Link between faster 'biological' aging and risk of developing age-related diseases

Mar. 27, 2013 ? An international team of scientists led by the University of Leicester has found new evidence that links faster 'biological' ageing to the risk of developing several age-related diseases -- including heart disease, multiple sclerosis and various cancers.

The study involved scientists in 14 centres across 8 countries, working as part of the ENGAGE Consortium (list of research teams is give below). The research is published online today (27^th March) in the journal Nature Genetics.

The project studied a feature of chromosomes called telomeres. Telomeres sit on the end of our chromosomes -- the strands of DNA stored in the nucleus of cells. The telomeres shorten each time a cell divides to make new cells, until they reach a critical short length and the cells enter an inactive state and then die. Therefore telomeres shorten as an individual gets older. But, individuals are born with different telomere lengths and the rate at which they subsequently shorten can also vary. The speed with which telomeres wear down is a measure of 'biological ageing'.

Professor Nilesh Samani, British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology at the University of Leicester and Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, who led the project said: "Although heart disease and cancers are more common as one gets older, not everyone gets them -- and some people get them at an earlier age. It has been suspected that the occurrence of these diseases may in part be related to some people "biologically" ageing more quickly than others."

The research team measured telomere lengths in over 48,000 individuals and looked at their DNA and identified seven genetic variants that were associated with telomere length. They then asked the question whether these genetic variants also affected risk of various diseases. As DNA cannot be changed by lifestyle or environmental factors, an association of these genetic variants which affect telomere length with a disease also would suggest a causal link between telomere length and that disease.

The scientists found that the variants were indeed linked to risk of several types of cancers including colorectal cancer as well as diseases like multiple sclerosis and celiac disease. Most interestingly, the authors found that in aggregate the seven variants also associated with risk of coronary artery disease which can lead to heart attacks.

Professor Samani added: "These are really exciting findings. We had previous evidence that shorter telomere lengths are associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease but were not sure whether this association was causal or not. This research strongly suggests that biological ageing plays an important role in causing coronary artery disease, the commonest cause of death in the world. This provides a novel way of looking at the disease and at least partly explains why some patients develop it early and others don't develop it at all even if they carry other risk factors."

Dr Veryan Codd, Senior Research Associate at the University of Leicester who co-ordinated the study and carried out the majority of the telomere length measurements said: "The findings open of the possibility that manipulating telomere length could have health benefits. While there is a long way to go before any clinical application, there are data in experimental models where lengthening telomere length has been shown to retard and in some situations reverse age-related changes in several organs."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Leicester.

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Journal Reference:

1. Veryan Codd, Christopher P Nelson, Eva Albrecht, Massimo Mangino, Joris Deelen, Jessica L Buxton, Jouke Jan Hottenga, Krista Fischer, T?nu Esko, Ida Surakka, Linda Broer, Dale R Nyholt, Irene Mateo Leach, Perttu Salo, Sara H?gg, Mary K Matthews, Jutta Palmen, Giuseppe D Norata, Paul F O'Reilly, Danish Saleheen, Najaf Amin, Anthony J Balmforth, Marian Beekman, Rudolf A de Boer, Stefan B?hringer, Peter S Braund, Paul R Burton, Anton J Mde Craen, Matthew Denniff, Yanbin Dong, Konstantinos Douroudis, Elena Dubinina, Johan G Eriksson, Katia Garlaschelli, Dehuang Guo, Anna-Liisa Hartikainen, Anjali K Henders, Jeanine J Houwing-Duistermaat, Laura Kananen, Lennart C Karssen, Johannes Kettunen, Norman Klopp, Vasiliki Lagou, Elisabeth M van Leeuwen, Pamela A Madden, Reedik M?gi, Patrik K E Magnusson, Satu M?nnist?, Mark I McCarthy, Sarah E Medland, Evelin Mihailov, Grant W Montgomery, Ben A Oostra, Aarno Palotie, Annette Peters, Helen Pollard, Anneli Pouta, Inga Prokopenko, Samuli Ripatti, Veikko Salomaa, H Eka D Suchiman, Ana M Valdes, Niek Verweij, Ana Vi?uela, Xiaoling Wang, H-Erich Wichmann, Elisabeth Widen, Gonneke Willemsen, Margaret J Wright, Kai Xia, Xiangjun Xiao, Dirk J van Veldhuisen, Alberico L Catapano, Martin D Tobin, Alistair S Hall, Alexandra I F Blakemore, Wiek H van Gilst, Haidong Zhu, CARDIoGRAM consortium, Jeanette Erdmann, Muredach P Reilly, Sekar Kathiresan, Heribert Schunkert, Philippa J Talmud, Nancy L Pedersen, Markus Perola, Willem Ouwehand, Jaakko Kaprio, Nicholas G Martin, Cornelia M van Duijn, Iiris Hovatta, Christian Gieger, Andres Metspalu, Dorret I Boomsma, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, P Eline Slagboom, John R Thompson, Tim D Spector, Pim van der Harst, Nilesh J Samani. Identification of seven loci affecting mean telomere length and their association with disease. Nature Genetics, 2013; 45 (4): 422 DOI: 10.1038/ng.2528

