In this image released courtesy JessicaSimpson.com, actress and singer Jessica Simpson displays her baby bump as she is dressed as a ?mummy,? in Los Angeles, in a photo released on her Twitter page on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Simpson confirmed Monday that she is pregnant with her first child. (AP Photo/JessicaSimpson.com)
In this image released courtesy JessicaSimpson.com, actress and singer Jessica Simpson displays her baby bump as she is dressed as a ?mummy,? in Los Angeles, in a photo released on her Twitter page on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Simpson confirmed Monday that she is pregnant with her first child. (AP Photo/JessicaSimpson.com)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Jessica Simpson has confirmed the obvious ? she's having a baby.
The 31-year-old entertainer Tweeted a photo of herself Monday dressed as a mummy for Halloween, holding her baby bump with the words, "It's true. I am going to be a mummy."
It will be the first child for Simpson and her fiance Eric Johnson. The two announced their engagement last year.
Her pregnancy has been rumored for weeks, and recently, photos of Simpson ? with a bulging bump ? have appeared.
Pregnancy won't slow Simpson down. She's signed up to be a mentor on the upcoming NBC reality show "Fashion Star" alongside Nicole Richie.
An American university student named Alan Joyce has been wrongfully targeted on Twitter as people all over the world react angrily at Qantas' decision to ground its entire fleet.
Channel Ten's political reporter Hugh Riminton was among those who had the wrong guy.
"If you're so proud of taking the 'hard decision' how about making one about your pay @alanjoyce ?" he tweeted last night.
"After feeling sorry for @theashes last year i manged (sic) to help get a flight to Australia. Sadly for @alanjoyce there's no flights just now," tweeted Marcus Westbury.
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But the younger Alan Joyce set the record straight with some cheeky tweets.
"I'm no more CEO of Qantas than @willsmith is a famous movie actor," the student from California's Stanford University tweeted.
"I'm glad to see someone appreciating my impeccable American accent, but I'm guessing you're looking for a different Alan Joyce."
When the news was revealed, the tweeters had sympathy.
"Maybe @alanjoyce, ComSci student from California should get a free trip to The Ashes for the unexpected bollocksing (sic) he's getting," Carline Wardrop tweeted.
Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, doesn't appear to have a Twitter account but the airline is urging passengers to use the social networking site for updates on the grounding of its entire fleet.
ROME ? Charlotte Rampling, who plays a dying, elderly woman in a new film, says the rewards of growing old as an actress are "extraordinary."
Rampling turned 65 earlier this year. She told reporters Sunday at Rome's film festival: "Who wants to grow old? Who wants to get lines?" Still, she added, allowing yourself the "luxury" of being old, and even ugly and unattractive, while acting brings its rewards.
The actress, known for her sensual presence in such films as the 1974 "The Night Porter," portrays a dying wealthy woman in her 70s in a dysfunctional family in "The Eye of the Storm." The film, by director Fred Schepisi, is in competition at the festival that runs through Nov. 4.
LOS ANGELES?? Jurors hearing the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson's doctor will hear an alternate version Friday of what may have occurred in the singer's bedroom in the hours before his death.
Dr. Paul White, an expert in the anesthetic propofol, will finally lay out his rationale for the defense theory that Jackson somehow gave himself a fatal dose of the drug when his doctor left the room.
White's testimony will likely be vigorously challenged by prosecutors, who spent four weeks laying out their case that Dr. Conrad Murray is a greedy, inept and reckless doctor who was giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid. But cross-examination of White will be delayed until Monday to give prosecutors more time to review a new analysis prepared by the defense based on recently-conducted tests on samples taken during Jackson's autopsy.
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"This is the entire crux of the defense case," Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said in arguing for a delay.
The judge hearing the case, which ends its fifth week on Friday, reluctantly agreed to delay the cross examination and said he is concerned about losing jurors. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor however noted that the panel of has remained rapt throughout the trial.
"Every single member of that jury and all the alternates are paying extraordinary attention to every witness," Pastor said.
Murray has pleaded not guilty.
White's opinions will challenge those of the prosecution's main expert, Dr. Steven Shafer, who testified that the only scenario he believes explains Jackson's death is that Murray placed Jackson on an IV drip and left the room after he thought the singer was sleeping peacefully.
Slideshow: The face of change (on this page)
Murray told police he left Jackson's bedside, but claims he only gave the singer a small dose of propofol the morning of Jackson's death. He said he left the room and returned after two minutes to find the pop superstar unresponsive.
Murray's defense attorneys have repeatedly claimed that Jackson somehow gave himself the fatal dose, but it will be up to White to explain how that would be possible.
Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said that the new models White will show jurors on Friday will offer different simulations about the drugs propofol and sedative lorazepam. They are based on a new computer program and updated test results.
Flanagan did not reveal what conclusions White drew from the new models, or whether they would change his testimony.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich is coming off his best GOP presidential debate performance yet, and as I reported three weeks ago, he's experiencing a significant surge in the polls, inching past Texas Gov. Rick Perry for sole possession of third place nationally, and occupying second place in a growing number of states, including West Virginia, North Carolina, and Nebraska.
But horse-race polls tell only part of the story. Thanks largely to his debate performances, Gingrich's image as a political has-been and one-time party firebrand-turned-gadfly is giving way to a new-found respect among GOP voters, and his "favorability" ratings -- a net negative for most of the campaign -- have correspondingly soared. While Gingrich is unlikely to surge past either Mitt Romney or Herman Cain, who are increasingly locked in a moderate-conservative stand-off at the top of the GOP heap, he could eventually turn out to be everyone's favorite second choice for the nomination, the one man who can weld the GOP establishment and the insurgent Tea party together, and keep the party focused on beating President Obama rather than tearing itself apart.
Preposterous you say? A month ago, most everyone would have agreed. Gingrich, after all, had already lost his entire campaign team last summer, including his top fundraisers. And partly as a result, his vaunted financial empire, including his powerful "527" group, American Solutions, which had outspent all other such groups during last year's mid-terms ($28 million, to be exact, twice what its nearest competitor, SEIU, spent) had crumbled. But now, with Gingrich seemingly in contention, the money's starting to trickle back in, and Gingrich is rebuilding his campaign apparatus in the early primary states, including New Hampshire, where he insists that Romney, despite a huge polling lead, is still vulnerable.
