ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? Sleeping disorders have been known for some years to increase the risk of diabetes. A French-British team coordinated by Philippe Froguel from the Genomics and Metabolic Diseases Laboratory (CNRS/Universit? Lille 2/Institut Pasteur, Lille, EGID Research Federation) (1) working with Ralf Jockers' team (Institut Cochin, CNRS/Inserm/Universit? Paris Descartes, Paris),) has just linked a gene that plays a key role in synchronising biological rhythms to type 2 diabetes. Researchers in Lille and Paris demonstrated that mutations in the melatonin receptor gene (melatonin or the "hormone of darkness" induces sleep) lead to an almost sevenfold increase in the risk of developing diabetes.
This research, which was published in Nature Genetics on 29 January 2012, could contributed to the development of new drugs for the treatment or prevention of this metabolic disease.
Type 2 diabetes is characterised by excess blood glucose and increased resistance to insulin. It is the most common form of the disease and affects 300 million people in the world, including 3 million in France. This figure should double in the next few years, driven by the obesity epidemic and the disappearance of ancestral lifestyles. It is known that genetic factors, combined with a high-fat, high-sugar diet and lack of exercise, can also contribute to the onset of the disease. Furthermore, several studies have shown that sleeping disorders that affect the duration and quality of sleep are also high risk factors. Shift workers, for example, are at greater risk of developing the disease. No previous research has described any mechanism linking the biological clock to diabetes.
The researchers focused their attention on the receptor of a hormone called melatonin, which is produced by the pineal gland (2) as light fades. Melatonin, also known as the hormone of darkness, can be seen as a biological "time-keeper," synchronising biological rhythms with nightfall. The teams sequenced the MT2 gene, which encodes its receptor, in 7600 diabetics and persons with normal glycaemia. They found 40 rare mutations that modify the protein structure of the melatonin receptor, 14 of which made the receptor in question non-functional. The team went on to demonstrate that the risk of developing diabetes is nearly seven times higher in people affected by such mutations, which make them melatonin-insensitive.
It is known that the production of insulin, the hormone responsible for controlling blood glucose levels, drops at night to prevent any risk of hypoglycaemia. Insulin production starts up again, however, to avoid excess blood glucose during the day, which is when most people eat.
This study could lead to new drugs aimed at preventing or treating diabetes. Researchers could, for example, adjust MT2 receptor activity to control the metabolic pathways associated with it (3). The work also highlights the importance of genome sequencing as a means of personalising treatment for diabetic patients. There are many genetic causes for diabetes and the therapeutic approach needs to be adapted to the metabolic pathways concerned by each patient's particular disorder.
Footnotes:
(1) Research conducted in collaboration with Imperial College London and the Sanger Institute in Cambridge.
(2) A small endocrine gland, part of the epithalamus in the vertebrate brain.
(3) Drugs that mimic melatonin already exist . They are used to treat jet lag and seasonal depression due to the fewer daylight hours in winter.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by INSERM (Institut national de la sant? et de la recherche m?dicale).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Am?lie Bonnefond, Nathalie Cl?ment, Katherine Fawcett, Lo?c Yengo, Emmanuel Vaillant, Jean-Luc Guillaume, Aur?lie Dechaume, Felicity Payne, Ronan Roussel, S?bastien Czernichow, Serge Hercberg, Samy Hadjadj, Beverley Balkau, Michel Marre, Olivier Lantieri, Claudia Langenberg, Nabila Bouatia-Naji, Guillaume Charpentier, Martine Vaxillaire, Ghislain Rocheleau, Nicholas J Wareham, Robert Sladek, Mark I McCarthy, Christian Dina, In?s Barroso, Ralf Jockers, Philippe Froguel. Rare MTNR1B variants impairing melatonin receptor 1B function contribute to type 2 diabetes. Nature Genetics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/ng.1053
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.
College students aren't necessarily renowned for their good judgment, and a new study reinforces that, finding that nearly one in seven co-eds has played the Choking Game, which is every bit as dangerous as it sounds.
Also called the Fainting Game, Pass Out, or Space Monkey, the Choking Game can be played individually or in groups. It consists of manually choking yourself or others, sticking a plastic bag over the head, tying a string around the neck or hyperventilating, all in search of a few seconds of euphoria. (See TIME's health and medicine covers.)
Researchers at The Crime Victims' Institute at Sam Houston State University surveyed 837 students at a Texas university and found that the behavior, which works by cutting off blood flow to the brain in order to induce a high, was frighteningly commonplace:
?16% of students said they'd played the game, and three-quarters more than once ?On average, students first played the game at age 14 ?Males were more likely to have played than females ?90% of students who had played the game learned about it from friends, and most students said they first played in a group
Why in the world would kids engage in this potentially deadly behavior? In a word, curiosity. They may also not realize it has the potential to be just as deadly as illegal drugs. The good news is that learning that a number of teens and college students have suffocated to death from playing the Choking Game helped deter students from playing. Parents, talk to your kids. And schools can play a role too: related research found that 90% of parents think that including information about the dangers of the game in school health and drug prevention classes is a smart idea.(MORE: For Teens Who Cut, Going Online Can Sometimes Help)
As the study notes:
"This 'game,' as it is often called, does not require obtaining any drugs or alcohol, is free, and can go undetected by many parents, teachers, physicians, and other authority figures. Most importantly, many of those who engage in this activity, do not understand that the practice can be just as deadly as the illegal substances youth have been warned against."
JERUSALEM ? A hard-line Jewish settler who wants to pay Palestinians to leave the West Bank and Gaza is running against Israel's prime minister in Tuesday's ruling party primary election.
Moshe Feiglin has little chance of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he could deliver an embarrassing blow to the country's leader in his fourth try for leadership of the Likud, none of which have had a realistic shot at success.
Experts say Feiglin could get a third of the vote in the closed party primary, reflecting the view of hard-liners that Netanyahu, despite his uncompromising worldview, is not hawkish enough.
"I am providing an alternative," said Feiglin, 49. "The world expects ... much more than creating a terrorist country right in the heart of the land of the Bible," referring to a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Israeli nationalists believe the West Bank must remain under Israeli control for religious and security reasons. Though Netanyahu backed that view for years, his movement has edged toward compromise in recent years, and Netanyahu himself has accepted the concept of creating a Palestinian state.
Feiglin founded a nationalist movement that blocked highway intersections around the country in 1995 to protest partial peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, and he opposes further peace talks.
