Wells Fargo has passed the billion dollar mark nationwide for SBA lending. Doug Hargraves,?Wells Fargo Regional Manager for Riverside and San Bernardino County says they do see a lot of SBA lending, through two programs, the 7a and 504. 7a is a flagship program and up to 80% of their lending volume comes from that program. ?Wells Fargo is number one nationally for that program.?
According to Hargraves, banks are looking for business owners who show high character, have a good reputation, are known in their industry and are able to weather good times and bad. ?It continues to be a challenge to lend to people with difficult credit,? he said. ?If people have experienced difficulties, it is even more important than usual to have a relationship with the bank so they understand what has transpired.?
Traditionally banks don?t lend to those with a bankruptcy on their record, but will look on a medical bankruptcy more favorably. Hargraves explained, ?A medical bankruptcy doesn?t generally indicate a person?s character. Bankers are really trying to evaluate not just the ability, but the willingness of a person to be responsible for the loan. You don?t want to lend to someone with a poor ability to pay their debts.?
Credit: You need to be credit worthy, with good business and personal credit. It?s a person?s character we are looking at, and that?s how we judge. If you haven?t already pulled credit reports, do it. Be prepared to explain derogatory credit points.
Cash flow: Banks want to see how profitable the business was in its most recent fiscal year, and two of last three years.
Collateral: Banks like collateral. With something tangible to liquidate, the bank has something to fall back on in an effort to repay all or a portion of the amount lent. Real estate and equipment are easy to lend against. Companies without hard assets are more difficult to lend to. For instance a software company?s inventory is code, so it is not something that can be liquidated easily.
LENDING ADVICE from a Banker
The three key professionals you need for your business are a CPA, an attorney, and a banker.
Don?t be afraid to approach your local bank. The mistake a lot of business owners make is to wait until they are about to start their business, to establish their relationship with a bank. It is much easier if you have an established relationship with the bank.
Before you walk in for credit, reach out to a business banker in your community. In terms of selecting a bank, whether it is a small local or regional player or a large bank that has a strong presence in the community, and has a small business focus. You want to make sure the people you are meeting with from the bank are empowered and can make decisions in your local community. Some big banks will send out a package to Texas, for instance, to be decisioned.
At Wells Fargo, we take pride in being a bunch of small community banks inside of a large bank. Within the $2 ? $20 million customer segment, all decisions are made locally to extend pricing, manage it locally so it?s not about a transaction, it?s about a relationship. It doesn?t start with the loan. It starts well before and extends well after.
BY NATASHA KORECKI Political Reporter September 28, 2012 8:46PM
Republican candidate Joe Walsh (right) answers a question during an 8th congressional debate with Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth on Friday, September 14, 2012 at Fox Chicago News . | Steven Buyansky~Sun-Times Media
With six competitive congressional races, there is a lot of attention focused on the Land of Lincoln.
Both the national committees for Republicans and Democrats are planning an intense battle over the next five weeks, with each poised to pour millions of dollars into the state?s congressional races. That?s besides SuperPAC money that?s also flowing the way of Illinois, some giving recent boosts to Republican incumbents Joe Walsh and Judy Biggert.
Five of the seats up for grabs are now held by Republicans. Since Democrats recently redrew congressional maps, there are more Democrats living in all of those districts. Nationally, Democrats need to win back 25 seats to shift the balance. They hope six of those seats could come from Illinois. ?All six of these candidates have been running aggressive campaigns,? said Haley Morris., spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DCCC has opened 11 offices across the state, and deployed 30 staffers devoted to get-out-the-vote efforts in addition to devoting $6 million to TV ads.
?The path to a Democratic majority goes through Illinois,? DCCC Chairman Steve Israel said in a statement. ?Top-tier Democratic candidates across Illinois are already holding Republicans accountable for voting to end Medicare just to give tax breaks to billionaires.? However, last week, Israel tempered Democratic expectations, telling ?Roll Call? he was confident in winning two seats.
Still, National Republican Committee Chairman Pete Sessions recently said on C-Span that Illinois ?would be ground zero for a problem . . . and if I did stay up at night that?s why I would stay up.?
The Republicans say that Downstate Democrats are vulnerable as the more conservative electorate has not been happy with Obama?s policies.
Three of the six competitive races are three heater races in the greater Chicago area that will likely be a battle until the bitter end. Here?s a rundown:
8th Congressional District
One of the most-watched contests in the nation pits Tea Party Republican Joe Walsh, an incumbent in the north and northwest suburban 8th Congressional District, against Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat who has gained national recognition. The newly mapped district contains just about 27 percent of the old district.
While one poll has given Duckworth the lead, Walsh has recently benefitted from an infusion of SuperPAC money, totaling $1 million last week alone. The RNCC has also promised more than $457,000 to keep Walsh?s race competitive. Duckworth?s campaign recently criticized Walsh for getting the SuperPAC funding from ?far right? groups. That salvo was launched after Walsh had hit Duckworth, saying she spent more time out of state than in the district. Last week, Walsh gave out a prize to a contributor, sending him to California to meet Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth had spoken at a veterans event in the state and spent a few days there.
Walsh said it wasn?t a stunt, but a way to make a point. ?I think it?s stunning that five weeks before the election she spent a week in California,? Walsh said. ?I thought, what the heck, she?s giving a free, open-to-the-public speech in California. [It was] a fun way to make a very serious point.? Duckworth released a new ad this week featuring the double amputee on a bike with the promise that she would ?go the extra mile.?