Don't count "Newtie" out. He still has an email list of donors that dwarfs that of the other candidates combined, reportedly 1.7 million names compared to just several hundred thousand for Romney. He also has a deep bench of policy wonks and prospective campaign staffers at his immediate disposal, thanks to the vast network of non-profits he has built up in the decade and a half since he was dumped as his party's top leader, and lost his re-election. And there's his personal fortune, which has mushroomed since 2009, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Gingrich, unlike Tim Pawlenty or even Michele Bachmann, is not entirely "cash-poor," and could, if the need arises, self-finance his campaign. And though Gingrich is likely to rely heavily on social media rather than traditional campaign advertising, he has an impressive video and television production operation already in place that could help even the score with the better-funded Romney and Perry campaigns.
In fact, in one critical primary state -- Iowa -- Gingrich has been quietly working behind the scenes for months to build bridges to local "influencers," sussing out their ideas on how best to reform the health care system, or a possible compromise on immigration, for example. While other candidates have shaken hands, and engaged in relatively superficial "retail politics," Gingrich has been weighing in with financial support to conservative causes, like a successful effort to replace three Supreme Court judges, which Iowa evangelical leaders say could not have been done without him. Should Gingrich get a more viable campaign infrastructure established, he would tap a reservoir of enormous good will, and could draw away some tea partiers previously aligned with Michele Bachmann, who seems to be fading fast.
But could Gingrich actually win the nomination? Normally, a candidate would need to win at least one of the early critical primaries to be considered a real contender. And in Gingrich's case, that seems highly unlikely. But this year, the GOP is preparing an historic change in its primary rules: instead of winner-rake-all contests, delegates in most primaries may well be assigned proportionately, based on the share of the vote received. That means even second- and third-place finishers could well survive all the way up to the convention, and might find themselves in a powerful brokering role. Gingrich, for all his new-found enthusiasm for campaigning, is highly unlikely to win any of the major primaries but he could conceivably accumulate enough delegates over time to finish in the top tier -- perhaps, as his poll numbers, suggest, third in the overall delegate total.
So here's one possible scenario: Romney, leveraging his support among party moderates, wins in New Hampshire and Florida, but remains pitted against Cain, who, with strong support from the tea party, captures South Carolina and Iowa, leaving the GOP badly split. Even worse, neither wing of the party is prepared to back the other's candidate. In this scenario, Gingrich, already trusted by the Tea party far more than Romney, and by party moderates and the GOP establishment far more than Cain or even Perry, could become everyone's favorite second choice. Thus, seemingly from out of nowhere, and with no single primary win to point to, Gingrich could find himself the nominee.
Sound far-fetched? Perhaps, but when you consider who's left in the GOP stable -- with top-notch prospects like Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie all having declined to run -- a "dark horse" elder GOP statesman who can authentically link the current tea party insurgency to the heyday of post-Reagan conservativism could provide a badly-needed trump card to President Obama's argument that Republicans are still the "party of Bush." Remember, too, that Gingrich has a solid record of bipartisan deal-making as House speaker -- winning plaudits from none other than Bill Clinton -- at a time when Congress' public approval rating has just fallen to an all-time low of 9 percent. Independents, to say nothing of the country in general, are thoroughly disgusted with the hyper-partisanship coming out of Washington, and as the only man in the race who can credibly call himself an "establishment conservative" -- without it being viewed as an oxymoron -- Gingrich may be just what Republicans need to refurbish their tarnished brand.
"To exclude every single person from tribal membership because they're not Indian is going to harm tribes in the long run," says Michigan State University law professor Matthew Fletcher, who is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. (Credit: iStockphoto)
MICHIGAN STATE (US) ? Threats from non-Native Americans may require a change in tribal membership codes to allow tribes to protect themselves, says one legal expert in a new study.
Domestic violence against Native American women and pollution of American Indian land?mostly at the hands of non-Native Americans?are just two of many issues that could destroy the American Indian way of life, says Michigan State University law professor Matthew Fletcher.
Socio-economic and environmental problems are at an all-time high, says Fletcher, whose findings were recently published in Wyoming Law Review.
?To exclude every single person from tribal membership because they?re not Indian is going to harm tribes in the long run,? says Fletcher, who is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
?Tribes can actually be a domestic nation that can exercise the necessary government authority over all the people in their territory. But in order to do that, they have to liberalize their membership criteria.?
And it?s not going to be easy, since federal law usually defines Native Americans by blood quantum or lineage?often quarter-blood American Indian. Everyone else: Non-American Indian. Supreme Court opinions on membership haven?t strayed from that law, linking voting to tribal jurisdiction.
But some tribes are being overrun by non-Native Americans, Fletcher says, so this view is becoming obsolete. Now tribal nonmembers reside in a political limbo, essentially immune from regulation.
?I?m not saying throw out the whole ancestry or blood quantum criteria. I?m saying come up with something new to bring in the people who can cause the most damage to you,? Fletcher adds.
With 565 tribes around the country, American Indians are economically important, he said. In Michigan alone, tribes generate more than $1 billion of economic activity from casinos.
In addition, Fletcher says Native Americans are underutilized environmental stewards. They?re more invested in the environment than the EPA and the states and could be key to saving the Great Lakes?if they had the authority to punish the polluters.
But American Indians must be more aggressive with nonmembers, he says. A non- American Indian working for a tribe should consent to tribal jurisdiction, as well as anyone living on Native American land. This consent is no different than requiring noncitizens to seek a visa or a work permit from a host country, Fletcher adds.
?Most nations around the world adopt membership rules and criteria without regard to race and ancestry, and Indian nations should do the same,? he says. ?For tribes to progress into self-serving, independent nations within a larger nation, they will need to find a way to include non-Indians in the political process of the tribal government while still maintaining a distinctive tribal character.?
