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Your like a lot of posters in forums. You make crazy statement's and weather you know it or not, your totaly wrong. Im 56 and my wife is 37. We have a good sex life and are always going at it when we can. I pity peeps like you and fig your kind of logic helps you deal with your inadequate performance. Get help or live alone and leave the keyboard alone.
For some patients with an established diagnosis of testicular failure (hypogonadism), androgen replacement therapy may sometimes be effective in improving erectile function. A trial of androgen replacement may be worthwhile in men with low serum testosterone levels if there are no other contraindications. In contrast, for men who have normal testosterone levels, androgen therapy is inappropriate and may carry significant health risks, especially in the situation of unrecognized prostate cancer. If androgen therapy is indicated, it should be given in the form of intramuscular injections of testosterone enanthate or cypionate. Oral androgens, as currently available, are not indicated. For men with hyperprolactinemia, bromocriptine therapy often is effective in normalizing the prolactin level and improving sexual function. A wide variety of other substances taken either orally or topically have been suggested to be effective in treating erectile dysfunction. Most of these have not been subjected to rigorous clinical studies and are not approved for this use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their use should therefore be discouraged until further evidence in support of their efficacy and indicative of their safety is available.
The user should stop using the vacuum pump if pain occurs... Use of a vacuum pump may bruise or rupture the blood vessels either immediately below the surface of the skin or within the deep structures of the penis or scrotum, resulting in hemorrhage and/or the formation of a hematoma. There is now sufficient information available regarding the risks, benefits, and use of vacuum pumps.
Sexual dysfunction and ED become more common as men age. The percentage of complete ED increases from 5% to 15% as age increases from 40 to 70 years. But this does not mean growing older is the end of your sex life. ED can be treated at any age. Also, ED may be more common in Hispanic men and in those with a history of diabetes, obesity, smoking, and hypertension. Research shows that African-American men sought medical care for ED twice the rate of other racial groups.
Men with erectile dysfunction require diagnostic evaluations and treatments specific to their circumstances. Patient compliance as well as patient and partner desires and expectations are important considerations in the choice of a particular treatment approach. A multidisciplinary approach may be of great benefit in defining the problem and arriving at a solution.
The causes of erectile dysfunction include aging, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, cigarette smoking, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), depression, nerve or spinal cord damage, medication side effects, alcoholism or other substance (drug) abuse, pelvic surgery including radical prostatectomy, pelvic radiation, penile/perineal/pelvic trauma such as pelvic fracture, Peyronie's disease (a disorder that causes curvature of the penis and sometimes painful erections), and low testosterone levels.
Impotence is a common problem among men and is characterized by the consistent inability to sustain an erection sufficient for sexual intercourse or the inability to achieve ejaculation, or both. Erectile dysfunction can vary. It can involve a total inability to achieve an erection or ejaculation, an inconsistent ability to do so, or a tendency to sustain only very brief erections.
When we say it’s a barometer of men’s health, it’s a signal. It’s an indicator that things may be right or not. And so when a man develops an erectile problem– and we’re talking about something that is occurring over time. It’s not something that just occurred overnight. When it occurs overnight, it’s more often than not a psychogenic, an anxiety reaction.
With sex therapy, your counselor looks at the sexual problems you and your partner are having. Sex therapy works with problems such as performance anxiety, which means that you worry so much about whether you will be able to have sex that you are not able to. It also helps when you have erection problems that are not due to physical or drug problems, or premature ejaculation (you come too quickly). It may help you to reach orgasm or to learn to relax enough to avoid pain during sex. Counseling can help you to adjust to the treatment you and your doctor choose.
Impotence, or erectile dysfunction, is the inability of a male to attain and keep an erection sufficiently firm to engage in or complete sexual intercourse. Although it is more common in older men, impotence can occur at any age. Impotence is not a normal consequence of aging. About 70% of erectile dysfunction is due to diseases such as diabetes and atherosclerosis, another 10% to 20% is due to psychological factors, and the remaining percentage is related to medications, lifestyle factors, and injury (Source: NIDDK).
Dr Kenny du Toit is a urologist practicing in Rondebosch, Cape Town. He is also consultant at Tygerberg hospital, where he is a senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University. He is a member of the South African Urological Association, Colleges of Medicine South Africa and Société Internationale d’Urologie. Board registered with both the HPCSA (Health professions council of South Africa) and GMC (General medical council UK). He has a keen interest in oncology, kidney stones and erectile dysfunction.http://www.dutoiturology.co.za
More recent estimates suggest that the number of U.S. men with erectile dysfunction may more likely be near 10-20 million. Inclusion of individuals with partial erectile dysfunction increases the estimate to about 30 million. The majority of these individuals will be older than 65 years of age. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction has been found to be associated with age. A prevalence of about 5 percent is observed at age 40, increasing to 15-25 percent at age 65 and older. One-third of older men receiving medical care at a Department of Veterans' Affairs ambulatory clinic admitted to problems with erectile function.
Did you know that erectile dysfunction precedes coronary artery disease in almost 70 percent of cases.2 The arteries in the penis are smaller than those that cause heart disease symptoms, which means they are likely to be affected by blockages sooner. When the arteries in the penis are blocked, keeping an erection will be difficult regardless of your level of arousal.
*all photos are models and not actual patients.If you are interested in a prescription product, Hims will assist in setting up a visit for you with an independent physician who will evaluate whether or not you are an appropriate candidate for the prescription product and if appropriate, may write you a prescription for the product which you can fill at the pharmacy of your choice.
Nearly every primary care physician, internist and geriatrician now understand that many older men retain an interest in sexual activity as they age. Some primary care physicians think that sexual potency in older men is the norm, and that if it is lacking, it is ‘all in the head.’ This viewpoint has not been supported by current literature. The Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS) found that 52% of men between 40 and 70 years old reported having some form of erectile dysfunction (ED).1 The reality is that ED is a natural part of ageing and that the prevalence increases with age. In the MMAS, they found that roughly 50% of men at 50 years old, 60% of men at 60 years old and 70% of men at 70 years old had ED. Thus, nearly all men who live long enough should develop ED. The myths that surround the problems of impotence or ED confound the attempts of patients to receive treatment and the attempts of physicians to help them.1
The appropriate evaluation of all men with erectile dysfunction should include a medical and detailed sexual history (including practices and techniques), a physical examination, a psycho-social evaluation, and basic laboratory studies. When available, a multidisciplinary approach to this evaluation may be desirable. In selected patients, further physiologic or invasive studies may be indicated. A sensitive sexual history, including expectations and motivations, should be obtained from the patient (and sexual partner whenever possible) in an interview conducted by an interested physician or another specially trained professional. A written patient questionnaire may be helpful but is not a substitute for the interview. The sexual history is needed to accurately define the patient's specific complaint and to distinguish between true erectile dysfunction, changes in sexual desire, and orgasmic or ejaculatory disturbances. The patient should be asked specifically about perceptions of his erectile dysfunction, including the nature of onset, frequency, quality, and duration of erections; the presence of nocturnal or morning erections; and his ability to achieve sexual satisfaction. Psychosocial factors related to erectile dysfunction should be probed, including specific situational circumstances, performance anxiety, the nature of sexual relationships, details of current sexual techniques, expectations, motivation for treatment, and the presence of specific discord in the patient's relationship with his sexual partner. The sexual partner's own expectations and perceptions should also be sought since they may have important bearing on diagnosis and treatment recommendations.
Long-term predictions based on an aging population and an increase in risk factors (eg, hypertension, diabetes, vascular disease, pelvic and prostate surgery, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and lower urinary tract symptoms) suggest a large increase in the number of men with ED. In addition, the prevalence of ED is underestimated because physicians frequently do not question their patients about this disorder.
I'd recommend the second option. In any long-term relationship, there will come a time when you flirt a little too much. Technology makes those little transgressions seem much more major because there's digital proof. (I'm guessing that you would never have flashed him in the real world. Would you?) Maybe you should just learn from your experience and save your boyfriend the drama. Understand that you made a mistake, and keep your breasts to yourself.
Besides PDE5 inhibitors and among second-line therapies are VCDs which are clear plastic chambers placed over the penis, tightened against the lower abdomen with a mechanism to create a vacuum inside the chamber. This directs blood into the penis. If an adequate erection occurs inside the chamber, the patient slips a small constriction band off the end of the VCD and onto the base of the penis. An erection beyond 30 min is not recommended. These devices can be a bit cumbersome, but are very safe.40
Traditionally, erectile impotence (the classical definition of impotence) is the failure to achieve penile erection during intercourse. It may have either physical or psychological causes. Alcoholism, endocrine disease, and neurological disorders are typical physical causes. Psychological causes include anxiety over performance, hostility or other negative feelings toward the sexual partner, and stress, anxiety, depression, or other emotional conflicts outside of the relationship. Erectile impotence occasionally occurs with age and, although attributed by the individual to the aging process itself, it is usually secondary to disorders of aging, such as faulty blood circulation or prostate disease. In cases of impotence caused by blood vessel dysfunction, an insufficient supply of blood flows into the penis, or the blood diffuses out into adjacent tissues.
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The National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on Impotence was convened to address (1) the prevalence and clinical, psychological, and social impact of erectile dysfunction; (2) the risk factors for erectile dysfunction and how they might be used in preventing its development; (3) the need for and appropriate diagnostic assessment and evaluation of patients with erectile dysfunction; (4) the efficacies and risks of behavioral, pharmacological, surgical, and other treatments for erectile dysfunction; (5) strategies for improving public and professional awareness and knowledge of erectile dysfunction; and (6) future directions for research in prevention, diagnosis, and management of erectile dysfunction. Following 2 days of presentations by experts and discussion by the audience, a consensus panel weighed the evidence and prepared their consensus statement.
Because adequate arterial supply is critical for erection, any disorder that impairs blood flow may be implicated in the etiology of erectile failure. Most of the medical disorders associated with erectile dysfunction appear to affect the arterial system. Some disorders may interfere with the corporal veno-occlusive mechanism and result in failure to trap blood within the penis, or produce leakage such that an erection cannot be maintained or is easily lost.
Despite the accumulation of a substantial body of scientific information about erectile dysfunction, large segments of the public -- as well as the health professions -- remain relatively uninformed, or -- even worse -- misinformed, about much of what is known. This lack of information, added to a pervasive reluctance of physicians to deal candidly with sexual matters, has resulted in patients being denied the benefits of treatment for their sexual concerns. Although they might wish doctors would ask them questions about their sexual lives, patients, for their part, are too often inhibited from initiating such discussions themselves. Improving both public and professional knowledge about erectile dysfunction will serve to remove those barriers and will foster more open communication and more effective treatment of this condition.
Both ED and low testosterone (hypogonadism) increase with age. The incidence of the latter is 40% in men aged 45 years and older.  Testosterone is known to be important in mood, cognition, vitality, bone health, and muscle and fat composition. It also plays a key role in sexual dysfunction (eg, low libido, poor erection quality, ejaculatory or orgasmic dysfunction, reduced spontaneous erections, or reduced sexual activity).
Erections are neurovascular events, meaning that nerves and blood vessels (arteries and veins) are involved in the process of an erection and all must work properly to develop a hard erection that lasts long enough. Erection begins with sexual stimulation. Sexual stimulation can be tactile (for example, by a partner touching the penis or by masturbation) or mental (for example, by having sexual fantasies, viewing porn). Sexual stimulation or sexual arousal causes the nerves going to the penis to release a chemical, nitric oxide. Nitric oxide increases the production of another chemical, cyclic GMP (cGMP), in the muscle of the corpora cavernosa. The cGMP causes the muscles of the corpora cavernosa to relax, and this allows more blood to flow into the penis. The incoming blood fills the corpora cavernosa, making the penis expand.
So what can you do to help things along a little? Well, chances are it may sort itself out as you settle in to your relationship. But if it keeps happening and you see a future in the relationship, you need to talk about it, or it will soon become the elephant in the bedroom. Pick a time with no distractions and where nobody can overhear you. Tell them that you care about them and that you don’t need to rush things sexually. This can take the pressure off the need to perform.
Erosion of the prosthesis, whereby it presses through the corporal tissue into the urethra, may occur. Symptoms and signs may include pain, blood in the urine, discharge, abnormal urine stream, and malfunction. If the prosthesis erodes into the urethra, a physician must remove it. If the other cylinder remains intact, it can be left in place. A physician leaves a catheter in place to allow the urethra to heal.
The physical side effects of chemotherapy are usually temporary and resolve within one to two weeks after stopping the chemotherapy. However, chemotherapy agents, such as Ciplatin or Vincristine, may interfere with the nerves that control erection leading to possible impotence. Make sure you discuss potential side effects of cancer chemotherapy with your doctor or healthcare provider.
About six months ago, I was talking to another guy (I have a boyfriend) online, and I ended up sending him a topless pic of me. I have been with my man for almost five years, and I feel so guilty and stupid for doing it — not only because I'm dating someone, but also because it's a stupid thing to do anyway. I love my man so much, and I don't know what to do.
Stiffy Solution: The good news is, almost all of these conditions can be successfully treated if you catch them early on. And since erectile problems may be the first side effect your dude has experienced, seeking medical treatment for his erectile problems may be the thing to get him into a doctor's office. So if your dude is a well-rested, non-drinking, non-smoking, paragon of relaxation who suddenly can't get wood, urge him to talk to his doctor — his misbehaving penis may actually be communicating something way more important than "Not tonight, honey."
The link between chronic disease and ED is most striking for diabetes. Men who have diabetes are two to three times more likely to have erectile dysfunction than men who do not have diabetes. Among men with erectile dysfunction, those with diabetes may experience the problem as much as 10 to 15 years earlier than men without diabetes. Yet evidence shows that good blood sugar control can minimize this risk. Other conditions that may cause ED include cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), kidney disease, and multiple sclerosis. These illnesses can impair blood flow or nerve impulses throughout the body.

