Congress to honor Japanese-American soldiers (AP)

WASHINGTON ? In the days following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Lawson Sakai learned how much the world had changed for Japanese-Americans in 1941. Sakai and some of his buddies drove to the local Navy recruiting station and tried to enlist. While his white friends were quickly accepted, Sakai was told he was considered an "enemy alien" and could not join.

Sakai then watched as the FBI rounded up some of the leading Japanese-American men in Los Angeles. When the federal government authorized the relocation of people with Japanese ancestry, a sister and some of his friends were sent to internment camps.

"We were blackballed," Sakai said. "Basically, they took away our citizenship."

Sakai's story is similar to thousands of other "Nisei," or second-generation Japanese-Americans. Eventually, they ended up serving as part of three distinct military units during World War II.

Nearly 70 years later, lawmakers voted to award those veterans the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress. A ceremony marking the occasion will take place Wednesday at the Capitol.

In all, about 19,000 Japanese-Americans served in the three units being honored: the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service.

Sakai served in the 442nd, which consisted of volunteers, about two-thirds from Hawaii and the rest from the mainland. The 442nd experienced some of the most horrific fighting in Europe and became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service. In just 10 months of combat, more than 700 were killed or listed as missing in action.

Sakai, 88, was wounded on four different occasions and would receive a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He said the years following the war were difficult and that he often drank to deal with the brutality of the war. Now, he said, he's able to take pride in his peers' accomplishments and the subsequent congressional recognition.

"We certainly deserved the record that we produced. It was done by shedding a lot of blood. As far as I know, we didn't give up an inch of blood. We were always attacking and the Germans were always on the higher ground," he said.

The 442nd fought in eight major campaigns in Italy, France and Germany. One of the units attached to the 442nd was the 100th Infantry Battalion, which was comprised exclusively of Japanese-Americans from Hawaii who had been drafted prior to Pearl Harbor. After the attack, they guarded Hawaii from a possible land invasion. They subsequently underwent training on the mainland and hit the beaches of Salerno, Italy, in September 1943. They received the nickname the Purple Heart Battalion because of the tremendous number of casualties they endured.

Even as they fought in Europe, many Japanese-American troops had family members who would spend much of the war in U.S. internment camps. American officials, citing concerns that those of Japanese ancestry could be security risks during war with Japan, sent men, women and children to camps around the country.

While undergoing training, Susumu Ito would visit his parents and two sisters 200 miles away at the Rohwer Internment Camp in Arkansas. Despite the injustice of being forced to relocate from Stockton, Calif., Ito said, his parents took great pride in their son fighting for the U.S. military. However, he ignored his mother's request in her weekly letters to avoid hazardous duty. He said he wanted to be on the front lines, as did his peers. The motto of the 442nd was "go for broke."

Ito said that mentality reflected the mindset of Japanese-Americans in general.

"This spirit of overcoming any objection was ingrained in mind," Ito said.

About 6,000 Japanese-Americans served in the Military Intelligence Service, on the front lines and behind the scenes, translating cables and interviewing prisoners of war. Many also served during the postwar occupation of Japan, providing a bridge between Japanese and American officials.

President Harry Truman welcomed home many of the Japanese-American soldiers in 1946: "You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice, and you have won."

George Washington was the first recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, in 1776. In recent years, Congress has honored athletes, astronauts and civil rights trailblazers. They've also granted the award to the Tuskegee Airmen and to Native American code talkers who transmitted secret messages sent during World War II.

Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Adam Schiff, both Democratic lawmakers from California, were the original co-sponsors of the legislation honoring the Japanese-American soldiers. The legislation was signed into law last year, and Wednesday's event is the award ceremony.

Last week, the House approved legislation to honor the first black Marines and the Senate is expected to take up a similar bill.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111102/ap_on_go_co/us_japanese_american_soldiers

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Sabathia has new deal with Yankees

FILE - In this file photo taken Sept. 10, 2011, New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia throws against the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif. Sabathia is staying with the New York Yankees, agreeing to a new deal, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011, that adds $30 million to his existing contract. (AP Photo/Jae Hong, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken Sept. 10, 2011, New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia throws against the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif. Sabathia is staying with the New York Yankees, agreeing to a new deal, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011, that adds $30 million to his existing contract. (AP Photo/Jae Hong, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken Feb. 15, 2011, New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia speaks to the media at spring training baseball camp at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. Sabathia is staying with the New York Yankees, agreeing to a new deal, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011, that adds $30 million to his existing contract. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

(AP) ? For CC Sabathia, there's no better place to pitch than Yankee Stadium.

