SWANSEA, Wales (AP) -Gareth Bale scored another stunning goal Saturday to give Tottenham a 2-1 win over Swansea that lifted it above Chelsea into third place in the Premier League.
Bale set up Jan Vertonghen for the first goal in the seventh minute and then curled home a brilliant effort in the 21st to double the lead.
Michu pulled Swansea back into the game with his 20th goal of the season in the 71st, but Tottenham held out over a frantic final 20 minutes to bounce back from consecutive losses against Liverpool and Fulham.
With Chelsea losing 2-1 to Southampton, Tottenham is now two points ahead of the London club in third place, but with a game more played.
"When there are so many things that go well for the team it is hard to single out individuals but Gareth is a world class player offensively and defensively," Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said. "But the whole team deserve credit because coming here after two league defeats and playing the way we did is never easy."
Swansea has now lost its last three games since reaching the 40-point mark with victory over Newcastle.
Bale, who scored here for his country in midweek, produced a sublime lofted pass to catch Dwight Tiendalli out of position and play in Vertonghen.
The Belgium international brilliantly brought the ball down and slotted beyond the advancing Michel Vorm to give the visitors the lead.
Swansea should have been two goals down just six minutes later. Moussa Dembele put Emmanuel Adebayor through for the Togo striker to comfortably outpace Ashley Williams, only to fire tamely at Vorm.
But the lead was doubled in the 21st minute courtesy of a supreme finish from Bale.
Vertonghen found the forward on the edge of the Swansea box, where he took one touch before dispatching an unstoppable strike past a statuesque Vorm.
"They had a very good start but both goals showed a player of Gareth Bale's quality can make the difference," Swansea manager Michael Laudrup said. "If you take Bale out, without him the teams were at the same level."
Swansea had a spell of pressure after that, and Brad Friedel had to be alert to deny Michu after Wayne Routledge had fed him from a quick free kick after the break.
?Michu then wasted another excellent opportunity as he headed wide from the sort of chance he has made a habit of taking during his first season in English football.
But he gave the Swans hope as he found the net for the first time since the League Cup final. Substitute Ki Sung-yueng delivered a superb corner, and Michu made no mistake as he directed a header in off the far post.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More news
Late equalizer boosts LA
PST: Teenager Jose Villarreal hit a spectacular bicycle kick in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw for the Galaxy in Toronto.
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? A suicide bomber attempted to force his way past the defenses of the city of Timbuktu on Saturday, detonating himself on its outskirts, while a landmine exploded in another part of northern Mali, killing a total of three, officials said.
The twin attacks come as French President Francois Hollande told French television that French forces had attained their objectives in Mali, a country which until January had lost its northern half to an al-Qaida cell and their allies. After the extremists began a southward push, Hollande unilaterally authorized a military intervention, quickly liberating the main cities in the north. Outside the heavily fortified cities like Timbuktu, however, the jihadists are still present, leading an increasingly brutal insurgency.
"The jihadist was driving a car loaded with explosives," said a military official based in Timbuktu, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "He arrived on the road from Goundam at the Timbuktu checkpoint, and our elements opened fire. He blew himself up," killing himself and injuring at least one soldier, said the official.
Timbuktu resident Age Djitteye said he heard a loud explosion and heavy gunfire, starting at 10 p.m. on Saturday. By midnight on Sunday the shooting had receded, he said by telephone.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defense also confirmed that an army vehicle drove over a landmine during a patrol around 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the northern Malian town of Ansongo, killing two people on board.
For 10 months until this January, Timbuktu as well as much of the rest of northern Mali was ruled by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, as well as two other jihadist groups allied with the terror network.
___
Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Big business and major labor unions appeared ready Friday to end a fight over a new low-skilled worker program that had threatened to upend negotiations on a sweeping immigration bill in the Senate providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who's been brokering talks between the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that negotiators are "very close, closer than we have ever been, and we are very optimistic." He said there were still a few issues remaining.
The talks stalled late last week amid a dispute over wages for workers in the new program, and senators left town for a two-week recess with the issue in limbo. Finger-pointing erupted between the AFL-CIO and the chamber, with each side accusing the other of trying to sink immigration reform, leaving prospects for a resolution unclear.
But talks resumed this week, and now officials from both sides indicate the wage issue has been largely resolved. An agreement would likely clear the way for a bipartisan group of senators to unveil legislation the week of April 8 to dramatically overhaul the U.S. immigration system, strengthening the border and cracking down on employers as well as remaking the legal immigration system while providing eventual citizenship to millions.
"We're feeling very optimistic on immigration: Aspiring Americans will receive the road map to citizenship they deserve and we can modernize 'future flow' without reducing wages for any local workers, regardless of what papers they carry," AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser said in a statement. "Future flow" refers to future arrivals of legal immigrants.
Under the emerging agreement, a new "W'' visa program would bring tens of thousands of lower-skilled workers a year to the country. The program would be capped at 200,000 a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market.
The workers would be able to change jobs and could seek permanent residency. Under current temporary worker programs, workers can't move from employer to employer and have no path to permanent U.S. residence and citizenship.
The new visas would cover dozens of professions such as long-term care workers and hotel and hospitality employees. Currently there's no good way for employers to bring many such workers to the U.S.; an existing visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers is capped at 66,000 per year and is supposed to apply only to seasonal or temporary jobs.