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Bacterial toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems are diverse and widespread in the prokaryotic kingdom. They are composed of closely linked genes encoding a stable toxin that can harm the host cell and its cognate labile antitoxin, which protects the host from the toxin's deleterious effect. TA systems are thought to invade bacterial genomes through horizontal gene transfer. Some TA systems might behave as selfish elements and favour their own maintenance at the expense of their host. As a consequence, they may contribute to the maintenance of plasmids or genomic islands, such as super-integrons, by post-segregational killing of the cell that loses these genes and so suffers the stable toxin's destructive effect. The function of the chromosomally encoded TA systems is less clear and still open to debate. This Review discusses current hypotheses regarding the biological roles of these evolutionarily successful small operons. We consider the various selective forces that could drive the maintenance of TA systems in bacterial genomes.
Citation: Van Melderen L, Saavedra De Bast M (2009) Bacterial Toxin–Antitoxin Systems: More Than Selfish Entities? PLoS Genet 5(3): e1000437. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1000437
Editor: Susan M. Rosenberg, Baylor College of Medicine, United States of America
Published: March 27, 2009
Copyright: © 2009 Van Melderen, Saavedra De Bast. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this article.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Although bacteria have long been known to exchange genetic information through horizontal gene transfer, the impact of this dynamic process on genome evolution was fully appreciated only recently using comparative genomics (reviewed in ). Bacterial chromosomes are composed of genes that have quite different evolutionary origins (reviewed in ). The set of genes that is preferentially transmitted vertically over long evolutionary time scales composes the core genome. Core genes are relatively well conserved among different monophyletic groups and encode the cellular core functions. These core genes are interspersed with groups of genes that have been acquired from other prokaryotic genomes by horizontal transmission. These genomic islands mostly originate from integration events of mobile genetic elements, such as insertion sequences, transposons, phages, and plasmids. They might, therefore, be found in phylogenetically distant species and are not conserved among different isolates belonging to the same bacterial species. This set of genes constitutes the flexible genome.
Both gene influx and efflux processes are important in shaping bacterial-genome content. A vast majority of horizontally transferred genes are quickly lost after integration , although some remain interspersed in the genome (reviewed in ). Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems appear to be subjected to this flux. Indeed, these small gene systems are found in plasmids as well as in chromosomes, and they are thought to be part of the flexible genome . Although their role, when they are located in plasmid, is fairly clear, the involvement in physiological processes of the TA systems' chromosomally encoded counterparts is still open to debate.
Here we discuss current hypotheses regarding the biological roles of chromosomally encoded TA systems and consider the various selective forces that could drive the maintenance of TA systems in bacterial genomes.
Diversity and Abundance of Bacterial TA Systems
Bacterial TA systems are of two different types depending on the nature of the antitoxin; the toxin always being a protein. The antitoxin of type I systems is a small RNA (antisense or adjacent and divergent to the toxin gene) showing complementarity to the toxin mRNA (for recent reviews on type I systems, see ,). Type I antitoxins regulate toxin expression by inhibiting the toxin's translation. The toxins of type I systems are small, hydrophobic proteins that cause damage in bacterial cell membranes. In type II systems, the antitoxin is a small, unstable protein that sequesters the toxin through proteic complex formation (for a recent review on type II systems, see ). Much more information is available for type II systems, especially in terms of their biological roles. We will focus on the type II systems and use the term TA systems for brevity.
Type II TA systems are organised in operons, with the upstream gene usually encoding the antitoxin protein. The expression of the two genes is regulated at the level of transcription by the antitoxin–toxin complex. Nine families of toxins have been defined so far based on amino sequence homology . Their targets and the cellular processes that are affected by their activities are shown in Table 1.
Comprehensive genome analyses have highlighted the diversity in the distribution of TA systems ,,. Some genomes such as that of Nitrosomonas europeae, Sinorhizobium meliloti, and Mycobacterium bovis contain more than 50 putative TA systems. Some others contain no or very few (less than three) putative TA systems, such as Rickettsia prowazeki, Campylobacter jejuni, or Bacillus subtilis. No correlation between the number of TA systems, the lifestyle, the membership of a phylum, or the growth rate (as it was proposed ) could be drawn . Another level of diversity in distribution of TA systems among bacteria is added when comparing the occurrence of TA systems between different isolates of the same species. Table 2 shows the distribution of the nine toxins in seven sequenced Escherichia coli strains.
As an example, homologues of the CcdB, MazF, and HipA toxins are frequently represented (at least in five chromosomes), whereas others appear to be absent (Doc and VapC) or present in only one chromosome (RelE and ParE). This implies that these TA systems were integrated in chromosomes through horizontal transfer, most probably in very recent events. The copy number of TA systems within one genome may also vary from one isolate to another. For instance, the MazE and HigB toxins are present in two copies in at least two genomes. Thus, TA systems are part of the flexible genome. They might be located in cryptic prophages such as relBE in the E. coli K-12 Qin prophage or constitute genomics islets by themselves such as ccdO157 .
TA Systems: Just Selfish Entities?
Table 2 implies that the integrations of TA systems in E. coli chromosomes are recent events, because the distribution of the different TA systems varies from one isolate to another, raising the possibility that chromosomally encoded TA systems might have no physiological function. An attractive possibility is that TA systems act as selfish entities. Toxin and antitoxin genes show a strong interdependence (the functionality of the antitoxin is indispensable for the survival of cells carrying the toxin gene). They are closely linked, and they are capable of moving from one genome to another through horizontal gene transfer, as well as maintaining themselves in bacterial populations even at the expense of their host cell, at least when they are encoded in plasmids. Indeed, their stabilisation properties might be a consequence of their selfish behaviour (see below).
TA Systems: More than Selfish Entities?
Plasmid-Encoded TA Systems and Plasmid Fitness
Natural plasmids are often present in bacteria at very low copy number (one copy per chromosome). They are also able to spread by conjugation or mobilization with the help of other conjugative plasmids. They thus constitute a substantial proportion of the flexible genome and contribute importantly to bacterial evolution. TA systems increase the plasmid prevalence (number of plasmid-containing cells/total number of cells) in growing bacterial populations by selectively eliminating daughter cells that did not inherit a plasmid copy at cell division , (Figure 1A). This post-segregational killing mechanism relies on the differential stability of the toxin and antitoxin ,. In daughter bacteria devoid of a plasmid copy, because TA proteins are not replenished, the antitoxin pool rapidly decreases, freeing the stable toxin. These plasmid-free bacteria will eventually be killed by the deleterious activity of the toxin. Plasmid-encoded TA systems are also called addiction modules , since this property renders the cell addicted to antitoxin production and therefore to the TA genes. Cooper and Heinemann  showed that TA systems might also function in plasmid–plasmid competition, as proposed for restriction-modification systems in the “selfish theory” of Kobayashi and colleagues ,. They showed that plasmid-encoded TA systems allow a conjugative plasmid (PSK+ plasmid) to outcompete a conjugative plasmid belonging to the same incompatibility group (identical replicon) but devoid of the TA system (PSK− plasmid) . Therefore, TA systems increase the relative fitness of their host DNA molecules by eliminating competitor plasmids in the bacterial progeny through post-segregational killing (Figure 1B). Mathematical models demonstrate that the post-segregational killing phenomenon allows the propagation of TA systems in bacterial populations, independently of their original frequencies . This might provide rational explanation for the evolutionary success of TA systems.
