Lindsay Lohan's father has heart surgery - Celebrities
updated
11/26/2011 12:35:39 AM ET
Celebrities
Lindsay Lohan's father has heart surgery
Michael Lohan had blood clot removed from his lungs
Reuters
LOS ANGELES ? Actress Lindsay Lohan's father Michael Lohan is undergoing heart surgery on Friday after being rushed to a hospital in Florida with chest pains and high blood pressure, said his spokeswoman.
Lohan was hospitalized on Thursday night after complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. He registered a high blood pressure reading of 200/110, taken by an ambulance crew.
The 51-year-old Lohan is at the Gulf Coast Hospital in Fort Myers where he is having a stent inserted and a blood clot removed from his lungs. He is expected to recover within a week, his spokeswoman said.
Spokeswoman Gina Rodriguez said in an email to Reuters that Lohan had not received his blood pressure or heart medicine in a week at the treatment center where he is currently staying under a court order.
Lohan was arrested back in October on domestic battery charges in Florida after former girlfriend Kathryn Major filed a report with local police. He was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to spend the first four months at a residential treatment center in Fort Myers, Florida.
He had previously complained of chest pains and been taken to a hospital in October.
More from Celebrities
Lindsay Lohan's father has heart surgery - Celebrities
updated
11/26/2011 12:35:39 AM ET
Celebrities
Lindsay Lohan's father has heart surgery
Michael Lohan had blood clot removed from his lungs
Reuters
LOS ANGELES ? Actress Lindsay Lohan's father Michael Lohan is undergoing heart surgery on Friday after being rushed to a hospital in Florida with chest pains and high blood pressure, said his spokeswoman.
Lohan was hospitalized on Thursday night after complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. He registered a high blood pressure reading of 200/110, taken by an ambulance crew.
The 51-year-old Lohan is at the Gulf Coast Hospital in Fort Myers where he is having a stent inserted and a blood clot removed from his lungs. He is expected to recover within a week, his spokeswoman said.
Spokeswoman Gina Rodriguez said in an email to Reuters that Lohan had not received his blood pressure or heart medicine in a week at the treatment center where he is currently staying under a court order.
Lohan was arrested back in October on domestic battery charges in Florida after former girlfriend Kathryn Major filed a report with local police. He was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to spend the first four months at a residential treatment center in Fort Myers, Florida.
He had previously complained of chest pains and been taken to a hospital in October.
The "two goldfish in a tank"-joke doesn't have a loser.
Well, let's see.
Do you mean this joke: ? Q: Two goldfish are in a tank.
A: One says, "Do you know how to drive this thing?"
That definitely has a loser: The person being told the joke is made to think "fish tank" by the context presented by the teller of the joke, and then is ambushed by the teller of the joke specifically by being made to know they were thinking incorrectly -- it's a military tank. The laughter comes from the listener when they realize they were wrong; from the teller at the realization of the listener they've been had. Dominance and submission, both.
Or did you have another "two goldfish" joke?
I'd be really interested in a list of animals where humor has been observed
I just gave you one (abbreviated, but pretty obvious.)
and how that manifests (or can be detected)
Ever see a cat hide from another cat or dog, smack it on the head when it wanders by, and then "run away", but using very high leaps that aren't effective at distancing instead of the ground covering-speed they are actually capable of? That's an ambush, with a victim, delivered as social one-uppance, but clearly below the threshold of actual violence. Dominance. That's humor, straight up. The laughter *is* the "run."
Dolphins not only ambush and prank, they laugh at the victim's discomfort, too. Ask any dolphin handler. It can be pretty rough humor, too. Like, broken-bone rough. That's more of a reflection of just how powerful an animal they are as compared to humans, I think -- the same jokes on other dolphins wouldn't result in that kind of damage. They'll pull you under when you're swimming, spit water in your face, all kinds of dominating pranks.
Parrots... those are considerably harder to explain, as the behavior is, in fact, linked with their use of language, and that varies enormously by the individual parrot. I'm going to punt and say you need to live with one. They're bloody hilarious, though, believe me.
Dogs... they exhibit a wide range of intelligent behaviors (as do cats, for that matter), but as far as humor goes, just play "throw the stick" with one that hasn't been trained to fetch, and see how easy it isn't to get the stick back, and how the dog will tease in the manner of "I have the stick, here, it's almost in your reach, whoops, you're too slow, aren't you?" Straight up dominance, you're the victim, sub-violent. If you enjoy being teased, then we have submission as well (though note how quickly being teased gets old... submission is a hard place to maintain cheerfully.) It's humor.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan ? Afghan troops who came under fire while operating near the Pakistan border called in the NATO airstrikes that allegedly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two posts along the frontier, Afghan officials said Sunday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it's unclear who attacked the Afghan troops before dawn Saturday, but that the soldiers were fired upon from the direction of the Pakistani border posts that were hit in the strikes. The border area where the soldiers were operating contains a mix of Pakistani forces and Islamist militants.
The incident has driven to new lows the United States' already tattered alliance with Pakistan, a relationship that is vital to winding down the 10-year-old Afghan war. The Pakistan army has said the alleged NATO attack was unprovoked and has insisted there wasn't militant activity near the border posts in the Mohmand tribal area. Outraged by the strike, Islamabad closed its border to trucks delivering supplies to coalition troops in Afghanistan and demanded the U.S. vacate a base used by American drones within 15 days.
NATO has said it is likely that its aircraft carried out the attack that caused Pakistani casualties and is conducting an investigation to determine the details. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is disputed and not marked in many areas, adding to the difficulty.
On Sunday, Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani attended the funerals of the victims, including a major, as the U.S. sought to minimize fallout from the crisis, which plunged Washington's already troubled relationship with Islamabad to an all-time low.
