ALBION, N.Y. (AP) ? A Roman Catholic nun with a gambling addiction has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $130,000 from two rural western New York parishes.
The Daily News of Batavia reports (http://bit.ly/10ODYyX ) that 68-year-old Sister Mary Anne Rapp pleaded guilty Monday in Orleans County Court to grand larceny. She admits she stole the money from St. Mary's Church in Holley and St. Mark's Church in Kendall from March 2006 to April 2011.
Rapp faces up to six months in jail when she's sentenced July 1. She'll also be required to pay restitution that would be worked out at a later date.
Rapp was arrested in November after discrepancies were found during an audit.
Investigators said she stole the money to feed a gambling addiction and spent the money at western New York casinos.
___
Information from: The Daily News, http://www.batavianews.com
New mouse viruses could aid hepatitis researchPublic release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
Newly discovered mouse viruses could pave the way for future progress in hepatitis research, enabling scientists to study human disease and vaccines in the ultimate lab animal. In a study to be published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists describe their search for viruses related to the human hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human pegiviruses (HPgV) in frozen stocks of wild mice. The discovery of several new species of hepaciviruses and pegiviruses that are closely related to human viruses suggests they might be used to study these diseases and potential vaccines in mice, without the need for human volunteers.
About 2% of the population is infected with the hepatitis C virus and 5% is infected with human pegiviruses, but it's been difficult to study new drugs or develop vaccines against these infections because the human strains do not infect animals that can be studied in the lab. Lead author Amit Kapoor of Columbia University says it surprised him to find similar viruses in mice.
"People have been waiting for decades to find something like this. It was shocking for me to see that the viruses are there and there are so many of them," says Kapoor.
Kapoor and his colleagues screened an archive of more than 400 frozen rodents, mostly deer mice, for viruses related to the human hepatitis C virus and human pegiviruses. The search turned up a number of candidates, and they selected two for complete genome sequencing: a rodent hepacivirus (RHV) found in deer mice and a rodent pegivirus (RPgV) found in a white-throated woodrat. Sequencing confirmed that the viruses are very closely related to human strains but they represent several novel species in the Hepacivirus and Pegivirus genera within the family Flaviviridae.
These rodent viruses have genes, proteins, and translational elements that closely mirror those found in human hepaciviruses and pegiviruses, suggesting they have great potential for use in the lab. Animal models of hepatitis would help scientists explore the ways these viruses causes disease and aid in the design of treatments and vaccines. Human pegiviruses, on the other hand, have unknown effects, so studying how they work in rodents could well point the way to what they might do in the human body and why so many people are infected.
Kapoor's lab is now focused on exploring the biology of these viruses. "We are trying to infect deer mice, to study biological properties of these hepatitis C-like viruses," says Kapoor. "And if we find one of these viruses is hepatotrophic [having an attraction to the liver] and causes disease similar to hepatitis C, that would be a big step forward in understanding hepatitis C-induced pathology in humans."
###
mBio is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at http://mbio.asm.org.
The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
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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.
New mouse viruses could aid hepatitis researchPublic release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
Newly discovered mouse viruses could pave the way for future progress in hepatitis research, enabling scientists to study human disease and vaccines in the ultimate lab animal. In a study to be published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists describe their search for viruses related to the human hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human pegiviruses (HPgV) in frozen stocks of wild mice. The discovery of several new species of hepaciviruses and pegiviruses that are closely related to human viruses suggests they might be used to study these diseases and potential vaccines in mice, without the need for human volunteers.
About 2% of the population is infected with the hepatitis C virus and 5% is infected with human pegiviruses, but it's been difficult to study new drugs or develop vaccines against these infections because the human strains do not infect animals that can be studied in the lab. Lead author Amit Kapoor of Columbia University says it surprised him to find similar viruses in mice.
"People have been waiting for decades to find something like this. It was shocking for me to see that the viruses are there and there are so many of them," says Kapoor.
Kapoor and his colleagues screened an archive of more than 400 frozen rodents, mostly deer mice, for viruses related to the human hepatitis C virus and human pegiviruses. The search turned up a number of candidates, and they selected two for complete genome sequencing: a rodent hepacivirus (RHV) found in deer mice and a rodent pegivirus (RPgV) found in a white-throated woodrat. Sequencing confirmed that the viruses are very closely related to human strains but they represent several novel species in the Hepacivirus and Pegivirus genera within the family Flaviviridae.
