CSN: Cubs threaten move? |? Unveil Wrigley plans

Tom Ricketts finally played the card used by so many other owners in professional sports: Threatening to move.

While it still seems unthinkable that the Cubs would actually leave Wrigley Field, Ricketts opened up that possibility on Wednesday for the first time. As the $500 million renovation project moved into the public-approval phase, the chairman went all-in with the Jumbotron.

[RELATED: Proposed Cubs restoration plan]

?If we don?t have the ability to generate revenue in our own outfield, then we?ll have to take a look at moving,? Ricketts said. ?No question.?

Ricketts ? who associates have described as being too nice of a guy ? definitely sounded edgier, on point and more combative speaking with reporters after a City Club of Chicago event. The guests inside the downtown Maggiano?s banquet hall included Rosemont mayor Brad Stephens, who?s grabbed headlines by trying to lure the Cubs out to O?Hare International Airport. ?

Those kinds of ideas sounded like total non-starters ever since the Ricketts family finalized the $845 million purchase of the team ? as well as a stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago ? from Tribune Co. in October 2009 and made repeated pledges to stay at Clark and Addison.

?We are committed to trying to work this out,? Ricketts said. ?We?ve always said that we want to win in Wrigley Field. But we also need to generate the revenue that we need to continue to compete as a franchise. And having the ability to put the video board or signs in the outfield is very important to us. It?s a primary focus of what we do going forward.?

The Cubs project they could make $20 million more annually in advertising revenue without the signage restrictions. They are also locked into a contract with the rooftop buildings that runs through the end of the 2023 season. They envision a 6,000-square-foot Jumbotron rising beyond left field.

Beth Murphy ? the owner of Murphy?s Bleachers and spokesperson for the Wrigleyville Rooftops Association ? attended the breakfast and was still processing her first look at the renderings. A reporter asked if her group is still considering a lawsuit.

[MORE: Window closing if Cubs want to begin Wrigley renovation on time]

?I know you all want me to say that,? Murphy said. ?We have work to do with the Cubs. We haven?t had a seat at the table and we haven?t had legal representation.?

More than two weeks after announcing the ?framework? of an agreement with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Tom Tunney, the Cubs still have to address a variety of neighborhood concerns, from the number of night games, to the size of the video board, to how Sheffield and Waveland would be used for street fests.

Murphy was asked if she viewed moving as an empty threat: ?I don?t think it would be a wise business decision.?

?The reason the Cubs are such a tourist destination,? Murphy said, ?is because it?s a ballpark in a neighborhood. (It?s) an interesting place for tourists to come to ? I don?t think a new ballpark in a parking lot is interesting.?

As these talks drag out ? team executives made a splashy presentation with sketches at Cubs Convention in January ? the baseball operations department risks losing the upgrades promised by Opening Day 2014.

Ricketts confirmed that the new clubhouse, batting tunnels and training facilities depend on when the Cubs green light construction for the five consecutive offseasons it will take to complete the entire project.

?We?ll know the timetable better when we get to the end of this process,? Ricketts said. ?That will really help us decide when we can do what.?

Ricketts is playing hardball now, and that?s going to overshadow all the cool drawings of the Wrigley Field of the future.

?Keep it in context,? Ricketts said. ?The talk of moving is relative to being able to have our flexibility in the outfield. I think everything else is going forward.?

Source: http://www.csnchicago.com/blog/cubs-talk/ricketts-threatens-move-cubs-without-ok-wrigley-signage

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How does pregnancy reduce breast cancer risk?

Monday, April 29, 2013

Being pregnant while young is known to protect a women against breast cancer. But why? Research in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research finds that Wnt/Notch signalling ratio is decreased in the breast tissue of mice which have given birth, compared to virgin mice of the same age.

Early pregnancy is protective against breast cancer in humans and in rodents. In humans having a child before the age of 20 decreases risk of breast cancer by half. Using microarray analysis researchers from Basel discovered that genes involved in the immune system and differentiation were up-regulated after pregnancy while the activity of genes coding for growth factors was reduced.

The activity of one particular gene Wnt4 was also down-regulated after pregnancy. The protein from this gene (Wnt4) is a feminising protein - absence of this protein propels a foetus towards developing as a boy. Wnt and Notch are opposing components of a system which controls cellular fate within an organism and when the team looked at Notch they found that genes regulated by notch were up-regulated, Notch-stimulating proteins up-regulated and Notch-inhibiting proteins down-regulated.

Wnt/Notch signalling ratio was permanently altered in the basal stem/progenitor cells of mammary tissue of mice by pregnancy. Mohamed Bentires-Alj from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, who led this study explained, "The down-regulation of Wnt is the opposite of that seen in many cancers, and this tightened control of Wnt/Notch after pregnancy may be preventing the runaway growth present in cancer."