Feiglin proposes annexing the West Bank, retaking Gaza ? Israel withdrew in 2005 ? and bolstering a Jewish majority by offering emigration incentive packages of $350,000 to each Arab family in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Such extreme positions have the backing of a small but noisy minority of Israelis.
Netanyahu called the snap leadership primary in his Likud Party a year ahead of schedule, raising the possibility of an early general election later this year.
Netanyahu is so popular that no Likud Cabinet ministers or lawmakers dared challenge him, leaving Feiglin as the only other candidate.
Feiglin has steadily gained support over the last three times he has run for Likud party leadership ? from winning 3.5 percent of the vote in his first campaign nine years ago, to scooping up nearly a quarter of the vote in 2007.
Analysts are divided about how the underdog would affect the ruling party.
Avraham Diskin, a Hebrew University political scientist, said the stronger Feiglin performs in the primaries, the more Netanyahu will strive to portray a moderate face to the party by endorsing less hawkish lawmakers around him, he said.
"It doesn't look like (Netanyahu) will give in to the extremists," Diskin said.
Analyst Yaron Ezrahi says if Feiglin wins more than 30 percent of the votes in the primaries, it could push the Likud party's base further right politically and weaken Netanyahu's claim that the ruling party represents the majority of the nation.
"It's very serious. It hurts the Likud's image," Ezrahi said. He called Feiglin's camp an "embarrassing minority" for Netanyahu.
Feiglin's expected gains in Tuesday's primaries come as religious nationalists are preparing for a showdown with the government over plans to evict the unauthorized Migron settlement, which the government says was built on unlawfully seized land from private Palestinian landowners in 2001.
Hard-line lawmakers are threatening to bolt Netanyahu's coalition if Migron is dismantled, and Feiglin's campaign could add more pressure to Netanyahu to find a solution that will satisfy the settlers.
"Netanyahu is fighting a war of survival. But there is no survival without a vision," said Feiglin. "He is losing credit."
A couple walks on a snow covered road near the Lake of Eymir, Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)
A couple walks on a snow covered road near the Lake of Eymir, Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)
Coots fight for a piece of bread on the frozen Lake of Eymir, near Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)
Coots run for a piece of bread on the frozen Lake of Eymir, near Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? A severe and snowy cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials are responding with measures ranging from opening shelters to dispensing hot tea, with particular concern for the homeless and elderly.
This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temperatures in some parts plunged Monday to minus 20 Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit).
"Just as we thought we could get away with a spring-like winter ..." lamented Jelena Savic, 43, from the Serbian capital of Belgrade, her head wrapped in a shawl with only eyes uncovered. "I'm freezing. It's hard to get used to it so suddenly."
Officials have appealed to people to stay indoors and be careful. Police searched for the homeless to make sure they didn't freeze to death. In some places, heaters will be set up at bus stations.
Still, 18 people, most of them homeless, died in Ukraine from hypothermia and nearly 500 people sought medical help for frostbite and hypothermia in just three days last week, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
Temperatures in parts of Ukraine fell to minus 16 C (3 F) during the day and minus 23 C (minus 10 F) in the night. Authorities opened 1,500 shelters to provide food and heat and closed schools and nurseries. More than 17,000 people have sought help in such shelters in the past three days, authorities said.
In Poland, at least 10 people froze to death as the cold reached minus 26 C (minus 15 F) on Monday.
Malgorzata Wozniak, a spokeswoman for Poland's Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press that elderly people and the homeless were among the dead. Police were checking unheated empty buildings for homeless people they could take to shelters.
Warsaw city authorities decided to place more than 40 heaters in the busiest city transport stops to help waiting passengers keep warm.
City authorities in the Czech capital of Prague set up tents for an estimated 3,000 homeless people. Freezing temperatures also damaged train tracks, slowing railway traffic.
In central Serbia, three people died and two more were missing, while 14 municipalities were operating under emergency decrees. Efforts to clear roads blocked by snow were hampered by strong winds and dozens of towns faced power outages.
Police said one woman froze to death in a snowstorm in a central Serbian village, while two elderly men were found dead, one in the snow outside his home. Further south, emergency crews are searching for two men in their 70s who are feared dead.
"We are getting some 'real' winter this week," Croatian meteorologist Zoran Vakula said.
In Bulgaria, a 57-year-old man froze to death in a northwestern village and emergency decrees were declared in 25 of the country's 28 districts. In the capital of Sofia, authorities handed out hot tea and placed homeless people in emergency shelters.
Strong winds also closed down Bulgaria's main Black Sea port of Varna, while part of a major highway leading to Bulgaria and Greece from Turkey was closed after a heavy snowfall. Nearly 200 Turkish Airlines flights to and from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were canceled, and a city sports hall was turned to a temporary shelter for some 350 homeless people.
The temperature in Turkey's province of Kars, which borders Armenia, dropped to minus 25 C on Sunday night.
The situation was similar in Romania, where reports said four people have died because of freezing weather. There, authorities sent prison inmates to shovel snow and unblock paths leading to a shelter with some 300 stray dogs and puppies.
Weather forecasts say the cold snap will continue through the week.
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Associated Press writers across the region contributed to this report.
HAVANA ? Cuba's Communist leaders vowed not to cede any ground to "the enemy," even as they pledged to fight corruption and continue overhauling the island's listing Marxist economy with an injection of free market reform.
No word of long-awaited political changes ? including an April pledge by President Raul Castro to implement term limits ? seeped out of the first day of the closed-door party conference. Nor was there any hint of changes to the aged upper ranks of the party hierarchy. President Raul Castro is 80, and his two top deputies are 81 and 79, respectively.
Castro has spoken of the need to revitalize the island's leadership, but has complained there are few young leaders ready to step up. He, or his now-retired brother Fidel, have ruled the country since their 1959 revolution.
"Making the necessary changes, but without the smallest concession to the enemy," read the headline in Sunday's official Juventud Rebelde newspaper, an apparent reference to the United States and other government opponents.
The theme was echoed by delegates at the conference in snippets of the session shown on state television
"The enemy is waiting to create internal problems for us," Angel Bueno warned fellow attendees.
Raul Castro was to address the delegates in a closing speech Sunday, according to state-run website Cubadebate, though it was not clear if his words would be televised or rebroadcast at some point. Attendees did pledge to boost the ranks of women, Afro-Cubans and young people in the party and government, and noted that women currently make up 37 percent of the government, and 41 percent of delegates to the island's National Assembly.
