DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? A massive search was underway Tuesday for a 15-year-old girl abducted near an Iowa bus stop, after authorities said a man who is suspected of taking her and another girl was found dead.
Dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement are searching by air, land and water for Kathlynn Shepard. She and a 12-year-old girl were taken near a Dayton bus stop Monday afternoon after accepting a ride from a stranger. The younger girl was able to escape.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said at a Tuesday news conference that the body of 42-year-old Michael Klunder was found Monday night with a red Toyota Tundra pickup at a rural property northeast of Dayton, about 60 miles north of Des Moines. His cause of death is under investigation.
Klunder is listed on the state's sex offender registry, and he spent several years in prison on kidnapping charges, prison records show. He was released from a work release program in February 2011.
Kathlynn's name and photo are being released in an effort to find the teenager alive, said Jessica Lown with the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
"They're continuing to search for the girl under the assumption that she is still alive because right at this point in time we don't have information indicating otherwise," Lown said. "That's the way these things work for all missing children and missing person cases. We search until we find them."
Klunder was suspected of abducting the girls on Monday. The 12-year-old girl, who has not been identified, told investigators she and Kathlynn had accepted a ride from a stranger who took them to an agricultural facility. She was able to escape and run to a nearby rural residence for help, DCI Director Chari Paulson said during the news conference.
The girl was taken to a Fort Dodge hospital and released. Authorities haven't said what relationship the girls have to one another.
Authorities said the abduction spanned several hours, with Klunder's body being discovered nearly four hours after the girls were taken.
Poor weather and darkness delayed an extensive search Monday night for Kathlynn that covers up to 100 square miles of mostly rural lands, according to Lown.
With the onset of daylight, authorities scoured fields and wooded areas with the help of K-9s and volunteers. Airplanes equipped with heat-activation technology have been deployed.
"The response by volunteers has been outstanding," Paulson said.
The abduction comes less than a year after the high-profile disappearance of two cousins in Evansdale, about 90 miles east of Dayton. Lyric Cook, 10, and 9-year-old Elizabeth Collins disappeared while riding their bikes last July. Hunters found their bodies in a remote, wooded area in December.
Kathlynn is described as being 5-feet-6-inches and 160 pounds. She has blond hair, blue eyes and braces. She was last seen wearing jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and a Minnesota Vikings baseball cap.
Klunder's convictions on kidnapping and assault charges include the 1991 abduction and assault of a Rudd woman and the kidnapping of two toddlers from an apartment complex in Charles City, according to the Mason City Globe Gazette. The girls, both 3, were found alive inside a dumpster.
Authorities are asking the public for information about any interactions with Klunder, as well of any sighting of his pickup between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday.
Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lanePublic release date: 21-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Lanfear rob.lanfear@anu.edu.au National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent)
Durham, NC Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role, says Robert Lanfear of Australian National University and the U. S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.
In a study to be published 21 May in the journal Nature Communications, Lanfear and colleagues report that shorter plants have faster-changing genomes.
Drawing from a database of global patterns in plant height for more than 20,000 species, the researchers estimated average maximum height for nearly 140 plant families worldwide ranging from a group of tropical plants called the Burmanniaceae, whose average height tops out at two inches (5 cm), to a family called the Tetramelaceae, which can tower above 140 feet (45 m).
For each family, the researchers also estimated how much their DNA sequences the strings of As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up their genetic code changed over time.
When they plotted evolutionary rates against plant height, the researchers were surprised to find that shorter plants evolved as much as five times faster than taller ones.
The pattern held up for both the nuclear and the chloroplast genomes, even after the researchers accounted for factors shown in previous studies to correlate with evolutionary speed such as species richness, latitude, temperature, and levels of UV radiation. The results also held up when the researchers looked just within trees and shrubs, which are typically tall, or just herbs, which tend to be short.
What puts short plants in the evolutionary fast lane? The researchers suspect the difference may be driven by genetic changes that accumulate in the actively-dividing cells in the tip of the plant shoot as it grows. Cells don't copy their DNA perfectly each time they divide. In animals, most DNA copy mistakes that occur in the cells of the animal's body can't be inherited they're evolutionary dead ends. But this isn't the case for plants, where genetic changes in any part of the plant could potentially get passed on if those cells eventually form flowers or other reproductive organs
"Genetic changes that occur during cell division in plant shoots could potentially get passed on to future generations," Lanfear explained.
Importantly, growth slows as plants increase in size, he added. This means that over the long term, the rate of cell division and genome copying in taller plants eventually slows down, and changes in DNA the raw material for evolution accumulates less quickly.
"Our study also answers a question that was posed [in a paper] in Nature in 1986:" the researchers write. "Do plants evolve differently? The answer is 'yes.'"
###
The other authors of this study were Simon Ho of the University of Sydney, T. Jonathan Davies of McGill University, Angela Moles of the University of New South Wales, Lonnie Aarssen of Queen's University,
Nathan Swenson of Michigan State University, Laura Warman of the USDA Forest Service, Amy Zanne of George Washington University and Andrew Allen of Macquarie University in Australia.
CITATION: Lanfear, R., et al. (2013). "Taller plants have lower rates of molecular evolution: the rate of mitosis hypothesis." Nature Communications.
All data, code and scripts used in this study are available in the Dryad Digital Repository at http://dx.doi.org/dryad.43mg3
The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) is a nonprofit science center dedicated to cross-disciplinary research in evolution. Funded by the National Science Foundation, NESCent is jointly operated by Duke University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University. For more information about research and training opportunities at NESCent, visit http://www.nescent.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.
Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lanePublic release date: 21-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Lanfear rob.lanfear@anu.edu.au National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent)
Durham, NC Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role, says Robert Lanfear of Australian National University and the U. S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.
In a study to be published 21 May in the journal Nature Communications, Lanfear and colleagues report that shorter plants have faster-changing genomes.
Drawing from a database of global patterns in plant height for more than 20,000 species, the researchers estimated average maximum height for nearly 140 plant families worldwide ranging from a group of tropical plants called the Burmanniaceae, whose average height tops out at two inches (5 cm), to a family called the Tetramelaceae, which can tower above 140 feet (45 m).
