Study reveals new clues to Epstein-Barr virus

Friday, February 22, 2013

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) affects more than 90 percent of the population worldwide and was the first human virus found to be associated with cancer. Now, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have broadened the understanding of this widespread infection with their discovery of a second B-cell attachment receptor for EBV.

The new findings, which currently appear on-line in Cell Reports, reinforce current directions being taken in the development of a vaccine to guard against EBV, and raise important new questions regarding the virus's possible relationship to malaria and to autoimmune diseases.

"Our discovery that CD35 is an attachment receptor for EBV helps explain several previously unsolved observations," explains the study's senior author Joyce Fingeroth, MD, a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

First discovered in the early 1960s, EBV is one of eight viruses in the human herpesvirus family. The virus affects nine out of 10 people at some point in their lifetimes. Infections in early childhood often cause no disease symptoms, but people infected during adolescence or young adulthood may develop infectious mononucleosis. EBV is also associated with several types of cancer, including Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and has been linked to certain autoimmune disorders.

"EBV was the first human virus that was discovered to be a tumor virus," explains Fingeroth. "In fact, individuals who have had infectious mononucleosis have a four times increased risk of developing Hodgkin's disease." After the initial infection, the EBV virus remains in a person's body for life.

To gain entry, viruses must first attach to their host cells. For herpesviruses, receptors on the viral envelope become connected to complementary receptors on the cell membrane. In the case of EBV, the virus gains access to the immune system by attaching to primary B cells.

Nearly 30 years ago, Fingeroth and her colleagues discovered that this attachment occurs via the CD21 protein, which until now was the only known B cell attachment receptor for EBV. The recent finding that B cells from a patient lacking CD21 can be infected and immortalized by EBV had indicated that an alternative attachment receptor must exist. The identification of this second receptor -- CD35 -- by Fingeroth's team, led by first author Javier Ogembo, PhD, of BIDMC and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, not only underscores an important finding regarding primary infection but also underscores the importance of EBVgp350/220, (the virus protein that has been found to bind to both attachment receptors) for the development of a vaccine against EBV.

"The EBV glycoprotein gp350/220 is the most abundant surface glycoprotein on the virus," notes Fingeroth, adding that these results further suggest the virus fusion apparatus is the same for both receptors. "An EBV vaccine might be able to prevent infection or, alternatively, greatly reduce a person's risk of developing infectious mononucleosis and EBV-associated cancers, without necessarily preventing the EBV infection itself."

Interestingly, she adds, whereas a human has now been identified to be lacking the CD21 receptor, no persons are known to lack CD35.

"CD35 is a latecomer in evolution and in its current form, exists only in humans," says Fingeroth. "We know that it is often targeted in autoimmune diseases and was recently identified as a malaria receptor. Our new discovery may, therefore, reveal new avenues for the exploration of unexplained links between EBV, autoimmune diseases, malaria and cancer."

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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu

Thanks to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126972/Study_reveals_new_clues_to_Epstein_Barr_virus

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Denver parks shuts down sports fields through April 1 due to drought

(John Leyba, Denver Post file)

A prolonged drought is forcing Denver Parks and Recreation to close its grass sports fields for soccer and lacrosse until April 1 ? which will keep thousands of children and adults from playing their sports.

The news of the closure came only 15 days before the start of the spring season for most teams.

"Disappointing," said Aaron Nagle, executive director of Skyline Soccer Association, which has about 3,000 players ages 3-18. "We had the same conditions last year. I said we need to prepare. Then 15 days before we are supposed to start, this e-mail goes out."

Nagle sent e-mails to members of his organization, asking them to contact City Hall and push for a short-term solution for this season and to come up

Coach Alex Vigill of Native Lacrosse, Inc. is teaching youths fundamental Lacrosse techniques at Harvey Park in Denver, Colo., on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. (Hyoung Chang, DenverPost)

with a long-term plan to deal with drought conditions.

City officials, who say the fields are too vulnerable after more than a year of drought conditions, on Friday sent out an e-mail to notify organizations that fields in 80 to 100 parks will be shut down. Fields for baseball and softball will open March 18 ? but not for soccer and other field sports.

"We don't have a lot of moisture," said parks spokesman Jeff Green. "(Wednesday) night's snow helped, but we will need more. If we were to let a lot of activity start up, the fields are going to get torn up and the grass will disintegrate. It jeopardizes keeping the fields open for the remainder of the season."