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Parity induces differentiation and reduces Wnt/Notch signaling ratio and proliferation potential of basal stem/progenitor cells isolated from mouse mammary epithelium

Fabienne Meier-Abt, Emanuela Milani, Tim Roloff, Heike Brinkhaus, Stephan Duss, Dominique S Meyer, Ina Klebba, Piotr J Balwierz, Erik van Nimwegen and Mohamed Bentires-Alj

Breast Cancer Research (in press)

BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com

Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127977/How_does_pregnancy_reduce_breast_cancer_risk_

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6 Easy Steps to Get Your FAFSA in Order

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education awards approximately $150 billion in grants, work-study funds and low-interest loans to millions of students. To be considered for most forms of financial aid, students looking to get help paying for college must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Deadlines for each state and each college vary (some have already passed), but June 30--one of the last federal deadlines--is approaching.

If you have not yet completed your FAFSA, here are a few tips to save you time and hassle and ensure you put yourself in the best position to get financial aid for college:

1. Do your FAFSA today. Most students don't realize that much of federal student aid is given away on a first-come, first-served basis. Unlike studying for your college exams, procrastinating on filing your FASFA can put a strain on your finances, so don't delay.

2. Apply online. Using the web-based version of the FAFSA is the fastest and easiest way to apply. Applying electronically allows colleges to receive your processed information faster than taking the traditional mail-in route. The online FAFSA also guides you through the application and allows you to save time by skipping some questions that are not applicable to you.

3. Get organized. Create a checklist of the documents you need early on; these may include forms your parents must fill out. For instance, if you are a dependent student, you will need to ask your parents for their tax returns, their bank statements and other financial documents. Getting organized before you start allows you to complete the FAFSA seamlessly--without having to stop and retrieve missing items.

4. Use the IRS data retrieval. You can save time by transferring financial information from your filed tax returns using the IRS data retrieval tool. If you filed the FAFSA based on estimated income data, you can also use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to update your FAFSA form after filing this year's income tax returns.

5. Sign your FAFSA using a Federal Student Aid PIN. You and your parents can sign your online application using a Federal Student Aid PIN. You can apply for a PIN in just a few minutes at www.pin.ed.gov. Once you receive one, you will need it to access your Student Aid Report online, make corrections, file a renewal and access your information on other Federal Student Aid websites. Your PIN can also be used to sign loan contracts later on.

If you choose not to use a PIN, you can print, sign and mail in a signature page. However, this can take longer to process and can delay how quickly your college applications are processed and reviewed.

6. Submit requested materials to your school. After submitting your FAFSA, check to see if your school requests any additional materials. A number of schools request you send signed copies of your federal tax returns and W-2 forms. In some cases, your school won't start processing your financial aid application until they receive all the requested documents.

The bottom line. Prospective college students who delay or fail to complete their FAFSA may be missing out on a significant amount of financial aid.

Winnie Yeung is a Product Manager for NerdScholar, a website that provides financial literacy tips, a student loan calculator and scholarships for Hispanics.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/6-easy-steps-fafsa-order-144536607.html

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Comparing proteins at a glance: Technique for easy comparisons of proteins in solution

Apr. 29, 2013 ? A revolutionary X-ray analytical technique that enables researchers at a glance to identify structural similarities and differences between multiple proteins under a variety of conditions has been developed by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). As a demonstration, the researchers used this technique to gain valuable new insight into a protein that is a prime target for cancer chemotherapy.

"Proteins and other biological macromolecules are moving machines whose power is often derived from how their structural conformations change in response to their environment," says Greg Hura, a scientist with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division. "Knowing what makes a protein change has incredible value, much like knowing that stepping on a gas pedal makes the wheels of a car spin."

Hura led the development of what is being called a structural comparison map for use with small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), an imaging technique for obtaining structural information about proteins and protein complexes in solution. Cynthia McMurray, a biologist with Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division, provided the cancer-relevant protein used to test the new SAXS structural comparison map.

Says McMurray, "In biology, the first step in correcting a problem, such as the formation of a cancerous lesion, is understanding the conditions under which the problem arose. With the SAXS structural comparison map, we can compare multiple protein structures en masse and quickly identify areas of interest."

Greg Hura, Helen Budworth and Cynthia McMurray, shown here at the Advanced Light Source, developed a structural comparison map for SAXS imaging and tested it on a chemotherapeutic target protein. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab)

Hura is the lead author and McMurray one of two corresponding authors of a paper in the journal Nature Methods that describes this research. The paper is titled "Comprehensive objective maps of macromolecular conformations by quantitative SAXS analysis." Also a corresponding author is John Tainer, who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division and the Scripps Research Institute. The other authors are Helen Budworth, Kevin Dyer, Robert Rambo and Michal Hammel.

