MILAN (AP) ? The Italian government has approved a decree to pay 40 billion euros ($52 billion) owed by government entities to private businesses over the next 12 months to help relaunch Italy's stagnant economy.
Premier Mario Monti acknowledged Saturday after his caretaker government adopted the decree that overdue payments had become "a bad habit" that put a heavy burden on business owners.
State entities on an average pay their bills six months after services are rendered and some 90 days after the official due date, which Monti said put Italy behind Spain, Portugal and Greece.
Delayed government payments are a major factor behind liquidity shortages faced by many small and medium-sized Italian companies. Reduced turnover in the recession means many businesses, in turn, are having trouble keeping up with even small debts.
As you can probably guess, I am going?to a baby shower. Now, this is not just any baby shower, this is our?best friends,??eldest sons? baby shower?~ who happens to be the same age as?our eldest?son.?~?That means my best friend is now a grandma.? She reads my blog, so I may?be in a small amount of?eyebrow raising trouble?for this one! ~? love ya girlfriend! ~
This has put a whole new?perspective, as a mom, on the idea of babies. Don?t get me wrong, I LOVE babies. Truly, I am an ooey gooey, heart wrapped?mess over them. But?now that they are not my babies, or my friends babies, but our childrens babies, there?has been a bizarre??shift in my mommy brain.
So here is the deal.?We are action packed fun loving mom?s, who still manage to get into some?good natured?trouble, according to our husbands anyway, ?with?kids still?in our homes.
We?are?in the?family?stages of?hanging out with?our kids?and doing?some really? fun, cool stuff, that you can only do?when they reach?that certain age. We are relating to them on a more mature level and are finally able to leave them on their own, or?for?durations longer than a few hours. ?Yes, I am going to say it?Freedom! ?We adore our kids, but really, there are ?times?when you are counting the moments when you get to go and be with your adult friends, or alone with your partner?~?For a little while~ once in a while.
Oh and I know that the kids totally enjoy their time when mom and dad aren?t around,?I mean really,?no one is saying, ?No mom, please, don?t go. Don?t leave us alone, with movies and video games, snacks, a computer and no??supervision by adults with rules.?
Realistically, there are going to be some?big changes,? once your kids start having kids. I say our kids, because I have?known this boy, who is now a man, since he was 2 years?old. It is hard to fully grasp that he is ?all grown and now a daddy. ?With the announcement of?him being an?expectant father and the?arrival of his? beautiful baby boy,??it?actually made my?head spin and my inner voice?loudly declare;?? There is no way that any of my friends, or I, am old enough to be a grandma!??Followed by?the mandatory? foot stomp.
I know, that is? a?little?nieve, but I am having a hard time grasping the idea of our?friends being called nana & papa. It?just seems a little to?surreal.
We are very fortunate families, as we are all very close with our children. Having the ?full support of?our families and friends on every twist and turn in?our lives makes?life for everyone, a better place to be.?This is?one of those moments that??every parent ?knows will?eventually? happen. I just?did not anticipate it?to happen to ?those of my peer group,?so soon.? Maybe it is because I still feel like an early thirties woman,?trapped in a forty something body. Perhaps that will be?the ?advantage for our grandchildren when it is ?our?turn. When?I get to?spoil those precious little bundles and not have to cope with the endless, sleepless nights and diapers. When I can smile like a cheshire cat and say, been there, done that and tell our kids they will survive. That one day, they to?will probably have the same conversation in their head and wonder how it all?happened so fast and still feel like there is a whole lifetime of adventure ahead of them.?~ Welcome Isaak, you have a wonderful family and?you?going?to be ?spoiled rotten with love!
Contact: Bachtler, Barbara bachtler@mdc-berlin.de 49-309-406-3896 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Researchers of the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and the Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) in Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now detected a substance that can prevent the accumulation of fluid in body tissue and thus edema formation. The results of Dr. Jana Bogum (MDC/FMP) from the MDC research group led by Professor Walter Rosenthal and PD Dr. Enno Klumann could be important in the future for the treatment of excessive fluid retention in patients with chronic heart failure. Using a novel approach, the researchers have also discovered a new molecular mechanism controlling water homeostasis in the kidneys (Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, doi:10.1681/ASN.2012030295)*.
