The biggest mistake brands make about social media | New Media ...

According to Harvard Business Review ?Only 23% of the consumers in a study said they have a relationship with a brand. In the typical consumer?s view of the world, relationships are reserved for friends, family and colleagues. That?s why, when you ask the 77% of consumers who don?t have relationships with brands to explain why, you get comments like ?It?s just a brand, not a member of my family.? (What consumers really want when they interact with brands online is to get discounts).? ?So then why is there so much misinformation about social media marketing ?

Let me cut to the chase; the most important currency for consumers today is time and most of them just don?t have the time to have a relationship with your brand on facebook. ?Consider some of these latest stats;

  • According to a recent report from?BizRate Insights,?Pinterest?is better at inspiring and driving purchases than Facebook ? 69% of online consumers who visit the social network have found an item they?ve bought or wanted to buy, while only 40% of Facebook users report similar results.
  • A?post at the?New York Observer?in September reported that Facebook posts made from a brand?s fan page?say, from Macy?s, Walmart, or a celebrity like Kim Kardashian?now reach only 15 percent of fans on average. (Ars? own Facebook page has experienced similar fluctuations: even as likes continue to climb, traffic generated by the page has remained unusually low.)
  • As Facebook has moved through its IPO, it has increasingly lost focus on serving its primary customers. Instead, it has been sidetracked by the need to monetize its user base through advertising and to extend its influence outside of Facebook itself, via its Open Graph protocol. That distraction is evidenced by repeated privacy snafus ? Facebook erred on the side of data gathering and data use, at the expense of its users? privacy, thereby weakening their trust.
  • Out of?Interbrand?s Top 50 Global Brands?on Facebook, 27 of them won?t even reply directly to their customers.
  • 70% of global brands don?t engage with consumers on social media according to?Social Bakers.??Further,?one-quarter of global companies go as far as closing their wall on Facebook to prevent fans from asking any questions at all. If this sounds like your business, you can change the?social media conversation.
  • According to Datamation.com, ?For the most popular businesses on Facebook, those with more than a million ?fans,? fewer than 3 percent of those fans are seeing the companies? daily updates

What should readers take away from this data ? ?They should understand that spending money on a facebook page and allocating lots of money to social media without considering what?s really important to consumers is not going to meet business objectives. ?While brands are spending more and more money on social media facebook executives are cashing out their stock and building/buying really nice homes in the Bay area.

We need to think about where consumers are more likely to turn into customers and how we can influence that moment of truth. ?An in store display. for example, would probably provide a higher ROI for the new Oreo cookies than a faceboook page. ?However, Ford might find that a facebook page dedicated to their new Ford Fusion is a key part of decision-making for consumers who are considering which cars to test drive.

Understand the opportunities with social media but also understand the limitations and don?t believe that consumers want to have a relationship with every brand they purchase.

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Source: http://newmediaandmarketing.com/the-biggest-mistake-brands-make-about-social-media/social-media/

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Motion Graphics Inspiration & Insights: We Interview Owner of ...

Owner/president of motion graphics talent agency, Sharpe + Associates, John Sharpe.

Founder/president of motion graphics talent agency, Sharpe + Associates, John Sharpe.

After more than a quarter century spent representing commercial photographers, bi-coastal talent agency Sharpe + Associates is?welcoming a new breed of creative talent under its wing? motion graphics artists. FIDMDigitalArts.com is thrilled to share an exclusive?Q&A with founder/president John Sharpe who gave us insight into his views on the future of digital media, the qualities that set you and?your motion graphics reel apart from the crowd, and his passion for infographics.

Chances are you?ve spotted the beautifully executed, captivatingly clever shots that Sharpe + Associates photographers are known for, whether in ads for Coca-Cola, Got Milk?, Microsoft, Nike, Pepsi, Quaker Oats, Sony, Target, Old Spice, or Virgin Airlines; or in glossy editorials for Esquire, Fast Company, NY Times Magazine, Time, GQ, Los Angeles Magazine, Good, Vanity Fair, or Vogue.

Serving various industries from editorial to telecommunications, finance, travel, transportation and pharmaceuticals, Sharpe credits his artists? conceptual thinking skills as the number one facet attracting commercial clients, advertising agencies and publishers to S+A for more than 25 years.

?Conceptual work is less affected by the changing tastes of the commercial market.? It all comes down to how good the idea is and how well it?s communicated. You can put polish on a bad idea, but when you see something brilliant that connects with people, you will get noticed,? he says.

New York Magazine's September 2012 issue featuring actress/writer Mindy Kaling, photographed by S+A photographer Zachary Scott.

New York Magazine?s September 2012 issue featuring actress/writer Mindy Kaling, photographed by S+A photographer Zachary Scott.

Beyond representing amazingly talented artists, we have a hunch that it?s also taken a forward-thinking mentality to keep S+A alive and thriving, demonstrated by Sharpe?s move to represent motion graphics artists just four weeks ago.

?Technology is getting exponentially more powerful, accessible, and easy to use. We?re going to get to a tipping point,? says Sharpe, comparing the current state of digital media to the photography industry?s shift from analog to digital film standards in the ?90s.

