NEW YORK (AP) ? Singer Scott Weiland said he learned that he'd been fired by the Stone Temple Pilots when the band released a one-sentence statement to the media Wednesday.
"I learned of my supposed 'termination' from Stone Temple Pilots this morning by reading about it in the press," he wrote in a statement. "Not sure how I can be 'terminated' from a band that I founded, fronted and co-wrote many of its biggest hits, but that's something for the lawyers to figure out."
The statement by the band said: "Stone Temple Pilots have announced they have officially terminated Scott Weiland." No other information was provided.
Weiland said he's focusing on his solo tour, which kicks off Friday in Flint, Mich.
Stone Temple Pilots' 1992 debut, "Core," has sold more than 8 million units in the United States. Their hits include "Vasoline," ''Interstate Love Song" and "Plush," which won a Grammy in 1993 for best hard rock performance with vocal.
Weiland was also in the supergroup Velvet Revolver with Slash and other musicians. The 45-year-old has dealt with drug addiction, run-ins with the law and two failed marriages. He released his memoir, "Not Dead & Not for Sale," in 2011.
The Stone Temple Pilots' latest album is their self-titled 2010 release.
The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com
Compiled by ABC News' Carrie Halperin, Jayce Henderson and Amanda VanAllen
SYRIA
ABC News' Dana Hughes: " Obama Administration Expected to Directly Aid Syria's Rebels" Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on Thursday with leaders of Syria's opposition council and other nations that have been supporting the opposition at the Friends of Syria meeting in Rome. The outcome of that meeting is expected to move the United States towards more direct involvement in the nation's conflict. LINK
The Washington Times' " Dem lawmaker prepares bill to allow Obama direct arms sales to Syrian rebels" One of the top Democratic lawmakers on foreign policy is preparing to introduce a bill that would authorize President Obama to begin sending arms directly to rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad- legislation that would open the way for significantly deeper U.S. involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. LINK
USA Today's Susan Davis " Senate poised for dueling votes on 'sequester'" The Senate will vote on dueling legislative proposals Thursday to prevent sweeping across-the-board federal spending cuts, but there is no confidence lawmakers will reach a bipartisan deal with President Obama before the Friday deadline. Obama has summoned the top four congressional leaders to a White House meeting Friday to discuss the cuts, known as the "sequester," while House Republicans are maneuvering to give the Pentagon more discretion in how to implement the cuts. LINK
The Wall Street Journal's Peter Nicholas and Janet Hook: " Jockeying Stalls Deal on Cuts" With mandatory across-the-board spending cuts set to begin Friday, the White House and congressional Republicans are poised to let the deadline pass, each calculating that their hand in negotiations only grows stronger if they scorn a quick compromise. The first face-to-face meeting on the issue between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders won't happen until Friday-the deadline for Mr. Obama to set in motion $85 billion in broad spending cuts. LINK
VOTING RIGHTS The New York Times' Adam Liptak: " Voting Rights Law Draws Skepticism From Justices" A central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 may be in peril, judging from tough questioning on Wednesday from the Supreme Court's more conservative members. If the court overturns the provision, nine states, mostly in the South, would become free to change voting procedures without first getting permission from federal officials. LINK
CUTS / SEQUESTER The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty and Lyndsey Layton: " Sequester spin gets ahead of reality" The descriptions of the post-sequester landscape coming from the Obama administration have been alarming, specific - and, in at least some cases, hyped. Take the claim by Education Secretary Arne Duncan that there are "literally teachers now who are getting pink slips." When he was pressed in a White House briefing Wednesday to name an example, Duncan came up with one school district, in West Virginia, and he acknowledged, "Whether it's all sequester-related, I don't know." LINK
Bloomberg's Kathleen Hunter: " Senate Plans Symbolic Votes as Spending Cut Set to Begin" Senators plan a pair of symbolic votes that won't head off $85 billion in U.S. spending cuts scheduled to begin tomorrow. Neither plan is expected to advance in today's votes in Washington. Instead, they are designed to give Democrats and Republicans political cover when the across-the-board cuts take effect.
The parties are far apart on how to replace the cuts totaling $1.2 trillion over nine years, $85 billion of which would occur in the remaining seven months of this fiscal year. Democrats say tax increases must be part of a replacement plan, which Republican leaders oppose. Democrats say they expect the public to place more blame on Republicans, rather than President Barack Obama, for any reduced federal services. LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Noam N. Levey: " 'Sequester' cuts to hit healthcare hard" As the Obama administration begins to implement $85 billion in cuts to federal spending this year, no part of the budget other than defense will take a bigger hit than healthcare. LINK
BOB WOODWARD Politico's Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei: " Woodward at war" Bob Woodward called a senior White House official last week to tell him that in a piece in that weekend's Washington Post, he was going to question President Barack Obama's account of how sequestration came about - and got a major-league brushback. The Obama aide "yelled at me for about a half hour," Woodward told us in an hour-long interview yesterday around the Georgetown dining room table where so many generations of Washington's powerful have spilled their secrets. LINK
ABC NEWS VIDEOS " Eric Holder Says Homegrown Terror Threat Equals International: Exclusive" LINK
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Mhelpdesk is fielding a message to small businesses: help us help you. Headaches can ensue when businesses use separate applications to manage the daunting inflow and outflow of service tickets, scheduling and billing. With little to no communication between those applications, a lot can fall through the cracks. That?s where Mhelpdesk is aiming to make a difference. Mhelpdesk merges those functions into a single unified application that it hopes will attract businesses with its simplicity and functionality.
Actress Ashley Bell took time out to talk about reprising her role as Nell in The Last Exorcism Part 2. We talk about the joy and challenges of playing Nell, working with Eli Roth, and she explains why horror films are great date movies.
Was there any apprehension playing the role of Nell in the Last Exorcism movies?
Ashley Bell: Oh no. It?s such a dream roll for an actress. I come from a theater background. I studied acting at NYU and also the Groundlings in LA. Jumping into a role that was so physically and emotionally demanding was just awesome.
Were there any subtle changes you wanted to make to Nell?s character in The Last Exorcism Part II?
AB: Very much so. With Nell?s character, when I read the script, you think about where she comes from. She?s been broken by the events that have happened in Part 1 and we see this person that?s shattered. She?s putting her life back together and picking up these pieces and there are a lot of pieces missing. There?s a lot of doubt and a lot of questions. In these questions is where the temptation comes in.