Every day around 1 500 liters of blood flow through the kidneys. Of this total volume, the kidneys initially filter 180 liters of primary urine, which they concentrate to two liters and then excrete as the final urine. A key regulatory step of the concentration mechanism is the release of the hormone AVP (arginine-vasopressin) from the brain. This hormone triggers a multi-step signaling cascade in the kidneys which affects water channels (aquaporins) and in particular aquaporin-2. "The water channels, specifically aquaporin-2, and their redistribution play a key role in the regulation of the water balance," said Dr. Klumann.
AVP, which is released from the brain upon thirst, induces aquaporin-2 located in the renal collecting duct principal cells to redistribute from the cell interior to the plasma membrane. The renal cells can then filter out the water from the primary urine flowing past the membrane via aquaporin-2. Dr. Klumann explained: "To keep the renal cell from bursting and the body from dehydrating, the water is directed back via another group of water channels, aquaporin 3 and 4, into the bloodstream and body tissue. In contrast to aquaporin-2, these water channels are located in another domain of the plasma membrane in the renal principal cells and stay there permanently." Once the thirst is quenched, the levels of the hormone AVP are reduced and aquaporin-2 is shuttled back into the interior of the renal cell until it is needed again.
However, if the AVP level is too high, as is the case in patients with chronic heart failure, aquaporin-2 remains permanently in the plasma membrane of the renal principal cell and directs the water continuously from the primary urine into the renal collecting duct principal cells. These cells funnel the excess water into the body tissue. "This process contributes to edema," Dr. Klumann said.
Discovery of how translocation of water channels can be inhibited
How can aquaporin-2 be prevented from settling permanently in the plasma membrane and thus triggering diseases or making them worse? Using a new research approach, the scientists were able to identify an inhibitor which prevents the translocation of the water channel aquaporin-2 into the cell membrane. At the same time they discovered a new regulatory mechanism of water homeostasis at the molecular level.
The researchers used "small molecules", low molecular weight organic compounds, which penetrate well into cells. They tested 17 700 such substances in renal cells and ultimately filtered out a substance that blocks the redistribution of aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane. The substance (4-acetyldiphyllin) prevents phosphorylation, an important biological and regulatory activation step. In particular, the compound prevents a phosphorylation reaction that is catalyzed by a protein termed protein kinase A. This protein is activated in the signaling cascade that is triggered by AVP in the renal principal cells. In the presence of 4-acetyldiphillin protein kinase A cannot add a phosphate group to aquaporin-2, with the result that the water channels can no longer redistribute to the plasma membrane.
The new research findings may not only be of interest for the treatment of edema but also for the treatment of depression. Here, by contrast, medical researchers are seeking a way to shuttle aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane of the renal principal cell, because lithium, which is often used to treat depression, prevents aquaporin-2 from redistributing to the plasma membrane, thus causing diabetes insipidus. If AVP is not released from the brain, or if the receptor for AVP in the renal cell is defective, this likewise results in diabetes insipidus, as Professor Rosenthal discovered several years ago. The affected individuals excrete 20 liters of urine every day. A similar effect, but not quite as drastic, is caused by alcohol. Drinking lots of beer causes the body to excrete large amounts of urine. The reason alcohol prevents the brain from releasing the hormone AVP and thus prevents the redistribution of aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane.
###
*Small molecule screening to reveal mechanisms underlying aquaporin-2 trafficking
Jana Bogum1,2,3, Dorte Faust1, Kerstin Zuhlke1,2, Jenny Eichhorst2, Marie C. Moutty1,2, Jens Furkert2, Adeeb Eldahshan1, Martin Neuenschwander2, Jens Peter von Kries2, Burkhard Wiesner2, Christiane Trimpert4, Peter M.T. Deen4, Giovanna Valenti5, Walter Rosenthal1,6 and Enno Klussmann1
1Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany
3Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany
4Department of Physiology, RUNMC Nijmegen, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
5Department of General and Environmental Physiology, University of Bari, Italy
6Charit University Medicine Berlin, Germany
A scheme and a photo can be downloaded from the Internet at:
http://www.mdc-berlin.de/en/index.html
Contact:
Barbara Bachtler
Press Department
Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch
in the Helmholtz Association
Robert-Rssle-Strae 10
13125 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 96
Fax: +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 33
e-mail: presse@mdc-berlin.de
http://www.mdc-berlin.de/
[ | 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.