For each family, the researchers also estimated how much their DNA sequences the strings of As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up their genetic code changed over time.
When they plotted evolutionary rates against plant height, the researchers were surprised to find that shorter plants evolved as much as five times faster than taller ones.
The pattern held up for both the nuclear and the chloroplast genomes, even after the researchers accounted for factors shown in previous studies to correlate with evolutionary speed such as species richness, latitude, temperature, and levels of UV radiation. The results also held up when the researchers looked just within trees and shrubs, which are typically tall, or just herbs, which tend to be short.
What puts short plants in the evolutionary fast lane? The researchers suspect the difference may be driven by genetic changes that accumulate in the actively-dividing cells in the tip of the plant shoot as it grows. Cells don't copy their DNA perfectly each time they divide. In animals, most DNA copy mistakes that occur in the cells of the animal's body can't be inherited they're evolutionary dead ends. But this isn't the case for plants, where genetic changes in any part of the plant could potentially get passed on if those cells eventually form flowers or other reproductive organs
"Genetic changes that occur during cell division in plant shoots could potentially get passed on to future generations," Lanfear explained.
Importantly, growth slows as plants increase in size, he added. This means that over the long term, the rate of cell division and genome copying in taller plants eventually slows down, and changes in DNA the raw material for evolution accumulates less quickly.
"Our study also answers a question that was posed [in a paper] in Nature in 1986:" the researchers write. "Do plants evolve differently? The answer is 'yes.'"
###
The other authors of this study were Simon Ho of the University of Sydney, T. Jonathan Davies of McGill University, Angela Moles of the University of New South Wales, Lonnie Aarssen of Queen's University,
Nathan Swenson of Michigan State University, Laura Warman of the USDA Forest Service, Amy Zanne of George Washington University and Andrew Allen of Macquarie University in Australia.
CITATION: Lanfear, R., et al. (2013). "Taller plants have lower rates of molecular evolution: the rate of mitosis hypothesis." Nature Communications.
All data, code and scripts used in this study are available in the Dryad Digital Repository at http://dx.doi.org/dryad.43mg3
The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) is a nonprofit science center dedicated to cross-disciplinary research in evolution. Funded by the National Science Foundation, NESCent is jointly operated by Duke University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University. For more information about research and training opportunities at NESCent, visit http://www.nescent.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.
The Quickindicator from Nord Zeitmachine promises it has the world’s quickest minute hand on a wrist watch. ?I’m not sure what the benefits of a quick minute hand are, but the watch does look very cool. ?These watches are made in Switzerland in a one-man shop. ?Daniel, the owner of Nord Zeitmachine, has a few [...]
TomTom is looking to beef up its location based services portal by joining forces with TrafficLand to bring real time traffic video to its developers. TomTom's LBS will now incorporate TrafficLand's network of over 13,000 roadside webcams, enabling developers to integrate live footage into their location-enabled apps via the Traffic Camera API. TrafficLand's real-time video will join the other cloud-based location services TomTom provides to devs, like map content, routing and geocoding. For right now, TrafficLand covers only the US, UK and Canada, and it's not clear if the company plans to expand beyond those three countries anytime soon. For more information, you can take a gander at TomTom's full press release, embedded after the break.
One of the basic principles of nanotechnology is that when you make things extremely small?one nanometer is about five atoms wide, 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair?they are going to become more perfect.
"Perfect in the sense that their arrangement of atoms in the real world will become more like an idealized model," says University of Vermont engineer Frederic Sansoz, "with smaller crystals?in for example, gold or copper?it's easier to have fewer defects in them."
And eliminating the defects at the interface separating two crystals, or grains, has been shown by nanotechnology experts to be a powerful strategy for making materials stronger, more easily molded, and less electrically resistant?or a host of other qualities sought by designers and manufacturers.
Since 2004, when a seminal paper came out in Science, materials scientists have been excited about one special of arrangement of atoms in metals and other materials called a "coherent twin boundary" or CTB.
Based on theory and experiment, these coherent twin boundaries are often described as "perfect," appearing like a perfectly flat, one-atom-thick plane in computer models and electron microscope images.
Over the last decade, a body of literature has shown these coherent twin boundaries?found at the nanoscale within the crystalline structure of common metals like gold, silver and copper?are highly effective at making materials much stronger while maintaining their ability to undergo permanent change in shape without breaking and still allowing easy transmission of electrons?an important fact for computer manufacturing and other electronics applications.
But new research now shows that coherent twin boundaries are not so perfect after all.
A team of scientists, including Sansoz, a professor in UVM's College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, and colleagues from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and elsewhere, write in the May 19 edition of Nature Materials that coherent twin boundaries found in copper "are inherently defective."
With a high-resolution electron microscope, using a more powerful technique than has ever been used to examine these boundaries, they found tiny kink-like steps and curvatures in what had previously been observed as perfect.
Even more surprising, these kinks and other defects appear to be the cause of the coherent twin boundary's strength and other desirable qualities.
"Everything we have learned on these materials in the past 10 years will have to be revisited with this new information," Sansoz says
The experiment, led by Morris Wang at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, applied a newly developed mapping technique to study the crystal orientation of CTBs in so-called nanotwinned copper and "boom?it revealed these defects," says Sansoz.
This real-world discovery conformed to earlier intriguing theoretical findings that Sansoz had been making with "atomistic simulations" on a computer. The lab results sent Sansoz back to his computer models where he introduced the newly discovered "kink" defects into his calculations. Using UVM's Vermont Advanced Computing Center, he theoretically confirmed that the kink defects observed by the Livermore team lead to "rather rich deformation processes at the atomic scale," he says, that do not exist with perfect twin boundaries.
With the computer model, "we found a series of completely new mechanisms," he says, for explaining why coherent twin boundaries simultaneously add strength and yet also allow stretching (what scientists call "tensile ductility")? properties that are usually mutually exclusive in conventional materials.
"We had no idea such defects existed," says Sansoz. "So much for the perfect twin boundary. We now call them defective twin boundaries."
For several decades, scientists have looked for ways to shrink the size of individual crystalline grains within metals and other materials. Like a series of dykes or walls within the larger structure, the boundaries between grains can slow internal slip and help resist failure. Generally, the more of these boundaries?the stronger the material.