Walsh, though, pointed to the commercial as another example of Duckworth touting her biography without being specific about what she would bring to the table.
?It?s a beautiful commercial, but you watch it and you don?t know what it?s for,? he said. ?Where does she stand on issues?? Duckworth could not be reached for comment, but a recent release listed a series of events she planned in the district over the next two weeks.
11th Congressional District
The race between Republican incumbent Judy Biggert and Democrat Bill Foster, an ex-incumbent in a nearby district, is almost a dead heat, according to one recent poll. Biggert has been in Congress since 1998 and her moderate stance had kept her alive in a west suburban district with a shifting electorate. However, Foster, a scientist, is hoping to capitalize on a redrawn congressional map. The money battle has been intense and recently, Biggert?s campaign won an infusion of more than $500,000 from a SuperPAC that specifically supports Republican candidates who back gay marriage. 10th Congressional District
Incumbent Bob Dold (R-Ill.) is trying to hang on to the North Shore district that has had GOP representation for decades, despite strong pockets of liberal voters. The seat, once held by U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, is considered vulnerable, however. While early internal numbers from Dold?s campaign had him in the lead, the most recent numbers from a Democratic poll released in August showed Dold and his challenger Brad Schneider in a dead heat. The two have been running TV commercials and are expected to ratchet up spending in the next few weeks. ?Illinois is going to be competitive, and we?re ready to compete,? said Prill. Downstate
Downstate, where the Republicans believe they will fare better, three races are considered ?competitive.? In the 17th Congressional District in western Illinois, Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Shilling is competing against former East Moline Alderwoman Cheri Bustos, a Democrat. A recent poll shows the two are neck and neck.
In the 13th Congressional District in central Illinois, Democrat David Gill, who is a doctor, is pitted up against Rodney Davis, a Republican. The seat is considered up for grabs since it?s an open contest to succeed U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, a Republican who is retiring. In the 12th Congressional District in southern Illinois, Bill Enyart, a Democrat and a onetime Illinois Guard General. is facing off against Jason Plummer, a Republican. Democrats are working to keep this seat as U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, a Democrat, is retiring.
Background: Immigration is not a new phenomenon but, rather, has deep roots in human history. Documents from every era detail individuals who left their homelands and struggled to reestablish their lives in other countries. The aim of this study was to explore and understand the experience of Iranian immigrants who accessed Canadian health care services. Research with immigrants is useful for learning about strategies that newcomers develop to access health care services. Methods: The research question guiding this study was, `What are the processes by which Iranian immigrants learn to access health care services in Canada?` To answer the question, a constructivist grounded theory approach was applied. Initially, unstructured interviews were conducted with 17 participants (11 women and six men) who were adults (at least 18 years old) and had immigrated to Canada within the past 15 years. Eight participants took part in a second interview, and four participants took part in a third interview. Results: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, `tackling the stumbling blocks of access` emerged as the core category. The basic social process (BSP), becoming self-sufficient, was a transitional process and had five stages: becoming a stranger; feeling helpless; navigating/seeking information; employing strategies; and becoming integrated and self-sufficient. We found that `tackling the stumbling blocks of access` was the main struggle throughout this journey. Some of the immigrants were able to overcome these challenges and became proficient in accessing health care services, but others were unable to make the necessary changes and thus stayed in earlier stages/phases of transition, and sometimes returned to their country of origin. Conclusion: During the course of this journey a substantive grounded theory was developed that revealed the challenges and issues confronted by this particular group of immigrants. This process explains why some Iranian immigrants are able to access Canadian health care effectively while others cannot. Many elements, including language proficiency, cultural differences, education, previous experiences, financial status, age, knowledge of the host country`s health care services, and insider and outsider resources work synergistically in helping immigrants to access health care services effectively and appropriately.
?Syder Arcade is a free scrolling multi directional shoot ?em up. A love letter to ?90 games for the Amiga and PC. An uncompromised old-school experience, a furious, challenging action game that will bring you back in time, when games were all about skill and perseverance? and also madly swearing at your computer.?
They?re certainly not wrong about that last bit, Syder Arcade is one tough cookie I?m still battling my way through level two.
I picked up Syder Arcade as part of the the Green Light Bundle and has been sitting on my to play pile as i slowly get through some of the other indie gaming bundles?.why do they make them so good
A perfect game for a rainy Saturday afternoon.
In the graphics option, you?ll find a whole heap of filters which you can apply so that you can play the game in old school CGA, VGA and Mono mode.
There?s even filters for Commodore 64, Vic 20,ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amiga and Apple classic too.
;
?and without a ram pack too
;
;
ZX Spectrum mode?.my eyes!
Although the Greenlight bundle is over, you can still download the playable demo or purchase the game for Mac/Windows from the developers website ? http://www.studioevil.com/
ANDTEK GmbH develops customized solutions from a single source
Munich / Hallbergmoos, September 24, 2012 ? State and local government face major challenges in dealing with various forms of communication (telephone, email, Internet, etc.) and telephony services (call lists, directories, etc.). Why is it so? Simply because many communities have been merged and an increased number of people need to communicate with different PBXs at different locations. The Munich-based, unified communications specialist ANDTEK GmbH offers appropriate IP communication solutions to deliver a reliable, easy-to-use, and cost-effective service.
In Germany, municipality, county and city governments are becoming larger. The number of users grows accordingly and multiplies for the now common but different communication forms (telephone, mobile, Internet, e-mail or fax). A further complication arises from the management of several sites with different PBX systems. Indeed, ensuring effective communication with such isolated applications remains a challenge. In addition, they cause unnecessary costs, such as the consideration of interoffice calls as external calls, while the availability of many popular features ? e.g., automatic callback ? appears somewhat intermittent.
