Male and female behavior deconstructed

Public release date: 2-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
jason.bardi@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397
University of California - San Francisco

UCSF team uncovers genes influenced by sex hormones that control masculine and feminine behaviors in mice

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how?

Now a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has uncovered many genes influenced by the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that, in turn, govern several specific types of male and female behaviors in mice.

The UCSF team selectively turned many of these genes off one by one and found they could manipulate individual behaviors in the mice, like their sex drive, desire to pick fights, or willingness to spend extra time caring for their young.

"It's as if you can deconstruct a social behavior into genetic components," said Nirao Shah, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy at UCSF who led the research, which is published in the 2/3/12 issue of the journal Cell. "Each gene regulates a few components of a behavior without affecting other aspects of male and female behavior.

In addition to illuminating the role of genes in male and female behavior, Shah said, the results also have greater implications: If male and female behaviors can be broken down into individual component parts, what other complex behaviors could similarly be deconstructed?

Identifying how genetic differences in our brains account for the differences in our behavior may also be a starting point for understanding how to better address human mental illness and neurodegenerative conditions in which such gender differences exist. For example, autism is four times more common in males than in females.

"Some of the genes we have identified in our study have indeed been implicated in various human disorders that are found in sex-skewed ratios," said Shah. "We won't immediately find all the answers to these disorders based on this research alone, but in the future, it might indeed help to identify more informed ways of treating such conditions."

Hormones, Sex, and Society

Scientists have known for years that hormones exert a profound control over male and female biology. They influence whether an embryo develops into a male or female fetus. They kick in during puberty and promote gender-specific characteristics, such as facial hair in men and breasts in women. They also stimulate the production of male sperm and female ova.

These actions have led to the widespread use of hormones in mainstream and fringe medicine for years. A major part of sexual reassignment procedures involves the long-term administration of hormones like estrogen or testosterone. Athletes seeking a competitive edge and middle-aged men seeking to prolong the vigor of youth sometimes use testosteroneoften inducing aggressive behavior in the process.

While the connection between sex hormones and behavior has been known for years, scientists have only recently made significant headway in demonstrating how profoundly one affects the other by altering the levels of male and female hormones in laboratory animals.

Female mice in the laboratory normally exhibit what one might consider classic motherly behaviorsmating with male mice and nurturing their young. But female mice with a genetic trait making them unable to sense the hormone estrogen lose their interest in sex and spend less time caring for their offspring.

Fortified by testosterone, male mice in the laboratory display behaviors tending toward the aggressive. They will fight with each other, try to mount female mice and mark their territory with urine. Deprived of testosterone, however, castrated male mice no longer behave so aggressively.

Scientists have long suspected that sex hormones ultimately influence gene expression in the brain-. About six years ago, Shah and his colleagues set out to find such genes by using DNA microarrays, a routine laboratory assay, to analyze sex differences in gene expression in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain known to be involved with hormone sensing.

They found 16 genes that were expressed differently between males and females in the hypothalamus and showed that such differences were regulated by sex hormones. But in identifying these 16 genes, Shah and his colleagues also discovered they could tease apart classic, male and female hormone-driven behaviors into individual elementseach governed by its own genes.

The situation is analogous to the way a house draws its power from the grid. A sex hormone is similar to the main breaker that connects the house to the utility pole and regulates electricity to the entire house.

Individual genes influenced by sex hormones are like the light switches in each room, making it possible to turn the lights on in the kitchen while leaving the bedroom dark.

Sex and BehaviorMore than the Sum of Parts?

Much like a main electrical box with many breaker switches, male and female behaviors are actually made up of many behaviors, like sex drive or an inclination to fight. Shah and his colleagues demonstrated this by manipulating the genes separately, sometimes with drugs, to turn them off.

Specifically, they showed that they could selectively knock out some male behaviors so that males continued to fight and mark territory normally but altered their mating routine with females. Likewise they could modulate female mouse behaviors to make them maintain active interest in sex but spend less time caring for their young, or vice versa.