But there were no concrete resolutions, and Castro's recent comments not to expect fireworks out of the internal meetings dampened expectations any major announcements were coming.
The meetings are a follow-up to last April's historic party summit, which opened up long-shut doors of economic opportunity by green-lighting the legalization of home and car sales, expansion of private-sector activity and extension of loans to support farmers, entrepreneurs and homeowners.
Foreign journalists were not allowed access to the weekend event.
State-run website Cubadebate showed photos of Castro presiding over the conference wearing a gray blazer and a dark, open-collar shirt, with what appeared to be a small bandage on the tip of his nose. There was no word of any appearance by Fidel Castro, who was greeted with a standing ovation and some tears at the April congress.
In a brief snippet of video posted on Cubadebate, Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said in a keynote speech that the conference would focus on "the everyday work of the organization."
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Follow Paul Haven at http://www.twitter.com/paulhaven/
LOS ANGELES ? Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and was convulsing and "semi-conscious, barely," according to a caller on a frantic 911 recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.
The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had been "having issues lately."
"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.
"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.
The recording captures the 10 minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gather around the collapsed star and try to comfort her as she trembles and shakes.
Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.
"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."
When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.
"Some form of ... and then she smoked something. I didn't really see. She's been having some issues lately with some other stuff. So I don't know what she's been taking or not," the friend says.
The city attorney's office advised the fire department to redact details about medical conditions and substances to comply with federal medical privacy rules.
"She smoked something. It's not marijuana. It's similar to incense," the friend says to the 911 operator.
While Moore's friends don't say exactly what she smoked, an increasingly popular drug known as Spice is sometimes labeled as "herbal incense."
Spice is a synthetic cannabis drug and also called K2. It's sold in small packets over the Internet, in smoke shops and at convenience stores. The packaging sometimes reads "not for human consumption" to conceal its purpose.
In 2011, there were twice as many spice-related calls to Poison Control Centers nationwide as in the previous year, according to the National Office of Drug Control Policy.
The adverse health effects associated with synthetic marijuana include anxiety, vomiting, racing heartbeat, seizures, hallucinations, and paranoid behavior.
Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.
"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.
The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.
"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."
Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.
The past few months have been rocky for Moore.
She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.
Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.
Meanwhile, Millennium Films announced Friday that Sarah Jessica Parker will replace Moore in the role of feminist Gloria Steinem in its production of "Lovelace," a biopic about the late porn star Linda Lovelace. A statement gave no reason for the change. The production, starring Amanda Seyfried, has been shooting in Los Angeles since Dec. 20.
During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and was holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.
"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."
The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.
There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.
As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"
"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.
Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
By the end of the call, Moore has improved.
"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.
Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.
Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.
Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations' efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2.5 million people worldwide.
Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."
TEHRAN, Iran ? A U.N. nuclear team arrived in Tehran early Sunday for a mission expected to focus on Iran's alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons.
The U.N. nuclear agency delegation includes two senior weapons experts ? Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa ? suggesting that Iran may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations.
The delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency is led by Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, who is in charge of the Iran nuclear file. Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano's right-hand man.
In unusually blunt comments ahead of his arrival in Tehran, Nackaerts urged Iran to work with his mission on probing the allegations about Iran's alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons, reflecting the importance the IAEA is attaching to the issue.
Tehran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant countries" ? a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the United States and its allies.
Ahead of his departure, Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport he hopes Iran "will engage with us on all concerns."
"So we're looking forward to the start of a dialogue," he said: "A dialogue that is overdue since very long."
In a sign of the difficulties the team faces and the tensions that surround Iran's disputed nuclear program, a dozen Iranian hard-liners carrying photos of slain nuclear expert Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were waiting at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport early Sunday to challenge the team upon arrival.
That prompted security officials to whisk the IAEA team away from the tarmac to avoid any confrontation with the hard-liners.
Iran's official IRNA news agency confirmed the team's arrival and said the IAEA experts are likely to visit the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the capital, Tehran.
During their three-day visit, the IAEA team will be looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program, inspect documents related to such suspected work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits to sites linked to such allegations. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from Iran's frequent simple refusal to talk about them.
The United States and its allies want Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
Iran has accused the IAEA in the past of security leaks that expose its scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.
Iranian state media say Roshan, a chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was interviewed by IAEA inspectors before being killed in a brazen bomb attack in Tehran earlier this month.
Iranian media have urged the government to be vigil, saying some IAEA inspectors are "spies," reflecting the deep suspicion many in Iran have for the U.N. experts sent to inspect Iran's nuclear sites.
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AP writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna.
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talk during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla. Confident and forceful, Romney's debate performance scores points with body-language experts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talk during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla. Confident and forceful, Romney's debate performance scores points with body-language experts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, listens to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at a Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla. Mitt Romney talk during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla. Confident and forceful, Romney's debate performance scores points with body-language experts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The hands came out of the pockets. The gaze was intense. Mitt Romney leaned confidently into the lectern.
Even with the sound turned off, Romney would have stolen Newt Gingrich's debate thunder with a surprisingly commanding and aggressive performance in the latest Florida faceoff, body language experts said Friday.
To some, in fact, it was as if the two Republican presidential candidates had swapped roles, with Gingrich, the aggressor (and ultimate victor) in South Carolina, suddenly seeming the uncomfortable, squirmy candidate in Florida.
It was a marked change for Romney, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert in political communication at the University of Pennsylvania. "All his nonverbal cues suggested directness," she said. "The halting delivery was gone. He didn't hesitate before responding. The indecisiveness disappeared."
The former Massachusetts governor also showed flashes of temperament, unafraid to display real anger at Gingrich's calling him, in an ad, an "anti-immigrant" candidate.
"Mr. Speaker, I'm not anti-immigrant!" he retorted. "The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. Don't use a term like that."
The anger came off as both real and controlled, said body language coach Patti Wood, which was important because it projected the sense that Romney wouldn't be carried away by his emotions as president.
"It was a controlled strength," said the Atlanta-based Wood, who coaches politicians and executives. "His shoulders were up, chest back. Very effective." And equally important, Wood said, is the way Romney ended the exchange ? with a slight, satisfied smile that stopped short of a smirk: "He could have ruined it at that moment with a smirk, which he's been known to do, but he didn't."
Where did the new Romney technique come from? Both Jamieson and Wood say it was clear the candidate had been well coached. Indeed, Romney has been working with a new coach ? Brett O'Donnell, formerly with Michele Bachmann's campaign.
"You don't make that kind of change without practice," says Jamieson.