You see this arc in the first film of Nell not knowing what?s going on and then all these events start happening. I thought you played that very well. I know that?s tough to give a character layers without much dialogue.
AB: I really appreciate that. Growing up I was a huge fan of horror movies. There?s nothing more fun than going into a movie with a smile because you know you?re going to be scared to death [laughs]. There?s something thrilling about sitting there waiting for a scare to happen. When I saw Part 2 for the first time, people were jumping into each other arms. The film packs a lot of really fun scares. There?s also a real surprise ending. It?s really something only Eli Roth can pull off.
With your families acting background, was acting something you always wanted to do?
AB: Growing up I always wanted to always be something new. I thought if I was an actress, I would have a chance at doing it all. What?s incredible about this profession is every role you play; you learn a different skill set. That really appealed to me.
What was it like working with Eli Roth?
AB: Eli is such a master of the horror genre. He knows it so well, so he can break all the rules. He knows what hasn?t been seen, and how to make a twist to turn a film on its head and surprise audiences. I saw him work in the editing room and he?s like a magician. He knows how to turn a scene that?s scary into something truly horrifying.
I remember that when he did Cabin Fever and Hostile. He really pushed the envelope.
AB: What I loved about the Hostile movies was the revenge element. The characters get revenge and the 13 year old boy in me loves that. Audiences will be surprised when they see The Last Exorcism Part 2, Nell gets revenge.
In Part 2 what was your favorite scene to shoot?
AB: It?s really important to do all of my own physicality. I was important in Part 2 to one up the backbend. There?s a levitating backbend and that?s a really challenging stunt to do. It was one of the most exhilarating days on set. There was a stunt crew and they ok?d me to do it six times and we ended up doing the scene twenty times. Every take was more and more intense. We kept on adding things to it and the crew was involved. It was great. At the end of the day if somebody asked what I did today I could say, ?Well, I flew.? Who gets to say that?
As great as it is to be part of horror films, I?m jumping into a few other genres. I?m coming out in a romantic comedy called The Bounceback that?s premiering at SXSW. I?m also doing an action film called The Marine. It?s straight up action. I?m jumping through windows, cars are exploding, and I run around on an abandoned ship. I?m also stepping behind the camera. This year, I visited Cambodia to do a documentary on elephants called Love and Bananas. You can find out more information at loveandbananas.com.
Anything fans could look forward to in Part 2.
AB: I always say horror films are great date movies. In the first twenty minutes you?re going to end up in each other?s arms. [laughs]
Canada's NEOSSat space telescope was launched Monday atop an Indian rocket. It will monitor two groups of asteroids whose proximity to the sun makes them hard to see from Earth.
By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / February 25, 2013
In this frame grab made from dashboard camera video shows the Chelyabinsk asteroid on Feb. 15, about 930 miles east of Moscow. Efforts to discover near-Earth asteroids received a potential boost Monday with the launch of Canada's NEOSSat space telescope.
AP Video/AP
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Efforts to discover near-Earth asteroids ? including those that are potentially hazardous ? received a potential boost Monday with the launch of the Canadian Space Agency's Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat).
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Housed in a spacecraft the size of a large suitcase, the space telescope physically is a munchkin among behemoths. Its light-gathering mirror is only about 6 inches across.
But from its orbit nearly 500 miles above Earth, NEOSSat will be able to view faint near-Earth asteroids in a region of space that is tough for terrestrial telescopes to tackle.
The $25 million NEOSSat mission is one of seven satellites the Indian Space Agency lofted Monday aboard a single rocket launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, some 50 miles north of Chennal, on India's east coast.
Ground stations have made contact with NEOSSat, "and the basics are green," says Alan Hildebrand, a researcher at the University of Calgary in Alberta and the project's lead scientist.
To date, astronomers say they have discovered between 90 and 95 percent of the approximately 1,000 near-Earth asteroids estimated to be larger than half a mile across.
In 2005, Congress instructed NASA to hunt for smaller asteroids ? setting a goal of finding 90 percent of near-Earth asteroids 500 feet wide and larger by 2020.
But as the Chelyabinsk asteroid demonstrated on Feb. 15, objects far smaller can inflict damage. At about 55 feet across, and with a mass estimated at 10,000 tons, the asteroid exploded high over the Ural mountains. The shock waves damaged an estimated 4,300 buildings and injured nearly 1,500 people.
With tens of millions of objects this size orbiting the sun, the recurrence rate for collisions with a Chelyabinsk-like object averages once every 100 years, according to Paul Chodas, with NASA's Near-Earth Objects Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The historical marker, placed by the Alabama Historical Association, on the original Shelby County courthouse. (Tommy Daspit/YCN)
?Nobody likes to be stereotyped,? said Reggie Giles, a resident of Shelby County, Ala. Which is why stereotypical assumptions about Southerners, he noted?specifically, that they?re racists?is offensive.
?Racism is a stigma that the South can't seem to shake and that most of the rest of the country seems to want to perpetuate,? Giles, a software engineer, said.
Giles was one of several Shelby County residents who shared their thoughts with Yahoo News earlier this week as the Supreme Court prepares to hear Shelby County v. Holder on Wednesday. It?s a case that may determine the constitutionality of nearly five decades of voting rights legislation, specifically Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and a referendum of sorts on how far their county, and most of the South, has evolved on voting rights in the past 50 years.
Giles, who lives in Pelham, a Birmingham suburb, said protecting all voters? rights is a ?no-brainer.? But like many Shelby County residents, he finds some laws antiquated: Legislation conceived in 1965, he noted, doesn?t always apply in 2013.
At the heart of the debate reaching the court is local control of election laws against alleged racial discrimination in voting. Nine states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia) are covered under Section 5 of the act, which mandates that changes to local election laws?no matter how trivial those alterations are perceived?must receive clearance from the Justice Department or through a lawsuit at the D.C. district court. Also subject to Section 5 are 57 counties and 12 townships outside those nine states. (See a full list.)
Congress has renewed the law several times, the last time in 2006 when it extended the Voting Rights Act until 2032.
The petitioner in this case is Shelby County, home to nearly 200,000 residents. The county didn?t seek to amend its voting laws, but it nevertheless sued the Justice Department to strike down Section 5 in its entirety.
(SCOTUS Blog has more in-depth analysis and information for those interested in exploring the legislation?s more esoteric nooks and crannies, including the formula in Section 4 that determines which areas Section 5 covers.)
