, this is a very versatile mechanism," said co-author Alan Lambowitz, the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Regents Chair in Molecular Biology in the College of Natural Sciences and Director of the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
In all cellular organisms RNA (ribonucleic acid) plays a fundamental role in the translation of genetic information into the synthesis of proteins. DEAD-box proteins are the largest family of what are known as " RNA helicases," which unwind RNA.
"It has been known for some time that these enzymes do not function like traditional helicases," said Eckhard Jankowsky, professor of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University Medical School. "The manuscript now provides the critical information that explains how the unwinding reaction works. It marks a major step towards understanding the molecular mechanics for many steps in RNA biology."
Lambowitz said that the basic insight came when Anna Mallam, a post-doctoral researcher in his lab, hypothesized that DEAD-box proteins function modularly. One area on the protein binds to an ATP molecule, which is the energy source. Another area binds to the double-stranded RNA.
"Once the second domain is latched on to the RNA," said Mallam, "and the first has got its ATP, the 'piston' comes down. It has a sharp edge that drives between the two strands and also grabs on one strand and bends it out of the way."
Lambowitz, Mallam and their colleagues uncovered this mechanism in Mss116p, a DEAD-box protein in yeast. The mechanism is almost certainly universal to the entire family of the proteins, however, and therefore to all domains of life.
"Every DEAD-box protein that we know about has the same structure," said Lambowitz, "and they all presumably use the same mechanism."
Lambowitz said that the Mss116p proteins are particularly useful as a universal remodeling device because they can bind to any RNA.
"It recognizes the geometry of double-stranded RNA," he said. "It doesn't care about the sequence, and doesn't care about what it that particular RNA molecule's function is. It just sees it and binds and for that reason can be incorporated into many different cellular processes."
This flexibility of DEAD-box proteins is essential to the functioning of healthy cells, which rely on a range of RNA molecules for basic processes, including protein synthesis.
It's also hijacked in cancers, where over-expression of DEAD-box proteins may help drive uncontrolled cell proliferation, and in infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which rely on specific DEAD-box proteins for their propagation.
"This is basic science," said Lambowitz. "Its major significance is in understanding, at the root, how this mechanism works. But when you understand how DEAD-box proteins function both in normal cellular processes and in disease processes, you can absolutely begin to think about how they might be targeted in things like cancer and viruses."
"You can even envision, in the far future, how they be incorporated into artificial nanomachines, for switches and other mechanical devices inside and outside the cell."
###
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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.
Public release date: 2-Sep-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Daniel Oppenheimer
daniel.oppenheimer@utexas.edu
512-745-3353
University of Texas at Austin
DEAD-box proteins function as recycling nanopistons when unwinding RNA
AUSTIN, TexasMolecular biologists at The University of Texas at Austin have solved one of the mysteries of how double-stranded RNA is remodeled inside cells in both their normal and disease states. The discovery may have implications for treating cancer and viruses in humans.
The research, which was published this week in Nature, found that DEAD-box proteins, which are ancient enzymes found in all forms of life, function as recycling "nanopistons." They use chemical energy to clamp down and pry open RNA strands, thereby enabling the formation of new structures.
"If you want to couple fuel energy to mechanical work to drive strand separation, this is a very versatile mechanism," said co-author Alan Lambowitz, the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Regents Chair in Molecular Biology in the College of Natural Sciences and Director of the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
In all cellular organisms RNA (ribonucleic acid) plays a fundamental role in the translation of genetic information into the synthesis of proteins. DEAD-box proteins are the largest family of what are known as " RNA helicases," which unwind RNA.
"It has been known for some time that these enzymes do not function like traditional helicases," said Eckhard Jankowsky, professor of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University Medical School. "The manuscript now provides the critical information that explains how the unwinding reaction works. It marks a major step towards understanding the molecular mechanics for many steps in RNA biology."
Lambowitz said that the basic insight came when Anna Mallam, a post-doctoral researcher in his lab, hypothesized that DEAD-box proteins function modularly. One area on the protein binds to an ATP molecule, which is the energy source. Another area binds to the double-stranded RNA.
"Once the second domain is latched on to the RNA," said Mallam, "and the first has got its ATP, the 'piston' comes down. It has a sharp edge that drives between the two strands and also grabs on one strand and bends it out of the way."
Lambowitz, Mallam and their colleagues uncovered this mechanism in Mss116p, a DEAD-box protein in yeast. The mechanism is almost certainly universal to the entire family of the proteins, however, and therefore to all domains of life.