Another expert, Lillian Glass, said it was more than just technique ? that perhaps Romney was getting a better sense of himself as a candidate.
"You can coach someone, but the body doesn't lie," said the Los Angeles-based Glass, who coaches both politicians and actors in body language. "What's going on psychologically shows. What I'm seeing is more conviction, that he seems more sure of what he is saying."
One thing was clear to Glass: "If you turned off the sound last night, that was your leader, just based on the physical alone."
Not that many viewers do turn the sound off, but nonverbal cues are more important than people may think, said Gerald Shuster, a professor of political communication at the University of Pittsburgh. "The nonverbal message often carries a lot more weight than the verbal," said Shuster, who also studies presidential rhetoric.
In earlier debates, Shuster said, Romney had seemed less engaged, with his hands often in his pockets, as if staying above the fray. He also appeared exasperated when attacked by Gingrich.
"The tilt of his head, the tone of his voice," Shuster said. "It was almost like a parent disciplining a child, as in, 'I can't believe you just said that!'"
With his fiery style, Gingrich, said Shuster, took advantage of Romney's role as perceived front-runner. "The challenger has it easier ? he forces the perceived favorite to go off his stride and go off message," he said. "Gingrich was very good at that. He forced Romney to stop talking about Obama and defend himself" ? especially on questions over his personal income taxes and his considerable wealth.
Romney did, though, take a page from Gingrich's playbook: More effective use of the debate audience.
"Last night Romney got at least as much audience support as Gingrich did," said Jamieson.
In general, Gingrich seemed more frustrated, said Glass, the body language expert in Los Angeles. "His voice would go up in pitch," she said. "It was a pinched voice, and pinched facial expressions. He pursed his lips, furrowed his brow, shifted around a lot."
As for the two other candidates, former Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas congressman Ron Paul each had their good moments, Glass said: Paul scored with his folksy humor (he even plugged his wife's cookbook) and Santorum "was very well-spoken, but lacked gravitas."
Of course, everyone has ups and downs, and things could change again. But, Jamieson said, Romney took a big step toward blunting Gingrich's contention that he'd be the more successful debater in the general election.
"If Republicans are looking for someone who can debate Barack Obama, the better debater on the stage last night was Mitt Romney," Jamieson said.
Though the Cleveland Plain Dealer still has not acknowledged the move on its website (other than to finally remove his name and face from the roster), Tony Grossi no longer covers the Browns as a beat writer, following the accidental publication of a private Twitter message that called Browns owner Randy Lerner? (pictured) ?pathetic? and an ?irrelevant billionaire.?
Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis tells PFT that the Browns have no comment on the situation.
There?s still no evidence that the Browns pressured the Plain Dealer to make the move.? Per a source with knowledge of the situation, however, both Lerner and president Mike Holmgren refused to accept calls from Grossi after the message was posted and deleted.? We?re also told that a meeting occurred Wednesday between Plain Dealer publisher Terry Eggar and Holmgren.
The Plain Dealer has been nearly as silent as the Browns.? Managing editor Thom Fladung called the Kiley & Booms radio show on 92.3 The Fan this morning to explain the decision, and Fladung?s explanation was less than persuasive, in our opinion.
The decision to remove Grossi from the beat was driven by this ?determining factor? articulated by Fladung:? ?Don?t do something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?
That?s a pretty broad ? and vague ? rule.? And that?s the kind of standard that gives a news organization the ability to do pretty much whatever it wants whenever it wants, because there?s pretty much always something to which someone can point as proof of ?something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?
Making Fladung?s ?determining factor? even more confusing is the fact that he admitted that Grossi could have deliberately expressed a strong opinion about Lerner in a column published and printed in the Plain Dealer without conseqeuence.? ?Let?s say Tony had written that Randy Lerner?s lack of involvement with the Browns and their resulting disappointing records over the years has made him irrelevant as an owner, that?s defensible,? Fladung said.? ?That?s absolutely defensible.?
What?s indefensible is the failure of the Plain Dealer to acknowledge the fact that Grossi never intended to make the statements available for public view.? He fell victim to the subtle but significant differences between a ?direct message? (which is private) and a ?reply? (which is public) on Twitter.? It was an accident.? A mistake.
Let?s go back to the days of typewriters and shorthand, and let?s say that Grossi?s editor has two boxes on his desk.? One is for article submissions and one is for proposed topics.? And let?s say that Grossi scribbled out a scathing column about Lerner as a proposed topic, but Grossi accidentally put it in the box of actual submissions for print.
That?s the low-tech version of what happened here.? Grossi accidentally put his message in the wrong box.
So when Fladung says he ?felt very strongly? that the Twitter message ?was inappropriate and unprofessional and . . . it?s not the kind of opinion a journalist covering a beat can express,? Fladung presumes that Grossi actually intended to articulate that opinion to the world.? He didn?t.? It was inadvertently blurted out, like a temporary case of Twitter Tourette?s.
Some have suggested that the Twitter blunder provided the Plain Dealer with a vehicle for addressing pre-existing concerns regarding Grossi?s overall job performance.? Undercutting that theory was Fladung?s assertion during the radio interview that Grossi is a ?very good? and ?very successful? beat writer.
I?m continuing to write about this because it?s the kind of mistake that could happen to anyone, and everyone should be entitled to the benefit of the doubt in a case like this, especially when newspapers and other media companies want their writers to engage with the audience through various new technologies and platforms.? It also just ?feels? like an unjust result, whether because the Plain Dealer is being obtuse or because the Plain Dealer is cowering to the Browns or because the Browns are remaining deliberately silent in order to secure the preferred outcome of having Grossi removed from the beat.
Regardless, we?re disappointed in the Plain Dealer, in Fladung, in the Browns, in Lerner, and in Holmgren.? And we hope that one or more of them will snap out of it and do the right thing, or at least let the rest of us know in far more convincing fashion why they believe the right thing was done.
Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti responds to a question during a news conference in Piscataway, N.J., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, as he talks about the resignation of football coach Greg Schiano. Rutgers offensive line coach Kyle Flood will be the program's interim head coach until a permanent replacement for Schiano is found. Schiano accepted an offer to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti responds to a question during a news conference in Piscataway, N.J., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, as he talks about the resignation of football coach Greg Schiano. Rutgers offensive line coach Kyle Flood will be the program's interim head coach until a permanent replacement for Schiano is found. Schiano accepted an offer to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti responds to a question during a news conference in Piscataway, N.J., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, as he talks about the resignation of football coach Greg Schiano. Rutgers offensive line coach Kyle Flood will be the program's interim head coach until a permanent replacement for Schiano is found. Schiano accepted an offer to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2006 file photo, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano leads his team onto the field before a football game against Syracuse in Piscataway, N.J. A person familiar with the negotiations says the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in talks with Schiano to become the team's next coach. The 46-year-old Schiano has been with the Scarlet Knights for 11 seasons, taking them from college football laughingstock to a program that has had winning records in six of the last seven years. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)
FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2008 file photo, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano shouts to his players during an NCAA college football game against North Carolina in Piscataway, N.J. A person familiar with the negotiations says the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in talks with Schiano to become the team's next coach. The 46-year-old Schiano has been with the Scarlet Knights for 11 seasons, taking them from college football laughingstock to a program that has had winning records in six of the last seven years. (AP Photo/Mel Evans,file)
FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2009 file photo, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano reacts to play during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Cincinnati, in Piscataway, N.J. A person familiar with the negotiations says the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in talks with Schiano to become the team's next coach. The 46-year-old Schiano has been with the Scarlet Knights for 11 seasons, taking them from college football laughingstock to a program that has had winning records in six of the last seven years. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)
Greg Schiano came to Rutgers when the football program was in a state of disarray ? then left it in a bind.
Less than a week before Rutgers was expected to lock up a highly touted recruiting class, Schiano accepted an offer to become coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday.
There is, however, no doubt that Schiano leaves Rutgers football in better shape than he found it when he was hired to coach the Scarlet Knights in 2000. The New Jersey native had six winning seasons in the last seven years and guided the Knights to a 5-1 record in bowl games. Rutgers had been to one bowl in its history before Schiano arrived.
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 9-4 season and have most of their key players back next year to make a run at a Big East title.
"This program is not a rebuild," athletic director Tim Pernetti said at a news conference on campus in Piscataway, N.J. "This program is priced to move in every way."
Pernetti, a former Rutgers football player who was coached by Schiano in high school, said he was not blindsided by his friend's decision. He'd known of Tampa Bay's interest in Schiano for about a week, but it picked up earlier this week. Pernetti said he was in constant communication with Schiano throughout the process.
Schiano met Thursday with the team, including paralyzed former player Eric LeGrand, and said goodbye.
"He's got to do what's best for his family," said LeGrand, who injured his spinal cord while making a tackle during a game in 2010. "Who could argue with him?"
Still, it's an awkward time to be looking for a coach.
Wednesday is national signing day, the first day high school recruits can sign a national letter of intent with a school. Rutgers was in position to sign a recruiting class rated by analysts as its best under Schiano.
Pernetti said he will reach out to recruits to assure them Rutgers is still the place to be.
"The message is this is the same program it was two days ago," he said.
He added that he could not guarantee hiring a permanent coach by signing day, but did say it is "doable."
"Any AD worth what they're paying him has a list (of coaching candidates) in his pocket," he said.
Assistant head coach and offensive line coach Kyle Flood was promoted to interim coach, though offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti would seem to be the most likely candidate if Pernetti hires from within.
Speculation about possible candidates from outside almost immediately started with Florida International coach Mario Cristobal, who, like Schiano, is a former University of Miami assistant.
For now it's up to Pernetti, Flood and the assistants left behind to hold together the recruiting class.
"It's just a bad situation because of the timing," Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said.
According to Rivals.com, Rutgers had 17 non-binding verbal commitments before Schiano's departure and at least two more blue-chip prospects from New Jersey ? defensive lineman Darius Hamilton from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey and receiver Devin Fuller of Old Tappan High School ? were strongly considering going to Rutgers.
Farrell said most of Rutgers' top committed players had told him that they were contacted by other programs not long after news broke about Schiano. Many of the recruits were lining up last-minute official visits to other schools, he said.
The fact that a coach could jump from Rutgers to the NFL is a testament to the turnaround Schiano orchestrated. Pernetti even said that Schiano took over the "worst program" in the country.
The three previous coaches went 67-114-5 from 1984-2000, graduation rates were low and the facilities were hardly at the Division I-A level.
Rutgers won three games in Schiano's first two seasons and 12 in his first four. The Scarlet Knights went 7-5 in 2005, setting the stage for a startling breakthrough. Rutgers finished 11-2 in 2006, ranked 12th in the nation.
Miami in 2006 and Michigan in 2007 tried to hire Schiano away, but he turned down those offers and moved into a newly built house ? that the university paid for ? about a mile from the football stadium.
"I've had several opportunities over the years and none of them felt right," Schiano told The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., as he left Rutgers' football facility Thursday night. "This time, this one felt right."
The Scarlet Knights haven't gotten back to that '06 level, but they also haven't returned to the dark days. Rutgers slipped to 4-8 in 2010, then bounced back to go 9-4 this past season with a victory against Iowa State in the Pinstripe Bowl.
The remarkable rebuild did come with a price, though ? and not just the $2.35 million annual salary Schiano's latest deal was to pay him through 2016.
Rutgers expanded and renovated its stadium at a cost of $102 million. The school had hoped to raise the money through private donors, but fell short. Rutgers scaled back plans for the expansion and issued bonds and borrowed money to complete the project.
That combined with the fact that the school had to cut six varsity sports in 2006 ? including men's tennis and crew ? led many in the state to question whether the school had overcommitted to football.
But there were also plenty of fans thrilled with the results on the field, and it looked as if Schiano was setting up the Scarlet Knights to contend for Big East's titles for the next several seasons.
"This thing that has been built is bigger than any one individual," Pernetti said.
____
Associated Press Writer Dave Porter in Piscataway, N.J., contributed to this report.
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
BARCELONA, Spain - Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.
Following the ninth clasico between the rivals in nine months, Barcelona advanced to the semifinals on 4-3 aggregate and next plays Valencia or Levante.
Pedro entered in the 30th minute after Andres Iniesta limped off and put Barcelona ahead in the 43rd off a pass from Lionel Messi, who had drawn three defenders.
Barcelona doubled the lead in the 48th when a free kick by Xavi Hernandez, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday, went off Lassana Diarra and into the path of Alves, who sent a shot into the top far corner past the outstretched Iker Casillas.
Cristiano Ronaldo started the rally attempt in the 68th with his 30th goal of the season, running onto Mesut Oezil's through ball and rounding goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto. Substitute Karim Benzema tied the score in 73rd.