Contact: Bachtler, Barbara bachtler@mdc-berlin.de 49-309-406-3896 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Researchers of the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and the Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) in Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now detected a substance that can prevent the accumulation of fluid in body tissue and thus edema formation. The results of Dr. Jana Bogum (MDC/FMP) from the MDC research group led by Professor Walter Rosenthal and PD Dr. Enno Klumann could be important in the future for the treatment of excessive fluid retention in patients with chronic heart failure. Using a novel approach, the researchers have also discovered a new molecular mechanism controlling water homeostasis in the kidneys (Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, doi:10.1681/ASN.2012030295)*.
Every day around 1 500 liters of blood flow through the kidneys. Of this total volume, the kidneys initially filter 180 liters of primary urine, which they concentrate to two liters and then excrete as the final urine. A key regulatory step of the concentration mechanism is the release of the hormone AVP (arginine-vasopressin) from the brain. This hormone triggers a multi-step signaling cascade in the kidneys which affects water channels (aquaporins) and in particular aquaporin-2. "The water channels, specifically aquaporin-2, and their redistribution play a key role in the regulation of the water balance," said Dr. Klumann.
AVP, which is released from the brain upon thirst, induces aquaporin-2 located in the renal collecting duct principal cells to redistribute from the cell interior to the plasma membrane. The renal cells can then filter out the water from the primary urine flowing past the membrane via aquaporin-2. Dr. Klumann explained: "To keep the renal cell from bursting and the body from dehydrating, the water is directed back via another group of water channels, aquaporin 3 and 4, into the bloodstream and body tissue. In contrast to aquaporin-2, these water channels are located in another domain of the plasma membrane in the renal principal cells and stay there permanently." Once the thirst is quenched, the levels of the hormone AVP are reduced and aquaporin-2 is shuttled back into the interior of the renal cell until it is needed again.
However, if the AVP level is too high, as is the case in patients with chronic heart failure, aquaporin-2 remains permanently in the plasma membrane of the renal principal cell and directs the water continuously from the primary urine into the renal collecting duct principal cells. These cells funnel the excess water into the body tissue. "This process contributes to edema," Dr. Klumann said.
Discovery of how translocation of water channels can be inhibited
How can aquaporin-2 be prevented from settling permanently in the plasma membrane and thus triggering diseases or making them worse? Using a new research approach, the scientists were able to identify an inhibitor which prevents the translocation of the water channel aquaporin-2 into the cell membrane. At the same time they discovered a new regulatory mechanism of water homeostasis at the molecular level.
The researchers used "small molecules", low molecular weight organic compounds, which penetrate well into cells. They tested 17 700 such substances in renal cells and ultimately filtered out a substance that blocks the redistribution of aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane. The substance (4-acetyldiphyllin) prevents phosphorylation, an important biological and regulatory activation step. In particular, the compound prevents a phosphorylation reaction that is catalyzed by a protein termed protein kinase A. This protein is activated in the signaling cascade that is triggered by AVP in the renal principal cells. In the presence of 4-acetyldiphillin protein kinase A cannot add a phosphate group to aquaporin-2, with the result that the water channels can no longer redistribute to the plasma membrane.
The new research findings may not only be of interest for the treatment of edema but also for the treatment of depression. Here, by contrast, medical researchers are seeking a way to shuttle aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane of the renal principal cell, because lithium, which is often used to treat depression, prevents aquaporin-2 from redistributing to the plasma membrane, thus causing diabetes insipidus. If AVP is not released from the brain, or if the receptor for AVP in the renal cell is defective, this likewise results in diabetes insipidus, as Professor Rosenthal discovered several years ago. The affected individuals excrete 20 liters of urine every day. A similar effect, but not quite as drastic, is caused by alcohol. Drinking lots of beer causes the body to excrete large amounts of urine. The reason alcohol prevents the brain from releasing the hormone AVP and thus prevents the redistribution of aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane.