More news from Michigan State University: http://news.msu.edu/
MUMBAI?? First, Lady Gaga wore a dress made of meat. Now, how about one made of lettuce?
Indian animal rights activists have asked pop star Lady Gaga to pose in a lettuce dress and embrace vegetarianism during her visit to India this weekend, where she will be part of the star-studded unveiling of the country's first Formula 1 race.
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Lady Gaga, who famously wore a meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, will be performing at an invitation-only show in a five-star hotel in New Delhi after the race on Sunday.
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In a letter to the singer's publicist, PETA India said it hoped she would honor India's reverence for animals by turning vegetarian for the duration of her visit and posing for photos in a lettuce gown to promote the importance of not eating meat.
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"If she agrees, we'll make her a dress entirely of lettuce and held together by pins and threads. It will be a full length gown, and we'll make sure it looks sexy," said Sachin Bangera of PETA India.
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The dress would be constructed leaf by leaf on the singer's body, taking some five to six hours.
"Someone will be on hand to spray the lettuce with water so that it doesn't wilt," Bangera added.
Story: Angry Birds, Black Swan fly high as Halloween faves
Earlier this year, in an interview with Indian chat show host Simi Garewal, Lady Gaga said she would like to soak up the local culture by taking an Indian cooking class.
Excitement has been bubbling all week about the country's first Formula 1 Grand Prix, which is seen as a symbol of India's growing global clout while also highlighting its enormous disparities in wealth.
Which would you rather wear -- a meat dress, or a lettuce dress? Tell us on Facebook.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
The UFC's only official pre-fight show returns when Fight Day comes to you live from the sold-out Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the home of "UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz."
Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will break down all of the latest news from the UFC, including the stunning cancelation of the main event after an injury to Georges St-Pierre forced him to withdraw from the event.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will join the show to discuss his career and what's next for him, and we'll have a panel of journalists ready to break down the entire card.
Tune in to Fight Day at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.
Heavy is also giving away UFC 137 tickets. Your chance at being a part of all the UFC fighting action is only a couple of clicks away. Log on to HeavyMMA's Facebook page.
From there, you must "like" the page and leave a comment about how much you'd love to go to the show. From there, the folks at Heavy conduct a random drawing and the lucky winner will receive two tickets to the big fight card on 10/29/2011. It's that easy! So head over to HeavyMMA's Facebook page now and good luck.
Lung regeneration closer to reality with new discovery by Weill Cornell Medical College researchersPublic release date: 28-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Rodgers jdr2001@med.cornell.edu 212-821-0560 New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College
Study's authors show blood vessels support lung regeneration and their findings could potentially open the door to therapy for lung disorders
NEW YORK (Oct. 28, 2011) -- Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College say they have taken an important step forward in their quest to "turn on" lung regeneration -- an advance that could effectively treat millions of people suffering from respiratory disorders.
In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.
While it has long been known that mice can regenerate and expand the capacity of one lung if the other is missing, this study now identifies molecular triggers behind this process, and the researchers believe these findings are relevant to humans.
"Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, who is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.
"It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage," says Dr. Rafii, who is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."
"There is no effective therapy for patients diagnosed with COPD. Based on this study, I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration," states Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who is a co-author of this study and professor of pulmonary and genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.
Dr. Rafii and his researchers had previously uncovered growth factors that control regeneration in the liver and bone marrow, and in both cases, they found that endothelial cells produce the key inductive growth factors, which they defined as "angiocrine factors." In the current lung study, they discovered the same phenomenon -- that blood vessel cells in the lungs jump-start regeneration of alveoli. "Blood vessels are not just the inert plumbing that carries blood. They actively instruct organ regeneration," says Dr. Rafii. "This is a critical finding. Each organ uses different growth factors within its local vascular system to promote regeneration."
To conduct this study, Dr. Bi-Sen Ding, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Rafii's lab and the first author of this paper, removed the left lungs of mice and studied the biochemical process of subsequent regeneration of the remaining right lung. Previous pioneering work by Dr. Crystal had shown that when the left lung of mice is removed, the right lung regenerates by 80 percent, effectively replacing most of the lost alveoli. "This regeneration process also restores the physiological respiratory function of the lungs, which is mediated by amplification of various epithelial progenitor cells and regeneration of the alveolar sacs," says Dr. Ding.
"This regenerative phenomenon, however, only occurs after a trauma that abruptly reduces lung mass. Then the specific subsets of blood vessels in the remaining lung receive a message to start to repopulate alveoli, and our job was to find that signal," says Dr. Daniel Nolan, a senior scientist in this project who developed methods to characterize the lung blood vessel cells.
The scientists found that removal of the left lung activates receptors on lung endothelial cells that respond to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). Activation of these receptors promotes the rise of another protein, matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP14). The researchers discovered that MMP14, by releasing epidermal growth factors (EGF), initiates the generation of new lung tissue.
When the investigators disabled receptors of VEGF and FGF-2 specifically in the endothelial cells of the mice, the right lung would not regenerate. The defect in the lung regeneration was found to be due to the lack of MMP14 generation from the blood vessels. Remarkably, when these mice received an endothelial cell transplant from a normal mouse, the production of MMP14 was restored, triggering the regeneration of functional alveoli.
"The recovery of lung function and lung mechanics by transplantation of endothelial cells that stimulate MMP14 production may be valuable for designing novel therapies for respiratory disorders," says Dr. Stefan Worgall, who helped with the functional lung studies in this project. "This study will also help us understand mechanisms for repair in the growing lungs of infants and children," he adds. Dr. Worgall is associate professor of pediatrics and genetic medicine and distinguished associate professor of pediatric pulmonology.
Given MMP14's role, Dr. Rafii classifies it as a crucial "angiocrine" signal -- a lung endothelial specific growth factor responsible for alveolar regeneration. Dr. Rafii's team also seeks to reveal the initiation signals resulting in the activation of lung blood vessels. "Changes in local blood flow and biomechanical forces in the remaining lung after removal of the left lung could certainly be one of the initiation cues that induce endothelial activation," says Dr. Sina Rabbany, who is a co-senior author of this study and a professor of bioengineering at Hofstra University and adjunct associate professor of genetic medicine and bioengineering in medicine at Weill Cornell.
