The happy, goofy days of Jon and Kate Plus 8 -- when the overwhelmed but cheerful spouses Jon and Kate Gosselin seemed bonded for life as they minded their brood of eight small children -- feels like a lifetime ago. In the latest update with Jon three years after their marriage ended, the former TLC star confirms in a new Oprah Winfrey interview that he and Kate are virtual strangers.
"I don't really have a relationship with Kate. It's more texting, custodial stuff. I wish her the best in all that she does," Jon, 36, says. Now making ends meet as a waiter at a restaurant in rural Pennsylvania, Jon and Kate, 38, now share custody of twins Cara and Mady, 13, and 9-year-old sextuplets Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah and Joel -- but it sounds like the former spouses are quietly at odds.
For her part, Kate told Bethenny Frankel last month that she felt "sadness and empathy and pity" for her ex, and hinted that co-parenting remains something of a strain. "Without going into to much detail, we are making the best of it," she said. "I definitely want them to know that I did not want to hinder or stand in the way of that relationship with him."
Add Jon in the OWN interview: "[We have] two different totally parenting styles, two different totally everythings. Which is a shame. Because it affects me. But it really affects my children."
A passenger check her cell phone before a flight, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Boston. The Federal Aviation Administration issued new guidelines Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, under which passengers will be able to use devices to read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music, from the time they board to the time they leave the plane. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
A passenger check her cell phone before a flight, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Boston. The Federal Aviation Administration issued new guidelines Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, under which passengers will be able to use devices to read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music, from the time they board to the time they leave the plane. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
A passenger check his cell phone while boarding a flight, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Boston. The Federal Aviation Administration issued new guidelines Thursday, under which passengers will be able to use devices to read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music, from the time they board to the time they leave the plane. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Airline passengers won't have to "turn off all electronic devices" anymore — they'll be able to read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music from gate to gate under new guidelines from the Federal Aviation Administration. But they still can't talk on their cellphones through the flight.
Don't expect the changes to happen immediately, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said Thursday at a news conference announcing new rules. How fast will vary by airline.
Delta and JetBlue said they would quickly submit plans to implement the new policy. Airlines will have to show the FAA that their airplanes meet the new guidelines and that they've updated their flight-crew training manuals, safety announcements and rules for stowing devices to reflect the new guidelines.
It sounded like good news to passengers heading out from Reagan National Airport on Thursday.
Ketan Patel, 24, said he's happy that regulators have debunked the idea that the devices pose a safety problem. "If it isn't a problem, it should be allowed," he said as he stepped into a security line, a smartphone in his hand.
Monica Lexie, 50, entering the same line, said the change will enable her to use her Kindle to read longer. But then she was never bothered by the restrictions.
"You just shut it off and wait for the little light to go on," she said. "Our safety takes precedence."
Currently, passengers are required to turn off their smartphones, tablets and other devices once a plane's door closes. They're not supposed to restart them until the planes reach 10,000 feet and the captain gives the go-ahead. Passengers are supposed to turn their devices off again as the plane descends to land and not restart them until it is on the ground.
Under the new guidelines, airlines whose planes are properly protected from electronic interference may allow passengers to use the devices during takeoffs, landings and taxiing, the FAA said. Most new airliners and other planes that have been modified so that passengers can use Wi-Fi at higher altitudes are expected to meet the criteria.
Passengers will also be able to connect to the Internet to surf, exchange emails, or download data below 10,000 feet if the plane has an installed Wi-Fi system, but not through cellular networks. Passengers will be told to switch their devices to airplane mode. Heavier devices such as laptops will continue to have to be stowed away because of concern they might injure someone if they go flying around the cabin.
The guidelines reflect the evolution in types and prevalence of devices used by passengers over the past decade. In 2003, 70 percent of passengers carried electronic devices with them on planes, and the most common device was a cellphone that wasn't capable of connecting to the Internet, followed by a calculator, according to a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association. A follow-up survey by the association this year found that 99 percent of passengers carry some device with them, with smartphones the most common followed by notebook or laptop computers.
In-flight cellphone calls will continue to be prohibited. Regulatory authority over phone calls belongs to the Federal Communications Commission, not the FAA. The commission prohibits the calls because of concern that phones on planes flying at hundreds of miles per hour could strain the ability of cellular networks to keep up as the devices keep trying to connect with cellphone towers, interfering with service to users on the ground.
The changes announced Thursday apply to both domestic and international flights by U.S. carriers, but the rules get a little tricky for international flights. On takeoff from the United States and during landing back in the U.S., passengers would be allowed to use electronics. However, when arriving or departing a foreign country, passengers would have to comply with local laws. Currently, most counties have their own prohibitions on electronic device use. However, they tend to follow the FAA's lead and likely could relax their own rules in the near future.
An industry advisory committee created by the FAA to examine the issue recommended last month that the government permit greater use of personal electronic devices.
Pressure has been building on the FAA to ease restrictions on their use. Critics of the restraints such as Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., say there is no valid safety reason for the prohibitions. Restrictions have also become more difficult to enforce as use of the devices has become ubiquitous. Some studies indicate as many as a third of passengers forget or ignore directions to turn off their devices.
The FAA began restricting passengers' use of electronic devices in 1966 in response to reports of interference with navigation and communications equipment when passengers began carrying FM radios, the high-tech gadgets of their day.
A lot has changed since then. New airliners are far more reliant on electrical systems than previous generations of aircraft, but they are also designed and approved by the FAA to be resistant to electronic interference. Airlines are already offering Wi-Fi use at cruising altitudes on planes modified to be more resistant to interference.
The vast majority of airliners should qualify for greater electronic device use under the new guidelines, Huerta said. In rare instances of landings during severe weather with low visibility, pilots may still order passengers to turn off devices because there is some evidence of potential interference with the use of instrument landing systems under those conditions, he said.