These rodent viruses have genes, proteins, and translational elements that closely mirror those found in human hepaciviruses and pegiviruses, suggesting they have great potential for use in the lab. Animal models of hepatitis would help scientists explore the ways these viruses causes disease and aid in the design of treatments and vaccines. Human pegiviruses, on the other hand, have unknown effects, so studying how they work in rodents could well point the way to what they might do in the human body and why so many people are infected.
Kapoor's lab is now focused on exploring the biology of these viruses. "We are trying to infect deer mice, to study biological properties of these hepatitis C-like viruses," says Kapoor. "And if we find one of these viruses is hepatotrophic [having an attraction to the liver] and causes disease similar to hepatitis C, that would be a big step forward in understanding hepatitis C-induced pathology in humans."
###
mBio is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at http://mbio.asm.org.
The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
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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.
AppGratis, the popular app discovery platform for finding new apps, has been pulled from the App Store for violating the App Store guideline that says apps that promote others for purchase or promotion in a simliar manner to the actual App Store will be rejected. Basically, AppGratis duplicates a lot of the functionality of the App Store, gets paid to do it, and Apple is saying no.
According to AllThingsD, AppGratis mysteriously disappeared from the App Store and word is that it was because it violated App Store guidelines pertaining to the promotion of apps for financial benefit. Particular, clause 2.25:
Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.
AppGratis is definitely not the only app available in the App Store that provides recommendations for apps on a paid basis. Apple's other clause in question is 5.6 which states that apps can not send out push notifications to users in the form of advertisements. I could name a few that currently do this. According to AllThingsD, Apple is taking a look at others that may violate these terms as well. AppGratis just received a large round of funding so this is no doubt a huge issue for them going forward.
Do you use app recommendation apps to find suggestions or does the native App Store suit your needs just fine?
Red has announced that Dragon sensor updates will start tomorrow for Epic-M and Epic-X owners and, interestingly, is letting owners (and the public) see the operation for themselves at its NAB booth. The new sensor will bring 6K resolution, 120 fps at 5K and 15+ stops of dynamic range in a slightly larger format, according to Red. Early adopters will be able to pre-order now for $8,500, while Epic owners who wait until Thursday or later will be able to grab the update for $9,500. Filmmakers hoping for a new Epic-M with the Dragon instead of the Mysterium-X sensor will be able to pre-order tomorrow for $29,000 or so. Meanwhile, there's good news for those with the more budget-minded Scarlet -- they'll be able to upgrade to the Epic directly or get a 6k Dragon sensor and ASICs, with pricing details coming tomorrow and pre-orders launching on Thursday. Red may have a tough row to hoe with recent NAB news from the likes of BlackMagic Design and Vision Systems, but how many companies will actually let you watch your camera get operated on? Check the source for more.
Microalgae produce more oil faster for energy, food or productsPublic release date: 7-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10)
202-872-6042
Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10)
202-872-6293
American Chemical Society
NEW ORLEANS, April 7, 2013 Scientists today described technology that accelerates microalgae's ability to produce many different types of renewable oils for fuels, chemicals, foods and personal-care products within days using standard industrial fermentation. The presentation was part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting, with 12,000 presentations on advances in science and other topics, continues here through Thursday.
Walter Rakitsky, Ph.D, explained that microalgae are the original oil producers on earth, and that all of the oil-producing machinery present in higher plants resides within these single-cell organisms. Solazyme's breakthrough biotechnology platform unlocks the power of microalgae, achieving over 80 percent oil within each individual cell at commercial scale while changing the triglyceride oil paradigm by their ability to tailor the oil profiles by carbon chain and saturation. The ability to produce multiple oils in a matter of days out of one plant location using standard industrial fermentation is a game-changer. Solazyme's patented microalgae strains have become the workhorses of a growing industry focused on producing commercial quantities of microalgal oil for energy and food applications. Rakitsky is with Solazyme, Inc., of South San Francisco, Calif., one of the largest and most successful of those companies, which in 2011 supplied 100 percent microalgal-derived advanced biofuel for the first U.S. passenger jetliner flight powered by advanced biofuel.
In a keynote talk at the ACS meeting, Rakitsky described Solazyme's technology platform that enables the company to produce multiple oils from heart-healthy high-oleic oils for food to oils that are tailored to have specific performance and functionality benefits in industry, such as safer dielectric fluids and oils that are the highest-value cuts of the barrel for advanced fuels. The benefits of these oils far surpass those of other oils that are currently available today.