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/i6UmrgokBGg/130327133339.htm

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(VIDEO): PDK director says new hangar construction underway ...

Construction of more than 50 new hangars at the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport is underway, the airport director says.

PDK Director Mike Van Wie spoke to the Buckhead Business Association on March 28. He said the project cost more than the original $5 million budget because of federal environmental regulations. Total construction costs will be around $8.3 million, he said.

?Broke ground on the hangar project last week,? Van Wie said.

Van Wie said there will be an official groundbreaking ceremony in April.

During his remarks, Van Wie talked about the economic benefits of general aviation. PDK provides general aviation services, meaning it does not handle commercial or freight traffic. The airport is located on Chamblee Tucker Road and is the second busiest airport in Georgia.

?We?re a general aviation reliever airport,? Van Wie said. ?That reliever designation is important to us. We relieve Hartsfield of the business jets, the Cessna 172s, the prop planes. That reliever status qualifies us for a separate pool of federal money that?s available for capital improvement.?

He said the airport brings in $39.9 million in tax revenue to DeKalb County and traffic at the airport creates 1,834 jobs.

Van Wie said the airport has felt little impact from the sequestration, a series of automatic federal budget cuts that began in March. He said PDK air traffic controllers are federal employees while other Georgia airports use contractors for those jobs.

While PDK receives federal money for improvement projects and air traffic controllers, Van Wie said the current president isn?t a friend of general aviation. Van Wie talked at length about No Plane No Gain advocacy program, a joint effort of the National Business Aviation Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. The group has taken issue with President Obama?s criticism of corporate jets as unnecessary luxuries.

?The current administration has been beating up general aviation at every opportunity,? Van Wie said. ?The No Plane No Gain program started in defense of our industry.?

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Source: http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2013/03/28/video-pdk-director-says-new-hangar-construction-underway/

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Prosperity Prayer Any Man, Woman And Child Can Use

Tags: attraction, success, abundance, wealth, money, motivational, self improvement, self improvement and motivation, finances, spiritual

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What is Gods will for His children? It is to have abundance and prosperity in every aspect of their lives. How can we be sure about this? First of all it is Gods nature to be good. Moreover, His will and promises are written clearly in the Scriptures--words that have seen centuries of lives transformed through knowing His purposes and desires. So how can I get to the wealth that is reserved for me? Is there a prosperity prayer out there that God will hear and answer?

Wait, before you start reciting every prayer you have ever heard,you need to know that its not so much what you say but why and how you say it. God is not after your words or any offering you might give--He wants your heart. He is eager to see you blessed so there is no need to beg for meager resources to get you by. See the whole world as this overflowing abundance of gifts designed with you in mind. Knowing God's goodness will allow you to trust in His providence for your life.

Now you have abundance and prosperity deposited in your account; how can you withdraw from it? By praying according to His promises as stated in the Bible. Agree with His Word and speak prosperity over your life. There is nothing more effective in bringing about change than divine creative word given full reign in somebody's life. Acknowledge your position as a rightful heir to these promises and watch the power of your prosperity prayer begin to manifest. You can use this prayer as a guide:

Father God, I honor You for who You are to me. You are a holy and mighty God, (Luke 1:49) Nothing is impossible for you. (Jeremiah 32:27) All things on earth you have given for man to enjoy, (Psalm 115:16; Jeremiah 27:5) You want only the best for me. (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13) It is Your desire to prosper me (Proverbs 28:35) All because You love me. (Jeremiah 31:3; John 1:17; Romans 8:31)

I enter into Your presence bringing with me your promises. You are God and there is no deceit or failure in what You have uttered. (Titus 1:2) When there is no way, I trust You will make one for me. (Joshua 2:10). You give me the wisdom and strength to create wealth, (Deuteronomy 8:18) And You will exceed every goal I set for myself. (Ephesians 3:20)

There is power in Your Word (Hebrews 1:3) It frames the whole world as we know it. (Hebrews 11:3) I agree and speak out Your Word, I trust that it will be as You said. Thank You Father, Your goodness and love surrounds me. I bless Your Name, Amen.