Today's electronic devices generally emit much lower power radio transmissions than previous generations of devices. E-readers, for example, emit only minimal transmissions when turning a page. But transmissions are stronger when devices are downloading or sending data.
Among those pressing for a relaxation of restrictions on passengers' use of the devices has been Amazon.com. In 2011, company officials loaded an airliner full of their Kindle e-readers and flew it around to test for problems but found none.
A travel industry group welcomed the changes, calling them common-sense accommodations for a traveling public now bristling with technology. "We're pleased the FAA recognizes that an enjoyable passenger experience is not incompatible with safety and security," said Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.
___
AP Airlines Writer Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed to this report.
___
Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 file photo, recording artist Kanye West speaks onstage during the 17th Annual Hollywood Film Awards Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. West is postponing the rest of his “Yeezus” tour after a 60-foot LED screen used during his shows was damaged. A representative for the rapper says a truck that carried the screen was in an accident Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, that has “damaged the gear beyond repair.” (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Kanye West is postponing the rest of his "Yeezus" tour after a 60-foot LED screen used during his shows was damaged.
A representative for the rapper says a truck that carried the screen was in an accident Wednesday that "damaged the gear beyond repair." The truck was on its way to Vancouver.
The rep said in a statement Thursday that it would be "impossible" to put on a show until the screen is repaired.
Thursday's show in Vancouver and next week's shows in Denver and Minneapolis were postponed. The West rep planned to provide an update later on any new dates.
West's tour kicked off this month in Seattle. Rapper Kendrick Lamar is his opening act.
Results of the FREEDOM sub study reported at TCT 2013
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Judy Romero jromero@crf.org Cardiovascular Research Foundation
Study examines the impact of insulin treatment status in diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease
SAN FRANCISCO, CA October 31, 2013 According to a recent study of diabetic patients who underwent revascularization for multi-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD), patients treated with insulin experienced more major adverse cardiovascular events after revascularization than those not treated with insulin.
The findings of a sub group analysis of the FREEDOM trial were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
The global prevalence of adult diabetes mellitus currently exceeds 6.4 percent (285 million) and is projected to increase to 7.7 percent (439 million) by 2030. In the United States, 26 percent of diabetics are treated with insulin; these patients comprise both patients with Type I diabetes as well as more advanced Type II diabetes. Insulin-treated patients are at increased risk for cardiovascular events after PCI and also have a higher risk of wound infection and mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).
Results of the overall FREEDOM trial, which were first reported last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) reduces mortality and myocardial infarction rates compared to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), though it increases the chance of stroke. This FREEDOM sub group analysis examined the association of clinical outcomes after revascularization by insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) status and the respective effect of CABG vs. PCI using first generation drug-eluting stents (PCI/DES). The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac events including death, stroke and myocardial infarction analyzed using the logrank test and Cox regression to assess the interaction of treatment received and ITDM status.
A total of 1,850 diabetic patients with multi-vessel disease were randomized 1:1 to either CABG (894 patients) or PCI/DES (956 patients). Baseline and procedure characteristics were largely similar among the groups. A total of 602 patients (32.5 percent) had ITDM (PCI n=325, 34 percent; CABG n=277, 31 percent).
The estimated percentage of patients with a major adverse coronary event after five years was higher in the ITDM group compared to the non ITDM group (29 percent vs. 19 percent, respectively). Regardless of insulin treatment status, the estimated percentage of patients with major adverse coronary events after five years was higher among those that underwent PCI/DES (32 percent in the ITDM group and 25 percent in the non-ITDM group) compared to CABG (24 percent in the ITDM group and 16 percent in the non-ITDM group), although stroke rates were higher among CABG patients. In the ITDM group, the stroke rate was 7.5 for those who underwent CABG compared to 3.7 in those who had PCI/DES. In the non ITDM group, the stroke rate was 4.3 vs. 1.7 respectively.
"In patients with diabetes and multi-vessel coronary artery disease there are more major adverse cardiovascular events in patients treated with insulin than in those not treated with insulin," said study investigator George Dangas, MD, PhD. Dr. Dangas is Professor of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Director of Cardiovascular Innovation at the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute of the Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"However, the differences in clinical outcomes between CABG and PCI/DES were maintained regardless of the presence or absence of insulin treatment," Dr. Dangas said.
###
The FREEDOM trial was funded by NHLBI, NIH. Dr. Dangas reported no disclosures.
About CRF and TCT
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine. CRF is the sponsor of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. For more information, visit http://www.crf.org and http://www.tctconference.com.
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Results of the FREEDOM sub study reported at TCT 2013
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Judy Romero jromero@crf.org Cardiovascular Research Foundation
Study examines the impact of insulin treatment status in diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease
SAN FRANCISCO, CA October 31, 2013 According to a recent study of diabetic patients who underwent revascularization for multi-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD), patients treated with insulin experienced more major adverse cardiovascular events after revascularization than those not treated with insulin.
The findings of a sub group analysis of the FREEDOM trial were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
The global prevalence of adult diabetes mellitus currently exceeds 6.4 percent (285 million) and is projected to increase to 7.7 percent (439 million) by 2030. In the United States, 26 percent of diabetics are treated with insulin; these patients comprise both patients with Type I diabetes as well as more advanced Type II diabetes. Insulin-treated patients are at increased risk for cardiovascular events after PCI and also have a higher risk of wound infection and mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).
