Images of the automobiles that have transported popes over the years.
By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News
Comes outfitted in protective bullet-proof glass. Draws a crowd wherever it goes. A driver is included; gold trim is optional.
Popemobiles also include such amenities as a handrail to let the pope easily stand and wave while in motion, a built-in stereo and arctic-cool air conditioning.
Eight popes have had their own set of holy wheels since Pope Pius XI got a stretch 460 Nurberg edition Mercedes-Benz in 1930, but the eighth, Pope Francis -- known for?taking the bus to work?before he was named pope -- may not want all the frills and custom built-ins that popemobiles offer.?
By retiring, Benedict XVI has passed along a white armored Mercedes SUV, which has a white leather interior with gold trim and a white leather turret that can be raised by hydraulic lift high enough for crowds to see the pope, if he wants to sit. (For longer trips around Italy, Benedict enjoyed his own helicopter.) Bullet-proof?Plexiglas?that's strong enough to withstand explosions surrounds the turret on three sides. There's an emergency oxygen supply built in, according to?The Telegraph.?
"The pope must feel comfortable. People must be able to see him. People have traveled very far; they want to be able to get a good look at him," said Christoph Horn, Director of Global Communications of Mercedes-Benz, from Stuttgart, Germany. "This is about creating a comfortable and safe environment for the pope to travel in and be seen in.?
The pre-mobile Popes didn't have to wait for the invention of automobiles to be mobile. For centuries, popes traveled by throne when going out on local outings. The popes were carried by 12 bearers (representing the 12 disciples of the church) as they moved through crowds, Ronald Rychlak, a University of Mississippi law school professor who has written numerous books on religion,?said.
Daimler
The first car used by a pope.
All that changed when Pope Pius XI got his Benz. The limousine was a gift from the car company, which would provide vehicles for many popes after that.
"Usually more than one vehicle was provided, especially for the popes in the 1930s," Horn said. "They were traveling a lot, so many popemobiles were built for them."
Back then, popes traveled in limousines with open tops, he said. Over the years, more than 12 different models of cars and trucks would be provided for popes. Pius XI himself ushered in a new era of pope cars in 1960 with a Mercedes 300D Landaulet, which had a throne that rose high in the back, The New York Times reported, before he switched to a 1964 Lincoln model. His successor, Pope Pope VI, went back to the preferred Mercedes brand a year later.
But don't call it 'popemobile' When popes travel abroad for state visits, it's not always possible for the vehicles they use at home to make the journey with them. Instead, customized cars are prepared ahead of the visit, submitted for Vatican approval from the country he will visit.
"The primary level of security is assigned to the host nation,"?Rychlak said. "If they want to have something like a popemobile for a major parade, let's say they're doing Mass at Yankee stadium or something like that, they would have to make arrangements to ship something over, or that's the kind of situation where there may be a gift made to the pope" by a major car company.
That was how the car that officially became known for the first time as the "popemobile" came into existence: Pope John Paul II had visited Ireland in 1979, and a boxy yellow Ford Transit van awaited him as his chariot. Last November, The Telegraph reported an Irish businessman had acquired the van from the Dublin Wax Museum, where it had been since the papal visit, and was transforming it into a party bus.
Many other popemobiles have stayed in the countries they were used in. In 2008, Newsweek got a peek at the popemobile Benedict used for his U.S. tour, describing it as "by far the fanciest and sleekest papal car ever built ... The papal handlers can shift their passenger from zero to 60 in less than eight seconds, but the drivers probably won't exceed 10 mph along the parade routes."
In 2002, John Paul II asked the media to stop using the term "popemobile," insisting it sounded "undignified."
A clear need for better security John Paul II survived an assassination attempt in 1981 while in St. Peter's Square. A Turkish man was later convicted of firing the shots, which punctured the pope's car and struck him four times. John Paul II survived, but it was clear his wide-open truck wouldn't suffice to protect him. From then on, bulletproof glass has encased popemobiles, although popes have occasionally ridden around without covering for brief periods.
Arturo Mari / AP
A 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.
Since adding bulletproof glass, popemobiles have added other necessary features, including ultra-powerful air conditioning to cool down the glass dome that popes sit in, reports The Telegraph.
Other protection measures include heavy-metal reinforcement on the bottom of the vehicle as well as the other sides, and the driver is always a trusted longtime Vatican employee. There's no partition between the pope and his driver; a microphone enables him to broadcast messages to crowds through speakers outside the popemobile.
The current weighs five tons and was just presented to Benedict last December by Mercedes-Benz.
"We work with the members of the Vatican and with the people in charge of the garages of the Vatican," Horn said. "These are all individual vehicles that are built to specifications."
The new pope's desire to get up close and personal with his faithful has presented challenges for his security detail.
"The pope's going to want to be up close hugging and touching and meeting people and that's going to be a tremendous concern for his security people,"?Rychlak said. "His security forces have taken him aside, or probably already have, and are going to say, 'Holy Father, you're putting us in a horrible situation if you don't go along with these things.'"
They're used to having to say that, though: Benedict didn't always like the feeling of a "shield between him and the people,"?Rychlak said. Most popemobiles are designed so the glass can be lowered, though.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenya's Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president, ending an election season that riveted the nation amid fears of a repeat of the 2007-08 postelection violence.
Outside the Supreme Court, police fired tear gas at Odinga supporters, the second time that has happened in this post-election period.
Outbreaks of violence by angry Odinga supporters were reported in some Nairobi slums and truckloads of police were called in to quell the demonstrations, according to reports on a police radio heard by an Associated Press reporter.
But jubilant Kenyatta supporters flooded the streets of downtown Nairobi, honking horns, blowing the noisy plastic horns known as a vuvuzelas and chanting.
