Back in December 2012, music streaming service Spotify provided an update on how it was going to double down on social recommendations to increase music listening on its platform by launching two new features, Follow and Discover. While the Follow feature, aimed at friends, started to get rolled out in March and April, it turns out that Spotify has also been rolling out the Discover feature, too.
In the few days that have passed since Apple?s latest quarterly results, people can?t seem to stop writing about the so-called stalled growth and ?margin collapse? that hit the company. Ok, the term ?collapse? is excessively stupid (you know who you are, stop it). Apple?s revenue is still growing, but profitability is down year over year. The profit decline is due to undeniably lower gross margin. But what does that mean?
If you look at a the last 5 quarters and put it in graph form, it looks ugly. It looks scary. It makes you wonder why anyone would own the stock. And looking at 5 quarters is a pretty typical thing to do on Wall Street. People think of this as a longer term view of things, as crazy as that sounds. Apple just reported Q2, so looking at 5 quarters means you see Q2 from last year on the left, and Q2 from this year on the right.
Newsflash: Looking at a year over year comparison in isolation doesn?t paint a very clear picture of what?s really happening. And because Wall Street suffers from attention deficit disorder, it needs to form rapid-fire decisions on things.
Most analysts do not publish long term performance charts in their reports. I don?t know why, but it?s true. Sure, they all have the data in their models. They probably all have long term charts built in Excel, but they don?t get published.
Well, I?m publishing the one I keep in my model.
This chart goes back to Q3 2007, which is the first quarter of iPhone shipments. I could have gone back further, but I don?t think it would be as relevant because the business truly has changed ever since iOS was built.
So in blue we have a line graph representing revenue. You can see that it took a while for the iPhone to make a massive impact on the overall revenue, but in 2010 things just started to rocket upwards.
Then in the last two years, you can see that the holiday quarter has stood out as massively important. There have been two such holiday quarters so far, and they define the new peaks for revenue. In other words, Apple revenue has become much more seasonal. This means the quarters in between the seasonal peaks are less important. They are not unimportant. They are just less important.
Think of it this way. When you watch a storm build in the ocean, you can see each wave becoming bigger, crashing harder onto the beach. It doesn?t make a lot of sense to evaluate each wave on it?s way down. It makes a lot more sense to think about how high each wave crest goes. And right now, Wall Street is looking at a falling wave. Revenue could easily rocket higher again. China Mobile deal? Potentially a less expensive iPhone? Continued growth of the iPad, where sales nearly doubled year-over-year?
Now let?s look at gross margin, because this is what really has Wall Street bothered. I showed margin on the green bar chart, because somehow it just seemed easier to look at in bar format.
Apple had gross margin above 40% for 8 quarters since the iPhone launch. And a full 6 of these quarters were consecutive, from the March 2011 through to June 2012 quarter. For rear-view-mirror observers, it?s horrible to see that the gross margin peak happened in March 2012, which is the year ago quarter relative to this week?s earnings report.
But Apple does not have a history of margins above 40%. The mid to high 30% range is much more common, and it seems the company is moving back into that zone. Yes, the iPhone has higher margin than the Mac or even iPad. And that?s great. But I think we all realize that Apple can?t continue to gain global market share with a product that is out of reach for most global consumers.
So Apple has done the smart thing. They?ve taken more aggressive action on the iPhone 4 in places like China. It?s quite obvious that this makes the year-over-year margin comparison look like a case of Apple failure. But if you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, the margin moves really don?t look that shocking. If anything, it?s shocking to see how bloody high they climbed in the first place. This seems more sustainable.
And what if Apple had been more aggressive on pricing in the first place? The margin never would have climbed so high, and last year?s Q2 quarter never would have been as insanely profitable as it was. And we?d be looking at the most recent Q2 result saying, ?Wow, Apple keeps growing. Amazing!?
The stock market is all about comparisons. And unfortunately, the comparisons are fairly short term in nature. But even the ?fast moving? (I use that term loosely) technology sector requires a longer time frame for analysis. Apple did not build its iOS empire in a year, or even two years. Android did not grow to dominate the scene in a couple of years either. BlackBerry did not collapse in a year (and it?s potential comeback will not take one year). Things still move a lot more slowly than we all seem to think.
Apple is growing quite nicely. And if gross margin normalizes here, which seems reasonable, then next year we?ll be looking at a growth stock again. Everyone will forget about the supposed gross margin ?collapse? that we apparently just witnessed.
Since I happen to have my DSLR camera beside me right now, this metaphor seems appropriate. You don?t need to constantly take pictures with your telephoto lens set to 300mm. Sometimes the wide angle shot is better, and provides more context.