Results of the overall FREEDOM trial, which were first reported last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) reduces mortality and myocardial infarction rates compared to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), though it increases the chance of stroke. This FREEDOM sub group analysis examined the association of clinical outcomes after revascularization by insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) status and the respective effect of CABG vs. PCI using first generation drug-eluting stents (PCI/DES). The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac events including death, stroke and myocardial infarction analyzed using the logrank test and Cox regression to assess the interaction of treatment received and ITDM status.
A total of 1,850 diabetic patients with multi-vessel disease were randomized 1:1 to either CABG (894 patients) or PCI/DES (956 patients). Baseline and procedure characteristics were largely similar among the groups. A total of 602 patients (32.5 percent) had ITDM (PCI n=325, 34 percent; CABG n=277, 31 percent).
The estimated percentage of patients with a major adverse coronary event after five years was higher in the ITDM group compared to the non ITDM group (29 percent vs. 19 percent, respectively). Regardless of insulin treatment status, the estimated percentage of patients with major adverse coronary events after five years was higher among those that underwent PCI/DES (32 percent in the ITDM group and 25 percent in the non-ITDM group) compared to CABG (24 percent in the ITDM group and 16 percent in the non-ITDM group), although stroke rates were higher among CABG patients. In the ITDM group, the stroke rate was 7.5 for those who underwent CABG compared to 3.7 in those who had PCI/DES. In the non ITDM group, the stroke rate was 4.3 vs. 1.7 respectively.
"In patients with diabetes and multi-vessel coronary artery disease there are more major adverse cardiovascular events in patients treated with insulin than in those not treated with insulin," said study investigator George Dangas, MD, PhD. Dr. Dangas is Professor of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Director of Cardiovascular Innovation at the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute of the Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"However, the differences in clinical outcomes between CABG and PCI/DES were maintained regardless of the presence or absence of insulin treatment," Dr. Dangas said.
###
The FREEDOM trial was funded by NHLBI, NIH. Dr. Dangas reported no disclosures.
About CRF and TCT
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine. CRF is the sponsor of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. For more information, visit http://www.crf.org and http://www.tctconference.com.
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Contact: Judy Romero jromero@crf.org Cardiovascular Research Foundation
'Hybrid procedure' combining minimally invasive corornary artery bypass surgery (CABG) with percutaneous coronary intervention is feasible and safe compared with traditional CABG
SAN FRANCISCO, CA October 31, 2013 A hybrid approach to treating coronary artery disease that involves a "hybrid procedure" combining a minimally invasive bypass surgery with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was found to be feasible and safe in a clinical trial. This is the first randomized study of the technique. These findings were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
Hybrid coronary artery revascularization (HCR) as studied within this trial combined a minimally invasive left internal mammary artery bypass grafting to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation to other coronary arteries. Due to the lack of data from large, prospective randomized trials comparing HCR with standard surgical revascularization, HYBRID was designed as a feasibility study to assess the safety and efficacy of HCR in patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease referred for standard coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Two hundred consecutive patients, with angiographically confirmed multi-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD) involving the LAD and a critical (>70%) lesion in at least one major epicardial vessel (except LAD) amenable to both PCI and CABG, were randomized in a 1:1 fashion to HCR or standard surgical revascularization.
The primary objectives of this trial were to investigate the feasibility and safety of HCR. The feasibility assessment was defined both as the percentage of patients in the hybrid group that had a complete HCR procedure according to the study protocol and a percentage that had to be converted to standard CABG. The safety endpoint was the occurrence of MACE (major adverse cardiac events) such as death, myocardial infarction, stroke, repeat revascularization, major bleeding within the 12 month period after randomization.
In the trial, 93.9 percent of the patients in the hybrid group had the completed HCR procedure and 6.1 percent were converted to CABG.
At one year, 92.2 percent of the CABG group and 89.8 percent of the hybrid group were free from MACE. No strokes were reported in either group. The rate of death was 2.9 percent in the CABG group and 2.0 percent in the HCR group.
"This first randomized pilot study on hybrid coronary revascularization shows promising feasibility and safety results supporting the idea of hybrid coronary revascularization in patients with multi-vessel disease," said Michal Hawranek, MD, PhD, on behalf of the investigation team at the Silesian Center for Heart Disease in Zabrze, Poland.
###
The HYBRID trial was funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland. Dr. Hawranek reported no disclosures.
About CRF and TCT
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine. CRF is the sponsor of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. For more information, visit http://www.crf.org and http://www.tctconference.com.
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Results of the HYBRID trial presented at TCT 2013
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Judy Romero jromero@crf.org Cardiovascular Research Foundation
'Hybrid procedure' combining minimally invasive corornary artery bypass surgery (CABG) with percutaneous coronary intervention is feasible and safe compared with traditional CABG
SAN FRANCISCO, CA October 31, 2013 A hybrid approach to treating coronary artery disease that involves a "hybrid procedure" combining a minimally invasive bypass surgery with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was found to be feasible and safe in a clinical trial. This is the first randomized study of the technique. These findings were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
Hybrid coronary artery revascularization (HCR) as studied within this trial combined a minimally invasive left internal mammary artery bypass grafting to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation to other coronary arteries. Due to the lack of data from large, prospective randomized trials comparing HCR with standard surgical revascularization, HYBRID was designed as a feasibility study to assess the safety and efficacy of HCR in patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease referred for standard coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Two hundred consecutive patients, with angiographically confirmed multi-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD) involving the LAD and a critical (>70%) lesion in at least one major epicardial vessel (except LAD) amenable to both PCI and CABG, were randomized in a 1:1 fashion to HCR or standard surgical revascularization.
The primary objectives of this trial were to investigate the feasibility and safety of HCR. The feasibility assessment was defined both as the percentage of patients in the hybrid group that had a complete HCR procedure according to the study protocol and a percentage that had to be converted to standard CABG. The safety endpoint was the occurrence of MACE (major adverse cardiac events) such as death, myocardial infarction, stroke, repeat revascularization, major bleeding within the 12 month period after randomization.