The Chamber of Commerce said workers would get paid actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department determines prevailing wage based on rates prevailing in specific localities, so that it would vary from city to city.
The labor organization had accused the chamber of trying to pay workers in the new program poverty-level wages, something the chamber disputed.
There was also disagreement about how to deal with certain higher-skilled construction jobs, such as electricians and welders, and it appears those will be excluded from the deal, said Geoff Burr, vice president of federal affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors. Burr said his group opposes such an exclusion because, even though unemployment in the construction industry is high right now, at times when it is low there can be labor shortages in high-skilled trades and contractors want to be able to bring in foreign workers. But unions pressed for the exclusion, Burr said.
The low-skilled worker issue had loomed for weeks as perhaps the toughest matter to settle in monthslong closed-door talks on immigration among Schumer and seven other senators, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration reform in 2007, when the legislation foundered on the Senate floor after an amendment was added to end a temporary worker program after five years, threatening a key priority of the business community.
The amendment passed by just one vote, 49-48. President Barack Obama, a senator at the time, joined in the narrow majority voting to end the program after five years.
___
Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
This magnificant property is situated at the foot of the beautiful hills overlooking Nelson City to the Tasman Sea beyond and is often referred to by the locals as "The Castle".
Thirty four individual rooms, including twelve bedrooms, five lounges, eight bathrooms and two extra toilets. The original wing, currently the owners residence, could be developed into four or five additional suites. Resource consent is in place to build a self-contained apartment over the garage, which would be ideal for a manager. Alternatively, a more substantial house could be built on a vacant site on the eastern side of the property, which extends down to Seymour Avenue.
This solidly constructed, 810 square metre building was very strongly built throughout with great beams of kauri and 28 millimetre thick matai floors. All weatherboards, ceilings and most doors are heart kauri. Weatherboards on several sides were covered with a heavy stucco render in the 1950s, which gives it the distinctive castle appearance. The exterior is now painted rich Colonial cream, with burgundy timber joinery and the original 7000 tiled, high pitched Welsh slate roof.
In recognition of the huge amount of restoration work done on Warwick House, the current owners were presented with the 2009 Environmental Award, in the Heritage Site category. Over the past few years, this superb home has hosted many distinguished guests, held many charity fundraisers, hosted tours, high teas and many great musical events.
Exceptional features include the opulent ballroom with a 5.5 metre stud, the four level, 33 metre high octagonal turret, balconies, exterior staircases and ornate kauri fretwork around the large verandah and viewing decks. There are two large oriel windows, five large bay windows and a minstrel gallery, high above the main entrance hall.
Two single garages, an elegant Victorian-style street lamp and a history board flank the substantial, original cast iron gates and posts, which were brought out from England in the 1840s. There is a large sealed parking area, a large carport and a central flagstone Maltese cross.
The original wing is the current owners home which has two spacious living areas, a charming dining / conservatory , kitchen , five bedrooms and two bathrooms.
This is one of New Zealand's most attractive tourism & hospitality businesses for sale and allows the next owner to take this awesome property to the next level of development.
Price by Negotiation for Land, Building and Business including specified chattels. We invite all interested parties to contact Adrian Chisholm 021 727 888 - TourismProperties.com www.tourismproperties.com specialist real estate company helping buyers and sellers of touris, hospitality and leisure businesses and properties nationwide in New Zealand and the South pacifiic Islands.
?
Doctors at O'Connor Hospital will discuss these concerns at two free Living Well community classes. On April 2, Dr. Michael Stevens will discuss migraines, causes and treatment options. On April 3, the topic is "Do You Have a Food Allergy?" Dr ?
Best Prices on all YOUR Health and Fitness Requirements! CLICK HERE
29 March 2013Last updated at 03:14 ETBy Roger HarrabinEnvironment analyst
The Met Office has admitted issuing advice to government that was "not helpful" during last year's remarkable switch in weather patterns.
Between March and April 2012, the UK experienced an extraordinary shift from high pressure and drought to low pressure and downpours.
But the Met Office said the forecast for average rainfall "slightly" favoured drier than average conditions.
The three-month forecast is said to be experimental.
It is sent to contingency planners but has been withheld from the public since the Met Office was pilloried for its "barbecue summer" forecast in 2009.
Last spring's forecast has been obtained by BBC News under Freedom of Information.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
The probabilistic forecast can be considered as somewhat like a form guide for a horse race?
End QuoteMet Office
The Met Office three-monthly outlook at the end of March stated: "The forecast for average UK rainfall slightly favours drier than average conditions for April-May-June, and slightly favours April being the driest of the three months."
A soul-searching Met Office analysis later confessed: "Given that April was the wettest since detailed records began in 1910 and the April-May-June quarter was also the wettest, this advice was not helpful."
In a note to the government chief scientist, the Met Office chief scientist Julia Slingo explains the difficulty of constructing long-distance forecasts, given the UK's position at the far edge of dominant world weather systems.
She says last year's calculations were not actually wrong because they were probabilistic.
The Met Office forecast that the probability that April-May-June would fall into the driest of five categories was 20-25%, whilst the probability it would fall into the wettest was 10-15% (The average probability would be 20%).