?The fact that the media landscape is changing so fast, it?s like the ?wild West,? nobody has all the answers. There was a time when people weren?t sure what to do with the move from analog to digital,? he says. ?Then, after four or five years, bam, it happened overnight. You had to have a digital workflow. I think the same thing is going to happen with video.?

Sharpe?s insight isn?t just based on a hunch. In a recent publication The Future of Mobile News, the Pew Research Foundation purports that ?the era of mobile digital technology has crossed a new threshold,? citing their findings that nearly a quarter of U.S. adults, 22 percent, now own a tablet device, which is double compared to a year before.

S+A Artist: Odd Fellows 2012 Reel

As smartphone and tablet usage continue to soar, and with it the demand for video marketing, S+A?s expansion to digital media artists seems a natural evolution for the agency.

?With technology screaming forward at the pace it has, I can see the need for not only being able to direct a video but also knowing the post side,? says Sharpe. ?People are doing things on a desktop that used to cost $50,000 to do on a machine. They are not just being asked to do more, it?s going to be a requirement to compete.?

Sharpe?s prediction of streamlined production processes means that aspiring filmmakers must arm themselves with a variety of skills rather than focus on one, which could include editing, recording and sound design, compositing, developing visual effects and motion graphics, or any other facet of the post production process (good news for students earning their digital media degree at FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising).

?I think it?s not just about knowing the technology, it?s a question of being able to add value to any given project,? says Sharpe of a job candidates who have a well-rounded set of skills. ?If your artists have more skills, it enables you to keep more elements in-house and hopefully, increase your profit.?

Sharpe expects the new motion roster to provide solutions to not only the firm?s existing agency clients, but also to open up opportunities to work client-direct, to service design firms needing to outsource their motion-based projects and to collaborate with commercial production companies.

S+A Artist: Giant Ant 2012 Reel

To develop a dream team of motion artists who demonstrate the highest quality of work that S+A prides itself on, Sharpe narrowed the reels of nearly 150 motion graphics applicants down to five. Motion graphics groups?Odd Fellows, Giant Ant, Philippe Vendrolini, Delicate Machines, and Sebas & Clim made the cut with dynamic, cutting edge reels. The work that stood out the most were those enhanced by organic, illustrative qualities, says Sharpe.

?A lot of motion graphics tend to be very similar in terms of the sort of computer generated, spinning titles kind of look, which became like wallpaper to me,? he says. ?I?m attracted to animation? but I was also looking for work that flowed together, and I wanted to see something that felt contemporary.?

One particular piece that caught his eye was an infographic brought to life by Jorge Cornedo Estrada for the documentary ?Waiting for Superman?, which led Sharpe to creative studio, Giant Ant, where the artist now works.? In two minutes the short video captures the essence of the film, which highlights public education issues in the U.S.,?with elegant red, white and blue vector illustrations set against a stark white backdrop.

?The thinking that went behind the information and how it was conveyed was just brilliant in my mind,? says Sharpe. ?You can make type spin, but how do you morph the idea through type? Jorge?s work is conceptual; it?s smart. ?

TakePart: Participant Media ?Waiting for Superman?

Above: Motion graphics by S+A Artist, Jorge Cornedo Estrada, under the art direction of Joe Mullen at design agency?Buck.

Sharpe admits, he?s got a soft spot for infographics. A fan of David McCandless? Information is Beautiful (read more in a previous article found here), he sees infographics as another area of opportunity for motion graphics artists.

?I?m thinking there?s so much data out there with geo data, social media, and other information coming in to marketers. To be able to utilize the information and serve it back in an easily digestible manner is going to become more and more relevant,? he says.

In an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing industry, we asked Sharpe a few more questions about how digital media artists can break into the industry, and how to set themselves apart (for goodness sake, double check your emails, folks!). Check out some additional tips from Sharpe below and browse more work by S+A motion graphics artists at sharpeonline.com.

S+A Artist: Philippe Vendrolini 2012 Reel

S+A Artist: Sebas & Clim 2012 Reel

(FIDMDigitalArts) How important is it to have an online presence for a creative?

Sharpe + Associates talent agency logo

Sharpe + Associates talent agency logo

(Sharpe) ?It feels a little less developed for someone not to have a website. A website is not only an opportunity for branding and to show your design aesthetic, but also to stand out in the way you organize material and show project work. So I would say my first reaction is, yes, you should probably have a site, even if you?re using a template.?

What are your thoughts on photographers and motion graphics artists utilizing social media as a marketing tool?

?I?m a little bit of a cynic when it comes to social media and to the amount of energy you need to spend on it to make it worth people?s attention. Part of me struggles with the fact that there?s so much noise out there. I can see it working for a celebrity or a brand that wants to share promotions, but it seems less relevant for us in terms of our marketing. However, we are there and putting more energy in trying to make it work for us. I believe that with a good amount of energy, focus and creativity it has potential, but I don?t think we?ve figured it out yet.?