"Other components of male and females behaviors appeared unchanged," Shah said. The implications of this simple observation that a complex human behavior may be composed of numerous genetically controlled elements are both intriguing and daunting, he added. Moreover, it is likely, Shah said, that there are many additional genes that will be discovered to be sex hormone regulated that, in turn, control other components of male or female behaviors.

###

The article, "Modular genetic control of sexually dimorphic behaviors" by Xiaohong Xu, Jennifer K. Coats, Cindy F. Yang, Amy Wang, Osama M. Ahmed, Maricruz Alvarado, Tetsuro Izumi, and Nirao M. Shah appears in the February 3, 2012 issue of the journal Cell.

All authors are at UCSF except Dr. Tetsuro Izumi, who is affiliated with Gunma University in Maebashi, Japan.

This work was funded by the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation, NARSAD, and the National Institutes of Health. Additional support was provided through a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship, a Sandler postdoctoral fellowship, two Genentech graduate fellowships, and an ARCS foundation award.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 2-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
jason.bardi@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397
University of California - San Francisco

UCSF team uncovers genes influenced by sex hormones that control masculine and feminine behaviors in mice

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how?

Now a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has uncovered many genes influenced by the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that, in turn, govern several specific types of male and female behaviors in mice.

The UCSF team selectively turned many of these genes off one by one and found they could manipulate individual behaviors in the mice, like their sex drive, desire to pick fights, or willingness to spend extra time caring for their young.

"It's as if you can deconstruct a social behavior into genetic components," said Nirao Shah, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy at UCSF who led the research, which is published in the 2/3/12 issue of the journal Cell. "Each gene regulates a few components of a behavior without affecting other aspects of male and female behavior.

In addition to illuminating the role of genes in male and female behavior, Shah said, the results also have greater implications: If male and female behaviors can be broken down into individual component parts, what other complex behaviors could similarly be deconstructed?

Identifying how genetic differences in our brains account for the differences in our behavior may also be a starting point for understanding how to better address human mental illness and neurodegenerative conditions in which such gender differences exist. For example, autism is four times more common in males than in females.

"Some of the genes we have identified in our study have indeed been implicated in various human disorders that are found in sex-skewed ratios," said Shah. "We won't immediately find all the answers to these disorders based on this research alone, but in the future, it might indeed help to identify more informed ways of treating such conditions."

Hormones, Sex, and Society

Scientists have known for years that hormones exert a profound control over male and female biology. They influence whether an embryo develops into a male or female fetus. They kick in during puberty and promote gender-specific characteristics, such as facial hair in men and breasts in women. They also stimulate the production of male sperm and female ova.

These actions have led to the widespread use of hormones in mainstream and fringe medicine for years. A major part of sexual reassignment procedures involves the long-term administration of hormones like estrogen or testosterone. Athletes seeking a competitive edge and middle-aged men seeking to prolong the vigor of youth sometimes use testosteroneoften inducing aggressive behavior in the process.

While the connection between sex hormones and behavior has been known for years, scientists have only recently made significant headway in demonstrating how profoundly one affects the other by altering the levels of male and female hormones in laboratory animals.

Female mice in the laboratory normally exhibit what one might consider classic motherly behaviorsmating with male mice and nurturing their young. But female mice with a genetic trait making them unable to sense the hormone estrogen lose their interest in sex and spend less time caring for their offspring.

Fortified by testosterone, male mice in the laboratory display behaviors tending toward the aggressive. They will fight with each other, try to mount female mice and mark their territory with urine. Deprived of testosterone, however, castrated male mice no longer behave so aggressively.

Scientists have long suspected that sex hormones ultimately influence gene expression in the brain-. About six years ago, Shah and his colleagues set out to find such genes by using DNA microarrays, a routine laboratory assay, to analyze sex differences in gene expression in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain known to be involved with hormone sensing.

They found 16 genes that were expressed differently between males and females in the hypothalamus and showed that such differences were regulated by sex hormones. But in identifying these 16 genes, Shah and his colleagues also discovered they could tease apart classic, male and female hormone-driven behaviors into individual elementseach governed by its own genes.

