'How dare they?' Hours after being kicked out of Nevada Legislature, ex-lawmaker arrested

By Ken Ritter, The Associated Press

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. via AP

Nevada state Assembly member Steven Brooks is seen in a booking photo Feb. 10, 2013 after he was arrested on charges that he physically attacked a family member and grabbed for a police officer's weapon over the weekend.

Former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks has been arrested in California on charges including resisting arrest and throwing objects, just hours after he became the first lawmaker ever expelled from the Nevada Legislature.?

Jail records show Barstow police arrested Brooks, 41, at about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 at Stoddard Wells.?

"We had started to discuss possible next steps," Mitchell Posin, Brooks' attorney, told The Associated Press Friday. "Next thing I know, I heard about this."?

Posin said he had no details about the arrest, or about why Brooks was on the interstate in Barstow.?

Records show the North Las Vegas Democrat was taken to a San Bernardino County jail in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., on $100,000 bail.?

The Nevada Assembly voted Thursday morning to oust Brooks, after Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, called him "potentially dangerous" and said lawmakers didn't feel safe with him in the building.?

"This really saddens me," Horne said Friday, after learning of the arrest. "I hope they get Steven the help he clearly needs before he or someone else is hurt or worse."?

This is the third time Brooks has been arrested since January.?

He's accused of making threats toward his colleagues, including Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. Police said Brooks had a gun and ammunition in his car. No charges have been filed.?

He was arrested again Feb. 10 at his estranged wife's home in Las Vegas after police say he threw punches and grabbed for the gun of an officer who responded to a domestic dispute. He faces a court hearing in May in Las Vegas on one felony and three lesser charges.?

Brooks also was denied the purchase of a gun in Sparks last month after he was banished from the chambers. Posin said there's been a misunderstanding and Brooks poses no real threat to anyone.?

Horne said Brooks' unpredictable behavior ? which included missing meetings, calling news conferences he never showed up for, and posing shirtless for a Las Vegas newspaper ? had made the session look "more like a circus and daytime drama than a serious legislative body."?

Cathleen Allison / AP

Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, hugs Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, following an emotional and historic vote to expel fellow Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, during the Assembly floor session at the Legislative Building in Carson City, Nev., on March 27.

It led to hours of closed meetings and a Select Committee hearing Tuesday night in which a panel voted 6-1 to recommend to expel Brooks.?

The committee said a 900-page investigative report that members reviewed was not made public because of the private nature of the findings.?

Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, was the lone dissenter on the committee, saying she preferred a less harsh penalty like suspension.?

Neal choked on emotion before the Assembly Thursday, often pausing to gain composure during her remarks.?

"I understand that expulsion is the highest form of discipline," Neal said. "I also understand that the action is the equivalent of political death on all levels, whether it be suspension or expulsion."?

But, she added, "I believe in the human form in all its frailties and all of its faults.?

"I also believe in the power of human recovery."?

After the somber 32-minute floor session, Neal was consoled by Horne, who chaired the Select Committee that recommended Brooks' ouster.?

"We did not feel safe having Assemblyman Brooks in this building," Horne said. "We wanted to protect people in this building and go about our business."?

Reached immediately after the vote, Brooks was aghast.?

"How dare they?" Brooks told the AP in a brief telephone interview. "I've been convicted of nothing."?

Brooks alleged during the interview that unspecified opponents have tried to kill him. He didn't take questions.?

Brooks won re-election in November by a 2-1 margin over an unknown challenger.?

It was the first time the Legislature initiated the expulsion of a member since a lawmaker was accused of libeling other members in 1867. However, that case never came to a formal vote.?

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Gene discovery may yield lettuce that will sprout in hot weather

Mar. 28, 2013 ? A team of researchers, led by a University of California, Davis, plant scientist, has identified a lettuce gene and related enzyme that put the brakes on germination during hot weather -- a discovery that could lead to lettuces that can sprout year-round, even at high temperatures.

The study also included researchers from Arcadia Biosciences and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India.

The finding is particularly important to the nearly $2 billion lettuce industries of California and Arizona, which together produce more than 90 percent of the nation's lettuce. The study results appear online in the journal The Plant Cell.

"Discovery of the genes will enable plant breeders to develop lettuce varieties that can better germinate and grow to maturity under high temperatures," said the study's lead author Kent Bradford, a professor of plant sciences and director of the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center.

"And because this mechanism that inhibits hot-weather germination in lettuce seeds appears to be quite common in many plant species, we suspect that other crops also could be modified to improve their germination," he said. "This could be increasingly important as global temperatures are predicted to rise."

Most lettuce varieties flower in spring or early summer and then drop their seeds -- a trait that is likely linked to their origin in the Mediterranean region, which, like California, characteristically has dry summers. Scientists have observed for years that a built-in dormancy mechanism seems to prevent lettuce seeds from germinating under conditions that would be too hot and dry to sustain growth. While this naturally occurring inhibition works well in the wild, it is an obstacle to commercial lettuce production.

In the California and Arizona lettuce industries, lettuce seeds are planted somewhere every day of the year -- even in September in the Imperial Valley of California and near Yuma, Ariz., where fall temperatures frequently reach 110 degrees.

In order to jump-start seed germination for a winter crop in these hot climates, lettuce growers have turned to cooling the soil with sprinkler irrigation or priming the seeds to germinate by pre-soaking them at cool temperatures and re-drying them before planting -- methods that are expensive and not always successful.

In the new study, researchers turned to lettuce genetics to better understand the temperature-related mechanisms governing seed germination. They identified a region of chromosome six in a wild ancestor of commercial lettuce varieties that enables seeds to germinate in warm temperatures. When that chromosome region was crossed into cultivated lettuce varieties, those varieties gained the ability to germinate in warm temperatures.

Further genetic mapping studies zeroed in on a specific gene that governs production of a plant hormone called abscisic acid -- known to inhibit seed germination. The newly identified gene "turns on" in most lettuce seeds when the seed is exposed to moisture at warm temperatures, increasing production of abscisic acid. In the wild ancestor that the researchers were studying, however, this gene does not turn on at high temperatures. As a result, abscisic acid is not produced and the seeds can still germinate.

The researchers then demonstrated that they could either "silence" or mutate the germination-inhibiting gene in cultivated lettuce varieties, thus enabling those varieties to germinate and grow even in high temperatures.