Some argue that the younger, tech savvy generation is actually losing a bit of its ability to network (like the ability to make conversation in person, common courtesy, manners, etc.). What are your thoughts on this?

?I?d say it?s more related to an ability to communicate effectively, rather than network. I battle with this question. I wonder, are we evolving, or devolving? ?Text-speak?? is an example.? Do we really need to use five letters to communicate a word, when one/two will do?!? I?m not sure.? I can say that people don?t seem to pay as much attention when they write an email now, so I see more typos and grammatical errors than in the past.? It shows a lack of attention to detail, which is a problem in the business world.? The casual nature of tweeting/texting/facebook is definitely changing the way we communicate with each other, but I don?t believe it?s much of an improvement on the quality of our existence.? Unfortunately, it?s immediacy and ease of use is two edged sword.? As everything becomes more immediate, we value it less. Easiness can also make us lazy.? For instance, spending time researching and digging for information the ?old fashioned way? vs. simply ?googling? for an immediate answer is valuable, in that it exercises our brains, helps develop our intuition and our ability to preserver ? all great traits for anyone in business to have ? especially younger people just entering the workforce.

On the positive side, the reach provided by new technology is a great advantage to people needing to network.? Personally, I?ve been working hard recently to build and ?mine? my connections on LinkedIn, and am really pleased with the results.?

What are you most looking forward to in this new venture and the future of digital media?

?First, I?m truly excited by the work itself.? I?ve always been a huge fan of animation so it?s a real pleasure being able to share our roster?s work with potential clients.? I?m also excited to be part of the digital media world at such an important point in its young history.? Playing a role in developing creative content solutions for our clients in such a dynamic environment is thrilling, and I can?t wait to see how things evolve!?

John Sharpe?s reading recommendations:

FIDMDigitalArts thanks Mr. Sharpe for the time to share your insights with FIDM Digital Media Students, Alumni and the industry!

S+A Artist: Delicate Machines 2012 Reel

Questions/comments? Email the editor, Mani O?Brien at mo?brien@fidm.edu

Would you like to learn more about earning a Graphic Design degree or Digital Media degree from FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising? Click the link below?

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Source: http://blog.fidmdigitalarts.com/motion-graphics-inspiration-insight-we-interview-president-of-creative-talent-agency-sharpe-associates-about-its-new-motion-graphics-division-the-future-of-digital-media/

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Taliban suicide attack on base in Pakistan's biggest city kills one

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least one person when he rammed his vehicle into the gates of a military base in Pakistan's largest city on Thursday, police said, the latest in a series of audacious attacks on security forces.

Thirteen people were wounded in the explosion, but the attacker was unable to penetrate into the headquarters of the Rangers paramilitary base in the port city of Karachi.

"It is a heavy blast near the Rangers office, with some casualties," said senior police official Javed Odho.

He told Pakistani television the bomber had used more than 100 kg (220 pounds) of explosives in the attack. Karachi is Pakistan's financial hub and home to 18 million people.

A spokesman for a prominent faction of the Pakistani Taliban, headed by insurgent Maulana Fazlullah, claimed responsibility.

Sirajuddin Ahmad, speaking by telephone, said the attack was "revenge for the arrest, torture and killing of our people" by security forces in the region.

The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks on military bases in Pakistan, including a 16-hour assault on Pakistan's navy base in Karachi in 2011 that killed at least 10 people and an attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009.

Some of the assaults have prompted speculation the attackers had sympathizers inside the military who gave them information about the bases.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan, an uneasy U.S. ally, is fighting its own homegrown Taliban as well as other insurgents who cross its porous border with neighboring Afghanistan.

Karachi is home to a number of sectarian groups and fighters allied to the Taliban insurgency and is also faced with an epidemic of violent crime.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Randy Fabi and Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-attack-pakistans-biggest-city-kills-one-050359534.html

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Figaro Chain - What is Figaro Chain? | Jewelry Making Blog ...

by Rose Marion, Wire-Sculpture.com

Wire Jewelry Resource for
November 7, 2012

Shop for Jewelry Chains

What?s Figaro Chain?

Figaro chain may look very similar to curb or cable chain. That?s because it?s made in the same way, simply with an elongated link inserted in a pattern, every 2-4 regular links or so. A popular pattern is 3 round, 1 long. Most Figaro chains are curb chain (meaning each link lies flat), but some are curb (simple circles).

There is some specialty chain that exchanges a ?long link? with a different shape, such as a large heart or diamond. This isn?t considered traditional Figaro chain, but if it?s labeled that way, you?ll understand why!

While it?s not certain when Figaro chain originated in Italy, the story is that Italian chainmakers ? who still, to this day, make the finest Figaro chains ? named the chain by the classical operas The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. Perhaps they were trying to attach their new style of chain to the celebrities and popular culture of the thimes?

This style of chain is popular with men; Figaro chain can be worn solo, or bearing a pendant, such as a cross. Figaro chain is ornamental and patterned yet still low-key and simple, making it an ideal choice for a man.