(A) Vertical transmission. TA systems increase plasmid prevalence in growing bacterial populations by post-segregational killing (PSK). PSK+ plasmid is shown in purple, left panel. Daughter bacteria that inherit a plasmid copy at cell division grow normally. If daughter bacteria do not inherit a plasmid copy, degradation of the labile antitoxin proteins by the host ATP-dependent proteases will liberate the stable toxin. This will lead to the selective killing of the plasmid-free bacteria (in gray). When considering only vertical transmission, TA systems increase the prevalence of the plasmid in the population as compared with plasmids devoid of TA systems (PSK− plasmid in black, right panel). (B) Horizontal transmission. Plasmid–plasmid competition. The PSK+ plasmid (in purple) and the PSK− plasmid (in black) belong to the same incompatibility group and are conjugative. Under conditions in which conjugation occurs, conjugants containing both plasmids are generated. Because the two plasmids are incompatible, they can not be maintained in the same bacteria. The “loss” of the PSK+ plasmid will lead to the killing of bacteria containing the PSK− plasmid through the PSK mechanism (in gray), thereby outcompeting the PSK− plasmid. On the contrary, the loss of the PSK− plasmid will be without any deleterious effect on the PSK+ plasmid. Through multiple events of conjugation, the fitness of the PSK+ plasmid will be increased (arrow).
Chromosomally Encoded TA Systems
Some chromosomally encoded TA systems might be integrated in host regulatory networks and thereby confer a fitness advantage to the bacterial-host cells and/or populations. Several models supporting this view have been proposed.
A secure way to survive: Being integrated in host regulatory networks?
The programmed-cell death model is based on the study of the chromosomally encoded mazEF TA system of E. coli (reviewed in ). mazEF-mediated programmed cell death was observed by Engelberg-Kulka and colleagues under a wide variety of unrelated stressful conditions (e.g., amino-acid starvation, short-term antibiotic treatments, high temperature, and oxidative shock). Stress conditions are thought to affect the production of the mazEF-encoded proteins in a manner dependent on ppGpp, an alarmone synthesised under starvation – and through a quorum-sensing-like small peptide (extra-cellular death factor or EDF) . This particular combination of stress conditions and EDF is thought to shut off mazEF transcription and lead to MazF toxin liberation as a consequence of MazE degradation by the ClpAP ATP-dependent protease. The outcome of this activation has been shown to be fatal for at least 95% of the bacterial population. Altruistic death of a fraction of the bacterial population is proposed to provide nutriments for the siblings. The molecular mechanisms underlying this proposed stochastic activation, as well as those by which killing is achieved, are still unknown. Whether MazF induces cell lysis also remains to be established.
The growth-modulation model is built on data mostly obtained on the E. coli relBE system and to a lesser extent on mazEF and chpB (which encodes a toxin homologous to MazF) ,. This model relies on the primary observation that amino-acid starvation inhibits cell growth without leading to cell death , in contrast with the programmed cell-death model. However, growth inhibition was subsequently shown to be independent of the presence of relBE, mazEF, chpB, and two other type II systems . Nevertheless, upon amino-acid starvation, the rate of translation drastically drops in a wild-type E. coli strain and to a lesser extent in a ΔrelBE mutant strain . Gerdes and collaborators therefore proposed that relBE is a stress-response module that functions in quality control of gene expression to regulate the global level of translation, together with the trans-translation ssrA system . Amino acid starvation activates relBE transcription through the Lon-dependent degradation of RelB and in a ppGpp-independent manner. As a consequence, RelE inhibits translation and induces a dormant state until favourable growth conditions return. Data obtained on mazEF and chpB by the group of Gerdes are consistent with the growth-regulator model and disagree with the programmed cell-death model , although each model could be true under different circumstances .
The persistence model describes an epigenetic trait that allows a small fraction of bacteria (∼10−6) to enter into a dormant state that renders them able to survive stress conditions, notably antibiotic treatments (reviewed in ). A nontoxic mutant of the HipA toxin (hipA7) has been shown to confer high persistence in E. coli . Mutations abolishing the production of the ppGpp alarmone eliminated the high persistence phenotype, suggesting that hipA7 might induce a high level of ppGpp . Persistence and toxicity might be independent, because the HipA7 mutant seems to be less efficient for inhibition of macromolecule synthesis as compared to the wild-type HipA . However, the protein kinase activity of HipA was shown to be required for persistence and growth arrest . The central elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) was recently shown to bind and to be phosphorylated by HipA . EF-Tu in its nonphospohorylated form catalyses the binding of aminoacyl-tRNAs to the ribosome. Phosphorylation of EF-Tu by HipA might lead to translation inhibition  and therefore to ppGpp synthesis. Single-cell analysis revealed that several TA systems are up-regulated in persister cells . The biological meaning of this observation remains unclear, since the deletion mazEF and relBE did not impair persister frequency under ofloxacin (a fluoroquinolone) or mitomycin C treatments. However, the ΔhipBA mutant strain was strongly affected (10- to 100-fold), showing that this TA system is involved in persistence . The molecular mechanisms underlying this stochastic phenomenon are unknown.
The development model was proposed recently for fruiting body formation in Myxococcus xanthus. A homologue of the mazF toxin gene (mazF-mx), which is devoid of any mazE antitoxin gene homologue, was identified in the chromosome of M. xanthus . The solitary mazF-mx toxin gene constitutes an interesting example of integration in host regulatory networks. M. xanthus forms multicellular structures called fruiting bodies under nutrient-starvation conditions. During this process, 80% of the population engaged in fruiting-body formation die by lysis; only 20% will develop into myxospores. The mazF-mx gene is integrated in a regulatory cascade controlled by the key developmental regulator MrpC, which presents a dual activity towards mazF-mx: it positively regulates mazF-mx expression at the transcriptional level and it negatively controls its endoribonuclease activity at the post-translational level by acting as its antitoxin. During vegetative growth, MrpC transcriptional activity is controlled negatively by its phosphorylation through a Ser/Thr protein kinase. When M. xanthus engages in fruiting body formation, MrpC transcription activity is activated most likely by a LonD-dependent cleavage. MazF-mx is then produced and cleaves mRNAs, thereby inducing cell death. mazF-mx is essential for fruiting body formation, because a ΔmazF-mx mutant shows a dramatic reduction of myxospore formation.
In the above models, chromosomally encoded TA systems are thought to be integral parts of their host genetic networks. mazEF has been extensively reported as being responsible for programmed cell death, although this observation failed to be reproduced in various labs and is still a subject of debate –. Nevertheless, TA systems are thought to allow cells and/or populations to cope with stress conditions, and should therefore confer a clear selective advantage in these conditions. Indeed, mazF-mx and hipBA appear to be essential components of host regulatory networks, since their deletion caused a drastic phenotype ,. However, it is less clear for mazEF, relBE, and chpB of E. coli, since no fitness gain could be attributed to their presence neither under stress conditions nor during post-stress recovery phases .
The two following models provide an alternative to the previous ones by illustrating how TA systems can confer selective advantages to their bacterial host without being integrated into regulatory networks.
TA systems in dynamic genome evolution.
The stabilisation model proposes that because of their addictive characteristics, chromosomally encoded TA systems could act against large-scale deletion of otherwise dispensable genomic regions . Super-integrons are plastic platforms composed of numerous gene cassettes (more than a hundred in the Vibrio cholerae super-integron) and repeat sequences (reviewed in ). Super-integrons encode many functions (e.g., antibiotic resistance). Super-integrons may advantage bacterial populations over long time scales by maintaining nonessential genes and allowing bacterial lineages to better cope with unpredictable changes of environmental conditions. Gene cassettes are excised, integrated, and rearranged by the action of the SI-encoded integrase. They contain in general a single gene devoid of promoter, except for the TA systems encoding cassettes. In this case, the entire TA operon is present in the cassette and is most likely expressed. Several TA systems from super-integrons belonging to various Vibrionaceae are able to stabilise otherwise unstable plasmids or large genomic regions in E. coli ,,. Moreover, super-integrons are extremely stable. Attempts to delete the super-integron of V. cholerae have failed, strongly suggesting that TA systems serve to stabilise the super-integron platform and counteract gene efflux (D. Mazel, personal communication).