The big left-hander decided to stay with New York rather than test the free-agent market, agreeing Monday to a new deal that adds $30 million and one season to his existing contract, giving him a package that pays $122 million over the next five years.

"My son loves it here. All my kids love it here. My wife loves it here, obviously, and I do, too. I love pitching for the Yankee fans and everything, so it was the easy choice," Sabathia said during a conference call.

The 31-year-old had until midnight to opt out of his current agreement, which had $92 million remaining over the next four years in $23 million annual salaries.

New York added a $25 million salary for 2016 and gets a $25 million option for 2017 with a $5 million buyout.

"It was just more time. That's all it was. It was never a question about money or anything like that," Sabathia said. "I just want to end my career here. I want to make sure I end my career as a Yankee and, hopefully, I've done that."

Sabathia agreed to a $161 million, seven-year deal with New York before the 2009 season. He has gone 59-23 with a 3.18 ERA during the regular season for the Yankees.

Sabathia headed a staff that included rookie Ivan Nova, injury prone Phil Hughes, inconsistent A.J. Burnett and surprise additions Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon. Without Sabathia, the Yankees' rotation would have been in trouble.

"CC is the ace of our pitching staff, a leader in our clubhouse and a driving force for the Yankees in our community," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in a statement. "He is exactly the type player and person that Yankees fans and this organization can be proud of. We are excited that he will be wearing the pinstripes for many years to come."

When he signed with the Yankees after pitching for Cleveland (2001-08) and Milwaukee (2008), Sabathia moved his family from California, where he grew up in Vallejo, to Alpine, N.J.

He said the key for him was his family "and making sure everything was kosher with them" with living in the New York area. Then he learned what it was like pitching in the $1.5 billion new Yankee Stadium.

"The energy, what you get coming out the bullpen, the fans," he said. "Everything it is it is to be pitching in New York, in the Bronx. It's just so much fun. To be part of this organization is just a dream for me."

Sabathia's option becomes guaranteed if he does not end the 2016 season on the disabled list because of a left shoulder injury, does not spend more than 45 days of 2016 on the DL with a left shoulder injury or does not make six or more relief appearances in 2016 because of shoulder issues.

He retains a hotel suite on trips, a no-trade provision and the right to buy tickets.

Listed by the Yankees as 290 pounds, Sabathia lost weight going into spring training but appeared to gain it back this season. He went 19-8 with a 3.00 ERA but was 0-1 in his last three starts, then didn't get a decision in two postseason starts and allowed a key run in Game 5 against Detroit, when he made his first career relief appearance and New York was eliminated with a 3-2 loss.

He plans on losing weight.

"It's something I do regardless, and be proactive," he said. "I just need to go out and be healthy and try to do what I can to be up there for every start for this team. For me, that means losing weight, so that's what I'll do."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-10-31-BBA-Yankees-Sabathia/id-81fe263e1cf84534bda99fb615182b2e

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Fed to hold steady despite global risks (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Federal Reserve looks set to take a breather from monetary stimulus measures on Wednesday, even if financial market turbulence heightens the chances of action later.

The U.S. central bank's debate over the course of policy, including a potential shift toward using a concrete set of targets for inflation and the jobless rate as policy triggers, comes against a troubled global backdrop and with the U.S. economy far from full health.

Greece's call on Monday for a referendum on the latest euro zone debt deal dashed hopes Europe had finally come to grips with its debt crisis and sent global equity markets into a tailspin.

The U.S. recovery, for its part, remains anemic and could be knocked off course if the euro zone fails to quell its crisis. The Institute for Supply Management's latest report on U.S. manufacturing showed the sector slowing to a crawl in October, although new orders increased.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter, a significant improvement over the second quarter's 1.3 percent increase but still too soft to put a dent in the nation's 9.1 percent unemployment rate.

An ongoing if modest U.S. recovery provides room for the Fed to pause as it mulls offering newly detailed guidance on its policy goals or making another round of asset purchases.

"There is some talk that the Fed will announce renewed mortgage-backed securities purchases, but we are not convinced the Fed is there," said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.

"Increasing the balance sheet remains an option that the Fed refuses to reject. We expect the option not to be exercised unless there is a material risk of a renewed U.S. economic contraction or that the risks of deflation increase markedly," Chandler said.