Legislative diversity helps battle racism in government
The racism label is hardly limited to the South. Former South Dakota state Sen. Thomas Shortbull, who also shared his thoughts with Yahoo News, says government oversight is needed in his state.
Two of the state?s counties?Shannon and Todd?already comply with the federal government. And for years, state politicians fought over the counties that hold part of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations along the southern border with Nebraska.
In 1975, Shortbull recommended that Shannon and Todd counties sit in the same legislative district where 90 percent of the voters would be American Indian. Shortbull argued that the only way the group could gain a legislative voice was to merge the reservations into one district. Five years later, the state?reluctantly, Shortbull said?created one district that covered most of the reservations.
?[Section 5] is the only vehicle in some states to fight institutional racism in local and state governments,? Shortbull wrote in his first-person account. ?In the state of South Dakota, racism towards minorities is prevalent, and the only means of diminishing the racism is to elect more minorities to state and local governments.?
Local victories tough to win?and maintain
In Houston, Rogene Calvert has advocated for the city?s Asian-American communities for years. While there are 280,000 Asian-Americans in Houston, Calvert says, they rarely can elect a representative candidate because the state has dispersed those voters into separate districts.
They did score a victory in 2004, however, when Rep. Hubert Vo bounced a 22-year incumbent from House District 149 in southwestern Houston and became Texas? first Vietnamese-American representative.
Vo, who won that race by 16 votes after three recounts, has been re-elected four times. But, Calvert said, in 2011, the state eyed redistricting to eliminate Vo?s seat and break it up into three districts.
?We objected to this at every stage of the process,? she said, noting that she testified before the state?s House Redistricting Committee, urging it to reconsider its plan to split up Asian-American voters in southwest Harris County.
?The state legislature ignored us,? she added.
Under Section 5, however, the Justice Department refused to approve redistricting.
?Because of that, we still have a vibrant coalition in HD 149 and we still can elect the candidates of our choice,? Calvert said. ?Without the protection of the VRA, the influence of the Asian-American community would have been drastically reduced.?
?Punished for the sins of our fathers?
In Shelby County, things are less pragmatic and more philosophical. Residents who shared their thoughts about the Voting Rights Act focused less on political gerrymandering and more on how they believed it impugns local control and the spirit of sovereignty.
Jonathan Williams, a 32-year-old Montevallo resident, often gathers at the local coffee shop to listen to wisdom from men he calls the town?s elders.
?Occasionally, they let me sit in their august presence?one of my favorite ways to spend a Friday afternoon,? Williams wrote in his account. ?Between the eight of them, they have seen and done almost everything?fought for their country, traveled the world, raised families, lost and won fortunes. Black, white, blue-collar and white-collar, they all gather around a table each afternoon to solve the world's problems while shamelessly flirting with the servers.?
When Williams raised Shelby County v. Holder, the elders weren?t shy about sharing their opinions, he said.
One elder offered: "Are we second-class citizens in our own country?"
Another said: "I don't care if a man is black, white, Mexican or Chinese.?
The more important questions, to him: ?Is he Republican or Democrat? Where does he go to church?"
Williams said he?s seen too much progress to believe Section 5 should survive a court challenge. ?How long must we be punished for the sins of our fathers before the rest of the nation realizes things have changed? I'm sick of it," he said.
Elections are the only true shared experience
Unlike Williams, Tommy Daspit hasn?t lived in Shelby County his whole life. He?s called it home for three years after living in diverse locales such as Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Washington state and Indiana.
He noted the subtle differences in dialect, food, music and ideologies. But elections, he said, are the same.
?The experience of voting in Shelby County, Ala., was the same as it was in Tippecanoe, Ind., Kittitas County, Wash., or Dallas County, Texas,? Daspit, a photographer, said. ?Sure, there are some differences in the way the ballots look from one place to the next, but the experience of voting is the same.?
Daspit said Section 5 is dispensable and excessive: ?It has aided in transforming the South into a place where my children can grow up friends with children of all colors. However, it is no more relevant to Shelby County today than it would be in the North or the West.?
Bigots are not the prevailing entities
Daspit?s wife, Kelly, said she sees postracial evolution in Shelby County?s youngest residents. She writes:
Last week, my 8-year-old son was making Valentines for his 21 classmates at the elementary school he attends in Shelby County. He spent extra time decorating five of them, writing on those, in his approximated spelling, the word "FRANDS."
Two of those "FRANDS" are African-American boys. They play together and sometimes argue together, but they are friends. When my son celebrates his birthday, those two boys will be among the others invited to his party. There wouldn't be a question in the children's or in their parents' minds that it should be otherwise.
Born in 1975, Kelly Daspit said she understands life wasn?t always that way. Even after legal integration, unofficial social segregation?black and white students sitting at separate tables in school cafeterias?continued in her youth. But through the years, she said, it?s improved:
I have taught in five schools, and little by little, year by year, I have watched the change. No longer is it taboo for black and white children to have relationships. There are no longer "white" and "black" tables, and today's children could hardly imagine otherwise. Why? Because their parents did not teach them otherwise. Because, as we grew up in integrated schools, working in integrated workplaces, we learned each other. We learned there was nothing to fear from another's skin or another's culture. We learned that we really do all have the same worth. And racism, little by little, year by year, has perished. Yes, there are still some bigots; there always will be. You can find those in any town, in any state. But they are not the majority. They are not the prevailing entity.
How can I be sure? Because a public school is a reflection of its society. And if you wish to know about the prevailing society in Shelby County, Ala., just consider my 8-year-old son and consider who his "FRANDS" are.
Giles, the Pelham resident, offered his own evidence of progress: ?For the record, my votes were split in the past two presidential elections. In 2008, I voted for one of the two major party's candidate, and in 2012 I voted for the other.?
Nobody likes to be stereotyped.
The original Shelby County courthouse, 1854-1908, in Columbiana, Ala. (Tommy Daspit/YCN)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Federal health regulators have halted Amgen's studies of its drug Sensipar after the death of a 14-year-old patient in a company trial.
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it is still gathering information about the death, but has shut down all studies of the drug in children.
Sensipar is approved in adults to treat over-activity of the parathyroid gland, which can lead to brittle bones, kidney stones and abdominal pain. It has been used since 2004 to treat symptoms of chronic kidney disease and parathyroid cancer.
Amgen Inc. had been studying the drug to see whether it works in children.
The Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company said in a statement that it "is working as rapidly as possible to understand the circumstances of what happened."