While it becomes clear that TA systems in such genetic structures or in cryptic prophages such as relBE of Qin  have retained their stabilisation properties, the generalisation to more “classical” chromosomally encoded TA systems should be taken with caution. Although only a few systems have been tested (E. coli dinJ-yafQ and ccdO157 systems), they appear to be unable to prevent large-scale deletion or to stabilise an otherwise unstable plasmid ,. Wide surveys of stabilisation properties of TA systems from various locations (mobile genetic elements, core, genomic islands, remnants) will test whether a correlation between stabilisation function and localisation exists.
The anti-addiction model proposes that chromosomally-encoded systems can selectively advantage their host in post-segregational killing conditions. In theory, chromosomally-encoded antitoxins sharing sufficient identity with homologous plasmid-encoded TA systems might act as anti-addiction modules by preventing post-segregational killing (Figure 2). The ccdEch chromosomally encoded TA system of Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937 was shown to have this property with respect to its E. coli F plasmid–encoded ccdF homolog . In an E. coli strain containing the ccdEch system inserted in its chromosome (ccdEch strain), no post-segregational killing was observed upon the loss of a plasmid carrying ccdF. Moreover, competition experiments showed that under post-segregational killing conditions, the ccdEch strain had a selective advantage compared to the wild-type strain. Therefore, the fitness advantage conferred by the newly acquired anti-addiction module under post-segregational killing conditions might allow its fixation in the bacterial population. In turn, the plasmid-encoded system will lose its addictive character. On the one hand, variants able to evade anti-addiction modules are expected to be selected and out-compete their post-segregational killing–defective relatives. Anti-addiction might thus be one of the evolutionary forces driving selection of the plasmid encoded TA systems. On the other hand, chromosomally encoded TA systems might lose their anti-addictive properties  and decay .
The chromosomally encoded anti-addiction system is represented in black; the PSK+ plasmid in purple. In this model, the antitoxin of the chromosomally encoded TA system is able to counteract the toxin of the plasmid-encoded system. Therefore, daughter bacteria that do not inherit a plasmid copy at cell division will survive post-segregational killing.
There is no doubt that bacterial TA systems are evolutionarily successful entities. Some bacterial genomes harbour several dozen of them ,. Even obligatorily intracellular species that undergo massive genome reduction contain TA systems ,. There is increasing evidence that these small entities move between genomes through horizontal gene transfer. Their phylogeny is not congruent with the bacterial one ,, and their distribution varies greatly between isolates belonging to the same bacterial species (,, Table 2), implying that TA systems are highly mobile. Pandey and Gerdes also reported recently that TA systems are preferentially associated with genomic islands . However, how horizontally acquired TA systems are fixed within the population is not yet understood. One can argue that their addictive “selfish” characteristics enable them to be stabilised and refractory to gene efflux. As a consequence, in specific genomic locations such as plasmids or genomic islands, they may contribute to the maintenance of these structures in bacterial population by post-segregational killing and be subjected to selection. In other genomic locations, such as the core genome where they are not subjected to selection, some TA systems might accumulate mutations that reduce or inactivate their addictive properties simply by genetic drift. Indeed, deletion of both type II ,, and type I systems , in E. coli K-12 was possible, at least under the conditions used in these experiments, suggesting that these systems have lost their addictive characteristics. Signs of “loss of addictive properties” were detected for several type I and II systems. For instance, the five copies of the type I hok-sok system located in the E. coli K-12 chromosome are inactivated by insertion sequences, point mutation, or large rearrangements , and the ccdO157 system appears to undergo a degenerative process within the E. coli species . Similar observations have been reported for restriction-modification systems that share the addiction and apparent mobility characteristics of TA systems ,. Another route for TA system evolution is their integration into host regulatory networks. This is exemplified by the MazF-mx toxin in M. xanthus that had been hijacked by the developmental network controlling fruiting-body formation. The canonical antitoxin has been replaced by a complex cascade of signal transduction proteins involving a Ser/Thr protein kinase and a transcriptional activator/antitoxin protein .
Many scenarios might occur depending notably on the bacterial species and the type of toxin. The TA field should avoid generalisation regarding the biological role of these interesting entities. These small modules are highly diverse and ubiquitous. They might have multiple biological roles, if any, that depend on their age, their genomic location, the nature of the toxin, and most likely on many not-yet-discovered factors that influence their evolution.
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Bath will sing along to the sounds of Van Morrison after he was announced as one of the headline acts of this summer's Bath Festival.
The legendary singer-songwriter will headline the finale weekend on June 1 and 2 on The Rec alongside chart-toppers Clean Bandit.
A musical finale to the multi-arts festival was held for the first time last year and it proved a huge hit.
Festivalgoers enjoyed performances from stars including Paloma Faith, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Midge Ure.
This year's Bath Festival begins on Friday, May 17 with the annual 'Party in the City' event when venues across Bath throw their doors open to the public with live music.
It will run until Sunday, May 26 - and then pause during the week before returning for a finale weekend.
The weekend has been billed as an "extravaganza of music, fun and great food and drink, with something for everyone".
"There will be two music stages, a spoken word stage and a fun-filled family zone with craft, workshops, music and storytelling," organisers said.
In a career that spans five decades Van Morrison has produced classics such as Gloria, Here Comes the Night and Brown Eyed Girl, along with a string of enduring albums.
This international music titan has a successful track record on both sides of the Atlantic.
Awards and accolades include a knighthood, a Brit, an OBE, an Ivor Novello, six Grammys, honourary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster.
He was entered into The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and the French Ordres Des Artes Et Des Lettres – all attesting to the international reach of Van’s musical art.
His recently released 40th studio album The Prophet Speaks is out now, and his Bath appearance comes hot on the heels of a series of shows in the US.
Clean Bandit have consistently pushed the boundaries of modern pop with their diverse blend of electronic, dancehall, classical, R&B and pop.
Their breakthrough success came in 2014 with the single Rather Be, feat. Jess Glynne, a Grammy award-winning worldwide hit that has now surpassed 10 million global sales.
In 2016, they released their 10 million-selling single Rockabye feat. Sean Paul and Anne-Marie.
Shooting to #1 in more than 40 countries and having spent nine weeks at the top of the charts in the UK, the track became the longest-running UK #1 in 22 years surpassing Wet Wet Wet’s Love Is All Around.
They recently received two BRIT Award nominations for their 2018 smash Solo feat. Demi Lovato, which became their fourth UK number 1. The band have now notched up 9 UK top five singles, more than Bruno Mars or Adele.
The festival’s chief executive Ian Stockley said: “Our music programme features concerts with some of the most gifted talent emerging on the global stage performing alongside internationally acclaimed performers.
"There are events for runners and football fans, foragers and parents, crime novel readers and anyone who’s ever got stuck doing a crossword.
"The festival continues to go from strength to strength as we collaborate with many individuals, venues and businesses who support The Bath Festival to make it an event with local, national and international appeal.
"Having the legendary singer songwriter Van Morrison on the Rec is the perfect way to close this year’s festival.”
Bath Live will reveal the full line up at 10am on Thursday (February 21).
There are a range of different tickets available.
A Saturday adult ticket costs £45 and it's half price for juniors.
Sunday adult tickets cost £50 and £25 for juniors.
A weekend adult ticket is £90 and it's £45 for youngsters.
VIP versions of all of these ticket types are available at double the cost, apart from the weekend junior VIP ticket which is priced at £85.
Finale weekend tickets will go on sale on Friday, February 22 at 10am.
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domain: artistic