Madrid defender Sergio Ramos was ejected in the 88th minute for his second yellow card, and Madrid coach Jose Mourinho left Camp Nou winless in nine visits.
"We played a great team, this is a 'clasico' so you know right up to the end you're going to have to suffer and hold off your rival," Alves said. "They caused us a lot of problems by pressuring high, but we knew how to respond."
Mourinho used a more offensive starting lineup than last week and opted to include defender Pepe, who was jeered loudly on every touch after stomping on Messi's hand in the first leg.
Mourinho was criticized after his tactics last week, causing some to question his future with Madrid.
Madrid was unlucky over the first half hour as Oezil hit the crossbar with a superb 30-yard effort, and Pinto made several point-blank stops on Gonzalo Higuain.
Madrid had a Sergio Ramos goal waived off in the 54th for a foul.
Earlier Wednesday, Athletic Bilbao beat Mallorca 1-0 to win on 3-0 aggregate, advancing to a semifinal against third-tier Mirandes. Valencia has a 4-1 lead going into Thursday's match at Levante.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Barca holds off Madrid rally
Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.
Do-or-die
The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.
(Reuters) ? Parents of children suffering from high cholesterol or blood pressure have been found to have a higher incidence of heart disease and diabetes later on, a U.S. study said,
Screening children is important, not only for themselves, but for the clues it may yield to the health of parents who may not always go for check-ups themselves, said the researchers, whose study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Researchers found that a 12-year-old's weight, cholesterol and blood pressure helped predict the odds of a parent developing heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes over the next three decades.
"Pediatric risk factors -- cholesterol, triglycerides, high blood pressure -- identified families where parents were at increased risk," said Charles Glueck of Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati, one of the researchers.
It's estimated that about 15 to 20 out of every 300 U.S. children may have high cholesterol that's related to diet and lifestyle.
The study included 852 school students who, at an average age of 12, had their cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides and weight measured. They were re-assessed 26 years later, as were their parents, who were then 66 years old, on average.
In nearly half the families, or 47 percent, a parent had suffered a heart attack, stroke or needed a procedure to clear blocked heart arteries by the end of the study. In 37 percent, a parent had developed diabetes.
Overall, Glueck's team found, parents were about twice as likely to suffer early heart disease or stroke, at age 60 or younger, when their child had had high blood pressure at age 12.
Parents' odds of cardiovascular problems at any age were also higher when their child had had high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol, or triglycerides.
When children were overweight, their parents' odds of developing diabetes or high blood pressure doubled.
In an earlier study, Glueck's team found that childhood test results also predicted the children's own risks of developing heart problems, diabetes and high blood pressure by their late 30s.
Last November, the U.S. National Institutes of Health issued new guidelines saying children should have their cholesterol measured between the ages of 9 and 11, and again between the ages of 17 and 21. The American Academy of Pediatrics also endorsed the recommendation.
But the effectiveness of these recommendations remains under debate, with some experts saying that there's no hard evidence that the screenings help children's heart health in the long run. Such mass screenings would also be expensive.
Glueck acknowledged the debate but said he felt the current study, plus another recent analysis of the same group of people, provided some needed information.
"If you know children's risk factors, what does that tell you? It tells you a lot," he added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/xAS18e
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Actors in adult movies filmed in Los Angeles will be required to use condoms under an ordinance signed into law by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and porn industry leaders say the regulation could lead them to abandon the nation's porn capital.
The law, signed Monday, will take effect 41 days after it is posted by the city clerk, something that could happen as early as this week.
Officials with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which lobbied for years for such a law, expressed jubilation Tuesday and said they would now turn their attention to getting a similar condom requirement adopted elsewhere.
"The city of Los Angeles has done the right thing. They've done the right thing for the performers," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which had pushed the measure for six years.
He said its adoption is crucial in protecting adult film actors from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Weinstein said his group's next move will be to get Los Angeles County to adopt a similar measure for its unincorporated areas.
The group is in the midst of a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot, but Weinstein said he hopes the county's Board of Supervisors will react as the Los Angeles City Council did and pass such an ordinance itself. The council gave its final approval last week.
Industry officials estimate as many as 90 percent of the porn films produced in the United States are made in Los Angeles. Most are filmed quietly in the city's suburban San Fernando Valley.
After the council's action, several of the industry's biggest filmmakers said they might consider moving just outside the county. That prompted Simi Valley Mayor Bob Huber to announce last week that he would ask the city attorney for his community, located just across the county line from the San Fernando Valley, to write a similar ordinance.
Weinstein said Tuesday his group would also be vigilant in keeping track of where porn producers might go.
Exactly how the law will be enforced is still to be determined.
It calls for makers of porn films to pay a fee, the amount still to be determined, that would be used to pay for spot checks at filming locations.
The City Council is creating a committee to determine the amount of the fee and who would make the spot checks.
Weinstein said he envisions enforcement would fall on nurses or other public health providers.
"It is not anticipated, based on what we desire or what has been discussed, that it would be uniformed police officers," he said.
Weinstein said he would be open to working with industry leaders to enforce the law.
He noted the ordinance does not require condoms when oral sex is involved because his group, which originally crafted it, agreed with the filmmakers that infection through oral sex was not as great as through other sex acts.
The industry already requires that actors be tested for HIV every 30 days, and filmmakers say they believe that is sufficient.
"It's not that I don't doubt the sincerity of their desire to protect the talent. And believe it or not, we have the same ambition," Christian Mann, general manager of Evil Angel Productions, said last week after the council's vote.
"We just don't believe their way is the best way," added Mann, who is also on the board of directors of the industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition.
New GSA Bulletin research posted ahead of print in JanuaryPublic release date: 25-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - New GSA Bulletin postings discuss how subsurface data can be used to understand the form and origin of giant submarine landslides, give new clues to the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, present an alternative theory on how the mountains along the Atlantic margin of northeastern Brazil formed long after the opening of the South Atlantic, integrate several kinds of geological dating for Upper Cretaceous rocks from the Pacific Coast of North America, and more.
Highlights are provided below. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of GSA Bulletin articles by contacting Christa Stratton at the address above. Abstracts for the complete issue of GSA Bulletin are available at http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GSA Bulletin in articles published. Contact Christa Stratton for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
The initiation of submarine slope failure and the emplacement of mass transport complexes in salt-related minibasins: A 3D seismic reflection case study from the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP, England, UK. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30554.1.