The researchers will next determine if MMP14 and other as-yet unrecognized angiocrine factors are responsible for lung regeneration in humans as well as mice. "We believe the same process goes on in humans, although we have no direct evidence yet," says Dr. Ding. The study's authors theorize that patients with COPD (a disorder most often caused by chronic smoking) have so much damage to their lung endothelial cells that they no longer produce the proper inductive signals. "We know smoking damages lungs, but lungs may continue to regenerate alveoli," says Dr. Koji Shido, a co-author of this study. "But at certain point, significant injury to the endothelial cells could impair their capacity to support lung regeneration."
"Perhaps replacement of angiocrine factors, or transplantation of normal lung endothelial cells derived from pluripotent stem cells, could restore lung regeneration" speculates Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, who is the director of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at Weill Cornell, and a co-author of this study. "Currently, we are generating pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with genetic pulmonary disorders to identify potential pathways, which may ultimately enhance our understanding of how lung endothelial cells may improve lung function in these patients."
###
Weill Cornell Medical College researchers who worked with Dr. Rafii in this study were Bi-Sen Ding, Daniel J. Nolan, Peipei Guo, Alexander O. Babazadeh, Zhongwei Cao, Zev Rosenwaks, Ronald G. Crystal, Stefan Worgall and Koji Shido. Other co-authors are Michael Simons from Yale University School of Medicine; Thomas N. Sato from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Nara, Japan; and Sina Y. Rabbany from Hofstra University.
The study was funded by the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Empire State Stem Cell Board and New York State Department of Health, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Qatar National Priorities Research Foundation, Anbinder Foundation, Newman's Own Foundation, the Takeda Science Foundation, and the Uehara Memorial Foundation.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria, and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.
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Lung regeneration closer to reality with new discovery by Weill Cornell Medical College researchersPublic release date: 28-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Rodgers jdr2001@med.cornell.edu 212-821-0560 New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College
Study's authors show blood vessels support lung regeneration and their findings could potentially open the door to therapy for lung disorders
NEW YORK (Oct. 28, 2011) -- Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College say they have taken an important step forward in their quest to "turn on" lung regeneration -- an advance that could effectively treat millions of people suffering from respiratory disorders.
In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.
While it has long been known that mice can regenerate and expand the capacity of one lung if the other is missing, this study now identifies molecular triggers behind this process, and the researchers believe these findings are relevant to humans.
"Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, who is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.
"It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage," says Dr. Rafii, who is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."
"There is no effective therapy for patients diagnosed with COPD. Based on this study, I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration," states Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who is a co-author of this study and professor of pulmonary and genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.
Dr. Rafii and his researchers had previously uncovered growth factors that control regeneration in the liver and bone marrow, and in both cases, they found that endothelial cells produce the key inductive growth factors, which they defined as "angiocrine factors." In the current lung study, they discovered the same phenomenon -- that blood vessel cells in the lungs jump-start regeneration of alveoli. "Blood vessels are not just the inert plumbing that carries blood. They actively instruct organ regeneration," says Dr. Rafii. "This is a critical finding. Each organ uses different growth factors within its local vascular system to promote regeneration."
To conduct this study, Dr. Bi-Sen Ding, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Rafii's lab and the first author of this paper, removed the left lungs of mice and studied the biochemical process of subsequent regeneration of the remaining right lung. Previous pioneering work by Dr. Crystal had shown that when the left lung of mice is removed, the right lung regenerates by 80 percent, effectively replacing most of the lost alveoli. "This regeneration process also restores the physiological respiratory function of the lungs, which is mediated by amplification of various epithelial progenitor cells and regeneration of the alveolar sacs," says Dr. Ding.
"This regenerative phenomenon, however, only occurs after a trauma that abruptly reduces lung mass. Then the specific subsets of blood vessels in the remaining lung receive a message to start to repopulate alveoli, and our job was to find that signal," says Dr. Daniel Nolan, a senior scientist in this project who developed methods to characterize the lung blood vessel cells.
The scientists found that removal of the left lung activates receptors on lung endothelial cells that respond to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). Activation of these receptors promotes the rise of another protein, matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP14). The researchers discovered that MMP14, by releasing epidermal growth factors (EGF), initiates the generation of new lung tissue.
When the investigators disabled receptors of VEGF and FGF-2 specifically in the endothelial cells of the mice, the right lung would not regenerate. The defect in the lung regeneration was found to be due to the lack of MMP14 generation from the blood vessels. Remarkably, when these mice received an endothelial cell transplant from a normal mouse, the production of MMP14 was restored, triggering the regeneration of functional alveoli.
"The recovery of lung function and lung mechanics by transplantation of endothelial cells that stimulate MMP14 production may be valuable for designing novel therapies for respiratory disorders," says Dr. Stefan Worgall, who helped with the functional lung studies in this project. "This study will also help us understand mechanisms for repair in the growing lungs of infants and children," he adds. Dr. Worgall is associate professor of pediatrics and genetic medicine and distinguished associate professor of pediatric pulmonology.
Given MMP14's role, Dr. Rafii classifies it as a crucial "angiocrine" signal -- a lung endothelial specific growth factor responsible for alveolar regeneration. Dr. Rafii's team also seeks to reveal the initiation signals resulting in the activation of lung blood vessels. "Changes in local blood flow and biomechanical forces in the remaining lung after removal of the left lung could certainly be one of the initiation cues that induce endothelial activation," says Dr. Sina Rabbany, who is a co-senior author of this study and a professor of bioengineering at Hofstra University and adjunct associate professor of genetic medicine and bioengineering in medicine at Weill Cornell.
The researchers will next determine if MMP14 and other as-yet unrecognized angiocrine factors are responsible for lung regeneration in humans as well as mice. "We believe the same process goes on in humans, although we have no direct evidence yet," says Dr. Ding. The study's authors theorize that patients with COPD (a disorder most often caused by chronic smoking) have so much damage to their lung endothelial cells that they no longer produce the proper inductive signals. "We know smoking damages lungs, but lungs may continue to regenerate alveoli," says Dr. Koji Shido, a co-author of this study. "But at certain point, significant injury to the endothelial cells could impair their capacity to support lung regeneration."