The relationship took a major hit after the covert U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May. Pakistan was outraged it wasn't told about the operation beforehand. The U.S. has been consistently frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to target militants using its territory to attack American and other NATO troops in Afghanistan.
But there are forces working against a total rupture in the relationship. Pakistan still relies on billions of dollars in American military and civilian aid, and the U.S. needs Islamabad's help to push Afghan insurgents to engage in peace talks.
Tensions could rise further if militants unleash attacks against hundreds of trucks carrying supplies to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan that were backed up at Pakistani border crossings Sunday after Islamabad closed the frontier.
Suspected militants destroyed around 150 trucks and injured drivers and police a year ago after Pakistan closed one of its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies for about 10 days in retaliation for a U.S. helicopter attack that accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers.
The situation could be more dire this time because Pakistan has closed both its crossings. Nearly 300 trucks carrying coalition supplies are now backed up at Torkham in the northwest Khyber tribal area and Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan province. Last year, Pakistan only closed Torkham.
"We are worried," said driver Saeed Khan, speaking by telephone from the border terminal in Torkham. "This area is always vulnerable to attacks. Sometimes rockets are lobbed at us. Sometimes we are targeted by bombs."
Khan and hundreds of other drivers and their assistants barely slept Saturday night because they were worried about potential attacks, he said.
Some drivers said Pakistan had sent paramilitary troops to protect their convoys since the closures, but others were left without any additional protection. Even those who did receive troops did not feel safe.
"If there is an attack, what can five or six troops do? Nothing," said Niamatullah Khan, a fuel truck driver who was parked with 35 other vehicles at a restaurant about 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Chaman.
NATO ships nearly 50 percent of its non-lethal supplies to its troops in Afghanistan through Pakistan. The trucks are periodically targeted by suspected militants as they travel through the country, and their drivers are sometimes killed.
An official closely involved with the Afghan war said there will likely be no immediate negative effect from Pakistan's decision to close its border crossings. NATO has built up a large stockpile of military and other supplies that could enable operations to continue at their current level for several months, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
NATO has reduced the amount of non-lethal supplies it ships through Pakistan from a high of around 80 percent by using routes through Central Asia. The northern logistics link could be expanded to make up for the Pakistani closure, but it would leave NATO heavily dependent on Russia at a time when ties with Moscow are increasingly strained.
Some critical supplies, including ammunition, are airlifted directly to Afghan air bases.
Pakistan eventually relented and reopened Torkham last year after the U.S. apologized. But the number of alleged casualties is much higher this time and the relationship between the two countries is much worse.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday that the alleged NATO attack negated all progress in improving the damaged alliance between the two countries.
She told Clinton in a phone call that the alleged NATO attack was unacceptable, showed complete disregard for human life and sparked rage within Pakistan, according to a press release issued by the Pakistani foreign minister's office.
Islamabad also protested to the Afghan government, saying it should prevent NATO from using its territory to attack Pakistan, according to another statement from the Pakistani foreign minister's office.
An Afghan official denounced the protest as "baseless," saying NATO operates in Afghanistan under a U.N. mandate that is approved by Pakistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
In addition to closing its border crossings, Pakistan gave the U.S. 15 days to vacate Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. The U.S. uses the base to service drones targeting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal region when they cannot return to their bases inside Afghanistan because of weather conditions or mechanical difficulty, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
U.S. officials have expressed their sympathies over the incident and have promised to work closely with Pakistan as NATO carries out its investigation.
NATO's top official, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, offered his "deepest condolences" and said the coalition was committed to working with Pakistan to "avoid such tragedies in the future."
"We have a joint interest in the fight against cross-border terrorism and in ensuring that Afghanistan does not once again become a safe haven for terrorists," Rasmussen said in Brussels.
___
Faiez reported from Kabul. Associated Press writers Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad, Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman, Deb Riechmann in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
KHARTOUM (Reuters) ? Sudanese weapons and ammunition sent through Egypt helped Libya's former rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi and take control of the North African country, the head of Libya's interim ruling council said on Friday.
Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Gaddafi's rule because of the slain leader's support for rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which seceded in July under a 2005 peace deal.
Sudanese officials now hope for better ties with Libya, which shares a desert border with Sudan. Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council, arrived in Khartoum on Friday on his first official visit.
"If not for Sudanese military assistance, it would not have been possible to liberate Kufra," he said at a conference of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party, referring to a town in Libya's remote southeastern desert.
"The weapons and ammunition which Sudan donated even reached the Western Mountains, by way of our sister Egypt," he said.
Sudan's military is fighting armed insurgencies in two states near its border with South Sudan and in Darfur, where rebels took up arms in 2003.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of orchestrating genocide in Darfur, accusations Khartoum denies.
Gaddafi's fall helped Sudan's government by depriving Darfur rebels of a safe haven. The region's most powerful rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, said in September its leader had returned after taking refuge in Tripoli.
"The Libyan people have given the Sudanese people the greatest gift, and that is the liberation of Libya from Gaddafi and his regime," Bashir told the conference.
"Sudan has experienced no harm, even from the colonial nations, like the injury caused by Gaddafi and his group."
Some 300,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur, according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Tim Pearce)
Privacy advocates are raising concerns over a new technology being implemented by a couple of malls that will allow them to track the movements of their guests using the unique ID numbers of their cellphones. More »
PREMIUM CONTENT--HIGHER RATES APPLY FOR NON-PHOTOSTREAM MEMBERS - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., waves to airmen while serving a Thanksgiving meal at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
PREMIUM CONTENT--HIGHER RATES APPLY FOR NON-PHOTOSTREAM MEMBERS - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., waves to airmen while serving a Thanksgiving meal at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
PREMIUM CONTENT--HIGHER RATES APPLY FOR NON-PHOTOSTREAM MEMBERS - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, serve a Thanksgiving meal to troops at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
PREMIUM CONTENT--HIGHER RATES APPLY FOR NON-PHOTOSTREAM MEMBERS - From left; U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jon Norman, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, serve a Thanksgiving meal to troops at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
PREMIUM CONTENT--HIGHER RATES APPLY FOR NON-PHOTOSTREAM MEMBERS - U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, meet both active and retired airmen after serving a Thanksgiving meal to troops at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
PREMIUM CONTENT--HIGHER RATES APPLY FOR NON-PHOTOSTREAM MEMBERS - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, meet both active and retired airmen after serving a Thanksgiving meal to troops at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ? U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords helped serve a Thanksgiving meal to service members and retirees at a military base in her hometown.