High availability, optimal citizen service
?Here, the advantages of a homogeneous unified communications environment truly show? says Thomas M?ller, Channel Sales Manager of the Munich-based unified communications specialist ANDTEK GmbH. In addition to reducing costs through centralized management (government offices using pure IP infrastructure can reduce their operating costs by up to 80 percent compared to traditional telephone systems), these include a unified, system-wide performance and full integration into any workflow. According to UC specialist Mr. M?ller, we should add to that a high level of accessibility, transparency and thus the assurance of essential civil services at public facilities.
Smooth communication processes
Meanwhile, more and more national and local authorities such as district offices operate on the IP Communication solutions of ANDTEK GmbH. The Munich specialist provider is familiar with the requirements of agencies and government offices and develops custom applications to guarantee smooth communication processes.
Ease of use
With the attendant console solution ?AND Desktop AC?, ANDTEK provides a tool integrating various communication options. This IP solution allows government officials using any PC connected to an IP phone to control various services via a convenient interface ? for example, make phone calls, faxes and e-mails, operate programs, or access the address and phone number directories. In this way, citizens? concerns can be quickly addressed.
Sheer citizen intimacy
The attendant console solution ?AND Desktop AC? also ensures the availability of appropriate government officials. A special presence and group service ensures that callers find the right person at any time.
?Nowadays, modern government offices and agencies know that having an efficient public service communication is critical?, says ANDTEK?s CEO Roland Russwurm. ?We encourage governments of all sizes to adopt efficient and cost-effective UC solutions?.
To celebrate 25 billion downloads, the Google Play Store is having a sale for the next 5 days: “Every day you’ll be able to choose from a collection of apps?from some of the world’s top developers including Gameloft, Electronic Arts,?Rovio, runtastic, Full Fat and more. And all for just 25 cents. “We’ll also be offering [...]
As a medical student and health care professional, if there is one disease that continually comes up in daily discussion, it?s diabetes. ?As a disease, diabetes is one that I would not wish on anyone, not that I ever wish disease on anybody to begin, but I wouldn?t wish it on my worst enemy. ?As a disease diabetes my?initially?seem fairly tame, but it has the potential to eventually affect just about every organ system in the body.
As I begin to plan my career as a future Family Medicine Physician, I know that I will be dealing with diabetes on a regular basis. ?Any opportunity I have to learn more about the risk factors to look out for in order to help people avoid it, or to better manage it is one I need to take. ?So I am following up on a previous post regarding the frequency of the 230Cys allele found in Native American groups as a potential adaptation to feast or famine and storage of energy in the form of fat to hold out during harsh conditions.
How is this relevant to diabetes? ?Well, first of all, a little background. ?Diabetes is a disease that has a huge global burden. ?Currently, around 285 million people worldwide are affected and that number could potentially climb to 430 million by the year 2030. ?Diabetes also accounts for 12% of all health care expenditure. ?It is also a highly genetically associated disease, at least Type 2 Diabetes. ?Now, in type 2 diabetes the individual will have high levels of circulating insulin. ?Insulin is a key regulator of fat storage. ?It is released following meals in response to glucose from the meal and stimulates the uptake of that glucose into liver, muscle and fat. ?It also acts to antagonize other hormones that would breakdown and use the stored glucose as energy. ?So, this is where I got to thinking, if there is a gene that is linked evolutionarily to helping survive famine, is there a potential link between such genes and diabetes.
I ended up discovering a wonderful review article that addressed a number of the questions that I had. ?First of all, the fact remains that Type 2 Diabetes is a highly multifactorial disorder. ?Just a few of the factors that come in to play include: gender, race, age, diet, and body type. ?Numerous studies have tried to determine just how big a factor genetics plays in development of the disease. ?Through genome wide association studies at least 40 loci have been associated with development of diabetes. ?Prevalence of any one of these genes varied among ethnic groups, however, the combined effect of multiple loci (dependent on ethnicity) seemed to be similar, about a 10-20% risk. ?One thing that the various loci did seem to have in common was the fact that the majority of them related to Beta cell function?(cells in the pancreas that secrete insulin). ?Other studies seemed to conclude that by taking the sum of these loci and calculating a genetic risk score that individuals with low genetic risk scores were not affected by consumption of a western diet and development of diabetes.
Tying this back to the beginning, the paper also discussed a theory regarding the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes and feast/famine cycles. ?The theory is called the Thrifty Genotype and the Thrifty Phenotype. ?It states that obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are likely caused by positive selection of genotypes for efficiency of metabolism and energy/fat storage. ?This partially explains the increased prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in indigenous populations that were subject to feast and famine cycles compared to lower prevalence in Europeans who were not subjected to those conditions. ?However, despite this, there is no clear over representation of alleles in those groups. ?Alternatively, the Thrifty Phenotype postulates that infants who experienced poor conditions in utero adapted to those conditions in such a way as to make it detrimental when they become adults in a nutrient rich environment. ?This has been shown in several studies where children born during times of famine were later found to be at higher risk of Type 2 Diabetes when they later consumed a western diet as adults than those who were not exposed to famine in utero. ?However, this theory runs into problems as infants born to obese and diabetic mothers (high nutrient in utero environment) also have increased risk of diabetes as adults.