The FDA said on its website that it is unclear whether Amgen's drug had a role in the patient's death, but it is reminding doctors to prescribe it carefully.
The drug is known to lower calcium levels, sometimes to a dangerous extent.
The agency says doctors should monitor patients' calcium levels monthly to make sure they don't fall to dangerous levels. Signs of a calcium deficiency include muscle cramping, convulsions and burning or prickling sensations.
The most common side effects of the drug in adults include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Amgen reported annual sales of $800 million for Sensipar in 2011, its most recent full-year financial report.
Company shares fell 7 cents to $89.48 in afternoon trading Tuesday.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A University of California-Berkeley engineer who played a prominent role in investigating levee breeches in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is scheduled to be the first witness Tuesday at a trial involving another Gulf Coast catastrophe: the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Robert Bea, an expert witness for the plaintiffs who sued BP PLC and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will share his theories about what caused BP's Macondo well to blow out on April 20, 2010, provoking an explosion on the Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and spewed an estimated 172 millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf.
Bea's testimony was scheduled for the second day of a civil trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay tens of billions of dollars more in damages. The case went to trial Monday after attempts to reach an 11th-hour settlement failed.
The second witness slated to appear on the stand is Lamar McKay, president of BP America. The highest-ranking executive of BP scheduled to testify in the courtroom, McKay is likely to discuss corporate decisions that were made throughout the duration of the disaster. It was not clear if there would be time for his testimony Tuesday, however. Other BP officials were expected to give videotaped testimony.
In pretrial depositions and in an expert report, Bea argued along with another consultant that BP showed a disregard for safety throughout the company and was reckless in its actions ? the same arguments made in opening statements Monday by attorneys for the U.S. government and individuals and businesses hurt by the spill.
Attorneys for BP tried to block the testimony of Bea, whom they accused of analyzing documents and evidence "spoon-fed" to him by plaintiffs lawyers. BP accused Bea and the other expert, William Gale, a California-based fire and explosion investigator and consultant, of ignoring the "safety culture of the other parties" involved in the spill, in particular Transocean Ltd., the drilling company running operations aboard the Deepwater Horizon.
Gale does not appear on a list of potential witnesses to be called during the trial.
Just last year, Bea testified for plaintiffs who sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over broken levees in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
In opening statements Monday, U.S. Justice Department attorney Mike Underhill said the catastrophe resulted from BP's "culture of corporate recklessness."
"The evidence will show that BP put profits before people, profits before safety and profits before the environment," Underhill said. "Despite BP's attempts to shift the blame to other parties, by far the primary fault for this disaster belongs to BP."
BP attorney Mike Brock acknowledged that the oil company made mistakes. But he accused Transocean of failing to properly maintain the rig's blowout preventer, which had a dead battery, and he claimed cement contractor Halliburton used a "bad slurry" that failed to prevent oil and gas from traveling up the well.
BP has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges and has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses, including cleanup costs, compensation for businesses and individuals, and $4 billion in criminal penalties.
But the federal government, Gulf Coast states and individuals and businesses hope to convince a federal judge that the company and its partners in the ill-fated drilling project are liable for much more in civil damages under the Clean Water Act and other environmental regulations.
One of the biggest questions facing U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is hearing the case without a jury, is whether BP acted with gross negligence.
Under the Clean Water Act, a polluter can be forced to pay a minimum of $1,100 per barrel of spilled oil; the fines nearly quadruple to about $4,300 a barrel for companies found grossly negligent, meaning BP could be on the hook for nearly $18 billion.
The judge plans to hold the trial in at least two phases. The first phase, which could last three months, is designed to determine what caused the blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. The second phase will determine what efforts the companies made to stop oil from spilling, and how much crude actually spilled into the Gulf.
During opening statements, BP and its partners pointed the finger at each other in a tangle of accusations and counter-accusations. But BP got the worst of it, from its partners and the plaintiffs in the case.
Jim Roy, who represents individuals and businesses hurt by the spill, said BP executives applied "huge financial pressure" to "cut costs and rush the job." The project was more than $50 million over budget and behind schedule at the time of the blowout, Roy said.
"BP repeatedly chose speed over safety," Roy said, quoting from a report by an expert who may testify.
Roy said the spill also resulted from Transocean's "woeful" safety culture and failure to properly train its crew. And Roy said Halliburton provided BP with a product that was "poorly designed, not properly tested and was unstable."
Brad Brian, a lawyer for Transocean, said the company had an experienced, well-trained crew on the rig. He said the Transocean workers' worst mistake may have been placing too much trust in the BP supervisors on the rig.
"And they paid for that trust with their lives," Brian said. "They died not because they weren't trained properly. They died because critical information was withheld from them."
A lawyer for Halliburton defended the company's work and tried to pin the blame on BP and Transocean.
"If BP had shut in the well, we would not be here today," Halliburton's Donald Godwin said.
Brock said Transocean's crew members ultimately were responsible for well control on the rig and didn't need permission from BP supervisors to shut in the well.
"Shut in the well, then seek advice," he said.
Underhill, the Justice Department attorney, heaped blame on BP for cost-cutting decisions made in the months and weeks leading up the disaster. He said two BP rig supervisors, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, disregarded abnormally high pressure readings that should have been glaring indications of trouble.
Kaluza and Vidrine have been indicted on federal manslaughter charges.
The 2010 spill fouled marshes, killed wildlife and closed fishing grounds. Scientists warn that the disaster's full effect may not be known for years. But they have reported dying coral reefs and fish afflicted with lesions and illnesses that might be oil-related.
With all of this talk about the Oscars still going around, sometimes a girl wants to share in the glam of Hollywood's biggest night, even if she's a telekinetically powered, vengeful teenage girl. Empire recently published a new image (via The Playlist) of Chloe Moretz dressed to the 6s (as in 666) in Kimberly Peirce's [...]
Just who created the yusheng dish which has become synonymous with Chinese New Year in Singapore? Almost everyone?says it?s?the Sin Leong chef. Not me. Though I base my?belief on no more than sheer memory ?which may not be reliable.
As far as I?m concerned, the first time I ever tasted yusheng was in Kuala Lumpur hosted by my BFF ES on one of my visits there. At a Petaling Street eatery.
It was some time after the 1969 racial riots but before I took on real working responsibilities. Till then, I?d never tasted yusheng, perhaps due to the fact that I come from a family of hill turtles
Anyway, I distinctly remember ES telling me that the garnshings of white radish strips, cucumber strips, etc were known as ?lap sap? or rubbish. And that the dish was only eaten?during the 7th day of the Chinese New Year?or Yun-Yat, day of the human being?or day of everyman.