Other researchers on the study were: Post-doctoral researcher Heqiang Huo and staff researcher Peetambar Dahal, both of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences; Keshavulu Kunusoth of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India; and Claire McCallum of Arcadia Biosciences, which provided the lettuce lines with variants of the target gene to help confirm the study's findings.

Funding for the study was provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

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Journal Reference:

1. H. Huo, P. Dahal, K. Kunusoth, C. M. McCallum, K. J. Bradford. Expression of 9-cis-EPOXYCAROTENOID DIOXYGENASE4 Is Essential for Thermoinhibition of Lettuce Seed Germination but Not for Seed Development or Stress Tolerance. The Plant Cell, 2013; DOI: 10.1105/tpc.112.108902

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/most_popular/~3/l_5Ao2sF1pE/130329125309.htm

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The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: My Dreamlapse

Mixing serene stop-motion scenes with abstract 3D animation, digital artist Mitch Myers delivers a haunting vision of his dreams. Which are apparently far better than my dreams. Those typically involve me running from hordes of the undead while dragging a footlocker full of avocados. Go figure. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/kO0YkR-a6Ac/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-my-dreamscape

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Cell reprogramming during liver regeneration

Friday, March 29, 2013

During embryonic development, animals generate many different types of cells, each with a distinct function and identity.

"Although the identities of these cells remain stable under normal conditions, some cells can be persuaded to take on new identities, through reprogramming," says Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Researchers have been able to reprogram cells experimentally, but few have shown that cells can change their identities under normal physiological conditions in the body, particularly in mammals.

In the cover article of this month's issue of Genes and Development, Stanger, PhD candidate Kilangsungla Yanger, Yiwei Zong, PhD, and their colleagues, did just that in the liver of a mouse. Stanger is also an investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

The adult liver contains two major cell types ? hepatocytes and biliary cells ? that differ dramatically in appearance and function. Hepatocytes are the main cell type in the liver, where they synthesize proteins and other macromolecules, and detoxify toxic substances. Biliary cells, on the other hand, line the bile ducts, which carry bile from the liver to the small intestine to help digest fats.

Using a sensitive method to tag and track how cells develop and differentiate, the researchers found that conditional expression of an activated Notch1 gene converted hepatocytes into biliary cells. Notch is an important receptor for relaying signals to tell cells how to develop.

What's more, after the researchers injured liver cells with a variety of toxins to stimulate wound healing, they found that over two to three weeks hepatocytes activated a biliary cell program on their own, acquiring the shape and function of biliary cells. These changes were dependent on the activation of endogenous Notch signaling.

"This is direct evidence that cells can be converted from one mature cell type to another in a live animal, as part of a normal response to injury," says Stanger. "We think that augmenting pre-existing cell reprogramming relationships may be another way to engineer cells for the treatment of diseases in which there are not enough bile ducts, such as cholestasis."

###

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127525/Cell_reprogramming_during_liver_regeneration

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Softbank and Sprint say no to Huawei in hopes of getting merger back on track

In an effort to speed up an already contested $20.1 billion merger, Softbank and Sprint have reportedly agreed not to use Huawei network equipment within the US carrier's existing network. In fact, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, recently told The New York Times that the two outfits have pledged to remove Huawei hardware from Clearwire's network, too. These promises are likely a reaction to Congress' security concerns, which saw Huawei exiled from America's first responder network back in October. While Rogers is happy with Softbank and Sprint's new game plan, this deal is far from done. The two firms still need to make it past the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews national security risks connected to business transactions. Until then, Dan Hesse may wanna hold off on any extracurricular activities.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: The Register

Source: The New York Times

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/softbank-sprint-agree-to-exclude-huawei/

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Video: Dusting for prints from a fossil fish to understand evolutionary change

Thursday, March 28, 2013

In 370 million-year-old red sandstone deposits in a highway roadcut, scientists have discovered a new species of armored fish in north central Pennsylvania.

Fossils of armored fishes like this one, a phyllolepid placoderm, are known for the distinctive ornamentation of ridges on their exterior plates. As with many such fossils, scientists often find the remains of these species as impressions in stone, not as three-dimensional versions of their skeletons. Therefore, in the process of studying and describing this fish's anatomy, scientists took advantage of a technique that may look a lot like it was stolen from crime scene investigators.

In the video, Dr. Ted Daeschler shows the fossil and a rubber cast made by pouring latex into its natural impression in the rock. Once the latex hardened, Daeschler peeled it out and dusted its surface with a fine powder to better show the edges of the bony plates and the shapes of fine ridges on the fish's bony armor ? a lot like dusting for fingerprints to show minute ridges left on a surface. With this clearer view, Daeschler and colleagues were better able to prepare a detailed scientific description of the new species.

This placoderm, named Phyllolepis thomsoni, is one of two new Devonian fish species described by Daeschler in the Bicentennial issue of the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with different co-authors. The other new species is a lobe-finned fish discovered in northern Canada. This discovery is described at http://drexel.edu/now/news-media/releases/archive/2013/March/Fossil-Species-from-Fish-Eat-Fish-World/.

Both the Pennsylvania placoderm and the Canadian lobe-finned fish species are from the late Devonian period, at a time long before dinosaurs walked the Earth ? but, geologically speaking, not long before the very first species began to walk on land. Daeschler studies Devonian species in particular to help describe the evolutionary setting that gave rise to the first vertebrate species with limbs. He has dug for Devonian species in Pennsylvania since 1993, and in northern Canada since 1999.

Honoring A Rich History of Pennsylvania Paleontology

Daeschler, a vice president and associate curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, and an associate professor in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, and co-author Dr. John A. Long, a leading authority on placoderms from Flinders University in Australia, named the species in honor of Dr. Keith S. Thomson.

Thomson, the Executive Officer of the American Philosophical Society, has been a mentor and colleague to many Devonian fossil researchers, including Daeschler. Thomson has formerly held positions including President and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Director of the Oxford University Museum, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University.

Asked for comment on the discovery named in his honor, Thomson noted his long professional connection with the Devonian fossil beds in Pennsylvania that Daeschler studies:

"The Devonian beds around Renovo PA were worked extensively by my old professor at Harvard, Alfred Sherwood Romer and his associates, in the 1950s. They got some very good material of fishes but gave up on the site as a potential source of the very earliest four-legged vertebrates. In 1965 Romer suggested that I have a go but there had been no major erosion on the sites and therefore nothing much new had become exposed. I moved on to other things, but [in 1993] when Ted asked about possible projects in PA I gave him all the old notebooks, including mine, and off he went. In the intervening period there had been some major roadwork, new exposures were made, and on the Sunday evening of his very first weekend trip Ted came to the house and showed me a part of the shoulder of a tetrapod. Once we had looked at every which way and decided there was no other explanation, he causally reached into his bag and said "in that case, I have another one." The rest is history -- a history of very hard, careful, work, a whole team of collectors, some local, and brilliant discoveries of superb material particularly of fishes of every kind. So I am delighted by the success of this work over the past twenty years and flattered to become associated with it by having a species named after me. (There is a certain symmetry to this as long ago I named one of the species that had been collected by Romer after my wife!)"