All this just goes to show how complex Type 2 Diabetes is. ?While there may be some adaptive component that is no longer necessary in a society where resources are not scarce, it is hardly the complete picture. ?However, knowing the various components of what can potentially contribute to Type 2 Diabetes is essential to my future practice as a Family Medicine Physician as it gives me more clues about things to look out for in my patients.
Reference
Hu, F. (2011). Globalization of diabetes: the role of diet, lifestyle, and genes.. Diabetes Care, 34(6), 1249-1257.
Men on the mind: Study finds male DNA in women's brains Public release date: 26-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dean Forbes dforbes@fhcrc.org 206-667-2896 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
SEATTLE Male DNA is commonly found in the brains of women, most likely derived from prior pregnancy with a male fetus, according to first-of-its-kind research conducted at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. While the medical implications of male DNA and male cells in the brain are unknown, studies of other kinds of microchimerism the harboring of genetic material and cells that were exchanged between fetus and mother during pregnancy have linked the phenomenon to autoimmune diseases and cancer, sometimes for better and other times for worse.
The study findings are published Sept. 26 in PLOS ONE. Lead author William F. N. Chan, Ph.D., in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, conducted the research while working in the Hutchinson Center laboratory of J. Lee Nelson, M.D., a member of the Center's Clinical Research Division and a leading international authority on microchimerism. Nelson is senior author on the paper.
Chan said the study is the first description of male microchimerism in the female human brain. The findings support the likelihood that fetal cells frequently cross the human blood-brain barrier and that microchimerism in the brain is relatively common. Until this study, it was not known whether these cells could cross the barrier in humans.
For this research, scientists examined brain autopsy specimens from 59 women who had died between the ages of 32 and 101. Male microchimerism was detected in 63 percent of subjects, was distributed in multiple brain regions and was potentially persistent throughout the human lifespan; the oldest female in whom male fetal DNA was detected in the brain was 94.
Twenty six of the women had no neurological disease and 33 had Alzheimer's disease. The brains of women with Alzheimer's had a somewhat lower prevalence of male microchimerism, which appeared in lower concentrations in regions of the brain most affected by the disease. However, the authors noted that the small number of subjects and largely unknown pregnancy history of the women means a link between Alzheimer's disease and level of male cells of fetal origin cannot be established.
The study also does not provide an association between male microchimerism in the female brain and relative health versus disease. "Currently, the biological significance of harboring male DNA and male cells in the human brain requires further investigation," Chan said.
However, other Hutchinson Center studies of male microchimerism in women have found it to impact a woman's risk of developing some types of cancer and autoimmune disease. In some conditions, such as breast cancer, cells of fetal origin are thought to confer protection; in others, such as colon cancer, they have been associated with increased risk. Hutchinson Center studies also have linked lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis to women who previously had given birth at least once as compared to nulliparous women.
###
Grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded the study, which also involved researchers from the Department of Pathology and Division of Rheumatology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Editor's note: To obtain a copy of the PLOS ONE paper, "Male Microchimerism in the Human Female Brain," please contact Dean Forbes in media relations at the Hutchinson Center, dforbes@fhcrc.org or 206-667-2896.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists including three Nobel laureates seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. The Hutchinson Center's pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, the Hutchinson Center houses the nation's first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women's Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Hutchinson Center scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit www.fhcrc.org or follow the Hutchinson Center on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
CONTACT
Dean Forbes
206-667-2896
dforbes@fhcrc.org
[ | 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.
Men on the mind: Study finds male DNA in women's brains Public release date: 26-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dean Forbes dforbes@fhcrc.org 206-667-2896 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
SEATTLE Male DNA is commonly found in the brains of women, most likely derived from prior pregnancy with a male fetus, according to first-of-its-kind research conducted at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. While the medical implications of male DNA and male cells in the brain are unknown, studies of other kinds of microchimerism the harboring of genetic material and cells that were exchanged between fetus and mother during pregnancy have linked the phenomenon to autoimmune diseases and cancer, sometimes for better and other times for worse.
The study findings are published Sept. 26 in PLOS ONE. Lead author William F. N. Chan, Ph.D., in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, conducted the research while working in the Hutchinson Center laboratory of J. Lee Nelson, M.D., a member of the Center's Clinical Research Division and a leading international authority on microchimerism. Nelson is senior author on the paper.
Chan said the study is the first description of male microchimerism in the female human brain. The findings support the likelihood that fetal cells frequently cross the human blood-brain barrier and that microchimerism in the brain is relatively common. Until this study, it was not known whether these cells could cross the barrier in humans.
For this research, scientists examined brain autopsy specimens from 59 women who had died between the ages of 32 and 101. Male microchimerism was detected in 63 percent of subjects, was distributed in multiple brain regions and was potentially persistent throughout the human lifespan; the oldest female in whom male fetal DNA was detected in the brain was 94.
Twenty six of the women had no neurological disease and 33 had Alzheimer's disease. The brains of women with Alzheimer's had a somewhat lower prevalence of male microchimerism, which appeared in lower concentrations in regions of the brain most affected by the disease. However, the authors noted that the small number of subjects and largely unknown pregnancy history of the women means a link between Alzheimer's disease and level of male cells of fetal origin cannot be established.
The study also does not provide an association between male microchimerism in the female brain and relative health versus disease. "Currently, the biological significance of harboring male DNA and male cells in the human brain requires further investigation," Chan said.
However, other Hutchinson Center studies of male microchimerism in women have found it to impact a woman's risk of developing some types of cancer and autoimmune disease. In some conditions, such as breast cancer, cells of fetal origin are thought to confer protection; in others, such as colon cancer, they have been associated with increased risk. Hutchinson Center studies also have linked lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis to women who previously had given birth at least once as compared to nulliparous women.