In the trial, 93.9 percent of the patients in the hybrid group had the completed HCR procedure and 6.1 percent were converted to CABG.
At one year, 92.2 percent of the CABG group and 89.8 percent of the hybrid group were free from MACE. No strokes were reported in either group. The rate of death was 2.9 percent in the CABG group and 2.0 percent in the HCR group.
"This first randomized pilot study on hybrid coronary revascularization shows promising feasibility and safety results supporting the idea of hybrid coronary revascularization in patients with multi-vessel disease," said Michal Hawranek, MD, PhD, on behalf of the investigation team at the Silesian Center for Heart Disease in Zabrze, Poland.
###
The HYBRID trial was funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland. Dr. Hawranek reported no disclosures.
About CRF and TCT
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine. CRF is the sponsor of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. For more information, visit http://www.crf.org and http://www.tctconference.com.
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Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School
Patterns found in cancer's chaos illuminate tumor evolution
For more than 100 years, researchers have been unable to explain why cancer cells contain abnormal numbers of chromosomes, a phenomenon known as aneuploidy. Many believed aneuploidy was simply a random byproduct of cancer.
Now, a team at Harvard Medical School has devised a way to understand patterns of aneuploidy in tumors and predict which genes in the affected chromosomes are likely to be cancer suppressors or promoters. They propose that aneuploidy is a driver of cancer rather than a result of it.
The study, to be published online in Cell on Oct. 31, offers a new theory of cancer development and could open the door for new treatment targets.
"If you look at a cancer cell, it looks like an unholy mess with gene deletions and amplifications, chromosome gains and losses, like someone threw a stick of dynamite into the cell. It seems random, but actually previous work has shown that there is a pattern to which chromosomes and chromosome arms are alteredand that means we can understand that pattern and how or if it drives cancer," said senior author Stephen Elledge, Gregor Mendel professor of Genetics and of Medicine at HMS and professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"What we have done is to propose a new theory about how this works and then prove it using mathematical analysis," he said.
Mining for answers
For decades since the "oncogene revolution," cancer research has focused on mutationschanges in the DNA code that abnormally activate genes that promote cancer, called oncogenes, or deactivate genes that suppress cancer. The role of aneuploidyin which entire chromosomes or chromosome arms are added or deletedhas remained largely unstudied.
Elledge and his team, including research fellow and first author Teresa Davoli, suspected that aneuploidy has a significant role to play in cancer because missing or extra chromosomes likely affect genes involved in tumor-related processes such as cell division and DNA repair.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers developed a computer program called TUSON (Tumor Suppressor and Oncogene) Explorer together with Wei Xu and Peter Park at HMS and Brigham and Women's. The program analyzed genome sequence data from more than 8,200 pairs of cancerous and normal tissue samples in three preexisting databases.
They generated a list of suspected oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes based on their mutation patternsand found many more potential cancer drivers than anticipated. Then they ranked the suspects by how powerful an effect their deletion or duplication was likely to have on cancer development.
Next, the team looked at where the suspects normally appear in chromosomes.
They discovered that the number of tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes in a chromosome correlated with how often the whole chromosome or part of the chromosome was deleted or duplicated in cancers. Where there were concentrations of tumor suppressor genes alongside fewer oncogenes and fewer genes essential to survival, there was more chromosome deletion. Conversely, concentrations of oncogenes and fewer tumor suppressors coincided with more chromosome duplication.
When the team factored in gene potency, the correlations got even stronger. A cluster of highly potent tumor suppressors was more likely to mean chromosome deletion than a cluster of weak suppressors.
Number matters
Since 1971, the standard tumor suppressor model has held that cancer is caused by a "two-hit" cascade in which first one copy and then the second copy of a gene becomes mutated. Elledge argues that simply losing or gaining one copy of a gene through aneuploidy can influence tumor growth as well.
"The loss or gain of multiple cancer driver genes that individually have low potency can add up to have big effects," he said.
"It's a terrific study," said Angelika Amon, a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not involved in the project. "These novel algorithms of identifying tumor suppressors and oncogenes nicely provide an explanation of how aneuploidies evolve in cancer cells, and the realization that subtle changes in the activity of many different genes at the same time can contribute to tumorigenesis is an exciting and intriguing hypothesis."
These findings also may have answered a long-standing question about whether aneuploidy is a cause or effect of cancer, leaving researchers free to pursue the question of how.
"Aneuploidy is driving cancer, not simply a consequence of it," said Elledge. "Other things also matter, such as gene mutations, rearrangements and changes in expression. We don't know what the weighting is, but now we should be able to figure it out."
Going forward, Elledge and Davoli plan to gather experimental evidence to support their mathematical findings. That will include validating some of the new predicted tumor suppressors and oncogenes as well as "making some deletions and amplifications and seeing if they have the properties we think they do," said Elledge.
###
The research was supported by a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Innovator Award, National Institutes of Health grant U54LM008748 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Written by Stephanie Dutchen
Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew Senior Life, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System.
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Study offers new theory of cancer development
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School
Patterns found in cancer's chaos illuminate tumor evolution
For more than 100 years, researchers have been unable to explain why cancer cells contain abnormal numbers of chromosomes, a phenomenon known as aneuploidy. Many believed aneuploidy was simply a random byproduct of cancer.
Now, a team at Harvard Medical School has devised a way to understand patterns of aneuploidy in tumors and predict which genes in the affected chromosomes are likely to be cancer suppressors or promoters. They propose that aneuploidy is a driver of cancer rather than a result of it.