###

Drexel University: http://www.Drexel.edu/

Thanks to Drexel University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127504/Video__Dusting_for_prints_from_a_fossil_fish_to_understand_evolutionary_change

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Pippa Middleton Baby Plans Stealing Kate Middleton's Baby Shower ...

Could there be another addition to the Middleton household very soon? Sources report that ever since Pippa Middleton found her common love, Nico Jackson, she?s had babies on the brain and won?t stop talking about wanting to start a family with the uber rich stockbroker.

?Kate?s pregnancy has changed Pippa?s outlook. In the past she hasn?t really thought about having children, but now it?s playing on her mind,? a source told Now magazine.

The story goes on to suggest that Pippa?s new obsession might be causing some friction between the sisters because Kate Middleton?s afraid that Pippa might steal the show from her baby just like she stole the show at her wedding. Does Kate think things like that? She?s not a Kardashian for Christ?s sake. I?m sure there?s some solidarity in there somewhere.

Pippa is hosting Kate Middleton?s baby shower after all. Have you heard all about it yet? Apparently Kate?s bucking royal tradition yet again and opting for a shower. Is that not a casual thing in the UK? It?s a major annoying deal here full of cringingly lame games that I can?t stand. The food is the only thing ever worth going for. I love cake. Kate is hoping the Queen will stop by because the two are close and this will be a first for the royal family. Can you imagine the Queen playing that game where you have to sniff the diaper full of melted chocolate ?to be the first to guess which chocolate bar it is? Amazing! Hopefully Pippa has that game on the list!

So what do you think? Is a Pippa Middleton baby imminent? She and Nico have already looked at rings?.

Photo Credit: FameFlynetUK/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES

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Source: http://www.celebdirtylaundry.com/2013/pippa-middleton-baby-plans-stealing-kate-middletons-baby-shower-0327/

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Fungi pull carbon into northern forest soils

Organisms living on tree roots do lion?s share of sequestering carbon

By Meghan Rosen

Web edition: March 28, 2013

Enlarge

The fungus Cortinarius armillatus pulls carbon-rich sugars from tree roots in exchange for water and nutrients. Fungi store substantial amounts of carbon belowground in boreal forests, new research shows.

Credit: Courtesy of Karina Clemmensen

Sequestration may be questionable fiscal policy, but it means good news in the context of carbon cycles. Vast underground networks of fungi may sequester heaps of carbon in boreal forest soil, a study suggests. By holding onto the element, the fungi do the environment a favor by preventing carbon dioxide from escaping into the atmosphere and warming the planet.

Mycorrhizal fungi, which grow underground in and on tree roots, hold 50 to 70 percent of the total carbon stored in leaf litter and soil on forested islands in Sweden, researchers report March 28 in Science. The new findings poke holes in a long-held idea that carbon in boreal forests accumulates mainly above ground in a litter of pine needles, mosses and leaves. The researchers suggest instead that trees direct carbon deeper into the soil via their root systems.

?It?s hard to quantify how important mycorrhizal fungi are in ecosystems,? says forest ecologist Erik Hobbie of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, who was not involved with the study. ?This paper presents hard evidence about their importance.?

Trees suck carbon dioxide from the air and turn the carbon into sugars to fuel growth of branches, leaves and roots. Because trees are so good at capturing carbon dioxide, ecosystems stash loads of carbon in forests. Cold boreal forests are thought to be carbon-storing superstars mostly because litter stacks up on their floors and takes a long time to decompose. These forests stow away nearly a quarter of all the carbon stocked in the Earth?s land surfaces. ?

But scientists have not understood where exactly trees put their carbon. The issue becomes important when researchers build computer simulations that track carbon cycling. ?People talk about how plants shuttle half their carbon to the belowground root system, but it has kind of been neglected in carbon storage models,? says study coauthor Karina Clemmensen, a fungal ecologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.

Clemmensen and colleagues measured the age and accumulation of carbon in soil samples from 30 islands sprinkled across two lakes in northern Sweden. At each island, Clemmensen?s team plunged long, hollow tubes with sharpened ends into the ground to extract soil cores.

Since new, carbon-rich litter settles layer by layer on forest floors, prevailing wisdom suggested the scientists would ?find older carbon as they went down. But instead, researchers found stores of young carbon deep beneath the surface. Only sugars shipped down trees to their roots could explain the young carbon?s presence in soil below ground, says Clemmensen.

Next, her team analyzed DNA and fungal molecules in the soil samples. Beneath the forest floor, soil was packed with traces of mycorrhizal fungi, which stretch long filamentous fingers through the earth and sop up water and nutrients. The fungi pull in carbon in the form of sugars from tree roots. Above ground, fungi that break down leaf litter dominated.

The study?s findings could help global carbon modelers tweak their simulations, says climatologist Victor Brovkin of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. ?How to model soil carbon is poorly understood,? he says. ?That?s why this new evidence is important to us.?

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349265/title/Fungi_pull_carbon_into_northern_forest_soils

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Novel chemical that controls cell behavior: First-in-class chemical compound might control metastases

Mar. 13, 2013 ? It's the spread of the original cancer tumor that kills most people. That's why cancer researchers vigorously search for drugs that can prevent metastases, the spread of cancer. The research team co-led by Angela Wandinger-Ness, PhD, and Larry Sklar, PhD, at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center has found a chemical compound that appears to control cell migration and adhesion, two important characteristics of metastatic cancer cells. The team recently published a paper describing how the first-in-class compound acts on various cells.

Dr. Wandinger-Ness, a UNM Professor of Pathology and Director of the Fluorescence Microscopy and Cell Imaging Shared Resource, studies proteins called GTPases. GTPases act like chemical switches to control how cells behave: how much a cell grows, what shape it assumes, when it enters the next growth stage, and how tightly it sticks to its surroundings, among several hundred other things. Dr. Wandinger-Ness was interested in a particular GTPase called Cdc42; it controls cell migration and cell adhesion. "It's an important target in many diseases," says Dr. Wandinger-Ness. "Cancer is just one. But there were no compounds that target this GTPase." So she collaborated with Dr. Sklar and Tudor Oprea, MD, PhD, to find a compound that did. And they were successful.