"For the first time in history, we have unlocked the ability to completely design and tailor oils," he said. "This breakthrough allows us to create oils optimized for everything from high-performance jet and diesel fuel to renewable chemicals to skin-care products and heart-healthy food oils. These oils could replace or enhance the properties of oils derived from the world's three dominant sources: petroleum, plants and animals."
Producing custom-tailored oils starts with optimizing the algae to produce the right kind of oil, and from there, the flexibility of the fermentation platform really comes into play. Solazyme is able to produce all of these oils in one location simply by switching out the strain of microalgae they use, Rakitsky explained. Unlike other algal oil production processes, in which algae grow in open ponds, Solazyme grows microalgae in total darkness in the same kind of fermentation vats used to produce vinegar, medicines and scores of other products. Instead of sunlight, energy for the microalgae's growth comes from low-cost, plant-based sugars. This gives the company a completely consistent, repeatable industrial process to produce tailored oil at scale.
Sugar from traditional sources such as sugarcane and corn has advantages for growing microalgae, especially their abundance and relatively low cost, Rakitsky said. The company's first fit-for-purpose commercial-scale production plant is under construction with their partner Bunge next to a sugarcane mill in Brazil. Initial production capacity will be 110,000 tons of microalgal oil annually, expanding up to 330,700 tons. In addition, the company has a production agreement with ADM in Clinton, Iowa, for 22,000 tons of oil, expandable to 110,000 tons. Ultimately, cellulosic sources of sugars from non-food plants or plant waste materials, like grasses or corn stover, may take over as those technologies reach the right scale and cost structures.
###
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Follow us: Twitter | Facebook
Abstract
Solazyme, Inc. is a renewable oil and bioproducts company that transforms a range of low-cost plant-based sugars into high-value tailored triglyceride oils. Headquartered in South San Francisco, Solazyme's renewable products can replace or enhance the properties of oils derived from the world's three dominant sources: petroleum, plants, and animals.
Harnessing the oil-producing capabilities of microalgae, Solazyme's biotechnology platform utilizes standard industrial fermentation equipment to efficiently scale and accelerate natural oil development cycle time from years to merely a few days. By feeding simple plant sugars to proprietary strains of microalgae in industrial fermentation vessels, Solazyme takes advantage of "indirect photosynthesis", in contrast to the traditional open-pond approaches most often associated with microalgae.
Today, Solazyme's biotechnology platform is pioneering the expanded the use of renewable, resources by producing oils that are tailored to meet specific industry demands, impacting end-use applications ranging from fuels to chemicals to foods. These unique oil profiles have performance and functionality benefits that far surpass what's currently available.
Throughout this presentation, Solazyme will highlight the versatility of the technology platform by discussing the properties and applications of a new source of renewable oils derived from microalgae.
[ | 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.
Microalgae produce more oil faster for energy, food or productsPublic release date: 7-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10)
202-872-6042
Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10)
202-872-6293
American Chemical Society
NEW ORLEANS, April 7, 2013 Scientists today described technology that accelerates microalgae's ability to produce many different types of renewable oils for fuels, chemicals, foods and personal-care products within days using standard industrial fermentation. The presentation was part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting, with 12,000 presentations on advances in science and other topics, continues here through Thursday.
Walter Rakitsky, Ph.D, explained that microalgae are the original oil producers on earth, and that all of the oil-producing machinery present in higher plants resides within these single-cell organisms. Solazyme's breakthrough biotechnology platform unlocks the power of microalgae, achieving over 80 percent oil within each individual cell at commercial scale while changing the triglyceride oil paradigm by their ability to tailor the oil profiles by carbon chain and saturation. The ability to produce multiple oils in a matter of days out of one plant location using standard industrial fermentation is a game-changer. Solazyme's patented microalgae strains have become the workhorses of a growing industry focused on producing commercial quantities of microalgal oil for energy and food applications. Rakitsky is with Solazyme, Inc., of South San Francisco, Calif., one of the largest and most successful of those companies, which in 2011 supplied 100 percent microalgal-derived advanced biofuel for the first U.S. passenger jetliner flight powered by advanced biofuel.