Saturday's verdict ? following a drawn-out court case that raised tensions across the nation ? means that Kenyatta will be sworn in as president on April 9. He will become the second sitting president in Africa to face charges at the International Criminal Court. Kenyatta and Deputy President-elect William Ruto both face charges that they helped orchestrate the 2007-08 postelection violence in which more than 1,000 people died. Both deny the charges. Ruto's trial is set to begin in late May; Kenyatta's is to start in July. Kenyatta has promised to report to The Hague.
Lawyers for challenger Raila Odinga, who finished second, had argued before the Supreme Court that the election was marred by irregularities and that Kenyatta did not win enough votes to avoid a runoff election.
According to official results, Kenyatta won 50.07 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff election against Odinga, who said his case before the Supreme Court would put Kenya's democracy on trial.
But the Supreme Court's unanimous verdict, read out by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, said the election was "conducted in compliance with the constitution and the law" and that Kenyatta and Ruto were legally elected.
"It is the decision of the court that (Kenyatta and Ruto) were validly elected," the ruling said. The reasons behind the judges' decision were not given Saturday. The chief justice said a detailed judgment would be delivered within two weeks.
Unlike after the 2007 election, which degenerated into tribe-on-tribe violence that killed more than 1000 people, this time Odinga said he had faith in the judiciary's ability to give him a fair hearing. Odinga, who said he would respect the court's decision whether it favored him or not, was set to address reporters in Nairobi later on Saturday. As Kenyatta's supporters celebrated outside the court premises, police fired tear gas to break up a crowd of Odinga supporters.
The court's ruling ends days of anxiety since March 9, when Kenyatta was declared the winner of the March 4 vote that many described as the most complex in Kenya's history. More than 12 million Kenyans participated in the election. Some observers had expected a low registration of voters because of apathy following the 2007-08 violence, but hyped up campaigns by Kenyatta, Odinga and other presidential candidates led to the highest registration in the country ever. Kenya's electoral commission registered 14.3 million people.
Election day, though, did not go as planned. An electronic voter ID system intended to prevent fraud failed for reasons yet to be explained by the electoral commission. Vote officials instead used manual voter rolls.
After the polls closed, results were to be sent electronically to Nairobi, where officials would quickly tabulate a preliminary vote count in order to maximize transparency after rigging accusations following the 2007 vote. But that system failed, too. Election officials have indicated that computer servers overloaded but have yet to fully explain the problem.
As the early count system was still being used, election results showed more than 330,000 rejected ballots, an unusually high number. But after the count resumed with the arrival in Nairobi of manual tallies, the number of rejected ballots was greatly reduced, and the election commission said the computer was mistakenly multiplying the number of rejected ballots by a factor of eight.
Odinga's lawyers told the Supreme Court this week that the switch from electronic voter identification to manual voter roll was stage managed to allow inflation of Kenyatta's votes to take him past the 50 percent threshold. That accusation was vehemently denied by the electoral commission and Kenyatta's legal team.
There are many causes of depression. External as well as internal. The death of someone we love or care about. The falling out of a friendship. A local tragedy. An unwanted divorce. A serious illness. The constant sense of ?impending doom?. Perhaps we realize we haven?t lived up to a set of standards that we have chosen to abide by, making us feel shame or guilt. I call this my conscience. Perhaps we feel constant loneliness. Or worse than that, being stuck in a ?bad? marriage. A chemical or hormonal imbalance. The list is as extensive as there are people. Some of these causes can be rectified by us. Some cannot. It is these issues that can seem to have a death-like grip on our emotions.
But what if I told you that you could still ?change? your mood as easily as you could change your clothes? Would you say I?m not being realistic? Would you say that I?ve just never had happen to me what has happened to you? I have had several of these scenarios happen to me or to someone I love. Don?t get me wrong, if any of these things happen to any human being, the natural response is to get depressed. For awhile anyway. That?s normal. Think about that word ?depress?. What exactly gets ?depressed?? Our natural ability and desire to be HAPPY. There is a scripture in the Bible where God says ?you must be happy because I am happy,? so since God is happy, and He created us in His image?
So how does one go about getting happy, truly, genuinely -as opposed to ?artificially? ? happy anyway?
Good question! Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can wake up in a good mood, then other times you wake up in a bad mood, and don?t really know why, either way? For whatever reason, either our subliminal dreams and the states of emotion they produce, our hormones, that ?time of the month?, a sense of dread of either a test at school, some particular project at work, an upcoming bill that?s due, etc., can subconsciously put us in a ?bad? mood, then again, maybe we are expecting to receive a tax refund, or a gift from someone, or are about to go on a fun vacation, these can put us in a ?good? mood! Do you see how our thoughts can affect our mood? So in reality, what we therefore choose to think about can also affect, manipulate, guide, and control our mood and THAT affects how we FEEL! Do your thoughts make you feel sad or happy? Mad or glad? Realize also that no one can make you feel any emotion unless you give them the power to do so. Here?s proof: think about when you?re driving down the street and out of the blue, someone cuts you off and yells some obscenity out the window at you while making an angry hand gesture. That might make you a little mad. But you?d get over it pretty quickly. But what if, during a disagreement someone you love behaved towards you in this same manner. That would likely hurt wouldn?t it. Because we give those we love the power to affect our own assessment of ourselves. They matter to us!
So again I ask, how does one go about ?getting? happy? Really, how can someone ?practice happiness??
One of the many NLP presuppositions says ?if anyone can learn to do something and learn to do it well, you and I certainly can!?
There have been, throughout history, countless examples of people who have had horrific things happen to them, and yet they draw on resources within them that enabled them to stand tall, move forward and actually succeed in life, and sometimes succeed so well they are written about! That?s how you and I have come to learn about them. What resources do they draw on?
