Origin of Romani people? It's India

Europe's largest minority group, the Romani, migrated from northwest India 1,500 years ago, new genetic study finds.

The Romani, also known as the Roma, were originally dubbed " gypsies " in the 16th century, because this widely dispersed group of people were first thought to have come from Egypt. Today, many consider "gypsy" to be a derogatory term.

Since the advent of better and better genetic technology, researchers have analyzed the genetic history of much of Europe, finding, for example, the history of the Jewish Diaspora written in DNA. But though there are 11 million Romani in Europe, their history has been neglected, said study researcher David Comas of the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain

Linguistic history as well as a few limited genetic studies had already suggested the Romani originally hailed from India. To confirm this idea and uncover more details on the migration, Comas and his colleagues used a technique that compares DNA segments from across the whole genome with that of other populations. They used DNA samples from 13 groups of Romani spread across Europe.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

   1. Cavemen outdo modern artists at drawing animals

      Paleolithic people living more than 10,000 years ago had a better artistic eye than modern painters and sculptures ? at least when it came to watching how horses and other four-legged animals move.

   2. Palace of first Chinese emperor unearthed
   3. Bacteria blamed for world's worst extinction
   4. Planet's deepest spot may hold clues to life

"In our study, we do not focus on specific regions of the genome, but on the genome as a whole, which provides us the complete genetic information of the populations under study," he told LiveScience.

The results revealed the modern Romani's ancestors migrated out of northwest India all at one time 1,500 years ago, Comas and his colleagues reported Thursday in the journal Current Biology. Once they arrived in Europe, they spread across the continent from the Balkan region about 900 years ago, Comas said.

Over hundreds of years of history, intermarriage between Romani people and local populations has waxed and waned, Comas said. They have often been discriminated against; during the Holocaust, somewhere between 200,000 and 1.5 million Romani were killed by Hitler's Nazis. After World War II, Romani in communist nations were often targeted for "assimilation," which sometimes meant forced sterilization to lower their birth rate. [ 7 Absolutely Evil Medical Experiments ]

Comas said he hoped to later widen the analysis to include more Romani groups as well as more Indian populations from the region where the Romani originated.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50107632/ns/technology_and_science-science/

chicago bears elizabeth taylor casey anthony chris brown cam newton danielle fishel aaron rodgers

Washington state's marijuana law goes into effect

Washington residents celebrate marijuana's legalization Thursday morning under the Space??Washington state on Thursday became the first to allow the use of marijuana, a drug that is still classified as dangerous and illegal by the federal government. Dozens of people celebrated by lighting up in public places at the stroke of midnight when the law took effect, defying one of its rules: that people only use pot in their own homes.

Voters in Washington and Colorado made history last month by voting to legalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. It will become legal in both states after one year for state-licensed sellers to grow and sell marijuana.

The ballot measures sailed to victory, boosted by a bipartisan campaign of local leaders in the two states who said criminalization of the drug was a waste of state resources--and promised hefty tax revenues from its sale. Colorado's legalization goes into effect no later than January 6.

Pot's success on the November ballot demonstrates just how fast public opinion has moved on the issue. In the past 15 years, 18 states have approved the legal?use of marijuana for those who have a medical prescription for it, but state efforts to fully legalize pot have failed until now.

Just ten years ago, only 30 percent of Americans said in a Gallup poll that they believed marijuana should be legal. In a Public Policy Polling poll from this week,?58 percent of Americans supported its legalization.

The newfound support is led by a majority of Democrats and independents saying they favor pot legalization, with a majority of Republicans still saying pot should remain illegal. Other recent polls have found support for legalization hovering around 50 percent, which still suggests a big jump during the last decade. As the Daily Beast points out, most Americans under 60 say they have used marijuana at some point in their lives, which may be partly responsible for the shift in opinion.

It's unclear whether this public support will have an effect on Congress or the White House, however.

Marijuana is classified alongside heroin as a Schedule 1 illegal drug, and the federal government says its drug laws overrule any state legalization measures. The Obama administration has taken the position that users of medical marijuana in states where it is legal should not be prosecuted, but that large-scale producers of it will be.