###
Grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded the study, which also involved researchers from the Department of Pathology and Division of Rheumatology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Editor's note: To obtain a copy of the PLOS ONE paper, "Male Microchimerism in the Human Female Brain," please contact Dean Forbes in media relations at the Hutchinson Center, dforbes@fhcrc.org or 206-667-2896.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists including three Nobel laureates seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. The Hutchinson Center's pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, the Hutchinson Center houses the nation's first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women's Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Hutchinson Center scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit www.fhcrc.org or follow the Hutchinson Center on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
CONTACT
Dean Forbes
206-667-2896
dforbes@fhcrc.org
[ | 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.
Oscillating microscopic beads could be key to biolab on a chipPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT team finds way to manipulate and measure magnetic particles without contact, potentially enabling multiple medical tests on a tiny device
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- If you throw a ball underwater, you'll find that the smaller it is, the faster it moves: A larger cross-section greatly increases the water's resistance. Now, a team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to use this basic principle, on a microscopic scale, to carry out biomedical tests that could eventually lead to fast, compact and versatile medical-testing devices.
The results, based on work by graduate student Elizabeth Rapoport and assistant professor Geoffrey Beach, of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), are described in a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip. MIT graduate student Daniel Montana '11 also contributed to the research as an undergraduate.
The balls used here are microscopic magnetic beads that can be "decorated" with biomolecules such as antibodies that cause them to bind to specific proteins or cells; such beads are widely used in biomedical research. The key to this new work was finding a way to capture individual beads and set them oscillating by applying a variable magnetic field. The rate of their oscillation can then be measured to assess the size of the beads.
When these beads are placed in a biological sample, biomolecules attach to their surfaces, making the beads larger a change that can then be detected through the biomolecules effect on the beads' oscillation. This would provide a way to detect exactly how much of a target biomolecule is present in a sample, and provide a way to give a virtually instantaneous electronic readout of that information.
This new technique, for the first time, allows these beads each about one micrometer, or millionth of a meter, in diameter to be used for precise measurements of tiny quantities of materials. This could, for example, lead to tests for disease agents that would need just a tiny droplet of blood and could deliver results instantly, instead of requiring laboratory analysis.
In a paper published earlier this year in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the same MIT researchers described their development of a technique for creating magnetic tracks on a microchip surface, and rapidly transporting beads along those tracks. (The technology required is similar to that used to read and write magnetic data on a computer's hard disk.) An operational device using this new approach would consist of a small reservoir above the tracks, where the liquid containing the magnetic beads and the biological sample would be placed.
Rather than pumping the fluid and the particles through channels, as in today's microfluidic devices, the particles would be controlled entirely through changes in applied magnetic fields. By controlling the directions of magnetic fields in closely spaced adjacent regions, the researchers create tiny areas with extremely strong magnetic fields, called magnetic domain walls, whose position can be shifted along the track. "We can use the magnetic domain walls to capture and transport the beads along the tracks," Beach says.
In the researchers' most recent paper, Rapoport explains, they have now shown that once a bead is captured, a magnetic field can be used to shake it back and forth. Then, the researchers measure how fast the bead moves as they change the frequency of the oscillation. "The resonant frequency is a function of the bead size," she says and could be used to reveal whether the bead has grown in size through attachment to a target biomolecule.
Besides being potentially quicker and requiring a far smaller biological sample to produce a result, such a device would be more flexible than existing chip-based biomedical tests, the researchers say. While most such devices are specifically designed to detect one particular kind of protein or disease agent, this new device could be used for a wide variety of different tests, simply by inserting a fresh batch of fluid containing beads coated with the appropriate reactant. After the test, the material could be flushed out, and the same chip used for a completely different test by inserting a different type of magnetic beads. "You'd just use it, wash it off, and use it again," Rapoport says.
There are dozens of types of magnetic beads commercially available now, which can be coated to react with many different biological materials, Beach explains, so such a test device could have enormous flexibility.
The MIT team has not yet used the system to detect biological molecules. Rather, they used magnetic beads of different sizes to demonstrate that their system is capable of detecting size differences corresponding to those between particles that are bound to biological molecules and those that are not. Having succeeded in this proof of concept, the researchers' next step will be to repeat the experiment using biological samples.
"We now have all the elements required to make a sensing device," Beach says. The next step is to combine the pieces in an operational device and demonstrate its performance.
###
The research was partly funded by MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, and the test devices were made at the MIT NanoStructures Laboratory.
Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office
[ | 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.
Oscillating microscopic beads could be key to biolab on a chipPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT team finds way to manipulate and measure magnetic particles without contact, potentially enabling multiple medical tests on a tiny device
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- If you throw a ball underwater, you'll find that the smaller it is, the faster it moves: A larger cross-section greatly increases the water's resistance. Now, a team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to use this basic principle, on a microscopic scale, to carry out biomedical tests that could eventually lead to fast, compact and versatile medical-testing devices.
The results, based on work by graduate student Elizabeth Rapoport and assistant professor Geoffrey Beach, of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), are described in a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip. MIT graduate student Daniel Montana '11 also contributed to the research as an undergraduate.
The balls used here are microscopic magnetic beads that can be "decorated" with biomolecules such as antibodies that cause them to bind to specific proteins or cells; such beads are widely used in biomedical research. The key to this new work was finding a way to capture individual beads and set them oscillating by applying a variable magnetic field. The rate of their oscillation can then be measured to assess the size of the beads.