The Met Office explained it this way: "The probabilistic forecast can be considered as somewhat like a form guide for a horse race.
'Unsolved challenges'
"It provides an insight into which outcomes are most likely, although in some cases there is a broad spread of outcomes, analogous to a race in which there is no strong favourite. Just as any of the horses in the race could win the race, any of the outcomes could occur, but some are more likely than others."
It said: "The creation of the three-monthly outlook relies upon the fact that weather is influenced by the slow variation of ocean conditions (and other processes) which can be predicted months in advance.
"Whilst there is a very strong dependence of tropical weather on processes such as El Nino ,the UK's weather is dominated by the highly variable atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic, making it much harder to what will happen weeks and months ahead."
In the case of last spring, Dr Slingo says the forecast may have been pushed awry by a little-understood climate phenomenon, the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) - a pattern of thunderstorms that starts in the Indian Ocean. The Met Office calls it "one of the great unsolved challenges of tropical meteorology".
The irregular phenomenon is an envelope of thunderstorms starting in the Indian Ocean and moving into the Pacific. The MJO concentrates tropical rainfall within the envelope, with blue skies around it.
Nick Klingaman from Reading University says that, as it moves east, the MJO influences monsoon rainfall in Australia, India, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
These "bursts" and "breaks" in the monsoon cause floods and droughts that impact agriculture, river systems and infrastructure. The "long arm of the MJO" even extends into the middle latitudes.
"The thunderstorm activity generates waves in the atmosphere that move toward the poles," he told me. "The position of the MJO today has been shown to influence the position of the Pacific and Atlantic jet streams 10-15 days later."
He says the MJO can be an important predictor of the state of the North Atlantic Oscillation - which controls much of our weather in the UK - about 2-4 weeks in advance.
And that's how a thunderstorm off the coast of India might trigger a pattern of events which led to the weather switch last spring.
Some weather models can predict the MJO three weeks ahead, he said, but others struggle to predict it a week ahead.
Forecasts have greater skill when the MJO is already active. Reading University is working with the Met Office on improving MJO forecasting, he said.
A Met Office spokesman said: "The science of long-range forecasting is at the cutting edge of meteorology and the Met Office is leading the way in this research area. We are confident that long-range outlooks will improve progressively.
"Looking at the skill of these outlooks over many individual forecasts clearly shows that they provide useful advice to their specialist users more often than not."
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Like tiny, crawling compass needles, whole living cells and cell fragments orient and move in response to electric fields -- but in opposite directions, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found. Their results, published April 8 in the journal Current Biology, could ultimately lead to new ways to heal wounds and deliver stem cell therapies.
When cells crawl into wounded flesh to heal it, they follow an electric field. In healthy tissue there's a flux of charged particles between layers. Damage to tissue sets up a "short circuit," changing the flux direction and creating an electrical field that leads cells into the wound. But exactly how and why does this happen? That's unclear.
"We know that cells can respond to a weak electrical field, but we don't know how they sense it," said Min Zhao, professor of dermatology and ophthalmology and a researcher at UC Davis' stem cell center, the Institute for Regenerative Cures. "If we can understand the process better, we can make wound healing and tissue regeneration more effective."
The researchers worked with cells that form fish scales, called keratocytes. These fish cells are commonly used to study cell motion, and they also readily shed cell fragments, wrapped in a cell membrane but lacking a nucleus, major organelles, DNA or much else in the way of other structures.
In a surprise discovery, whole cells and cell fragments moved in opposite directions in the same electric field, said Alex Mogilner, professor of mathematics and of neurobiology, physiology and behavior at UC Davis and co-senior author of the paper.
It's the first time that such basic cell fragments have been shown to orient and move in an electric field, Mogilner said. That allowed the researchers to discover that the cells and cell fragments are oriented by a "tug of war" between two competing processes.
Think of a cell as a blob of fluid and protein gel wrapped in a membrane. Cells crawl along surfaces by sliding and ratcheting protein fibers inside the cell past each other, advancing the leading edge of the cell while withdrawing the trailing edge.
Assistant project scientist Yaohui Sun found that when whole cells were exposed to an electric field, actin protein fibers collected and grew on the side of the cell facing the negative electrode (cathode), while a mix of contracting actin and myosin fibers formed toward the positive electrode (anode). Both actin alone, and actin with myosin, can create motors that drive the cell forward.
The polarizing effect set up a tug-of-war between the two mechanisms. In whole cells, the actin mechanism won, and the cell crawled toward the cathode. But in cell fragments, the actin/myosin motor came out on top, got the rear of the cell oriented toward the cathode, and the cell fragment crawled in the opposite direction.
The results show that there are at least two distinct pathways through which cells respond to electric fields, Mogilner said. At least one of the pathways -- leading to organized actin/myosin fibers -- can work without a cell nucleus or any of the other organelles found in cells, beyond the cell membrane and proteins that make up the cytoskeleton.
Upstream of those two pathways is some kind of sensor that detects the electric field. In a separate paper to be published in the same journal issue, Mogilner and Stanford University researchers Greg Allen and Julie Theriot narrow down the possible mechanisms. The most likely explanation, they conclude, is that the electric field causes certain electrically charged proteins in the cell membrane to concentrate at the membrane edge, triggering a response.