Dr. Sklar is a UNM Professor of Pathology and co-Leader of the Cancer Biology and Biotechnology Research Group at the UNM Cancer Center. He created and now oversees the UNM Center for Molecular Discovery. Dr. Oprea is a UNM Professor of Medicine and co-Director of the Flow Cytometry & High Throughput Screening Shared Resource at the UNM Cancer Center. He analyzed Cdc42 using three-dimensional molecular rendering software. The team used Dr. Oprea's analysis of Cdc42 to visualize how a compound might interact with the Cdc42 GTPase to stifle its activity. Then they searched for such a compound in the UNM Molecular Discovery library.

The search process was akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but the latest high throughput flow cytometry equipment and molecular rendering software available at the UNM Cancer Center speeded their analysis significantly. The team analyzed thousands of compound candidates by first narrowing their search to the few hundred likely candidates and then testing those against several kinds of GPTases at a time. "From a purely discovery perspective, that's a high impact, novel way to look for small molecules," says Dr. Sklar. The compound they found is called CID2950007.

Structurally similar to NSAIDs -- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs -- CID2950007 restrains the Cdc42 GTPase from changing a cell's cytoskeleton. Much like a skeleton gives a human body shape, a cell's cytoskeleton keeps the cell from collapsing on itself. The cytoskeleton enables a cell to move by growing amoeba-like legs called filopodia. Cdc42 also helps to keep cells where they need to be by enabling them to adhere more tightly to their surroundings. So, while uncontrolled growth and movement are hallmarks of metastatic cancer cells, growth and adherence are important traits for healthy cells. Tightly controlling just how Cdc42 causes a cell to behave is crucial.

In the paper published February 4, 2013, the team of scientists report that CID2950007 was the only compound they found that affected the Cdc42 GTPase without affecting any other GTPases. This selectivity is important to control the compound's effects on a cell. They also found that the compound works by changing the physical structure of Cdc42, so it doesn't destroy Cdc42 but it does control how Cdc42 interacts with other proteins in the cell. Their studies showed that CID2950007 decreased filopodia growth and cell adhesion in ovarian cancer cells and prevented cell adhesion in white blood cells. And their studies demonstrated that CID2950007 blocked Hantavirus infection in monkey kidney cells. By affecting the Cdc42 GTPase, and thus the cytoskeleton, CID2950007 has the potential to fight not only cancer but also infectious diseases.

Human use of CID2950007 as a cancer drug is a long way off. Before the Food and Drug Administration approves any drug for human use, it first requires the successful results of several toxicity and dose escalation studies on several types of animals. Then, the clinical trials process, which can take over 10 years, may begin.

"There are going to be a lot of side effects because these adhesion proteins have many other functions," says Dr. Sklar. So refining CID2950007 into a drug will take further collaboration and studies before toxicity studies and dose escalation studies can begin. To refine the compound, the UNM Cancer Center researchers will continue to collaborate with Jeffrey Aub?, PhD, Kansas University Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, and Jennifer Golden, PhD, Assistant Director of the Specialized Chemistry Center at Kansas University. Still, control of GTPase Cdc42 offers promise as a way to control cancer metastasis. Says Dr. Wandinger-Ness, "there's a lot of enthusiasm for a compound like this -- because there weren't any. This is a first-in-class."

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Journal Reference:

1. L. Hong, S. R. Kenney, G. K. Philips, D. Simpson, C. E. Schroeder, J. Noth, E. Romero, S. Swanson, A. Waller, J. J. Strouse, M. Carter, A. Chigaev, O. Ursu, T. Oprea, B. Hjelle, J. E. Golden, J. Aube, L. G. Hudson, T. Buranda, L. A. Sklar, A. Wandinger-Ness. Characterization of a Cdc42 GTPase Inhibitor and its Use as a Molecular Probe. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2013; DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M112.435941

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/most_popular/~3/4KSwAFr6jiM/130313182257.htm

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Burt Rutan's New Project: A Seaplane for Any Surface

A Lun-class ekranoplan, one of the Soviet aircraft that inspired Rutan's project.

Renowned aircraft engineer and designer Burt Rutan, who officially retired in April 2011, reveals exclusively to Popular Mechanics today that he has devised "a new concept for a seaplane that may allow for operation from any surface: water, snow, grass, and hard surface."

Reports proliferated in late 2011 that the 69-year-old founder of the innovative aerospace research firm Scaled Composites was working on a seaplane that he could use to go lake-hopping near his new home in Coeur d?Alene, Idaho. Rutan said at the time that his design was inspired by Cold War?era Russian craft like the MD-160 Lun-class ekranoplan. "It is a combination wing ship and seaplane," he said at a meeting of the Experimental Aviation Association.

But Rutan tells PM he has abandoned his initial concept and design and is now working on an entirely new type of aircraft. For now, he declined to provide details of the design and says he won?t be satisfied that he has broken new ground until the new craft is operational. "I will call it a ?real breakthrough? only if it flies like I think it might," he says.

Rutan received the Popular Mechanics Leadership Award at the magazine?s 2006 Breakthrough Awards for his extraordinary achievements as an aircraft designer. That includes SpaceShipOne, the craft that won the $10 million 2004 Ansari X Prize by carrying three people more than 62 miles above the earth?s surface twice within two weeks. At the time, SpaceShipOne was the most significant development in the space tourism industry.

Backed by Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, and Richard Branson, the founder and chairman of Virgin Group, Rutan and Scaled Composites went on to design SpaceShipTwo, the suborbital craft that completed a successful "drop test" on Oct. 10, 2010, gliding gracefully to a landing in Mojave, Calif., after being released from its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo. Virgin Galactic has announced that the first suborbital flight of SpaceShipTwo would take place in 2013, but the company has not specified a date for the maiden voyage.