"Perhaps replacement of angiocrine factors, or transplantation of normal lung endothelial cells derived from pluripotent stem cells, could restore lung regeneration" speculates Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, who is the director of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at Weill Cornell, and a co-author of this study. "Currently, we are generating pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with genetic pulmonary disorders to identify potential pathways, which may ultimately enhance our understanding of how lung endothelial cells may improve lung function in these patients."
###
Weill Cornell Medical College researchers who worked with Dr. Rafii in this study were Bi-Sen Ding, Daniel J. Nolan, Peipei Guo, Alexander O. Babazadeh, Zhongwei Cao, Zev Rosenwaks, Ronald G. Crystal, Stefan Worgall and Koji Shido. Other co-authors are Michael Simons from Yale University School of Medicine; Thomas N. Sato from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Nara, Japan; and Sina Y. Rabbany from Hofstra University.
The study was funded by the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Empire State Stem Cell Board and New York State Department of Health, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Qatar National Priorities Research Foundation, Anbinder Foundation, Newman's Own Foundation, the Takeda Science Foundation, and the Uehara Memorial Foundation.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria, and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.
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COMMENTARY | GOP hopefuls sounded off on the issues at Thursday's GOP debate in Orlando, Fla. Though the men had it easy in the wardrobe department -- it's hard to mess up the standard dark suit -- several of them committed sins against fashion with their choice of tie. Michele Bachmann, the lone female contender, stumbled with her choice of shoes. When looking presidential is part of the game, the candidates may regret the following sartorial slip-ups.
Michele Bachmann
Tsk, tsk, Mrs. Bachmann. Still with the Mary Janes? Shoes do make the woman, and we won't be taking you seriously until you invest in a pair of power pumps. Here's a tip: If stilettos aren't your thing, you can get away with kitten heels as long as the rest of the shape is suitably power-oriented.
Now, about your jacket. While red is the oft-recommended power color for women, we didn't care for strait-jacket structure and the high, closed collar. They make you seem stiff, rigid and closed, and that thick fabric could have repelled bullets. Next time, try something a little more open around the throat, with some tasteful jewelry as an accent.
While we're at it, please consult a primer on how powerful women stand. During the waves at the end, the men all had it right with their feet firmly planted, shoulder width apart. You, on the other hand, stood like a prissy schoolgirl with your feet welded together. The stance for a woman involves putting the left foot slightly forward with the toe pointing straight ahead. The right foot is some six inches back at a 45 degree angle.
Mitt Romney
Really, Mr. Romney, as the frontrunner, couldn't you have consulted a stylist about your tie? Yes, you get points for the impeccably tailored dark suit and the flag pin, but when a tie is your big-deal accessory you must get it right. Ties are tricky. Too much contrast and they draw attention away from your face. Romney's tie, with its bold blue stripes on a silver background, did precisely that.
Gary Johnson
Johnson's tie was clearly chosen to match his soulful baby blues. In fact, we wonder if some fashion-savvy female picked it out for him. Frankly the tie is almost perfect except for one thing. Though the narrow stripe avoided Romney's attention-stealing pitfall, it was a bit too narrow, creating a nausea-inducing moir? effect for the camera.
Ron Paul
While Mr. Paul's tie looked like silk rather than vintage polyester, its width gave us twitchy '70s flashbacks. The color was good, and the narrower double blue stripe on yellow almost saved it from the Romney contrast problem. Almost.
Herman Cain
Cain was one of three candidates opting for yellow as his dominant tie color. The other two were Jon Huntsman, who did it right, and Ron Paul, discussed above. We don't know if it was the too-light shade or the sheen on the fabric, but something about Cain's tie caused blinding glare for the camera. We might have listened better if we didn't have to avert our eyes every time he spoke.
Doing it right
So who did it right? Rick Perry, for one, with a crimson tie that was perfectly proper, if ever so slightly boring. Huntsman's yellow was warm and vibrant without stealing his thunder, and Santorum's blue-on-blue stripe was picture-perfect. Newt Gingrich was predictable in conservative crimson, and while we approve of the color fashion-wise, we wonder symbolically about candidates who choose red. We're guessing it's a nod to Old Glory, but red does come across as ever so slightly -- dare we say it? -- socialist.
Warning: the following Fashion Face-Off may cause your computer screen to fog up.
Both Stacy Keibler and Julianne Hough walked the red carpet of last night's Hollywood Film Awards held at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California and, somehow, the path under these hotties' feet did not catch on fire.
Keibler was on hand as George Clooney's date, while Hough was there to represent her remake of Footloose. Both looked gorgeous. But only one could look the MOST gorgeous. Vote that individual now:
NEW YORK ? Since 2003, I've tried several fitness accessories that use the GPS system to tell you how far and how fast you're running. I've generally liked them, except for the fact that they don't work well in big cities.
Many runners I know have one of these devices ? usually a watch that gets signals from GPS satellites in the sky to calculate distance and speed. These don't offer street maps, the way GPS devices in cars do, but some models have rudimentary navigation features to help get you back to your starting point. Some also try to coach you ? they'll beep when you're going faster or slower than your specified target.
Nike's $200 SportWatch GPS doesn't offer that. What you get instead is a simplified device that works exceptionally well in big cities, including my hometown New York.
The problem with big cities is that tall buildings block some of the GPS signals. It might take 10 or 15 minutes for a device to find the signals, rather than just a minute or so elsewhere. As the weather gets colder, I'd prefer starting my run sooner and spending less time standing around outside waiting for the watch to activate.
The SportWatch addresses these shortcomings in two important ways.
As long as you plug the watch in to a computer regularly, using a standard USB port, it retrieves data that can help locate signals faster.
It also has a backup system when no signal is available at all. The SportWatch comes with a small sensor that attaches to your shoe and measures the amount of time between footsteps and the time your foot is on the ground. The SportWatch picks up that information wirelessly and uses it to calculate pace and distance.