READ the letter from Prescription Root Zone, the sports turf consulting company that recommended the shutdown.

Denver officials sought the opinion of Prescription Root Zone, an international sports turf consulting company based in Colorado Springs. The firm's president advised the city to close the fields to allow the grass that has been dormant during winter to restore itself.

"If play is allowed on the drought-dormant grasses, the turf will be completely destroyed, and there is not enough sod in this region to replace all that would be destroyed nor the money it would take to do so," said Larry D. Musser in a Feb. 14 letter to the city.

Musser said allowing soccer to be played on the field would be "a disaster waiting to happen."

The city's golf courses are not being closed, but that could change, Green said.

"We have considered closing golf courses on rotating basis. But we are not seeing a tremendous overuse that we couldn't repair," he said.

The parks department will begin posting signs with closure information in the parks and at the fields. The closed areas will be monitored by city staff and rangers through April 1.

A message sent to sports organizations said groups that are found practicing or playing on the fields will be warned or issued citations and asked to leave the field.

The city is also delaying sending invoices to groups that have requested to use the fields for the summer. City officials will monitor the grass and moisture content daily. If conditions don't improve, the fields could be closed beyond April 1, Green said.

"March is typically our snowiest month," he said. "We are hoping that will help things."

Denver

Coach Mike King of the Broomfield Soccer Club U9 practice at Highland Park in Broomfield getting ready for their game over the weekend. (John Leyba, Denver Post)

Public Schools, which has 362 acres of irrigated playgrounds and sports fields that normally consume 400 million gallons of water a year, is examining whether to shut down access to its fields. District officials will meet with Denver Water to figure out the next steps, but at this point, the district's fields are still open for the spring.

Ian Olson, who coaches his second-grade daughter's team, the Cobras, said he was planning to start practices Monday.

"I understand that the drought is impactful," he said, "but to close down the entire parks system because they are afraid of the fields getting torn up, ... you would think that they would have had a plan in place to mitigate for a shortage of water."

Bernie Woessner, whose sons have been playing soccer for Skyline for about seven years, said he wishes the parks department would help work out a solution. Now, kids in suburban communities will have access to fields, putting Denver's teams at a disadvantage.

Ultimately, he said, if the season gets canceled, a nearly 50-year-old nonprofit organization such as Skyline would have to refund all of its players their entry fees and it may not be able to survive.

"I think they could be flexible to make it work, by alternating fields," he said. "It's pretty disappointing for them to shut it down with no cooperation to figure out a solution."

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, jpmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dp-news-local/~3/Pv5JK5AT66U/denver-parks-shuts-down-sports-fields-through-april

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Poll: President's approval declines, governor's grows

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

A new University of North Florida poll reveals that President Barack Obama's approval ratings have dropped since March among Duval County residents, from 47 percent to 43 percent.

Contrarily, Gov. Rick Scott's approval ratings have improved since then, with a 6 percent increase to a 51 percent approval rating.

Reducing crime was third on the list of priorities for the adult Duval County residents who were polled, with 13 percent of the respondents believing that it was a top priority, after improving the economy/creating jobs and improving the quality of public education.

In conjunction with these findings, 52 percent of Jacksonville residents were either somewhat or very fearful of becoming victims of crime, compared to 49 percent in March. Regardless of this finding, the Jacksonville Sherriff's Office still received a high approval rating of 71 percent, similar to the 72 percent approval it received last March.

Despite a majority of respondents replying that they were fearful of becoming a victim of crime, the polls reveal that only 40 percent of the respondents, or people in their household, owned a gun, in contrast with the 52 percent who didn't own a gun. Six percent of the respondents either didn't know or declined to answer.

The survey was conducted through the use of a 27-station telephone-polling laboratory at UNF. A polling sample was selected through the use of Random-Digit-Dialing methodology. A cellphone sample and an overlay sample were used to increase representation. Age, gender, race and party registration were weighted to the 2010 U.S. Census, as well as to statistics from the Supervisor of Elections for Duval County registered voters.

The survey was conducted between Feb. 4 and Feb. 12, and includes 917 residents (+/- 3.23 percent) in Duval County. About 210 UNF political science students participated in the data collection.