Because Figaro chain is made with chain links, rather than plates like snake chain, it?s very easy to make Figaro necklaces yourself ? simply acquire a spool of Figaro chain and add your handmade findings to the end. It?s also a fun chain to use as a component, for example, as the base of a pair of dangle earrings (attach several headpin bead charms to each link) or a bracelet base.

Pictures of Figaro Chain

Assorted Figaro Chains

Assorted Figaro Chains


Figaro Chain Diagram

Hint: You can click the above picture and right-click > Save to save it to your computer, or click on it and Print. There will be more diagrams coming!

Next week, we?ll talk about a few assorted styles of chain, including Alma, Anchor, and Infinity Chain. See you then!

Resources & Further Reading

Have a Wire Jewelry Idea you?d like to share? Click Here to submit your idea. You could be featured on our Blog!

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Source: http://www.wire-sculpture.com/jewelry-making-blog/8308/about-figaro-chain/

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The Still Unfolding Legend of Vivian Maier - NYTimes.com

The still unfolding legend of Vivian Maier has been one of photographic genius discovered only after a lifetime of shooting. Now hailed as a master of street photography, she spent most of her working life in obscurity as a nanny in New York, where she was born, and Chicago, where she died in 2009 at age 83.

In her later years, her oeuvre ? more than 100,000 images ? sat unseen in storage, along with much of her earthly possessions. When she was unable to keep up with the storage fees, they were auctioned off in 2007. After her death two years later, a collector who had bought one of the lots began to put her images online. Within weeks, she had a global following.

The latest chapter in this endlessly fascinating tale is the publication this year of ??Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows,? by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams (CityFiles Press). The following essay is excerpted from that book.


It?s the end of the day. The TV has been flipped on. A small fire is tended in the backyard. The marquee of the Wilmette Theater is being changed over. Parents? night at the local school is wrapping up. The children are asleep as Vivian Maier heads home with her camera by the glow of the streetlights.

Maier continued to document her life throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She shot Ektachrome, packing tens of thousands of the color transparencies into sleek yellow Kodak slide boxes. But her days with the Rolleiflex, with which she had taken her most personal and important photographs, were mostly over by the 1970s.

Work as a nanny continued. When Zalman and Karen Usiskin interviewed her to be their housekeeper and baby sitter in the 1980s, she announced: ?I come with my life, and my life is in boxes.? Zalman told her that would not be a problem since they had extra room in the garage. ?We had no idea how many boxes,? he later said.

Around 1990, Maier took a job caring for Chiara Baylaender, a teenage girl with severe developmental disabilities. Maier was good company for her: they played kick the can and amused themselves with pop beads. Maier dressed Chiara in mismatched clothes from the Salvation Army. ?But it?s Pendleton,? Vivian told the girl?s sister when she protested. It didn?t matter. ?My sister looked like a junior Vivian,? she recalled.

Vivian Maier
New, Old PhotosDESCRIPTION

Ever since her street photography was ?discovered? in 2009, Vivian Maier has received increasing attention and accolades. Lens has posted on Ms. Maier before:

And Maier proved an uninterested housekeeper, too. ?It?s just going to get dusty again,? she would say. Having filled the Baylaenders? storage room, she piled her bedroom five feet deep with books, leaving only a narrow path to her bed. Then she covered that ? and slept on the floor.

In the mid-1990s, Maier went to work as a caretaker for an older woman. After the woman moved to a nursing home in 1996, Maier stayed on in her Oak Park house for a couple of months to get it ready to sell. Maier made overtures about working for the family of the woman?s daughter, but she was not needed.

Over the years, leaving was never easy. Despite being close to these families, Maier was an outsider. During the late 1960s, she photographed the light coming from the homes she passed. Always looking in. At seventy, she was looking for work in North Chicago or Waukegan, almost an hour north of Chicago. With little saved and no family of her own, she was determined to keep living independently.

Acquaintances recall Maier as an imposing, confident, stolid woman in her later years. Jim Dempsey, who worked the box office at the Film Center of the School of the Art Institute, saw her most every week for over a decade. She would dig through her purse looking for money, sighing until Dempsey let her in. She often stopped to talk ? about movies, life, anything but herself ? although he never got her name.

Bindy Bitterman, who ran the antiques store Eureka in Evanston, knew Maier only as Miss V. Smith, the name she gave to hold an item. She was the only customer who ever bought Ken, a long-forgotten liberal magazine from the 1930s. Roger Carlson, who ran Bookman?s Alley nearby, knew her full name but was scolded when he introduced her to another customer by it. She visited his shop as late as 2005 and bought Life magazines, talked politics (?Her judgment was pretty harsh on everyone?), and agonized about how difficult it was to find work.

She was a fighter to the end, Carlson said.

The boys who had thought of Vivian Maier as a second mother tried to keep track of her for years. They made overtures to help, but she resisted. She loved the Gensburgs and kept up with the family ? going to weddings, graduations, baby showers ? but it was hard for her to ask for help.