Rutan has settled into a somewhat less hectic life than he led during the frenzied runup to the SpaceShipTwo test flights. Never one to stop innovating, Rutan?s final design for the company he founded in 1982 was the Model 367 BiPod, a roadable aircraft (aka flying car) with a wingspan of nearly 32 feet. In runway testing during the past two years, it has achieved 80 mph and taken flight in brief, short hops.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/burt-rutans-new-project-a-seaplane-for-any-surface-15214217?src=rss

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53-year-old musher becomes oldest Iditarod champ

Mitch Seavey holds one of his lead dogs, Taurus, as he poses for photographers at the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Seavy became the oldest winner and a two-time Iditarod champion. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth) LOCAL TV OUT (KTUU-TV, KTVA-TV) LOCAL PRINT OUT (THE ANCHORAGE PRESS, THE ALASKA DISPATCH)

Mitch Seavey holds one of his lead dogs, Taurus, as he poses for photographers at the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in Nome, Alaska, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Seavy became the oldest winner and a two-time Iditarod champion. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth) LOCAL TV OUT (KTUU-TV, KTVA-TV) LOCAL PRINT OUT (THE ANCHORAGE PRESS, THE ALASKA DISPATCH)

Aliy Zirkle finished second in the Iditarod for the second consecutive year when her dog team crossed under the burled arch in Nome on Tuesday evening, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth) LOCAL TV OUT (KTUU-TV, KTVA-TV) LOCAL PRINT OUT (THE ANCHORAGE PRESS, THE ALASKA DISPATCH)

Mitch Seavey became the oldest winner and a two-time Iditarod champion when he drove his dog team under the burled arch in Nome on Tuesday evening, March 12, 2013. Leaders Tanner, left, and Taurus are photographed with Mitch Seavey after wining the dog race. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth) LOCAL TV OUT (KTUU-TV, KTVA-TV) LOCAL PRINT OUT (THE ANCHORAGE PRESS, THE ALASKA DISPATCH)

Mitch Seavey became the oldest winner, a two-time Iditarod champion, when he drove his dog team under the burled arch in Nome on Tuesday evening, March 12, 2013. Race marshal Mark Nordman is at right. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth) LOCAL TV OUT (KTUU-TV, KTVA-TV) LOCAL PRINT OUT (THE ANCHORAGE PRESS, THE ALASKA DISPATCH)

Mitch Seavey's granddaughter Annie Seavey, 2, being held by her mother Jen, cheers under the burled arch in Nome on Tuesday evening, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth) LOCAL TV OUT (KTUU-TV, KTVA-TV) LOCAL PRINT OUT (THE ANCHORAGE PRESS, THE ALASKA DISPATCH)

NOME, Alaska (AP) ? A 53-year-old former champion won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to become the oldest winner of Alaska's grueling test of endurance.

Mitch Seavey and 10 dogs crossed the Nome finish line to cheering crowds at 10:39 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday.

"This is for all of the gentlemen of a certain age," he said on a live stream posted to the Iditarod website after completing the race in temperatures just above zero. His race time in the 1,000-mile race was nine days, 7 hours and 39 minutes.

Seavey's victory came after a dueling sprint against Aliy Zirkle, last year's runner-up, along the frozen, wind-whipped Bering Sea coast. Zirkle crossed the finish line 24 minutes after her rival, who later greeted her.

"You did a good job," Seavey told Zirkle as a camera crew filmed them. "You're going to win this thing, probably more than once."

At a news conference after the race, Zirkle gave credit to her rival's strategy.

"Mitch has this ability to sit on the sidelines and refuel because he knows he needs to refuel, while everyone else is zooming by," she said. "It's smart, and that's probably why you won."

For reaching Nome first, Seavey wins $50,400 and a 2013 pickup truck. The rest of the $600,000 purse will be split among the next 29 mushers to cross the finish line under the famed burled arch on Front Street, a block from the sea.

At the finish, both mushers rushed to pet their dogs, with Seavey singling out his main leader, 6-year-old Tanner. He posed for photos with the dog and another leader, Taurus, wearing yellow garlands.

Zirkle's dogs wagged their tails as she praised them.

"My dog team is my heart," she said.

The pair jostled for the lead, with Zirkle never more than a few miles behind in the final stretch.

"I just now stopped looking over my shoulder," Seavey said after crossing the finish line.

Also trailing by a dozen or so miles was four-time champion Jeff King, who was followed by a cluster of contenders, including Seavey's son, Dallas. Last year at age 25, he became the youngest Iditarod winner, beating Zirkle to the finish line by one hour.

Mitch Seavey first won the Iditarod in 2004. Before Seavey's win on Tuesday, King had been the oldest Iditarod champion, winning his fourth race at 50 in 2006.

The oldies were still stellar performers in a race that ended last year with a top field featuring many finishers in their 30s, said Iditarod race spokeswoman Erin McLarnon.

"Last year, we saw a lot of those youngsters in the top 10," McLarnon said. "Some of those 45-plussers are taking back the lead this year. They are showing the young 'uns what they can really do out there on that trail."

Zirkle, 43, had hoped to be only the third woman to win the race and the first since Susan Butcher won her fourth Iditarod in 1990. Before this year's race, Zirkle noted the long time since a woman won.

"This is my 13th year, and I've wanted to win every year," she said before the race, which began March 2 with 66 teams at a ceremonial start in Anchorage.

The competitive part of the race began the following day in Willow 50 miles to the north. Then the race changed leaders several times. Those at the front of the field included four-time champions Lance Mackey and Martin Buser, who later fell behind.

En route to Nome, the race turned into an aggressively contested run among veterans along an often punishing trail.

Conditions on the Yukon River required dogs to go through deep snow and navigate glare ice. Above-freezing temperatures also led to overflow along the trail, a potentially dangerous situation where water has pushed up through the ice and refrozen, creating a weak top layer of ice that teams and mushers can break through.

___

Associated Press writer Rachel D'Oro reported from Anchorage. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rdoro .

___

Online:

http://iditarod.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-13-US-Iditarod/id-e359203113e74275bc779004a7d0e3b8

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Children who avoid scary situations likelier to have anxiety

Mar. 11, 2013 ? Children who avoid situations they find scary are likely to have anxiety a Mayo Clinic study of more than 800 children ages 7 to 18 found. The study published this month in Behavior Therapy presents a new method of measuring avoidance behavior in young children.

The researchers developed two eight-question surveys: the Children's Avoidance Measure Parent Report and the Children's Avoidance Measure Self Report. The questionnaires ask details about children's avoidance tendencies, for instance, in addressing parents, "When your child is scared or worried about something, does he or she ask to do it later?" It also asks children to describe their passive avoidance habits. For example: "When I feel scared or worried about something, I try not to go near it."