Source: http://www.news4jax.com/news/Poll-President-s-approval-declines-governor-s-grows/-/475880/19018436/-/nmk8bkz/-/index.html

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Chrome's App Launcher Runs Chrome Apps on Your Desktop, Available on Dev Channel Now

Google just added a new feature, currently available on Chrome's dev channel for Windows, that launches Chrome apps outside the browser, from the Windows taskbar. Here's how it works.

Similar to the app launcher on Chromebooks, Windows users can now launch Chrome apps right from the taskbar. Regular Chrome apps will open up in a Chrome tab, but the launcher is really designed for "Chrome-packaged apps," a special type of app that will open in its own window, work offline by default, and have access to other integration features not available to Chrome's regular application shortcuts. Right now, it doesn't look like there are a lot of Chrome-packaged apps out there?Gmail and Google Drive aren't even among the few)?and there's no way to search the Chrome Web Store for them yet.

To try out the launcher, grab a Chrome-packaged app like the Text Drive text editor from Chrome's web store. When you do, you'll be prompted to install the launcher to your taskbar, after which you can launch Text Drive in its own window. The launcher will also list your other Google Chrome apps like Gmail and Google Drive, but you'll only be able to open them as tabs in Chrome for now. Again, this feature is still in early stages, so hopefully we'll see more supported apps soon. Google also says a Mac and Linux version is on the way, so stay tuned. Hit the link to read more.

Chrome app launcher developer preview | The Chromium Blog

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Bs62AOI6ztg/chromes-app-launcher-runs-chrome-apps-on-your-desktop-available-on-dev-channel-now

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RIAA stamps its feet, demands Google do more to stop piracy

He gained a few unexpected fans in the gay community?today, but notoriously God-fearing quarterback Tim Tebow may have scared off the very supporters who saw him as a Christian celebrity even as his NFL career has fizzled ? they're calling his about-face on an anti-gay marriage pastor "disastrous," and declaring "his street cred with the evangelical community" all but gone.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/riaa-stamps-feet-demands-google-more-stop-piracy-222558411.html

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Man who killed ex-girlfriend in fire is first Texas execution of year

REUTERS/Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Handout

Carl Henry Blue is seen in an undated handout photo from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The state of Texas is preparing to execute Blue for killing his former girlfriend in 1994 by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire.

By James B. Kelleher, Reuters

The state of Texas on Thursday executed a man convicted of killing his former girlfriend in 1994 by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire.

Carl Henry Blue, 48, was put to death by lethal injection at the state penitentiary at Huntsville, said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. local time.

Blue was convicted of killing ex-girlfriend Carmen Richards-Sanders, 38, in her apartment in Bryan, Texas, as she was getting ready to leave for work.

His execution was the first this year in Texas, which leads the United States in executions, and the second in the country. Robert Gleason, 42, was electrocuted by the state of Virginia on January 16.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17048756-man-who-killed-ex-girlfriend-in-fire-is-first-texas-execution-of-year?lite

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Nearly a decade since the Iraq War started: Share your story

A U.S. soldier walks next to an Iraqi child in Mosul, Iraq, in 2008. (Petros Giannakouris/AP)

On March 19, 2003, the U.S. began military operations in Iraq.

For nearly nine years, America?s profile in the region shifted between invader, liberator, occupier, nation-builder, caretaker and more.

When the U.S. officially ended the war on Dec. 15, 2011, and withdrew the last of its combat troops, the nation had seen 4,409 Americans killed in Iraq and 31,926 more wounded in action. (The number of Iraqi deaths are estimated at 122,000 through today.) At times during the 2007 surge, the number of U.S. boots on the ground grew to nearly 150,000.

Behind those numbers, of course, lie personal stories of service members and their families. As we approach the exact date of the anniversary, Yahoo News is inviting you to share your stories. We?re publishing first-person stories written not only by Americans who served in Iraq in the past 10 years, but also family members of troops, to hear how they?ve changed, too.

If you?re interested in sharing your story, please go to Yahoo! Contributor Network for more details. If you have questions, please email us at contributor-news@yahoo-inc.com.

Stories that we accept will be published under your byline on Yahoo News. The deadline for submissions is March 7.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to receiving your first-person account.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/10-years-since-iraq-war-started-share-story-225440850.html

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