Giffords arrived in the dining hall at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson at midday Thursday wearing a ball cap and an apron with her nickname of "Gabby" sewn on the front. She was accompanied by her retired astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, who also donned an apron.
Giffords used only her left hand as she served, a sign that physical damage remains from the injuries she suffered when she was shot in January.
Kelly supported her from her left side as she worked the turkey station on the serving line. He served ham.
The event marked the first time Giffords has met with her constituents since the shooting. After serving dinner, she mingled with service members, exchanging pleasantries and mostly one-word greetings and responses.
She did tell Airman 1st Class Millie Gray, of Kansas City, Mo., "Happy Thanksgiving, thank you for your service."
Gray said she had intended to only grab a plate and head back to her dorm to eat, until she heard that Giffords was going to be there.
"She's such an inspiration and her story is so inspirational, it really made me proud. I felt very proud and very humble," Gray said. "It just feels really good to see that she is out here supporting the troops, and just continuing to be an inspiration and a strong role model for Americans in general.
"She was very warm, asked how our meal was, which, of course, was amazing. The food is awesome," Gray said. "She and her husband were very, just delightful and asked a lot of questions. It was just very warm-hearted, and I told her she was an inspiration and she was very thankful for that."
Giffords and Kelly left after less than an hour.
Giffords has been undergoing intensive rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston as she recovers from a gunshot wound to the head. She was among 19 people shot Jan. 8 as she met with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket. Six people died.
The congresswoman arrived in Tucson on Tuesday evening from Houston for a private visit with her parents and other family members and friends.
"It's always special to have a member of Congress come and spend time with the troops and show support," said Brig. Gen Jon Norman, acting commander of the the 12th Air Forces, Southern. "But after everything that she's been through, it's a little bit more special."
Giffords' staff said base officials originally asked a member of the congresswoman's staff to take part in the annual Thanksgiving dinner. When the staff member told Giffords about the event, the congresswoman decided she wanted to go herself.
Giffords previously returned to Tucson for the Father's Day and Labor Day weekends.
From November 27 through December 25, Trinity Wall Street's 2011 Advent Calendar, Light Breaks, will use music, video, narration, and photography, to reveal moments of powerful new understanding, awareness and insight. Individual stories will explore public/private partnerships in educating young people; the art of radical hospitality; pastoral care; and the Church as it works with innovative and emerging social movements.
Conservatives say they want to "bring back" the old USA, the one that existed during those decades of the twentieth century they only seem to see through a gauzy golden haze. Whatever its problems, that country was a place where Republicans and Democrats agreed on two simple principles: That the most fortunate among us should pay their fair share, and that our government must invest in the nation and its future.
When Rick Perry says he wants to bring back "the America I where I grew up," he's talking about the era when Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican President, built the Federal highway system. One of the reasons Eisenhower was able to do that is that the top tax rate was much higher than it is today. While today's highest marginal today is 35% and capital gains are taxed at only 15%, the highest tax bracket was 91% the year Rick Perry was born.
Whenever I talk about tax brackets I'm attacked by right-wingers who say I don't understand, that high taxes discourage job creators. They'll say things like "You hippies just don't get it! If taxes are too high rich people will stop working and investing. The Job Creators will go away!"
Well, I do get it. When I was spent a student year in Great Britain the top marginal tax rate was 102%. Once a person reached a certain level of income, they had to pay more in taxes than they earned. And a few years before that, George Harrison made a compelling case against the 95% tax bracket on the Revolver album by singing "Taxman." (The line is "that's one for you, nineteen for me." I make that a 95% marginal tax rate, but you can check my math if you like.)
So I'll come right out and admit it: Taxes can be too high. But that doesn't answer the biggest question of all: What's the ideal top tax bracket? Where can we set the percentage so that it provides the most revenue for the Federal government without discouraging high earners from making more money?
Thanks to a new and very thoughtful paper by economists Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez, we have the answer: 76%. That's right. The most effective top tax bracket in this country, the one that will provide the most revenue for the Federal government, is 76%. Know what that means, ladies and gentleman of Washington DC ? That's the rate that will cut the deficit the fastest.
You see where I'm going with this, don't you? All those self-proclaimed "deficit hawks" in Washington have their answer: Double the top marginal tax rate to 70%. I say 70%, rather than 76%, to show that we're reasonable people. It's true that the six-point difference would save some billionaires tens of millions of dollars. Sure, that's a lot of deficit-cutting revenue to lose, but it's important to make them feel good about themselves. A 70% rate will show them that we care about them enough to lose all that money. That ought to bolster their confidence.
Democrats have been framing the tax debate around the issue of letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the highest earners. That would bring the top tax rate to 39.5% from its current 35%. But why think small? Why embrace the radical, reckless, and irresponsible fiscal behavior of the Reagan era? A 70% tax rate will take us back to the tax levels we had during this country's boom years.
Just to be clear, this tax rate wouldn't double taxes for the wealthy. It would only apply to income about the highest cutoff point. What should that cutoff point be? Again, we're willing to be reasonable, so let's make it $1,000,000. No, wait! My manager's in a good mood. Let's make it $2,000,000, with graduated increases that begin at the $400,000 level. It wouldn't even affect everybody in the 1%. Agree to these terms and you can drive your new, lower-deficit Federal government off the lot right now!