One of the most surprising findings was that measuring avoidance could also predict children's development of anxiety. Children who participated in the study showed stable anxiety scores after a year had passed, but those who described avoidance behaviors at the onset tended to be more anxious a year later.

"This new approach may enable us to identify kids who are at risk for an anxiety disorder," says lead author Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist with the Mayo Clinic Children's Center. "And further, because cognitive behavior therapy focuses on decreasing avoidance behaviors, our approach may also provide a means to evaluate whether current treatment strategies work they we think they do."

In 25 anxious children surveyed following cognitive behavior therapy that slowly exposed children to the situations that caused fear, the avoidance scores from surveys of their parents declined by half. This likely indicates that part of the reason they're getting better is that they're no longer avoiding things, Dr. Whiteside says.

"Even after controlling for their baseline anxiety, those who avoided had more anxiety than kids who didn't avoid," Dr. Whiteside says. "That was consistent with the model of how anxiety disorders develop. Kids who avoid fearful situations don't have the opportunity to face their fears and don't learn that their fears are manageable."

Most children experience fears of one kind or another, but for some children those fears become heightened as part of an anxiety disorder. When children begin to avoid scary situations, anxiety disorders can become particularly disabling, preventing participation in everyday activities. Even though several methods exist to gauge children's fearful thinking and symptoms like feeling nervous, clinicians have had few tools until now to measure avoidance behaviors.

Dr. Whiteside is the developer of the Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach, an iPhone app that helps individuals learn about anxiety, gauge and manage their symptoms, and make lists of activities to help them face their fears. The study was funded by Mayo Clinic Department of Psychiatry and Psychology.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/vQ1W5jiQx7Y/130311201019.htm

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Cleveland Clinic research shows anemia drug does not improve health of anemic heart failure patients

Public release date: 10-Mar-2013
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Contact: Caroline Auger
augerc@ccf.org
216-296-6012
Cleveland Clinic

Phase 3 findings published in NEJM provide answers about treatment with darbepoetin alfa

EMBARGOED UNTIL 7:45 PM ET, Sunday, March 10, 2013, Cleveland: Researchers from Cleveland Clinic and Sweden-based Sahlgrenska University Hospital have found that a commonly used drug to treat anemia in heart failure patients darbepoetin alfa does not improve patients' health, nor does it reduce their risk of death from heart failure.

Results of the international study were presented at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in San Francisco on March 10 and published simultaneously online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Initiated in 2006, the RED-HF (Reduction of Events With Darbepoetin Alfa in Heart Failure) trial involved 2,278 anemic heart failure patients at 453 sites in 33 countries. Patients were randomly given either darbepoetin alfa or placebo. In the darbepoetin alfa group, 50.7 percent of the patients experienced death from any cause or hospitalization for worsening heart failure. In the placebo group, 49.5 percent of the patients experienced similar clinical outcomes. The trial was funded by Amgen, the maker of darbepoetin alfa (trade name: Aranesp).

"This landmark study provides answers to caregivers who treat patients with heart failure complicated by anemia," said James Young, M.D., cardiologist and Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute, and co-investigator of the RED-HF trial. "Our findings do not support the use of darbepoetin alfa to treat anemic heart failure patients."

Anemia, the lack of red blood cells, is a common and serious problem in people who suffer from heart failure. It can lead to worse quality of life, higher rates of hospitalization and death. Treatment options have focused on correcting anemia with the use of intravenous iron or drugs that stimulate red blood cells.

"The benefits of erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs) such as darbepoetin alfa to treat patients with heart failure and anemia have been questioned due to contradictory research findings," said Karl Swedberg, M.D., Ph.D., a senior professor at the Sweden-based Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and co-investigator of the RED-HF trial. "Our study results show that the use of darbepoetin alfa to stimulate the production of red blood cells is an ineffective treatment for patients with heart failure and anemia."

According to the study, researchers found that darbepoetin alfa treatment led to an early and sustained increase in hemoglobin compared with placebo. However, darbepoetin alfa treatment did not reduce the risk of death from any cause or hospitalization from heart failure. Findings suggest that hemoglobin is a marker of poor prognosis in heart failure, rather than a therapeutic target. There were no new safety findings identified in the study. However, researchers observed an increased risk of thrombosis in the darbepoetin alfa group.

Researchers note that further research is needed to identify treatment options for this patient population.

###

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. About 2,800 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic Health System includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals and 18 Family Health Centers in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, currently under construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2010, there were 4 million visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 167,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 100 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.

Editor's Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.

Contacts:
Andrea Pacetti, 216.316.3040, pacetta@ccf.org
Caroline Auger, 216.296.6012, augerc@ccf.org

---

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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: 10-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Caroline Auger
augerc@ccf.org
216-296-6012
Cleveland Clinic

Phase 3 findings published in NEJM provide answers about treatment with darbepoetin alfa

EMBARGOED UNTIL 7:45 PM ET, Sunday, March 10, 2013, Cleveland: Researchers from Cleveland Clinic and Sweden-based Sahlgrenska University Hospital have found that a commonly used drug to treat anemia in heart failure patients darbepoetin alfa does not improve patients' health, nor does it reduce their risk of death from heart failure.

Results of the international study were presented at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in San Francisco on March 10 and published simultaneously online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Initiated in 2006, the RED-HF (Reduction of Events With Darbepoetin Alfa in Heart Failure) trial involved 2,278 anemic heart failure patients at 453 sites in 33 countries. Patients were randomly given either darbepoetin alfa or placebo. In the darbepoetin alfa group, 50.7 percent of the patients experienced death from any cause or hospitalization for worsening heart failure. In the placebo group, 49.5 percent of the patients experienced similar clinical outcomes. The trial was funded by Amgen, the maker of darbepoetin alfa (trade name: Aranesp).

"This landmark study provides answers to caregivers who treat patients with heart failure complicated by anemia," said James Young, M.D., cardiologist and Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute, and co-investigator of the RED-HF trial. "Our findings do not support the use of darbepoetin alfa to treat anemic heart failure patients."

Anemia, the lack of red blood cells, is a common and serious problem in people who suffer from heart failure. It can lead to worse quality of life, higher rates of hospitalization and death. Treatment options have focused on correcting anemia with the use of intravenous iron or drugs that stimulate red blood cells.