The team also included Hao Do, Jing Gao and Ren Zhao, all at the Institute for Regenerative Cures and the UC Davis departments of Ophthalmology and Dermatology. Sun is co-advised by Mogilner and Zhao; Gao is now working at Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China, and Ren Zhao is at the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the National Science Foundation.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Yaohui Sun, Hao Do, Jing Gao, Ren Zhao, Min Zhao, Alex Mogilner. Keratocyte Fragments and Cells Utilize Competing Pathways to Move in Opposite Directions in an Electric Field. Current Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.026
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.
Penn researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip' Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.
The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.
Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.
Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.
Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.
"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation what kind of cells they will turn into."
The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.
The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.
When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.
However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.
"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."
To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.
In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.
"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."
The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.
"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."
As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate about a week after they were first encapsulated the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.
"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."
Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.
"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.
###
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Sudhir Khetan is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Union College.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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 show stem cell fate depends on 'grip' Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.
The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.
Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.
Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.
Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.
"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation what kind of cells they will turn into."
The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.
The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.
When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.
However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.
"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."
To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.
In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.
"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."
The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.
"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."
As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate about a week after they were first encapsulated the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.
"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."
Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.
"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.
###
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Sudhir Khetan is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Union College.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Google Play's book collection opened up in India and Mexico just a few weeks ago, and now Mountain View's movie hoard is available in both countries on the web and through the content's Android app. It's no coincidence that the video service has gone live this week either -- we reckon that Page and Co. would love to see folks pair their new Nexus 7 slates with their favorite flicks. To get your mitts on the application, hit the second source link below.
Update: In another addition for Indian users, Gmail is ready to support six Indic languages in featurephone browsers: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The menus offered to children by most U.S. restaurant chains have too many calories, too much salt or fat, and often not a hint of vegetables or fruit, according to a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The group, which has agitated for everything from healthier popcorn at the movies to calorie labeling in supermarkets, found that among almost 3,500 combinations surveyed, kids' meals failed to meet nutritional standards 97 percent of the time.
That was a marginal improvement over 2008 when such meals failed to meet standards 99 percent of the time.
Every children's meal offered at popular chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dairy Queen, Hardee's, McDonald's, Panda Express, Perkins Family Restaurants and Popeyes fell short of standards adopted by the center from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's nutritional recommendations.
The meals also fell short of standards set by the National Restaurant Association's Kids LiveWell Program, said the CSPI, which titled its study, "Kids' Meals: Obesity on the Menu."
"Most chains seem stuck in a time warp, serving up the same old meals based on chicken nuggets, burgers, macaroni and cheese, fries, and soda," said Margo Wootan, CSPI nutrition policy director. "It's like the restaurant industry didn't get the memo that there's a childhood obesity crisis."
Among the meals singled out was Applebees' grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread, fries and two percent chocolate milk, which has 1,210 calories, 62 grams of fat and 2,340 milligrams of sodium.
The combo meal had nearly three times as many calories as the CSPI's criteria for four- to- eight-year-olds suggest.
At Ruby Tuesday, the macaroni and cheese, white cheddar mashed potatoes and fruit punch combo has 870 calories, 46 grams of fat and 1700 milligrams of sodium, said Wootan.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that children eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of salt each day to avoid high blood pressure, which can lead to coronary disease, stroke and other ailments.
Being overweight as a child leaves a person vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes and a shortened life span. About one-third of American children are now considered overweight and 17 percent are considered obese, according to USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The CSPI cited Subway restaurants' Fresh Fit For Kids meal combinations as exceptions to the salty, fatty norm.
Subway serves apple slices with its kid-sized sub sandwiches and offers low-fat milk or bottled water instead of soda. All eight of its children's meals met CSPI's nutrition criteria.
A few other establishments have begun to offer side dishes beyond French fries. In fact, every child's meal at Longhorn Steakhouse now comes with fruit or a vegetable.
"More chains are adding fruit, like apple slices, to their menus, but practically every chain could be adding more vegetable and whole grain options," said Ameena Batada, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Wellness at the University of North Carolina Asheville.
Labeling can be a potent tool. The report cited two studies that indicated customers who are provided with calorie counts on the menu sometimes gravitate toward healthier choices.
To produce its study, the CSPI looked at 50 top U.S. chain restaurants, finding 34 of them had meals designed for children and were willing to provide nutritional data. It analyzed those meals and meal combinations.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Ros Krasny and Steve Orlofsky)
LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - The newly appointed emergency manager for the City of Detroit has an impressive resume, sweeping powers and at least a temporary reservoir of good will as he seeks a financial turnaround of Michigan's biggest and nearly bankrupt city.
But a powerful state legislative leader told Reuters that before any funds come from Lansing, bankruptcy lawyer Kevyn Orr is going to have to show progress with realistic financial estimates and measures to help the city's finances.
Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who selected the 54-year-old Democrat to serve as Detroit's manager, has spoken in general about the likelihood a turnaround plan will require new financial resources. But Snyder has carefully avoided making any specific pledges or proposals.
State House Speaker Jase Bolger, also a Republican, said he wants to see results before committing major new resources to Detroit. "We're not the slightest bit interested in providing more money for business as usual," he said.