And no, I'm not kidding. They'll say it's politically impossible. Really? Dwight Eisenhower's economic platform is politically impossible? Then change the range of possibility. There was a time when 15% tax rates for hedge fund managers was politically impossible, too, but they got it done. We need a little more can-do spirit around this place, people!
Conservatives will say, What about jobs? Lower taxes create jobs! There's a simple answer to that one: Since the wealthy have had today's low tax rates for ten years, where are the jobs? That theory's been conclusively disproved. Higher rates don't discourage the real job creators, the people who really create and innovate and build. 70% was the top tax rate when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple and it didn't stop them.
These findings may feel intuitively "wrong" to conservatives (although they don't feel wrong to Paul Krugman or others in a position to know). But if conservatives want to challenge these conclusions, they better be prepared to tell us why they think this is wrong:
Kevin Drum quite reasonably allows that "(government) revenue maximization isn't our only social goal." He's right, of course. Job creation's another big one, but we've covered that. So is eliminating poverty, educating our children, ensuring a secure retirement, and making sure nobody dies from a lack of food, shelter, or medical care.
People have other goals for our society, too, of course. They range from inspiring ones like freedom, liberty, and self-reliance, to unspoken and less admirable ones like the right to crush your competitors by any means necessary, the right to deceive consumers out of their hard-earned savings, or the right to indulge in gross overconsumption and meaningless excess at others' expense.
I'm inspired by freedom, liberty, and self-reliance too. But I think the young Jobs and Wozniak were free and self-reliant under a 70% tax rate. I don't think Dwight D. Eisenhower was a socialist oppressor of the masses. And while I'm open to an argument that says doubling the top tax rate offends core American values, I can't think of one. Eisenhower seemed pretty American to me.
So the ball's in your court, conservatives. Make your case. But until then let the new rallying cry be, Double the top tax rate! It's time for those who have benefited from our system to pull their own weight again. Or as politicians used to say but don't seem to anymore, "From whom much is given, much is expected."
They'll say I hate the rich, but I don't. I used to work with them. I admire the ones who ignore their own self interest and work for the betterment of all. Are the Rick Perrys of this country suggesting that today's rich people aren't as patriotic as they were in the fifties? You're not going to bring back the America you loved as a child with that attitude, Mister!
I don't hate the other ones either, the greed junkies or the scam artists. I care about them. I want them to live in a stable, just, and vital society with a strong and growing economy. I want them to be able to deliver products to their customers using safe and efficient highways, railroads, and bridges. I want them to have a healthy, well-paid, and well-educated workforce, now and in the generations to come.
Most of all, I care about their consciences.
Everybody in the nation's capital wants to reduce the deficit, so we know they'll be thrilled with this solution. It's like they're always saying: Why, government has to act more like a family does! When Mom and Dad sit at the kitchen table paying their bills, they have to face facts. There comes a time when they've got to look up from the papers scattered all around them and say "Honey, we need more income." Earning as much as you can is the responsible way to behave.
Raise the top rate to 70%? That's just doing what any smart family would do.
Good news, Washington! Fiscal sanity is on its way. The solution to your deficit problem is here, and so is your new slogan: 70% or bust.
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Follow Richard (RJ) Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow
The 10-year-old joint venture between Sony (NYSE: SNE - News) and Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC - News) is up for renewal. It was this collaboration that gave the world the Walkman music phones and Cyber-shot camera phones, and marked a net profit of approximately $124 million last year.
At this point, while Sony is keen on exploring the smartphone segment, Ericsson plans to concentrate on its wireless transmission devices. Sony plans to make the best of its partnership with Ericsson by buying out its stake. Valued at around $1.9 billion, this buyout, if successful, could spell good news for all.
What's in store for Sony? As Sony gets ready to seal the deal with Ericsson, I feel this buyout will rope in profitable opportunities for the company. As of the second quarter of 2011, Sony Ericsson ranked 10th in the world as a handset manufacturer. This suggests that the company has immense potential in the handset manufacturing segment.
If and when Sony successfully takes over Sony Ericsson, it will form a strong patent portfolio, which will enable it to compete with its main competitors singlehandedly.
Sony Ericsson has an impressive 4,000 telecom patents in all. Additionally, Sony and Ericsson both belonged to a cluster of companies that included big players like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - News) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - News), which owned a patent portfolio worth a whopping $4.5 billion. Other companies have used the acquisition strategy to strengthen their competitiveness, too. For instance, when Google (Nasdaq: GOOG - News) took over Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI - News) for $12.5 billion, it scaled up its patent portfolio. Hence, if the joint venture is converted into an acquisition, I see more good news for Sony in terms of its mobile-technology patent portfolio.
Getting smart According to Sony Ericsson President and Chief Executive Officer Bert Nordberg, Sony is working on improving and strengthening its smartphone business. This situation calls for the company to cope with the dynamic market of smartphones. It intends to further develop its high-end smartphone segment where Sony's products, games, and network services need to match up to other industry giants' product packages. It is also planning on integrating its smartphone operations with its other offerings like tablet computers and hand-held game consoles.
These steps will help in cost reduction and improve synchronization of the mobile device development. Being a new player in the handset manufacturing segment, Sony will also need to buckle down to face strong competitors like Nokia (NYSE: NOK - News), Samsung, and Apple. This will help the company grab a larger market share of users who are looking for the latest technology in their phones, which in turn, is likely to boost its shares.
To sustain the fierce competition in the smartphone segment, the company is working on the bottlenecks that are holding it back. For instance, after the earthquake in Japan, the company had to face many logistics and supply chain issues. Also, in the second quarter of 2011, it managed a shipment of only 7.6 million handsets, whereas a shipment of 9.1 million handsets was expected by the analysts. These steps indicate Sony's strong intention of building strategies to boost its smartphone portfolio.