Another pointer that yusheng might have originated from KL rather than SG is that when participants toss the largely raw ingredients (save for the crackers) they chant ?Lo hei?, a distinctly Cantonese phrase. KL is better known for speaking Cantonese, while SG?s major Chinese dialect is Hokein.
Since my first encounter with yusheng, however, it has?become so popular?that even typically western-oriented establishments like the Tanglin Club and Singapore Cricket Club start offering it?well be4 the dawn of Chinese New Year Day and don?t stop serving the dish till Chap Go Mei or the 15th Day of the Chinese New Year.
With the official end of Chinese New Year celebrations tonight ? Yuan Xiao Jie ???? I would like to share my memories of the various yusheng encounters I have had since Feb 1
First taste was had at Jumbo Restaurant@ Dempsey where the Lunch Party had our monthly lunch. It was a luscious offering with plenty of sliced salmon waiting to be tossed.
The next tasting came when AI dropped in from one of her globe-trotting trips and treated some friends and me to a meal at the Tanglin Club. As an absent member, she was raring to do some spending!
Another yusheng was had at my sister n BIL?s home. Mum n I have been going there for kai nian fan for as long as my sister has been married. Their newly minted DIL rushed out to Jelita Cold Storage to get a portion as we are all addicted to the dish. She even splashed out on an extra portion of fish
Not to be out done, I rushed out on the 7th Day of the New Year and bought a serving from GWC Cold Storage for lunch. The $29 serving was loaded on veggies but the sliced salmon was so little I could have eaten it all by myself in one mouthful. But I didn?t add fish, as there were only five of us for lunch that day, the rest of the immediate family having gone to Malaysia to visit far-flung relatives.
The next yusheng I had was courtesy of old school mate JLS who treated us to the dish at our quarterly get together. A generous portion large enough to cater to 15 hungry ? and growing??women
Then came Feb 21 when I went into yusheng overdrive. For lunch, I was at the ritualistic annual CNY lunch hosted by the Association of Banks in Singapore. This time, the event was at the Ritz Carlton and as to be expected, there was no stinting on the fish!
That night, it was dinner with the regular Thursday night yoga kakis at the Kampung Glam Community Club. Our instructors hosted and provided a veritable feast, especially their mum?s signature vegetarian yusheng which was as much a treat for the eye as for the stomach. In place of fish, young fresh coconute flesh was used. Healthy and utterly delicious!
The final yusheng dish for the Year of the Black Water Snake was eaten at another extended family dinner (hosted by younger brother SY and wife)?at Xin Fut Kai, a vegetarian restaurant with a huge following at 282 Jalan Besar.
Am I tired of yusheng after this binge??The answer is a resounding ?no?.
Frankly, I don?t understand why it isn?t available all the year round, especially when the providers? profit margin must be wide enough to drive a bendy bus through!
This evening from the Twitter world we get a hint that Major League Soccer?s long-standing logo may be changing.
Someone who reads the fine print noticed a job ad from adidas group and then alerted the world ? via the wonder of Twitter. Here are the words grabbing attention as this thing spins through the social media rinse cycle. These are under ?Project Description:?
Support Global Product Creation during transition into new MLS logo ? all MLS/adidas branded products will be affected?
Interesting, eh?
We?ll dig around a little with people in the know at MLS HQ. And then we?ll let you know. Here ? and via Twitter.
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama said Friday that about 100 American troops have been deployed to the African nation of Niger. Two U.S. defense officials said the troops would be setting up a base for unarmed drones to conduct surveillance.
Obama announced the deployment in a letter to Congress, saying that the forces "will provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate intelligence sharing with French forces conducting operations in Mali, and with other partners in the region."
The move marks a deepening of U.S. efforts to stem the spread of al Qaeda and its affiliates in the volatile region. It also underscores Obama's desire to fight extremism without involving large numbers of U.S. ground forces.
The drone base will allow the U.S. to give France more intelligence on the militants its forces have been fighting in Mali, which neighbors Niger. Over time, it could extend the reach not only of American intelligence-gathering but also U.S. special operations missions to strengthen Niger's own security forces.
One of the two U.S. defense officials who discussed the development confirmed the American troops would fly drones and other surveillance platforms from Niger military airstrips, tracking militant and refugee movement inside Mali and around the border. The U.S. will share that intelligence with Niger's military, the official said.
Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the project.
The drones at the Niger base will be unarmed and used for surveillance, not airstrikes. Still, the development of a base in Niger raises the possibility that it could eventually be used for launching strikes.
Obama said in his letter to Congress that the U.S. forces have been deployed with the consent of Niger's government. The forces were also deployed with weapons "for their own force protection and security," the president said.
Last month, the U.S. and Niger signed a status-of-forces-agreement spelling out legal protections and obligations of American forces that might operate in Niger in the future.
Africa is increasingly a focus of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, even as al Qaeda remains a threat in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Last month's terrorist attack on a natural gas complex in Algeria, in which at least 37 hostages and 29 militants were killed, illustrated the threat posed by extremists who have asserted power propelled by long-simmering ethnic tensions in Mali and the revolution in Libya.
A number of al Qaeda-linked Islamic extremist groups operate in Mali and elsewhere in the Sahara, including a group known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, which originated in Algeria and is active in northern Mali. Last month, French forces intervened to stop the extremists' move toward Mali's capital, and Washington has grown more involved by providing a variety of military support to French troops.
France has said it will eventually pull out of its Mali operation so that African forces can help stabilize the West African country.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman will present on this year's Oscar telecast, adding some old- school prestige to the proceedings.
They also bring an impressive track record of Oscar victories.
Nicholson has been nominated 12 times and won three statues for his leading performances in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) and "As Good as It Gets" (1997) and for his supporting work in "Terms of Endearment" (1983). He has also become an Oscars fixture over the years, with his trademark sunglasses and leer enlivening many a telecast.
Hoffman has been nominated seven times, winning twice for his leading performances in "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and "Rain Man" (1988).
"Between the two of them, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman have created more iconic characters than any other pair of actors in the world," producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said in a statement. "Their participation in this year's Oscars completes a list of presenters and performers that truly represents that great breadth and depth of acting talent in film today."
Hoffman and Nicholson join a list of presenters that includes Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, Jamie Foxx, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Mark Wahlberg, and "Marvel's The Avengers" cast members Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo.