The situation is analogous to the way a house draws its power from the grid. A sex hormone is similar to the main breaker that connects the house to the utility pole and regulates electricity to the entire house.

Individual genes influenced by sex hormones are like the light switches in each room, making it possible to turn the lights on in the kitchen while leaving the bedroom dark.

Sex and BehaviorMore than the Sum of Parts?

Much like a main electrical box with many breaker switches, male and female behaviors are actually made up of many behaviors, like sex drive or an inclination to fight. Shah and his colleagues demonstrated this by manipulating the genes separately, sometimes with drugs, to turn them off.

Specifically, they showed that they could selectively knock out some male behaviors so that males continued to fight and mark territory normally but altered their mating routine with females. Likewise they could modulate female mouse behaviors to make them maintain active interest in sex but spend less time caring for their young, or vice versa.

"Other components of male and females behaviors appeared unchanged," Shah said. The implications of this simple observation that a complex human behavior may be composed of numerous genetically controlled elements are both intriguing and daunting, he added. Moreover, it is likely, Shah said, that there are many additional genes that will be discovered to be sex hormone regulated that, in turn, control other components of male or female behaviors.

###

The article, "Modular genetic control of sexually dimorphic behaviors" by Xiaohong Xu, Jennifer K. Coats, Cindy F. Yang, Amy Wang, Osama M. Ahmed, Maricruz Alvarado, Tetsuro Izumi, and Nirao M. Shah appears in the February 3, 2012 issue of the journal Cell.

All authors are at UCSF except Dr. Tetsuro Izumi, who is affiliated with Gunma University in Maebashi, Japan.

This work was funded by the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation, NARSAD, and the National Institutes of Health. Additional support was provided through a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship, a Sandler postdoctoral fellowship, two Genentech graduate fellowships, and an ARCS foundation award.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/uoc--maf020212.php

newt gingrich wife callista rick perry travis barker get back on board what is sopa ibooks author

Board rejects mercy for condemned Ohio arsonist

FILE - This is an undated photo provided by the Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows Michael Webb, scheduled to be executed next month for the arson death of his 3-year-old son two decades ago. Webb doesn?t dispute the blaze was arson, but denies starting the fire and says investigators using now-discredited methods came to the wrong conclusion about where in the house it may have broken out. It was a mistake that he says points to someone else as the culprit. (AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction)

FILE - This is an undated photo provided by the Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows Michael Webb, scheduled to be executed next month for the arson death of his 3-year-old son two decades ago. Webb doesn?t dispute the blaze was arson, but denies starting the fire and says investigators using now-discredited methods came to the wrong conclusion about where in the house it may have broken out. It was a mistake that he says points to someone else as the culprit. (AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction)

FILE - In this undated file photo, Han Tak Lee gestures at an unknown location in Pennsylvania. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Lee, imprisoned for life, can present evidence backing up his claim the July 1989 fire that killed his 20-year-old daughter in a cabin at a religious retreat was an accident. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, Todd Buchanan, File) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; NEWARK OUT

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice shows Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in 2004 for setting fire to his Corsicana house, killing his 2-year-old daughter and 1-year-old twins. Stacy Kuykendall, In one of the highest-profile innocence claims to death, arson experts questioned the evidence used to gain Cameron Todd Willingham's Texas conviction for a 1991 fire that killed his three daughters. The Texas State Fire Marshal's Office stood by its findings and Willingham was executed Feb. 17, 2004, but experts since then have testified the fire was accidental. (AP Photo/File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? A death row inmate on Wednesday lost his latest hope for arguing that a mysterious "man in red" could have started the arson fire that killed his 3-year-old son.

Michael Webb doesn't dispute the 1990 blaze was arson, but he denies starting it and says investigators using now-discredited methods came to the wrong conclusion about where in the house the flames broke out. He says the correct determination points to someone else as the culprit.