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Definition: Mechanical skill in an art and/or manner of artistic movement
This is the “how to” of a skill. In drumming, this opens doors to new avenues of expression! The goal is always to play what you feel, and good technique allows your ideas to flow much more easily. Good technique also eliminates tension in your playing. Tension stunts creativity! The goal of technique is always to improve and expand on these areas: Speed, Control, Power and Endurance.
Some techniques we will work on to improve these areas will be: rudiments, the Freestroke, the Moeller Stroke, Finger Control, Pull-Outs and Control Strokes, etc. Good technique gives you a strong foundation from which to play your ideas freely to the best of your ability!
Definition: A system of ideas explaining something.
If you were going to live in Germany, wouldn’t it make sense to become fluent in German? Wouldn’t this be a great advantage? Well, this idea applies to music as well. Theory is the language of music. In the definition, the “system of ideas” is the notation that musicians use to communicate ideas. The “something” is Music.
Musicians in this day and age are coming together from different cultures all around the world, more than any time. It is an exciting time to be a musician. The better you can communicate your ideas, the better you can express yourself! Throughout the levels, we will explore reading and writing notation, sight-reading, reading dynamics, melodic notation, and transcribing music.
Definition: The study of past events.
Two famous quotes you may have heard are “you must first understand where you are from, to understand where you are going” or “to create the future, you must first understand the past.” Sound familiar? History is a great teacher.The drumset is a relatively young instrument, but it has a rich history of many great players, and
Through the levels, we will study the pioneers of the craft, the ones who pushed the limits past what was accepted at the time. We will explore the playing of the masters, and the groundbreaking innovations they made. This will give you a clearer picture of why drumming is the way it is today, as well as inspire you to build upon their ideas and break new ground yourself by ‘Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants.’
Definition: Thinking musically; to have a musical outlook/the ability to apply patterns and ideas in a musical way.
This is a broader area, but vitally important. This area includes anything that contributes to your musical paradigm, or that adds to your vocabulary of what you can say musically. This includes covering different musical styles and instruments from around the world, and playing what you have learned in a musical setting.
We will explore tools such as dynamics, phrasing, song form, and learning to sing the different drums. You will also be playing with other musicians. It all comes down to listening.
Definition: To be inventive and imaginative. To have the ability to create.
Music is creativity. It is important to approach music with a creative attitude. This means: learning how to express your ideas!
The most creative people are very inspired. When you hear music that really inspires you, it lights the fire of creativity. Throughout the levels, we will spend time listening to all kinds of incredible music. We will also work on creating different grooves, improvising, and even taking on some projects;