The study, to be published online in Cell on Oct. 31, offers a new theory of cancer development and could open the door for new treatment targets.
"If you look at a cancer cell, it looks like an unholy mess with gene deletions and amplifications, chromosome gains and losses, like someone threw a stick of dynamite into the cell. It seems random, but actually previous work has shown that there is a pattern to which chromosomes and chromosome arms are alteredand that means we can understand that pattern and how or if it drives cancer," said senior author Stephen Elledge, Gregor Mendel professor of Genetics and of Medicine at HMS and professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"What we have done is to propose a new theory about how this works and then prove it using mathematical analysis," he said.
Mining for answers
For decades since the "oncogene revolution," cancer research has focused on mutationschanges in the DNA code that abnormally activate genes that promote cancer, called oncogenes, or deactivate genes that suppress cancer. The role of aneuploidyin which entire chromosomes or chromosome arms are added or deletedhas remained largely unstudied.
Elledge and his team, including research fellow and first author Teresa Davoli, suspected that aneuploidy has a significant role to play in cancer because missing or extra chromosomes likely affect genes involved in tumor-related processes such as cell division and DNA repair.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers developed a computer program called TUSON (Tumor Suppressor and Oncogene) Explorer together with Wei Xu and Peter Park at HMS and Brigham and Women's. The program analyzed genome sequence data from more than 8,200 pairs of cancerous and normal tissue samples in three preexisting databases.
They generated a list of suspected oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes based on their mutation patternsand found many more potential cancer drivers than anticipated. Then they ranked the suspects by how powerful an effect their deletion or duplication was likely to have on cancer development.
Next, the team looked at where the suspects normally appear in chromosomes.
They discovered that the number of tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes in a chromosome correlated with how often the whole chromosome or part of the chromosome was deleted or duplicated in cancers. Where there were concentrations of tumor suppressor genes alongside fewer oncogenes and fewer genes essential to survival, there was more chromosome deletion. Conversely, concentrations of oncogenes and fewer tumor suppressors coincided with more chromosome duplication.
When the team factored in gene potency, the correlations got even stronger. A cluster of highly potent tumor suppressors was more likely to mean chromosome deletion than a cluster of weak suppressors.
Number matters
Since 1971, the standard tumor suppressor model has held that cancer is caused by a "two-hit" cascade in which first one copy and then the second copy of a gene becomes mutated. Elledge argues that simply losing or gaining one copy of a gene through aneuploidy can influence tumor growth as well.
"The loss or gain of multiple cancer driver genes that individually have low potency can add up to have big effects," he said.
"It's a terrific study," said Angelika Amon, a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not involved in the project. "These novel algorithms of identifying tumor suppressors and oncogenes nicely provide an explanation of how aneuploidies evolve in cancer cells, and the realization that subtle changes in the activity of many different genes at the same time can contribute to tumorigenesis is an exciting and intriguing hypothesis."
These findings also may have answered a long-standing question about whether aneuploidy is a cause or effect of cancer, leaving researchers free to pursue the question of how.
"Aneuploidy is driving cancer, not simply a consequence of it," said Elledge. "Other things also matter, such as gene mutations, rearrangements and changes in expression. We don't know what the weighting is, but now we should be able to figure it out."
Going forward, Elledge and Davoli plan to gather experimental evidence to support their mathematical findings. That will include validating some of the new predicted tumor suppressors and oncogenes as well as "making some deletions and amplifications and seeing if they have the properties we think they do," said Elledge.
###
The research was supported by a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Innovator Award, National Institutes of Health grant U54LM008748 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Written by Stephanie Dutchen
Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew Senior Life, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration officials defended U.S. efforts in Syria Thursday against blistering criticism from Republicans who claim Washington has goals, but no strategy to find a solution that would end the bloody conflict affecting nations throughout the Mideast.
Robert Ford, U.S. ambassador to Syria, testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States is proud of the humanitarian and other assistance it has provided to the Syrian opposition trying to topple President Bashar Assad's government. He acknowledged that the Syrian people were "deeply disappointed" when the U.S. did not take military action against the Syrian regime, but said the administration is working furiously to arrange a conference in Geneva next month to set up a transitional government and end the bloodshed.
Ford had tense exchanges with two of the committee's harshest GOP critics.
"You continue to call this a civil war, Ambassador Ford," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. "This isn't a civil war anymore; this is a regional conflict. It's spread to Iraq. We now have al-Qaida resurgence in Iraq. It's destabilizing Jordan. Iran is all in. Hezbollah has 5,000 troops there. For you to describe this as a quote, 'civil war,' of course, is a gross distortion of the facts, which again makes many of us question your fundamental strategy because you are — you don't describe the realities on the ground."
Ford said he does not think that Assad can win militarily and only has the advantage in a few places like around Aleppo in northern Syria. He said Assad has a disadvantage on the battleground in other places, including some in the east and south.
McCain was not satisfied, saying Assad's killing of civilians remained unchecked.
"Come on. ... The fact is that he was about to be toppled a year ago, or over a year ago. Then Hezbollah came in. Then the Russians stepped up their effort. Then the Iranian Revolutionary Guard intervened in what you call a, quote, 'civil war,' and he turned the tide. And he continues to maintain his position of power and slaughtering innocent Syrian civilians. And you are relying on a Geneva conference, right?"
The prospects for an international peace conference in Geneva to end the war are unclear.
Assad told the Arab League-U.N. envoy Wednesday that foreign support for the armed opposition must end if any political solution to the country's conflict is to succeed.
The United States, Russia and the United Nations have been trying for months to bring the Syrian government and the opposition together in Geneva to attempt to negotiate a political resolution to the conflict. After repeated delays, efforts renewed in earnest last month to organize the conference, but the Syrian opposition remains deeply divided over whether to attend, while the government refuses to sit down with the armed opposition.
Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage in Syria. And the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights increased its estimate of the death toll of the war now in its third year. It said more than 120,000 people have been killed since the start of conflict, up from the previous estimate of 100,000. The new estimate said more than 61,000 of the dead were civilians.
"The problem itself is tragic ... and we want to help them," Ford said in one exchange with Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the committee. "But ultimately, Senator, Syrians must fix this problem, and ultimately, Senator, it's going to require them to sit down at a table. The sooner they start, the better. But in the meantime, we will keep helping the opposition, Senator."
Corker, who has long been critical of the slow pace of aid to Syria, said he thinks the U.S. assistance to Syrian opposition has been an "embarrassment."
"I find it appalling that you would sit here and act as if we're doing the things we said we would do three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago," said Corker. "The London 11 (group of countries that support the opposition) has to look at us as one of the most feckless nations they've ever dealt with."
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., cautioned that the U.S. should approach the situation in Syria "with a lot of humility, given what we've learned after we intervened in Iraq, in Libya, in Afghanistan; after what we've seen go on in Egypt."
"We should just have a little humility in the United States in terms of our ability to control events on the ground in these countries," he said.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the Foreign Relations panel's chairman, said in prepared remarks that progress toward destroying Syria's chemical weapons was "the only positive note" in the worsening crisis.
He referred to the announcement earlier Thursday by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that Syria had completed the destruction of equipment used to produce chemical weapons, meeting another deadline in an ambitious timeline to eliminate the country's entire stockpile by mid-2014.
But Menendez lamented the worsening humanitarian crisis caused by the war, noting it has created more than 2 million refugees, and he said lack of progress on a negotiated political settlement portends continued bloodshed and suffering.
___
Associated Press Writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Computer-maker Lenovo has hired tech-savvy actor Ashton Kutcher to help design and pitch its latest line of tablets, dubbing the Hollywood star a "product engineer" who can bring his ideas along with his image.
It's the latest tech foray for the "Two and a Half Men" performer who recently starred in a biopic about innovative giant Steve Jobs and has invested venture capital in more than a dozen Silicon Valley startups.
The deal was announced Tuesday at a Lenovo live-streamed event in Los Angeles. Lenovo's first video advertisements for the new Yoga Tablet feature Kutcher acting as a product tester in his boxers, a spacesuit and aboard an airplane.
The company said Kutcher will do more than just advertise.
"This partnership goes beyond traditional bounds by deeply integrating him into our organization as a product engineer as we look at developing the next wave of products," said Lenovo spokesman David Roman.
Kutcher — who in recent years has appeared in ads for snack chips and cameras — said of Lenovo, "Entrepreneurship is part of their DNA, and I couldn't ask for a better fit."
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Lenovo, with headquarters in Beijing and in Research Triangle Park, N.C., acquired IBM's computer business in 2005 and became the world's top PC-maker ahead of HP in the third quarter. But, like other manufacturers, it has struggled with waning consumer demand for desktop and laptop models.
It's one of several Asian tech companies seeking to loosen Apple's grip on China's tablet market with less expensive Android models.
The following is excerpted from Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment,by Anita Elberse, published by Henry Holt & Co.
Standing backstage at Boston’s sold-out TD Garden in March 2011 during Lady Gaga’s smash-hit tour, the Monster Ball, her manager, Troy Carter, paused a moment to take it all in. “It is amazing how far we have come in such a short time,” he said.
After emerging on the pop-music scene in 2008—touring as a supporting act for New Kids on the Block, a boy band beyond its glory years—Lady Gaga broke through in early 2009, when her singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” topped international charts. She rapidly became one of the biggest names in entertainment, sweeping up Grammys and Video Music Awards and selling tens of millions of singles. In 2011, Forbes ranked her first on its Celebrity 100 list, ahead of Oprah Winfrey.
As is the case with most “overnight successes,” Gaga’s ascent had been a long time in the making. In the early days of her career, through a relentless touring schedule—for months on end, she put on seven to eight shows a week, sometimes performing three times per night, in clubs around the U.S. and Canada—Gaga had built a fan base with a strong core. “We wanted to build her fan base from the ground up,” Carter said. “Once the audience feels they own something, they are going to run with it, and do the work for you.” She relied heavily on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to spread word of mouth and strengthen her connection with her fans—her ”little monsters,” as she called them. She turned out to be extraordinarily skilled at doing so: By 2011, Gaga was the most popular living person on Facebook and the most followed person on Twitter.
Given her extraordinary success with a grassroots approach to launching her music, one might have assumed that Gaga, Carter, and her label, Interscope, would stick with such a strategy in 2011 for her third album, Born This Way. Yet the Born This Way launch compared more to “a movie blockbuster in the summer months, like Avatar,” as Interscope’s vice chairman Steve Berman put it. “With an artist of Gaga’s caliber,” Carter said, “reaching full potential means doing things on an enormous scale.” He knew that the launch he had in mind would have to go beyond traditional music-distribution channels and would test the limits of what a record label—even one the size of Universal Music Group—could afford. Carter and his team likewise pursued a blockbuster strategy for Gaga's forthcoming record, ARTPOP, due Nov. 11.
Most leading entertainment businesses operate on such a blockbuster model: making risky bets on the development of a select few products, then increasing the stakes by investing a great deal of money in distributing and promoting those products as widely as possible, all with an eye toward opening as big as they can. Companies often set marketing budgets at high levels well before they know how those products will be received in the marketplace. But what’s the rationale? Why would the team behind Lady Gaga want to move away from a word-of-mouth-driven launch that worked so well for them in the past? With Gaga’s new album likely to sell like hot cakes, wouldn’t record label executives prefer to save on any unnecessary marketing expenditures?