In a keynote talk at the ACS meeting, Rakitsky described Solazyme's technology platform that enables the company to produce multiple oils from heart-healthy high-oleic oils for food to oils that are tailored to have specific performance and functionality benefits in industry, such as safer dielectric fluids and oils that are the highest-value cuts of the barrel for advanced fuels. The benefits of these oils far surpass those of other oils that are currently available today.
"For the first time in history, we have unlocked the ability to completely design and tailor oils," he said. "This breakthrough allows us to create oils optimized for everything from high-performance jet and diesel fuel to renewable chemicals to skin-care products and heart-healthy food oils. These oils could replace or enhance the properties of oils derived from the world's three dominant sources: petroleum, plants and animals."
Producing custom-tailored oils starts with optimizing the algae to produce the right kind of oil, and from there, the flexibility of the fermentation platform really comes into play. Solazyme is able to produce all of these oils in one location simply by switching out the strain of microalgae they use, Rakitsky explained. Unlike other algal oil production processes, in which algae grow in open ponds, Solazyme grows microalgae in total darkness in the same kind of fermentation vats used to produce vinegar, medicines and scores of other products. Instead of sunlight, energy for the microalgae's growth comes from low-cost, plant-based sugars. This gives the company a completely consistent, repeatable industrial process to produce tailored oil at scale.
Sugar from traditional sources such as sugarcane and corn has advantages for growing microalgae, especially their abundance and relatively low cost, Rakitsky said. The company's first fit-for-purpose commercial-scale production plant is under construction with their partner Bunge next to a sugarcane mill in Brazil. Initial production capacity will be 110,000 tons of microalgal oil annually, expanding up to 330,700 tons. In addition, the company has a production agreement with ADM in Clinton, Iowa, for 22,000 tons of oil, expandable to 110,000 tons. Ultimately, cellulosic sources of sugars from non-food plants or plant waste materials, like grasses or corn stover, may take over as those technologies reach the right scale and cost structures.
###
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Follow us: Twitter | Facebook
Abstract
Solazyme, Inc. is a renewable oil and bioproducts company that transforms a range of low-cost plant-based sugars into high-value tailored triglyceride oils. Headquartered in South San Francisco, Solazyme's renewable products can replace or enhance the properties of oils derived from the world's three dominant sources: petroleum, plants, and animals.
Harnessing the oil-producing capabilities of microalgae, Solazyme's biotechnology platform utilizes standard industrial fermentation equipment to efficiently scale and accelerate natural oil development cycle time from years to merely a few days. By feeding simple plant sugars to proprietary strains of microalgae in industrial fermentation vessels, Solazyme takes advantage of "indirect photosynthesis", in contrast to the traditional open-pond approaches most often associated with microalgae.
Today, Solazyme's biotechnology platform is pioneering the expanded the use of renewable, resources by producing oils that are tailored to meet specific industry demands, impacting end-use applications ranging from fuels to chemicals to foods. These unique oil profiles have performance and functionality benefits that far surpass what's currently available.
Throughout this presentation, Solazyme will highlight the versatility of the technology platform by discussing the properties and applications of a new source of renewable oils derived from microalgae.
[ | 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.
TUNIS, Tunisia -- A 19-year-old Tunisian who bared her breasts and taunted Muslim hard-liners said this weekend that she now fears for her life and wants to take refuge abroad.
The woman known only as Amina appeared in photos on Facebook last month with the words "My body belongs to me" scrawled on her bare chest, a particularly bold act in a Muslim country led by a moderate Islamist party, Ennahda.
Amina's act was inspired by the Ukraine-based group Femen, which stages bare-breasted protests for women's and gay rights. The group held an International Topless Jihad day last Thursday in support of Muslim women, including Amina.
Amina went into hiding after reportedly receiving death threats, prompting wild rumors over her whereabouts, including that she had been interned in a psychiatric hospital. But she reappeared in an interview broadcast Saturday with the French cable TV station Canal Plus in a village hours from the Tunisian capital where she's been hiding.
She told Canal Plus that she "must leave Tunisia."
"I'm afraid for my life and the lives of my family," she said, adding that she doesn't think it possible to return to school in Tunisia and wants to study journalism abroad.
Amina made an earlier TV appearance with a private Tunisian channel, in mid-March, her face blurred. She insisted her action had not aimed to provoke. "We Femen, we have the courage to cry out our demands to liberate women," she said at the time.
Amina told Canal Plus that though she fears for her life in her homeland, she will keep her Femen principles "until I'm 80."
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Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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