"Every DEAD-box protein that we know about has the same structure," said Lambowitz, "and they all presumably use the same mechanism."
Lambowitz said that the Mss116p proteins are particularly useful as a universal remodeling device because they can bind to any RNA.
"It recognizes the geometry of double-stranded RNA," he said. "It doesn't care about the sequence, and doesn't care about what it that particular RNA molecule's function is. It just sees it and binds and for that reason can be incorporated into many different cellular processes."
This flexibility of DEAD-box proteins is essential to the functioning of healthy cells, which rely on a range of RNA molecules for basic processes, including protein synthesis.
It's also hijacked in cancers, where over-expression of DEAD-box proteins may help drive uncontrolled cell proliferation, and in infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which rely on specific DEAD-box proteins for their propagation.
"This is basic science," said Lambowitz. "Its major significance is in understanding, at the root, how this mechanism works. But when you understand how DEAD-box proteins function both in normal cellular processes and in disease processes, you can absolutely begin to think about how they might be targeted in things like cancer and viruses."
"You can even envision, in the far future, how they be incorporated into artificial nanomachines, for switches and other mechanical devices inside and outside the cell."
###
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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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/uota-aef083112.php
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Saturday, September 1, 2012
Mortgage Registry Muddles Foreclosures | Waccabuc Real Estate ...
Granted, new foreclosures continued to be filed ? 256,000 people had a foreclosure added to their credit reports in the June quarter ? but that figure was the lowest since mid-2007, the Fed said.
In stark contrast to this improving backdrop are the legal battles still being waged over wrongful foreclosure practices. The glacial progress in these cases is not surprising, given the crowded courts and combatants? usual stalling tactics.
What is surprising is the fresh evidence these cases are turning up of cockeyed mortgage practices, during both the boom and the bust. As these matters are adjudicated, perhaps we will finally learn whether these practices were intended or accidental.
Take the problem of questionable legal fees levied on troubled borrowers. Although these costs may seem small in the scheme of things, they certainly add to the burdens of many hard-pressed Americans.
A foreclosure from Ohio highlights this problem. The facts from this matter are central to a prospective class action filed by a borrower, who contends he was charged improper court costs and legal-related fees in his foreclosure.
The case involved legal moves taken against a bank in 2007 that did not even have an interest in either of the two mortgage liens associated with the foreclosed property. Even though the bank should never have been dragged into the matter, it was ? generating $775 in court costs and legal fees paid by the borrower, documents show. Only two years later, during the discovery process, did it emerge that the bank had no ownership in the underlying property.
That $775 may not sound like much. But Paul Grobman, a lawyer in New York who represents the borrower, said he believed the collection of what he called improper legal charges is rampant in foreclosures.
The case involving the $775 began in 2007 when Eugene D. Kline fell behind on the first and second mortgages on his home in Centerville, Ohio. Wells Fargo, noting that as trustee of a securitization it held the note backing the $160,000 first mortgage, sued Mr. Kline and his wife, Patricia, in state court.
Because Mr. Kline had also taken out a second mortgage, Wells Fargo sued the institution that it said owned the additional obligation. Here is where Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems comes in, the company that runs the database set up by banks in the mid-1990s to speed the transfer of mortgages nationwide and track their ownership. To save the costs of recording a mortgage?s transfer from one institution to another, MERS acts as mortgagee in county land records. But it does not own the note underlying a property.
Amid the foreclosure crisis, however, critics have contended that the registry actually served to hide the true owner of a mortgage, making it difficult for borrowers to get help in working out their loans.
The facts in Mr. Kline?s case seem to indicate another flaw with the MERS registry ? that it may not even track mortgages effectively.
MERS was the nominee for WMC Mortgage, an entity that held the second lien on the Kline property, according to Wells Fargo?s court filings. Oddly, lawyers for WMC confirmed that it had an interest in the loan, whose value was around $30,000.
In 2008, Mr. Kline advised the lawyers for the banks that he would sell the house and pay off the loans, which totaled approximately $200,000. He did so, paying the legal costs associated with the suit involving the second lien.
But in 2009, documents produced in the Ohio action showed that WMC Mortgage had not, in fact, held the second mortgage when the foreclosure began. WMC had sold Mr. Kline?s loan three years earlier into a securitization trust put together by Merrill Lynch. That trust also held Mr. Kline?s first mortgage and was overseen by ? you guessed it ? Wells Fargo.