In addition, all of the four acting award winners from last year's ceremony - Jean Dujardin, Christopher Plummer, Octavia Spencer and Meryl Streep - will present on the show.
Music is also shaping up to be an important element on this broadcast, with Zadan and Meron lining up such big name performers as Adele, Dame Shirley Bassey, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.
The Oscars will air this Sunday and will be hosted by "Ted" star Seth MacFarlane.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Weinstein Company has acquired distribution rights to "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" in North America, Australia and New Zealand, the studio said Friday.
The biopic of Nelson Mandela's life draws on the anti-apartheid leader's autobiography of the same name and is directed by Justin Chadwick ("The Other Boleyn Girl") and produced by Anant Singh. William Nicholson ("Gladiator") wrote the script.
Shot in South Africa, the film stars Idris Elba ("The Wire") in the title role and Naomie Harris as his wife Winnie.
"I am extremely passionate about 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,'" TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein said in statement. "Anant Singh first gave the book to me in 1994, when the first edition came out. We have been talking about making this film since 1999. There have been a number of stop and goes, but sometimes things work out for a reason, and Anant Singh has done a masterful job in producing this epic story of our times. Through Anant and Bob De Niro, I met Nelson Mandela, and it was one of the best experiences of my life."
The deal was negotiated in London by David Glasser and Michal Steinberg for TWC and Anant Singh and Alan Grodin of Weintraub Tobin for Distant Horizon. Pathe has acquired the UK and French rights and is handling international sales.
The weekend is just minutes away at this point, but instead of going into an excited frenzy, relax and take a moment to recall all the beautiful things we feasted our eyes upon this week. We may be looking forward to the days of freedom ahead, but don't forget to enjoy what you have in front of you, right here, right now, and right down below. More »
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is expanding is production plant in Ohio to meet the increasing demand in the United States for fuel-efficient vehicles.
Because of the expansion, the car manufacturer will be hiring an additional 450 workers, according to a report from The New York Times.
According to the car manufacturer, it will spend $200 million to renovate its engine plant in Cleveland to manufacture small, turbocharged engines, which will be utilized for its top selling vehicles.?Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is the second largest car manufacturer in the United States.
Last December, the car manufacturer announced that it would invest $773 million for the modernization of its Dearborn Stamping plant and add four press lines to manufacture its next generation F-series trucks. The company said it would also refit its plant in Michigan to increase its production for small cars.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) also announced last year, that it would invest in three other plants including Van Dyke Transmission Plant, Livonia Transmission Plant and Sterling Axle Plant.
The company said its investments are part of its commitment with the United Auto Workers in 2011 to expand and invest $6.2 billion. The company?s expansion plan is expected to create 2,350 total jobs in Southeast Michigan alone, this year.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) added 8,000 salaried and hourly jobs last year. The company plans to hire additional 2,200 white-collar workers this year. It is transferring some of its vehicle production from Mexico to Michigan. The move will create 1,200 jobs in its Michigan plant.
Since the recession, car manufacturers in the United Stated, including Ford, cut labor costs and improved their production. The car manufacturer was forced to consolidate its two engine plants in Ohio and closed a major component operation.
Joe Hinrichs, head of the Americas region for?Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) said, ?No question we have been through a lot in northern Ohio. But now our North American business is very competitive with the best in the world.?
The second largest car manufacturer plans to centralize the production of its 2-liter, EcoBoost engine at its Cleveland Plant. At present, Ford is manufacturing the engines in a plant in Spain. The company then ships the engines to the United States. According to the company, its workers in Spain will be transferred to another plant that will take work from a plant in Belgium, which be shut down.
Currently, Ford?s plant in Cleveland has 1,300 workers.? ?This is about servicing more demand in the U.S. And with our competitive labor agreements, we can bring business to the U.S. from Spain and Mexico,? Hinrichs said.
?
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International space station plays host to innovative infectious disease researchPublic release date: 19-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer Joseph.Caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University
Performing sensitive biological experiments is always a delicate affair. Few researchers, however, contend with the challenges faced by Cheryl Nickerson, whose working laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is located hundreds of miles above the Earth, traveling at some 17,000 miles per hour.
Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, is using the ISS platform to pursue new research into the effects of microgravity on disease-causing organisms.
Nickerson presented her research findings and charted the course for future investigations aboard the ISS on February 18 at the 2013 annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Boston, Mass. Her talk, entitled "Microgravity: A Novel Tool for Advances in Biomedical Research," is part of a special session devoted to ISS science.
"One important focus of my research is to use the microgravity environment of spaceflight as an innovative biomedical research platform. We seek to unveil novel cellular and molecular mechanisms related to infectious disease progression that cannot be observed here on Earth, and to translate our findings to novel strategies for treatment and prevention."
During an earlier series of NASA space shuttle and ground-based experiments, Nickerson and her team made a startling discovery. Spaceflight culture increased the disease-causing potential (virulence) of the foodborne pathogen Salmonella, yet many of the genes known to be important for its virulence were not turned on and off as expected when this organism is grown on Earth. Understanding how this switching is regulated may be useful for designing targeted strategies to prevent infection.
For NASA, Nickerson's findings were revelatory, given their implications for the health of astronauts on extended spaceflight missions. Already faced with the potential for compromised immunity induced by the rigors of space travel, astronauts may have to further contend with the threat of disease-causing microbes with amped-up infectious abilities. A more thorough understanding of infectious processes and host responses under these conditions is therefore vital for the design of therapeutics and other methods of limiting vulnerability for those on space missions.
The story however, doesn't end there. Further research by Nickerson's team pointed to important implications for the understanding of health and disease on Earth. Her team, including NASA scientists, showed that one of the central factors affecting the behavior of pathogenic cells is the physical force produced by the movement of fluid over a bacterial cell's sensitive surface. This property, known as fluid shear, helps modulate a broad range of cell behaviors, provoking changes in cell morphology, virulence, and global alterations in gene expression, in pathogens like Salmonella.
"There are conditions that are encountered by pathogens during the infection process in the human body that are relevant to conditions that these same organisms experience when cultured in spaceflight. By studying the effect of spaceflight on the disease-causing potential of major pathogens like Salmonella, we may be able to provide insight into infectious disease mechanisms that cannot be attained using traditional experimental approaches on Earth, where gravity can mask key cellular responses," says Nickerson
Nickerson's spaceflight studies also pinpointed an evolutionarily conserved proteincalled Hfqwhich appears to act as a global regulator of gene responses to spaceflight conditions. Further research by her team established that Hfq is a central mediator in the spaceflight-induced responses of other bacterial pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, thus representing the first spaceflight-induced regulator acting across bacterial species.