The very first thing is their thought patterns. What kind of ?self talk?, or ?pep? talk did they give themselves? Positive or negative? Well, for one thing, there is NO negative talk! None of this ?I can?t? or ?they won?t let me? or ?I don?t know how? business! No, but it might go something like this: ?I am not sure how to go about (accomplishing some task, or surviving for that matter) but I am going to ask someone for advice, or get help to learn what to do first!? If you?re a God fearing person, pray for guidance and direction. God won?t let you down. Remember, everything is temporary. We can make the best of a bad situation by remembering THAT, or we can wallow in the bad situation, getting stuck there, and milking it for all it?s worth! We can actually make a bad situation last longer, without meaning to, because we ultimately do nothing to change the situation or how long we ?stay? there!
So here?s a little exercise to do when you find yourself ?stuck? in depression. And it will take ?practice?! In the morning, when you first get up?
Consciously think about how you are feeling. Don?t spend a lot of time there. There doesn?t need to be a reason for the ?bad? or depressed mood. It just is. Think about where you feel those negative feelings in your body. Notice where your eyes go when you are deeply in those feelings.
Now consciously think of some good memory, not attached to the subject of your depression. Think of something or someone and an experience where you were happy, perhaps even laughing. Everyone has memories of that sort, no matter how far back you must go. Give it some time. Involve yourself in those thoughts. Then, raise your eyes up to the ceiling. This is important. Now say out loud, in as cheerful a voice as you can muster, ?I am having a GREAT day today!? And I know this sounds silly, but start singing ? even if it is through tears ? and as you begin to walk away, walk with a bounce in your step! It matters not how depressed you are or have been. This works 100% of the time. But it might take some time. It is guaranteed to work! Just give it some time. If you do this every morning for 21 days in a row, you will notice a change in how you feel!
The dynamics of this exercise are these: it is your subconscious that decides your behavior. Your subconscious is where your drivers are. And remember, we wake up in the mood set by that very subconscious. We are hardwired to a certain set of behaviors but we can consciously change them by telling our subconscious what to do! When you wake up in a sad, bad, mad or depressed state, it is either because of our chemistry (which, by the way, can be changed by changing our thought patterns) or what our subconscious has been thinking about in our sleep, IF we sleep(!) When we take control of our thoughts, rather than let our thoughts ?run amok?, we essentially ?reboot? our mind / thought patterns!
If we really want to improve our mood, if we really want to be happy, we can! Once we ?get the hang of it?, once we ?fake it till we make it? ? living in an ?as if? we?ve already achieved our goal, the everyday problems of life won?t get us down, and the bigger issues won?t keep us stuck. We are in control, and we get to decide to practice happiness!
Cynthia is an NLP Master and Health Practitioner and practices in the Modesto, CA area.
http://www.NLP-stanislaus.com
My name is Cynthia (many call me Cindy) Smith and I am a certified NLP Master and Health Practitioner and live in the central valley area of California. I have a coaching / counseling business which I conduct in the Modesto, CA area.
I absolutely LOVE NLP and helping people reach their maximum potential using the various processes and techniques I learned in 2006-2007 at NLPCA in Burlingame, CA.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The man arrested in the fatal shooting of one person and wounding three of others in Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood earlier this month has been released from custody.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office says Saturday a judge ordered 29-year-old Joseph Brown released on Friday.
The spokesman says the investigation is ongoing and Brown is due back in court in May.
Police had said Brown entered an apartment in a public housing complex, walked to a back bedroom and shot a man in the head. Investigators said he then shot three other people in the apartment, killing one.
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a televised meeting on Friday with a loyal support group called the People's Front, suggesting he may promote it as an alternative power base to his scandal-plagued ruling party.
At an event that mixed echoes of Soviet Communist Party congresses with the atmospherics of a U.S. talk show, Putin said he planned to raise the Front's status by making it a "public movement" and holding a formal founding congress in June.
He first set up the Front two years ago to broaden the appeal of his ruling United Russia party after regional elections showed its influence waning. Since then, United Russia's reputation has taken further blows.
At Friday's event, Putin made a series of populist pledges to loyalists assembled in the southern heartland city of Rostov-on-Don - ranging from curbs on severance pay for corporate bosses to better care for orphans, to higher standards for teaching Russian history in schools.
"We will meet regularly ... so that what we promised our citizens is not forgotten," Putin said.
Sitting in the front row flanked by activists, he called for uniforms at state schools and for a post-Soviet version of the honorary title Hero of Socialist Labour. He made good on the latter promise by creating the title Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation in a decree signed shortly after the meeting.
Less than a year after his inauguration for a third term, Putin is maneuvering to firm up his political footing in the years before a parliamentary election in 2016. He could seek a fourth term in 2018.
Although his ruling United Russia party faces few serious challengers, it has lost much of its power to generate public enthusiasm since the days when it was first set up as Putin's political vehicle.
The party's reputation was harmed by allegations of fraud in a December 2011 parliamentary election, which led to the biggest opposition protests of Puin's 13-year rule. Demonstrators branded it the "party of crooks and thieves".
Putin responded with what opponents say is a clampdown on dissent, but has also distanced himself from United Russia, handing its top post to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Disclosures that senior United Russia members held expensive properties abroad have proved embarrassing when Putin and the party are criticizing the West and pushing legislation to bar officials from holding foreign bank accounts or stocks.
The former head of the ethics committee in the State Duma lower chamber quit the parliament in February after documents posted on the Internet showed his name on deeds of property in Florida worth $2 million. Three other United Russia members have quit the Duma in recent weeks.
The troubles have prompted speculation Putin could dissolve the Duma and call a parliamentary election before 2016.