It is vital that you do not entertain negative energy that is bound to come against you one way or another. Combat this by thinking of all the things that are good in your life and start giving thanks for them"no matter how insignificant they may seem at first. There is a peace that will settle in your heart as you do so.

Pray this prosperity prayer whenever you can. It is not a formula or a magic charm to get your prosperity. This prayer serves to remind you of the abundant blessings coming your way, thus strengthening your faith. Use other scriptural verses that you feel a connection to you to. What is important is that you understand that you and your household are title holders to the divine prosperity" and its time to claim it today.

About the Author

Zoe Smith recognizes abundance and prosperity in her life. Learn ways to develop your Prosperity Prayer today.

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Todays Writing

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Source: http://www.todayswriting.com/19859/Prosperity-Prayer-Any-Man-Woman-And-Child-Can-Use/

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How to Write a Screenplay: 7 Starting Tips for Adapting Your Own ...

How to Write a Screenplay: 7 Starting Tips for Adapting Your Own Novel

photo by esotericsean

Plenty of times, writers come up with an idea for a novel that could translate visually to film. The good news is that if you want to see your manuscript converted into a screenplay, there are two different routes that would make an adaptation possible.

Most books that get released by a major publisher or are repped by an established agency get passed to an agent who tries to drum up interest in film/TV rights for a project. This makes total sense. A writer creates a good story, so the obvious goal is to sell it through every means possible ? be that print books, e-books, foreign rights translations, serial excerpts, audio books, and, yes, movies/TV. If your new book-to-film agent (usually brought onboard by your book agent) can generate adaptation interest from producers, your work gets bought/optioned by Hollywood, and you?re off and running. This exact thing happened to my humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack. Sony optioned the book and hired a screenwriter to adapt the work.
But what if you want to see your work adapted into a screenplay, but are either indie-publishing it or the work hasn?t sold yet? The obvious option is to ?

ADAPT IT YOURSELF: 7 IMPORTANT TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
You can always just take matters into your own hands and compose the script yourself on spec. But the truth is that writing a screenplay is a completely different monster than tackling a novel or memoir. If your finished product doesn?t fit the usual mold of what a screenplay should look like, then a producer or agent won?t even consider it, and your time was wasted. So with that in mind, I wanted to lay out several simple-yet-important tips on how to write a script for any persons considering adapting their own book into a screenplay. Keeping in mind there is still much more to learn beyond this post, here are 7 basic pieces of advice to get you started if the concept of scriptwriting is new to you.

1. Watch your length.
Just as books have typical word count ranges, screenplays have length requirements, too ? and the recommended length for a beginner?s screenplay is 90-109 pages. Since each page represents one minute of screentime, that sets up your movie to be 90-109 minutes. Most writers go wrong in this arena by trending long.

2. Screenplays thrive on minimalism.
Always be thinking about how to cut, cut, cut. Screenplays rely on brevity. When characters have to say something, the best value you can provide is getting your point across in as few words of dialogue as possible. When you have to describe a scene or explain that a helicopter explodes, the quicker you can properly convey such information, the better you are. Give us information and dialogue in short, quick bursts. A lot of your novel will end up on the cutting room floor throughout the adaptation ? and that?s OK. Plenty of a novel/memoir content does not translate well visually to the screen, so cutting out sections or characters or subplots actually will improve your final script. (If you?re not good at killing your darlings, perhaps screenwriting is not the best arena for you.)

And speaking of minimalism, it?s your job to write, not direct. That means you should never include any camera notes such as ?Dolly in? or ?Close up.? Avoid these directorial cues on every page.
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Source: http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-write-screenplay-7-starting-tips.html

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Astronomers discover new kind of supernova

Mar. 26, 2013 ? Supernovae were always thought to occur in two main varieties. But a team of astronomers including Carnegie's Wendy Freedman, Mark Phillips and Eric Persson is reporting the discovery of a new type of supernova called Type Iax.