Foolish conclusion If Sony succeeds in a complete takeover of Ericsson's operations, it will certainly boost its overall product portfolio. Its extensive product line, which includes advanced mobile content, gaming devices, consumer electronics, and tablets, will be enhanced, too. Also, it will receive the much-needed push in its smartphones' portfolio. These factors have me convinced that my money would be safe and grow steadily, if invested in Sony's shares.
Vibhuti Shah does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft, Google, and Apple.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended creating a bull call spread position in Apple.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended creating a bull call spread position in Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Last week, reports surfaced that Woody Harrelson did not like the film that's earning him Best Actor buzz, "Rampart." The film, a re-teaming for him and his "Messenger" director Oren Moverman, follows one of the dirtiest cops the LAPD has ever seen and was one that Harrelson felt incredibly passionate about while working on it.
>>kristen welker, thank you for that.
john harwood
, chief
nbc washington
correspondent. let's pick up on that
michele bachmann
story that kristen ended with. we heard about the apology from fallon and nbc. bachmann suggests there would have been a swifter response, say if this had been the first lady instead. are implications more personal than political?
>>probably would have been a swifter response if it was the first lady. she's more high profile. ultimately, though, we got to the place that we ought to get to.
everybody knows
that
jimmy fallon
is a funny guy. the show is edgy. if you are going to have a
presidential candidate
as a guest in your house and you need to treatxd them with respect. the way she was introduced was o outrageo outrageous.
>>newt gingrich
, in iowa, among
republican caucus
goers in first place. 27%,
romney
at 20%. how significant is this? does he has the organization in iowa to leverage that?
>>very significant, and,?? no, he doesn't have the organization. the question is, can he in the six weeks remaining before the caucuses develop one?
newt gingrich
is the most interesting of the candidates who have risen and falling because he has such a long track record with conservatives that will help him withstand some of the heat over immigration comments at the debate. but
newt gingrich
has been running a solo campaign really with no infrastructure at all. and can you in a sort of
flash fire
situation develop one very quickly? we're going find out. the advantage is that the rest of the field is fairly weak.
mitt romney
has been a consistent presence, but he's not been able to break out. although everybody considers him easily the front-runner in the race when you look at it in totality.
newt gingrich
has a challenge ahead of him.
>>you mentioned challenges about immigration during the debate. open to the possibility of
illegal immigrants
becoming legal residents looking for legality in his words. does that come back to haunt him? do you think he actually really believes it or pandering to voter who's might be with him in the
general election
?
>>i think he believes it. he's got a long track record of articulating similar positions and the question that kicked off those comments from
wolf blitzer
was about his vote in favor of a bill that accomplished a similar goal during the
ronald reagan administration
.
newt gingrich
will lose some support over this, but he's better positioned than
rick perry
was to withstand the heat from conservatives. he has a record of having led the
republican party
back to control of congress. and a reputation among conservatives that i think will help him. the other thing that helps him in an underlying sense, carl, is that even people who take a hard line on immigration understand that we're not going to kick 12 million people out of the country. it's why you haven't heard a plan from
mitt romney
about how he's going to execute that. everybody is a little bit vague on what you actually do with those people.
newt gingrich
, a little more specific. and he'll try to defend that position.
>>you mentioned milt rom
mitt romney
, he criticized it as an magnet for illegal behavior. he made an appearance in
2007
when he appeared to have a different view. let's take a listen.
>>my own view is that those people who come here illegally and that are in this country, the 12 million or so here illegally, should be able to sign up for permanent residency or citizenship.
>>how much of a reversal is that?
>>mitt romney
has a problem on this issue and many other issues. he appears to be on all sides of some of these very controversial and core issues, depending on what point he was in the political process.
newt gingrich
has responded to criticism from
romney
, by saying he's been on both sides, because of
romney
's reputation for having taken multiple positions, that will be an effective counter for him.
romney
's position is clearly the most popular one in the party at this moment.
STEEP DROP: U.S. stock indexes dropped more than 2 percent Wednesday on signs that the European debt crisis is spreading and China's factories are slowing down.
CRISIS SPREADS: Germany received too few bids to sell all the 10-year debt it offered at an auction. The weak demand suggests that Europe's debt woes are spreading to the region's strongest economy. Germany's economic strength is crucial to efforts aimed at stemming the crisis.
THE S&P 500: The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 26 points, or 2.2 percent, to 1,162. The biggest losers were energy companies, materials makers and banks. The index had its sixth straight decline, the longest losing streak since August.
SYDNEY -- Mamma mia! That's a lot of dough, even for an upscale pizzeria.
Police are looking for the owner of a suitcase "full of money" that was left at the Italian restaurant in Sydney by a mystery customer.
Ten Network television reported the suitcase left at Cafe Marco Tuesday morning contained about 1 million Australian dollars ($1 million) in 50 dollar notes.
But police will only describe the suitcase contents as "a significant amount of cash."
Detective Inspector Ian Pryde told reporters a man around 30 years old wearing surfing shorts and a singlet carried the suitcase into the cafe. He then "seemed to get spooked" and left without the money.
A cafe staff member contacted by telephone told The Associated Press she was too busy with customers to comment.
It hasn't been the best year for HP, what with the demise of webOS and the uncertainty surrounding its status as a PC maker. But, Meg Whitman hasn't taken the bridge of a sunken ship, though things are far from peachy keen. HP just posted its Q4 2011 earnings, and the company cleared a healthy $9.7 billion operating profit in 2011, though that's down 10 percent from last year. Total revenue for the quarter was 32.1 billion, a three percent decline from 2010. And, for those wondering just how much the death of webOS cost the company? Turns out that dalliance took a $3.3 billion chunk out of HP's bottom line. So, the news isn't the best for you HP fans, but we'll be listening in on the earnings call later today, so stay tuned for more details. Impatient folks can find plenty more financial figures in the Source link and PR that follow.
The Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength is a grass roots group of over 250 wealthy Americans who are lobbying Congress for higher taxes on the rich. They are some of the 1% standing with the 99%. Jeffrey Gural, Patriotic Millionaire and Nemark K...
It seemed, for a time, that the book on mobile Flash as we knew it was closed. Adobe announced just a few weeks ago that development for mobile Flash would cease, and their efforts and resources would soon be focused elsewhere. As it turns out, Adobe has one last project up their sleeves before they bid mobile Flash adieu: an update that includes support for Ice Cream Sandwich.
Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby participates in hockey practice with teamates on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 in Pittsburgh. Crosby has not been restricted in drills at practices for weeks and reports are predicting he will return to playing in games soon. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby participates in hockey practice with teamates on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 in Pittsburgh. Crosby has not been restricted in drills at practices for weeks and reports are predicting he will return to playing in games soon. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby pauses between drills as he participates in practice with teammates on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 in Pittsburgh. Coach Dan Bylsma said Thursday afternoon Crosby will not play Friday or Saturday and that his status remains uncertain. Crosby hasn't played since being diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms in early January. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby skates past a play board as he participates in practice with teammates on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 in Pittsburgh. Coach Dan Bylsma said Thursday afternoon Crosby will not play Friday or Saturday and that his status remains uncertain. Crosby hasn't played since being diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms in early January. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
PITTSBURGH (AP) ? Sid the Kid is back.
Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby will make his season debut on Monday against the New York Islanders, his first game in nearly a year since being sidelined with concussion-like symptoms.
Crosby hasn't played since taking head shots in consecutive games in January against Washington and Tampa Bay.
The 2007 NHL MVP spent the last 10 months undergoing a painstakingly thorough rehabilitation that left him wondering when ? or even if ? he'd play again and forced the league to take a harsher stance when it comes to policing head hits.
His return ends weeks of speculation that appeared to put the ever-polite Crosby on edge but hardly bothered his teammates. The 24-year-old declined repeated interview requests in recent weeks as the speculation about a possible return date reached a fever pitch.
Crosby missed the remainder of the 2010-11 season after taking a hit from Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman on Jan. 5. The expected brief absence turned into an extended one that rendered him a spectator for Pittsburgh's loss to the Lightning in the opening round of the playoffs.
He vowed to be ready for training camp but spent much of the summer in seclusion in his native Canada, his silence fueling speculation his career may be in jeopardy.
Crosby came forward in September and ? flanked by the two doctors who have overseen his recovery ? said it was "likely" he would be back this season.
He began training camp wearing a white helmet to signify he wasn't to be hit, working feverishly for a month before switching to a black helmet after being cleared for contact on Oct. 13.
Coach Dan Bylsma preached caution, though his teammates did their best to accommodate their captain, jostling with him in practice when given the opportunity.
Crosby only missed one skate since camp began in September, skipping a practice in Los Angeles on Nov. 5 so he could travel back east to visit with his medical team.
His teammates stressed there was no need for Crosby to rush, and the Penguins have been one of the league's top teams through the season's first six weeks.
Pittsburgh entered Friday atop the Eastern Conference behind the crisp goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury and a dynamic offense led by Evgeni Malkin and James Neal.
Yet the Penguins understand they're not the same without Crosby.
"We know what he means to this team, this city," defenseman Kris Letang said. "He's a special player."
One that spent months dealing with "fogginess" that at times made it difficult for him to drive or watch television. He also endured painful migraines and likened the recovery process to a roller coaster.
The ride appears to be finally pulling into the station, sending Crosby out into the great unknown.
For all the steps he's taken during his recovery, the real test will come when he gets hit for the first time at full speed. Though the nature of the game may be changing thanks in part to Crosby's ordeal.
New discipline czar Brendan Shanahan, only three years removed from his playing days, has been suspending players for taking unnecessary head shots at opponents. It's a movement Crosby embraces.
"A guy's got to be responsible with his stick, why shouldn't he be responsible with the rest of his body when he's going to hit someone?" Crosby said. "Whether it's accidental or not accidental, you've got to be responsible out there."
He hasn't backed down during practice, often being one of the last to leave the ice before heading to the dressing room.
The Penguins have raved about Crosby's intensity during even the more informal skates. While he's looked perfectly fine to the naked eye, Crosby wouldn't allow himself to come back until he was at full strength.
"Maybe I can get by with 90 percent, maybe I couldn't but I'm not going to roll the dice with that," Crosby said in September.
When he finally glides onto the ice in his No. 87 jersey, Crosby will put to rest speculation his career was over. His teammates, who did their best to give Crosby distance over the summer, never doubted he would return.
"I figured he was getting enough of it from everywhere else," teammate Jordan Staal said. "All that matters to us really is that he's healthy. All that stuff you thought you heard, I didn't pay any attention to it."
How quickly it takes Crosby to get back to his pre-injury level is uncertain.
He was playing arguably the best hockey of his brilliant career before getting hurt, leading the league in goals and points as the Penguins steamrolled through the first three months of the season.
The team soldiered to a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference despite missing Crosby, Malkin and Staal. The magic disappeared in the playoffs as the Penguins lost in seven games.
Crosby's comeback pushes a team considered a Stanley Cup contender into a Stanley Cup favorite. Yet after months and months of rumors and worry, Crosby's return is cause enough for celebration.
"We know how badly he wants to play," teammate Matt Cooke said. "We want it too, because it means that he's healthy, and that's all you ever really want for him."
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Martin Kampmann's been around for a long time, so he wasn't going to fold when Rick Story pressed him early. The veteran let Story gas himself and took over in the second half of the fight to pick up a split decision victory, 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29 in fight No. 2 of the UFC 139 pay-per-view at the HP Pavilion.