A Popular Front representative said the group did not intend to become a political party. However, under legislation Putin has submitted, half of the Duma's 450 deputies would be elected in district races rather than from party lists, which means Putin loyalists could run without being part of a party.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Peter Graff)
Thousands of Americans of all ages would like to become better at something or improve upon one of their personal qualities. Some people will want to work on their personal issues, where others feel the need to focus on improving their careers. This article contains some great tips for anyone who is interested in any type of personal development.
Start each morning believing that it will be better that day than it was the day before. Put the effort that is needed to accomplish this. You should never stop trying to find ways to do things better, and better yourself. Set a goal to do something you couldn?t do yesterday, or improve on something you were able to do.
Have you heard of Mind Movies Matrix? It is said that this software can help to program a person?s mind for success. Be sure to read some credible Mind Movies Matrix reviews before getting the software though.
Talking to a counselor or a religious leader can help you relieve stress. These people have experience dealing with many of the issues you may be facing, and many are licensed to do so. They can lend a sympathetic ear and help guide you on the right path. By speaking with a professional about your problems, you can lead a much healthier and enjoyable life.
Consider your personal character attributes when determining what you want to change. Your aesthetics can be changed quicker than your personality can! It doesn?t matter what you look like or the clothes you wear. Your personality is the most beautiful part of you that should be allowed to shine through. Try and change the person you are inside rather than focusing on the outside.
If you suffer from anxiety, try going to see a movie with a friend. This gets you out into a social setting, but does not require you to socialize to the point where you are uncomfortable. It will help you get used to the social scene.
Make the most of your work time to accomplish more. The simple trick is to take more breaks when you work. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but taking more breaks actually gives your mind a chance to recover, which improves concentration when you return to work.
It?s important for you to know that you can reach your personal development goals. You owe yourself nothing less than the very best. When your journey is complete, you will realize how important it was to give things your all.
Take a step to cure your anxiety by going with a friend to a movie. You will be out and about but you don?t have to talk a lot or even see who you?re with most of the time. This also allows you to be around a large group of people in a stress-free environment.
Try to be prepared to record your ideas no matter where you are. Carry a journal or diary with you, everywhere you go. Record as much as you can when your idea hits so that you can flesh it out later at a more convenient time.
Try to get the most out of your work time to get more accomplished. One simple solution is to go on more breaks while you work. It might seem odd, but regular breaks will let you relax and get more energy. Once you get started working again, you will be more productive.
Create a fund specifically for emergencies. It is not good to pile up credit card bills when an unexpected emergency pops up. This makes you even less capable of dealing with an emergency in the future. Putting back a few dollars weekly can build an emergency fund quickly. This money can help out in the short and long term because debt continues decreasing.
When you?re trying to grow as a person, failures can be taken quite hard and bruise your ego and self esteem. Failure is just a learning experience incognito. Failure is a way of learning your weaknesses and your strengths. Look at it this way, failing us helpful in showing you the person underneath everything.
A healthy lifestyle is only the beginning of your personal development plan. Good health simply makes your whole life go better. You can think more clearly, and even save time and money, by not having to go to the doctor on a regular basis. In other words, better health is one of the most gratifying goals you can achieve.
Think about yourself, and a particular part of you that requires improvement, and put your focus squarely on that one thing. Although you may have a long list of self-improvement goals, it can be more effective, and you will be more successful, if you tackle them one at a time. Such a process also facilitates lasting improvements to your attitude, because habits that are acquired gradually and deliberately are more likely to be permanent.
Leaders are strict and powerful, yet also humble. There is an element of service that makes up the character of a leader, as it enables them to lead with gentleness. A real leader models integrity and upholds the appropriate virtues. These qualities are required in order to lead successfully.
Failure at some task can seem like a devastating injury to your self confidence. Failure doesn?t have to leave you feeling down, think about it as a learning experience. You now have a better understanding of your weaknesses and know what you need to work on more. Look at failure as another opportunity for you to improve and overcome.
Remember to practice humility. Although we don?t think about it every day, we are tiny pieces of a vast universe. People with different experiences and different perspectives are filled with knowledge you may not have. Keep this in mind, and you will have limitless potential for growth. Keeping an open mind will allow you to learn from other people.
As you have probably realized, the process of personal development is far from easy. However, if you are mindful and have a support system, you should make it through this experience with plenty of lessons to show for it. The tips above should get you well on your way to becoming your best self.
The 94-year-old former South African president has been admitted with a recurrence of the lung infection he suffered in December. NBC's Rohit Kochroo reports.
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
Nelson Mandela suffered a recurrence of his lung infection and was taken to a hospital late Wednesday.
In a statement, the current South African President Jacob Zuma said, ?We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba [a nickname for Mandela] and his family and to keep them in their thoughts.?
?We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery,? he added. ?The Presidency appeals once again for understanding and privacy in order to allow space to the doctors to do their work.?
Mandela, 94, was taken to a hospital just before midnight local time (6 p.m. ET).
The statement said that Mandela had the ?best possible expert in medical treatment and comfort.?
Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner in the notorious Robben Island jail under the apartheid regime.?
The South African president?s office issued another statement later Thursday saying that Mandela was ?responding positively to the treatment.?
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View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.
?He remains under treatment and observation in hospital,? it added.
'Be strong' Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the African National Congress, said in a statement that the party once led by Mandela ?calls on all South Africans and the world to keep Nelson Mandela in their prayers.?
?We are confident that the treatment will be successful as he is in professional and competent hands,? he said.
?During these trying times we wish President Mandela well and for his family to be strong," he added.
Mandela spent nearly three weeks in a hospital in December for treatment of a lung infection and gallstone surgery.
This was the longest time he had been hospitalized since being released from captivity as a political prisoner in 1990.
He was also hospitalized earlier this month for what was described as a "scheduled medical checkup."