In perhaps no other area of science does the maxim "function follows form" hold more true than for proteins and protein complexes. The structural conformations created by the folding, twisting and turning of a protein's amino acid chain can allow or prevent the protein from doing what it's supposed to do and this can mean the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy cell. A protein can assume multiple distinct conformational states as it undergoes various chemical processes such as phosphorylation, nucleotide or ligand binding, ATP hydrolysis or the formation of complexes.

The most widely used technique for determining a protein's structure remains crystallography, but many proteins and protein complexes can't be crystalized. Furthermore, though precise, crystallography is a low-throughput process that can only capture one conformational state at a time. Enter SAXS, a high-throughput technique that can image any protein or protein complex in solution under any condition, and provide nanoscale resolution for distinguishing and characterizing the different conformational states that flexible biological macromolecules such as proteins can assume.

"With SAXS, there are relatively few restraints on conditions, construction, concentration or solution chemistry," Hura says. "However, analytical methods have not kept pace with the hardware. While there are many factors that may induce a protein to undergo structural changes, these factors are difficult to predict. Our structural comparison map technique gives us a high-throughput screening capability. The combination of SAXS and our maps allows us to highlight those factors that make the biggest difference in structural conformations. We're also able to track trends and identify intermediate states and other factors that shift equilibrium from one structure to another."

The data in a structural comparison map is presented in the form of a color-coded checkerboard with similarity scores displayed as gradients moving from red, indicating high, to white, indicating low, and various shades of orange and yellow in between.

"With structural comparison maps, I can immediately see which structures under which conditions are the same and which are not," says McMurray. "The maps provide both structural and chemical information and enable us to identify those conformations we should be looking at."

To test the structural conformation map technique, co-author Budworth, a member of McMurray's research group, prepared samples of a protein known as MutS?, an inviting chemotherapeutic target because of its ability to remove problematic DNA that can lead to cancer and other genetic mutations.

"MutS? is a heterodimer whose two macromolecules undergo an ordered series of nucleotide-dependent steps to initiate DNA repair," Budworth says. "Each discrete nucleotide-bound state is a conformational state decision point that primes the next pathway step. A mechanistic understanding of these steps is crucial to learning how cells avoid mutation."

Says McMurray, "Initially this was a very big puzzle because MutS? had no crystal structure, nor could we take a look at any one conformational state and say this is good or this is bad. The structural conformation maps allowed us to characterize the different conformational states individually and then compare them to one another. We discovered that DNA has surprisingly little impact on MutS? conformational structures, a fact that was not evident from biochemical measurements, but obvious when examining the maps."

From the SAXS imaging and structural conformation map analysis, McMurray and her group believe that DNA is sculpted to the protein conformation and that nucleotide-binding drives MutS? conformational changes. This, they say, holds implications for future cancer therapies.

The MutS? samples were subjected to SAXS at the SIBYLS beamline of Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source, a synchrotron that generates premier beams of X-ray and ultraviolet light for scientific research. The acronym SIBYLS stands for Structurally Integrated Biology for Life Sciences. The beamline is maintained by Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division under the direction of corresponding author Tainer.

Says Tainer, "The structural comparison map technique is a big step forward in the development of tools that will help biologists use the full potential of the awesome throughput we expect to achieve with the next generation of light sources."

This research was supported by funds from the DOE Office of Science and from the National Institutes of Health.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Greg L Hura, Helen Budworth, Kevin N Dyer, Robert P Rambo, Michal Hammel, Cynthia T McMurray, John A Tainer. Comprehensive macromolecular conformations mapped by quantitative SAXS analyses. Nature Methods, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.2453

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/top_news/~3/_XQpz2Ub8Bw/130429130545.htm

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Online poker is back: Legal website launches in NV

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Poker devotees will soon be able to skip the smoky casino and legally gamble their dollars away on the couch ? at least in the state of Nevada.

A Las Vegas-based social gambling company is expected to launch the first legal, real-money poker website in the United States on Tuesday morning.

The site, run by Ultimate Gaming, will accept wagers only from players in Nevada for now, but likely represents the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country.

Internet poker, never fully legal, has been strictly outlawed since 2011, when the Department of Justice seized the domain names of the largest offshore sites catering to U.S. customers and blacked them out.

This crackdown, dubbed "black Friday," left poker fanatics with two options: They could either get dressed and visit a visit a card room, or break the law and log into an offshore site.