Snyder and other Republican leaders in the state capital have spoken repeatedly about the need for Detroit to overhaul its financial practices. Orr has said he intends to seek improved city services such as street lighting, law enforcement and firefighting, but has not said whether the improvements will cost the city more money.
Orr's March 14 appointment was a watershed moment for Detroit, a city in a long economic decline. Once the fifth largest American city at 1.8 million people, it now ranks 18th with just over 700,000.
In addition to the population decline - the city's population stood at 713,777 after the 2010 census, a 100-year low - Detroit suffers from high unemployment, high crime rates, a flood of home foreclosures and a cut in state funding.
The state might provide one-time assistance to help Orr launch his reform efforts, Bolger said. Orr's appointment could provide an opening for the state to help him launch an effort to right-size city government and provide services, but additional support would depend on the scope of Orr's plans.
"Right now, the question is premature because we don't have a proposal," Bolger said.
The reluctance of state officials to step in with additional help comes after years of city over-spending. Detroit's accumulated annual operating deficits approach $1 billion, and its long term liabilities top $14 billion.
Although State of Michigan finances are on sounder footing today than they were five years ago, there are no obvious sources of state revenue to fill Detroit's needs.
Former State House Fiscal Agency Director Mitch Bean said this week that Michigan's financial condition remains tenuous, and a looming sequester of federal government funding adds to uncertainty about the state's fiscal outlook.
"It's very difficult for me to see (the governor and Legislature) coming up with a bunch of money," Bean said. "There's just not a lot of surplus money out there."
Detroit has found itself on the verge of losing special status that helps boost its revenues because of its population loss. An elevated income tax and a city utility tax both are contingent on the city maintaining its population above a threshold level. But the legislature was forced to reduce the minimum last year as the population dropped below the then-mandated threshold of 750,000 people. The new floor was set at 600,000.
The governor's office noted Detroit is already the recipient of multiple special state programs and tax provisions that generate an extra $164 million in revenues annually.
The state also is picking up the tab for a significant portion of the costs stemming from city turnaround efforts. The state is covering 50 percent of consulting contracts totaling nearly $5 million, and is covering all of Orr's $275,000 salary, Treasury Department spokesman Terry Stanton said.
Speaker Bolger said he sees reasons to be hopeful for progress, even if no significant state funding becomes available.
"I don't think there will be a direct (state) appropriation" to facilitate a Detroit turnaround, he said. "But if there's a partnership, that's good for everybody."
(Reporting by Dawson Bell; Editing by Greg McCune, David Greinsing and Leslie Gevirtz)
Author: RoseannaLeaton | Total views: 96 Comments: 0 Word Count: 627 Date:
?
Many amateur golfers will relate perhaps to playing a few shots more than their normal score when they go play a new course.? On the face of it, this is probably something that most golfers expect.? After all, you don't have the benefit of "local knowledge" and thus it can be easier to get caught out by visually confusing hole set ups or subtle greens.
?
?
It is easy to become more than a little complacent when solely playing one's own home course.? You get to know what club you use on this hole of that, you get to know the breaks in the greens and the prevailing wind direction.? In reality, you stop practicing the mental evaluation part of your pre-shot routine.? Hence you become a little rusty in this area.
?
?
It's good to go play other courses, and then you have to really become aware of the various things that we are tested with in golf.? Holes are set up in such a way as to draw the golfers eye in an inappropriate direction and create a state of visual confusion.? They are set up with hazards that test ones ability to ascertain the safest shot, the best route to the pin and also one?s nerves!?
?
?
A key part of golf is the ability to read a course, read a hole and read a green.? The actual performance of a golfers shot is in fact only a very small part of the overall game.? To only play ones home course means for many that they miss out on a lot of the fun and challenges that make up the game of golf.
?
?
Additionally, if you only play one course, or one type of course, there are probably many shots that you do not get an opportunity to practice.? You might find that you are only comfortable playing low running chips and that when faced with the necessity of a high lob style shot you find you just cannot see how to make it happen.? You might find that you can only play out of shallow bunkers and not deep ones.? You might find that you can only play slow greens but not fast ones.?
?
?
There are many variations of the instances that you might identify with here.? The long and short of it is that if you don't want to become a one course or one type of course player, then it is important to give yourself an opportunity to play all of those different shots.? It is also important to get practiced in reading and evaluating holes and shots.
?
?
It's like the difference between being able to source food and cook it as opposed to simply warming up a ready made meal in the microwave!?? A huge part of the game of golf is mental.? One of those mental aspects is what I am talking about here; the ability to think your best way around a course.
?
?
There are many other mental aspects to the same of golf.? Confidence and focus are hugely important and both of these rely upon a solid foundation of good thinking and the making of good shot choices.?
?
?
Roseanna Leaton, golf addict and specialist in golf hypnosis mp3s and author of the GolferWithin golf mind training system.
?
?
P.S.? Discover how to focus your golf mind and play winning golf through golf hypnosis.? Check out my website now.
?
Become a more focused golfer with mental golf training from http://www.GolferWithin.com. These golf mind mp3s will give you the winning edge that you are looking for.
Related to: golf hypnosis mp3 - golf hypnosis - golf mind training - golf mind - mental golf - Scoring well in golf
1: It's Golfing Galore in St. George, Utah
If you are an avid golfer, then you have probably heard of St. George, Utah. It's one of the premier places to play these days, or even retire in style.