"Reluctant Fundamentalist" US Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Actress Kate Hudson attends the 'Reluctant Fundamentalist' US Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Talks - "I Got Something To Tell You" Premiere And Panel - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Director Whoopi Goldberg speaks onstage at the Tribeca Talks - 'I Got Something To Tell You' Premiere And Panel during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
"Kiss The Water" Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Actor Jerry Seinfeld attends the 'Kiss The Water' Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
"Reluctant Fundamentalist" US Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Actor Dean Winters and guest attend the 'Reluctant Fundamentalist' US Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Will Forte
This April 19, 2013 photo shows actor Will Forte, right, with director Steph Green in New York. Forte, a cast member on "Saturday Night Live," stars in his first dramatic role in "Run and Jump," a film being shown at the TriBeca Film Festival. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP)
Jessica Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, right, and his wife Jessica Seinfeld, attend the "Kiss the Water" premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, April 22, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Jerry Seinfeld
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld attends the "Kiss the Water" premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, April 22, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Julie Delpy
Actress Julie Delpy attends the "Before Midnight" premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, April 22, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
Actress Julie Delpy, left, and actor Ethan Hawke, attend the "Before Midnight" premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, April 22, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts attends the premiere of "Adult World" during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday, April 18, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
"Teenage" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Jason Schwartzman attends the 'Teenage' world premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
"Teenage" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys attends the 'Teenage' world premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala: "Big Shot" - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 19: Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro (L) and filmmaker Kevin Connolly attend the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala: 'Big Shot' during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala: "Big Shot" - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 19: Filmmaker Kevin Connolly and Lydia Hearst-Shaw attend the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala: 'Big Shot' during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala: "Big Shot" - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 19: Filmmaker Kevin Connolly and Lydia Hearst-Shaw attend the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala: 'Big Shot' during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Felicity Huffman, Clark Gregg, Amanda Peet
Felicity Huffman, left, Clark Gregg and Amanda Peet attend the premiere of "Trust Me" during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell attends the premiere of "Trust Me" during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
"The Pretty One" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Actor Zoe Kazan attends the 'The Pretty One' World Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
"The Pretty One" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Julian Wass and Jenee LaMarque attend the 'The Pretty One' World Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Talks Director's Series: Mira Nair With Bryce Dallas Howard - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Actress Bryce Dallas Howard attends Tribeca Talks Director's Series: Mira Nair With Bryce Dallas Howard during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
HBO's "Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' To Tell You" Premiere At Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: (L-R) Robert De Niro, Whoopi Goldberg, Grace Hightower and Tom Leonardis attend HBO's 'Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' To Tell You' premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Donald Bowers/Getty Images for HBO)
HBO's "Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' To Tell You" Premiere At Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: (L-R) Tom Leonardis, Grace Hightower, Whoopi Goldberg and Robert De Niro attend HBO's 'Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' To Tell You' premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Donald Bowers/Getty Images for HBO)
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 After Party "Trust Me" Sponsored By Ciroc
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Director Clark Gregg attends the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 after party for 'Trust Me' sponsored by Ciroc on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for 2013 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Film Festival After Party 2013 "The Pretty One" Sponsored By BR Guest
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Dan Stevens attends the Tribeca Film Festival after party 2013 for 'The Pretty One' sponsored by BR Guest on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for 2013 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Film Festival After Party 2013 "The Pretty One" Sponsored By BR Guest
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Zoe Kazan attends the Tribeca Film Festival after party 2013 for 'The Pretty One' sponsored by BR Guest on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for 2013 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Film Festival After Party 2013 "The Pretty One" Sponsored By BR Guest
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 20: Actor Frankie Shaw attends the Tribeca Film Festival after party 2013 for 'The Pretty One' sponsored by BR Guest on April 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for 2013 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Portrait Studio - Day 3
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Actor Will Forte of the film Run and Jump poses at the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 portrait studio on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Portrait Studio - Day 3
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Actors Will Forte, Maxine Peake, and Edward MacLiam pose with Director Steph Green of the film Run and Jump at the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 portrait studio on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Portrait Studio - Day 3
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Michael Chen, Alex Wolff and Katie Chang, actors in the film A Birder's Guide To Everything pose at the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 portrait studio on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Portrait Studio - Day 3
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Director Rob Meyer and screenwriter Luke Matheny of the film A Birder's Guide To Everything pose at the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 portrait studio on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
"Some Velvet Morning" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Actress Alice Eve attends the 'Some Velvet Morning' World Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
"Some Velvet Morning" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Filmmaker Neil LaBute and actress Alice Eve attend the 'Some Velvet Morning' World Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
"Gasland Part II" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Director Josh Fox attends 'Gasland Part II' World Premiere at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
"Gasland Part II" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Yoko Ono (C) and Josh Fox (R) attend 'Gasland Part II' World Premiere at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
"The Director" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Actor/producer James Franco attends 'The Director' World Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
"The Director" World Premiere - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Director Christina Voros and producer/actor James Franco attend 'The Director' World Premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi attends the premiere of "Sunlight Jr." during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Naomi Watts, Matt Dillon
Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon attend the premiere of "Sunlight Jr." during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Jennifer Grey, Joel Grey
Jennifer Grey and Joel Grey attend the premiere of "Trust Me" during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Norman Reedus
Norman Reedus attends the premiere of "Sunlight Jr." during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro attend the premiere of "Mistaken For Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Richard Belzer
Richard Belzer attends the premiere of "Mistaken For Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Ari Graynor
Ari Graynor attends the premiere of "Mistaken for Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Matt Berninger, Tom Berninger, Carin Besser
Tom Berninger, from left, Carin Besser and Matt Berninger attend the premiere of "Mistaken for Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Josh Radnor
Josh Radnor attends the premiere of "Mistaken for Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Riley Keough
Riley Keough attends the premiere of "Mistaken For Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Josh Lucas, Jessica Henriquez
Josh Lucas, right, and Jessica Henriquez attend the premiere of "Mistaken For Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino attends the premiere of "Mistaken For Strangers" during the opening night of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday April 17, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night Co-Sponsored By American Express
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 17: Deborah Curtis, Vice President, Entertainment Marketing and Sponsorships, American Express, director Tom Berninger (C), Rich Lehrfeld (2nd R) and The National attend Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night co-sponsored by American Express on April 17, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for American Express)
2013 Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night After Party For "Mistaken For Strangers" Sponsored By American Express
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 17: Kenneth Lonergan and Jay Smith Cameron attend the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival opening night after party for 'Mistaken For Strangers' sponsored by American Express on April 17, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for 2013 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night Co-Sponsored By American Express
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 17: A general view of atmosphere at the Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night co-sponsored by American Express on April 17, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for American Express)
Everett Dutschke was arrested early Saturday morning; he has connections to a judge who was targeted as well as to a former suspect in the case.