Because of her pride and her need for privacy, Maier remained elusive for years. When the Gensburgs found her, she was on the verge of being put out of a cheap apartment in the western suburb of Cicero. The brothers offered to rent a better apartment for her on Sheridan Road at the northern tip of Chicago, but they told her she needed to clean up her Cicero place before she left. She agreed, showed them the Clorox and rags,?pulled up a chair, sat back with The New York Times, and told Lane to start with the walls and bathroom.

Even in her new apartment, Maier made it difficult for the family to keep track of her. The Gensburgs bought her a cellphone, but she refused to use it. So they just dropped by when they wanted to see her.

In November 2008, Maier fell on the ice on Howard Street not far from her home and hit her head. She was taken, unconscious, by paramedics to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. When she came to, she refused to tell the emergency room staff what had happened and demanded to leave. Lane Gensburg was called. Doctors assured the family that she would recover, but she never did. For the next several months, she resisted eating and was barely responsive. Too weak to return to her apartment, Maier was transported in late January 2009 to a nursing home in Highland Park, where her health continued to decline. She died there on April 21, 2009.

The Gensburgs had Vivian Maier cremated and scattered her ashes in a forest where she?d taken the boys fifty years earlier. They considered having a funeral but knew she would have abhorred such an observance. So they paid for a death notice in the Chicago Tribune: ?Vivian Maier, proud native of France and Chicago resident for the last 50 years died peacefully on Monday. . . . A free and kindred spirit who magically touched the lives of all who knew her.?

To the faithful Gensburgs, Vivian?s story had come to an end. To the world, it was only just beginning.


Follow Lens on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/a-outsiders-life-in-pictures-and-boxes/

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Factbox: Quotes from the 2012 U.S. presidential election

(Reuters) - Americans went to the polls to vote for president on Tuesday after a tightly contested race between incumbent Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

Below are some comments made by the candidates, observers and voters:

OBAMA, tweeting after MSNBC projected his victory:

"This happened because of you. Thank you."

OBAMA, speaking to WJLA TV in Washington:

"We've laid out the choice very clearly for the American people, and now the question is going to be people showing up to the polls. ... I want to make sure people show up to vote and if you do - whatever the outcome, that's how our democracy works. And I think we'll all come together to move America forward."

ROMNEY, speaking to the press in Cleveland:

"This is a great day with great opportunity, but I'm also looking forward to tomorrow, because tomorrow we're going to start the work."

JOHN BOEHNER, Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Republicans maintaining House majority:

"The American people want solutions and tonight they responded by renewing our House Republican majority. With this vote, the American people also made clear there's no mandate for raising tax rates. Americans want better solutions that will ease the burdens of small businesses, bring jobs home and let our economy grow. We stand willing to work with any willing partner ... who shares a commitment to getting those things done."

SCOTT BROWN, Massachusetts Republican, on losing Senate seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren:

"We stood strong in the fight and we stand strong now even in disappointment. ... You all sent me to Washington to be my own man, and I'll be returning my own man. And for that, I am very, very proud."

SARAH PALIN, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor:

"I just cannot believe that the majority of Americans would believe that incurring more debt is good for our economy, for our children's future, for job creators. I cannot believe that the majority of Americans would believe that it's OK not to follow the Constitution and not have a budget. And I can't believe that the majority of Americans would say it's OK to rely on foreign sources of energy instead of drilling and mining our own natural resources. It's a perplexing time for many of us."

SYMONE VILLALONA, call-center worker in Nevada, first-time voter who backed Obama:

"I like someone who's for the people, the middle class. Romney didn't seem like he cared that much."

MELANIE KATSUR, attorney, Romney backer in Washington, D.C.:

"I think that the rate with which the deficits have grown is not acceptable. I am fortunate enough to have a job, but I know a lot of people who don't."

LYDA SWOGGER, first-time voter supporting Obama in Ohio:

"Obama stands for most of the same things I do. He inherited a mess and he needs more time to fix it."

PAUL DIRKS, retired mathematics professor and Obama supporter in Florida, on this year's ad barrage:

"It's been the ugliest campaign I've ever seen in my life and I'm 71 years old. ... I felt like throwing stones at my TV."

NOREEN TAYLOR, Democrat voting in Nevada:

"Elections used to be about stuff, about issues and specifics. We used to have statesmen. Now we just have salesmen."

(Reporting by Reuters reporters around the country; Compiled by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Jim Loney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-quotes-2012-u-presidential-election-035814869.html

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New findings on gene regulation and bone development

ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2012) ? The patients have single short fingers (metacarpals) and toes (metatarsals) and can be restricted in growth due to a shortened skeleton. This hereditary disease is called brachydactyly type E (Greek for short fingers). Three years ago Dr. Philipp G. Maass from the research group of Professor Friedrich C. Luft at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint cooperation between the Charit? Medical Faculty and the Max Delbr?ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch, discovered an epigenetic mechanism, which, when dysregulated, causes this condition. Now, together with Dr. Sylvia B?hring (ECRC) he was able to show how this epigenetic regulator functions and influences the development of the skeleton and the extremities. Also, he shed light on a new principle of gene regulation.

