Potential immune benefits of strong vitamin D status in healthy individuals

Mar. 20, 2013 ? Research from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) shows that improving vitamin D status by increasing its level in the blood could have a number of non-skeletal health benefits.

The study, published online in PLOS ONE, reveals for the first time that improvement in the vitamin D status of healthy adults significantly impacts genes involved with a number of biologic pathways associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. While previous studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk for the aforementioned diseases, these results go a step further and provide direct evidence that improvement in vitamin D status plays a large role in improving immunity and lowering the risk for many diseases.

Vitamin D is unique in that it can be both ingested and synthesized by the body with sun exposure. It is then converted by both the liver and kidneys to a form that the body can use. An individuals' level of vitamin D, or their vitamin D status, is determined by measuring the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the blood. Vitamin D deficiency, which is defined as a status of less than 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, can cause a number of health issues, including rickets and other musculoskeletal diseases. Recently, however, data suggests that vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL) and vitamin D insufficiency (between 21-29 ng/mL) is linked to cancer, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The randomized, double-blind, single-site pilot trial involved eight healthy men and women with an average age of 27 who were vitamin D deficient or insufficient at the start of the trial. Three participants received 400 International Units (IUs) of vitamin D per day and five received 2,000 IUs per day for a two-month period. Samples of white blood cells (immune cells) were collected at the beginning of the two-month period and again at the end. A broad gene expression analysis was conducted on these samples and more than 22,500 genes were investigated to see if their activity increased or decreased as a result of the vitamin D intake.

At the end of the pilot, the group that received 2000 IUs achieved a vitamin D status of 34 ng/mL, which is considered sufficient, while the group that received 400 IUs achieved an insufficient status of 25 ng/mL.

The results of the gene expression analysis indicated statistically significant alterations in the activity of 291 genes. Further analysis showed that the biologic functions associated with the 291 genes are related to 160 biologic pathways linked to cancer, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and CVD.

Examining gene response elements, or sequences of DNA bases that interact with vitamin D receptors to regulate gene expression, they also identified new genes related to vitamin D status. To ensure that their observations were accurate, the researchers looked at 12 genes whose level of expression does not change, and those genes remained stable throughout the trial period.

"This study reveals the molecular fingerprints that help explain the non-skeletal health benefits of vitamin D," said Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at BUSM and leading vitamin D expert who served as the study's corresponding author. "While a larger study is necessary to confirm our observations, the data demonstrates that improving vitamin D status can have a dramatic effect on gene expression in our immune cells and may help explain the role of vitamin D in reducing the risk for CVD, cancer and other diseases."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Boston University Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Arash Hossein-nezhad, Avrum Spira, Michael F. Holick. Influence of Vitamin D Status and Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Genome Wide Expression of White Blood Cells: A Randomized Double-Blind Clinical Trial. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58725 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058725

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/_80AxjeIAlc/130320212824.htm

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Landslides detected from afar

Seismic fingerprints reveal that rock avalanches have occurred

By Erin Wayman

Web edition: March 21, 2013

Enlarge

Seismic signals and satellite data can help scientists detect and characterize giant landslides that occur in remote, mountainous regions, such as the rock avalanche that slid down New Zealand?s Mount Dixon in 2013 (shown in this satellite image from February 5, 2013).

Credit: ALI/EO-1/NASA

A computer and a comfortable chair may be all that?s necessary to investigate catastrophic landslides in the farthest reaches of the world. Researchers have developed a way to remotely detect the events using energy unleashed by landslides, just as geologists identify earthquakes using waves of energy. ?

The technique provides a three-dimensional look at a landslide?s trajectory down a slope. As a result, it may help scientists unravel the complicated physics governing these natural disasters, the researchers report March 21 in Science. The method also provides data that could inform landslide hazard assessments, says Steve Evans, a geomorphologist at Canada?s University of Waterloo, who wasn?t involved in the work.

A landslide strikes when erosion and other factors weaken a steep cliff. Once friction can no longer hold rocks in place, a mass of debris will fall down a slope, sometimes for many kilometers before stopping. Such rock avalanches can kill people, destroy villages, block valleys and dam up rivers.

Although these events can be destructive, officials may not realize for days that a landslide has occurred in a remote area, says study coauthor Colin Stark, a geophysicist at Columbia?s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. Faster landslide detection could speed up rescue operations.

In the last several years, researchers have realized that, like an earthquake, a landslide creates seismic waves that travel through Earth?s crust. These waves have a distinct pattern because landslides occur steadily over a couple of minutes, rather than creating a burst of energy in a few seconds as an earthquake does.

When global sensors pick up a seismic event that doesn?t correspond to an earthquake, Stark and seismologist G?ran Ekstr?m, also of Lamont-Doherty, check whether it?s a landslide. From seismic data alone, the pair can calculate the landslide?s magnitude, its location to within 100 kilometers and the direction the landslide traveled. The researchers check satellite images to confirm the event was a landslide. By combining seismic and satellite data, the team can estimate the length of the landslide?s path and the mass of debris that fell. The process of identifying a landslide can take a day or two, Ekstr?m says.