By Holbrook Mohr,?The Associated Press / April 27, 2013
Everett Dutschke, pictured here on April 23, was arrested Saturday morning in connection with the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and other federal officials.
Thomas Wells/AP
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A Mississippi man whose home and business were searched as part of an investigation into poisoned letters sent to the president and others has been arrested in the case, according to the FBI.
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Everett Dutschke, 41, was arrested about 12:50 a.m. Saturday at his Tupelo home by FBI special agents in connection with the letters, FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden said. The letters, which allegedly contained ricin, were sent last week to President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and earlier to an 80-year-old Mississippi judge, Sadie Holland.
Madden said FBI special agents arrested Dutschke (pronounced DUHS'-kee) without incident. She said additional questions should be directed to the U.S. attorney's office. The office in Oxford did not immediately respond to messages Saturday.
Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, did not immediately respond to phone or text messages Saturday. Basham said earlier this week that Dutschke was "cooperating fully" with investigators. Dutschke has insisted he had nothing to do with the letters.
Ryan Taylor, a spokesman for Wicker, said Saturday that "because the investigation is still ongoing, we're not able to comment."
Charges in the case were initially filed against an Elvis impersonator but then dropped. Attention then turned to Dutschke, who has ties to the former suspect and the judge and senator. Earlier in the week, as investigators searched his primary residence in Tupelo, Dutschke had remarked to reporters, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Charges initially were filed last week against Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, the Elvis impersonator, but then dropped after authorities said they had discovered new information. Curtis' lawyers say he was framed.
Curtis' attorney, Christi McCoy, said Saturday: "We are relieved but also saddened. This crime is nothing short of diabolical. I have seen a lot of meanness in the past two decades, but this stops me in my tracks. "
Dutschke and Curtis were acquainted. Curtis said they had talked about possibly publishing a book on an alleged conspiracy to sell body parts on a black market. But he said they later had a feud.
Judge Holland is a common link between the two men who have been investigated, and both know Wicker.
Holland was the presiding judge in a case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney in 2004. Holland sentenced him to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.
Holland's family has had political skirmishes with Dutschke.
Her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative, said he thinks his mother's only other encounter with Dutschke was at a rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when Dutschke ran as a Republican against Steve Holland.
Holland said his mother confronted Dutschke after he made a derogatory speech about the Holland family. She demanded that he apologize, which Holland says he did.
Steve Holland said he doesn't know if his mother remembers Curtis' assault case.
Apr. 25, 2013 ? The Maya civilization is well-known for its elaborate temples, sophisticated writing system, and mathematical and astronomical developments, yet the civilization's origins remain something of a mystery.
A new University of Arizona study to be published in the journal Science challenges the two prevailing theories on how the ancient civilization began, suggesting its origins are more complex than previously thought.
Anthropologists typically fall into one of two competing camps with regard to the origins of Maya civilization. The first camp believes that it developed almost entirely on its own in the jungles of what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico. The second believes that the Maya civilization developed as the result of direct influences from the older Olmec civilization and its center of La Venta.
It's likely that neither of those theories tells the full story, according to findings by a team of archaeologists led by UA husband-and-wife anthropologists Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan.
"We really focused on the beginning of this civilization and how this remarkable civilization developed," said Inomata, UA professor of anthropology and the study's lead author.
In their excavations at Ceibal, an ancient Maya site in Guatemala, researchers found that Ceibal actually predates the growth of La Venta as a major center by as much as 200 years, suggesting that La Venta could not have been the prevailing influence over early Mayan development.
That does not make the Maya civilization older than the Olmec civilization -- since Olmec had another center prior to La Venta -- nor does it prove that the Maya civilization developed entirely independently, researchers say.
What it does indicate, they say, is that both Ceibal and La Venta probably participated in a broader cultural shift taking place in the period between 1,150-800 B.C.
"We're saying that the scenario of early Maya culture is really more complex than we thought," said UA anthropology graduate student Victor Castillo, who co-authored the paper with Inomata and Triadan.
"We have this idea of the origin of Maya civilization as an indigenous development, and we have this other idea that it was an external influence that triggered the social complexity of Maya civilization. We're now thinking it's not actually black and white," Castillo said.
There is no denying the striking similarities between Ceibal and La Venta, such as evidence of similar ritual practices and the presence of similar architecture -- namely the pyramids that would come to be the hallmark of Mesoamerican civilization but did not exist at the earlier Olmec center of San Lorenzo.
However, researchers don't think this is the case of simply one site mimicking the other. Rather, they suspect that both the Maya site of Ceibal and the Olmec site of La Venta were parts of a more geographically far-reaching cultural shift that occurred around 1,000 B.C., about the time when the Olmec center was transitioning from San Lorenzo to La Venta.
"Basically, there was a major social change happening from the southern Maya lowlands to possibly the coast of Chiapas and the southern Gulf Coast, and this site of Ceibal was a part of that broader social change," Inomata said. "The emergence of a new form of society -- with new architecture, with new rituals -- became really the important basis for all later Mesoamerican civilizations."
The Science paper, titled "Early Ceremonial Constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the Origins of Lowland Maya Civilization," is based on seven years of excavations at Ceibal.
Additional authors of the paper include Japanese researchers Kazuo Aoyama of the University of Ibaraki, Mito and Hitoshi Yonenobu of the Naruto University of Education, Tokushima.