The research is reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The gene causing brachydactyly type E (BDE) is PTHLH (the abbreviation stands for parathyroid hormone like hormone), and belongs to a group of genes that regulate the development of cartilage and determine subsequent skeletal structure. The researchers investigated two families with BDE. The patients exhibit shortened metacarpals, involved in forming the hands and feet, but had no other clinical symptoms.

Up to now, more than ten different forms of brachydactyly are known. The features of the hands and feet are variable depending upon which type of brachydactyly a patient has. Sometimes, the brachydactyly can be associated with hypertension, mental retardation, or other medical problems.

Several new findings

The gene PTHLH is located on chromosome 12, one of the 46 chromosomes of the human genome. The gene exerts considerably influence on cartilage during development and early life. However, little was known about the regulation of this gene. Now, Dr. Maass, Dr. B?hring and Professor Luft have detected an epigenetic regulator for the gene PTHLH on chromosome 12 and in the course of their research made several new findings.

First, they could show, that the gene regulator interacts with genes over very long distances on the same chromosome (cis) and that it also is able to regulate genes on other chromosomes (trans). Thus, the tongue-twister name for this regulator: cis and trans-chromosomal communicator acting through DNA and noncoding RNA (CISTR-ACT).

Second, the team showed that because of a balanced translocation, CISTR-ACT is misplaced, so that the regulator no longer can properly influence PTHLH function.

Third, CISTR-ACT encodes a so-called long noncoding RNA that participates in the regulatory functions. This finding encompasses a new principle in gene regulation. Epigenetics refers to inherited mechanisms that occur without alterations in the DNA gene sequence. In this form of BDE, no change in the DNA sequence of coding genes is responsible for the condition.

Back to the first finding, the epigenetic regulator CISTR-ACT on chromosome 12 manages to get in touch with the gene PTHLH over a distance of 24 million base pairs. "The largest ever measured distance between a gene regulator and a gene on the same chromosome was around one million base-pairs," explains Dr. Maass. Furthermore, CISTR-ACT regulates another developmental gene (SOX9) on chromosome 17. "This finding is extraordinary," comments Dr. Maass.

How is this regulation possible? The researchers found the solution at the chromatin level, in which the chromosomes are densely packed. "Just imagine a ball of wool in which different threads actually touch each other at special points. At one point you have the gene, the other point symbolizes the gene regulator. "It is through this physical contact that CISTR-ACT regulates certain genes such as PTHLH very precisely in a specific tissue," Dr. Maass and Dr. B?hring explain. The researchers could thus show that huge chromosomal loops build up on chromosome 12. Moreover, the epigenetic regulator, CISTR-ACT on chromosome 12 is somehow able to get in touch with its target SOX9 on chromosome 17.

Translocation on different chromosomes

Furthermore, Dr. Maass and Dr. B?hring could show that due to the balanced translocation involving chromosome 4, breakpoints result in patients with BDE so that the gene PTHLH is translocated far away to chromosome 4 in one family or to chromosome 8 in another. Such chromosomal rearrangments or translocations as geneticists say, can be inherited and are not that uncommon. They are often associated with cancer in which they are acquired (somatic mutations) or they can be a congenital (genomic) disorder. Translocations change the architecture of the genome. Genes can part from their regulator and be located at different places in the genome.

Translocations also influence gene expression, that is the production of proteins which built up and maintain the body`s tissues. Dr. Maass and Dr. B?hring found out that in their patients with BDE these translocations separate the gene PTHLH from its regulator CISTR-ACT, which reduces the expression of the gene during the development of cartilage. This state-of-affairs results in the premature maturation of the cartilage cells during the development of the extremities, leading to single shortened bones in the hands or feet of the patients with BDE.

New insights into the dogma of gene regulation

"We could also enlarge the dogma of gene regulation in monogenic diseases, that is in diseases which are caused by one single gene," Dr. Maass and Dr. B?hring explain. Up until recently, scientists believed that DNA regulators residing in close proximity to their targets regulate genes.

The researchers in Berlin also showed that CISTR-ACT not only functions as a DNA-regulator, but also encodes a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). Recently, researchers have begun looking at these lncRNA, because they appear to play an important role in organ development. Contrary to protein-coding genes these lncRNA do not produce proteins but instead serve their function in an epigenetic fashion. lncRNAs are distinguished by their length (greater than 200 nucleotides). Often, lncRNAs are encoded in many exons spread over large, intergenic DNA regions. Various diverse functions have been proposed for lncRNAs, including roles in regulating DNA metabolism, chromatin structure, and gene expression.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max Delbr?ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Philipp G. Maass, Andreas Rump, Herbert Schulz, Sigmar Stricker, Lisanne Schulze, Konrad Platzer, Atakan Aydin, Sigrid Tinschert, Mary B. Goldring, Friedrich C. Luft, Sylvia B?hring. A misplaced lncRNA causes brachydactyly in humans. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2012; 122 (11): 3990 DOI: 10.1172/JCI65508

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/rqvIqqTn12I/121105114624.htm

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SAfrica: Deputy president urged to challenge Zuma

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's deputy president is being urged to challenge President Jacob Zuma for the leadership of the ruling African National Congress ? a position that would all but guarantee him the presidency of the nation.