When these beads are placed in a biological sample, biomolecules attach to their surfaces, making the beads larger a change that can then be detected through the biomolecules effect on the beads' oscillation. This would provide a way to detect exactly how much of a target biomolecule is present in a sample, and provide a way to give a virtually instantaneous electronic readout of that information.
This new technique, for the first time, allows these beads each about one micrometer, or millionth of a meter, in diameter to be used for precise measurements of tiny quantities of materials. This could, for example, lead to tests for disease agents that would need just a tiny droplet of blood and could deliver results instantly, instead of requiring laboratory analysis.
In a paper published earlier this year in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the same MIT researchers described their development of a technique for creating magnetic tracks on a microchip surface, and rapidly transporting beads along those tracks. (The technology required is similar to that used to read and write magnetic data on a computer's hard disk.) An operational device using this new approach would consist of a small reservoir above the tracks, where the liquid containing the magnetic beads and the biological sample would be placed.
Rather than pumping the fluid and the particles through channels, as in today's microfluidic devices, the particles would be controlled entirely through changes in applied magnetic fields. By controlling the directions of magnetic fields in closely spaced adjacent regions, the researchers create tiny areas with extremely strong magnetic fields, called magnetic domain walls, whose position can be shifted along the track. "We can use the magnetic domain walls to capture and transport the beads along the tracks," Beach says.
In the researchers' most recent paper, Rapoport explains, they have now shown that once a bead is captured, a magnetic field can be used to shake it back and forth. Then, the researchers measure how fast the bead moves as they change the frequency of the oscillation. "The resonant frequency is a function of the bead size," she says and could be used to reveal whether the bead has grown in size through attachment to a target biomolecule.
Besides being potentially quicker and requiring a far smaller biological sample to produce a result, such a device would be more flexible than existing chip-based biomedical tests, the researchers say. While most such devices are specifically designed to detect one particular kind of protein or disease agent, this new device could be used for a wide variety of different tests, simply by inserting a fresh batch of fluid containing beads coated with the appropriate reactant. After the test, the material could be flushed out, and the same chip used for a completely different test by inserting a different type of magnetic beads. "You'd just use it, wash it off, and use it again," Rapoport says.
There are dozens of types of magnetic beads commercially available now, which can be coated to react with many different biological materials, Beach explains, so such a test device could have enormous flexibility.
The MIT team has not yet used the system to detect biological molecules. Rather, they used magnetic beads of different sizes to demonstrate that their system is capable of detecting size differences corresponding to those between particles that are bound to biological molecules and those that are not. Having succeeded in this proof of concept, the researchers' next step will be to repeat the experiment using biological samples.
"We now have all the elements required to make a sensing device," Beach says. The next step is to combine the pieces in an operational device and demonstrate its performance.
###
The research was partly funded by MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, and the test devices were made at the MIT NanoStructures Laboratory.
Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office
[ | 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.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc shares set an all-time high on Monday, with the Web giant's reliable advertising business back in vogue among Wall Street investors disenchanted with younger social media companies.
The stock reached $748.90 in afternoon trading, inching past a previous record set in November 2007 of $747.24. It traded below $300 in 2009 during the global economic crisis and remained under pressure in the ensuing years as investors worried that Google's best years were behind it.
The world's No.1 search engine, which generated $38 billion in revenue last year, now looks increasingly attractive compared with a new crop of social Web companies, analysts say.
Facebook Inc , as well as once-hot companies Zynga Inc and Groupon Inc, came to the public markets amid sky-high expectations during the past year, but have fallen out of favour on concerns about their future business prospects.
"The markets have to come to appreciate that Google's been making money hand over fist all this time," said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group.
Google's lucrative search advertising business, as well as its efforts expanding into display and mobile advertising, have helped the company maintain robust revenue growth.
In contrast, Facebook faces much more uncertainty.
"It's so new that there's a lack of data points for anyone to point to," Wieser said.
AT THE HELM
The stock was up almost 2 percent at $748.20 in early afternoon trade. It has surged roughly 27 percent since mid-July, compared with the Dow Jones Industrial Average's roughly 6 percent gain and a 9.5 percent rise on the Nasdaq.
But at roughly 17 times expected 2012 earnings, it still trades at a hefty discount to Facebook's roughly 47 price-earnings multiple.
Google's rising stock price comes about a year-and-a-half after co-founder Larry Page returned to the chief executive's role, replacing Eric Schmidt, who had the helm of the Web company for the previous decade.
Page has moved aggressively to pare the company's sprawling portfolio of products, eliminating projects involving green energy and health among others, while stepping up Google's social networking efforts.
But many of the challenges that pressured its stock in the past have not gone away. The company's ability to manage the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility -- Google's first major foray into the lower-margin hardware business -- remains unproven.
And Google is now facing significant regulatory scrutiny around the world, including antitrust investigations in the United States and in Europe.
Having access to the Internet's rich content is a good reason why many of us love our smartphones. The days of WAP browsing are over and we have all sorts of options and way to get the Web and services right in our hands. On the Android platform we're especially lucky, because we have an abundance of browser apps available right in Google Play. Whether you need one of the numerous fast-as-heck rendering Webkit browsers, like Chrome or Dolphin, or want the compatibility with desktop web apps that Firefox's Gecko delivers, or even the quick loading pages that come with Opera Mini, Android has you covered.