Nickerson's examination of the post-spaceflight alterations in bacterial behavior made use of microarray technology, which allows analysis of gene expression for the entire 4.8 million base pairs found in Salmonella's circular chromosome. Data revealed that 167 distinct genes and 73 proteins had been altered during growth under microgravity conditions, including (but not limited to) virulence-associated genes. Of the 167 genes undergoing up- or down-regulation in response to spaceflight, one third were under the control of the Hfq master regulator protein.
These microgravity studies open a new window into the infectious disease mechanisms of Salmonella, an aggressive pathogen responsible for infecting an estimated 94 million people globally and causing 155,000 deaths annually. In the U.S. alone, more than 40,000 cases of Salmonellosis are reported annually, resulting in at least 500 deaths, and health care costs in excess of $50 million. However, only a small percentage of infections with Salmonella are reported, and the estimated two to four million cases of Salmonella-induced gastroenteritis which occur in the United States each year constitute a significant economic loss of productive work time, reported to exceed $2 billion annually.
While Salmonella has been a pathogen of choice for a broad range of spaceflight investigations, Nickerson stresses that her findings have spaceflight and Earth-based implications. Her confidence is based on her team's work showing that microgravity culture also uniquely alters gene expression and pathogenesis-related responses in other microorganisms.
Nickerson emphasizes that the ISS provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the infection process under microgravity conditions, enabling advances in our understanding of microbial gene expression and accompanying host responses during infection in fine-grained detail. This novel approach holds the potential to identify new classes of genes and proteins associated with infection and disease not possible using traditional experimental conditions on Earth, where the force of gravity can mask certain cellular responses. Further, experiments aboard the ISS will permit the study of microbial transitions and cellular responses to infection over a prolonged time frame - an important advance not available during shuttle-based experiments.
Microgravity research may provide an opportunity to identify novel targets for vaccine development and the Nickerson team, in collaboration with Roy Curtiss, director of the Biodesign Institute's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology has been working toward this goal. Based on previous findings, the scientists hypothesized that results from microgravity experiments might be used to facilitate vaccine development on Earth.
In a recent spaceflight experiment aboard space shuttle mission STS-135, the team flew a genetically modified Salmonella-based anti-pneumoccal vaccine that was developed in the Curtiss lab. By understanding the effect of microgravity culture on the gene expression and immunogenicity of the vaccine strain, their goal is to genetically modify the strain back on Earth to enhance its ability to confer a protective immune response against pneumococcal pneumonia.
"Recognizing that the spaceflight environment imparts a unique signal capable of modifying Salmonella virulence, we will use this same principle in an effort to enhance the protective immune response of the recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccine strain," Nickerson says.
Nickerson's space-based microgravity experiments are carried out in conjunction with simultaneous Earth-based controls housed in the same hardware as those in orbit, to compare the behavior of bacterial cells under normal Earth gravity. Additional information is also provided using Earth-based cell cultures which are subjected to a kind of simulated microgravity, produced by culturing cells in a rotating wall vessel bioreactor (RWV), a device designed by NASA engineers to replicate aspects of cell culture in the spaceflight environment.
Back at ASU, RWV reactor experiments were conducted by Nickerson and her team to help confirm that Hfq plays a central regulatory role in the Salmonella response to spaceflight conditions. Nickerson has also used this RWV technology to grow three dimensional (3-D) cell culture models that mimic key aspects of the structure and function of tissues in the body. These 3-D models are being used in the Nickerson lab as human surrogates to provide novel insight into the infectious disease process not obtainable by conventional approaches and for drug/therapeutic testing and development for treatment and prevention.
Nickerson also focuses research efforts on determining the entire repertoire of environmental factors that may influence bacterial response to spaceflight culture. For example, she found that the ion concentration in the cell culture media played a key role in the resulting effect of spaceflight on Salmonella virulence. Using the RWV, she was able to identify specific salts that may be responsible for this effect.
Nickerson's long list of firsts (first study to examine the effect of spaceflight on the virulence of a pathogen, first to obtain the entire gene expression response of a bacterium to spaceflight, first to profile the infection process in human cells in spaceflight, first identification of a spaceflight-responsive global gene regulator acting across bacterial species), will soon be augmented with a new experiment, that will be flown on SpaceX Dragon slated for the ISS later this year. Nicknamed PHOENIX, the project will mark the first time a whole, living organismin this case a nematodewill be infected with a pathogen and simultaneously monitored in real time during the infection process under microgravity conditions.
This and future studies aboard ISS will almost certainly deepen science's understanding of the molecular and cellular cues underlying pathogenic virulence and open a new chapter in the understanding of health and disease to benefit the general public.
"It is exciting to me that our work to discover how to keep astronauts healthy during spaceflight may translate into novel ways to prevent infectious diseases here on Earth," Nickerson says.
###
Written by:
Science Writer: The Biodesign Institute
Richard.Harth@asu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
International space station plays host to innovative infectious disease researchPublic release date: 19-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer Joseph.Caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University
Performing sensitive biological experiments is always a delicate affair. Few researchers, however, contend with the challenges faced by Cheryl Nickerson, whose working laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is located hundreds of miles above the Earth, traveling at some 17,000 miles per hour.
Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, is using the ISS platform to pursue new research into the effects of microgravity on disease-causing organisms.
Nickerson presented her research findings and charted the course for future investigations aboard the ISS on February 18 at the 2013 annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Boston, Mass. Her talk, entitled "Microgravity: A Novel Tool for Advances in Biomedical Research," is part of a special session devoted to ISS science.
"One important focus of my research is to use the microgravity environment of spaceflight as an innovative biomedical research platform. We seek to unveil novel cellular and molecular mechanisms related to infectious disease progression that cannot be observed here on Earth, and to translate our findings to novel strategies for treatment and prevention."
During an earlier series of NASA space shuttle and ground-based experiments, Nickerson and her team made a startling discovery. Spaceflight culture increased the disease-causing potential (virulence) of the foodborne pathogen Salmonella, yet many of the genes known to be important for its virulence were not turned on and off as expected when this organism is grown on Earth. Understanding how this switching is regulated may be useful for designing targeted strategies to prevent infection.