Legalizing the recreational use of marijuana is a whole new frontier and might draw a harsher response from the government.

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan in Seattle said in a statement Wednesday that "regardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on December 6th in Washington State, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law." Durkan reminded people that bringing marijuana into federal buildings is also illegal.

Last year, Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) introduced a bill to repeal the federal ban on marijuana, leaving it up to the states to decide whether to outlaw it or not. The bill never made it out of committee, and no such effort is in the works right now.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/washington-state-pot-law-goes-effect-amid-growing-180907995.html

paula deen birth control recall nick carter leslie carter aaron carter sister pfizer signing day 2012 football

Workings of the brain: After 100 years, understanding the electrical role of dendritic spines

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2012) ? It's the least understood organ in the human body: the brain, a massive network of electrically excitable neurons, all communicating with one another via receptors on their tree-like dendrites. Somehow these cells work together to enable great feats of human learning and memory. But how?

Researchers know dendritic spines play a vital role. These tiny membranous structures protrude from dendrites' branches; spread across the entire dendritic tree, the spines on one neuron collect signals from an average of 1,000 others. But more than a century after they were discovered, their function still remains only partially understood.

A Northwestern University researcher, working in collaboration with scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Farm Research Campus, has recently added an important piece of the puzzle of how neurons "talk" to one another. The researchers have demonstrated that spines serve as electrical compartments in the neuron, isolating and amplifying electrical signals received at the synapses, the sites at which neurons connect to one another.

The key to this discovery is the result of innovative experiments at the Janelia Farm Research Campus and computer simulations performed at Northwestern University that can measure electrical responses on spines throughout the dendrites.

"This research conclusively shows that dendritic spines respond to and process synaptic inputs not just chemically, but also electrically," said William Kath, professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, professor of neurobiology at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and one of the paper's authors.

Dendritic spines come in a variety of shapes, but typically consist of a bulbous spine head at the end of a thin tube, or neck. Each spine head contains one or more synapses and is located in very close proximity to an axon coming from another neuron.

Scientists have gained insight into the chemical properties of dendritic spines: receptors on their surface are known to respond to a number of neurotransmitters, such as glutamate and glycine, released by other neurons. But because of the spines' incredibly small size -- roughly 1/100 the diameter of a human hair -- their electrical properties have been harder to study

In this study, researchers at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus used three experimental techniques to assess the electrical properties of dendritic spines in rats' hippocampi, a part of the brain that plays an important role in memory and spatial navigation. First, the researchers used two miniature electrodes to administer current and measure its voltage response at different sites throughout the dendrites.

They also used a technique called "glutamate uncaging," a process that involves releasing glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, to evoke electrical responses from specific synapses, as if the synapse had just received a signal from a neighboring neuron. A third process utilized a calcium-sensitive dye -- calcium is a chemical indicator of a synaptic event -- injected into the neuron to provide an optical representation of voltage changes within the spine.

At Northwestern, researchers used computational models of real neurons -- reconstructed from the same type of rat neurons -- to build a 3D representation of the neuron with accurate information about each dendrites' placement, diameter, and electrical properties. The computer simulations, in concert with the experiments, indicated that spines' electrical resistance is consistent throughout the dendrites, regardless of where on the dendritic tree they are located.

While much research is still needed to gain a full understanding of the brain, knowledge about spines' electrical processing could lead to advances in the treatment of diseases like Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.

"The brain is much more complicated than any computer we've ever built, and understanding how it works could lead to advances not just in medicine, but in areas we haven't considered yet," Kath said. "We could learn how to process information in ways we can only guess at now."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Mark T. Harnett, Judit K. Makara, Nelson Spruston, William L. Kath, Jeffrey C. Magee. Synaptic amplification by dendritic spines enhances input cooperativity. Nature, 2012; 491 (7425): 599 DOI: 10.1038/nature11554

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/8cMhtaZXnw0/121205132429.htm

abe lincoln vampire hunter xi jinping matt bomer westminster kennel club dog show jeremy lin game winner chocolate covered strawberries shrimp scampi

Residents put ribbon on burned-out Pa. house

PENN HILLS, Pa. (AP) ? Some residents of a Pittsburgh suburb have gift-wrapped something they hope will be gone by Christmas: a charred and abandoned house that burned nine months ago.