Originally, scientists believed that coherent twin boundaries in materials were much more reliable and stable than conventional grain boundaries, which are incoherently full of defects. But the new research shows they could both contain similar types of defects despite very different boundary energies.
"Understanding these defective structures is the first step to take full use of these CTBs for strengthening and maintaining the ductility and electrical conductivity of many materials," Morris Wang said. "To understand the behavior and mechanisms of these defects will help our engineering design of these materials for high-strength applications."
For Sansoz, this discovery underlines a deep principle, "There are all manner of defects in nature," he says, "with nanotech, you are trying to control the way they are formed and dispersed in matter, and to understand their impact on properties. The point of this paper is that some defects make a material stronger."
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University of Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu
Thanks to University of Vermont for this article.
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After the stir several weeks ago, buzz surrounding Defense Distributed's 3D-printed gun has begun to (somewhat) die down. This is probably due in part to Kim Dotcom's removal of the gun's blueprint from Mega and the fact that, frankly, the gun itself isn't much of an immediate threat. But as one potential threat dissipates, just like clockwork, a new one has appeared on the horizon. And any fear creeping up on you with this newest incarnation of the 3D-printed gun might actually be warranted.
While Defense Distributed's heavy-handidly named Liberator was good for about one (highly expensive) shot before becoming effectively useless, its successor only costs about $25, can be printed on a consumer-grade printer, and is good for, as the video shows, at least nine rounds?with the potential for many more.
Designed by a Wisconsin engineer who identifies himself anonymously as "Joe" and his creation troublingly as the "Lulz Liberator," the gun is made out of generic Polylac PA-747 ABS, otherwise known as the type of plastic most commonly used in consumer-grade 3D printers. According to Joe, this cheaper material is actually stronger than the ABS plastic used in the much more expensive, Stratasys pro printer that Defense Distributed used. Apparently attempts to use the Stratasys resulted in the gun's barrel exploding, something that is, generally, not ideal.
Contributing to its sturdier status, the Lulz Liberator also holds a bit more metal hardware than its predecessor: traditional hardware store screws replaced the flimsy plastic printed pins. Then, to make everything good and (arguably) legal, the same piece of non-functional steel placed in the Liberator exists in the Lulz variety, allowing it to set off metal detectors and comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act.
Of course, like you'd expect with any plastic gun, it still doesn't work perfectly. Some of the screws as well as the firing pin had to be replaced over the course of the video, and after every shot, while the ammo cartridge didn't explode, it did expand enough to require some hammer pounding before it was ready to go again. But even with its flaws, the message is clear: much more threatening printed guns are possible?and they have the potential to be dirt cheap.
Unlike Defense Distributed's big coming out, though, Joe still hasn't put the plans for his Lulz Liberator online. And his hesitance thus far isn't surprising given the fact that the State Department forced Defense Distributed to remove their plans, citing export control violations.
Joe doesn't claim anarchist roots like Cody Wilson, Defense Distributed's founder. But he does believe him and Wilson are after the same ultimate goal. According to Joe, "I agree with Cody's idea that this is a perfect fusion of the first and second amendments."
The word "perfect," apparently, being a highly subjective term. [Forbes]
May 20, 2013 ? The University of Chicago has launched the first secure cloud-based computing system that enables researchers to access and analyze human genomic cancer information without the costly and cumbersome infrastructure normally needed to download and store massive amounts of data.
The Bionimbus Protected Data Cloud, as it is called, enables researchers who are authorized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to access and analyze data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) without having to set up secure, compliant computing environments capable of managing and analyzing terabytes of data, download the data -- which can take weeks -- and then install the appropriate tools needed to perform the desired analyses.
Using technology that was developed in part by the Open Science Data Cloud, a National Science Foundation-supported project that is developing cloud infrastructure for large scientific datasets, the Bionimbus Protected Data Cloud provides researchers with a more cost- and time-effective mechanism to extract knowledge from massive amounts of data. Drawing insights from big data is imperative for addressing some of today's most vexing environmental, health and safety challenges.
"The open source technology underlying the Open Science Data Cloud enables researchers to manage and analyze the large data sets that are essential to tackling some of today's greatest challenges: from environmental monitoring to cancer genomics," said Robert L. Grossman, the director of the Open Science Data Cloud Project and a professor at the University of Chicago.
Today, as the only NIH-approved cloud-based system for TCGA data, the Bionimbus Protected Data Cloud allows researchers to focus on the analysis of large-scale cancer genome sequencing, which experts believe can unlock paths to early detection, appropriate treatment and prevention of cancer.
"We are excited that the Bionimbus Protected Data Cloud is now used for cancer genomics data so that researchers can more easily work with large datasets to understand genomic variations that seem to be one of the keys to the precise diagnosis and treatment of cancer," continued Grossman.
"With funding provided by NSF's Partnerships for International Research and Education [PIRE] program, NSF has sought to narrow the gap between the capability of modern scientific instruments to produce data and the ability of researchers to access, manage, analyze and share those data in a reliable and timely manner," said NSF Program Director Harold Stolberg.
"By embracing cloud computing as a global issue, this PIRE project brings together the expertise of many researchers, not only in the United States, but worldwide. Its success in helping researchers to access and analyze important human genomic cancer information is an exciting indicator of future developments with these technologies," he said.
Megan McNerney, an instructor of pathology at the University of Chicago, used Bionimbus to analyze data that led to her discovery that gene CUX1, which acts as a tumor suppressor, is frequently inactivated in acute myeloid leukemia.
"Bionimbus was critical for my work, as it was used for all aspects of the project, including secure storage of protected data, quality control of next-generation sequencing results, alignments, expression analysis, and algorithm development," she said. "The strength of Bionimbus, however, is the support that is provided for end users, which enabled both expert and non-expert team members to use the cloud."
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) ? A Saudi newspaper says a vegetable seller who set himself on fire in Riyadh after police confiscated his goods for standing in an unauthorized area has died.
The website for newspaper Sada reported that the man, identified only by the family name of Sureihi, died in hospital late on Friday.