There?s still room for improvement. Right now, the method can only detect giant landslides that dislodge millions of metric tons of debris and unleash at least as much energy as a magnitude 4.5 earthquake. And without satellite images, it would identify 10 times as many false-positives as it would true landslides, David Petley of Durham University in England points out in a commentary published in the same issue of Science. Ekstr?m hopes that he and Stark can develop a better way to distinguish a landslide without relying on satellite imagery.?

In addition to detecting landslides, the method may help explain some of their mysteries. ?They?re very complex and do rather strange things,? Stark says. With the seismic and satellite data, he and Ekstr?m can calculate changes in a landslide?s acceleration and construct its trajectory ? data that researchers need to build simulations of landslide motion. Since landslides are unpredictable and happen so quickly, Ekstr?m says, this information is usually hard to get; scientists don?t have time to put instruments in place to collect real-time measurements.

Instead, they usually travel to the site after the rock avalanche and, like crime scene detectives, put clues together to reconstruct what happened. ?These field approaches,? says geologist Randall Jibson of the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., ?can be long and painstaking.?

And that?s only for landslides that people know about. With seismic signals, the researchers? technique can discover landslides that would otherwise go unnoticed. In 2010, for example, Stark and Ekstr?m detected 11 landslides, only four of which were also identified by traditional means.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349105/title/Landslides_detected_from_afar

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Microsoft lets companies buy Surface tablets in bulk

As often as Microsoft pitches the Surface and Surface Pro as tablets for getting work done, corporate customers haven't had an easy way to order the devices by the bushel. We know that the process is now considerably smoother for eager large-scale adopters thanks to a ZDNet peek at a Commercial Order page. "Commercial customers" can spring for large quantities of either slate model, along with an Extended Hardware Service Plan that bumps support to three years for North American buyers. Microsoft isn't saying just who's eligible, although the order system is more likely to center on firms that are already comfortable buying all things Windows in volume. You'll know how far it reaches if there's a Surface at every cubicle on Monday morning.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/tZKbUY-XvVs/

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Country Sales Manager at Sproxil | Ghanamma.com

Location: Greater Accra Region
Description:

Job Title: Country Sales Manager

Job Location: Accra, Greater Accra Region

Responsibilities

• The Country Sales Manager is responsible for selling Sproxil?s solution directly to Ghana?s leading companies. You will develop and maintain relationships with the target customers to drive Sproxil?s sales in Ghana.
• You will have complete responsibility for your customer relationships and will be held accountable for total account sales, margins and overall relationship status.
• Reviewing market analyses, you will determine customer needs, sales volume potential, and pricing schedules that will meet the company?s goals. Then you will implement a sales program of your own design leveraging both existing company relationships and new ones you will develop or bring to Sproxil from your past experience.
• You will need to display great initiative and independence, together with strong organizational, relationship building and interpersonal skills. This includes identifying, contacting, and meeting key decision makers and educating them on the strategic value added by adopting Sproxil?s services.
• You will also have input into Sproxil?s overall sales strategy and execution both with customers and strategic partners and will contribute significantly to determining how the company?s services are marketed in Ghana. Sproxil is going after opportunities across many industries to sign on multiple companies in Ghana with large brand equity. Candidates should not focus on the pharmaceutical industry alone.
• Your primary responsibility will be the sale of the company?s products and services to the key customers in Ghana. You are also expected to help fulfill the marketing needs of the company in the interim. You will own the customer relationships in Ghana and as such will be the first point of contact for sales leads for large accounts, as well as any service concerns, with support from the Global Sproxil Service Delivery staff.
• You will consult with the company?s other executives to coordinate marketing and sales budgeting, and will represent the company at events and trade meetings to market its offerings in Ghana. In addition, you will analyze market and sales information to determine industry and sales trends and potential in Ghana.

COMPENSATION:

This full-time, salaried position pays competitively depending upon experience and qualifications. The company covers 100% of health insurance premiums for the employee as well as providing other competitive benefits.

An individual with the highest levels of energy, determination and sales ability is a must, combined with excellent communication, presentation and team management skills. You must have impeccable account management and relationship building skills with a proven track record of sales and a desire to work for a start-up, market-leading company that can offer significant career growth. You will have successfully sold solutions to industry and will have these qualifications:

Qualification and Requirements

• High motivation and intelligence with expert interpersonal and oral/written communication skills
• Ability to operate independently and flexibly in a start-up environment which is both demanding and multicultural
• At least 7 years of progressive consultative sales and marketing experience involving promoting and selling systems or concepts that increase client sales and brand value. An individual with brand management sales background is strongly preferred
• Experience managing and closing intricate sales with multiple decision-makers
• Skills in negotiating pricing of complex offerings
• Comfort creating sales and marketing materials and presenting in public
• Experience and comfort using CRM systems
• Exposure and basic understanding of mobile and computing technologies
• Fluency in English
• A bachelor?s degree
• Ability to work in Accra without work visa assistance
• Additional qualifications that are desirable include
• Business math and basic financial understanding
• Marketing experience
• Availability for domestic travel (up to 50%). Person should be based in Accra
• Knowledge of additional languages and ability to speak major Ghanaian languages a significant benefit
• An advanced degree
• Sproxil is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from women, minority and veteran candidates.