Mandela was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first president of the country to be elected following the fall of the apartheid system.
NBC News' Matthew DeLuca and Rohit Kachroo, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related:
Secrecy over Mandela's health fuels concern for South Africa icon
'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:26 AM EDT
Video ad distribution company Jun Group has launched a new, wholly-owned subsidiary called HyprMX, offering mediation tools for mobile publishers and developers manage video ads from multiple sources. HyprMX CEO Corey Weiner said that Jun Group runs its ads through hundreds of publishers, and it found that some of those publishers needed more help managing their inventory: "They're just not in the ad business ? they're in the content business, they're in the games business." So HyprMX helps those publishers run ads from multiple sources, including Jun Group.
Mar. 27, 2013 ? A team of scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Northwestern University has produced 3-D images and videos of a tiny platinum nanoparticle at atomic resolution that reveal new details of defects in nanomaterials that have not been seen before.
Prior to this work, scientists only had flat, two-dimensional images with which to view the arrangement of atoms. The new imaging methodology developed at UCLA and Northwestern will enable researchers to learn more about a material and its properties by viewing atoms from different angles and seeing how they are arranged in three dimensions.
The study will be published March 27 by the journal Nature.
The authors describe being able to see how the atoms of a platinum nanoparticle -- only 10 namometers in diameter -- are arranged in three dimensions. They also identify how the atoms are arranged around defects in the platinum nanoparticle.
Similar to how CT scans of the brain and body are done in a hospital, the scientists took images of a platinum nanoparticle from many different directions and then pieced the images together using a new method that improved the quality of the images.
This novel method is a combination of three techniques: scanning transmission electron microscopy, equally sloped tomography (EST) and three-dimensional Fourier filtering. Compared to conventional CT, the combined method produces much higher quality 3-D images and allows the direct visualization of atoms inside the platinum nanoparticle in three dimensions.
"Visualizing the arrangement of atoms in materials has played an important role in the evolution of modern science and technology," said Jianwei (John) Miao, who led the work. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA and a researcher with the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.
"Our method allows the 3-D imaging of the local structures in materials at atomic resolution, and it is expected to find application in materials sciences, nanoscience, solid state physics and chemistry," he said.
"It turns out that there are details we can only see when we can look at materials in three dimensions," said co-author Laurence D. Marks, a professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
"We have had suspicions for a long time that there was more going on than we could see from the flat images we had," Marks said. "This work is the first demonstration that this is true at the atomic scale."
Nanotechnology expert Pulickel M. Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering at Rice University complimented the research.
"This is the first instance where the three-dimensional structure of dislocations in nanoparticles has been directly revealed at atomic resolution," Ajayan said. "The elegant work demonstrates the power of electron tomography and leads to possibilities of directly correlating the structure of nanoparticles to properties, all in full 3-D view."
Defects can influence many properties of materials, and a technique for visualizing these structures at atomic resolution could lead to new insights beneficial to researchers in a wide range of fields.
"Much of what we know about how materials work, whether it is a catalyst in an automobile exhaust system or the display on a smartphone, has come from electron microscope images of how the atoms are arranged," Marks said. "This new imaging method will open up the atomic world of nanoparticles."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Chien-Chun Chen, Chun Zhu, Edward R. White, Chin-Yi Chiu, M. C. Scott, B. C. Regan, Laurence D. Marks, Yu Huang, Jianwei Miao. Three-dimensional imaging of dislocations in a nanoparticle at atomic resolution. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature12009
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's first black president, has been admitted to a hospital with a recurring lung infection, South Africa said Thursday.
Mandela, 94, has become increasingly frail in recent years and has been hospitalized several times since last year, mostly recently earlier this month when he received what a presidential spokesman described as a "successful" medical test.
Mandela was admitted to a hospital just before midnight Wedesday "due to the recurrence of his lung infection," the office of President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.
"Doctors are attending to him, ensuring that he has the best possible expert medical treatment and comfort," the statement said. It appealed "for understanding and privacy in order to allow space to the doctors to do their work."
Zuma wished Mandela a speedy recovery, referring to him affectionately by his clan name, "Madiba."
"We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts. We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery," the presidential statement quoted Zuma as saying.
Mandela spent a night in a hospital and was released on March 10 following a medical test. At that time, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was "well."
In December, Mandela spent three weeks in a hospital, where he was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones. A year ago, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged days later. He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.
Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, Mandela served 27 years in prison, where he contracted tuberculosis, before being released in 1990. He later became the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 under the banner of the African National Congress, helping to negotiate a relatively peaceful end to apartheid despite fears of much greater bloodshed. He served one five-year term as president before retiring.
Perceived successes during Mandela's tenure include the introduction of a constitution with robust protections for individual rights and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that heard testimony about apartheid-era violations of human rights as a kind of national therapy session. South Africa still struggles with crime, economic inequality and other social ills.
Mandela last made a public appearance on a major stage when South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
Contact: Molly Dannenmaier mjdannen@utmb.edu 409-771-5105 University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Scientists also identify simple vaccine delivery model in 'breakthrough' discovery; Novel vaccine could arrive in veterinary market in as few as 5 years
Scientists are getting closer to a Chagas disease vaccine, something many believed impossible only 10 years ago. Research from the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has resulted in a safe vaccine candidate that is simple to produce and shows a greater than 90 percent protection rate against chronic infection in mice.
In a paper published online in PLOS ONE, the researchers describe how they identified and tested potential Trypanosoma cruzi (also known as T. cruzi or Chagas disease) antigen candidates and delivery models to establish the safety and efficacy of a vaccine formulation known asTcVac3. This potential vaccine could halt the irreversible heart and organ damage that afflicts approximately 30 percent of those infected with Chagas.