"The benefits of erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs) such as darbepoetin alfa to treat patients with heart failure and anemia have been questioned due to contradictory research findings," said Karl Swedberg, M.D., Ph.D., a senior professor at the Sweden-based Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and co-investigator of the RED-HF trial. "Our study results show that the use of darbepoetin alfa to stimulate the production of red blood cells is an ineffective treatment for patients with heart failure and anemia."

According to the study, researchers found that darbepoetin alfa treatment led to an early and sustained increase in hemoglobin compared with placebo. However, darbepoetin alfa treatment did not reduce the risk of death from any cause or hospitalization from heart failure. Findings suggest that hemoglobin is a marker of poor prognosis in heart failure, rather than a therapeutic target. There were no new safety findings identified in the study. However, researchers observed an increased risk of thrombosis in the darbepoetin alfa group.

Researchers note that further research is needed to identify treatment options for this patient population.

###

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. About 2,800 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic Health System includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals and 18 Family Health Centers in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, currently under construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2010, there were 4 million visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 167,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 100 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.

Editor's Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.

Contacts:
Andrea Pacetti, 216.316.3040, pacetta@ccf.org
Caroline Auger, 216.296.6012, augerc@ccf.org

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/cc-ccr030813.php

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For Biden chief of staff Bruce Reed, less is more

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Understated. Self-effacing. Nonthreatening. Refreshingly old-fashioned.

Don't let these cool descriptors from friends and colleagues fool you: As the vice president's chief of staff, Bruce Reed plays Mr. Fix-It, guiding Joe Biden's role as a driving force behind the Obama administration's agenda.

With the White House wrestling Congress over gun control and tax-and-spending priorities, Reed's deep ties to the Oval Office and reputation for getting along with both parties make him a central character in some of Washington's biggest political battles.

Those who know Reed say his low-key style and consensus-oriented approach to deal-making are the keys to how he's managed time and again to bridge an ever-widening gap between Democrats and Republicans ? even when it rankles partisan Democrats who see concessions to the GOP as selling out.

"It gets characterized from an ideological perspective, meaning centrist vs. leftist. Bruce would probably see it more as, 'Are you a reformer and willing to make changes to accomplish the same goals?'" said Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who co-wrote a policy book with Reed after they served together in the Clinton administration.

It's a trait that meshes well with the pragmatic, do-what-you-can approach to governing of President Barack Obama's administration. Reed's former and current colleagues say his method is also in sync with Biden's freewheeling but driven personality.

Once considered a potential liability to Obama, Biden has evolved into a serious heavy hitter whose broad portfolio of issues is never far removed from the president's top priorities. It was Biden, not Obama, who finally cut the New Year's deal with the Senate that averted the so-called fiscal cliff. White House officials credit Reed, who turns 53 this month, with steering Biden away from political pitfalls, helping him gauge which battles to fight and just how far to push.

But Reed's influence extends far beyond the vice president's quarters and deep into the West Wing. He's considered a full-fledged member of the economic team, joining the treasury secretary and others when the National Economic Council meets. Last year, he was tapped by Obama's then-chief of staff, Bill Daley, to help coordinate the State of the Union address. When Biden negotiates with Republicans in Congress, Reed is often the only other person on the phone.

And when Obama's most senior advisers meet every morning at 7:40 to set the day's agenda, Reed is there. These mornings, it's Reed who keeps Obama's team up to date on one of the administration's top priorities: gun control.

When the president tasked Biden with crafting a series of proposals to respond to a scourge of mass shootings, the role of chief architect fell to Reed, who cut his teeth on gun issues as Clinton's domestic policy adviser. The ensuing proposal includes broadly supported measures like universal background checks, but also a controversial ban on assault weapons.

It quickly became clear the ban would face near-insurmountable obstacles in Congress. That led many to question whether the White House proposed the ban to placate those demanding tough action, but was ready to drop it if necessary to strike a deal. A Senate panel plans to vote on the ban Tuesday, though it has virtually no chance of passing the full Senate. While Biden and Obama say the ban deserves a vote, both have avoided describing it as a must-have.

"Nobody needed to tell me. I saw Bruce's fingerprints all over it," said former Clinton adviser William Galston, who met Reed in the late 1980s working on Al Gore's first presidential campaign. "Bruce is not afraid of the politics of aspiration, but he has a healthy awareness of the distinction between the best and the attainable. He will not counsel people to fall on their sword."

So far, there have been few outcries from the left over the prospect that the White House will abandon the assault-weapons ban ? perhaps because even many Democrats are on the fence and fear being cast as infringing on lawful gun ownership.

On other issues where Reed has sought consensus with Republicans, the backlash has sometimes been quite public.

Credited with coining the phrase "end welfare as we know it," Reed bore the wrath of liberals when he helped Clinton in 1996 secure a welfare overhaul ? negotiated with Republicans ? that ended some guarantees for poor Americans. A handful of Clinton officials resigned in protest.

Still, even those on the losing end of policy disagreements say Reed somehow manages to keep it from getting personal. Peter Edelman, one of the officials who resigned, said even when consensus proved elusive, Reed treated his adversaries with respect.

"In all the years I worked with him, I only saw him lose his temper once at me," said Paul Weinstein, an economist who has worked for Reed in various roles since the 1980s. The rare outburst came in 1992, near the end of Clinton's campaign, when Weinstein told Reed he needed to step away from the campaign to finish his Ph.D. "Bruce just lost it on me," Weinstein said. "When I tell people I saw him lose his temper, they practically fall over backwards because they don't believe it."

Democratic strategist Kiki McLean, who has known Reed for more than two decades, said his sense of humor is striking considering his unobtrusive manner. "Bruce is not the guy who will stand on the table and sing, but he is the guy who will lean over and whisper something so you have to hold your sides to keep from bursting out laughing," she said.

Raised in Coeur d'Alene, a small Idaho town near the Washington state border, Reed followed his mother, Mary Lou Reed, a Democrat and former Idaho state senator, into politics. He moved east for school, studying English at Princeton University before becoming a Rhodes Scholar and earning a master's degree at Oxford University. An avid baseball fan, Reed proposed to his wife, attorney Bonnie LePard, at a Pittsburgh Pirates game; they have two children.

He wrote speeches for then-Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., starting in 1985, then joined the Democratic Leadership Council, a now-defunct group that sought to push the Democratic Party toward the political center. He served for all eight years in the Clinton White House, where he was often the public face of the administration's policies on education, guns and welfare reform. Later, he ran the Simpson-Bowles commission, tasked with forging a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal.