The self-immolation emulated that of a street vendor in Tunisia, whose 2011 death sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.
Family members were seen outside the hospital Saturday demanding answers about why police confiscated the man's goods. Witnesses say the family wants to know what led him to douse himself in gasoline and set himself ablaze on Thursday.
Saudi officials refused to comment. They did not disclose the man's name or age.
Despite Saudi Arabia's oil wealth, many of its people live in poor conditions. Protests in the conservative kingdom are rare.
In the opening scene of the movie ?Robot & Frank,? which takes place in the near future, Frank, an elderly man who lives alone, is arguing with his son about going to a medical center for Alzheimer?s treatment when the son interrupts him. ?I brought you something,? he says to Frank. Then the son pulls a large, white humanoid robot from the trunk of his car.
Frank watches in disbelief. ?You have got to be kidding me,? he says as a robot helper, called the VGC-60L, stands in front of him. ?I?m not this pathetic!?
But as Frank soon learns, he doesn?t have much of a choice. His new robot helper is there to cook, clean, garden and keep him company. His son, mired in family and work life, is too busy to care for his ailing father.
Just like Frank, as the baby boomer generation grows old and if the number of elderly care workers fails to grow with it, many people might end up being cared for by robots. According to the Health and Human Services Department, there will be 72.1 million Americans over the age of 65 by 2030, which is nearly double the number today. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country will need 70 percent more home aide jobs by 2020, long before that bubble of retirees. But filling those jobs is proving to be difficult because the salaries are low. In many states, in-home aides make an average of $20,820 annually.
?There are two trends that are going in opposite directions. One is the increasing number of elderly people, and the other is the decline in the number of people to take care of them,? said Jim Osborn, a roboticist and executive director of the Robotics Institute?s Quality of Life Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. ?Part of the view we?ve already espoused is that robots will start to fill in those gaps.?
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed Cody, a robotic nurse the university says is ?gentle enough to bathe elderly patients.? There is also HERB, which is short for Home Exploring Robot Butler. Made by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, it is designed to fetch household objects like cups and can even clean a kitchen. Hector, a robot that is being developed by the University of Reading in England, can remind patients to take their medicine, keep track of their eyeglasses and assist in the event of a fall.
The technology is nearly there. But some researchers worry that we are not asking a fundamental question: Should we entrust the care of people in their 70s and older to artificial assistants rather than doing it ourselves?
Sherry Turkle, a professor of science, technology and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the book ?Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other,? did a series of studies with Paro, a therapeutic robot that looks like a baby harp seal and is meant to have a calming effect on patients with dementia, Alzheimer?s and in health care facilities. The professor said she was troubled when she saw a 76-year-old woman share stories about her life with the robot.
?I felt like this isn?t amazing; this is sad. We have been reduced to spectators of a conversation that has no meaning,? she said. ?Giving old people robots to talk to is a dystopian view that is being classified as utopian.? Professor Turkle said robots did not have a capacity to listen or understand something personal, and tricking patients to think they can is unethical.
That?s the catch. Leaving the questions of ethics aside for a moment, building robots is not simply about creating smart machines; it is about making something that is not human still appear, somehow, trustworthy.
A recent Georgia Tech study found that older people were intrigued by the idea of robotic assistants in the home, but a robot?s appearance played a large role in what they will trust the machines to do. Older people want robots that look human for tasks that involve intelligence, like recommending which medicine they need to take. But they want a more sterile-looking machine for manual labor tasks, like cleaning and cooking, so they do not feel guilty bossing it about.
Wendy A. Rogers, a professor at Georgia Tech and director of the university?s Human Factors and Aging Laboratory, said concerns about older people developing relationships with their in-home helper robots were no different than the bond we develop with other inanimate objects.
Dr. Rogers has been experimenting with a large robot called the PR2, made by Willow Garage, a robotics company in Palo Alto, Calif., which can fetch and administer medicine, a seemingly simple act that demands a great deal of trust between man and machine.
?We are social beings, and we do develop social types of relationships with lots of things,? she said. ?Think about the GPS in your car, you talk to it and it talks to you.? Dr. Rogers noted that people developed connections with their Roomba, the vacuum robot, by giving the machines names and buying costumes for them. ?This isn?t a bad thing, it?s just what we do,? she said.
In fact, Mr. Osborn?s laboratory at Carnegie Mellon has designed a robot to work with therapists and people with autism. The machine can develop a personality and blinks and giggles as people interact with it. ?Those we tested it with love it and hugged it,? he said. ?You begin to think of it as something that is more than a machine with a computer.?
In the movie ?Robot & Frank,? technologists have raced ahead of society?s collective conscience with their robot caregivers. But the movie still leaves its audience with a question: Will it one day be morally acceptable to unload your parents? care to a machine?
As the actor Frank Langella, who plays Frank in the movie, told NPR last year: ?Every one of us is going to go through aging and all sorts of processes, many people suffering from dementia,? he said. ?And if you put a machine in there to help, the notion of making it about love and buddy-ness and warmth is kind of scary in a way, because that?s what you should be doing with other human beings.?
Ben Affleck joined the five-timers club as host, but departing castmember Bill Hader stole the show on "Saturday Night Live?s" season 38 finale.
Hader gave a cinematic sendoff to Stefon, that perennially irritating scenester kid. During Weekend Update, he faced his usual dressing down from Seth Meyers. Stefon had finally had enough, and announced he?d met someone else and was leaving Meyers. Meyers -- who was joined at the Update desk by former co-anchor Amy Poehler -- ran after Stefon and found him in a church. What came next was a fantastic (and surprisingly emotional) Graduate-themed segment featuring surprise guest Anderson Cooper as Stefon?s fiancee.
VIDEO: "Saturday Night Live": Watch Bill Hader's finest sketches
In the show?s final sketch, Hader, Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis and Taran Killam played a British rock band saying goodbyes on the last night of a tour.
?It?s the last night here,? Armisen said.
?But we?re going to keep playing together,? Hader said.
The band began playing a song, and were eventually joined on stage by Armisen?s Portlandia costar Carrie Brownstein, Sonic Youth?s Kim Gordon, the Sex Pistols? Steve Jones, singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, and Dinosaur Jr.?s J Mascis.