Investigators say Webb set the fire to kill his family, collect the insurance and start a new life with his mistress.

The Ohio Parole Board on Wednesday unanimously rejected his plea for mercy in one of a series of cases around the U.S. that represent a new legal frontier: Defense attorneys are using advances in the science of fire investigation to challenge arson convictions, in much the same way they are employing DNA to clear those in prison for murder and rape.

The board said, "Given the overwhelming evidence of guilt, there is no manifest injustice in this case that would warrant the grant of executive clemency."

Gov. John Kasich has the final say on clemency for Webb, whose execution is on hold because of an unrelated lawsuit over lethal injection.

Research in recent decades has challenged long-held assumptions about how flames spread and the tell-tale signs they leave.

"Our scientific understandings have improved in recent years, and the effect of that has to be to say, 'We've got some innocent people who've been declared guilty based on misunderstandings,'" said John Hall, director of analysis and research for the National Fire Protection Association.

For example, decades ago, it was common for investigators to conclude an accelerant like gasoline was used if a fire burned particularly hot. In fact, the new arson science has found no such correlation, experts say. Another mistaken assumption: A V-shaped pattern on a wall of a burned building is proof of arson. All it shows is where a fire started.

One of the biggest arson cases to come under attack is that of Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted in a 1991 fire in Texas that killed his three daughters. He was executed in 2004. But some experts since then have testified that the blaze was probably accidental.

The primary evidence against Willingham was the testimony of arson investigators for the state fire marshal's office, who said they found pour patterns and puddling on the floor. They said those were signs that someone had poured an accelerant throughout Willingham's home.

But Craig Beyler, chairman of the International Association of Fire Safety Science, wrote in a 2009 report that investigators did not have enough evidence to make an arson finding. He cited findings in the field of fire research that were arrived at since the 1991 blaze or became widely accepted after the original investigation.

For example, tests have found that pour-like patterns on the floor can occur because of radiant heat, even without accelerants, according to Beyler's report. Experiments have also found that melted plastics can create patterns that look like liquid spills, Beyler said.

In Ohio, Webb's chief argument is that a fire investigator wrongly concluded that the 1990 blaze started near a closet or a bathroom where Webb acknowledged he was standing.

In a report submitted on Webb's behalf earlier this month, Gerald Hurst, a chemist and fire investigator in Austin, Texas, said that based on gasoline-spill experiments conducted around the U.S. in the years since the crime, the origin of the fire could have been anywhere on the main floor.

That is important to Webb's case because of statements by one of his teenage daughters that she saw "a man in red" in the house the morning of the fire. Webb's attorneys argue that that person could have been the boyfriend of Webb's other daughter.

Webb's lawyers acknowledge Hurst's findings don't exonerate Webb, but say they raise enough questions to justify a new trial.

Prosecutors dismiss the "man in red" theory, saying the girl's statements varied, that no evidence implicating the boyfriend was found, and that the daughter could have actually seen Webb holding a red gas can. They say Webb is presenting nothing new.

Webb is making "a contention of innocence that is refuted by the hard evidence in the case," Clermont County prosecutors said in their filing with the parole board.

Innocence Projects around the country, which previously concentrated on defendants whose convictions could be challenged through DNA, have taken on a number of deadly arson cases in recent years, including ones in Michigan, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-02-01-Arson-Innocence/id-dc500a59899f46d682ab604f3ff60328

breaking dawn premiere rock center nbpa itunes match itunes match walmart black friday 2011 walmart black friday 2011

UK Running their own business Accounting Software and Self ...

Within the uk anyone receiving earned income which isn?t taxed under the employers PAYE system is technically self-employed. Anyone that is smaller and in running a business throughout the uk must register that business with HM Revenue and Customs within 3 months of starting that one-man shop business and failure to do can lead to penalty fines.

All independently employed businesses must keep records of one?s financial transactions and submit these accounts annually to HM Revenue and Customs in the format in the self assessment tax return that happens to be supplementary pages contained in the small annual taxes.