###
*Small molecule screening to reveal mechanisms underlying aquaporin-2 trafficking
Jana Bogum1,2,3, Dorte Faust1, Kerstin Zuhlke1,2, Jenny Eichhorst2, Marie C. Moutty1,2, Jens Furkert2, Adeeb Eldahshan1, Martin Neuenschwander2, Jens Peter von Kries2, Burkhard Wiesner2, Christiane Trimpert4, Peter M.T. Deen4, Giovanna Valenti5, Walter Rosenthal1,6 and Enno Klussmann1
1Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany
3Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany
4Department of Physiology, RUNMC Nijmegen, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
5Department of General and Environmental Physiology, University of Bari, Italy
6Charit University Medicine Berlin, Germany
A scheme and a photo can be downloaded from the Internet at:
http://www.mdc-berlin.de/en/index.html
Contact:
Barbara Bachtler
Press Department
Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch
in the Helmholtz Association
Robert-Rssle-Strae 10
13125 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 96
Fax: +49 (0) 30 94 06 - 38 33
e-mail: presse@mdc-berlin.de
http://www.mdc-berlin.de/
[ | 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.
"If you have deleveraging and deflationary conditions then you have unemployment and also unused capital. People are afraid, they sit on their money and put their money in their mattresses instead of investing it," he said.
"Japan is trying to escape after 25 years of slow death from a policy that Europe has just now adopted. They are moving in opposite directions - Japan is trying to escape and Europe is just starting. I think it's a mistake in that way and it could avoid what's ahead. What's avoidable should be avoided."
Mr Soros was speaking after Japan launched a daring monetary experiment to double the amount of money in circulation over two years, pumping about $1.4 trillion into the economy in an attempt to jump-start growth.
He said he would use a speech next week to "put forward a way to escape [Europe's situation]" which was "in some ways similar to what Japan is doing now".
However, he cautioned: "What Japan is doing right now is actually quite dangerous because they are doing it after 25 years of just simply accumulating deficits and not getting the economy growing.
"If what they are doing gets something started, they may not be able to stop it. If the yen starts to fall, which it has done, and people in Japan realise that it is liable to continue and want to put their money abroad. Then the fall may become like an avalanche."
DEAR ABBY: My husband, "Wade," and I went into a convenience store near our home that we frequent regularly. A new employee -- a pretty, much younger girl -- stared at Wade with an expression of recognition and surprise on her face. When I asked him what that was about, he laughed it off and said I was "imagining things."The next time we saw her, Wade acted nervous and started talking fast, as if trying to distract me. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her. She ignored me while obviously trying to lock eyes with Wade. ...
Apr. 4, 2013 ? A new review finds that many men still have better spatial ability than women ? this may be explained by individual differences in gender-role identification.
The observation that males appear to be superior to females in some fields of academic study has prompted a wealth of research hoping to shed light on whether this is attributable to nature or nurture. Although there is no difference in general intelligence between the sexes, studies over the past 35 years have consistently found that overall men do much better in tests of spatial ability than women. This difference may have something to do with why there are still fewer women in tertiary education studying science, technology, engineering and math -- all subjects where it helps to have good spatial ability.
More in-depth assessment, however, reveals that this might be an over-simplification of the facts. A new review, published in Springer's journal Sex Roles, sheds light on one of the factors contributing to these gender differences in spatial ability, that of gender-roles. Although children are born either male or female, individuals differ in their degree of masculine and feminine identification and endorsement of masculine and feminine gender roles. The review was carried out by David Reilly and David Neumann from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.
Reilly and Neumann note that studies in their review reported finding larger within-gender variations in spatial ability than between-gender. This then led them to look more specifically at the data on variables within males and females which might be able to explain this.