Story looked dynamite early in the fight. His volume blew away Kampmann, who appear to be a little tight in the first three minutes. Kampmann, who suffered a small cut on his forehead during the early onslaught, clearly has a chin, because he absorbed some heavy shots. It may have discouraged Story to see Kampmann standing in front of him shaking his head to show the shots weren't hurting.
Kampmann (18-5, 9-4 UFC) further broke down Story's will with a very effective jab. By the end of the first round, which looked like it was going to be a cakewalk, Story had his own cut over his right eye.
Story's a good wrestler, but he was taken down in each of the final two rounds.
"I feel good. You know I'm really happy but at the same time I'm disappointed. I promised you guys I'd go in and get a finish. My arms felt so heavy out there, like I had lead in my hands.?I came out here way too relaxed tonight and needed a few punches to wake up.?It's a relief to come out and get a win," said Kampmann.
CAIRO ? Egypt's benchmark index plunged on Tuesday, with a temporary suspension of trading failing to cool a frenzy of selling by investors panicked by escalating violence and protests in the capital that have thrust the nation into its worst political crisis since former President Hosni Mubarak's ouster.
The EGX30 index closed 4.78 percent lower, or at 3,676 points, continuing its slide after trading was suspended for nearly an hour on the Egyptian Exchange after the broader EGX100 index fell by over 5.4 percent.
Underscoring market unease with the political situation, the country's five-year credit default swaps ? the cost of insuring Egypt's sovereign debt against default ? widened by 25 basis points to 563 basis points, according to Markit. Also, the Egyptian pound weakened against the U.S. dollar, briefly breaching the six pound to the dollar mark, according to currency Web site XE.com.
The slide in the market Tuesday was the third consecutive day of declines, and reflected the worries about the country's political future as thousands gathered in central Cairo protesting against the country's military rulers. The escalating tension came just days before the scheduled Nov. 28 parliamentary elections ? the first since Mubarak left office in mid-February.
Traders put the support point for the benchmark index at 3,800 points, but the market blew past that level with little difficulty early in the day, building on Monday's 4 percent slide and dragging its year-to-date decline down to more than 48 percent.
"We passed the support point, so the only thing that will stop further declines in the market is fixing the political situation in the country," said Khaled Naga, a senior broker with Mega Investments. "We have to wait and see what happens."
State television reported that the day's losses on the exchange amounted to 12 billion pounds ($2 billion).
The suspension of trade was a safety measure set up by market authorities in the weeks after the uprising against Mubarak. The measures were intended to guard against what many, at the time, feared would be the market's collapse after its reopening more than two months after the start of the Jan. 25 uprising.
The violence and continuing demonstrations prompted the civilian Cabinet to offer its resignation late Monday. But the move failed to appease the activists who see the civilian government as little more than subservient to the military rulers.
While far from presenting a united front, the activists massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square ? the epicenter of the uprising that toppled Mubarak ? are demanding that the military rulers either immediately hand over power to a civilian administration or set a fixed date for a transition to civilian rule.
Firmly entrenched in Tahrir Square, the activists issued a call for a million-man rally on Tuesday ? a move that had thousands streaming into downtown Cairo and raising the specter of further clashes and violence, even as officials called for restraint from all sides.
The threat of continued trouble only builds on already growing political uncertainty that has battered the country's economy and placed tremendous pressure on the country's currency.
The government has struggled to keep the pound from breaking the six pounds to the dollar level for months, with economists attributing at least a portion of the net international reserves that have been spent going to support the currency. Egypt's net international reserves fell from $36 billion in December to about $22 billion by the end of October, according to Central Bank of Egypt figures.
Naga said the stock market has lost about 180 billion pounds ($30.25 billion) since the start of the year ? with most of that linked to the unrest in the country versus the overall global financial concerns linked to the Eurozone debt crisis and broader fears of recession. He said Monday's losses were about 7 billion pounds.
The Tuesday losses marked the 10th consecutive trading session in which the market ? one of the worst performing emerging market indices in the world ? suffered a slide as a result of Egypt's tenuous political situation.
Rami Sidani, the Dubai-based head of Middle East and North Africa investments for British asset management firm Schroders, said there is a "very negative sentiment" over Egyptian stocks at the moment. The uncertainties surrounding the country's political future have triggered a panicked sell-off on the Egyptian exchange, he said.
"There is no discrimination between one company or another," said Sidani. "Investors are just selling across the board without taking into consideration the value of the underlying assets."
The declines came as several markets elsewhere in the region extended slumps of their own following Monday's rout on Wall Street.
The Dubai Financial Market dropped 0.3 percent to close at 1,351 points Tuesday, its lowest level in more than seven years. Saudi Arabia's main index was trading down 0.8 percent at 6,103 points by mid-afternoon.
___
AP Business Writer Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report.
Ulcer-causing bacteria tamed by defect in cell-targeting abilityPublic release date: 21-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tim Stephens stephens@ucsc.edu 831-459-2495 University of California - Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ, CA--Without the ability to swim to their targets in the stomach, ulcer-causing bacteria do not cause the inflammation of the stomach lining that leads to ulcers and stomach cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Online Early Edition, week of Nov. 21-25), provide new clues about how the bacteria, called Helicobacter pylori, trigger harmful inflammation in some people. About half of all people worldwide are infected with H. pylori, but in most cases the infection does not cause any problems. Severe inflammation leading to ulcers or cancer occurs in only about ten percent of infections.
"If we can understand the pathways that cause the infection to go to this bad state of chronic inflammation, we may eventually be able to design treatments that would limit it," said Karen Ottemann, a professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz and senior author of the PNAS paper.