Amy Davis tells WPXI-TV (http://bit.ly/11TE5KM ) that residents put a big red bow on the house next door to hers, so Penn Hills officials will get moving on tearing it down. The house burned in March.

Residents say it's unsafe and an eyesore, and that they fear it could harm their property values.

Davis says gift-wrapping the house "was done in jest to bring light to a situation where there's no humor at all." She says the fire frightened her and caused $8,000 worth of damage to her 100-year-old home.

Municipal code enforcement officer John McCafferty tells the TV station he just got approval to tear down the home.

___

Information from: WPXI-TV, http://www.wpxi.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2012-12-05-Gift-Wrapped%20House/id-45e2e37d405645d9a9364c2dc1ba0878

jimmie johnson juan pablo montoya crash chardon high school shooting mark martin cleveland news daytona race the cutting edge

Introductory Periodontal Surgery Techniques: Instrument Setup ...

Orig. air date: APR 13 94 This is part of the Open.Michigan collection at: open.umich.edu

? previous post

Periodontal Surgery Laser alternati...

www.lasergumdentist.com This presentation is about LANAP LANAP is an acronym for Laser assisted New Attachment Procedure LANAP is the no cut no sew laser alternative to Flap Osseous gum surgery The procedure is for people who have gum disease also known as Early Moderate and severe Periodontists, I ...

next post ?

Dental treatment: Periodontal surge....

When we need periodontal surgery, the purposes are two folds, to eliminate the resisual infection around the teeth and to make the environment that facilitate for the patient to perform better oral self care. In this sense, during the surgery, we need patient's own hygienist as an assistant. Because...

No post with similar tags yet.

1. Cosmetic Dentistry ?Dental Cosmetics Cost Rica?

   I have become a fan of getting dental work done in Costa Rica. We are exploring other options as well like eye glasses and plastic surgery. Cosmetic Dentistry Dental work done by experts in Costa Rica with out the massive cost. ...

2. Bill Cosby- Dentists

   Bill Cosby talks about Dentists. From the 1983 show 'Himself' ...

3. Stop Gum & Periodontal Disease, Avoid Gum Surgery, Protect Your Heart, Dr Schwartz ? Scottsdale AZ

   www.healthysmilesdentistry.com Did you know You have more bacteria in your mouth, then there are people on the entire planet! ... Over 6 BILLION. That 4 out of 5 people over 35 have problems with gum disease? When you kiss someone with gum disease they pass their harmful bacteria on to you? When you bite off...

4. Dental Implants Orange County Traveling Surgeon Periodontist Oral Surgeon Dentist Mobile Dentistry

   www.implantoutreach.com Contact us Now ! 888-871-0009 goo.gl goo.gl goo.gl You have found this website because you are interested in offering dental implants, surgical extractions, periodontal surgeries, and/or endodontics in your office. With Implant Outreach? Mobile Surgical Services, you will be able to offer a wide variety of surgical services for your patients, in the comfort...

5. Long Island Periodontist Disease Removed by Laser Gum Treatment Demo

   www.thelongislandperiodontist.com Long Island Periodontist Disease Removed by Laser Gum Treatment Edward Brant DDS, MS 447 Lake Avenue, Saint James, NY 11780 (631) 584-4395 Gum disease or periodontal disease and other periodontist disease patients now have new options for treating problems of bone loss, deep pockets, gum infections, gum abscess or tooth infections. An alternative to...

6. Perioscopy demonstrates restrictions of blind instrumentation in gum disease treatment

   This patient had deep cleanings (AKA root planing and scaling) done in 2009 and again in 2010 and was finally referred for a periodontal evaluation due to continued pocketing. She was treated with a non-surgical, non-invasive technique called Perioscopy. As you can see in the video, gross amounts of harmful bacterial deposits were left behind...

7. Muscle Building Supplements

   Rusty Moore, the creator of the Fitness Black Book and this new Visual Impact Muscle Building system along with a number of other fitness best sellers is often a walking proof that his nutritional advice and exercising techniques achieve long-term results for all his clients and internet-based customers. A quotation directly extracted from a recent...