"We were looking at the emergence of specific cultural traits that were shared by many of those Mesoamerican centers, particularly the form of rituals and the construction of the pyramids," Inomata said. "This gives us a new idea about the beginning of Maya civilization, and it also tells us about how common traits shared by many different Mesoamerican civilizations emerged during that time."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Arizona. The original article was written by Alexis Blue.
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Journal Reference:
T. Inomata, D. Triadan, K. Aoyama, V. Castillo, H. Yonenobu. Early Ceremonial Constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the Origins of Lowland Maya Civilization. Science, 2013; 340 (6131): 467 DOI: 10.1126/science.1234493
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
NEW DELHI (AP) ? Part of a hospital building collapsed in central India on Friday after its roof came crashing down, injuring at least eight people, an official said.
More than a dozen people were rescued after being trapped in the rubble of the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state, state minister Babu Lal Gaur said. None of the injuries were serious.
Police officer Upendra Jain said about two dozen people were believed to be on the first floor of the women's medical ward when its roof crashed down. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
The hospital is operated by state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Gaur said. Bhopal is about 750 kilometers (465 miles) south of New Delhi.
Building collapses are common in India as builders try to cut corners by using substandard materials, and as multistory structures are built with inadequate supervision. The massive demand for housing around cities and pervasive corruption often result in builders adding unauthorized floors or constructing illegal buildings.
Early this month, at least 72 people were killed when an eight-story residential building being constructed illegally near Mumbai, India's financial capital, came crashing down in the worst building collapse in the country in decades.
Another 70 people were injured when the building in the Mumbai suburb of Thane caved in on April 4.
AOL is pink-slipping editorial employees at its news sites and shutting down many but not all of the brands associated with the vertical. There has been no official statement from AOL master control, but the dismissed staff from generating enough buzz on Twitter to turn AOL Music into a trending topic. More »
The body of Maad Hammad is taken for burial in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Hammad was killed when Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters raided a Sunni protest camp before dawn Tuesday, April 23, 2013, prompting clashes that killed scores of people in the area and significantly intensified Sunni anger against the Shiite-led government. (AP Photo/ Emad Matti)
The body of Maad Hammad is taken for burial in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Hammad was killed when Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters raided a Sunni protest camp before dawn Tuesday, April 23, 2013, prompting clashes that killed scores of people in the area and significantly intensified Sunni anger against the Shiite-led government. (AP Photo/ Emad Matti)
Mourners chant slogans against Iraq's Shiite-led government as they take bodies of slain protesters for burial in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters raided a Sunni protest camp before dawn Tuesday, April 23, 2013, prompting clashes that killed scores of people in the area and significantly intensified Sunni anger against the Shiite-led government. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
Electoral workers count ballots at a counting center in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Iraqis have begun counting votes from the first provincial elections since the last U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)
BAGHDAD (AP) ? With Sunni gunmen beginning to confront the Shiite-led government's security forces head-on in northern and western Iraq, fears are growing fast of a return to full-scale sectarian fighting that could plunge the country into a broader battle merged with the Syrian civil war across the border.
With more than 100 people killed over the past two days, it's shaping up to be the most pivotal moment for Iraq since U.S. combat troops withdrew in December 2011.
"Everybody has the feeling that Iraq is becoming a new Syria," Talal Younis, the 55-year-old owner of a currency exchange in the northern city of Mosul, said Wednesday. "We are heading into the unknown. ... I think that civil war is making a comeback."
A crackdown by government forces at a protest site in the northern town of Hawija on Tuesday triggered the latest unrest. It has enraged much of the country's restive Sunni Arab minority, adding fuel to an already smoldering opposition movement and spawning a wave of bold follow-up clashes.
It is too soon to say whether the rage will lead to widespread insurrection in the largely Sunni cities of Mosul and Ramadi or, more significantly, spiral into open sectarian warfare in the streets of Baghdad.
The Iraqi capital is far more tightly controlled by security forces than the remote towns hit by the latest unrest, but insurgents continue to launch regular, well-coordinated waves of attacks inside Baghdad. Outright threats that all but disappeared as the last bout of sectarian fighting waned in 2008 are making a comeback too, like the leaflets signed by a Shiite militant group that began turning up on the doorsteps of Sunni households in Baghdad earlier this year.
The exact circumstances of the Hawija bloodshed remain murky, but there is outrage over the government's handling of the unrest and the fact that most of the 23 killed at the site were among the Sunni demonstrators.
Talal al-Zobaie, a Sunni lawmaker from the opposition Iraqiya bloc, described this week's events as a pivotal moment for the country.
"The crime in Hawija clearly shows that people have lost faith in their armed forces, which have been turned into a tool in the hands of the prime minister," he said. "Some people now think that the only way to protect themselves is to take up arms."
The raid in Hawija sparked clashes and a spate of other attacks, mostly targeting Sunni mosques, that killed at least 56 people on Tuesday. Raids by Sunni gunmen on army checkpoints broke out in the hours following the protest camp raid and continued into Wednesday.
In the most dramatic incident, armed tribesmen sealed off approaches to the Sunni town of Qara Tappah, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Baghdad. When Iraqi troops backed by helicopters arrived to try to clear the makeshift roadblocks, fierce clashes erupted. Police say 15 gunmen and seven soldiers were killed.
Sunni tribesmen also battled soldiers throughout Wednesday in the town of Suleiman Beg, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) north of Baghdad. Four soldiers and 12 others, including gunmen, were killed.
The sense that violence could be spreading from a local dispute to other parts of the country is particularly worrying to many Iraqis.
"This could open the door for broader clashes if things are not contained soon," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker. "Hawija is a small town and it can be controlled, but the real problem will arise if Mosul or Ramadi decide to enter the armed struggle," he said.