A shift to a new communications framework is another option the Fed is considering. It could offer hints on where its internal debate stands through tweaks to its post-meeting statement or comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke at his third-ever news conference.

The Fed is set to release its statement at the conclusion of its two-day meeting at around 12:30 p.m. (1630 GMT). It will issue fresh economic forecasts at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), and Bernanke's news conference will follow 15 minutes later.

Faced with a still-weak recovery, the Fed decided in September to embark on a program to sell $400 billion in short-term Treasuries and invest the money in longer-dated bonds, an effort to keep long-term rates down.

It also dipped back in the mortgage market by reinvesting proceeds of its real estate bond holdings back into MBS.

Those actions followed an already aggressive series of steps to try to lift the economy. The central bank slashed benchmark interest rates to effectively zero in December 2008 and expanded its balance sheet to a record $2.8 trillion.

More recently, Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo and New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley have hinted at the possibility of expanding the central bank's presence in the mortgage market. It has already bought some $1.25 trillion in MBS.

MBS purchases are seen as even more controversial than Treasury bond buys. Some Fed officials worry targeting a specific sector of the economy encroaches on fiscal policy, and policymakers had previously pledged to return to an all-Treasury portfolio.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111101/bs_nm/us_usa_fed

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Taiwan smartphone maker HTC reports profit jump

(AP) ? Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp. says its third quarter earnings grew 68 percent from the same period last year, with shipments reaching 13 million handsets.

The company said Monday net profit for the July-September quarter amounted to New Taiwan dollars 18.7 billion ($620 million) on revenue of NT$136 billion, with Asia, particularly China, a key to growth.

HTC has grown on the strength of the design of its handsets, based on Google Inc.'s Android operating system. It says its profile has been raised with the launch of two "Sensation" models equipped with high-end Beats headphones by U.S. maker Dr. Dre.

HTC expects fourth quarter shipments to be between 12 and 13 million. That would represent a 30 percent revenue increase on the same period in 2010.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-10-31-AS-Taiwan-Earns-HTC/id-7a42351ee51449049a8e9e4b4141bb04

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Mexico: Resort town shoppers trapped by gunfight (AP)

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico ? Mexican officials say hundreds of people cowered for more than an hour at a shopping center in the resort town of Cabo San Lucas while security forces traded fire with gunmen outside and then searched for them in stores.

No injuries have been reported from Saturday afternoon's gunbattle, which did damage some cars and entrance doors. Police say they arrested two men suspected of being involved in an overnight attack near the center that killed a Mexican marine.

Authorities say the shooting at the Plaza Sendero shopping center erupted when marines, soldiers and police found armed men in the parking lot.

Police ordered shoppers to stay inside during the shooting and later search. People were allowed to leave an hour later.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_mall_shootout

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Peter Jackson trying to aid ex-US death row inmate

FILE - In this July 23, 2009 file photos, renowned New Zealand movie director Peter Jackson poses for a portrait in San Diego. Jackson, best known for his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, said Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 that he was working with a high-profile former American death row inmate in hopes of getting the man a complete pardon. (AP Photo/Chris Park, File)

FILE - In this July 23, 2009 file photos, renowned New Zealand movie director Peter Jackson poses for a portrait in San Diego. Jackson, best known for his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, said Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 that he was working with a high-profile former American death row inmate in hopes of getting the man a complete pardon. (AP Photo/Chris Park, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2011 file photo, one of the recently freed "West Memphis Three", Damien Echols, attends a special screening of "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" during the 49th Annual New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011 in New York. Renowned New Zealand movie director Peter Jackson said Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 that he was working with Echols, a high-profile former American death row inmate, in hopes of getting the man a complete pardon. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

(AP) ? Director Peter Jackson said Friday that he was working with a high-profile former American death row inmate in hopes of getting the man a complete pardon.

Jackson, best known for his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, said he received an exemption to New Zealand law to allow Damien Echols to visit him. Echols was part of a group known as the West Memphis Three who were convicted of killing three boys in the U.S. state of Arkansas in 1993. He and the other two men were released in August after pleading guilty to lesser charges and insist they are innocent.

At a news conference Friday in which Jackson stood alongside New Zealand Prime Minister John Key at the North Island set where Jackson is filming a two-part version of "The Hobbit," the director said he'd gone through the same process open to everyone in applying for an exemption to immigration laws.