2: How To Choose The Right Golf Tournament Format
There are many formats that have become popular for golf tournaments. In this article we go over the most popular formats.
3: Simple Steps To Hitting A Hybrid Golf Club
Now here's a golf tip that has been asked a lot on the golf message boards and golf blogs.How do you hit a hybrid golf club?The hybrid or utility golf club has been a big hit in the golf community for
4: Five Decisions To Make Before Opening A Driving Range
In opening any busines there are many things that you need to think through prior to opening your doors. Here are a few that you need to think about before you open a driving range.
5: How To Drive A Golf Ball Farther More Consistently
Learning how to hit the driver can be a significant challenge. Discover some useful golf driving tips to help you learn how to become a better golfer.
South Florida is to get its first gay retirement home, Secret Garden in Wilton Manors.
Tom Duffy, a retired catering business owner, has converted an assisted living facility into the Secret Garden ? the first of its kind in South Florida.
?I want it to be like a family, more like a commune, I guess,? said Mr?Duffy, 61, who lives on the property and has been interviewing prospective residents in the past two weeks.
The 4,000-square-foot Secret Garden will provide shared and private rooms, meals and transportation for shopping outings and doctor appointments. Mr?Duffy plans to have employ a full-time assistant, and other part-timers to do housekeeping, cook and plan activities.
Rents?will range from $2,500 to $3,500 (?2,300)?a month. Mr?Duffy says gay men would probably find traditional senior living ?too impersonal.? He said: ?I?m confident people will come here.?
Chris MacLellan, co-ordinator of senior services for SunServe, an LGBT social service agency in the area of Wilton Manors, said: ?Most of them don?t have family they can rely on, so they must turn to their friends and neighbors.?
?Tom is taking a risk. But I think once he gets some referrals, it will just start to roll.?
Demographers have predicted that there will be 3 million gay Americans older than age 65 by?2030.
Discuss this ?
Enjoyed this article?
Add Pink News to your Facebook news feed
Punxsutawney Phil's handler says he's to blame for the groundhog's botched forecast, saying, "I made the wrong call, I'm sorry for the mistake I made." WJAC's Rich Wisniewski reports.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
Punxsutawney Phil is innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt.
That is the legal opinion of an Ohio prosecutor who on Tuesday abandoned his plan to seek the death penalty against the furry forecaster for blowing it by calling for an early spring.
The prosecutor dropped his pursuit, which would have caused an international outcry but probably made at least one decent stew, after one of Phil?s handlers, a top-hatted groundhog enthusiast named Bill Deeley, took the fall.
Phil appeared Feb. 2 and was reported not to have seen his shadow, suggesting an early spring. What the critter actually meant when he appeared at Gobbler?s Knob, it seems, was six more weeks of winter.
Winter endured well beyond six weeks, as millions of frigid, snow-shoveling, cursing Americans can attest.
?All my fault,? said Deeley, who volunteered to a local television reporter over the weekend that he had not been drinking. ?Misinterpretation by me. I just read him wrong.?
The prosecutor, Michael T. Gmoser of Butler County, Ohio, told NBC News that it was time to exonerate the groundhog because the handler ?stepped up to the burrow and took responsibility.?
?I always appreciate the acceptance of responsibility in all the criminal cases we handle here,? he said from his office in the city of Hamilton, where it was snowing an hour earlier.
?We do a lot of serious work here,? he added, almost defensively. ?This has been a little lighthearted fun.?
Butler County Prosecutor's Office
Michael T. Gmoser, zealous prosecutor.
Gmoser said he had been persuaded by a sheaf of thorough legal arguments ? friend-of-the-groundhog briefs, if you will ? turned in by Elana Clavner?s fourth-grade class at Cleveland Community School.
One of them figures that what Phil really needed was a Hawaiian vacation. Another suggested bagels. Still another warned that Phil might bite the prosecutor.
?I mean you can?t cancel Groundhog Day,? one child wrote. ?How will you get a trained groundhog? Why would you press charges? It?s only one mistake.?
Another, applying rigorous logic, offered: ?Phil is an innocent little groundhog because on the other hand the groundhog can?t predict the weather. It can?t talk.?
The teacher told the prosecutor in a letter that the students would be happy to serve as attorneys for Phil, and that the letters used their creativity in ways she hadn?t seen all year.
Earlier:
Prosecutor sees Punxsutawney Phil pushing daisies for forecast fraud
Before today, using an iPhone on T-Mobile's network meant a compromise on speed: unlocked handsets would get service, but only on EDGE. Thanks to spectrum refarming efforts that started last fall, the operator has been able to suddenly "turn on" 4G (the HSPA+ kind) for that grey market segment. But with Apple now bringing the iPhone 5 officially to T-Mobile's newly launched LTE lineup, the UnCarrier's subscriber base no longer has to trade down.
Being the last of the major US carriers to be granted access to the Cupertino cult, T-Mobile trotted out the device with a decent amount of fanfare. Well, at least as much as can be mustered for a six month-old device. And, what can we say, an iPhone is an iPhone. Aesthetically, it's the same handset that's already available from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and a handful of regional carriers. That means a large swath of fortified glass on the front and a sheet of lovely metal on the rear. When it launches on April 12th with a $99 down payment, it'll be able to hop on T-Mobile's burgeoning LTE network on the AWS band. But, should that not be active in your hometown, it'll fallback to big-magenta's AWS-powered HSPA+ 42Mbps network.