This is where we share, so I'll tell what I'm using. I actually install two full browsers -- Chrome and Firefox. I need Chrome's device sync and tie-in to my Google account, and use it as my device default browser, but when I'm just playing and surfing the 'net I use Firefox, as it seems to do a better job with the sites I frequent. What about you guys? Hit the poll -- you'll find it in the sidebar to the right or after the break -- and let us know how you do it.
Last week's poll was about NFC, and here are the results.
My phone doesn't have NFC. Sad Panda face -- 25.01-percent
With a 30-percent plus adoption rate among Android enthusiasts, NFC looks like a feature the manufacturers need to consider when they make their next device.
(Editor?s Note: This is part of an ongoing series to preserve on the Internet the ?lost? poetry of Nunihal Singh Layal, the ?Tradesman Poet,? who I met in New Delhi in 1974. Some poems contain his original introductions. I have a self-published book of his that is disintegrating and falling apart and over the next year or two I will run and preserve all of his poetry here. This includes every word of the original introductions. Joe Gandelman. FOOTNOTE: Due to a 9 month road trip this project was interrupted but it will continue until his entire book is immortalized online. GO HERE to read past entries.)
Come and Go by Nunihal Singh Laya
As world is progressing, life is becoming fast. Haste and hurry are the tendencies of the modern age. But in some places life is slow and calm. All our man-made distractions are ended and levelled by death.
Life is fast or life is slow; To some it is bright, to some it is woe; To some it is yes, to some it is no; The nature of life is ?come and go?; May be haughty, humble, rich or low; Death to all is the final blow.
Published: September 21, 2012 10:00 AM Updated: September 21, 2012 10:18 AM
The Friendly Port Seniors of Union Bay are raising funds Saturday? for the Tour de Rock.
This is the third year the seniors have sponsored a giant garage sale and book sale. Even a car wash is planned.
It happens Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Union Bay Community Hall on Highway 19A.
All the proceeds will be presented to the Tour de Rock cyclists as they stop at the Union Bay Community Hall on Sept. 27 on their ride down Vancouver Island.
? ? ?
Visit the Black Press Tour de Rock site at bclocalnews.com/tour-de-rock for updated information every day of the tour, and a chance to win one of two $500 gift cards from Thrifty Foods.
If you are living in Melbourne and is planning to organize any special event or party, it is better to consider some form of music entertainment to the guests to make your event memorable and enjoyable to them. For hastening the joy and for making the guests feel happy, you can go for DJ hire Melbourne. However, when it comes to hiring a DJ, certain points are to be considered and they are discussed in the following content:
As the first step towards the process, you can prepare a list of DJs operating from Melbourne and there are some talent agencies in this city offering not only DJs, but also Burlesque Melbourne in such a way that hosts can hire any entertainment according to their requirement based on the type of party hosted by them. So, a list of talent agencies functioning from Melbourne can be prepared and once the list is ready, you can get in touch with some of your friends, who might have recently hired their service to know about the kind of entertainment offered by them. When hiring a DJ, some might suggest that it is better to see one of his performances; however, attending a performance is not necessary if you can find his past customers for whom the DJ has performed earlier to get details.
When it comes to cost of the service, it is better to compare the cost at which DJ Hire Melbourne is offered by different service providers. Here, rather than hiring individual DJs, when talent agency is hired, they will be offering the service at better cost as compared to individuals. Above all, when an agency is selected, you will be having several options for entertainments like fire shows, children's entertainment, Burlesque Melbourne, Christmas entertainment, etc... On the other hand, when selecting a DJ hire service, you will have only a single option of DJ performances.
If you are more particular about hiring DJ, rather than any other forms of entertainment, it is be better to check whether they will be in a position to cater to the different musical requirements of your guests. They should be in a position to offer the right kind of entertainments to the guest belonging to different age groups. Of course, you will be looking for the right value for the money spent by you on hiring a service and you can get real value when the right talent agency Melbourne is selected.
This content has been taken from: http://www.ideamarketers.com/?articleid=3586324&CFID=242697962&CFTOKEN=76630649
You might have invested every little thing you experienced for selling your small business products and solutions; in spite of this, you fall short to find the sought after good results. You?re entirely heartbroken and missing your religion. What could you do in this type of cases? Employing NJ website create gurus may also help you emphasize your corporation and keep in advance of the competition on the advertise. A mere on the internet existence is not any for a longer period ample today. You would possibly hold the better high quality services and products and services, however you will need to also understand how to achieve out into the specific audiences adhering to most appropriate procedures and ways. Smallish plus the tremendous business owners give robust competitiveness for guaranteeing their own personal achieving success and more desirable recognition inside the marketplace. Attained NJ online create consultants take care of almost every company in another way and will offer you website style and design choices right after thinking of particular demands and criteria of each specified internet marketing business.
Even you will require up the task of developing a web pages with your have. Even so, you might want to take the fundamental indisputable fact that internet sites made by specialist NJ website pattern industry experts can by no means contend with online pages created with software of Do it yourself techniques. A professional word wide web designer will confirm repute and recognition that?s because of on your opportunity group.
Accredited NJ online pattern analysts use best suited applications and approaches to bring in awareness of holiday makers and change them into future clientele. So, if you?re considering to design and style a web-site or thinking about upgrading present page of yours, it?s essential to not wait to take a position in capable NJ word wide web structure analysts. You are likely to not gain in anyway by compromising with excellent in an try to avoid wasting wealth.
Generating exclusive structure with software of CMS or subject material conduite devices is an essential problem of fine NJ online model analysts. If you are hunting for world-wide-web designers, you have to expend ample time investigating about them. Because you are investing your hard-earned funds, you can?t manage to produce a mistaken option and obtain absolutely nothing again in return. A prudent solution, relating to the other hand can help you generate substantial returns on investment decision and raise your margins of gain.