8. Gum grafting: Before and After Gallery by Dr. Stephen Walker in Dallas

   Dr. Stephen Walker, a Periodontist in Dallas, TX, performs cosmetic gum grafts to cover exposed roots. Through the use of microsurgical techniques, he is able to achieve highly esthetic and predictable results. By using donor tissue instead of the patient's own tissue, Dr. Walker eliminates the painful second surgical site on the roof of the...

9. Gingival Graft Flap

   An animation demonstrating a gingival graft procedure Want to license our animations? Find out how. Go to icehealthsystems.com or email info@icehealthsystems.com ...

10. Repair receding gum damage naturally

    www.oramd.com Should the dentist find that the root is damaged and uneven, further treatment for gum disease will be required and this is where it can get very painful. Should this gum disease treatment option be necessary, then the dentist will have to plane and remove some of the root in order to smooth it...

Source: http://dentist.coastalweddingdreams.com/?p=2978

new years eve times square 2012 2012 holidays prosperity japan earthquake bosom buddies diplo rodney atkins

SEC charges China affiliates of top accounting firms

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators on Monday charged the Chinese arms of five top accounting firms with securities violations over their refusal to produce certain audit papers, raising questions about whether talks between the United States and China to resolve the issue have stalled.

The Securities and Exchange Commission began proceedings against the Chinese affiliates of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BDO and Ernst & Young.

It was the SEC's widest enforcement effort yet to procure documents in connection with probes of possible accounting fraud of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

The SEC has been seeking documents related to investigations of possible wrongdoing at nine China-based companies, the agency said. Chinese secrecy laws have stymied efforts to obtain audit documents that investigators need to determine whether there were accounting irregularities.

An administrative law judge will schedule a hearing to determine potential sanctions against the Chinese arms of the accounting firms, the SEC said.

In July the agency disclosed it was in discussions with Chinese regulators on cross-border cooperation, including access to documents. The Monday action suggests those talks have not progressed to the SEC's satisfaction.

"Firms that conduct audits knowing they cannot comply with laws requiring access to these work papers face serious sanctions," SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said in a statement announcing the action.

The accounting firms pinned the blame on lack of progress in the negotiations.

The action "is the result of conflicting laws between the U.S. and China," PwC China said in a statement. "This action involves an issue that needs to be resolved between the US and China."

NO COMMON GROUND

"While it is unfortunate that the two countries have not yet been able to find common ground on these issues, we remain hopeful that a diplomatic agreement can be reached, and we stand ready to assist that effort in any way we can," Deloitte said.

Ernst & Young's China affiliate, Ernst & Young Hua Ming, said in a statement it hoped U.S. and Chinese regulators can reach agreement.

The other firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Top accounting firms operate as global networks of legally separate member firms in each country, so all member firms are not liable for the actions in any one country.

The SEC action accuses the affiliates of violating U.S. securities laws that require foreign public accounting firms to provide the SEC with audit work papers involving any company trading on U.S. markets.

Many of the Chinese companies under investigation traded on U.S. exchanges through so-called reverse mergers, and have since been deregistered by the SEC.

Last year, the agency took Deloitte to federal court to try to force that firm to turn over documents in connection with an investigation into Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd. In July, it sought a six-month delay in that legal battle, citing negotiations with Chinese regulators.

Reuters reported last month that the U.S. auditor watchdog, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, had completed observations of Chinese inspections of auditors and expressed optimism about talks over access to audit documents.

PCAOB spokeswoman Colleen Brennan said on Monday the agency met with China regulators in Washington in the last week of November.

In a statement, PCAOB Chairman James Doty said his agency's negotiations are proceeding on a separate track from the SEC.

If the agency's efforts don't lead to an agreement, "then we will need to consider other alternatives," Doty said.