Launching entertainment products—albums, movies, television shows, video games, books—using what marketers call a “limited” or “grass-roots” release strategy has undeniable advantages. The basic idea is to gradually discover what level of marketing spending is most appropriate. It is all about being as efficient as possible with the available resources. For a movie, for example, a limited-release strategy generally means that it debuts on only a few screens in major cities, and is supported with print and online advertisements in those regions. The goal is to attract not the largest but rather the right audience to the product, in the hopes that those early customers will in turn spread positive word of mouth and help draw in new audiences. Only if the product takes off—or shows some signs of being on the verge of taking off—will the producer gradually increase the distribution coverage or intensity and support the product with more advertising to further enhance growth. The principle is to spend sizable amounts of money on the marketing of only those products that are worth it—those that truly have a chance of success in the marketplace.
Lady Gaga’s first recordings were released in this fashion. When her first single, “Just Dance,” was released in April 2008, gaining traction proved difficult. “We could not get it played on pop radio,” Carter recalled. “Mainstream radio stations told us it was too much of a dance song for them.” Bobby Campbell, chief marketing officer at Carter’s management firm Atom Factory, agreed: “Dance music simply was not on the air in Top 40 radio.”
So Carter relied on an intense schedule of live performances targeted at communities that seemed especially receptive to her music. “The gay community seemed to stick to her, and that resonated with her personally, so gay clubs were a natural fit to start the work,” Campbell said. “It was about finding different groups: the gay community, the dance community, the club-going community, the fashion community, the art community, and developing those into a larger pool of Gaga fans. So when Interscope made some headway with radio later on, we had this really strong core of fans who had been following her for months, and who felt they were part of the reason why she was successful.”
Jimmy Iovine, Interscope’s chairman, talks about capitalizing on “sparks”: The idea is that if an entertainment product resonates with audiences in a given market, that market can, with the right kind of support, become a launching pad for a wider rollout.
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010, AT 6:19 PM Tornado Kills at Least Five in Oklahoma
FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011, AT 3:07 PM Obama Gets Firsthand Look at a Tornado Damage
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010, AT 6:19 PM Tornado Kills at Least Five in Oklahoma. Very long title. Long long long. Tornado Kills at Least Five in Oklahoma. Very long title. Long long long.
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010, AT 6:19 PM Tornado Kills at Least Five in Oklahoma. Very long title. Long long long. Tornado Kills at Least Five in Oklahoma. Very long title. Long long long.
Henry Waxman made a plea at the end of Wednesday’s House hearing grilling of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The California Democrat and liberal lion asked Republicans to reach across the aisle to work with Democrats to improve Obamacare.
Yes, Henry Waxman, who has made a career of ideological witch hunts and smash-mouth partisanship, wants a cease-fire over Obamacare, or so he says.
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces arrested a key Muslim Brotherhood figure on the run since the July coup that ousted the country's Islamist president after a raid on his hideout early Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.
The arrest of Essam el-Erian, the deputy leader of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, was the latest in a wide-ranging crackdown and prosecution of both the Islamist group's leaders and its rank-and-file since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, who also hails from the Brotherhood.
Morsi, himself in detention, is held at an undisclosed military location since his ouster on July 3. He is facing charges of inciting supporters to murder his opponents while in office. Morsi's trial is due to begin next week, and it is not yet clear if the 69-year old ousted president will appear in court.
El-Erian is also one of the defendants in the Morsi trial, which opens Nov. 4. He is accused of inciting Brotherhood followers to break up anti-Morsi protesters gathered outside the presidential palace late last year.
In photographs aired on state media following his arrest, the 59-year-old el-Erian is wearing a white galabiya, the traditional male robe, and a skullcap, and flashes a smile to the cameras. He is the latest senior Brotherhood leader arrested on warrants from state prosecutors who have drawn up a list of accusations against the group's key figures, ranging from inciting violence to providing weapons to supporters and threatening public order.
The official state news agency MENA said el-Erian was arrested after a raid on an apartment in the eastern suburb of New Cairo, where he had been hiding. He was later transferred to the Torah prison complex in southern Cairo, which is where most of the group's arrested leaders are held.
The agency said he will be interrogated at Torah on accusations of inciting violence in a number of anti-government protests.
While Morsi was in power, el-Erian was a frequent speaker in the media, often causing a stir as he turned from a moderate to a hard-liner member of the group.
During a large-anti-Morsi demonstration last December outside the presidential palace in Cairo, el-Erian went on Misr 25 TV, which is affiliated with the Brotherhood, and called on the group's supporters to head to the scene "in the tens of thousands, to besiege those thugs" and expose an alleged conspiracy against the elected president.
At least 10 people died in subsequent clashes outside the palace. The Nov. 4 trial of Morsi and el-Erian, along with a dozen others, is on charges stemming from that incident.
In other comments that caused controversy, el-Erian — who at the time was Morsi's adviser — in a TV interview in January urged Egyptian Jews in Israel to return home, saying how Egypt was now a democracy and claiming the Jewish state won't survive. Morsi's office dissociated the president from the comments. El-Erian later quit his post as Morsi's adviser.
From hiding, el-Erian had distributed messages to followers, urging them to denounce the coup and demand Morsi's reinstatement. In a recent pre-recorded message aired on the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera network, el-Erian criticized the military and the interim authorities and called on supporters, including students, to keep up their protests.
Following Morsi's ouster, the country's new, military-backed authorities cracked down on the group, arresting hundreds of Brotherhood figures and putting top leaders on trial. The authorities are seeking to show through the prosecutions that the Brotherhood fueled violence during Morsi's one-year presidency and after the coup — and to give legal justification for imprisoning its leaders.