Different standards for accounting by self-employed business are applicable as compared to the accounting requirements of the limited liability company and therefore much simpler Accounting Software does apply. Accounting Software on a limited company invariably has a double entry system of accounting which produces not only a profit and loss account but also an account balance sheet. The Accounting Software has to contend with business bank accounts, debtors and creditors and convey reconcilable results.

While advisable for smaller businesses to help keep an individual life?s savings it isn?t a crucial requirement. The Accounting Software made use of by anyone running their own business should keep accurate records of fixed assets can also be seriously isn?t critical that this Accounting Software also produces a balance sheet. With your factors in the mind Accounting Software on your running their own business may be easier and greatly advantageous in the event that Accounting Software also produces the various and quite often onerous burden of HM Revenue and Customs taxes and working papers.

Independantly employed Accounting Software Requirements

Accounting Software proper Self Employed does not have to get double entry. The Accounting Software could be a single entry system helping to make the value of using Accounting Software relying on excel spreadsheets feasible and due to the simplicity highly desirable. Such Accounting Software being excel based is permanently to apply, utilising every one of the benefits and advantages excel offers. Accounting Software that may be also highly visible on the click of a button. Accounting Software with a database hides the financial transactions that your Accounting Software must query to retrieve the mandatory information. This is the part an Accounting Software database that tend to requires some technical accounting knowledge to figure efficiently. Accounting Software written on excel spreadsheets is, automobile visibility, much better to use and understand and needs small if any accounting experience.

Accounting Software written on excel spreadsheets makes an ideal solution for any the self employed businessman. Good financial records might possibly be the tip for the success of any self-employed business specifically for the importance of Accounting Software. A high quality Accounting Software application is a central component of your business to name potential trouble spots and capitalise on success to get the company forward.

medical software
accounting software

Source: http://freebestarticles.net/uk-running-their-own-business-accounting-software-and-self-assessment-taxation-assessments.html

norv turner quadrantid jerry angelo work it amy chua iowa gop gloria steinem

Advertisement:

We were unable to forward you to the advertisement you clicked on.

The likely cause for this is that your browser, feed reader, or email application is configured to not accept cookies, or your reader may launch an external browser to view links without sharing cookies.

• If you're using Internet Explorer, make sure your privacy setting is at medium or below.
  • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
  • Click the Privacy tab
  • Adjust your privacy setting if necessary
    ?
• If you're using a reader that embeds Internet Explorer (examples: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Feed Demon), you'll also need to select Internet Explorer as your default web browser.
  • Open Internet Explorer
  • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
  • Click the 'Programs' tab and check the box for Internet Explorer to check if it is the default browser and save your change
  • Close your browser, re-open it, and when prompted, select Internet Explorer as your default
  • You can then click on an ad in your newsletter and visit the site you wish to view

Source: http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=e6c4742247148f27d140353a0e12de2d&p=4

sweet potato pie twas the night before christmas norad santa epic beard man new york jets nfl standings giants vs jets

IAEA, Iran to meet again after "good" talks (Reuters)

VIENNA (Reuters) ? Senior U.N. nuclear inspectors plan another trip to Iran later this month after holding what both sides described as good talks on the Islamic state's disputed atomic program.

The Jan 29-31 talks in Tehran were a rare direct dialogue in the long-running international stand-off, which has worsened in recent weeks as the West pursues a punitive embargo on Iranian oil and Tehran threatens retaliation.

"The Agency is committed to intensifying dialogue. It remains essential to make progress on substantive issues," Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a statement.

Tehran says its uranium enrichment program is solely for peaceful electricity generation and has dismissed allegations that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons as baseless.

Led by the U.N. agency's global head of inspections, the IAEA team returned on Wednesday from three days of meetings in Iran to try to end three years of deadlock in efforts to resolve the questions about Tehran's nuclear work.

The fact both sides said talks would resume suggested the round just completed at least created some basis for progress.

"We are committed to resolve all the outstanding issues and the Iranians said they are committed too," Herman Nackaerts, IAEA deputy director general, told reporters after returning from Tehran.