Three gunmen were killed Wednesday when they attacked a security checkpoint near the former al-Qaida stronghold of Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Later, a car bomb struck a police patrol north of Baghdad, killing a policeman and two civilians. Another car bomb exploded after sunset near a bus stop in Baghdad's mostly Shiite neighborhood of Husseiniyah, killing seven people and wounding 23.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to reporters.
Human Rights Watch urged Iraqi authorities to ensure that any investigation into the Hawija killings Tuesday take into account allegations that security forces used excessive force. The rights group noted that there have been reports that security forces attacked demonstrators without provocation.
Iraq's Defense Ministry said it entered the protest area to try to make arrests over an attack on a nearby checkpoint several days earlier, and its forces came under heavy fire from several types of weapons, as well as from snipers.
"This is one of those cases where ... a singular spark escalates tensions and mobilizes the population for renewed conflict," said Ramzy Mardini, an analyst at the Beirut-based Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies.
"War fatigue in Iraq is losing its pacifying effects and the rationale to pick up arms and fight again is finding fertile ground in Sunni land(s)."
The increasingly sectarian lines drawn in the Syrian civil war and the rise of Sunni Islamists in the region in the wake of the Arab Spring is also having an effect on the Sunni protest movement playing out in Iraq, he noted.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is fighting against largely Sunni rebels who draw support from Turkey and Sunni Gulf states. Assad's Alawite sect is a branch of Shiite Islam, and his regime is backed by Shiite powerhouse Iran.
"Given what's happening at the regional level, there's a dangerous mixture of Sunni hubris and Shiite fear. These emotions coupled with political volatility and uncertainty renders an environment where miscalculations are most likely to occur," Mardini said.
At the same time, recent local elections ? which have not yet been held in two largely Sunni provinces ? have put Iraqi politicians of all stripes in campaign mode, and playing up their sectarian credentials is a way to rouse voters.
"You're not going to find Sunnis urging for calm," Mardini said. "Most ... are still in the mode of rabble-rousing and throwing the reddest of meats to a discontent and frustrated electorate."
Tuesday's bloodshed followed four months of largely peaceful protests staged by Iraq's Sunni minority against the government.
Many Sunnis are angered over what they see as an effort by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to sideline members of their sect within the power-sharing government. They say they face discrimination, particularly in the application of a tough anti-terrorism law that they believe unfairly targets them. The government frequently carries out arrests in Sunni areas on charges of ties to al-Qaida or the deposed Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni.
Emma Sky, a key civilian policy advisor for U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno when he was the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said the events in Hawija exacerbate concerns that the conflicts in Syria and Iraq are merging.
"The fear is that the post-World War I settlement is unraveling," she said, referring to the agreement between Britain and France that divided up the heart of the Middle East and drew the modern borders of Syria and Iraq.
"The way to inoculate Iraq against all of this is national unity," she said. "If Iraq had wise politicians who actually came together for the good of the country, it could go in a different direction."
___
AP writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin contributed reporting.
___
Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck
The criminal complaint, attested to by FBI Special Agent Daniel R. Genck, is the first official on-the-record account by federal agents of key details in the Boston bombing investigation.
By Peter Grier,?Staff Writer / April 22, 2013
Investigators work near the location where the previous night a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was arrested, Saturday, in Watertown, Mass. Police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, in a backyard boat after a wild car chase and gun battle earlier in the day left his older brother dead.
Matt Rourke/AP
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Near midnight of April 18, 2013, a driver sat alone in his Mercedes SUV on a street in Cambridge, Mass. Hearing a tap, he rolled his window down. Suddenly a man reached in, opened the door, and jumped into the vehicle. He pointed a gun at the driver.
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?Did you hear about the Boston explosion?? the intruder said. ?I did that.?
The man removed the magazine from his weapon and showed the driver it contained live ammunition.
?I am serious,? he said.
With those chilling words, detailed in a just-released criminal complaint, the final act of the Tsarnaev brothers, suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, had begun.
The older of the two, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would soon be dead, killed either by police bullets, his own explosives, or injuries suffered when younger sibling Dzhokhar ran him down in a desperate bid to escape. Within 24 hours Dzhokhar would himself be in custody, caught wounded beneath a boat tarp after one of the most extensive urban manhunts in US history.
The criminal complaint, attested to by FBI Special Agent Daniel R. Genck, is the first official on-the-record account by federal agents of some of the details of those intervening hours. As such it clarifies and adds to press conference statements and journalistic reports.
The carjack ? How it happened
For instance, the account of the carjacking in Cambridge appears to add new information to what has become public so far. It alleges that the SUV was taken by only one of the brothers, though it does not say which one. After seizing control of the vehicle, the intruder forced the SUV?s owner to drive to another location, where they picked up a second man, according to the complaint.
The two men put something in the trunk. After that, the man with the gun drove, while the victim switched to the passenger seat, and the new addition sat in the back. The carjackers spoke to each other in a foreign language.
They demanded money, and the victim gave them $45 from his wallet. They forced him to provide his ATM card and password, and they drove to a gas station/convenience store at 816 Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
?The two men got out of the car, at which point the victim managed to escape,? says the complaint.
The document notes that FBI agent Glenck has viewed surveillance footage from the convenience store and identified both brothers from the footage. While the complaint does not say so, it is possible that this footage is the source of a surveillance photo from that evening of Dzhokhar wearing a hoodie that was widely published that day. It could also explain the confusion in initial reports that a convenience store hold-up was involved in the brothers? alleged overnight crime spree.