With this backup, you can start your run before the SportWatch finds the GPS signals. The device works even when you're running through a tunnel or on the lower level of a bridge ? places GPS can't always reach. The SportWatch automatically goes back to using the more accurate GPS system once it gets signals again.
Unfortunately, the backup sensor system is designed specifically for Nike shoes, which have slots built into them to hold the sensors. Runners can be quite particular about their shoes, and wrong ones can lead to injuries, as I've learned the hard way.
The good news is that many running stores sell Velcro attachments for other shoes, though you won't find out about them in Nike's manuals. I've found in years of testing that these third-party attachments don't work as well as Nike shoes, but a new auto-calibration feature should reduce the errors in calculating distance and pace.
The SportWatch, which incorporates a GPS receiver made by TomTom, has clear improvements over earlier models from Nike and others, though I stop short of giving it a ringing endorsement.
I find that it tries to simplify too much and allows for little customization.
Many of the settings can't be changed directly from the watch. You have to create an online account and download free software from Nike to make such adjustments from a computer.
You also have to go online for details about runs you've just completed. Lots of data get recorded during your runs, but the device only presents a sliver. You get distance, average pace, the time it took and estimated calories burned (as long as you went into the computer settings and entered your weight). You also get how long it took for each split ? a point you manually record by tapping the watch's screen, be it the completion of a lap around a track or the hitting of a mile marker in a race.
But the SportWatch doesn't give you pace, distance and calorie information for each split, as many other devices do. Nor does it give you elevation and other metrics on the watch, as some competing devices do.
And once you've connected your device to a particular online account, you can't change that without completely resetting the watch and erasing all your data. Competing devices from Garmin and Timex let you change accounts. You might need to, for instance, if you loan your watch to a friend or family member with a separate account and want details of those runs placed there instead.
The watch also goes into power-save mode too quickly. If I don't start my run soon after the device finds the signals, it turns off and has to search for signals again. I can see the reasoning behind this, but it would be nice to be able to change how much time you have or to temporarily turn that off.
An upcoming software update will offer some improvements. Nike says you'll be able to set the time and date directly from the watch, without needing a computer. There's also promise of a stopwatch feature, so you can use the device when you have no GPS signal or foot sensor around. Those are two features that should have been there from the start.
This device is designed more for form than function. It's not for hard-core runners used to lots of customization and data. It's simplified for beginners and others content with just the basics. That mentality is underscored with inspirational messages such as "Way to go" and "Job well done" after each run ? a bit insulting to hard-core runners after finishing a particularly bad run.
Perhaps one day, I'll get a device that has the full functionality of a Garmin or Timex watch but works as well as the Nike SportWatch in big cities. It doesn't matter which one does it first. I'm just glad there's healthy competition to get there.
BRUSSELS ? Big banks across Europe will have to raise euro106 billion ($148 billion) to better withstand the turmoil of the debt crisis, preliminary figures showed, while eurozone leaders neared a deal to boost their bailout fund to over euro1 trillion ($1.4 trillion), a senior official said Wednesday.
The deal to force banks in the European Union to boost their rainy-day funds amid worsening market turmoil is a key part of a broader plan to solve the debt crisis that leaders have promised.
It was, however, only one third of a broader strategy which is expected to also include reducing Greece's debt load and boosting the eurozone's bailout fund.
After much delay, talks on the bailout fund finally saw some progress. The leaders of the 17-country eurozone want to give the fund, the euro440 billion European Financial Stability Facility, more firepower so it can stop the crisis from engulfing big countries like Italy and Spain. The question was how to do it with the most impact and the least risk for taxpayers.
A senior eurozone official said that consensus was emerging to allow the EFSF to insure private investors against the first 25 percent of losses on purchases of government bonds and other investments linked to helping the eurozone.
After contributing to the bailouts of Ireland, Portugal and Greece, the EFSF will have only about euro270 billion left. A scheme to provide insurance on bond issues could multiply the impact of the EFSF's lending power to over euro1 trillion, the official said, since it would make those bonds safer investments and attract demand.
The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were still ongoing, cautioned however that the EFSF leveraging would not be agreed until other parts of the plan were nailed down.
In addition to acting as a direct insurer of bond issues from wobbly countries like Italy and Spain, the EFSF insurance scheme is also supposed to entice big institutional investors to contribute to a special fund that could be used to buy government bonds but also to help states recapitalize weak banks.
Such outside help may be necessary for Italy and Spain, whose banks were facing some of the biggest capital shortfalls.
Spanish banks have to raise euro26.2 billion ($36 billion), according to preliminary estimates from the European Banking Authority, while Italian banks must find euro14.8 billion ($20.6 billion). A shortfall of euro30 billion ($42 billion) in capital in Greek banks should be covered by the country's existing bailout program. The EBA said the figures were based on preliminary calculations and would be updated in November.
The official said there was still a lot of disagreement on how to cut Greece's massive debt, one of the other key issues.
France and several other countries insist that any losses taken by banks should be voluntary, while Germany is threatening to force cuts on investors if they are not willing to go far enough.
The head of the big banking lobby group that has been leading the negotiations on the behalf of private investors said there was no deal yet to cut the value of Greek bonds.
"There has been no agreement on any Greek deal or a specific 'haircut,'" Charles Dallara, the managing director of the Institute of International Finance, said in a statement. "We remain open to a dialogue in search of a voluntary agreement. There is no agreement on any element of a deal."
MILAN ? Premier Silvio Berlusconi has averted an immediate government crisis and given fresh impetus to an European Union summit aimed at saving the euro with an overnight deal on emergency growth measures demanded by the EU,
Berlusconi and Northern League leader Umberto Bossi reached a compromise on raising Italy's pension age in late-night parliament talks Tuesday ? a point of disagreement that had threatened Berlusconi's leadership. His majority in parliament needs the support of the Northern League to guarantee his policies.