"This signals a scientific breakthrough unprecedented vaccine efficacy for a common parasitic disease with no cure for chronic sufferers," said lead author Nisha Garg, PhD, professor of microbiology, immunology and pathology at UTMB. "If this vaccine proves practical, it could be approved in as few as five years for use in canines, which are reservoir hosts of the disease. As many as 20 percent of dogs may be infected in Texas alone, developing the same heart conditions as humans but mistaken by vets for heartworm."
The study also provides further evidence that a human Chagas vaccine is possible, a topic of debate among some who still believe that Chagas heart disease is the result of an autoimmune disorder, she added.
T. cruzi, transmitted by the triatomine insect, or "kissing bug," is prevalent in almost all Latin American countries and is becoming more common in the U.S. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 10 million people mostly children are infected worldwide. Approximately 13,000 die each year from the complications of Chagas-induced heart disease a result of the chronic infection Garg and her team aim to vaccinate against. It is estimated that the global economic burden of Chagas is about $7 billion a year.
TcVac3: The Path of Discovery
TcVac3 is the result of rigorous computational/bioinformatics analysis and screening of the T. cruzi genome for potential candidate antigens over several years by Garg and her team. These analyses led the researchers to three potential antigens (TcG1, TcG2 and TcG4) for further investigation.
Next, they began testing these antigens and potential vaccine delivery models how the components are arranged in the actual vaccine to determine the best approaches.
Early experiments proved that delivery of the candidate antigens by a DNA-prime/protein boost approach, along with co-delivery of IL-12 and GM-CSF cytokine adjuvants meant to enhance the immune response, was effective in generating antibody and T cell responses capable of providing more than 90 percent control of acute infection and parasite burden in infected mice.
Recognizing, however, that this vaccine delivery model was quite complex, the scientists sought to simplify the vaccine using a DNA-prime/Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)-boost approach a delivery model that offers many advantages: it can accommodate multiple foreign genes in its genome; may be administered by a variety of routes; has an excellent safety record; and has been shown to generate immune responses to a variety of foreign antigens. MVA itself can act as an adjuvant since it provides a signal to the innate immune system and can boost T cells.
Based on preliminarystudies by the researchers that showed this delivery model to be potent, the scientists next tested the protective efficacy of TcVac3, constituted of just the TcG2 and TcG4 candidates and lacking the adjuvants, delivered by the DNA/MVA approach.
With two doses of the vaccine, the mice with TcVac3-induced antibodies exhibited 92 to 96 percent protection against chronic infection. They found that the DNA/MVA approach increased the vaccine efficacy enough to omit one of the antigens and the adjuvants, making it a much simpler but still highly effective vaccine.
"Because Chagas is most prevalent in developing countries, it is essential that a potential vaccine be inexpensive to develop and easy to deliver," said Garg. "TcVac3 accomplishes this goal, making it not just an effective candidate, but an ideal one."
Future research will determine if the vaccine composition can be simplified even further. In addition, the scientists are already conducting related trials in canines. Garg and her team are also working on pre-clinical trials of human patient samples, testing for immune response in patients that are already infected but not showing signs of chronic disease. Results of both studies are anticipated later this year.
###
Shivali Gupta, Ph.D., also contributed to this study. Funding for the research was provided by National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Molly Dannenmaier mjdannen@utmb.edu 409-771-5105 University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Scientists also identify simple vaccine delivery model in 'breakthrough' discovery; Novel vaccine could arrive in veterinary market in as few as 5 years
Scientists are getting closer to a Chagas disease vaccine, something many believed impossible only 10 years ago. Research from the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has resulted in a safe vaccine candidate that is simple to produce and shows a greater than 90 percent protection rate against chronic infection in mice.
In a paper published online in PLOS ONE, the researchers describe how they identified and tested potential Trypanosoma cruzi (also known as T. cruzi or Chagas disease) antigen candidates and delivery models to establish the safety and efficacy of a vaccine formulation known asTcVac3. This potential vaccine could halt the irreversible heart and organ damage that afflicts approximately 30 percent of those infected with Chagas.
"This signals a scientific breakthrough unprecedented vaccine efficacy for a common parasitic disease with no cure for chronic sufferers," said lead author Nisha Garg, PhD, professor of microbiology, immunology and pathology at UTMB. "If this vaccine proves practical, it could be approved in as few as five years for use in canines, which are reservoir hosts of the disease. As many as 20 percent of dogs may be infected in Texas alone, developing the same heart conditions as humans but mistaken by vets for heartworm."
The study also provides further evidence that a human Chagas vaccine is possible, a topic of debate among some who still believe that Chagas heart disease is the result of an autoimmune disorder, she added.
T. cruzi, transmitted by the triatomine insect, or "kissing bug," is prevalent in almost all Latin American countries and is becoming more common in the U.S. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 10 million people mostly children are infected worldwide. Approximately 13,000 die each year from the complications of Chagas-induced heart disease a result of the chronic infection Garg and her team aim to vaccinate against. It is estimated that the global economic burden of Chagas is about $7 billion a year.
TcVac3: The Path of Discovery
TcVac3 is the result of rigorous computational/bioinformatics analysis and screening of the T. cruzi genome for potential candidate antigens over several years by Garg and her team. These analyses led the researchers to three potential antigens (TcG1, TcG2 and TcG4) for further investigation.
Next, they began testing these antigens and potential vaccine delivery models how the components are arranged in the actual vaccine to determine the best approaches.
Early experiments proved that delivery of the candidate antigens by a DNA-prime/protein boost approach, along with co-delivery of IL-12 and GM-CSF cytokine adjuvants meant to enhance the immune response, was effective in generating antibody and T cell responses capable of providing more than 90 percent control of acute infection and parasite burden in infected mice.