National security law and terrorism expert and blogger Marcy Wheeler noted Monday on her Twitter feed that the account of the carjacking was likely included in the criminal complaint to establish probable cause that the surviving brother was involved in the Boston bombing. That is why it was detailed, but the brothers? alleged shooting of an MIT police officer was not. Without independent testimony to establish otherwise, Dzhokhar could just blame that murder on his brother.
?The carjacking is important tying the manhunt to the bombing. Otherwise the evidence is weaker, IMO [in my opinion],? she tweeted.
Who dropped what, when
The criminal complaint also includes a chilling timeline of the brothers? alleged actions as they dropped off the bombs along Boylston Street. It follows them from 2:38 p.m. on Monday, April 15, as they turned left onto Boylston from cross street Gloucester, and proceeded through the crowd.
The timeline holds that Tamerlan dropped the first bomb. As this was occurring, Dzhokhar, ?Bomber Two? in the complaint, stops directly in front of the Forum Restaurant on Boylston, near the finish line.
?He appears to have the thumb of his right hand hooked under the strap of his knapsack and a cell phone in his left hand,? says the complaint.
At some point he looks at his phone. Thirty seconds prior to the first explosion, he lifts the phone to his ear as if speaking, holding it there for 18 seconds. Seconds after he finishes the call, the first bomb goes off, and the crowd?s heads swivel to the east to look. Alone among them, Bomber Two appears calm.
He glances to the east then begins moving calmly to the west. He is no longer carrying his backpack.
?Approximately 10 seconds later, an explosion occurs in the location where Bomber Two had placed his backpack,? reads the complaint.
At least one person was killed in each blast, the complaint notes. This detail is likely included to make sure Dzhokhar would be subject to state murder charges and federal terrorism charges, which carry the death penalty.
The complaint also makes clear that the Forum Restaurant surveillance camera was a hero in the operation. While previous reports have held the Lord & Taylor department store camera provided clear footage of some of the operation, it?s the Forum camera that gets referenced in the important federal criminal complaint.
What were they thinking?
The complaint also notes instances of very poor operational security on the part of the alleged terrorists. If they had any training from outside sources, it does not show in the amateurish way they tried, or did not try, to cover their tracks.
The document notes that federal authorities searched Dzhokhar?s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, on April 21. Among the items found were a ?pyrotechnic,? and a black jacket and white hat similar in appearance to clothing items worn by Bomber Two on April 15.
In other words, not only did the younger brother wear a distinctive white cap, turned backwards, as he allegedly dropped bombs on video, he did not get rid of the clothing he wore in the operation afterwards, and in fact kept it in his dorm room along with more explosives.
Though the complaint does not say this, that poor operational security seems to be the action of someone who does not think they will be discovered by law enforcement. The brothers? alleged hasty crime spree on the night of April 18, and the ?I did that? boast to the Mercedes owner, also depict suspects who are simultaneously scared and in over their heads.
Are the choices you're making each day leading you to where you want your life to go? That's the big question posed by this quote from author and real estate franchise founder Gary Keller.
This quote, "Life is a question, and your choices are your answer," comes from Keller's co-authored book, The One Thing, which is all about focusing on what matters most to you and what will make the biggest difference in your life.
As Vickie Elmer writes on her WorkingKind blog, the quote teaches us to ask ourselves how our lives can really change the world:
Choose the place where you will be extraordinary, where you will have thousands of believers and your bosses will find others to handle the less important tasks on your plate because they?re so impressed with your ?One Thing.'
Vickie's blog post is chock full of other great quotes from Keller, including: "The smaller I make my life, the bigger it gets."
If you find life pulling you in all sorts of directions, now's the time to take stock and create more focused answers.
Choose to be brilliant at 'One Thing;' powerful lessons from Gary Keller | WorkingKind
Steve Jobs was legendary for being a very difficult person to work with.
He was demanding, exacting, and at times irrational. It was part of his charm, we suppose, because most people who worked for him were loyal and loved him.
There are, of course, exceptions. Erin Caton, who worked on MobileMe, is one of those exceptions, it seems.
At Medium, she wrote a post warning startup CEOs to avoid being like Steve Jobs, who she thinks was "a bit of a dick."
When she first started at Apple, he cut her in line to buy some sushi at Apple's cafeteria. That was strike one.
Strike two came when he shredded her and the rest of the MobileMe team for an epically crappy product launch.
MobileMe was a web-based email service that cost $100 a year. It was a dud. It didn't work, emails were lost.
Jobs' reaction to MobileMe is legendary thanks to Adam Lashinsky's reporting. Jobs gathered the MobileMe team in Apple's auditorium, and according to Lashinsky, said, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation ... You should hate each other for having let each other down."
He then replaced the leader of MobileMe on the spot. The clear implication: Do your job, do it well, or you will be fired.
The story has become of those defining Jobs stories that shows he's a no-nonsense leader who demanded results.
Caton has a different take on the events.
She writes, "It was his fault that the MobileMe launch went so poorly, not ours."
She says, "we had been telling our bosses that we did not feel confident about our launch date for a long time. We gave any number of suggestions of what we could do to launch that wouldn?t be such a giant production, but would totally have worked. Somewhere up the chain of command, it was decided it was not the Apple-way to launch something without a million fireworks."
The launch was a failure. The team stayed up all night fixing the bugs. Then when they were done, they marched into the auditorium where Jobs chewed them out.
"He stood in front of us and yelled at us, told us that we should be mad at each other, said we could have done a staggered launch and complained that we didn?t even try to do all the things that we (those on the ground floor of production that actually make the f***king products of the world) had been begging to do," she says. "It was the world?s best de-motivational speech."
Because he didn't listen to the MobileMe team who warned of doom, she says it was all his fault.