Earlier in the week, a report emerged that Armisen and Sudeikis would be leaving the show, and while NBC has not commented on the report, it's worth nothing that Armisen played the leader of the band. The focus was actually more on Armisen than Hader. Based solely on the sketch, signs point to an Armisen exit in addition to Hader's.
But lest we forget the host, it's time to circle back to Affleck. During his opening monologue, the actor-director addressed his odd "Argo" Oscars speech, in which he thanked wife Jennifer Garner but went on to talk about how marriage takes a lot of work. On "SNL," Affleck brought Garner out to discuss what he really meant. What followed was a marital game of ping-pong, with Garner saying she would have described their marriage as ?a gift,? not work, and Affleck fumbling for a better explanation.
PHOTOS: From live TV to the big screen: 12 "SNL" sketches made into movies
Affleck finally found his footing:
"I want to tell you how I wish I had ended that speech: I couldn?t do any of the things I do without you, without your support. You?re my angel, my wife, my world.?
The moment was shattered when Garner pointed out that he was reading the speech off of a cue card.
"SNL" moved on to imagine what would happen if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Armisen) were to make a movie about Affleck directing "Argo." The result was spectacular. "Bengo F--- Yourself" saw Ahmadinejad wearing a Red Sox cap, doing a Boston accent and pitching his idea for a totally false CIA story. Affleck himself had a role in the movie as a sound technician.
?Why would I appear in this movie? Well, to be honest I?ve long been looking to appear in a movie worse than 'Gigli,'? Affleck said.
VIDEO: "SNL" recap: Zach Galifianakis plays "Game of Game of Thrones"
Affleck sported a mustache and a paunch to play a member of a family of emotionally repressed police officers attempting to toast the engagement of a young female relative. In a less-than-successful sketch, he portrayed a counselor at a camp designed to turn gay kids straight.
"SNL" was on a gay sketch kick, apparently, with a prerecorded segment advertising anti-anxiety medication for people feeling worried about attending perfect gay weddings over the summer. One man (Hader) feared that he was an inadequate dancer at gay weddings, where he said guests knew choreographed Beyonce dances. Another (Moynihan) never had clothes that were good enough, and a third noted that President Barack Obama had called to congratulate his gay friends at their wedding, while at his wedding, his grandmother had called Obama the N-word. Not quite as classy of an event.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The president and CEO of The Associated Press says the government's seizure of AP journalists' phone records was "unconstitutional" and already has had a chilling effect on newsgathering.
Gary Pruitt says the Justice Department's secret subpoena of reporters' phone records has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists.
The Justice Department disclosed the seizure of two months of phone records in a letter the AP received May 10. The letter did not state a reason, but prosecutors had said they were conducting a leaks investigation into how the AP learned about an al-Qaida bomb plot in Yemen before it was made public last year. Pruitt said the AP story contradicted the government's claim at the time there was no terrorist plot.
Bosses who help their employees deal with emotional problems shouldn't expect much gratitude or loyalty for their efforts, new research shows.
A study in the current issue of the Academy of Management Journal finds that subordinates, who tend to seek help with personal and job concerns from supervisors rather than from co-workers, typically view a boss's help as part of their managerial responsibilities, while supervisors see them as good deeds that go well beyond their job duties.
The research revealed that the disparity extended to the expectation of reciprocity, with subordinates seeing little or no obligation to reciprocate for emotional help, whereas managers expected payback in the form of increased commitment and loyalty from the employee.
[11 Things That Make Workers Happy]
The study highlights the case of one manager who devoted a lot of time to helping a staff member deal with emotional troubles only to have her leave for another company just when she seemed to be turning the corner. When the manager showed disappointment, the subordinate was surprised, having had taken for granted that such help was part of a boss's job.
One of the study's authors, Ginka Toegel of the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, said although most managers don't show their disappointment as overtly as the one in the case study did, they do have clear expectations.
"They feel that helping with emotional problems is above and beyond their job responsibilities and expect employees to return the favor through enhanced recognition, loyalty and commitment," Toegel said. "In short, no second thoughts if there's a deadline to meet and the employee is asked to stay late."
Toegel said supervisors should have realistic expectations when dealing with employees and shouldn't be surprised that subordinates would consider it part of their boss's job to maintain a healthy emotional climate.
"The fact is that supervisors do benefit from a happy team in terms of productivity and results, as most of our interviewees were aware," Toegel said. "Emotional rewards beyond that would be nice, but their absence should not be an occasion for bitterness or hand-wringing."
The study?s message for employees should be that help from a supervisor comes with expectations for gratitude and personal loyalty, Toegel said.
"If employees are not comfortable with that, they should think twice about going to their supervisor for help or even accepting an offer for help," she said.
The study, based on an in-depth analysis of a recruiting agency specializing in providing managerial staff for retail outlets, was co-authored by Anand Narasimhan, of the IMD business school, and Martin Kilduff of University College London.
This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Chad Brooks on Twitter @cbrooks76 or BusinessNewsDaily @BNDarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+. This story was originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
All Critics (131) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (129) | Rotten (2)
There is an enchanted-fairy-tale aspect to Mud, but its bright, calm surface only barely disguises a strong, churning undercurrent.
A modern fairy tale, steeped in the sleepy Mississippi lore of Twain and similar American writers, and with a heart as big as the river is wide.
Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather.
Nichols takes his time with the story, dwelling on how the boy is shaped by the killer's tragic sense of romance, yet the suspense holds.
"Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career.
"Mud" unfolds at its own pace, revealing its story in slivers. The performances are outstanding, especially from Sheridan, who plays tough, sweet, vulnerable and confused with equal conviction.
As Mud might say, it's a hell of a thing.
The boys are so skillfully played that Mud also plays like cinema verite. Nichols' fluid camerawork suggests a documentary-style approach. That helps these young lads transform into flesh-and-blood characters who get our attention and support.
Sheridan, who played the Terrence Malick surrogate in The Tree Of Life, is terrific at conveying adolescent confusion with tiny squints and frowns, and McConaughey plays off him masterfully.