Kgalema Motlanthe, who fought against white rule and was imprisoned on notorious Robben Island, is not a name that's immediately recognized around the world, even though he once served as president of South Africa for eight months. But in December, Motlanthe will have a chance to run for the top spot in the ANC when the party holds its leadership conference.

The ANC leader will be the party's candidate for president in the 2014 national election. Such is the strength of Nelson Mandela's party that the ANC candidate is virtually assured victory. Dubbed Zuma's "silent opponent" in the South African press, Motlanthe has not announced his candidacy for the ANC's top spot but some have been pushing the self-effacing politician to make a stand and challenge Zuma.

"We have to restore the dignity of the ANC. You can't fight the struggle in a white suit ... Get out of the white suit and into overalls and get your hands dirty," ANC Youth League Deputy President Ronald Lamola said at a rally Motlanthe attended Saturday, according to The Sunday Independent, a local newspaper.

Motlanthe has not publicly hinted at his plans, even as Zuma faces persistent criticism of his leadership of the ANC. But a new authorized biography of Motlanthe has sparked conjecture that he may challenge Zuma next month. "Kgalema Motlanthe" by Ebrahim Harvey appeared barely two months before ANC members gather for the crucial conference and as some ANC branches openly declared their support for Motlanthe as ANC president.

"The timing would suggest that he meant to try and say, 'Here I am,'" said Shadrack Gutto, a professor of African renaissance studies at the University of South Africa. Gutto said Motlanthe would offer a "totally different type of leadership" and that "he would be a credible leader" in a way Zuma is not.

The biography portrays Motlanthe as someone who could rescue the ANC's credibility in the eyes of those who are disappointed with the party's failure to stem social and economic inequality. But the book also suggests that he may lack the aggressive political drive needed to battle the 70-year-old Zuma.

Still, some analysts believe Motlanthe, 63, has a fair chance following what many see as Zuma's poor handling of labor unrest in South Africa's crucial mining sector and criticism for spending a purported $23 million and more in government funds on improving his rural private residence.

Harvey writes that Kgalema is "acutely aware of the ills in the ANC and that, unless they are dealt with sooner rather than later, the future for the ruling party will be bleak."

Motlanthe himself is being cagey. One of his spokesmen, Thabo Masebe, said Motlanthe "doesn't want to think about a particular position."

"It is up to the will of the (ANC) branches," Motlanthe is quoted as saying in the biography. "My position is that nobody must try to canvass for themselves in the run-up to elections ... But if I am nominated for such a position when the electoral commission approaches me and says I have been nominated for such a position, I will then either accept or decline."

Motlanthe was president of South Africa from September 2008 to May 2009 after then President Thabo Mbeki resigned. Mbeki had been ousted as the leader of the ANC and the divided party agreed on Motlanthe as a safe, non-controversial caretaker president until the national election, which Zuma won. Motlanthe was widely credited with offering measured, sober leadership as president, according to his biographer.

"Most of those I spoke with say it is gravitas that strikes them most when they think of Kgalema as a leader," Harvey writes. "Kgalema has a dignified seriousness to him. In mass meetings he would probably not be as spontaneous with ululations as Zuma."

Motlanthe was an altar boy and as a young man had hoped to become a Roman Catholic priest, but the apartheid government denied him permission to train outside South Africa. Motlanthe was later influenced by Steve Biko's Black Consciousness Movement and was a voracious reader of general literature as well as Marxist texts. He became well educated despite not having a university degree. He favors wire-rim spectacles and wears a goatee, which has gone gray.

Motlanthe has solid anti-apartheid credentials. In 1977, he was convicted of sabotage and other charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison, most of which he served on Robben Island at the same time as Mandela and Zuma. On his release he joined the National Union of Mineworkers, a powerful labor group, where he grew in stature until 1997, when he was elected secretary-general of the ANC. Since then he has been an influential member of the ruling party, praised as a unifier who shies away from populism.

But Harvey notes that many of those who have worked with Motlanthe describe him as indecisive and averse to taking risks. Those are traits Motlanthe would have to overcome to take on Zuma, a veteran politician who still retains a good deal of charisma.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/safrica-deputy-president-urged-challenge-zuma-191009033.html

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California boy who shot neo-Nazi dad was abused - psychologist

RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A psychologist testifying in the murder trial of a California boy who at age 10 killed his neo-Nazi father told a court on Monday that the young defendant suffered mental issues from a "long history" of physical, emotional and likely sexual abuse.

Robert Geffner was called to the witness stand by defense attorneys who concede that Joseph Hall, now 12, shot his father at point blank range in May 2011 but argue that he should not be held criminally responsible.

"It's clear that violence is the appropriate way in his world," Geffner said. "A repeated theme in conversations with him was killing. Another part of his focus was guns."

The case in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, has drawn attention for the slain father Jeffrey Hall's neo-Nazi associations and the rarity of a parent being slain by a child as young as Joseph.