"There are all sorts of emotive headlines about Damien Echols, killer, coming to New Zealand, but the reality is that Damien Echols is an innocent man who has spent 18 years incarcerated in a tiny cell," Jackson said.

The director told reporters that he and partner Fran Walsh had worked for seven or eight years to try and help free Echols.

"He's come here to work with us on a couple of things," Jackson said. "We're doing investigative work, we're doing forensic work ... with the purpose of getting a complete pardon."

Jackson clarified that Echols was not taking part in work on "The Hobbit."

Echols is one of the highest-profile death row inmates to be released in the U.S. Three HBO documentaries about his case brought national attention and sparked the involvement of several celebrities, including Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder.

Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley ? who were teenagers at the time ? were convicted of killing three 8-year-old boys who were found naked and tied in a drainage ditch in the Arkansas town of West Memphis. The case hinged on the testimony of witnesses who said they'd heard the teens talk about the killings.

Echols was the only one sentenced to death.

In 2007, lawyers representing Echols claimed that new DNA tests taken from the crime scene didn't match any of the men. In August, the men agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and were released immediately for time served ? all the while publicly maintaining their innocence.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-10-28-AS-New-Zealand-Jackson-and-Echols/id-28c832e1343e45fab2933ec399ae02a0

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Lung regeneration closer to reality with new discovery by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Rodgers
jdr2001@med.cornell.edu
212-821-0560
New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College

Study's authors show blood vessels support lung regeneration and their findings could potentially open the door to therapy for lung disorders

NEW YORK (Oct. 28, 2011) -- Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College say they have taken an important step forward in their quest to "turn on" lung regeneration -- an advance that could effectively treat millions of people suffering from respiratory disorders.

In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.

While it has long been known that mice can regenerate and expand the capacity of one lung if the other is missing, this study now identifies molecular triggers behind this process, and the researchers believe these findings are relevant to humans.

"Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, who is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage," says Dr. Rafii, who is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."

"There is no effective therapy for patients diagnosed with COPD. Based on this study, I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration," states Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who is a co-author of this study and professor of pulmonary and genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.

Dr. Rafii and his researchers had previously uncovered growth factors that control regeneration in the liver and bone marrow, and in both cases, they found that endothelial cells produce the key inductive growth factors, which they defined as "angiocrine factors." In the current lung study, they discovered the same phenomenon -- that blood vessel cells in the lungs jump-start regeneration of alveoli. "Blood vessels are not just the inert plumbing that carries blood. They actively instruct organ regeneration," says Dr. Rafii. "This is a critical finding. Each organ uses different growth factors within its local vascular system to promote regeneration."

To conduct this study, Dr. Bi-Sen Ding, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Rafii's lab and the first author of this paper, removed the left lungs of mice and studied the biochemical process of subsequent regeneration of the remaining right lung. Previous pioneering work by Dr. Crystal had shown that when the left lung of mice is removed, the right lung regenerates by 80 percent, effectively replacing most of the lost alveoli. "This regeneration process also restores the physiological respiratory function of the lungs, which is mediated by amplification of various epithelial progenitor cells and regeneration of the alveolar sacs," says Dr. Ding.

"This regenerative phenomenon, however, only occurs after a trauma that abruptly reduces lung mass. Then the specific subsets of blood vessels in the remaining lung receive a message to start to repopulate alveoli, and our job was to find that signal," says Dr. Daniel Nolan, a senior scientist in this project who developed methods to characterize the lung blood vessel cells.

The scientists found that removal of the left lung activates receptors on lung endothelial cells that respond to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). Activation of these receptors promotes the rise of another protein, matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP14). The researchers discovered that MMP14, by releasing epidermal growth factors (EGF), initiates the generation of new lung tissue.

When the investigators disabled receptors of VEGF and FGF-2 specifically in the endothelial cells of the mice, the right lung would not regenerate. The defect in the lung regeneration was found to be due to the lack of MMP14 generation from the blood vessels. Remarkably, when these mice received an endothelial cell transplant from a normal mouse, the production of MMP14 was restored, triggering the regeneration of functional alveoli.

"The recovery of lung function and lung mechanics by transplantation of endothelial cells that stimulate MMP14 production may be valuable for designing novel therapies for respiratory disorders," says Dr. Stefan Worgall, who helped with the functional lung studies in this project. "This study will also help us understand mechanisms for repair in the growing lungs of infants and children," he adds. Dr. Worgall is associate professor of pediatrics and genetic medicine and distinguished associate professor of pediatric pulmonology.