Berlusconi plans to deliver a letter with Italy's emergency measures to the summit later Wednesday. A spokesman said the contents are reserved for summit leaders, but Italian media reported that the measures include new infrastructure spending, with a push for more private investment for strategic projects, the privatization of public entities and property and simplifying rules for companies.
Changes to Italy's pension scheme had become a major sticking point, with Bossi's party refusing to risk alienating its constituency of workers from the productive north.
Under the overnight deal, Italy will gradually raise the pension age for all workers to 67 by 2025, bringing it in line with European trends. Currently, men in all sectors and women in the public sector retire at 65.
The 15-page letter also reportedly contains details of the euro54 billion ($75.16 billion) in austerity measures passed by lawmakers last month to balance the budget by 2013.
Italy is seen as the next country at risk in the widening sovereign debt crisis, but with euro1.9 trillion in public debt a default would be disastrous for the global economy. The European Central Bank has been buying billions in Italian bonds to help keep borrowing costs down.
Nonetheless, Italy saw borrowing costs on short-term bonds spike on Wednesday. The Italian Treasury sold euro8.5 billion ($11.83 billion) in six-month bonds at 3.53 percent, up sharply from last month's 3.071 percent.
A Berlusconi spokesman, meanwhile, brushed off reports that Berlusconi was preparing to resign. The left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, one of Berlusconi's staunchest critics, reported that he had threatened to resign if no deal could be reached with the League. It did not cite sources, but quoted Berlusconi during the private meeting as saying, "I don't know what to do. It is clear I cannot go to Brussels without a deal with Bossi."
OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) ? More than 1,000 activists protesting economic inequality reclaimed a downtown Oakland plaza late on Wednesday, a day after demonstrators were driven out and an Iraq war veteran was critically hurt in clashes with police.
The severe injury of Scott Olsen, 24, a former U.S. Marine who friends said served two tours of duty in Iraq, became a rallying cry among Occupy Wall Street supporters in Oakland and beyond as organizers urged protesters back into the streets.
Police kept their distance as protesters returned to the scene of Tuesday's confrontations, while protesters largely avoided provoking them, although one activist defiantly set up a single, small tent in the square after midnight.
In Portland, Oregon, a crowd estimated to number at least 1,000 joined in a march organized by the AFL-CIO labor federation in support of the anti-Wall Street movement.
Demonstrators also rallied peacefully in San Francisco, and Twitter buzz suggested turnouts may have gotten a boost from outrage generated by news of the injured Oakland veteran.
Supporters in New York voted on Wednesday to send $20,000 and 100 tents to their peers in Oakland, according to a Twitter message from a protester identified as J.A. Myerson and re-tweeted by the Occupy Wall Street group.
The liberal activist group MoveOn.org said it was creating a "rapid response ad" from video footage of what it described as a "brutal crackdown" on Tuesday in which Olsen was hurt.
Rally organizers said Olsen was struck in the head on Tuesday by a tear gas canister police fired at protesters trying to reclaim a downtown plaza where a makeshift encampment had been forcibly removed before dawn on the same day.
A spokesman for Highland General Hospital in Oakland confirmed Olsen was in critical condition from injuries sustained in the protest but could not say how he was hurt.
INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED
Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told a news conference his department was investigating the incident.
He declined to confirm whether Olsen was struck with a projectile fired by law enforcement but said Oakland police did launch tear gas and so-called "bean bag" munitions on Tuesday when demonstrators defied orders to disperse.
Jordan, acknowledging his department had received complaints of excessive force during the protests, said his officers were under orders to accommodate peaceful rallies and marches. But he added that "no camping will be allowed overnight" on public property.
The altercations erupted on Tuesday when about 1,000 activists sought to retake an outdoor plaza adjacent to City Hall that police had already cleared, arresting 85 people.
On Wednesday night, a crowd of at least 1,000 demonstrators were allowed back into the square. Some immediately ripped down a fence erected to close off a grassy area after authorities had removed tents and sprayed disinfectant chemicals.
But the crowd was otherwise peaceful and activists met to discuss strategy, including a proposal to call for a general citywide strike next week.
In contrast with Tuesday's events, police stayed on the sidelines even as the bulk of the crowd left the plaza to march, chanting, through downtown streets for nearly two hours. As demonstrators returned to the square around midnight, some danced to Beatles music blared from loudspeakers.
"It's much different to be dancing on the steps of City Hall with a sign than to be running from tear gas from the police," said one protester who identified himself only as a teaching assistant named Scott.
BADLY HURT AFTER TWO TOURS IN IRAQ
Keith Shannon, who said he served with Olsen in Iraq, told Reuters his friend suffered a 2-inch skull fracture and brain swelling and had been sedated in the hospital's emergency room trauma center while neurosurgeons decided whether to operate.
The hospital declined to comment on those medical details.
"The irony is not lost on anyone here that this is someone who survived two tours in Iraq and is now seriously injured by the Oakland police force," said his friend, Adele Carpenter, who spoke to Reuters by phone from the hospital waiting room.
The "Occupy Wall Street" protests, which began in New York City last month, take issue with a financial system they say most benefits corporations and the wealthy. They are critical of U.S. government bailouts of big banks, high unemployment and economic inequality.
Loosely organized protest groups have since sprung up across the United States and in countries around the world. Tensions were building in several cities where authorities have been treading a fine line between allowing peaceful protest and addressing concerns about trespassing, noise and safety.
In an early morning raid in Atlanta, police evicted dozens of protesters from a downtown park and arrested 53 who refused to leave. They were allowed to camp in the park for three weeks, but Mayor Kasim Reed said he decided to evict them because of fire code violations and crowd control issues.
In Orlando, demonstrators had been complying with orders to vacate a park overnight and left their belongings, only to have police confiscate the property. And in Baltimore, the city ordered protesters to drastically reduce the number of people who camped overnight from roughly 200 to two people in a single tent. Protesters were given a Wednesday deadline to comply.
In the birthplace of the demonstrations, New York City, authorities have largely averted confrontation. Over 700 protesters loudly but peacefully marched through lower Manhattan on Wednesday to denounce for-profit health care.