In this study, Jackson shows how subsurface data can be used to understand the form and origin of giant submarine landslides. He demonstrates that giant landslides can be triggered by the subsurface movement of salt. Giant blocks, which are several tens of meters in width, length, and height, can be contained in the deposits associated with submarine landsliding.
Discriminating rapid exhumation from syndepositional volcanism using detrital zircon double dating: Implications for the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia Joel E. Saylor et al., Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30534.1.
Uranium-lead (U-Pb) radiometric ages of zircon grains record their crystallization. Where volcanism is synchronous with deposition of sedimentary strata, zircon U-Pb ages approximate the age of their host strata. Zircon (U-Th)/He radiometric ages record the time at which they were cooled by being unearthed, often during mountain building. In zircons from sedimentary strata, these ages relate to the timing of mountain building in the sediment source region. Difficulty arises where volcanism occurs at the same time as rapid unearthing. Saylor et al. solve this problem by obtaining both U-Pb and (U-Th)/He ages from the same zircon grains. Zircon grains whose crystallization and cooling age are similar are of volcanic origin, while those with a large difference between these two ages were cooled as a result of exhumation during mountain building. The Colombian Andes resulted from an eastward-moving wave of mountain building that affected northern South America starting about 65 million years ago. Zircon grains from about 55-million-years-old sedimentary strata with about 55-million-year-old radiometric ages are of volcanic origin while the most rapid cooling due to mountain building occurred at about 35? million years ago. This suggests a change from a volcanism-dominated mountain range to one dominated by mountain building.
Episodic burial and exhumation in NE Brazil after opening of the South Atlantic P. Japsen et al., Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), ster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30515.1.
Mountains along passive continental margins such as southwestern Africa, southeastern Australia, and western India are commonly regarded as remnants from continental breakup. In contrast, Japsen et al. show that the mountains along the Atlantic margin of northeastern Brazil formed long after the opening of the South Atlantic. Their synthesis of geological data, landscape analysis, and paleothermal and paleoburial data reveals a four-stage history: (1) Following Early Cretaceous breakup, about 110 million years ago, the margin underwent burial beneath a thick sedimentary cover. (2) Uplift and erosion which began around 80 million years ago led to almost complete removal of these deposits. (3) The resulting large-scale, low-relief Eocene erosion surface (peneplain) was deeply weathered and finally buried under a thick sedimentary cover about 25 million years ago (Early Miocene). (4) The formation of the present-day mountains began about 17 million years ago when uplift and erosion produced a new, lower-level peneplain by river incision below the uplifted and re-exposed, Eocene peneplain. Similar chronologies of uplift and erosion in Africa and the Andes suggest the controlling processes are global. Japsen et al. suggest that both vertical movements and lateral changes in plate motion have a common cause, which is lateral resistance to plate motion.
Integration of macrofossil biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy for the Pacific Coast Upper Cretaceous (CampanianMaastrichtian) of North America and implications for correlation with the Western Interior and Tethys Peter D. Ward et al., Department of Earth and Space Sciences, The University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30077.1.
This work, by Ward et al., integrates several kinds of geological dating for Upper Cretaceous (100 to 65 million years ago) rocks from the Pacific Coast of North America. The work greatly increases the resolution for dating fossils in these strata, and shows that many species of important fossils (ammonites) existed both along the Pacific Coast as well as in central North America in the Cretaceous period.
Evidence for middle Eocene and younger emergence in Central Panama: Implications for Isthmus closure Camilo Montes et al., Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancn Republic of Panam. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30528.1.
In a study by Montes et al., new geologic mapping and analytical data from central Panama greatly restrict the width and depth of the Central American Seaway, and challenge the widely accepted notion that closure of this seaway triggered northern hemisphere glaciation in late Pliocene times (about three million years ago). Geologic mapping revealed the presence of an angular unconformitya geologic feature that separates strata of different ages, orientations, and affinitiesalong the southeastern flank of the San Blas Range, Panama. This angular unconformity separates nearly undeformed shallow marine strata above, from strongly folded and faulted rocks below, indicating a period of deformation and erosion followed by a period of sedimentation. Fossils above the angular unconformity date the time of deformation and erosion as prior to late Eocene times (about 37 million years ago). Similarly, analytical data from apatite and zircon crystals below the angular unconformity suggest that cooling related to deformation and erosion took place about 45 million years ago. Early Miocene (about 21 million years ago) fluvial strata in the Panama Canal Basin contain zircon crystals that match those found in the San Blas Range Range, further suggesting that the San Blas Range remained above sea level from about late Eocene to early Miocene times.
Neogene block-rotation in central Iran: Evidence from paleomagnetic data Massimo Mattei et al. (Francesca Cifelli, corresponding), Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Largo San Leonardo Murialdo 1, 00146 Roma, Universit Roma TRE, Italy. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G30479.1.
Central Iran is a mosaic of different tectonic blocks once separated by ocean basins that closed as a result of the convergence between the Arabia and Eurasia plates. Shortening related to the Arabia-Eurasia convergence in the Tertiary period has been taken up mainly in the Zagros, Alborz, and Kopeh Dag fold-and-thrust belts of Iran, whereas the intervening, fault-bounded crustal blocks of central Iran (Yazd, Tabas and Lut blocks) show little internal deformation. Central Iran is separated from the Alborz belt by northeast-southwest left-lateral strike-slip and thrust faults, whereas northsouth right-lateral strike-slip faults define the boundary between the Tabas and Lut blocks within central Iran. Structural and seismological data from Mattei et al. suggest that northeast-southwest left-lateral and northsouth right-lateral faults can accommodate the north/northeast-south/southwest Arabia Eurasia convergence if they are allowed to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively. Paleomagnetic results from OligoceneMiocene sedimentary units confirm this model. In fact, counterclockwise rotations of 20? have been measured in Central Iran, south of the Great-Kavir fault, characterized by the presence of north-south to north-northwestsouth-southeast right-lateral strike-slip faults. These data show that part of the shortening related to Arabia-Eurasia convergence has been accommodated in Central Iran by vertical axis rotations of fault-bounded crustal blocks.
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New GSA Bulletin research posted ahead of print in JanuaryPublic release date: 25-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - New GSA Bulletin postings discuss how subsurface data can be used to understand the form and origin of giant submarine landslides, give new clues to the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, present an alternative theory on how the mountains along the Atlantic margin of northeastern Brazil formed long after the opening of the South Atlantic, integrate several kinds of geological dating for Upper Cretaceous rocks from the Pacific Coast of North America, and more.