Given MMP14's role, Dr. Rafii classifies it as a crucial "angiocrine" signal -- a lung endothelial specific growth factor responsible for alveolar regeneration. Dr. Rafii's team also seeks to reveal the initiation signals resulting in the activation of lung blood vessels. "Changes in local blood flow and biomechanical forces in the remaining lung after removal of the left lung could certainly be one of the initiation cues that induce endothelial activation," says Dr. Sina Rabbany, who is a co-senior author of this study and a professor of bioengineering at Hofstra University and adjunct associate professor of genetic medicine and bioengineering in medicine at Weill Cornell.

The researchers will next determine if MMP14 and other as-yet unrecognized angiocrine factors are responsible for lung regeneration in humans as well as mice. "We believe the same process goes on in humans, although we have no direct evidence yet," says Dr. Ding. The study's authors theorize that patients with COPD (a disorder most often caused by chronic smoking) have so much damage to their lung endothelial cells that they no longer produce the proper inductive signals. "We know smoking damages lungs, but lungs may continue to regenerate alveoli," says Dr. Koji Shido, a co-author of this study. "But at certain point, significant injury to the endothelial cells could impair their capacity to support lung regeneration."

"Perhaps replacement of angiocrine factors, or transplantation of normal lung endothelial cells derived from pluripotent stem cells, could restore lung regeneration" speculates Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, who is the director of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at Weill Cornell, and a co-author of this study. "Currently, we are generating pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with genetic pulmonary disorders to identify potential pathways, which may ultimately enhance our understanding of how lung endothelial cells may improve lung function in these patients."

###

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers who worked with Dr. Rafii in this study were Bi-Sen Ding, Daniel J. Nolan, Peipei Guo, Alexander O. Babazadeh, Zhongwei Cao, Zev Rosenwaks, Ronald G. Crystal, Stefan Worgall and Koji Shido. Other co-authors are Michael Simons from Yale University School of Medicine; Thomas N. Sato from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Nara, Japan; and Sina Y. Rabbany from Hofstra University.

The study was funded by the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Empire State Stem Cell Board and New York State Department of Health, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Qatar National Priorities Research Foundation, Anbinder Foundation, Newman's Own Foundation, the Takeda Science Foundation, and the Uehara Memorial Foundation.

Weill Cornell Medical College

Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria, and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.


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[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Rodgers
jdr2001@med.cornell.edu
212-821-0560
New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College

Study's authors show blood vessels support lung regeneration and their findings could potentially open the door to therapy for lung disorders

NEW YORK (Oct. 28, 2011) -- Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College say they have taken an important step forward in their quest to "turn on" lung regeneration -- an advance that could effectively treat millions of people suffering from respiratory disorders.

In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.

While it has long been known that mice can regenerate and expand the capacity of one lung if the other is missing, this study now identifies molecular triggers behind this process, and the researchers believe these findings are relevant to humans.

"Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, who is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage," says Dr. Rafii, who is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."

"There is no effective therapy for patients diagnosed with COPD. Based on this study, I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration," states Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who is a co-author of this study and professor of pulmonary and genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.

Dr. Rafii and his researchers had previously uncovered growth factors that control regeneration in the liver and bone marrow, and in both cases, they found that endothelial cells produce the key inductive growth factors, which they defined as "angiocrine factors." In the current lung study, they discovered the same phenomenon -- that blood vessel cells in the lungs jump-start regeneration of alveoli. "Blood vessels are not just the inert plumbing that carries blood. They actively instruct organ regeneration," says Dr. Rafii. "This is a critical finding. Each organ uses different growth factors within its local vascular system to promote regeneration."

To conduct this study, Dr. Bi-Sen Ding, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Rafii's lab and the first author of this paper, removed the left lungs of mice and studied the biochemical process of subsequent regeneration of the remaining right lung. Previous pioneering work by Dr. Crystal had shown that when the left lung of mice is removed, the right lung regenerates by 80 percent, effectively replacing most of the lost alveoli. "This regeneration process also restores the physiological respiratory function of the lungs, which is mediated by amplification of various epithelial progenitor cells and regeneration of the alveolar sacs," says Dr. Ding.