For NASA, Nickerson's findings were revelatory, given their implications for the health of astronauts on extended spaceflight missions. Already faced with the potential for compromised immunity induced by the rigors of space travel, astronauts may have to further contend with the threat of disease-causing microbes with amped-up infectious abilities. A more thorough understanding of infectious processes and host responses under these conditions is therefore vital for the design of therapeutics and other methods of limiting vulnerability for those on space missions.
The story however, doesn't end there. Further research by Nickerson's team pointed to important implications for the understanding of health and disease on Earth. Her team, including NASA scientists, showed that one of the central factors affecting the behavior of pathogenic cells is the physical force produced by the movement of fluid over a bacterial cell's sensitive surface. This property, known as fluid shear, helps modulate a broad range of cell behaviors, provoking changes in cell morphology, virulence, and global alterations in gene expression, in pathogens like Salmonella.
"There are conditions that are encountered by pathogens during the infection process in the human body that are relevant to conditions that these same organisms experience when cultured in spaceflight. By studying the effect of spaceflight on the disease-causing potential of major pathogens like Salmonella, we may be able to provide insight into infectious disease mechanisms that cannot be attained using traditional experimental approaches on Earth, where gravity can mask key cellular responses," says Nickerson
Nickerson's spaceflight studies also pinpointed an evolutionarily conserved proteincalled Hfqwhich appears to act as a global regulator of gene responses to spaceflight conditions. Further research by her team established that Hfq is a central mediator in the spaceflight-induced responses of other bacterial pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, thus representing the first spaceflight-induced regulator acting across bacterial species.
Nickerson's examination of the post-spaceflight alterations in bacterial behavior made use of microarray technology, which allows analysis of gene expression for the entire 4.8 million base pairs found in Salmonella's circular chromosome. Data revealed that 167 distinct genes and 73 proteins had been altered during growth under microgravity conditions, including (but not limited to) virulence-associated genes. Of the 167 genes undergoing up- or down-regulation in response to spaceflight, one third were under the control of the Hfq master regulator protein.
These microgravity studies open a new window into the infectious disease mechanisms of Salmonella, an aggressive pathogen responsible for infecting an estimated 94 million people globally and causing 155,000 deaths annually. In the U.S. alone, more than 40,000 cases of Salmonellosis are reported annually, resulting in at least 500 deaths, and health care costs in excess of $50 million. However, only a small percentage of infections with Salmonella are reported, and the estimated two to four million cases of Salmonella-induced gastroenteritis which occur in the United States each year constitute a significant economic loss of productive work time, reported to exceed $2 billion annually.
While Salmonella has been a pathogen of choice for a broad range of spaceflight investigations, Nickerson stresses that her findings have spaceflight and Earth-based implications. Her confidence is based on her team's work showing that microgravity culture also uniquely alters gene expression and pathogenesis-related responses in other microorganisms.
Nickerson emphasizes that the ISS provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the infection process under microgravity conditions, enabling advances in our understanding of microbial gene expression and accompanying host responses during infection in fine-grained detail. This novel approach holds the potential to identify new classes of genes and proteins associated with infection and disease not possible using traditional experimental conditions on Earth, where the force of gravity can mask certain cellular responses. Further, experiments aboard the ISS will permit the study of microbial transitions and cellular responses to infection over a prolonged time frame - an important advance not available during shuttle-based experiments.
Microgravity research may provide an opportunity to identify novel targets for vaccine development and the Nickerson team, in collaboration with Roy Curtiss, director of the Biodesign Institute's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology has been working toward this goal. Based on previous findings, the scientists hypothesized that results from microgravity experiments might be used to facilitate vaccine development on Earth.
In a recent spaceflight experiment aboard space shuttle mission STS-135, the team flew a genetically modified Salmonella-based anti-pneumoccal vaccine that was developed in the Curtiss lab. By understanding the effect of microgravity culture on the gene expression and immunogenicity of the vaccine strain, their goal is to genetically modify the strain back on Earth to enhance its ability to confer a protective immune response against pneumococcal pneumonia.
"Recognizing that the spaceflight environment imparts a unique signal capable of modifying Salmonella virulence, we will use this same principle in an effort to enhance the protective immune response of the recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccine strain," Nickerson says.
Nickerson's space-based microgravity experiments are carried out in conjunction with simultaneous Earth-based controls housed in the same hardware as those in orbit, to compare the behavior of bacterial cells under normal Earth gravity. Additional information is also provided using Earth-based cell cultures which are subjected to a kind of simulated microgravity, produced by culturing cells in a rotating wall vessel bioreactor (RWV), a device designed by NASA engineers to replicate aspects of cell culture in the spaceflight environment.
Back at ASU, RWV reactor experiments were conducted by Nickerson and her team to help confirm that Hfq plays a central regulatory role in the Salmonella response to spaceflight conditions. Nickerson has also used this RWV technology to grow three dimensional (3-D) cell culture models that mimic key aspects of the structure and function of tissues in the body. These 3-D models are being used in the Nickerson lab as human surrogates to provide novel insight into the infectious disease process not obtainable by conventional approaches and for drug/therapeutic testing and development for treatment and prevention.
Nickerson also focuses research efforts on determining the entire repertoire of environmental factors that may influence bacterial response to spaceflight culture. For example, she found that the ion concentration in the cell culture media played a key role in the resulting effect of spaceflight on Salmonella virulence. Using the RWV, she was able to identify specific salts that may be responsible for this effect.
Nickerson's long list of firsts (first study to examine the effect of spaceflight on the virulence of a pathogen, first to obtain the entire gene expression response of a bacterium to spaceflight, first to profile the infection process in human cells in spaceflight, first identification of a spaceflight-responsive global gene regulator acting across bacterial species), will soon be augmented with a new experiment, that will be flown on SpaceX Dragon slated for the ISS later this year. Nicknamed PHOENIX, the project will mark the first time a whole, living organismin this case a nematodewill be infected with a pathogen and simultaneously monitored in real time during the infection process under microgravity conditions.
This and future studies aboard ISS will almost certainly deepen science's understanding of the molecular and cellular cues underlying pathogenic virulence and open a new chapter in the understanding of health and disease to benefit the general public.
"It is exciting to me that our work to discover how to keep astronauts healthy during spaceflight may translate into novel ways to prevent infectious diseases here on Earth," Nickerson says.
###
Written by:
Science Writer: The Biodesign Institute
Richard.Harth@asu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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