Highlights are provided below. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of GSA Bulletin articles by contacting Christa Stratton at the address above. Abstracts for the complete issue of GSA Bulletin are available at http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GSA Bulletin in articles published. Contact Christa Stratton for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
The initiation of submarine slope failure and the emplacement of mass transport complexes in salt-related minibasins: A 3D seismic reflection case study from the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP, England, UK. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30554.1.
In this study, Jackson shows how subsurface data can be used to understand the form and origin of giant submarine landslides. He demonstrates that giant landslides can be triggered by the subsurface movement of salt. Giant blocks, which are several tens of meters in width, length, and height, can be contained in the deposits associated with submarine landsliding.
Discriminating rapid exhumation from syndepositional volcanism using detrital zircon double dating: Implications for the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia Joel E. Saylor et al., Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30534.1.
Uranium-lead (U-Pb) radiometric ages of zircon grains record their crystallization. Where volcanism is synchronous with deposition of sedimentary strata, zircon U-Pb ages approximate the age of their host strata. Zircon (U-Th)/He radiometric ages record the time at which they were cooled by being unearthed, often during mountain building. In zircons from sedimentary strata, these ages relate to the timing of mountain building in the sediment source region. Difficulty arises where volcanism occurs at the same time as rapid unearthing. Saylor et al. solve this problem by obtaining both U-Pb and (U-Th)/He ages from the same zircon grains. Zircon grains whose crystallization and cooling age are similar are of volcanic origin, while those with a large difference between these two ages were cooled as a result of exhumation during mountain building. The Colombian Andes resulted from an eastward-moving wave of mountain building that affected northern South America starting about 65 million years ago. Zircon grains from about 55-million-years-old sedimentary strata with about 55-million-year-old radiometric ages are of volcanic origin while the most rapid cooling due to mountain building occurred at about 35? million years ago. This suggests a change from a volcanism-dominated mountain range to one dominated by mountain building.
Episodic burial and exhumation in NE Brazil after opening of the South Atlantic P. Japsen et al., Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), ster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30515.1.
Mountains along passive continental margins such as southwestern Africa, southeastern Australia, and western India are commonly regarded as remnants from continental breakup. In contrast, Japsen et al. show that the mountains along the Atlantic margin of northeastern Brazil formed long after the opening of the South Atlantic. Their synthesis of geological data, landscape analysis, and paleothermal and paleoburial data reveals a four-stage history: (1) Following Early Cretaceous breakup, about 110 million years ago, the margin underwent burial beneath a thick sedimentary cover. (2) Uplift and erosion which began around 80 million years ago led to almost complete removal of these deposits. (3) The resulting large-scale, low-relief Eocene erosion surface (peneplain) was deeply weathered and finally buried under a thick sedimentary cover about 25 million years ago (Early Miocene). (4) The formation of the present-day mountains began about 17 million years ago when uplift and erosion produced a new, lower-level peneplain by river incision below the uplifted and re-exposed, Eocene peneplain. Similar chronologies of uplift and erosion in Africa and the Andes suggest the controlling processes are global. Japsen et al. suggest that both vertical movements and lateral changes in plate motion have a common cause, which is lateral resistance to plate motion.
Integration of macrofossil biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy for the Pacific Coast Upper Cretaceous (CampanianMaastrichtian) of North America and implications for correlation with the Western Interior and Tethys Peter D. Ward et al., Department of Earth and Space Sciences, The University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30077.1.
This work, by Ward et al., integrates several kinds of geological dating for Upper Cretaceous (100 to 65 million years ago) rocks from the Pacific Coast of North America. The work greatly increases the resolution for dating fossils in these strata, and shows that many species of important fossils (ammonites) existed both along the Pacific Coast as well as in central North America in the Cretaceous period.
Evidence for middle Eocene and younger emergence in Central Panama: Implications for Isthmus closure Camilo Montes et al., Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancn Republic of Panam. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/B30528.1.
In a study by Montes et al., new geologic mapping and analytical data from central Panama greatly restrict the width and depth of the Central American Seaway, and challenge the widely accepted notion that closure of this seaway triggered northern hemisphere glaciation in late Pliocene times (about three million years ago). Geologic mapping revealed the presence of an angular unconformitya geologic feature that separates strata of different ages, orientations, and affinitiesalong the southeastern flank of the San Blas Range, Panama. This angular unconformity separates nearly undeformed shallow marine strata above, from strongly folded and faulted rocks below, indicating a period of deformation and erosion followed by a period of sedimentation. Fossils above the angular unconformity date the time of deformation and erosion as prior to late Eocene times (about 37 million years ago). Similarly, analytical data from apatite and zircon crystals below the angular unconformity suggest that cooling related to deformation and erosion took place about 45 million years ago. Early Miocene (about 21 million years ago) fluvial strata in the Panama Canal Basin contain zircon crystals that match those found in the San Blas Range Range, further suggesting that the San Blas Range remained above sea level from about late Eocene to early Miocene times.
Neogene block-rotation in central Iran: Evidence from paleomagnetic data Massimo Mattei et al. (Francesca Cifelli, corresponding), Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Largo San Leonardo Murialdo 1, 00146 Roma, Universit Roma TRE, Italy. Posted online 13 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G30479.1.
Central Iran is a mosaic of different tectonic blocks once separated by ocean basins that closed as a result of the convergence between the Arabia and Eurasia plates. Shortening related to the Arabia-Eurasia convergence in the Tertiary period has been taken up mainly in the Zagros, Alborz, and Kopeh Dag fold-and-thrust belts of Iran, whereas the intervening, fault-bounded crustal blocks of central Iran (Yazd, Tabas and Lut blocks) show little internal deformation. Central Iran is separated from the Alborz belt by northeast-southwest left-lateral strike-slip and thrust faults, whereas northsouth right-lateral strike-slip faults define the boundary between the Tabas and Lut blocks within central Iran. Structural and seismological data from Mattei et al. suggest that northeast-southwest left-lateral and northsouth right-lateral faults can accommodate the north/northeast-south/southwest Arabia Eurasia convergence if they are allowed to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively. Paleomagnetic results from OligoceneMiocene sedimentary units confirm this model. In fact, counterclockwise rotations of 20? have been measured in Central Iran, south of the Great-Kavir fault, characterized by the presence of north-south to north-northwestsouth-southeast right-lateral strike-slip faults. These data show that part of the shortening related to Arabia-Eurasia convergence has been accommodated in Central Iran by vertical axis rotations of fault-bounded crustal blocks.
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Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
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