"But of course there is still a lot of work to be done and so we have planned another trip in the very near future."

Asked if he was satisfied with the talks, Nackaerts said: "Yeah, we had a good trip."

He described the talks as "intensive discussions" with their Iranian counterparts but declined to give any more details, saying he first needed to brief his boss, Amano.

Later, the IAEA issued a brief statement saying another meeting would take place from Feb 21-22 in Tehran.

The U.N. agency said it had explained to Iran its "concerns and identified its priorities, which focus on the clarification of possible military dimensions" to Iran's nuclear program.

"The IAEA also discussed with Iran the topics and initial steps to be taken, as well as associated modalities," it said.

Western diplomats based in Vienna, the IAEA's headquarters, said the jury was still out on whether the mission accomplished anything concrete.

"This visit will be judged by whether the Iranians provided the visiting IAEA team with cooperation on substantive issues. Anything short of that type of cooperation is not acceptable," one envoy said.

Proliferation expert Mark Fitzpatrick described Nackaerts' statement about more meetings as a positive sign.

"The IAEA would not be scheduling another trip unless they had an expectation of progress in clearing away at least some of the questions about suspicious past nuclear activity," said Fitzpatrick, a director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also said more talks would be needed but did not say when.

"We had very good meetings and we planned to continue these negotiations. The team had some questions about the claimed studies. One step has been taken forward," he told the semi- official Fars news agency in Tehran.

IAEA BOARD MEETING

By "studies," Salehi was alluding to intelligence reports indicating that Iran has covertly researched ways to design a nuclear weapon - Western allegations that were backed up by a detailed IAEA report in November.

Salehi added: "We were ready to show them our nuclear facilities, but they didn't ask for it."

Lower-level IAEA inspectors based in Iran have regular, if limited, access to Iran's declared nuclear installations.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, had already announced Iran's readiness to hold talks with world powers.

"I hope this meeting takes place in the not too distant future," Salehi said.

Western diplomats have often accused Iran of using offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with stockpiling enriched uranium, the key energy source in nuclear power plants or bombs, depending on the level of refinement.

They say they doubt whether Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.

The IAEA made clear before the visit it wanted to focus on its growing concerns of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program. Among others, its team included French nuclear weapons expert Jacques Baute, one diplomat said.

Olli Heinonen, Nackaerts' predecessor at the IAEA, said it would take time to resolve all outstanding issues but that coming weeks would show whether Iran was ready to take "pragmatic steps" to address international concerns.

"It is of great importance that the IAEA experts will have unfettered access to information, sites, equipment and people, who have been involved in the military-related activities," Heinonen, now at Harvard University, said.

Friction between Iran and the West has worsened this year after the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions targeting Tehran's oil sector over its continued defiance of U.N. resolutions demanding it suspend enrichment, grant unfettered access to the IAEA and engage in negotiations.

Iran has been open to resuming talks with six world powers frozen for over a year but only to discuss broader international issues, not its nuclear program.

The new Western measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second-biggest oil exporter to sell its crude. Iran has threatened to cut off oil exports to EU countries before July 1, when the sanctions would take full effect.

U.S. intelligence chiefs told legislators in testimony on Tuesday that Iran is feeling the bite from sanctions and that its nuclear program is now capable of yielding a weapon although Tehran had not yet decided on such a course.

(Writing and additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl; additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington and Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120201/wl_nm/us_iran_iaea

brownback brownback salvia cybermonday deals cybermonday deals steve johnson norman reedus

Why Social Recommendation Services Need to Get Even More Personal (Mashable)

Yen Lee is the founder and president of Uptake, a social travel company that pairs personalized recommendations from friends with an extensive, searchable catalog of expert and consumer travel insights. Yelp, TripAdvisor and Amazon user reviews aren't enough anymore. Crowd insights are no longer meaningful to the individual simply because they're "user generated." People don't care about finding the needle in the haystack -- unless they trust the needle in the first place.