That deal never made it to a vote in Congress, but Reed impressed lawmakers from both parties. Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, a vocal critic of Obama, recalled how Reed would flesh out a lawmaker's idea, providing the analysis and figures needed to fully evaluate it.

"It happened again and again," Crapo said. "Even if it wasn't necessarily something he would support from his personal political perspective, he was very focused on helping the individual member."

It's been just over two years since Biden tapped Reed to be his chief of staff, and his cautious and meticulous manner often serves as a counterweight to the more verbose and unrehearsed Biden. In that short time, Biden has played a leading role in winding down the war in Iraq, negotiating a fiscal-cliff deal with Senate Republicans, nudging Obama toward an embrace of gay marriage and spearheading Obama's push on gun control.

Reed declined to be interviewed for this story. But Galston, the former Clinton adviser, said Reed values clarity of expression above almost all else.

"He edits documents the way a sculptor works with a block of marble: by subtraction," said Galston. "You get rid of what you don't want, and what's left is what you have in mind."

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-09-Biden's%20Mr%20Fix-It/id-fa61b0c07070417283e9f2459961f350

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Rebels free 21 UN captives in southern Syria

A U.N. peacekeeper from the Philippines UNDOF force works at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, March, 9, 2013. Syrian rebels freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned fighters trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

A U.N. peacekeeper from the Philippines UNDOF force works at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, March, 9, 2013. Syrian rebels freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned fighters trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

A U.N. peacekeeper from the UNDOF force walks up to a watch tower at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, March, 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), fill out documents upon arrival Saturday, March 9, 2013 in Manila, Philippines, from civil war-torn Syria. On Wednesday, a convoy of 21 peacekeepers were seized near the Syrian village of Jamlah, just a mile from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in an area where the U.N. force had patrolled a cease-fire line between Israel and Syria without incident for nearly four decades, with UN and Philippine Foreign Affairs officials are negotiating for their safe release. The Syrian rebels want the Red Cross to escort them out of the area because of fighting with Syrian government forces, the Philippine military said. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Rebels in southern Syria freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Friday after holding them hostage for four days, driving them to the border with Jordan after accusations from Western officials that the little-known group had tarnished the image of those fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

The abduction and the tortured negotiations that ended it highlight the disorganization of the rebel movement, which has hindered its ability to fight Assad and complicates vows by the U.S. and others to provide assistance.

It also has raised concerns about the future of U.N. operations in the area. The Filipino peacekeepers were abducted on Wednesday by one of the rebel groups operating in southern Syria near the Jordanian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where a U.N. force has patrolled a cease-fire line between Israel and Syria for nearly four decades.

Activists associated with the group, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, gave different reasons for seizing the 21 men. First they demanded that all government forces leave the area. Then they suggested the peacekeepers were human shields against government attacks. Then they declared them "honored guests" held for their own safety.

They also released videos online, including one on Saturday of a bearded rebel commander with his arms around two peacekeepers' shoulders, flashing a V for victory sign.

On Saturday, after negotiations that the top U.N. official in Damascus described as "long and difficult," the rebels changed the plan to deliver the peacekeepers to a U.N. team, instead taking them to the Jordanian border.

Video broadcast by Arab satellite channels late Saturday showed them sitting at a round conference table in Amman, their bright blue helmets in front of them.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed their release and called on all parties in Syria to respect the peacekeepers' freedom of movement.

It was the first time in nearly two years of violence in Syria that U.N. personnel have been directly caught up in the civil war, which evolved from an uprising against Assad that broke out in March 2011 and has left more than 70,000 people dead.

Since then, hundreds of independent rebel groups have formed across the country to fight Assad's forces, overrunning military bases and seizing territory in northern and eastern Syria while the regime maintains its grip in the center and the capital, Damascus.

Although some groups have banded together into organized brigades, most still operate independently, competing with each other for resources and booty from captured sites.

Even the rebel's political leadership, the Syrian National Coalition, which the U.S. and other powers have officially recognized, has no direct control over fighters on the ground. And it remains unclear how many rebels follow its associated High Military Command, which was formed in Turkey in December.

This lack of a central command has hindered rebel efforts against government forces and discouraged the U.S. and others from providing arms.

Last month, the U.S. promised $60 million dollars in new aid for the opposition but refused to arm the rebels, saying more weapons would worsen the situation and could help extremists.

The release of the 21 peacekeepers serves as a case study in rebel disorganization.

As the days passed and the captors' terms changed, international indignation rose.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland blasted the Syrian government on Friday for shelling the area, while also warning the rebels that the kidnapping was "not good for their reputation and that they need to immediately release these people."

The men were held in the village of Jamlah, less than two kilometers (a mile) from the Jordanian border.

A U.N. team tried to retrieve the hostages on Friday, but abandoned the plan because of government shelling.

On Saturday, another U.N. team reached the area and stopped in a village less than a mile away to wait for the captives, said Mokhtar Lamani, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria.

Lamani said the team was "surprised" when the rebels issued a "very urgent request" that the team come to the village itself.

The team demurred, Lamani said, then was "surprised" again when rebels took the peacekeepers directly to Jordan.

"We were surprised to hear to hear the news from a satellite channel that they had reached Jordan," he said. "Praise God in the end that all of them were released safely."

An activist associated with the captors said via Skype that the rebels had not been able to reach the U.N. team because of "security conditions" so had taken them to Jordan instead.

He said the Syrian government had been shelling and carrying out airstrikes on the area for weeks, and that locals worried the situation would get worse after the captives left.

"They lightened the shelling today, but we fear that now they will launch a harsh attack on the area," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the United Nations Saturday that the Syrian army had held its fire in the area "out of concern for the security and safety of the U.N. forces."

It called on the U.N. to "unequivocally condemn the attacks of those terrorist groups against civilians and work to dislodge those terrorist groups immediately from the region."

The Syria government says the uprising is a foreign-backed conspiracy to weaken the country carried out by "terrorists" ? its blanket term for the opposition.

The peacekeepers are part of a U.N. mission known as UNDOF that was set up to monitor a cease-fire in 1974, seven years after Israel captured the plateau and a year after it pushed back Syrian troops trying to recapture the territory.

The truce's stability has been shaken in recent months, as Syrian mortar shells have hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Israeli officials worry the violence will prompt UNDOF to end its mission.

On Friday, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said "the mission in the Golan needs to review its security arrangements and it has been doing that."

___

Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Beirut and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-09-ML-Syria/id-0c9fbb7233ce4b69973f6a63e648119e

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