The moral of the story, from her perspective: "The best thing you can do for your product is to have your staff tell you the truth, and listen to it."
Ludwig researchers Arshad Desai and Christopher Campbell, a post-doctoral fellow in his laboratory, were conducting an experiment to parse the molecular details of cell division about three years ago, when they engineered a mutant yeast cell as a control that, in theory, had no chance of surviving. Apparently unaware of this, the mutant thrived.
Intrigued, Campbell and Desai began exploring how it had defied its predicted fate. As detailed in the current issue of Nature, what they discovered has overturned the prevailing model of how dividing cells ensure that each of their daughter cells emerge with equal numbers of chromosomes, which together package the genome. "Getting the right number of chromosomes into each cell is absolutely essential to sustaining life," explains Desai, PhD, a Ludwig member at the University of California, San Diego, "but it is also something that goes terribly wrong in cancer. The kinds of mistakes that occur when this process isn't functioning properly are seen in about 90% of cancers, and very frequently in advanced and drug-resistant tumors."
Campbell and Desai's study focused in particular on four interacting proteins known as the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) that monitor the appropriate parceling out of chromosomes. When cells initiate division, each chromosome is made of two connected, identical sister chromatids?roughly resembling a pair of baguettes joined in the middle. As the process of cell division advances, long protein ropes known as microtubules that extend from opposite ends of the cell hook up to the chromosomes to yank each of the sister chromatids in opposite directions. The microtubules attach to the chromatids via an intricate disc-like structure called the kinetochore. When the protein ropes attach correctly to the sister chromatids, pulling at each from opposing sides, they generate tension on the chromosome. One of the four proteins of the CPC, Aurora B kinase, is an enzyme that monitors that tension. Aurora B is expressed at high levels in many cancers and has long been a target for the development of cancer therapies.
Aurora B is essentially a molecular detector. "If the chromosomes are not under tension," says Desai, "Aurora B forces the rope to release the kinetochore and try attaching over and over again, until they achieve that correct, tense attachment."
The question is how? Aurora B is ordinarily found between the two kinetochores in a region of the chromosome that links the sister chromatids, known as the centromere. The prevailing model held that the microtubule ropes would pull themselves, and the kinetochores, away from Aurora B's reach, so that it cannot force the microtubule ropes to detach from their captive chromosomes. In other words, the location of Aurora B between the two kinetochore discs was thought to be central to its role as a monitor of the requisite tension. "This matter was thought settled," says Desai.
Yet, as Campbell and Desai show through their experiments, yeast cells engineered to carry a mutant CPC that can't be targeted to the centromere survive quite vigorously. They demonstrate that in such cells Aurora B instead congregates on the microtubule ropes. There, it somehow still ensures that the required tension is achieved on chromosomes before they are parceled out to daughter cells.
How precisely it does this remains unclear. Campbell and Desai provide evidence that the clustering of Aurora B on microtubules might be sufficient to activate its function. At the same time, they hypothesize, appropriate tension on the chromosome may induce structural changes in Aurora B's targets that make them resistant to its enzymatic activity. Campbell and Desai are now conducting experiments to test these ideas.
###
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research: http://www.licr.org
Thanks to Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research for this article.
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Method makes it easier to separate useful stem cells from 'problem' ones for therapiesPublic release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shaun Mason smason@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles
UCLA study IDs small molecule that destroys potentially dangerous cells
Pluripotent stem cells can turn, or differentiate, into any cell type in the body, such as nerve, muscle or bone, but inevitably some of these stem cells fail to differentiate and end up mixed in with their newly differentiated daughter cells.
Because these remaining pluripotent stem cells can subsequently develop into unintended cell types bone cells among blood, for instance or form tumors known as teratomas, identifying and separating them from their differentiated progeny is of utmost importance in keeping stem cellbased therapeutics safe.
Now, UCLA scientists have discovered a new agent that may be useful in strategies to remove these cells. Their research was published online April 15 in the journal Developmental Cell and will appear in an upcoming print edition of the journal.
The study was led by Carla Koehler, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA, and Dr. Michael Teitell, a UCLA professor of pathology and pediatrics. Both are members of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
In work using the single-celled microorganism known as baker's yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model system, Koehler, Teitell and their colleagues had discovered a molecule called MitoBloCK-6, which inhibits the assembly of cells' mitochondria the energy-producing "power plants" that drive most cell functions. The research team then tested the molecule in a more complex model organism, the zebrafish, and demonstrated that MitoBloCK-6 blocked cardiac development.
However, when the scientists introduced MitoBloCK-6 to differentiated cell lines, which are typically cultured in the lab, they found that the molecule had no effect at all. UCLA postdoctoral fellow Deepa Dabir tested the compound on many differentiated lines, but the results were always the same: The cells remained healthy.
"I was puzzled by this result, because we thought this pathway was essential for all cells, regardless of differentiation state," Koehler said.
The team then decided to test MitoBloCK-6 on human pluripotent stem cells. Postdoctoral fellow Kiyoko Setoguchi showed that MitoBloCK-6 caused the pluripotent stem cells to die by triggering apoptosis, a process of programmed cell suicide.
Because the tissue-specific daughter cells became resistant to death shortly after their differentiation, the destruction of the pluripotent stem cells left a population of only the differentiated cells. Why this happens is still unclear, but the researchers said that this ability to separate the two cell populations could potentially reduce the risk of teratomas and other problems in regenerative medicine treatment strategies.
"We discovered that pluripotent stem cell mitochondria undergo a change during differentiation into tissue-specific daughter cells, which could be the key to the survival of the differentiated cells when the samples are exposed to MitoBloCK-6," Teitell said. "We are still investigating this process in mitochondria, but we now know that mitochondria have an important role in controlling pluripotent stem cell survival."