More recently, the federal government softened its stance on Internet betting, and three states ? New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada? have legalized some form of online wagering within their borders.

With Tuesday's launch, Nevada wins the race to bring Texas Hold 'em back to the Internet.

"There was black Friday, and now we're going to have 'trusting Tuesday,'" said Ultimate Gaming CEO Tobin Prior. "Players won't have to worry if their money is safe. They are going to be able to play with people they can trust and know the highest regulatory standards have been applied."

The site, UltimatePoker.com, will look familiar to anyone who participated in the poker craze of the 2000s. Only the account setup and login process have changed. Instead of checking a box certifying they are older than 18, players will have to endure a lengthy account setup process involving a Social Security number and a Nevada address. Only those older than 21 will be allowed to play.

Ultimate Gaming and the two dozen other companies still fine-tuning their Nevada poker sites hope they will win the trust not only of players, but of regulators and politicians.

"It's an opportunity to show the world how to properly run online poker," Ultimate Gaming chairman Tom Breitling said.

Several cash-hungry states are weighing legislation that would allow them to tap into what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar market. Some bills would legalize only poker, as Nevada has, while others would throw open the gates to all casino games, including slots, as New Jersey and Delaware have done.

Earlier this year, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval approved legislation that gives him the ability to sign deals with other governors to facilitate interstate Internet gambling.

Online gamblers around the world currently wager an estimated $35 billion each year, according to the American Gaming Association. A fully realized U.S. online poker market could generate $4.3 billion in revenue its first year, and $9.6 billion by year five, according to London-based research firm H2 Gambling Capital.

Still, with federal efforts to legalize Internet poker stalled, it may be a while before a critical mass of states link together to lure professional players back from overseas and drive up jackpots.

Nevada, a state of just 2.8 million, attracts 47 million visitors a year? more than the population of California. But who wants to go on vacation just to fire up their laptop and play some virtual cards?

"I think the real excitement will be when we get a very populous state like a California or a New York allowing these companies to expand," ITG casino analyst Matthew Jacob said. "But these changes often take longer to occur than people assume. It requires a change in law and then it takes a while from when the law passes until the sites are up and running."

Prior says he intends to make Ultimate Poker profitable within a matter of years, in part through cross-promotion with mixed martial arts giant Ultimate Fighting Championship. The companies share a common owner: Frank Fertitta III and his brother Lorenzo, who also own Station Casinos Inc., an extensive chain that caters to locals in Las Vegas.

The Ultimate Poker logo has enjoyed prime placement in the UFC fight octagon for months. The Ultimate Poker Facebook page, which steers fans to a zero-stakes version of the site, features a mix of UFC glamour shots and stock images of guys in hoodies staring into laptop screens.

"When you look at the demographic of the UFC fan and the online poker player, it's almost a perfect overlap," Breitling said.

In the coming months, Ultimate Gaming will have to prove that its technology and 111 employees can prevent minors and out-of-state players from wagering real dollars, and guard against money laundering.

It will also have to pay 6.75 percent of its revenue in Nevada state taxes.

It's unclear how much of a boon the new market will be to the cash-strapped state. In 2012, the Pew Center on the States analyzed 13 states that had recently legalized new types of gambling, and found that more than two-thirds of "failed to live up to the initial promises or projections."

The gambling industry is hoping the return of Internet poker will revitalize interest in the game and help brick and mortar casinos capture a younger market.

The rise of Internet poker is generally credited with helping spark the poker fad of the last decade. The end of online gambling is thought to have helped quash interest in the game.

In the coming months, the industry will be watching closely to see if poker players come flocking back from their new hobbies, replacement computer games and illegal offshore gambling sites.

"This is a really huge moment for our company, the state of Nevada and the gaming community," Breitling said. "We're hoping to make poker fun again."

___

Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-30-US-Internet-Gambling/id-05ce886ec7a3432eb52e6e878fb8219e

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Volkswagen brand earns fall by more than half

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? Volkswagen's namesake brand saw operating earnings slip by 45 percent in the first quarter, as it joined the ranks of European carmakers suffering a tough first quarter.

The brand earned 590 million euros before interest and taxes, compared to 1.08 billion euros in the same period a year earlier.

Audi, Volkswagen AG's luxury mainstay and a key driver of earnings, dipped to 1.31 billion euros from 1.41 billion euros a year ago.

The company's other brands include Bentley, Porsche, SEAT and Skoda. VW reported detailed earnings Monday after releasing key figures last week. The group as a whole saw net income fall 38 percent to 1.95 billion euros.

CEO Martin Winterkorn called it "a good start to the year" but added that "the coming months will be anything but easy."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/volkswagen-brand-earns-fall-more-half-145916783.html

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