Recognizing, however, that this vaccine delivery model was quite complex, the scientists sought to simplify the vaccine using a DNA-prime/Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)-boost approach a delivery model that offers many advantages: it can accommodate multiple foreign genes in its genome; may be administered by a variety of routes; has an excellent safety record; and has been shown to generate immune responses to a variety of foreign antigens. MVA itself can act as an adjuvant since it provides a signal to the innate immune system and can boost T cells.
Based on preliminarystudies by the researchers that showed this delivery model to be potent, the scientists next tested the protective efficacy of TcVac3, constituted of just the TcG2 and TcG4 candidates and lacking the adjuvants, delivered by the DNA/MVA approach.
With two doses of the vaccine, the mice with TcVac3-induced antibodies exhibited 92 to 96 percent protection against chronic infection. They found that the DNA/MVA approach increased the vaccine efficacy enough to omit one of the antigens and the adjuvants, making it a much simpler but still highly effective vaccine.
"Because Chagas is most prevalent in developing countries, it is essential that a potential vaccine be inexpensive to develop and easy to deliver," said Garg. "TcVac3 accomplishes this goal, making it not just an effective candidate, but an ideal one."
Future research will determine if the vaccine composition can be simplified even further. In addition, the scientists are already conducting related trials in canines. Garg and her team are also working on pre-clinical trials of human patient samples, testing for immune response in patients that are already infected but not showing signs of chronic disease. Results of both studies are anticipated later this year.
###
Shivali Gupta, Ph.D., also contributed to this study. Funding for the research was provided by National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
At GDC 2013 Sony has decided to focus on its relationships with indie developers, revealing free-to-play PC shooter Blacklight: Retribution and episodic adventure Primal Carnage: Genesis are coming to the PlayStation 4. That makes three self-published games destined for Sony's next-gen console, including Jonathan Blow's The Witness. Blacklight: Retribution is also making use of Sony's Pub Fund for financial and marketing support, the first game on the platform to do so. Sony hasn't forgotten about its existing platforms however, also announcing Spelunky and Divekick for PS3 and Vita, Metrico for Vita, and the handheld debut of Limbo on Vita later this year. Check after the break for a press release that details the announcements, plus trailers for several of the new games.
Penn Researchers attach Lyme disease antibodies to nanotubes, paving way for diagnostic devicePublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
Early diagnosis is critical in treating Lyme disease. However, nearly one quarter of Lyme disease patients are initially misdiagnosed because currently available serological tests have poor sensitivity and specificity during the early stages of infection. Misdiagnosed patients may go untreated and thus progress to late-stage Lyme disease, where they face longer and more invasive treatments, as well as persistent symptoms.
Existing tests assess the presence of antibodies against bacterial proteins, which take weeks to form after the initial infection and persist after the infection is gone. Now, a nanotechnology-inspired technique developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania may lead to diagnostics that can detect the organism itself.
The study was led by professor A. T. Charlie Johnson of the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences along with graduate student Mitchell Lerner, undergraduate researcher Jennifer Dailey and postdoctoral fellow Brett R. Goldsmith, all of Physics. They collaborated with Dustin Brisson, an assistant professor of biology who provided the team with expertise on the bacterium.
Their research was published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
"When you're initially infected with the Lyme disease bacterium, you don't develop antibodies for many days to a few weeks," Johnson said. "Many people see their physician before antibodies develop, leading to negative serological test results. And after an initial infection, you're still going to have these antibodies, so using these serological diagnostics won't make it clear if you're still infected or not after you've been treated with antibiotics."
The research team's idea was to flip the process around, using laboratory-produced antibodies to detect the presence of proteins from the organism. This is an extension of previous work Johnson's lab has done connecting other biological structures, such as olfactory receptors and DNA, to carbon nanotube-based devices.
Carbon nanotubes, rolled-up lattices of carbon atoms, are highly conductive and sensitive to electrical charge, making them promising components of nanoscale electronic devices. By attaching different biological structures to the exteriors of the nanotubes, they can function as highly specific biosensors. When the attached structure binds to a molecule, that molecule's charge can affect the electrical conduction of the nanotube, which can be part of an electrical circuit like a wire. Such a device can therefore provide an electronic read-out of the presence, or even concentration, of a particular molecule.
To get the electrical signal out of these nanotubes, the team first turned them into transistor devices.
"We first grow these nanotubes on what amounts to a large chip using a vapor deposition method, then make electrical connections essentially at random," Johnson said. "We then break up the chip and test all of the individual nanotube transistors to see which work the best."
In their recent experiment, Johnson's team attached antibodies that naturally develop in most animals that are infected with the Lyme disease bacterium to these nanotube transistors. These antibodies naturally bind to an antigen, in this case, a protein in the Lyme bacterium, as part of the body's immune response.
"We have a chemical process that lets us connect any protein to carbon nanotubes. Nanotubes are very stable, so we have a very reactive compound that binds to the nanotube and also has a carboxylic acid group on the other end. For biochemists, getting any kind of protein to bind to a carboxylic acid group is just child's play at this point, and we have worked with them to learn how to perform this chemistry on the side wall of nanotubes. "
After using atomic-force microscopy to show that antibodies had indeed bound to the exteriors of their nanotube transistors, the researchers tested them electrically to get a baseline reading. They then put the nanotubes in solutions that contained different concentrations of the target Lyme bacteria protein.
"When we wash away the solution and test the nanotube transistors again, the change in what we measure tells us that how much of the antigen has bound," Johnson said. "And we see the relationship we expect to see, in that the more antigen there was in the solution, the bigger the change in the signal."
The smallest concentration the nanotube devices could detect was four nanograms of protein per milliliter of solution.