So, you should definitely learn alongside testimonies, review articles and feedback posted on the net. It is easy to confer with customers who?ve formerly availed of web site layout products and services from NJ world-wide-web layout analysts to acquire understanding concerning the level of quality of services they?ve got been providing about the several years. As soon as you count on your web site to crank out qualified prospects, you certainly will need to glance for NJ web site structure corporations, who?re skilled in managing very similar assignments in the past.
Always keep channels of conversation open up with NJ website structure pros open up and think free of charge to inquire regarding the predicted time of completion in the venture, equipment and solutions to generally be utilized, expenses associated with the net pattern task, together with other correlated important information. You can easily set to relaxation all of your problems and depend on skilled NJ world-wide-web pattern specialists for a powerful via internet existence.
Allow me to point you to look over Focused Different Kinds Of Reasonably Priced Website Hosting Companies, as you are likely to find the review enormously beneficial.
Grant Paul AKA @chpwn has posted the first screenshots of a jailbroken iPhone 5, taller screens and all. While the method isn't public yet, chpwn has posted screenshots of the "alt" App Store Cydia running at full iPhone 5 resolution.
You have one of the best products on the small business market, your customer service is second to none, and your return on investment (ROI) is at or better than where you want it. So, what could possibly be missing from your business plan?
As more and more small businesses look to make their mark in a tough economy, imagine where some of them could be if they even dabbled in social media just a bit. Yes, they could be blowing the competition out of the water.
For too many small business owners, one of the keys they are lacking to an even more successful company is a social media presence. Oftentimes, you will hear a CEO/business owner claim that they have trouble getting a true read on their ROI when it comes to social media, so they choose not to invest the time and effort to begin with. Quite frankly, big mistake.
Don't Miss Out on Opportunities
Whether it is having trouble reading the ROI or having business owners/CEO?s who are from the ?old school? long before social media became in vogue, there are missed opportunities out there.
How can you as a small business owner cash in on all social media has to offer?
Among the three steps you need to take immediately:
1. Deal in reality - Are you that small business owner or CEO who thinks that social media is just visiting for a short time, with no long-term plans on sticking around? If that?s the case, you could very likely be in for a big surprise. While nothing is certain in this world except for death and taxes, most ?experts? in the social media arena do not expect it to go anywhere anytime soon. You may feel that business is going great, you don?t need social media to boost operations, and you don?t have the time for SM. If you answer yes to the first thought, great. If you answer yes to thoughts two and three, bad. Social media will help you improve your customer outreach, allow you to be seen as an authority in your respective industry, and engage with current and potential customers. Lastly, you should MAKE time for social media. Given it does not cost you like traditional advertising does to promote your business, promoting your company via social media is essentially a form of free advertising. At the end of the day, why wouldn?t you take advantage of this? For whatever reason, there are still many businesses that do just that;
2. Focus, focus, focus - If you decide to give social media a try, you need a game plan just like you would with any other project you undertake. The initial thought may be to put your company on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more. See any problem with such a strategy? Some may say the more the merrier, but in fact, you should start out focused on one site at a time. Let?s say you decide to promote your company with a Facebook fan page. Put your time and effort into Facebook for a few months and see how you do. At the end of say three months, see how many friends (customers) you have, likes, what kind of traffic you are getting, how much engagement you are getting, and so on. If the numbers are encouraging, move on next to Twitter and follow the same plan. While you certainly can do more than one site at a time, having too many oars in the water could put you at a disadvantage. Social media audiences are not built up overnight, so take the time to do it right the first time around;
3. Promote and engage your business via social media - Have you run into the business man or woman that is somewhat involved in social media, yet they do not really take the time to promote their business on SM? You?d be surprised that there are more folks out there like this than you may have thought existed. Social media can be a major positive for your business, but it takes time and effort on your part or those working for you. Whether you, someone in your company, or an outside firm does your social media, it needs to be promoted. In order to promote it, put your social media feeds on your business cards, on flyers, on any print or radio/television ads you do. If you have just started a Facebook fan page for your business, make sure you monitor it regularly, engaging both current and potential customers. By doing so, you can stand out as an authority in your niche, be seen as a go-to business when consumers have questions, and improve your search engine rank. If you are engaged and constantly updating your social media presence, search engines are more apt to have you higher on their lists, meaning more people doing a Google search of your company name will land on your site.
If your company does not currently have a social media presence, there is still time to get your game in gear.
If the competition already has a lead on you in the social media race, are you going to just let them coast to victory or will you chase them down?
Connect:
Authored by:
Dave Thomas
About the author: With 23 years of experience as a writer, Dave Thomas covers a wide array of topics in the office from buying the right used cubicles to marketing your small business.
Munich / Hallbergmoos, September 24, 2012 ? State and local government face major challenges in dealing with various forms of communication (telephone, email, Internet, etc.) and telephony services (call lists, directories, etc.). Why is it so? Simply because many communities have been merged and an increased number of people need to communicate with different PBXs at different locations. The Munich-based, unified communications specialist ANDTEK GmbH offers appropriate IP communication solutions to deliver a reliable, easy-to-use, and cost-effective service.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vToISliA8kkQgsMpkpdw2rcxNU4rF_LXuWpZ5BWEdcFgMxZZ0Qk64cGzpoLdBuS1GPnI2ztKc-9kucp4HN-fMOk573rV8a0ZLjAQkgOvk=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Sep-2012
Share ] 