MitoBloCK-6 is what is known as a "small molecule," which can easily cross cell membranes to reach mitochondria. This quality makes MitoBloCK-6 or a derivative compound with similar properties ideal for potential use as a drug, because it can function in many cell types and species and can alter the function of mitochondria in the body for therapeutic effects.
"It is exciting that our research in the one-cell model baker's yeast yielded an agent for investigating and controlling mitochondrial function in human pluripotent stem cells," Koehler said. "This illustrates that mitochondrial function is highly conserved across organisms and confirms that focused studies in model systems provide insight into human stem-cell biology. When we started these experiments, we did not predict that we would be investigating and controlling mitochondrial function in pluripotent stem cells."
###
The research was supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, and the Development and Promotion of Science and Technology Talents Project of the Royal Thai Government.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research: UCLA's stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center. With more than 200 members, the Broad Stem Cell Research Center is committed to a multidisciplinary, integrated collaboration among scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The center supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed toward future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the UCLA College of Letters and Science.
UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has more than 240 researchers and clinicians engaged in disease research, prevention, detection, control, treatment and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the Jonsson center is dedicated to promoting research and translating basic science into leading-edge clinical studies. In July 2012, the Jonsson Cancer Center was once again named among the nation's top 10 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for 12 of the past 13 years.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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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.
Method makes it easier to separate useful stem cells from 'problem' ones for therapiesPublic release date: 22-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shaun Mason smason@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles
UCLA study IDs small molecule that destroys potentially dangerous cells
Pluripotent stem cells can turn, or differentiate, into any cell type in the body, such as nerve, muscle or bone, but inevitably some of these stem cells fail to differentiate and end up mixed in with their newly differentiated daughter cells.
Because these remaining pluripotent stem cells can subsequently develop into unintended cell types bone cells among blood, for instance or form tumors known as teratomas, identifying and separating them from their differentiated progeny is of utmost importance in keeping stem cellbased therapeutics safe.
Now, UCLA scientists have discovered a new agent that may be useful in strategies to remove these cells. Their research was published online April 15 in the journal Developmental Cell and will appear in an upcoming print edition of the journal.
The study was led by Carla Koehler, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA, and Dr. Michael Teitell, a UCLA professor of pathology and pediatrics. Both are members of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
In work using the single-celled microorganism known as baker's yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model system, Koehler, Teitell and their colleagues had discovered a molecule called MitoBloCK-6, which inhibits the assembly of cells' mitochondria the energy-producing "power plants" that drive most cell functions. The research team then tested the molecule in a more complex model organism, the zebrafish, and demonstrated that MitoBloCK-6 blocked cardiac development.
However, when the scientists introduced MitoBloCK-6 to differentiated cell lines, which are typically cultured in the lab, they found that the molecule had no effect at all. UCLA postdoctoral fellow Deepa Dabir tested the compound on many differentiated lines, but the results were always the same: The cells remained healthy.
"I was puzzled by this result, because we thought this pathway was essential for all cells, regardless of differentiation state," Koehler said.
The team then decided to test MitoBloCK-6 on human pluripotent stem cells. Postdoctoral fellow Kiyoko Setoguchi showed that MitoBloCK-6 caused the pluripotent stem cells to die by triggering apoptosis, a process of programmed cell suicide.
Because the tissue-specific daughter cells became resistant to death shortly after their differentiation, the destruction of the pluripotent stem cells left a population of only the differentiated cells. Why this happens is still unclear, but the researchers said that this ability to separate the two cell populations could potentially reduce the risk of teratomas and other problems in regenerative medicine treatment strategies.
"We discovered that pluripotent stem cell mitochondria undergo a change during differentiation into tissue-specific daughter cells, which could be the key to the survival of the differentiated cells when the samples are exposed to MitoBloCK-6," Teitell said. "We are still investigating this process in mitochondria, but we now know that mitochondria have an important role in controlling pluripotent stem cell survival."
MitoBloCK-6 is what is known as a "small molecule," which can easily cross cell membranes to reach mitochondria. This quality makes MitoBloCK-6 or a derivative compound with similar properties ideal for potential use as a drug, because it can function in many cell types and species and can alter the function of mitochondria in the body for therapeutic effects.
"It is exciting that our research in the one-cell model baker's yeast yielded an agent for investigating and controlling mitochondrial function in human pluripotent stem cells," Koehler said. "This illustrates that mitochondrial function is highly conserved across organisms and confirms that focused studies in model systems provide insight into human stem-cell biology. When we started these experiments, we did not predict that we would be investigating and controlling mitochondrial function in pluripotent stem cells."
###
The research was supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, and the Development and Promotion of Science and Technology Talents Project of the Royal Thai Government.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research: UCLA's stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center. With more than 200 members, the Broad Stem Cell Research Center is committed to a multidisciplinary, integrated collaboration among scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The center supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed toward future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the UCLA College of Letters and Science.
UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has more than 240 researchers and clinicians engaged in disease research, prevention, detection, control, treatment and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the Jonsson center is dedicated to promoting research and translating basic science into leading-edge clinical studies. In July 2012, the Jonsson Cancer Center was once again named among the nation's top 10 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for 12 of the past 13 years.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Back in December 2012, music streaming service Spotify provided an update on how it was going to double down on social recommendations to increase music listening on its platform by launching two new features, Follow and Discover. While the Follow feature, aimed at friends, started to get rolled out in March and April, it turns out that Spotify has also been rolling out the Discover feature, too.
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Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
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