"This sensitivity is more than sufficient to detect the Lyme disease bacterium in the blood of recently-infected patients and may be sufficient to detect the bacterium in fluids of patients that have received inadequate treatment," Brisson said.
"We really want the protein we are looking to detect to bind as close to the nanotube as possible, as that is what increases the strength of the electrical signal," Johnson said. "Developing a smaller, minimal version of the antibody what we call a single chain variable fragment would be a next step.
"Based on our previous work with single chain variable fragments of other antibodies, this would probably make such a device about a thousand times more sensitive."
The researchers suggested that, given the flexibility of their technique for attaching different biological structure, eventual diagnostic tools could incorporate multiple antibodies, each detecting a different protein from the Lyme bacterium. Such a setup would improve accuracy and cut down on the possibility of false-positive diagnoses.
"If we were to do this type of test on a person's blood now, however, we would say the person has the disease," Johnson said. "The first thought is that if you detect any protein coming from the Lyme organism in your blood, you are infected and should get treatment right away."
###
This research was supported by the Department of Defense U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the National Institutes of Health, Penn's Nano/Bio Interface Center, the National Science Foundation and Penn's Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Penn Researchers attach Lyme disease antibodies to nanotubes, paving way for diagnostic devicePublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
Early diagnosis is critical in treating Lyme disease. However, nearly one quarter of Lyme disease patients are initially misdiagnosed because currently available serological tests have poor sensitivity and specificity during the early stages of infection. Misdiagnosed patients may go untreated and thus progress to late-stage Lyme disease, where they face longer and more invasive treatments, as well as persistent symptoms.
Existing tests assess the presence of antibodies against bacterial proteins, which take weeks to form after the initial infection and persist after the infection is gone. Now, a nanotechnology-inspired technique developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania may lead to diagnostics that can detect the organism itself.
The study was led by professor A. T. Charlie Johnson of the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences along with graduate student Mitchell Lerner, undergraduate researcher Jennifer Dailey and postdoctoral fellow Brett R. Goldsmith, all of Physics. They collaborated with Dustin Brisson, an assistant professor of biology who provided the team with expertise on the bacterium.
Their research was published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
"When you're initially infected with the Lyme disease bacterium, you don't develop antibodies for many days to a few weeks," Johnson said. "Many people see their physician before antibodies develop, leading to negative serological test results. And after an initial infection, you're still going to have these antibodies, so using these serological diagnostics won't make it clear if you're still infected or not after you've been treated with antibiotics."
The research team's idea was to flip the process around, using laboratory-produced antibodies to detect the presence of proteins from the organism. This is an extension of previous work Johnson's lab has done connecting other biological structures, such as olfactory receptors and DNA, to carbon nanotube-based devices.
Carbon nanotubes, rolled-up lattices of carbon atoms, are highly conductive and sensitive to electrical charge, making them promising components of nanoscale electronic devices. By attaching different biological structures to the exteriors of the nanotubes, they can function as highly specific biosensors. When the attached structure binds to a molecule, that molecule's charge can affect the electrical conduction of the nanotube, which can be part of an electrical circuit like a wire. Such a device can therefore provide an electronic read-out of the presence, or even concentration, of a particular molecule.
To get the electrical signal out of these nanotubes, the team first turned them into transistor devices.
"We first grow these nanotubes on what amounts to a large chip using a vapor deposition method, then make electrical connections essentially at random," Johnson said. "We then break up the chip and test all of the individual nanotube transistors to see which work the best."
In their recent experiment, Johnson's team attached antibodies that naturally develop in most animals that are infected with the Lyme disease bacterium to these nanotube transistors. These antibodies naturally bind to an antigen, in this case, a protein in the Lyme bacterium, as part of the body's immune response.
"We have a chemical process that lets us connect any protein to carbon nanotubes. Nanotubes are very stable, so we have a very reactive compound that binds to the nanotube and also has a carboxylic acid group on the other end. For biochemists, getting any kind of protein to bind to a carboxylic acid group is just child's play at this point, and we have worked with them to learn how to perform this chemistry on the side wall of nanotubes. "
After using atomic-force microscopy to show that antibodies had indeed bound to the exteriors of their nanotube transistors, the researchers tested them electrically to get a baseline reading. They then put the nanotubes in solutions that contained different concentrations of the target Lyme bacteria protein.
"When we wash away the solution and test the nanotube transistors again, the change in what we measure tells us that how much of the antigen has bound," Johnson said. "And we see the relationship we expect to see, in that the more antigen there was in the solution, the bigger the change in the signal."
The smallest concentration the nanotube devices could detect was four nanograms of protein per milliliter of solution.
"This sensitivity is more than sufficient to detect the Lyme disease bacterium in the blood of recently-infected patients and may be sufficient to detect the bacterium in fluids of patients that have received inadequate treatment," Brisson said.
"We really want the protein we are looking to detect to bind as close to the nanotube as possible, as that is what increases the strength of the electrical signal," Johnson said. "Developing a smaller, minimal version of the antibody what we call a single chain variable fragment would be a next step.
"Based on our previous work with single chain variable fragments of other antibodies, this would probably make such a device about a thousand times more sensitive."
The researchers suggested that, given the flexibility of their technique for attaching different biological structure, eventual diagnostic tools could incorporate multiple antibodies, each detecting a different protein from the Lyme bacterium. Such a setup would improve accuracy and cut down on the possibility of false-positive diagnoses.
"If we were to do this type of test on a person's blood now, however, we would say the person has the disease," Johnson said. "The first thought is that if you detect any protein coming from the Lyme organism in your blood, you are infected and should get treatment right away."
###
This research was supported by the Department of Defense U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the National Institutes of Health, Penn's Nano/Bio Interface Center, the National Science Foundation and Penn's Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter.
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