T-Mobile iPhone 5 hands-on
The biggest change to the iPhone 5 for T-Mo is the addition of HD Voice capabilities. We were able to give the feature a quick try and the results were pretty clear and lacked the tinniness often associated with cellphone calls. That being said, in the noisy event hall it was a little tough to get a full taste of the experience and there was a slight echo on the receiving end. Of course, you'll need two devices with HD Voice to take advantage and that's still a pretty small selection of handsets on the market at the moment.
The iPhone did shine on T-Mobile's uncongested LTE network. We ran Speed Test on two separate devices and pulled down an average of about 20Mbps with peak speeds of 28Mbps. Upload speeds were a pretty consistent 8Mbps and ping times stayed under 40ms. By comparison, the Verizon version of the iPhone 5 we had on hand only pulled down about 4Mbps, upload speeds reached 3.5Mbps and ping times were consistently north of 60ms. Of course, T-Mobile can brag about all their unused bandwidth, but as more devices start hopping on its LTE highway, we'd expect to see some dip in throughput.
The speed advantages were really clear when attempting a FaceTime call. The Carly-endorsed model produced crisp and clear results when reaching out a rep stationed in Cupertino with only minimal artifacts or pixelization.
Otherwise, though, this is the same phone you've come to love (or, maybe hate). The screen is as beautiful as ever and the OS as quick as we've come to expect from a relatively unmolested iPhone. (Once you've spent a few months updating apps and loading up media though, all bets are off.) The only hint of branding besides Apple is the tiny T-Mobile in the top left-hand corner of the screen. And, honestly, we wouldn't have it any other way.
MEIKHTILA, Myanmar (AP) ? Sectarian clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar spread to at least two other towns in the country's heartland over the weekend, undermining government efforts to quash an eruption of violence that has killed dozens of people and displaced 10,000 more.
President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in the region on Friday and deployed army troops to the worst hit city, Meikhtila. But even as soldiers were able to impose order there after several days of anarchy that saw armed Buddhists torch the city's Muslim quarters, unrest was reported in two other towns to the south.
Late Sunday, state television said that mobs burned down a mosque and 50 homes on Saturday in Yamethin, about 64 kilometers (40 miles) from Meikhtila, and another mosque and several buildings were also set ablaze in Lewei, further south near the capital, Naypyitaw.
The government has put the total death toll at 32, and authorities say they have detained at least 35 people allegedly involved in arson and violence in the region.
The spread of violence is posing major challenged to stability as Thein Sein's administration, led by retired military officers, struggles to reform the Southeast Asian country after half a century of army rule officially ended two years ago.
Two similar episodes rocked western Rakhine state last year, pitting ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims who are widely denigrated as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and are denied passports as a result. The Muslim population of central Myanmar, by contrast, is mostly of Indian origin and does not face the same questions over nationality.
Analysts say the emergence of sectarian conflict here is a worrying development, one that indicates violent anti-Muslim sentiment has spread unabated into the country's heartland. Muslims make up about four percent of the predominantly Buddhist country's roughly 60 million people.
The bloodshed "shows that inter-communal tensions in Myanmar are not just limited to the Rakhine and Rohingya in northern Rakhine state," said Jim Della-Giacoma of the International Crisis Group. "Myanmar is a country with dozens of localized fault lines and grievances that were papered over during the authoritarian years that we are just beginning to see and understand. It is a paradox of transitions that greater freedom does allows these local conflicts to resurface."
"If a democratic state is the nation's goal, they need to find a place for all its people as equal citizens," Della-Giacoma said. "Given the country's history, it won't be easy."
On Sunday, Vijay Nambiar, the U.N. secretary-general's special adviser on Myanmar, toured Meikhtila and called on the government to punish those responsible.
He also visited some of the nearly 10,000 people driven from their homes in the unrest. Most of the displaced are minority Muslims, who appeared to have suffered the brunt of the violence as armed Buddhist mobs roamed city.
Nambiar said he was encouraged to learn that some individuals in both communities had bravely helped each other and that religious leaders were now advocating peace. He said the people he spoke to believe the violence "was the work of outsiders," but he gave no details.
"There is a certain degree of fear and anxiety among the people, but there is no hatred," Nambiar said after visiting both groups on Sunday and promising the United Nations would provide as much help as it can to get the city back on its feet. "They feel a sense of community and that it is a very good thing because they have worked together and lived together."
But he added: "It is important to catch the perpetrators. It is important that they be caught and punished."
In Meikthila, at least five mosques were set ablaze from Wednesday to Friday. The majority of homes and shops burned in the city also belonged to Muslims, and most of the displaced are Muslim. Dozens of corpses were piled in the streets, some of them charred beyond recognition.
During his trip, Nambiar visited some of the thousands of Muslim residents at a city stadium, where they have huddled since fleeing their homes. He later visited around 100 Buddhists at a local monastery who have also been displaced.