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#NASA; #AsteroidBennu; #OSIRISRExSpacecraft
Washington, Dec 14 (Canadian-Media): After a year scoping out asteroid Bennu’s boulder-scattered surface, the team leading NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission has officially selected a sample collection site, NASA reports said.
This image shows sample site Nightingale, OSIRIS-REx’s primary sample collection site on asteroid Bennu. The image is overlaid with a graphic of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to illustrate the scale of the site. Image Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) mission team concluded a site designated “Nightingale” – located in a crater high in Bennu’s northern hemisphere – is the best spot for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to snag its sample.
The OSIRIS-REx team spent the past several months evaluating close-range data from four candidate sites in order to identify the best option for the sample collection. The candidate sites – dubbed Sandpiper, Osprey, Kingfisher, and Nightingale – were chosen for investigation because, of all the potential sampling regions on Bennu, these areas pose the fewest hazards to the spacecraft’s safety while still providing the opportunity for great samples to be gathered.
“After thoroughly evaluating all four candidate sites, we made our final decision based on which site has the greatest amount of fine-grained material and how easily the spacecraft can access that material while keeping the spacecraft safe,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “Of the four candidates, site Nightingale best meets these criteria and, ultimately, best ensures mission success.”
Site Nightingale is located in a northern crater 460 feet (140 meters) wide. Nightingale’s regolith – or rocky surface material – is dark, and images show that the crater is relatively smooth. Because it is located so far north, temperatures in the region are lower than elsewhere on the asteroid and the surface material is well-preserved. The crater also is thought to be relatively young, and the regolith is freshly exposed. This means the site would likely allow for a pristine sample of the asteroid, giving the team insight into Bennu’s history.
Although Nightingale ranks the highest of any location on Bennu, the site still poses challenges for sample collection. The original mission plan envisioned a sample site with a diameter of 164 feet (50 meters). While the crater that hosts Nightingale is larger than that, the area safe enough for the spacecraft to touch is much smaller – approximately 52 feet (16 meters) in diameter, resulting in a site that is only about one-tenth the size of what was originally envisioned. This means the spacecraft has to very accurately target Bennu’s surface. Nightingale also has a building-size boulder situated on the crater’s eastern rim, which could pose a hazard to the spacecraft while backing away after contacting the site.
The mission also selected site Osprey as a backup sample collection site. The spacecraft has the capability to perform multiple sampling attempts, but any significant disturbance to Nightingale’s surface would make it difficult to collect a sample from that area on a later attempt, making a backup site necessary. The spacecraft is designed to autonomously “wave-off” from the site if its predicted position is too close to a hazardous area. During this maneuver, the exhaust plumes from the spacecraft’s thrusters could potentially disturb the surface of the site, due to the asteroid’s microgravity environment. In any situation where a follow-on attempt at Nightingale is not possible, the team will try to collect a sample from site Osprey instead.
"Bennu has challenged OSIRIS-REx with extraordinarily rugged terrain," said Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. "The team has adapted by employing a more accurate, though more complex, optical navigation technique to be able to get into these small areas. We'll also arm OSIRIS-REx with the capability to recognize if it is on course to touch a hazard within or adjacent to the site and wave-off before that happens."
With the selection of final primary and backup sites, the mission team will undertake further reconnaissance flights over Nightingale and Osprey, beginning in January and continuing through the spring. Once these flyovers are complete, the spacecraft will begin rehearsals for its first "touch-and-go" sample collection attempt, which is scheduled for August. The spacecraft will depart Bennu in 2021 and is scheduled to return to Earth in September 2023.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more information about OSIRIS-REx, visit
Washington, Dec 11 (Canadian-Media): NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has named Robert Pearce as the next associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). Pearce replaces Jaiwon Shin, who retired from the agency on Aug. 31, NASA reports said.
Robert Pearce. Credits: NASA
“Bob is a visionary leader with a deep understanding of the current and future aeronautics environment,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “He’ll do a great job directing NASA in helping create a generational shift in air travel for the United States and the world.”
Pearce served as the acting associate administrator for ARMD since Sept. 1, responsible for the agency’s overall aeronautics research strategic direction, including research in advanced air vehicle concepts, airspace operations and safety, integrated aviation systems, and the nurturing and development of transformative concepts for aviation.
Prior to this appointment, Pearce served as the deputy associate administrator for ARMD. He also has been ARMD’s director for strategy, architecture and analysis, as well as holding various strategic and program management positions within NASA. From 2003 until July 2010, he was the deputy director of the FAA-led Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). The JPDO was an interagency office tasked with developing and facilitating the implementation of a national plan to transform the air transportation system to meet the long-term transportation needs of the nation.
Prior to joining NASA in 1990, Pearce was a design engineer at the Grumman Corporation, working on such projects as the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat fighter and DARPA’s X-29 Forward Swept Wing Demonstrator. Pearce also has experience from the Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center where he made contributions in the area of advanced concepts for intercity transportation systems.
Pearce has been recognized many times for his outstanding strategic leadership in the field of aeronautics research, including receiving NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, and NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal. Pearce is also a recipient of a Presidential Rank Award.
Pearce’s full biography is available online.
#NASA; #Astronomy; #InternationalSpaceStation
Washington, Dec 11 (Canadian-Media): Students from Texas will have an opportunity this week to talk with a NASA astronaut currently living and working aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA television and the agency’s website.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch collects and packs Mizuna mustard greens grown and harvested inside the International Space Station's Vegetable Production System located in the Columbus laboratory module. Credits: NASA
NASA astronaut Christina Koch will answer questions from students at Second Baptist School at 11:30 a.m. EST Friday, Dec. 13. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is an alumnus of the school, will be in attendance.
“I am excited to be joining the students at Second Baptist School on Friday as they talk to astronaut Christina Koch from the International Space Station. Space exploration is one of the most extraordinary endeavors mankind can undertake,” said Cruz. “The next 50 years of space exploration have potential to be even more consequential than the last 50 years, which is why it’s important for the next generation of American leaders to engage with the astronauts, scientists, and mathematicians who are currently pioneering the final frontier.”
“Today’s students are the Artemis Generation. They will have the opportunity to be part of the mission and witness deep space exploration like no other generation,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “STEM is such a crucial component of NASA’s work. Inspiring young people to get involved with STEM learning is what NASA, as a whole, is all about.”
The event will be held at Second Baptist School, 6410 Woodway Dr., Houston. Media interested in covering should contact John Card at email@example.com or 713-907-7756.
Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Network’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).
For nearly 20 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked on the space station, testing technologies, performing science and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Through NASA’s Artemis program, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon by 2024, with eventual human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.
#NASA; #Washington; #Switchbacks; NASA'sParkerSolarProbe
Washington, Dec 4 (Canadian-Media): New revelations of Sun in dramatic detail, by NASA's Parker Solar Probe, sheds light on the formation of other stars and their behaviour in the universe, NASA reports said.
The WISPR image on NASA's Parker Solar Probe captured imagery of the constant outflow of material from the Sun during its close approach to the Sun in April 2019. Image Credits: NASA/NRL/APL
Scorching temperatures are being endured by the spacecraft to gather data being shared for the first time, details of which are given in four new papers -- now available online from the journal Nature -- throwing light on previously unknown and only-theorized characteristics of our volatile celestial neighbor.
The information uncovered by Parker about the Sun constantly ejecting material and energy will not only help scientists rewrite the models and render a better understanding of the creation and evolution of the stars, but also protect astronauts and technology in space, an important part of NASA’s Artemis program, which will send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024 and, eventually, on to Mars.
Through these flybys, the mission also has examined the dust of the coronal environment, and spotted particle acceleration events so small that they are undetectable from Earth, which is nearly 93 million miles from the Sun.
For the first time, scientists are able to study the solar wind from its source, the Sun's corona, similar to how one might observe the stream that serves as the source of a river. This provides a much different perspective as compared to studying the solar wind were its flow impacts Earth.
One particular event which caught the attention of the science teams was flips in the direction of the magnetic field. These reversals – dubbed "switchbacks" – appear to be a very common phenomenon in the solar wind flow inside the orbit of Mercury, and last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes as they flow over the spacecraft.
Mechanisms of heat and accelerate the solar wind are more clear by these switchbacks. They not only provide understanding of what causes the solar wind and space weather affecting Earth, but also helps us understand a fundamental process of how stars work and how they release magnetic energy into their environment.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe observed a slow solar wind flowing out from the small coronal hole – the long, thin black spot seen on the left side of the Sun in this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory – on October 27, 2018. While scientists have long known that fast solar wind streams flow from coronal holes near the poles, they have not yet conclusively identified the source of the Sun's slow solar wind. Image credits: NASA/SDO
Some surprising clues have been found by researchers as to how the Sun’s rotation affects the outflow of the solar wind, which can be accessed in a separate publication, based on measurements by the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument.
As Parker ventured to a distance of around 20 million miles from the Sun, researchers obtained their first observations of this effect which is key to helping us understand how the Sun’s rotation slows down over time, as well as other stars and the formation of protoplanetary disks, dense disks of gas and dust encircling young stars.
Dust in the Wind
First direct evidence of dust starting to thin out around 7 million miles from the Sun was also observed by Parker using Parker’s Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument, at a distance of about 4 million miles from the Sun, that has been impossible to measure until now. The spacecraft hopes observe as early as September 2020, during its sixth flyby a truly dust-free zone beginning at a distance of about 2-3 million miles from the Sun, which would signal a place where the material of the dust has been evaporated by the Sun’s heat, to become part of the solar wind flying past Earth.
Finally, several never-before-seen events so small that all traces of them are lost before they reach Earth had been measured by Parker's Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISʘIS) energetic particle instruments. Solar energetic particle events are important, as they can arise suddenly and lead to space weather conditions near Earth that can be potentially harmful to astronauts. Unraveling the sources, acceleration and transport of solar energetic particles will help us better protect humans in space in the future.
“The Sun is the only star we can examine this closely,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “Getting data at the source already is revolutionizing our understanding of our own star and stars across the universe. Our little spacecraft is soldiering through brutal conditions to send home startling and exciting revelations.”
#NASA; #Washington, #ParkerSolarProbeMissionResults
Washington, Dec 3 (Canadian-Media): The first results from the Parker Solar Probe mission, the agency's revolutionary mission to "touch" the Sun, would be announced by NASA , during a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 4, NASA reports said.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission has traveled closer to the Sun than any human-made object before it. Image Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
Research results from four instruments on the probe, responsible for changing our understanding of the Sun and other stars, would be discussed by mission experts during the teleconference. Their findings will also be published at 1 p.m. Wednesday on the website of the journal Nature. Teleconference audio will stream live at: https://www.nasa.gov/live
Participants in the call are:
Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
To participate in the media teleconference, media must provide their name and affiliation to Miles Hatfield at 650-580-8333 or firstname.lastname@example.org by noon Dec. 4.
A special episode of NASA Science Live at 3 p.m would follow the media event to discuss about the results and the overall science goals of the Parker mission.
The program will air on NASA Television, the agency's website, Facebook Live, YouTube and Periscope. The public can send questions during the event using the hashtag #askNASA on Twitter or by leaving a comment in the chat section of Facebook.
On Thursday, Dec. 5, NASA will host a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about the findings. Questions can be submitted to the Reddit AMA event when it begins at 2 p.m.