Carefully crafting films that fly just below the political radar, director-writer Jeff Nichols is slowly, but surely, reweaving the fabric of the American dream.
It's totally worth it to pay good money to see a good, little film nestled between theaters showing 'Iron Man 3' and 'The Great Gatsby.' (Complete Content Details for Parents also available)
This is a junior adventure story echoing Huckleberry Finn and Stand By Me, a tale which is in no hurry to unfold, but beautifully done, exquisitely performed, and filled with terror and wonder.
Beautifully acted, intellectually engaging, and dramatically satisfying, Mud deserves to rocket to the top of your must-see list.
Nichols is a gifted writer-director who knows how to get into the heads of his characters. And this film has superior actors who create people who are intriguing and hugely involving.
'Mud' is a standout film in this 'coming of age' genre mainly because of its central character, one tough, warm-hearted, stubborn little kid who believes in the power of love, above all else.
Other than pacing problems that needlessly stretch the film past the two-hour mark, 'Mud' slings the dirt and sweat with the best of them, as it both mourns and celebrates a way of life that's all but disappeared.
A sublime coming-of-age film, 'Mud' would be the offspring if 'Stand By Me' and 'Cape Fear' reproduced.
Mud is a movie of striking performances and memorable images and of people who seem to belong in rather than being imposed upon their environment.
A brilliant metaphor for how a child deals with divorce.
This might be Mud. But it deserves to stick.
This is a film that gives McConaughey the chance to be an actor rather than a star, and, not for the first time, he grabs the opportunity.
Gone is the rom-com character and emphasis on a toothy smile and six-pack abs. Matthew McConaughey is showing off some acting chops.
Mud is, perhaps, a little longer than it needed to be, but few sensitive viewers will begrudge Nichols his indulgence. This director is the real thing.
Writer-director Nichols continues to get inside the heads of his characters with this involving but overlong dramatic thriller.
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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on Sunday, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers.
Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions have raised concerns about the region's security.
"North Korea fired a short-range missile as it did yesterday into its east sea in the afternoon, " South Korea's news agency Yonhap reported, citing a military official.
A South Korean defense ministry official confirmed the Yonhap report, but did not provide any details.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was concerned about North Korea's launch of short-range missiles, urging Pyonyang to refrain from further launches and return to stalled nuclear talks with world powers.
Ban, who spoke to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti during a visit to Moscow, called Saturday's launch a "provocative action".
Tension on the Korean peninsula has subsided in the past month, having run high for several weeks after the United Nations Security Council imposed tougher sanctions against Pyongyang following its third nuclear test in February.
The North had for weeks issued nearly daily warnings of impending nuclear war with the South and the United States.
South Korea's Unification Ministry criticized the missile tests as deplorable and urged the North to lower tensions and hold talks over a suspended inter-Korean industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong.
South Korea pulled out all of its workers from the industrial zone early this month after North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers as tensions mounted.
(Additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel in MOSCOW; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions.
The North fired two missiles Saturday morning and another in the afternoon, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said by phone. He said the North's intent was unclear. His ministry said it is watching North Korea carefully in case it conducts a provocation against South Korea.
In March, North Korea launched what appeared to be two KN-02 missiles off its east coast. Experts believe the country is trying to improve the range and accuracy of its arsenal.
North Korea recently withdrew two mid-range "Musudan" missiles believed to be capable of reaching Guam after moving them to its east coast earlier this year, U.S. officials said. The North is banned from testing ballistic missiles under U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Earlier this year, North Korea threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington because of annual U.S.-South Korean military drills and U.N. sanctions imposed over its third nuclear test in February. The drills ended late last month. This past month, the U.S. and South Korea ended another round of naval drills involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier off the east coast. North Korea calls such drills preparation to invade the North.
Analysts say the recent North Korean threats were partly an attempt to push Washington to agree to disarmament-for-aid talks.
This past week, Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea, ended trips to South Korea, China and Japan. On Friday, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned from North Korea but didn't immediately give details of his talks with officials there.
On Monday, North Korean state media showed that the country's hard-line defense minister had been replaced by a little-known army general. Outside analysts said it was part of leader Kim Jong Un's efforts to tighten his grip on the powerful military after his father Kim Jong Il died in December 2011.
The United States and Japan are participants in six-nation nuclear disarmament talks along with the Koreas, Russia and China. North Korea walked out of the talks in 2009 after the United Nations condemned it for a long-range rocket launch.
North Korea possesses an array of missiles. U.S. and South Korean officials do not believe the North's claim that it has developed nuclear warheads small enough to place on a missile. Last week in Washington, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama warned North Korea against further nuclear provocations.
Tension between the two Koreas remains high after both sides pulled out their workers from a jointly run factory complex earlier this year. The countries remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty.
Almost two decades ago, scientists succeeded in cloning Dolly the sheep. Now, the same process has been allowed scientists to clone embryonic stem cells from fetal human skin cells for the very first time. There are no more barriers between us and creating human clones.
Cloning in and of itself has been within our reach for a while. Cloning non-human animals has been on the table for nearly two decades, dating back to Dolly the sheep way back in 1996. Cloning human cells has always been a bit rougher of a prospect, partly because it's just hard, and partly because experimenting with it is ground that needs to be tread very very carefully.
This breakthrough accomplishment, performed by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University and his colleagues, makes use of a technique called nuclear transfer. In its most basic sense, nuclear transfer is the process of taking one cell?in this case a skin cell?and inserting it into an egg cell that's had its DNA removed, which is then coaxed into dividing. Or in other words, it's sort of like fertilizing an egg cell with a fully formed cell of another sort, instead of a sperm.
This process results in a ball of stem cells that can be grown into a full-fledged clone if it's allowed to keep developing. That's how we've gotten every successful clone to date, including Dolly back in 1996. But until now, that had never worked with human cells. As documented in the journal Cell, Mitalipov and company have managed to pull off the process using skin cells of a human fetus as fertilizer, creating a whole bunch of embryonic stem cells that could go on to grow into a cloned human being. Not that anyone's planning to actually do that. Ever. These cells are for medical treatment. Stuff like treating nerve and heart damage.