"This regenerative phenomenon, however, only occurs after a trauma that abruptly reduces lung mass. Then the specific subsets of blood vessels in the remaining lung receive a message to start to repopulate alveoli, and our job was to find that signal," says Dr. Daniel Nolan, a senior scientist in this project who developed methods to characterize the lung blood vessel cells.

The scientists found that removal of the left lung activates receptors on lung endothelial cells that respond to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). Activation of these receptors promotes the rise of another protein, matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP14). The researchers discovered that MMP14, by releasing epidermal growth factors (EGF), initiates the generation of new lung tissue.

When the investigators disabled receptors of VEGF and FGF-2 specifically in the endothelial cells of the mice, the right lung would not regenerate. The defect in the lung regeneration was found to be due to the lack of MMP14 generation from the blood vessels. Remarkably, when these mice received an endothelial cell transplant from a normal mouse, the production of MMP14 was restored, triggering the regeneration of functional alveoli.

"The recovery of lung function and lung mechanics by transplantation of endothelial cells that stimulate MMP14 production may be valuable for designing novel therapies for respiratory disorders," says Dr. Stefan Worgall, who helped with the functional lung studies in this project. "This study will also help us understand mechanisms for repair in the growing lungs of infants and children," he adds. Dr. Worgall is associate professor of pediatrics and genetic medicine and distinguished associate professor of pediatric pulmonology.

Given MMP14's role, Dr. Rafii classifies it as a crucial "angiocrine" signal -- a lung endothelial specific growth factor responsible for alveolar regeneration. Dr. Rafii's team also seeks to reveal the initiation signals resulting in the activation of lung blood vessels. "Changes in local blood flow and biomechanical forces in the remaining lung after removal of the left lung could certainly be one of the initiation cues that induce endothelial activation," says Dr. Sina Rabbany, who is a co-senior author of this study and a professor of bioengineering at Hofstra University and adjunct associate professor of genetic medicine and bioengineering in medicine at Weill Cornell.

The researchers will next determine if MMP14 and other as-yet unrecognized angiocrine factors are responsible for lung regeneration in humans as well as mice. "We believe the same process goes on in humans, although we have no direct evidence yet," says Dr. Ding. The study's authors theorize that patients with COPD (a disorder most often caused by chronic smoking) have so much damage to their lung endothelial cells that they no longer produce the proper inductive signals. "We know smoking damages lungs, but lungs may continue to regenerate alveoli," says Dr. Koji Shido, a co-author of this study. "But at certain point, significant injury to the endothelial cells could impair their capacity to support lung regeneration."

"Perhaps replacement of angiocrine factors, or transplantation of normal lung endothelial cells derived from pluripotent stem cells, could restore lung regeneration" speculates Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, who is the director of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at Weill Cornell, and a co-author of this study. "Currently, we are generating pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with genetic pulmonary disorders to identify potential pathways, which may ultimately enhance our understanding of how lung endothelial cells may improve lung function in these patients."

###

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers who worked with Dr. Rafii in this study were Bi-Sen Ding, Daniel J. Nolan, Peipei Guo, Alexander O. Babazadeh, Zhongwei Cao, Zev Rosenwaks, Ronald G. Crystal, Stefan Worgall and Koji Shido. Other co-authors are Michael Simons from Yale University School of Medicine; Thomas N. Sato from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Nara, Japan; and Sina Y. Rabbany from Hofstra University.

The study was funded by the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Empire State Stem Cell Board and New York State Department of Health, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Qatar National Priorities Research Foundation, Anbinder Foundation, Newman's Own Foundation, the Takeda Science Foundation, and the Uehara Memorial Foundation.

Weill Cornell Medical College

Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria, and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/nyph-lrc102811.php

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Wale Oyejide: Watch the Throne

You owe it to yourself to live an extraordinary life. At nights, your eyelids flutter open like curtains in a hotel room. You're there, but no one is home. There's a view of all the things you were meant to have laying before you. Behind the glass and beyond your reach. On any given Monday morning, you will sit at your desk as the fire in your belly threatens to engulf you. An all consuming ambition. To be someone and somewhere else. Anywhere. As long as its bigger. As long as you are better. As long as you are someone that everyone else wants to be. You will watch the clock. And you will wait for anything to happen.

So you build your new life the way that unseen hands built the pyramids. Piece-by-precarious-domino-piece. Waiting for the day that your future cascades triumphantly before you. Waiting for your window to open. Threatening to kick the door-in. There are those who doubt you. You might even be one of them. That's fine, I suppose. There are worse fates in life. After all, you could be perpetually ignored by history and everyone who isn't your mother. And No. We can't have that, now can we?