So, to recap: At the time of the foreclosure, Wells Fargo held both loans taken on by Mr. Kline. Nevertheless, its lawyers sued WMC, contending WMC held the smaller loan. Even though WMC did not own the loan, its lawyers represented to the court that it did. All the while court costs and other charges were billed to Mr. Kline.
Many questions arise in this case. For starters, if the MERS registry is the accurate record it claims to be, why didn?t Wells Fargo or its lawyers see that it, not WMC, held the second lien when the Kline foreclosure began?
A MERS spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Elise Wilkinson, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said that as trustee of the securitization, the bank ?would not be in possession of any information regarding a foreclosure action.?
??All such information would be in the possession of the mortgage loan servicer,? she said, ?which is the party responsible for initiating and managing all aspects of the mortgage loan foreclosure process.? That was the HomEq Servicing Corporation, which is no longer in the business, the Wells spokeswoman said.
?Ditto for WMC. Why didn?t it recognize early on that it had sold the Kline loan years before, saving Mr. Kline legal fees? Rick DeBlasis, a lawyer handling the matter at Lerner Sampson & Rothfuss of Cincinnati, declined to comment, saying it was part of the class action.
It will be interesting to watch that case unfold. But in a unanimous ruling against MERS last month in Washington State Supreme Court, the judges described their problems with the registry. ?Under the MERS system,? they wrote, ?questions of authority and accountability arise, and determining who has authority to negotiate loan modifications and who is accountable for misrepresentation and fraud becomes extraordinarily difficult.?
Mr. Grobman agrees, arguing that the involvement of MERS in the Kline case allowed the law firms to charge improper fees. ?Both Wells Fargo, MERS and their attorneys in this action could falsely represent that the first and second mortgage were owned by different entities,? he said, ?and could pass on the legal fees and expenses purportedly incurred in the suit.???
And what about the Klines? They now rent a home. ?It?s a rental that we were blessed enough to be able to rent from a friend,? said Ms. Kline.
Source: http://www.robertpaulsells.com/blog/mortgage-registry-muddles-foreclosures-waccabuc-real-estate/
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Kenyan security forces patrol riot-hit Mombasa
Kenyan security forces patrolled the riot-hit streets of Mombasa on Friday as Muslims held the main weekly prayers, with streets calm but police reporting they were ready "for anything".
Kenyan authorities insist security has been restored after days of deadly protests that erupted after the assassination of radical Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammed on Monday.
"Everything is under control. We have not had any reports of planned protests after the prayers, but we are prepared for anything," regional police chief Aggrey Adoli said.
For two days, angry youths fought running battles with police, looted churches and torched cars, while two grenades were hurled at police trucks in two separate attacks, killing three officers and wounding over a dozen.
"We have not had any incidents since Wednesday night," Red Cross official Sadik Kakai said.
Anti-riot police on Friday had blocked off several areas to vehicles, residents said.
"Streets in the Majengo area have been cut off... There is some kind of curfew going on. There are people who spent the whole of Thursday indoors," said Juma Kijipwe, a trader who owns a phone shop.
Foreign embassies -- including those of Australia, Britain, France and the United States -- have issued travel warnings for Mombasa, where several large tourist resorts are based.
The murdered cleric -- popularly known as Rogo -- was on US and UN sanctions lists for allegedly supporting neighbouring Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants.
Rogo had fiercely opposed Kenya's invasion of southern Somalia last year to attack Shebab bases. The United States and United Nations had accused him of recruiting and fundraising for the extremist insurgents.
Police also beefed up security in the capital Nairobi, fearing potential demonstrations there, with the extremist Muslim Youth Centre (MYC) that Rogo once led issuing threats of protests.
On Thursday, President Mwai Kibaki flew to Mombasa to open a trade fair, a longstanding engagement, but one also viewed as a government effort to show confidence in security in the city, Kenya's main port and a key tourist hub.
"We must maintain peace, which is the foundation of democracy," Kibaki said. "We must embrace tolerance and co-exist peacefully as one nation."
Rogo was killed in Mombasa when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his vehicle as he was driving with his wife and children, leaving it riddled with bullets.
Human Rights Watch has called for a probe into the killing, noting that it "follows the abductions and deaths earlier this year of several other people charged with recruitment and other offences related to the Shebab".
Rogo's supporters accused the security forces of murdering him, calling his death an "extra-judicial killing". The police reject the claim and have appealed for help in hunting down those responsible.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-security-forces-patrol-riot-hit-mombasa-092739033.html
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