[More from Mashable: eBay CEO: NFC Payments Need Standardization to Succeed [VIDEO]]

??It used to be that consumers would get purchase recommendations from acquaintances, salespeople, and perhaps even celebrity endorsements on TV or radio. Today, the web offers vast access to a variety of products and services, and countless channels by which to acquire them. The diversity of choice has powerfully influenced consumer preference, but very often, it has left the consumer in a state of flux.

Therefore, a new consumer is emerging, along with evolving web discovery technology that will impact his decision-making process. These three factors will be especially important for today's new era of social recommendation services.

[More from Mashable: How Social Media Keeps Leaders Honest [VIDEO]]

• Trust: In the past, a crowd's wisdom and insight rendered its recommendations valuable. Today, we not only seek recommendations from qualified strangers, but also from people we already know. Socially connected consumers value and trust the opinions of friends more than the input of strangers.
• Taste: The increase of emotional and personal disclosure on social networks has allowed services to mine networks for unique and powerful insights that boost social experiences both on and offline. We can now tap these preferences to depths we never before imagined. Businesses can build powerful recommendation engines using these insights, triggering user discovery at astonishing rates.
• Time: Consumers don?t have the time to sift through the web's mass of information and insights, especially when we can just ask people we know, and rest assured that their insights are sufficient.?

These trends prove that today's consumers share one overarching priority: personalization. And some companies are already catching on. Spotify took music to a new level by personalizing playlists by taste, and also by enabling sharing with people meaningful to its users. Much the same, Etsy's Facebook connection lets people discover gifts for friends based on Likes and interests.

??Likewise, travel is an innately social experience. We ask people about destinations, share our photos, meet new people on trips, and even plan trips together. However, travel has historically been weighed down by booking and planning processes that lacked recommendations or personalization. Recently though, companies are responding to a new breed of traveler -- one that prefers the unbeaten path, the locals-only establishments and one-of-a-kind adventure. However, today's travelers also want approval from their social circles -- trusted friends with similar tastes, who won?t waste their time with irrelevant information.??

For each of the companies mentioned above, friends provide trusted advice to validate and enhance the consumer experience, making it meaningful and worth the investment. In a year or so, we?ll see that companies will address trust, taste and time to generate ultra-personalized recommendation services for their users.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, OrangeDukeProductions

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120131/tc_mashable/why_social_recommendation_services_need_to_get_even_more_personal

ron artest name change pat boone psn down rem typhoon dwts elimination kelly thomas

Video: Winter heat wave

Temperatures are rising around the nation, making for an unusually warm January. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.

>>> there's already a name for what we are experiencing this winter. it's called junuary. temperatures today and tomorrow much closer to what they are in june than they should be in the dead of winter. thus, the newspaper headlines around the nation blaring about winter's virtual cancellation. events called off for lack of snow, ice and cold. with us tonight from weather channel headquarters, our friend meteorologist jim cantore . jim, there is a chance it just never moves in to stay, winter does?

>> i think we are going to get winter. february and march, big months for storms. it's not over yet. let's talk about what we had though. this is amazing well. you look at 9/10 of the country, we have had above-normal temperatures. the scale to the top above average. that is above average. we look into february. more of that to the south. this may not bode well for our severe weather potential. we already had 74 tornados this month, third all time. today, 50 plus record highs right in this region here. we will have another slew tomorrow. i bet they wish the super bowl was in dallas. 72 coming up. it looks like this area will finally cool off by the time we start early next week. some of the extended models do suggest we do cool off starting next week, and possibly a big chill coming toward the middle of february. we're going to have to wait and see. they haven't lasted that long.

>> we'll pay for all these stories we keep doing. jim cantore from the weather channel , thanks as always.

>>> some be fair sox folks are having a good old-fashioned winter like parts of alaska where the temperature in fairbanks plunged to 49 below zero over the weekend.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46196761/

iraq war over iraq war over maurice jones drew megyn kelly unclaimed money richard hamilton richard hamilton