(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha in Washington and Dena Aubin in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sec-charges-china-affiliates-top-accounting-firms-171845780--sector.html

nikki haley stan van gundy navy jet crash virginia beach crash stephen hawking marion barry virginia beach jet crash

Letterman, Hoffman, Zeppelin honored by Obama

2012 Kennedy Center Honoree Natalia Makarova, front row, second right, reacts to all the photos being taken during a group photo after the State Department Dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors gala Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 at the State Department in Washington. From left are former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Paul Johns, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, Makarova, Robert Plant, Dustin Hoffman and David Letterman. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

2012 Kennedy Center Honoree Natalia Makarova, front row, second right, reacts to all the photos being taken during a group photo after the State Department Dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors gala Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 at the State Department in Washington. From left are former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Paul Johns, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, Makarova, Robert Plant, Dustin Hoffman and David Letterman. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

2012 Kennedy Center Honoree comedian David Letterman shakes hands with his wife Regina as they arrive at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors Gala Dinner on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

The 2012 Kennedy Center Honorees, from left, John Paul Jones, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, Natalia Makarova, Robert Plant, Dustin Hoffman, and David Letterman pose for a group photo after the State Department Dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors gala Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

The 2012 Kennedy Center Honorees and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, second from left, wait for former President Bill Clinton, left, to join them for a group photo after the State Department Dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors gala Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 at the State Department in Washington. The 2012 Kennedy Center Honorees are, from left, John Paul Jones, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, Natalia Makarova, Robert Plant, Dustin Hoffman, and David Letterman. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Actress Meryl Streep uses her iPhone to get a photo of her and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton following the State Department Dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors gala Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? David Letterman's "stupid human tricks" and Top 10 lists are being vaulted into the ranks of cultural acclaim as the late-night comedian receives this year's Kennedy Center Honors with rock band Led Zeppelin and three other artists.

Stars from New York, Hollywood and the music world joined President Barack Obama at the White House on Sunday night to salute the comedian, the band, and their fellow recipients: Actor Dustin Hoffman, Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy and ballerina Natalia Makarova.

The honors are the nation's highest award for those who influenced American culture through the arts. The recipients will be saluted by fellow performers in a show to be broadcast Dec. 26 on CBS.

Obama elicited laughs from his guests when he described the honorees as "some extraordinary people who have no business being on the same stage together."

Noting that Guy made his first guitar strings using the wire from a window screen, he quipped, "That worked until his parents started wondering how all the mosquitoes were getting in."

The president thanked the members of Led Zeppelin for behaving themselves at the White House given their history of "hotel rooms trashed and mayhem all around."

"It's fitting that we're doing this in a room with windows that are about three inches thick and Secret Service all around," he said to laughter from the diverse group of artists.

Obama went on to note Letterman's humble beginnings as an Indianapolis weatherman, who once reported the city was being pelted by hail 'the size of canned hams.'"

"It's one of the highlights of his career," he said.

All kidding aside, Obama described all of the honorees as artists who "inspired us to see things in a new way, to hear things differently, to discover something within us or to appreciate how much beauty there is in the world."

"It's that unique power that makes the arts so important," he added.

Later on the red carpet, Letterman said he was thrilled by the recognition.

"It supersedes everything, honestly," he said. "I haven't won that many awards."

Meryl Streep first introduced the honorees Saturday during a formal dinner at the U.S. State Department hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and attended by celebrities including comedians Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, and Letterman's longtime band leader, Paul Shaffer.

Clinton noted the ballerina Makarova "risked everything to have the freedom to dance the way she wanted to dance" when she defected from the Soviet Union in 1970.

Makarova quickly made her debut with the American Ballet Theatre and later was the first exiled artist to return to the Soviet Union before its fall to dance with the Kirov Ballet.

Clinton also took special note of Letterman, saying he must be wondering what he's doing in a crowd of talented artists and musicians.

"Dave and I have a history," she said. "I have been a guest on his show several times, and if you include references to my pant suits, I'm on at least once a week."

The crowd gave Clinton a standing ovation as she hosted her final salute to the nation's artists as secretary of state.

Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein gave her a subtle nudge to run for president in 2016, saying there's another room at the State Department to name after a secretary who later becomes president.

___

Follow Brett Zongker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DCArtBeat

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-02-US-Kennedy-Center-Honors/id-f68d1e3e571949f98065b42f11b22bd9

roland martin whitney houston dead at 48 whitney houston dead 2012 whitney houston passed away heartbreak hotel don cornelius whitney houston i will always love you