Kathleen Heide, a criminologist who specializes in juvenile offenders, has said that 8,000 murder victims over the past 32 years were slain by their offspring, but only 16 of those were committed by defendants age 10 or younger.

Since Hall is a juvenile, the purpose of the trial, now in its second week in Riverside County Superior Court, is not to determine guilt or innocence but whether certain allegations about the boy's motives are true. If he is found responsible for the crime, he could be sent to a juvenile facility until he is 23.

The outcome of the case, which is being heard without a jury, hinges in large part on the boy's understanding of right and wrong at the time. He may testify as early as this week.

Geffner, a psychologist and president of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute in San Diego, told the court that Hall suffered a "long history of abuse - physical, emotional and likely sexual" that led to Child Protective Services being summoned to his home 23 times by the time he was 10.

Geffner said that such abuse, which may have included being whipped or forced to eat from the floor, can create "significant neurological and physiological problems" as well as confusing the difference between right and wrong in the child's mind.

"Children experience what's called learned helplessness, that there's nothing that can be done. They suffer internal feelings of hopelessness, helplessness," he said. "There's an unwritten message that there doesn't seem to be any consequences to these types of behaviors."

On cross-examination, prosecutors sought to attack Geffner's credibility, establishing that he was expected to be paid $30,000 for his work on the case.

In a videotaped police interview played in court last week, Hall was seen to say that he was physically abused at home and committed the shooting because he "wanted everything to stop."

Defense lawyers have said the boy was conditioned by his father's violent, racist behavior, and killed the 32-year-old man to put a halt to the physical abuse inflicted on him.

Prosecutors say Hall, who lived in a house with four siblings, committed the slaying because his father was threatening at the time to divorce his stepmother, Krista McCary. Prosecutors said he was close to McCary and considered her his true mother.

(Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/california-boy-shot-neo-nazi-dad-abused-psychologist-015135882.html

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Therapy for stroke patients improved: More mobility due to deafferentation

ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2012) ? Painkilling drugs that make many therapies possible are a blessing for patients. Thanks to modern anesthetics, not only can surgical operations be conducted without causing pain, they are also used for various diagnostic procedures. Anesthetics can be very useful in therapies for stroke patients, as psychologists and physicians of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) and the University Hospital Jena are now able to demonstrate.

In the Journal of Neuroscience the researchers present the results of their study, showing how a local anesthetic can distinctly improve the motor skills of patients after a stroke.

"Many stroke patients suffer from chronic impairment of the hand or of the complete arm," Professor Dr. Thomas Weiss explains. Together with expert colleagues the psychologist of the department of Biological and Clinical Psychology at Jena University has been working for a number of years on a specialized medical training therapy which clearly enhances the mobility of stroke patients. In the 'Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy' (CIMT) the healthy arm is being restrained in a cuff, while the stroke-affected arm and hand are intensely training fine motor skills. Patients are asked to carry out tasks such as stacking small toy blocks or putting tiny pins into a perforated board. Daily activities like washing one's hand are part of the training. "Nearly every affected person benefits from this training," Weiss's colleague Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Miltner says. The chair of Biological and Clinical Psychology developed the therapy together with American colleagues and refers to the comprehensive study results about the efficiency of the program. "We are happy to carry out this therapy on many patients -- together with our colleagues from the psychology department in the neurological day hospital," the director of the clinic for Neurology, Prof. Dr. Otto Witte, stresses.

In addition, the impact of the exercise therapy could be clearly enhanced when the sensitivity of the affected arm was lowered by an anesthetic, as the interdisciplinary Jena team was able to demonstrate. In their study, the scientists examined 36 patients. Half of the patients had a local anesthetic cream applied on their forearms. Meanwhile the other patient group only received a placebo. Afterwards, both patient groups went into their exercise therapy for a day.

"Unsurprisingly, the motor performance of all patients was strongly enhanced," Prof. Weiss commented on the result. "Beyond that, it became obvious that the patients who received the anesthetic benefited even more than the placebo group," Weiss says. The researchers could show the reason for this effect using magnetoencephalographic imaging (MEG) of the patients. The temporary interruption of nerve impulses from the forearm leads to a decreasing activity in the brain areas processing these impulses. "At the same time neighboring brain cells are activated more strongly," the Jena Psychologist explains. Thus the brain reacts to the missing impulses from the forearm with an increased sensitivity in the hand as the MEG images showed. Consequently the motor performance improves as well. "This process starts within minutes," Thomas Weiss says.

A subsequent study is going to show whether the combination of local anesthetics and therapeutic exercise will improve the mobility of stroke patients in the long term.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. E. Sens, U. Teschner, W. Meissner, C. Preul, R. Huonker, O. W. Witte, W. H. R. Miltner, T. Weiss. Effects of Temporary Functional Deafferentation on the Brain, Sensation, and Behavior of Stroke Patients. Journal of Neuroscience, 2012; 32 (34): 11773 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5912-11.2012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/e9KdeFqN_Pk/121105081627.htm

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