This research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Previously, supernovae were divided into either core-collapse or Type Ia categories. Core-collapse supernovae are the explosion of a star about 10 to 100 times as massive as our sun. Type Ia supernovae are the complete disruption of a tiny white dwarf.

This new type, Iax, is fainter and less energetic than Type Ia. Although both types come from exploding white dwarfs, Type Iax supernovas may not completely destroy the white dwarf. "A Type Iax supernova is essentially a mini supernova," says lead author Ryan Foley, Clay Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "It's the runt of the supernova litter."

The research team--which also included Max Stritzinger, formerly of Carnegie--identified 25 examples of the new type of supernova. None of them appeared in elliptical galaxies, which are filled with old stars. This suggests that Type Iax supernovas come from young star systems.

Based on a variety of observational data, the team concluded that a Type Iax supernova comes from a binary star system containing a white dwarf and a companion star that has lost its outer hydrogen, leaving it helium dominated. The white dwarf collects helium from the normal star.

Researchers aren't sure what triggers a Type Iax. It's possible that the outer helium layer ignites first, sending a shock wave into the white dwarf. Alternatively, the white dwarf might ignite first due to the influence of the overlying helium shell.

Either way, it appears that in many cases the white dwarf survives the explosion, unlike in a Type Ia supernova where the white dwarf is completely destroyed.

The team calculates that Type Iax supernovae are about a third as common as Type Ia supernovae. The reason so few have been detected is that the faintest are only one-hundredth as bright as a Type Ia supernova.

"The closer we look, the more ways we find for stars to explode," Phillips said.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope could discover thousands of Type Iax supernovas over its lifetime.

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Journal Reference:

1. Ryan J. Foley, P. J. Challis, R. Chornock, M. Ganeshalingam, W. Li, G. H. Marion, N. I. Morrell, G. Pignata, M. D. Stritzinger, J. M. Silverman, X. Wang, J. P. Anderson, A. V. Filippenko, W. L. Freedman, M. Hamuy, S. W. Jha, R. P. Kirshner, C. McCully, S. E. Persson, M. M. Phillips, D. E. Reichart, A. M. Soderberg. Type Iax Supernovae: A New Class of Stellar Explosion. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 767 (1): 57 DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/767/1/57

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/zVYa_cE92VM/130326133337.htm

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T-Mobile's Sonic 2.0 mobile hotspot revealed, brings LTE-powered WiFi to the masses

T-Mobile's UnCarrier announcement event is taking place a little later today, but some bits of news have started to leak out ahead of time. First was the BlackBerry Z10, and now comes an LTE mobile hotspot, the Sonic 2.0. It's T-mo's first LTE mifi and can feed data to up to eight devices at a time. Not only that, it's compatible with both Mac OSX 10.8 and Windows 8, plus Microsofties get the added benefit of compatibility with the Win8 Carrier application so users can easily access real-time data usage info for every connected gadget. As for the hardware, the Sonic 2.0 has a 1.77-inch color LCD on the front, a 3,000 mAh battery, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and quadband LTE and 3G radios on board. There's also a MicroSD slot for simple file sharing of up to 32GB cards. It'll be available by the end of the month, though we don't yet know how much it'll cost. Guess you'll have to tune into our liveblog to find out.

Filed under: Wireless, Internet, Mobile

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Via: Laptop Mag

Source: T-Mobile

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobiles-sonic-2-0-mifi-lte/

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Sony announces more indie partnerships, Blacklight: Retribution and Primal Carnage: Genesis for PS4

At GDC 2013 Sony has decided to focus on its relationships with indie developers, revealing free-to-play PC shooter Blacklight: Retribution and episodic adventure Primal Carnage: Genesis are coming to the PlayStation 4. That makes three self-published games destined for Sony's next-gen console, including Jonathan Blow's The Witness. Blacklight: Retribution is also making use of Sony's Pub Fund for financial and marketing support, the first game on the platform to do so. Sony hasn't forgotten about its existing platforms however, also announcing Spelunky and Divekick for PS3 and Vita, Metrico for Vita, and the handheld debut of Limbo on Vita later this year. Check after the break for a press release that details the announcements, plus trailers for several of the new games.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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Via: Joystiq

Source: PlayStation.Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/44A8Wapebsk/

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