domain: news


Ready or not, Charli XCX is about to drop some new tunes.
More than half the year has zipped by and there's still no deliberate signs the 23-year-old has anything in store for us... that is, until she clarified in an interview with The Standard fans can expect to hear her new catalogue "soon."
“I’m going to be putting a record out soon and it’s going to be the most pop thing I’ve done," she said. ""I’m just finishing it but I can’t say anything yet. I’ve been in LA chilling and it’s great to be back in London.”
The Sucker singer also said this year it's "the most pop [..] and the most electronic" album she had produced yet and it seems that statement still holds true as she has collaborated with SOPHIE, BloodPop and Stargate for the bulk of the songs. SOPHIE produced the brilliant "Vroom Vroom" that was debuted on Beats 1 Radio last year. "There are some high-octane plastic moments and then more piano ballad situations," Charli went on to say.


New York City has plans to expand bilingual education programs at its public schools.
The Daily News says 38 bilingual programs will open starting in September.
This would include 29 Dual Language classes where students would study traditional subjects in Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Polish and Spanish. English would be used on alternating days.
School Chancellor Carmen Farina tells the News that the classes are meant for both English speakers and those learning the language for the first time.
About 1,200 children across the city will be enrolled in the new programs, which will be funded with about $1 million in federal funds.
The city currently has 182 Dual Language programs in 154 schools.
Copyright AP - Associated Press


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It’s no secret we’re suckers for interesting LEGO art. We’ve covered a functional life-size trailer, animal sculptures, fashionable handbags, LEGO paintings, and more. And just when we thought we’d seen everything that can be made from the colorful blocks, we came across the work of Japanese artist Tary.
A master builder, Tary’s specialty is turning LEGO blocks and bits into the most scrumptious-looking food. While any average Joe might be able to put together a “cake” block, Tary’s creations are next-level creative. The variety of foods is impressive, the perfect mix of super cute and clever. A rice bowl with shrimp features drizzled teriyaki sauce, each droplet made with an individual piece. A slice of pizza is covered in a variety of toppings and even drips with cheese. A bento box bursts with veggies. Even though it’s all dyed plastic, his craftsmanship is good enough to make you salivate.
And what’s more impressive is the level of detail in each piece. LEGO does sell food-specific pieces, but Tary’s are built entirely from scratch (pun intended). Look closely and you’ll see just how many pieces each of his “foods” are made with.
To feed more of your cravings, check out his website.


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It comes as on surprise. The game was always going to be moved to a Sunday with a ridiculously early kick off time as we go into police state mode again and it is also no surprise that Sky have opted to take the game to fill their Sunday lunchtime schedule.
The game kicks off even earlier than the one at Ewood Park earlier in the season. It will be played on Sunday 28th March with the 12 noon kick off. Maybe the Blackburn fans will have to be at their own ground for the coaches around 7:00 a.m. or something similar to allow for the safe convoy to Turf Moor.
The game is the eigth Burnley game this season to be screened live, six of them on Sky and the two games against Chelsea on ESPN.

domain: entertainment


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Nude Roles in Movies: Rosewood 2015-2017 , Station 19 2018- Jaina Lee Ortiz Nude Photos.
Like this, she advanced toward Maggie Flanigan Studios in New York to contemplate the Meisner acting strategy.
We take no responsibility for the content on any website which we link to, please use your own discretion while surfing the porn links.
Her enthusiasm, which could be credited to her Latin-American legacy, driven her to become a dance educator at 15 years old.
Jaina Lee Ortiz Sexy Pics She kept on assuming that part for a very long time while likewise acting in global dance shows.
An American actress and dancer Jaina Lee Ortiz started her dancing career at the age of nine.


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If one or more of your pet’s teeth are discolored, it is an indication of previous tooth trauma/injury which may lead to tooth death.
What you need to know…
- Discoloration of teeth is evidence of pulp inflammation and bleeding.
- Studies show that 92% of discolored teeth are non-vital or dead.
- Over time these teeth may become infected or develop root disease.
How a DISCOLORED TOOTH may look:
Possible Therapy / Treatment:
Schedule an appointment to have your pet evaluated by clicking on the “Get In Touch with Us” button.
LEARN more about DISCOLORED TOOTH:
The tooth is a rigid structure that centrally contains blood vessels and nerves. When a tooth sustains some forceful trauma it may fracture or it remains intact and becomes discolored. The discoloration is evidence of pulp inflammation and bleeding. Studies show that 92% of discolored teeth are non-vital or dead. Over time these teeth may become infected or develop root disease.
Therapy is performed to prevent pain and infection that may occur over the coming months to years. Root canal therapy is preferred for functionally important teeth (canine teeth), otherwise extraction therapy is recommended for discolored teeth.


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Thieves Essential Oil Spray is an amazing Essential Oil Infused Spray that kills 99.96% airborne bacteria!
Think: door handle, light switch, shopping cart handle, public toilet seats, subway, park benches, gym, smelly shoes, hotel rooms (think draws and vents).
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Alcohol denat., Water, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Eugenia caryophyllus† (Clove) bud oil, Citrus limon† (Lemon) peel oil, Cinnamomum zeylanicum† (Cinnamon) bark oil, Eucalyptus radiata† leaf oil, Rosmarinus officinalis† (Rosemary) leaf oil, Lecithin, Polysorbate 80
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domain: chemistry


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Aamir Khan’s daughter Ira got engaged recently and she shared a video from her big moment on social media. In the video, Nupur Shikhare can be seen proposing to Ira. She captioned the video: “Popeye: She said yes. Ira: Hehe I said yes.” The comments section of Ira’s post was filled up with congratulatory messages from her friends. Fatima Sana Shaikh, who worked with Ira’s dad Aamir Khan in Thugs Of Hindostan and Dangal, commented on the post: “This is the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Uff. Nupur Shikhare so filmy uff.” Sanya Malhotra, who worked with Aamir Khan in Dangal too, wrote: “Aww Irooo congratulations.” Hazel Keech, who worked with Ira in a play, wrote: “Waaaaaaaaaaa Tich no more a Tich! Congratulations you two cutie.” Huma Qureshi wrote: “Congratulations you both.” Rhea Chakraborty’s comment read: “Congratulations you guys.” Krishna Shroff wrote: “This is the cutest thing ever. Congratulations, baby girl.”
This is what Ira Khan and Nupur Shikhare posted:
On the professional front, Ira made her directorial debut with a theatrical adaptation of Euripides’ Medea, which featured Hazel Keech in the titular role. It premiered in different cities across India in December 2019. Ira has studied music, while her brother Junaid often assists father Aamir Khan in filmmaking.
Ira is the younger of Aamir Khan’s two children with his first wife Reena Dutta. Aamir Khan, who was married to filmmaker Kiran Rao for 15 years, announced divorce in July last year. They continue to co-parent son Azad.