It pretty much comes down to this: We tell 100 lies a day. Most of them before noon. and 99 of them to ourselves. If you insist on acknowledging one truth in life, realize that you will never be who you were meant to be if you just wait for it to happen. You owe it to yourself to live an extraordinary life. Define that as you must, but let that be the one promise that you never break. Do more than watch the throne. Walk towards it. Seize the crown from the aged & heavy head it rests upon. Turn the page on the old you, and write what you've always known has been written for you. Because. No one else will do it for you.

Field Notes:

So. It's fair to concede that the Fall is here. We still have a few weeks before the over coats (and regrettable bubble goose jackets that will render the uncreative among us into live action versions of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man) emerge. Until then, layering will be the life-blood of your wardrobe. On this brisk afternoon, I opted for a slim double breasted jacket with and scarf. There's nothing particularly earth shattering about the individual elements, but I think you'll find that one can appear striking when the right colors are subtly put together. Those of us who aren't opposed to making bold statements can rock accent-pieces like a red umbrella or canary-toned brief case. The point is to try not to overdo it. Particularly if you're new at this sort of thing. Most of us still have offices to report to, and can't really go off the deep end stylistically if we'd still like to be taken seriously. Self-Expression is great for those who are secure, but Costume is for adolescents still trying to find their way around the closet. When you give people a reason to turn their heads in your direction, make sure it isn't for the wrong reasons.

Credits:
Photography - 12Rnd
+ Boots: Gaziano & Girling
+ Pants: Mabitex
+ Case: Pratesi

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wale-oyejide/mens-style-fall_b_1033909.html

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Protesters advocate making student loan debt disappear

As President Barack Obama announces plans to ease repayment of student loan debt, some in the ?Occupy? protest movement are agitating for a far more radical solution: debt forgiveness or a mass payment stoppage.

While economists say there is little chance that such tactics could succeed, the fact that they are even being talked about ? including the recent introduction of a congressional resolution calling for student loan forgiveness ? shows the depth of the frustration and anger brewing over what is cumulatively a crushing debt load for U.S. students and graduates.

At a gathering last week in a public atrium a few blocks from the square that is home to the Occupy Wall Street encampment, New York University professor Andrew Ross led a discussion about the burden of student loan debt ? now estimated to be between $550 billion and $829 billion ? and proposed a radical solution: ?A Pledge of Refusal.? The idea is that protesters would sign a pledge to stop making payments on their student loans as soon as 1 million had joined in making the pledge.

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Ross told the crowd of about 50 people ? ranging from current students to long-ago graduates ? that while individuals are subject to heavy financial penalties if they stop paying on their student loans, a mass action by 1 million would make the banks take notice.

?There is a lot of talk about student debt, but no one takes any action, and that?s what Occupy Wall Street is about,? the professor of social and cultural analysis said.

'It's just immoral'
Ross acknowledged the irony of protesting against one of the main sources of his salary but added, ?I feel very bad that my salary has actually been financed (by these debts).? ? To me it is just heartbreaking to see my students carry so much debt. It?s just immoral.?

While Ross?s effort is in the early stages, the idea of student loan forgiveness has gained a substantial following, based in part on the argument that such a move would have a substantial economic stimulus effect.

Robert Applebaum, a 37-year-old lawyer who graduated from Fordham Law School in New York City in 1998 with about $65,000 in debt, is the creator of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com. He said the website grew out of a proposal he first posted on Facebook in 2009 speculating on the economic impact there would be if student loan debtors suddenly had hundreds of dollars a month to spend. Within weeks, the post went viral and he had 300,000 ?likes? on Facebook, he said.

Applebaum's idea was born out of painful experience. He said he began championing loan forgiveness after going to work as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn and realizing he could either pay his rent or make his payments on his student loans.? He said he chose to put his loans in ?forbearance? ? an agreement between the lender and the borrower that prevents a declaration of default but doesn?t prevent the continued accrual of interest ? until he left the DA?s office in 2004. After making his loan payments every month since then, his debt today stands at $88,000.

?I welcome the Occupy protests,? Applebaum said. ?I think it?s long overdue, and I think it?s wonderful that people are finally learning to speak up against the raping and pillaging of our country for the last 30 years. No other issue really highlights how badly that?s been done to the middle class than the issue of student debt.?