Mitalipov attributes the recent success mainly to two things. First, there's the use of healthy, donated eggs?previously eggs used for experiments like this were leftovers from IVF clinics. Second, there's the slightly new approach to nuclear transfer, with several special tweaks and modifications including the infusion of caffeine at one point. The result is a reliable, high-yeild process that can create, on average, four embryonic stem cell lines from every eight eggs. Mitalipov put it this way:
We knew the history of failure, that several legitimate labs had tried but couldn't make it work. I thought we would need about 500 to 1,000 eggs to optimize the process and anticipated it would be a long study that would take several years. But in the first experiment we got a blastocyst and within a couple of months we already had an (embryonic) stem cell line. We couldn't believe it.
The implications here are huge, from both a medicinal and ethical standpoint. In the past, other scientists experimented with cloning processes that avoided ethical quandaries like extracting fetal cells, but none of those were nearly as reliable as this one. And this approach might be able to work with adult skin cells?removing fetuses from the equation?but it's still too early to tell.
And while the stem cells generated here definitely aren't intended to be used to produce actual, living, human clones, there's no reason to believe they couldn't be. And life potential like that is bound to raise all sorts of questions.
But aside from all that, this cloning process holds promise for the treatment of all kinds of degenerative diseases, though you can bet it will be a long, hard road to any sort of standardization for a whole wide variety of medical and legal reasons. Still, it's a huge step forward for science, and for young megalomaniacs who aspire to live forever through clones someday.. [Time via CNN]
Amsterdam, May 17, 2013 - Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the publication of a recent study in Reproductive BioMedicine Online on 5-day old human blastocysts showing that those with an abnormal chromosomal composition can be identified by the rate at which they have developed to blastocysts, thereby classifying the risk of genetic abnormality without a biopsy. In a new study the same group has undertaken a retrospective study, using their predictive model to assess the likelihood of any embryo transferred resulting in a successful pregnancy, with very encouraging outcomes.
One of the greatest challenges in assisted reproduction is to find the one embryo, which can develop successfully. Now, combining time lapse imaging of IVF embryos cultured for 5 days to the blastocyst stage with trophoblast biopsy, it has proved possible to correlate the rate of blastocyst formation with chromosomal abnormalities. Such an approach should allow early and widely accessible non-invasive identification of the best embryo to place in the uterus.
"Recently the world of IVF has become very excited by the use of time-lapse imaging (TLI) of early human embryo development to follow the change of embryo morphology over time", explains Martin Johnson, Editor of Reproductive BioMedicine Online. "The data can then be compared with the outcome after the embryos are transferred. The hope is that this morphokinetic analysis will enable reproductive specialists to predict more successfully those embryos most likely to generate pregnancies. The advantage of using morphokinetic analysis to predict outcome is its minimal invasiveness."
The majority of embryos that fail to initiate a pregnancy do so because they have abnormal chromosomes. Unfortunately these embryos cannot be recognized by embryologists using conventional microscopy. Only biopsy of one or a few cells of the early embryo followed by preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) can establish whether the number of chromosomes is normal or not.
In their research Alison Campbell and colleagues of CARE Fertility, Nottingham, went one step further, describing the use of morphokinetic analysis to identify those embryos that have an abnormal chromosomal constitution. In that study, they cultured embryos under time lapse imaging to day 5, by which time they formed blastocysts. These were then biopsied by removing a few of the cells from the outer layer of the embryo, which will normally contribute only to the placenta. The biopsy was then analyzed for its chromosomal constitution. The authors then related the chromosomal make up of each embryo to its morphokinetic history. They found that a proportion of embryos with chromosomal abnormalities were delayed in initiating blastocyst formation and also reached the full blastocyst stage later than did normal embryos. The authors conclude that using this approach they could avoid exposing at least a subset of the embryos to invasive biopsy procedures.
"This non-invasive model for the classification of chromosomal abnormality may be used to avoid selecting embryos with high risk of aneuploidy while selecting those with reduced risk," said lead author Alison Campbell.
The same group has now applied this risk classification model retrospectively to examine the pregnancy outcomes in a series of unselected IVF patients without the use of PGS. A significant improvement in both implantation and live birth rates was observed when low risk embryos were transferred.
Scientist Markus Montag of the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Fertility Disorders, University Clinics of Heidelberg, said: "The idea of using time-lapse imaging and morphokinetic analysis is intriguing, because having available a completely non-invasive procedure to predict which embryo is euploid or aneuploid would allow the application of this technique for virtually every assisted reproduction cycle. The potential benefit of such an approach is obvious in view of published data on the incidence of aneuploidy even in oocytes from younger women."
###
These research papers are:
Modelling a risk classification of aneuploidy in human embryos using non-invasive morphokinetics, by Campbell, A., Fishel, S., Bowman, N., Duffy, S., Sedler, M., Hickman, C.F.L.; Reproductive BioMedicine Online; 26, 477- 485;DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2013.02.006. The article appears in Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Volume 26, Issue 5 (May 2013), published by Elsevier. Available online on ScienceDirect.
Retrospective analysis of clinical pregnancy and live birth rate for IVF embryos classified for aneuploidy risk, without PGS, demonstrates the benefit of a time-lapse imaging derived model, by Campbell, A., Fishel, S., Bowman, N., Duffy, S., Sedler, M., Thornton, S.; This article is available as an Article in Press in Reproductive Biomedicine Online (May 17, 2013), published by Elsevier. Available online on ScienceDirect on May 17.
Notes for Editors
Full text of the articles are available to journalists upon request: contact Greyling Peoples at +31 20 485 3323 or g.peoples@elsevier.com. Journalists wishing to set up interviews with the authors should contact Dr. Alison Campbell or Dr Simon Fishel.
About the authors
Alison Campbell and Simon Fishel
CARE Fertility, John Webster House, 6 Lawrence Drive, Nottingham
Business Park, Nottingham, NG8 6PZ
Reproductive BioMedicine Online covers the formation, growth and differentiation of the human embryo. It is intended to bring to public attention new research on biological and clinical research on human reproduction and the human embryo including relevant studies on animals. It is published by a group of scientists and clinicians working in these fields of study. Its audience comprises researchers, clinicians, practitioners, academics and patients.