domain: celebrity


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- Pravin Gordhan has been appointed as the new Minister of Public Enterprises
- Gordhan has built a reputation as the Mr Fix-It of South African politics
- Experts believe Gordhan will bring some much-needed stability to SEO’s and in particular Eskom
State-owned enterprises (SOE’s) are set to benefit from the steady hand of Pravin Gordhan, who makes a welcome return to cabinet.
Gordhan has been appointed by President Ramaphosa to head the critical department of public enterprises. He replaces Lynne Brown, who leaves under a dark cloud due to her alleged links to the Gupta family and having led Eskom to the brink of bankruptcy.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane was critical about the Ramaphosa’s refreshed cabinet but welcomed the appointment of Gordhan. ‘’Gordhan is seen as Mr Fix-It and our state-owned enterprises have some of the biggest problems,” he said.
Briefly.co.za gathered that experts also expect that Gordhan working in tandem with Jeff Radebe at the department of energy will bring a welcome breath of fresh air to Eskom.
Chief among Gordhan’s challenges will be rooting out corruption and rot within SOE’s and to return these entities to profitability or at least to a point where they are no longer a burden on the South African taxpayer.
CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) Bonang Mohale believes Gordhan would “strengthen government’s hand” in dealing with state capture and corruption, and facilitate the efforts to address the governance and leadership at state-owned companies.
Experts also hope Gordhan will lead the charge to adopt various renewable energy sources.
Gordhan has taken a pragmatic approach to his new role and warned that he would need time to study all the problem areas at SOE’s. “We have seen what all the fault lines are in the public domain already, including rampant corruption,” he said, adding that he would first get a better grip on some of the issues that he will have to deal with.
He added that SOE’s play a critical role in South Africa and the country needed these companies to perform well in order to boost the economy and help contribute to the development of the country.
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To stay up to date with the latest news, download our news app on GooglePlay or iTunes today.

domain: politics


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Messages parents or guardians have given our users about gender come up frequently, and often problematically. As feminists and queer activists, we address gender stereotyping often in our content and conversations around women and gender nonconforming people of many stripes (or polka dots, whichever one prefers), and we know the weight of it all too well. But gender stereotyping is not just everybody’s problem, it’s a problem for everybody, and that includes for men, and the problems, for everybody, many gender stereotypes about men create.
I am tired of disbelief.
I am tired of skepticism.
I am someone who does, genuinely, believe in the value of looking at things with a critical eye, of being cautious, of acknowledging that there are two sides to every story.
But I am tired of it when it comes to people who have been, or are being, harmed or made vulnerable.
I'm 16 and I'm going through relationship problems that I'm not sure how to handle or what to think of. My boyfriend wants me to change the way I dress because he says I look "slutty." He says he doesn't like me wearing shorts, skirts, dresses or a plain vest top on its own (and I'm quite flat chested so I never show off any cleavage). I'm the type of person who likes wearing what I want....
A friend of mine was in a relationship about 2 years ago. He's a guy. His girlfriend at the time pressured him into doing oral sex by saying that if he didn't do it that meant he didn't love her. Would that be sexual abuse? Because if a guy pressured a girl into giving him a blow job that would be considered sexual abuse and I'm just double-checking to see if that goes both ways....
Anastasia, the main character, knows nothing about kink or BDSM to start out with - her new lover Christian Grey is her only source of information. And Christian Grey - or rather, his creator, E.L. James - has some pretty whack ideas about how BDSM works.

domain: sociology


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The first look poster of Varalaxmi Sarathkumar’s upcoming Tamil film with director Manoj Kumar, titled ‘Velvet Nagaram’, is finally out. The impressive first look of the film has been launched by none other than ‘Makkal Selvan’ Vijay Sethupathi on social media. Along with the first look, the makers of the film have also released the motion poster of the action thriller and it’s intriguing.
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar also took to Twitter to thank Vijay Sethupathi for launching the first look. She wrote, “Thank @VijaySethuOffi for launching my poster.. here u go guys… so excited.. hope u like it #Velvetnagaram @manojknatarajan all the best ma.!! … watch the motion poster and ensoiiiii.!!!! Wooohoooooo.!!!”
Thank @VijaySethuOffi for launching my poster.. here u go guys… so excited.. hope u like it #Velvetnagaram @manojknatarajan all the best ma.!! https://t.co/Kw5aQoRmex watch the motion poster and ensoiiiii.!!!! Wooohoooooo.!!! @makkastudios @d_MakersStudio pic.twitter.com/NF5Rj1axdR
— varu sarathkumar (@varusarath) June 10, 2018
Other celebrities from the industry including actor Vishal also took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the recently released first look of film Velvet Nagaram:
Velvet Nagaram Poster looks Brilliant @varusarath
— Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) June 10, 2018
— Thiru (@dir_thiru) June 10, 2018
Check out motion poster right here:
Velvet Nagaram is an upcoming Tamil movie starring Varalaxmi Sharathkumar directed by Manoj Kumar Natarajan. It is an action thriller based on various true incidents. The more details regarding the cast and crew of the project are expected to be announced soon. Music composer Achu Rajamani is already on board.
Meanwhile, Varalaxmi has two upcoming biggies. The actress will be seen in filmmaker A.R.Murugadoss’s next for the third time after having previously worked on Thuppakki and Kaththi. The film starring actor Vijay in the lead role will see Varalaxmi playing a brief role, however, it is being said that her character would be of great importance to the narrative of the story.
She is also working with Dhanush in the upcoming gangster film ‘Maari 2’, directed by Balaji Mohan.


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domain: design


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Malik Smith is the only player on the University of Minnesota basketball roster who has played for coach Richard Pitino, and he did it last season at Florida International.
Smith, a senior transfer, was a starting guard and the second-leading scorer (14.1 points a game) after arriving from junior college.
“If he thinks you can shoot, there’s really no limit to the shots you can take, as long as you’re open,” Smith said of the Gophers’ first-year coach.
Pitino couldn’t be with his team regularly this summer to instill his philosophy because practice time is limited. So he told returning players who had questions about his system to “just ask Malik.”
“Malik will give you a feel for what type of coach I am,” Pitino said Tuesday before his sixth summer practice with the Gophers, “how to deal with me, what to do, what not to do.”
Pitino said he expects to find out soon whether Smith will be eligible to play next season. The Gophers filed a waiver with the NCAA to allow Smith to play right away because Florida International received a postseason ban because of the program’s subpar academic performance.
The Gophers might be waiting to find out about Smith’s immediate playing status, but his impact in practice already has been apparent.
In a blog on the team’s website, Pitino called Smith the “MVP” of workouts so far because of his leadership and knowledge of the system. Smith, who broke the FIU school record with 96 three-pointers last season, might already be the best three-point shooter on the roster, too.
“He’s the only one who knows how to play for me,” Pitino said. “He had a year with me. We kind of did the same thing. He knows the plays. He’s comfortable. He’ll take a shot that he knows that I might be a little frustrated with, but he can get away with it a little bit.”
Although Pitino hasn’t figured out his starters yet, Smith opened Tuesday’s scrimmage on the maroon squad with last season’s starting backcourt of Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins. Joey King and Elliott Eliason were also with that group.
Smith spotted up on the perimeter and nailed a couple of three-pointers and scored a three-point play after finishing strong on an acrobatic layup. He also tried to be vocal.
“I’m just trying to teach everybody where they should be on the court. It’s going along pretty good,” he said. “It just comes along with playing in the system for a year, and already knowing what (Pitino) expects.”
Junior Andre Hollins, who led the Gophers with 14.6 points and 3.4 assists a game last season, called the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Smith a leader and “terrific shooter” who can “get to the rim.”
Hollins welcomes the experience and confidence Smith brings to a potential three-guard lineup. Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins, a senior captain, talked often with Smith when practice first started.
“It’s great to have another perimeter player who can score and create, and who knows the offense,” Andre Hollins said. “When Austin and I have little questions on whether or not to go here and what we should do in a situation, (Smith) knows what we should do.”
A Boston native, Smith, 23, led the state of Massachusetts in scoring with 26.6 points a game as a senior at Madison Park in 2007. After going to prep school for a year, he played for two junior colleges in Texas, South Plains and Jacksonville College. Minnesota is Smith’s fifth school in the past six years, but Pitino is still his coach.
FIU was predicted to finish at the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference in 2012-13 after an 8-21 season. But Pitino’s up-tempo style of play, and Smith’s outside shooting, helped the Panthers win 18 games and nearly reach the NCAA tournament. They lost to Western Kentucky in the conference tournament finals by two points.
Smith remembers how tough that loss was. But he hopes he can now help Pitino take the Gophers to another level.
“I think his style, his instilling hard work in us, really helped turn things around,” Smith said. “I think it can happen here, too.”