He acknowledges that the proposal to forgive student loan debt is ?intentionally provocative and dramatic to focus people on the problem.??

'With you for life'
?Your student loans are with you for life ? both federal and private loans,? he said. ?There is no recourse for student loan borrowers if they run into trouble. The only recourse they have is to put the loans into forbearance, like I had to do, or economic deferment.??

He was referring to the fact that student loans are very difficult to discharge through bankruptcy. And since they are federally guaranteed, a collection agency can take payments directly from paychecks, tax refunds, even Social Security payments. There is no statute of limitations on student loans: The government will get its money back. And the student who defaults has his or her credit ruined and still has to repay the principal, plus interest and fees from the collection agency.

Applebaum?s campaign has struck a chord. More than 600,000 people have signed his online petition in support of student loan forgiveness. He also received support from an unlikely corner this summer when Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Mich., introduced a resolution in the House urging student loan forgiveness as a means of economic stimulus.

Statistics show why the issue has such resonance.

The total student-loan debt in the United States is at a historic high, $550 billion, according to a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The FinAid.org website, which tracks information on financial aid, estimates the figure is even higher ? $829.8 billion ? and recently passed the amount of credit card debt owed by Americans.

Approximately 65 percent of students graduating after four years with a bachelor?s degree in 2007-2008 had some debt, according to FinAid.org. The median cumulative debt for those graduating with a bachelor?s degree was about $20,000 in 2007-08 ? but up to 10 percent graduated with $40,000 or more in debt, it said.

And given the tough job market, more people are defaulting on those loans. A total of 8.8 percent of all student loan borrowers defaulted on their loans during the 2009 fiscal year, up from 7.0 percent in 2008, according to data released by the Department of Education in September. The problem was particularly bad at for-profit colleges and universities, which tend to serve low-income students. The default rate for for-profits rose sharply from 11.6 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2009.

Still, most economists see little chance of the federal government embracing student loan forgiveness at a time when it is wrestling with a debt crisis.

?For the younger age group, this is the equivalent of being underwater on your mortgage,? said Isabel V. Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ?... But the problems with just forgiving are the same is in the case of the mortgage story.

?If some people continue to pay their student loans back and other people don?t, the people who are still paying will be very angry and won?t feel like that was fair at all. ? And where would you draw the line? Would you say, we are going to do it just for people that are this age or in this situation, but not for others??

She also said that forgiveness would send a shock wave through the banking system, even though the loans are federally guaranteed.

?I realize no one is feeling particularly sympathetic toward financial institutions these days, but ? we do have to worry about the systemic effects.?

At last week?s Occupy Wall Street gathering devoted to student loan debt, few of those engaged in discussing possible demands for reform appeared to be too worried about what the ripple effects might be.

Debate over best approach for reform
The group debated the idea and tossed out alternative solutions like insisting on ?reasonable? tuition, abolishing for-profit schools, reforming the current system or even setting up an escrow account for students to pay into until the system is reformed. There was consensus on one issue:? When one person asked if the group considered education to be a ?right? or a ?privilege,? there was a wave of ?twinkle? hand gestures from the crowd (an upward wiggling of fingers) to show that they agreed education was a ?right.?

The broad appeal of the movement was illustrated by one passer-by who stopped to listen to the discussion.

?I married someone who had student loan debt, so by default that?s become part of my life now,? said David Solomon, wearing a button-down shirt and raincoat.

Solomon, a 27-year-old who works in tech support and lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, said he and his wife met at New York University, where they both went as undergrads. His tuition was paid for, but his wife took out student loans to pay for school.? They currently pay about $400 a month in loan fees on her $150,000 in debt because they had worked out some deferments, but he said that will rise to approximately $1,100 a month by September 2012.

?She had been interested in getting a house and we looked at the numbers,? said Solomon. ?But that?s just not going to happen ? not anytime soon, at least.?

Solomon indicated he wasn?t ready to take to the streets just yet, but he believes the ?Occupy? protest has seized upon an issue that has not been taken seriously, despite the adverse impact it is having on so many lives.

?I haven?t been to any of the Wall Street stuff yet, (but) this seems very interesting," he said. "The portrayal I?ve seen so far in the media, to be honest, is that it?s just a bunch of dirty hippies who don?t know anything. That is obviously not the case. There are people here having an intelligent discussion about a problem, and they know what they are talking about.?

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45040659/ns/us_news-life/

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