Amid the violence surrounding the crackdown and a wave of arrests of thousands of Brotherhood supporters, calls for reconciliation that would return the group — which dominated elections after the 2011 fall of Hosni Mubarak — back into the political system have gone nowhere, with neither side giving ground.
El-Erian's arrest came just hours after three judges presiding over a trial of nearly three dozen Brotherhood members, including its top spiritual leader and its chief financier, stepped down on Tuesday after security agencies refused to let the defendants attend the courtroom sessions.
The move was a sharp pushback from within the establishment over the conduct of the trial amid criticism by the Brotherhood that wide-ranging prosecutions of its leaders, including Morsi and the group's spiritual guide, Mohammed Badie, are only vengeful show trials.
The Brotherhood and allied Islamists reject Egypt's new government, insisting that Morsi be reinstated in office. They have continued protests, often leading to clashes with security forces that have killed well over 1,000 people. The Brotherhood says its protests are peaceful, but authorities accuse them of attacking security forces and provoking violence.
The Pinettes Brass Band parading into the judges area on Saturday.
Courtesy of Matt Sakakeeny
The Pinettes Brass Band parading into the judges area on Saturday.
Courtesy of Matt Sakakeeny
As the pallbearers carried the casket through the streets of New Orleans, a brass band led the procession with the slow dirge "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." But this was no jazz funeral, this was a brass band blowout, and painted on the coffin were the names of competing bands: New Breed, New Generation and To Be Continued. The Pinettes Brass Band had staged an elaborate ceremony to proclaim the death of their opponents, and when the music transitioned to the up-tempo march that signals the joyous end of the funeral, a dancer jumped out of the coffin ("She's alive!") and led the cavalcade through a tightly-packed crowd and into the judging area.
This grand entrance, followed by a fierce performance over three rounds, helped The Pinettes seal the win when the bacchanalia of brass came to a crashing close. So the big news in a city that surely enjoys the highest sousaphone-per-capita rate in the country is that the top prize was taken by the only all-female brass band (their name is a feminized version of the well-known Pinstripe band) in a patriarchal musical scene of about twenty bands with nary another female instrumentalist. But even more striking, perhaps, is the simple fact that thousands of spectators would spend a beautiful weekend afternoon standing under a highway overpass, cheering wildly for ensembles made up of antiquated acoustic instruments originally modeled on military bands.
It was the beverage giant Red Bull that organized "Street Kings," their second brass competition, and a success by any measure. (The company is famous for its marketing schemes, especially extreme sport events, such as a 120,000-foot fall from space.) If the premise was relatively crude and calculated — how to penetrate a black urban beverage market — the choice to court that demographic with, well, trumpets, points to the vitality of a deeply rooted tradition in this city known for its many, many traditions. Jazz funerals date back to the 19th Century, and second line parades continue to fill the streets of back-a-town neighborhoods each Sunday afternoon. These moving festivals are sponsored by community social clubs and maintained by an informal network of vendors who sew outfits for the club members, sell beer from rolling ice chests and set up massive BBQ pits at designated stops. The question for the Red Bull marketing team was how to relocate a grassroots tradition into a space tailored for consumption.
Spectators under the Clariborne Bridge in New Orleans' Treme neighborhood watch To Be Continued Brass Band parade into the judges area on Saturday.
Courtesy of Matt Sakakeeny
Spectators under the Clariborne Bridge in New Orleans' Treme neighborhood watch To Be Continued Brass Band parade into the judges area on Saturday.
Courtesy of Matt Sakakeeny
The answer was very strategically. Red Bull tapped Nicole Robinson to produce the event, a winning choice considering her experience as publicist for Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, the local musical wunderkind whose international visibility Robinson has astutely managed. Beside Andrews at the judge's table was a trio of black men with high name recognition locally: jazz trumpeter and singer Kermit Ruffins, television host LeBron "LBJ" Joseph and trombonist Walter Ramsey (bandleader of The Stooges, winner of the 2010 Street Kings battle). Murals overflowing with dancers and brass were commissioned from artist Lionel Milton and done in a post-graffiti style readymade for marketing to a black urban buying public. Cans of Red Bull, need it be said, were freely available, delivered by a small brigade of young, primarily white, women, but feeding the public was left to local food trucks and BBQ vendors who paid $200 each for a spot "under the bridge," as locals refer to the area beneath the imposing decks of the Interstate.
While the selection of judges, vendors and artwork was highly curated, the musical choices were wisely left up to the bands, as was the assembly of their parading entourages. This meant that To Be Continued, currently the crowd favorite at weekly second lines, was able to recruit the top dancers from the parade circuit, while The Pinettes assembled an entirely female cast including a dance troop called the Cherry Bombs.
The result was a three-hour romp of music and dance, fueled by funky beats, brassy blasts and the sweet, sweet nectar of energy drinks, all in endless supply. In the post-disaster economic boom that many in the city are benefiting from, an influx of newcomers combined with a renewed clampdown on music permits and noise regulation has sparked an impassioned debate about safeguarding the authenticity of local cultural traditions. The Street Kings event sponsored by Red Bull was an unabashedly corporatized foray onto grassroots territory that managed to manufacture authenticity by hitting all the right notes. The exception was the name of the event, which only reinforced the patriarchy of the brass band scene, and after The Pinettes' victory march was simply inaccurate. When the "Street Kings" trophy appeared onstage the band held up their own "Street Queens" sign and the energized crowd roared in approval.
Matt Sakakeeny is an ethnomusicologist, journalist and musician in New Orleans, and an Assistant Professor of Music at Tulane University. He is the author ofRoll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans, published by Duke University Press.
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