(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson in Los Angeles, Barbara Liston in Orlando, David Beasley in Atlanta, Dan Cook in Portland, Jason Tomassini in Baltimore and Chris Francescani in New York; Writing by Steve Gorman and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Greg McCune, Jackie Frank and Cynthia Johnston)
You may have noticed a trend recently -- pairing slightly less powerful cores that sip power, with more robust ones that can chug through demanding applications. NVIDIA's Tegra 3 will be packing an underclocked fifth core, while ARM's big.LITTLE initiative matches a highly efficient 28nm A7 with the beefy A15. Now Freescale is planning to use the same trick, but you won't find its asymmetrical CPUs in your next tablet or smartphone. Its platform, which marries a Cortex M4 to a Cortex A5, isn't meant to compete with the latest Snapdragon. These chips will find homes in factories and in-dash infotainment systems which have increasingly sophisticated UIs, but don't need to push thousands of polygons. Software development tools will land before this quarter is out and the first batch of silicon will be announced in Q1 of 2012. Looks like the era of "dual-core" meaning two identical cores has officially come to an end.
GENEVA (Reuters) ? The top U.S. negotiator on North Korea said on Monday that two-day talks between the two sides in Geneva were "moving in a positive direction" after narrowing some differences but issues remained.
Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said that the U.S. goal was to find a "solid foundation" on which to relaunch bilateral and multilateral talks with Pyongyang, largely stalled since six-party talks on nuclear disarmament collapsed more than two years ago.
"We will continue to try to narrow differences," Bosworth told reporters in Geneva after hosting a dinner for the North Korean delegation led by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Michael Roddy)
LOS ANGELES ? The elaborate mission to recover a moon rock led NASA agents to one of the most down-to-earth places: a Denny's restaurant in Riverside County.
But at the end of the sting operation, agents were left holding a speck of lunar dust smaller than a grain of rice and a 74-year-old suspect who was terrified by armed officials.
Five months after NASA investigators and local agents swooped into the restaurant and hailed their operation as a cautionary tale for anyone trying to sell national treasure, no charges have been filed, NASA isn't talking and the case appears stalled.
The target, Joann Davis, a grandmother who says she was trying to raise money for her sick son, asserts the lunar material was rightfully hers, having been given to her space-engineer husband by Neil Armstrong in the 1970s.
"It's a very upsetting thing," Davis told The Associated Press. "It's very detrimental, very humiliating, all of it a lie."
The strange case centers on a speck of authenticated moon rock encased in an acrylic-looking dome that appears to be a paperweight. For years, NASA has gone after anyone selling lunar material gathered on the Apollo missions because it is considered government property, so cannot be sold for profit.
Still, NASA has given hundreds of lunar samples to nations, states and high-profile individuals but only on the understanding they remain government property. NASA's inspector general works to arrest anyone trying to sell them.
The case was triggered by Davis herself, according to a search warrant affidavit written by Norman Conley, an agent for the inspector general.
She emailed a NASA contractor May 10 trying to find a buyer for the rock, as well as a nickel-sized piece of the heat shield that protected the Apollo 11 space capsule as it returned to earth from the first successful manned mission to the moon in 1969.
"I've been searching the internet for months attempting to find a buyer," Davis wrote. "If you have any thoughts as to how I can proceed with the sale of these two items, please call."
Davis told AP the items were among many of the space-related heirlooms her husband left her when he died in 1986. She said she had worked as a lexicographer and he had worked as an engineer for North American Rockwell, which contracted for NASA during the Apollo era.
Davis claims Armstrong gave the items to her husband, though the affidavit says the first man on the moon has previously told investigators he never gave or sold lunar material to anyone.
In follow-up phone conversations with a NASA agent, Davis acknowledged the rock was not sellable on the open market and fretted about an agent knocking on her door and taking the material, which she was willing to sell for "big money underground."
"She must know that this is a questionable transaction because she used the term `black market,'" Agent Conley states in the search warrant.
Curiously, though, Davis agreed to sell the sample to NASA for a stellar $1.7 million. She said she wanted to leave her three children an inheritance and take care of her sick son.
NASA investigators then arranged the sting, where Conley met with Davis and her current husband at the Denny's at Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.
Soon after settling into a booth, Davis said, she pulled out the moon sample and about half a dozen sheriff's deputies and NASA investigators rushed into the eatery.
When officers in flack vests took a hold of her, the 4-foot-11 woman said she was so scared she lost control of her bladder and was taken outside to a parking lot, where she was questioned and detained for about two hours.
"They grabbed me and pulled me out of the booth," Davis claimed. "I had very, very deep bruises on my left side."
Conley declined to comment and NASA Office of the Inspector General spokeswoman Renee Juhans said she could not talk about an ongoing investigation.
Davis was eventually allowed home, without the moon rock, and was never booked into a police station or charged.
The affidavit states authorities believed Davis was in possession of stolen government property but so far they have not publicly revealed any proof.
"This (is) abhorrent behavior by the federal government to steal something from a retiree that was given to her," said Davis's attorney, Peter Schlueter, who is planning legal action.
Joseph Gutheinz, a University of Phoenix instructor and former NASA investigator who has spent years tracking down missing moon rocks, said prosecuting Davis could prove tricky.
Gutheinz said he recently learned that NASA did not always take good care of lunar materials. In some instances, space suits were simply hosed off and any moon dust on them lost forever.
While bigger rocks, such as those given to various countries and museums were carefully inventoried and tracked, it now appears there are unknown numbers of much smaller pieces circulating in the public. Some of these may have been turned into paperweights and informally given away by NASA engineers.
"I have a real moral problem with what's happened here in California," Gutheinz said. "I've always taken the position that no one should own an Apollo-era moon rock. They belong to the people. But if we did such a poor job of safeguarding (lunar samples,) I cannot fault that person."
About 2,200 samples of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust ? weighing about 840 pounds ? were brought to Earth by NASA's Apollo lunar landing missions from 1969 to 1972. A recent count showed 10 states and more than 90 countries could not account for their shares of the gray rocks.
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Watkins can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/thomaswatkins
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Public release date: 28-Oct-2011
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