Ottemann has been studying H. pylori chemotaxis, which is the bacteria's ability to respond to specific chemicals in its environment by swimming toward or away from them. Her lab has developed a strain of the bacteria that is missing a single gene essential for chemotaxis. These defective bacteria cause much less inflammation than normal strains, even though they seem to have little trouble establishing infections in the stomach.
In the new study, the researchers looked at how the immune system responds to infections with normal and mutant strains of the bacteria. Their findings highlight the role of a particular type of white blood cell known as T-helper cell type 17 (Th17). Th17 cells promote chronic inflammation, but the researchers found that these cells were missing in the immune response to infection with the mutant strain.
The connection between chemotaxis and the immune response involves several steps. Previous work by other researchers has shown that Th17 cells respond to the combination of bacterial infection and dying host cells. Ottemann's group found that the mutant strain of H. pylori causes much less cell death than normal strains. The researchers hypothesize that without chemotaxis, the mutant strains are not able to get close enough to the cells lining the stomach to deliver the bacterial toxins that induce cell death. The toxins trigger a process called apoptosis, a suicide program built into all cells and triggered by certain types of cell damage.
"The bacteria use chemotaxis to get close to the host stomach cells, and then they deliver packages of nasty molecules that kill host cells," Ottemann said. "Previously, people thought the bacteria have to bind to the stomach cells. But it turns out they just have to be close enough to hit the cells with the cell-killing molecules. We think one reason they have the ability to swim is to hover close to their target cells."
The missing gene in the mutant strain, called CheY, provides a link between the bacteria's chemical sensors and their swimming mechanism, a whip-like flagellum that propels the spiral-shaped bacteria. The mutant bacteria can still swim, but they move aimlessly. "They've lost the connection between the sensory input and the behavior, so they just swim blindly," Ottemann said.
H. pylori infections can be cured by taking antibiotics, but some studies have indicated that the infection may actually have some beneficial effects, at least for people who don't get ulcers or stomach cancer. For example, H. pylori infection seems to reduce the chances of getting esophageal cancer. Some doctors have argued that controlling the negative effects of the infection may be preferable to eliminating it with antibiotics.
"The idea is that our bodies have adapted to it, and in 90 percent of people the bacteria act like a normal part of the body's flora," Ottemann said. "So the best thing might be to keep H. pylori in the stomach, but tame it so it wouldn't cause inflammation. It's possible we could tame it by targeting chemotaxis."
###
Annah Rolig, a graduate student in molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, is the first author of the PNAS paper. Coauthor J. Elliot Carter is at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Ulcer-causing bacteria tamed by defect in cell-targeting abilityPublic release date: 21-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tim Stephens stephens@ucsc.edu 831-459-2495 University of California - Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ, CA--Without the ability to swim to their targets in the stomach, ulcer-causing bacteria do not cause the inflammation of the stomach lining that leads to ulcers and stomach cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Online Early Edition, week of Nov. 21-25), provide new clues about how the bacteria, called Helicobacter pylori, trigger harmful inflammation in some people. About half of all people worldwide are infected with H. pylori, but in most cases the infection does not cause any problems. Severe inflammation leading to ulcers or cancer occurs in only about ten percent of infections.
"If we can understand the pathways that cause the infection to go to this bad state of chronic inflammation, we may eventually be able to design treatments that would limit it," said Karen Ottemann, a professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz and senior author of the PNAS paper.
Ottemann has been studying H. pylori chemotaxis, which is the bacteria's ability to respond to specific chemicals in its environment by swimming toward or away from them. Her lab has developed a strain of the bacteria that is missing a single gene essential for chemotaxis. These defective bacteria cause much less inflammation than normal strains, even though they seem to have little trouble establishing infections in the stomach.
In the new study, the researchers looked at how the immune system responds to infections with normal and mutant strains of the bacteria. Their findings highlight the role of a particular type of white blood cell known as T-helper cell type 17 (Th17). Th17 cells promote chronic inflammation, but the researchers found that these cells were missing in the immune response to infection with the mutant strain.
The connection between chemotaxis and the immune response involves several steps. Previous work by other researchers has shown that Th17 cells respond to the combination of bacterial infection and dying host cells. Ottemann's group found that the mutant strain of H. pylori causes much less cell death than normal strains. The researchers hypothesize that without chemotaxis, the mutant strains are not able to get close enough to the cells lining the stomach to deliver the bacterial toxins that induce cell death. The toxins trigger a process called apoptosis, a suicide program built into all cells and triggered by certain types of cell damage.
"The bacteria use chemotaxis to get close to the host stomach cells, and then they deliver packages of nasty molecules that kill host cells," Ottemann said. "Previously, people thought the bacteria have to bind to the stomach cells. But it turns out they just have to be close enough to hit the cells with the cell-killing molecules. We think one reason they have the ability to swim is to hover close to their target cells."
The missing gene in the mutant strain, called CheY, provides a link between the bacteria's chemical sensors and their swimming mechanism, a whip-like flagellum that propels the spiral-shaped bacteria. The mutant bacteria can still swim, but they move aimlessly. "They've lost the connection between the sensory input and the behavior, so they just swim blindly," Ottemann said.
H. pylori infections can be cured by taking antibiotics, but some studies have indicated that the infection may actually have some beneficial effects, at least for people who don't get ulcers or stomach cancer. For example, H. pylori infection seems to reduce the chances of getting esophageal cancer. Some doctors have argued that controlling the negative effects of the infection may be preferable to eliminating it with antibiotics.
"The idea is that our bodies have adapted to it, and in 90 percent of people the bacteria act like a normal part of the body's flora," Ottemann said. "So the best thing might be to keep H. pylori in the stomach, but tame it so it wouldn't cause inflammation. It's possible we could tame it by targeting chemotaxis."
###
Annah Rolig, a graduate student in molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, is the first author of the PNAS paper. Coauthor J. Elliot Carter is at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
[ | 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.
It seemed, for a time, that the book on mobile Flash as we knew it
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