The researchers analyzed twelve studies which had looked specifically at one aspect of spatial ability, namely mental rotation, in high school pupils, college attendees and young adults. Collectively these studies showed a significant association between masculinity and mental rotation performance for both men and women. In other words, men and women with either a strong masculine or androgynous gender-identity fared better in mental rotation tasks.
The authors suggest that it is the considerable variation in the levels of typically masculine and feminine traits and behaviors, that children of the same sex develop, which account for the inter-gender variability. Masculine identification leads to cultivation of mathematical and scientific skills whereas feminine identification facilitates verbal and language abilities. These gender-roles are not mutually exclusive, with some children of both genders developing a healthy integration of both roles.
Development of spatial ability is refined through play and recreational activities, with traditionally masculine activities helping to promote development of spatial ability. Therefore improving girls' performance in subjects which require good spatial ability may involve the deliberate inclusion of what are commonly seen as stereotypically male activities into their daily lives, rather than encouraging sex-segregation of activities.
The authors conclude: "We have seen many changes in society's beliefs about gender equality in the intervening decades since Sharon Nash proposed her gender-role mediation hypothesis of intellectual development in 1979. However, for spatial ability at least, this association seems as relevant today as when the claim was first made."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media, via AlphaGalileo.
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Journal Reference:
David Reilly, David L. Neumann. Gender-Role Differences in Spatial Ability: A Meta-Analytic Review. Sex Roles, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s11199-013-0269-0
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
4 April 2013Last updated at 14:04 ETBy Rebecca MorelleScience reporter, BBC World Service
Scientists have found a way to "read" dreams, a study suggests.
Researchers in Japan used MRI scans to reveal the images that people were seeing as they entered into an early stage of sleep.
Writing in the journal Science, they reported that they could do this with 60% accuracy.
The team now wants to see if brain activity can be used to decipher other aspects of dreaming, such as the emotions experienced during sleep.
Professor Yukiyasu Kamitani, from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, in Kyoto, said: "I had a strong belief that dream decoding should be possible at least for particular aspects of dreaming... I was not very surprised by the results, but excited."
Brain wave
People have been trying to understand dreams since ancient Egyptian times, but the researchers who have carried out this study have found a more direct way to tap into our nighttime visions.
The team used MRI scans to monitor three people as they slept.
Just as the volunteers started to fall asleep inside the scanners, they were woken up and asked to recount what they had seen.
Each image mentioned, from bronze statues to keys and ice picks, was noted, no matter how surreal.
This was repeated more than 200 times for each participant.
The researchers used the results to build a database, where they grouped together objects into similar visual categories. For example, hotel, house and building were grouped together as "structures".
The scientists then scanned the volunteers again, but this time, while they were awake and looking at images on a computer screen.
With this, they were able to see the specific patterns of brain activity that correlated with the visual imagery.
Dream machines?
During the next round of sleep tests, by monitoring the brain scans the researchers could tell what the volunteers were seeing in their dreams. They were able to assess which broad category the images were in with 60% accuracy.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
The difficult thing is to work out the systematic mapping between the brain activity and the phenomena?
End QuoteDr Mark StokesUniversity of Oxford
"We were able to reveal dream content from brain activity during sleep, which was consistent with the subjects' verbal reports," explained Professor Kamitani.
The researchers now want to look at deeper sleep, where the most vivid dreams are thought to occur, as well as see whether brain scans can help them to reveal the emotions, smells, colours and actions that people experience as they sleep.
Dr Mark Stokes, a cognitive neuroscientist from the University of Oxford, said it was an "exciting" piece of research that brought us closer to the concept of dream-reading machines.
"It's obviously a long way off, but there is no reason why not in principle. The difficult thing is to work out the systematic mapping between the brain activity and the phenomena," he explained.
However, he added that a single dream-reading system would not work for everyone.
"All of this would have to be done within individual subjects. So you would never be able build a general classifier that could read anybody's dreams. They will all be idiosyncratic to the individual, so the brain activity will never be general across subjects," he said.
"You would never be able to build something that could read other peoples thoughts without them knowing about it, for example."
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Public release date: 5-Apr-2013
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