It is an official publication of:
The American Association of Bioanalysts (AAB) http://www.aab.org
Alpha Scientists in Reproductive Medicine, http://alphascientists.org
The American College of Embryology (ACE) http://www.embcol.org
The Global Chinese Association for Reproductive Medicine (GCARM) http://www.gcarm.com
The International Society for In Vitro Fertilization (ISIVF) http://www.isivf.com
The Mediterranean Society for Reproductive Medicine (MSRM) http://www.medreproduction.org
The Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis International Society (PGDIS) http://www.pgdis.org
The Turkish Society of Reproductive Medicine (TSRM) http://www.tsrm.org.tr
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close
to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of
science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Amsterdam, May 17, 2013 - Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the publication of a recent study in Reproductive BioMedicine Online on 5-day old human blastocysts showing that those with an abnormal chromosomal composition can be identified by the rate at which they have developed to blastocysts, thereby classifying the risk of genetic abnormality without a biopsy. In a new study the same group has undertaken a retrospective study, using their predictive model to assess the likelihood of any embryo transferred resulting in a successful pregnancy, with very encouraging outcomes.
One of the greatest challenges in assisted reproduction is to find the one embryo, which can develop successfully. Now, combining time lapse imaging of IVF embryos cultured for 5 days to the blastocyst stage with trophoblast biopsy, it has proved possible to correlate the rate of blastocyst formation with chromosomal abnormalities. Such an approach should allow early and widely accessible non-invasive identification of the best embryo to place in the uterus.
"Recently the world of IVF has become very excited by the use of time-lapse imaging (TLI) of early human embryo development to follow the change of embryo morphology over time", explains Martin Johnson, Editor of Reproductive BioMedicine Online. "The data can then be compared with the outcome after the embryos are transferred. The hope is that this morphokinetic analysis will enable reproductive specialists to predict more successfully those embryos most likely to generate pregnancies. The advantage of using morphokinetic analysis to predict outcome is its minimal invasiveness."
The majority of embryos that fail to initiate a pregnancy do so because they have abnormal chromosomes. Unfortunately these embryos cannot be recognized by embryologists using conventional microscopy. Only biopsy of one or a few cells of the early embryo followed by preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) can establish whether the number of chromosomes is normal or not.
In their research Alison Campbell and colleagues of CARE Fertility, Nottingham, went one step further, describing the use of morphokinetic analysis to identify those embryos that have an abnormal chromosomal constitution. In that study, they cultured embryos under time lapse imaging to day 5, by which time they formed blastocysts. These were then biopsied by removing a few of the cells from the outer layer of the embryo, which will normally contribute only to the placenta. The biopsy was then analyzed for its chromosomal constitution. The authors then related the chromosomal make up of each embryo to its morphokinetic history. They found that a proportion of embryos with chromosomal abnormalities were delayed in initiating blastocyst formation and also reached the full blastocyst stage later than did normal embryos. The authors conclude that using this approach they could avoid exposing at least a subset of the embryos to invasive biopsy procedures.
"This non-invasive model for the classification of chromosomal abnormality may be used to avoid selecting embryos with high risk of aneuploidy while selecting those with reduced risk," said lead author Alison Campbell.
The same group has now applied this risk classification model retrospectively to examine the pregnancy outcomes in a series of unselected IVF patients without the use of PGS. A significant improvement in both implantation and live birth rates was observed when low risk embryos were transferred.
Scientist Markus Montag of the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Fertility Disorders, University Clinics of Heidelberg, said: "The idea of using time-lapse imaging and morphokinetic analysis is intriguing, because having available a completely non-invasive procedure to predict which embryo is euploid or aneuploid would allow the application of this technique for virtually every assisted reproduction cycle. The potential benefit of such an approach is obvious in view of published data on the incidence of aneuploidy even in oocytes from younger women."
###
These research papers are:
Modelling a risk classification of aneuploidy in human embryos using non-invasive morphokinetics, by Campbell, A., Fishel, S., Bowman, N., Duffy, S., Sedler, M., Hickman, C.F.L.; Reproductive BioMedicine Online; 26, 477- 485;DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2013.02.006. The article appears in Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Volume 26, Issue 5 (May 2013), published by Elsevier. Available online on ScienceDirect.
Retrospective analysis of clinical pregnancy and live birth rate for IVF embryos classified for aneuploidy risk, without PGS, demonstrates the benefit of a time-lapse imaging derived model, by Campbell, A., Fishel, S., Bowman, N., Duffy, S., Sedler, M., Thornton, S.; This article is available as an Article in Press in Reproductive Biomedicine Online (May 17, 2013), published by Elsevier. Available online on ScienceDirect on May 17.
Notes for Editors
Full text of the articles are available to journalists upon request: contact Greyling Peoples at +31 20 485 3323 or g.peoples@elsevier.com. Journalists wishing to set up interviews with the authors should contact Dr. Alison Campbell or Dr Simon Fishel.
About the authors
Alison Campbell and Simon Fishel
CARE Fertility, John Webster House, 6 Lawrence Drive, Nottingham
Business Park, Nottingham, NG8 6PZ
Reproductive BioMedicine Online covers the formation, growth and differentiation of the human embryo. It is intended to bring to public attention new research on biological and clinical research on human reproduction and the human embryo including relevant studies on animals. It is published by a group of scientists and clinicians working in these fields of study. Its audience comprises researchers, clinicians, practitioners, academics and patients.
It is an official publication of:
The American Association of Bioanalysts (AAB) http://www.aab.org
Alpha Scientists in Reproductive Medicine, http://alphascientists.org
The American College of Embryology (ACE) http://www.embcol.org
The Global Chinese Association for Reproductive Medicine (GCARM) http://www.gcarm.com
The International Society for In Vitro Fertilization (ISIVF) http://www.isivf.com
The Mediterranean Society for Reproductive Medicine (MSRM) http://www.medreproduction.org
The Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis International Society (PGDIS) http://www.pgdis.org
The Turkish Society of Reproductive Medicine (TSRM) http://www.tsrm.org.tr
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close
to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of
science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
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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.
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