If you are qualified for this position, Send your CV to 14f2@jbgh.me or click http://www.jobberman.com.gh/job/6361/country-sales-manager-at-sproxil/ to apply

Source: http://www.ghanamma.com/2013/03/country-sales-manager-at-sproxil/

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Researchers identify a promising target for multiple sclerosis treatments

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A team of basic and clinical scientists led by the University of Montreal Hospital* Research Centre's (CRCHUM) Dr. Nathalie Arbour has opened the door to significantly improved treatments for the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In a study selected as among the top 10% most interesting articles published in the Journal of Immunology, the team identifies the elevated presence in MS patients of a type of white blood cell (CD4 T cell) that expresses NKG2C, a highly-toxic molecule harmful to brain tissues.

In close collaboration with clinicians at the University of Montreal Hospital and the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Dr. Arbour's team studied tissues from healthy subjects and MS patients. This approach enabled the team to uncover a novel mechanism by which CD4 T cells expressing NKG2C can directly target brain cells having a specific corresponding ligand found only in MS patients. "These results are very encouraging," says Arbour, "since they provide us with a much more refined picture of how the brain cells of MS patients are targeted by the immune system and provide us with a clearer understanding of how to go about blocking their action."

There is no known cure for this auto-immune disease of the central nervous system. While there are a number of approved MS therapies targeting molecules expressed by immune cells, they are sometimes too broad in their application. They can suppress the efficiency of the immune system but also open the way for serious infections in some MS patients such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a serious viral disease that can cause death in people with severe immune deficiency, such as MS patients on immunosuppressive medication.

"Our research has made an important step in getting around this problem. Because NKG2C is specifically expressed by a subset of CD4 T cells only found in MS patients, targeting this receptor would not affect large populations of immune cells, but only those which produce the symptoms characteristic of this debilitating disease," explains Arbour.

For patients this discovery could translate into improved treatments aimed at decreasing the progression of the disease and its symptoms, without the risk of potentially lethal infections and therefore improving their quality of life.

###

University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM):

Thanks to University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127368/Researchers_identify_a_promising_target_for_multiple_sclerosis_treatments

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Asia stocks bounce back after Cyprus scare

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets rose Tuesday, shaking off jitters sparked by a plan to give bank deposits in Cyprus a haircut to help fund the European country's bailout.

Most benchmarks rose modestly while Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 2 percent to 12,467.18 as the yen began to drop against the dollar.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent to 22,201.93. South Korea's Kospi rose 1 percent to 1,987.52. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.2 percent to 5,023.50. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia rose, while the Philippines dropped.

Stock markets dropped around the world Monday as jitters intensified over an agreement between cash-strapped Cyprus and its lenders to fund a 15.8 billion euros ($20.4 billion) rescue plan by taxing deposits in the country's banks.

It would be the first time in the European debt crisis that bank deposits have been seized and has stoked fears of bank runs among the 16 other countries that use the euro.

Cypriot authorities delayed a parliamentary vote Monday on the plan and ordered the country's banks to remain closed until Thursday while they try to modify the deal to lessen the impact on small depositors.

On Wall Street, the Dow dropped 0.4 percent to 14,452.06. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.6 percent to 1,552.10. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.4 percent to 3,237.59.

Benchmark oil for April delivery was up 17 cents to $93.91 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 29 cents to close at $93.74 per barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2959 from $1.2948 late Monday in New York. The dollar rose to 95.66 yen from 95.42 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-bounce-back-cyprus-scare-031649826--finance.html

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AnyReminder Adds a "Remind Me Later" Option to the iPhone's Mail, Messages, and Notifications

iOS (Jailbroken): Sometimes you simply don't have the time to deal with the incoming emails, messages, or other notifications of your iPhone when they first come arrive. If you don't want to forget to reply, AnyReminder adds a "remind me later" option to incoming notifications so you can deal with them on your schedule.

When you get a notification on your lock screen, AnyReminder adds an option to "remind me later" so you can schedule a time when the notification reappears. It works similar to the remind me later options built-in to the iPhone's phone app where you can set a reminder for anywhere between a minute and 12 hours, or when you leave a location. When you get a new notification, just hit the new round button on the lock screen, and you're given the option to set a reminder to follow up. Alternately, you can do the same within iMessages by just selecting the text or by hitting the reply button in Mail. If you're the type to forget to reply to texts and emails, AnyReminder makes it a lot easier.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/F7MXaO7SH8A/anyreminder-adds-a-remind-me-later-option-to-the-iphones-mail-messages-and-notifications

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