"The city is calm and some shops have reopened, but many still live in fear. Some still dare not return to their homes," said Win Htein, an opposition lawmaker from the city.
Myanma Ahlin, a state-run newspaper, carried a statement from Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Hindu leaders expressing sorrow for the loss of life and property and calling on Buddhist monks to help ease tensions.
"We would like to call upon the government to provide sufficient security and to protect the displaced people and to investigate and take legal measures as urgently as possible," the statement from the Interfaith Friendship Organization said.
Muslims, who make up about 30 percent of Meikhtila's 100,000 inhabitants, have stayed off the streets since their shops and homes were burned and Buddhist mobs armed with machetes and swords began roaming the city.
Little appeared to be left of some palm tree-lined neighborhoods, where the legs of victims could be seen poking out from smoldering masses of twisted debris and ash. Broken glass, charred cars and motorcycles and overturned tables littered roads beside rows of burned-out homes and shops, evidence of the widespread chaos that swept the town.
Chaos began Wednesday after an argument broke out between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers. Once news spread that a Muslim man had killed a Buddhist monk, Buddhist mobs rampaged through a Muslim neighborhood and the situation quickly spiraled out of control.
Residents and activists said the police did little to stop the rioters or reacted too slowly, allowing the violence to escalate.
Occasional isolated violence involving Myanmar's majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities has occurred for decades, even under the authoritarian military governments that ruled the country from 1962 to 2011.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Vernon Wells might become the latest addition to the New York Yankees' injury-depleted lineup.
As the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-6 in 10 innings Sunday behind a pair of two-run homers by Kevin Youkilis, New York was negotiating with the Los Angeles Angels to acquire the outfielder.
A person familiar with the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks were ongoing, said the sides had not yet agreed to the money that would be included in a trade. Wells is owed $42 million over the next two seasons.
"Veteran leadership, a good guy," Youkilis said. "He's got power. Plays the outfield real well. I've always respected Vernon as a player. It would be great."
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman declined comment. Before the game, Cashman said captain Derek Jeter was likely to join Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson on the disabled list at the start of the season.
The Angels are set in the outfield with Josh Hamilton, Mike Trout and Peter Bourjos, and have designated hitter Mark Trumbo available as a backup. Wells would have to waive a no-trade provision to go to New York.
The 34-year-old Wells would take over in left field while Granderson is recovering from a broken right forearm and join an outfield that includes center fielder Brett Gardner and right fielder Ichiro Suzuki. Wells is owed $21 million in each of the next two seasons as part of the $126 million, seven-year contract he agreed to with Toronto in December 2006. Los Angeles would have to agree to pay most of the remaining money.
Wells hit .230 with 11 homers and 29 RBIs last year and has just 36 homers and 95 RBIs in two seasons with the Angels. He is batting .361 in spring training this year with four homers and 11 RBIs in 36 at-bats.
"We haven't seem him a lot the last two year just because he was hurt some," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We don't see the Los Angeles Angels as much. I know when he was in our division, he was a very good player."
Jeter, recovering from surgery to repair the left ankle he broke last October during the AL championship series, probably will miss opening day for the first time since 2001 and only the second time since he became New York's shortstop in 1996. If he goes on the DL, he could be activated as soon as April 6.
Rodriguez isn't expected back until after the All-Star break following left hip surgery on Jan. 16. Teixeira hasn't ruled out missing the first two months of the season because of a partially torn tendon sheath in his right wrist, while Granderson is expected to be out until the first week of May.
The 38-year-old Jeter, who has repeatedly vowed to be ready for opening day, played in his first big league spring training game on March 9 as a designated hitter. He returned to shortstop four days later, then played consecutive games on March 15 and 16 before inflammation kept him out of the lineup.
He received an anti-inflammatory injection Wednesday and had four at-bats as a DH Saturday in a minor league exhibition game.
"I know Derek extremely well, and I can read his face," Cashman said. "And his face today tells me that the reality of his circumstances is starting to sink in, and the disabled list might be necessary. I told him what I think, and he didn't fight me on it. That's reality."
Eduardo Nunez, known for his bat more than his glove, would fill in at shortstop for the 13-time All-Star.
Jeter is 3 for 11 with a double in five spring training games. New York could put him on the DL backdated to Friday, meaning he could be activated on April 6, when the Yankees are at Detroit.
"It's a goal, it doesn't mean an absolute," Cashman said. "We'll respond to how he's feeling. That's all we can do. At some point this will be behind him."
As for Sunday's game, closer Mariano Rivera struck out one,and allowed a broken-bat infield single and bloop single during a scoreless sixth. The right-hander has experienced migraine headaches and underwent tests, which included an MRI. Cashman said the test results were good.
"Everything is fine," Rivera said. "I don't like to feel headaches, I don't like to feel that stuff. I wanted to know what was going on."
Tampa Bay's Jeremy Hellickson gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings.
Suzuki singed in the fifth, but went too far past the base and was thrown out at first by right fielder Matt Joyce. Suzuki was called out after trying to jump over Hellickson's tag.
"Kind of an interesting play," Joyce said. "I didn't know if he was going to try to go to second. Once I saw how far he was, I threw behind him and I knew I had a chance to get him out."
Travis Hafner had a sixth-inning solo homer, and Ronnier Mustelier won it in the 10th with a leadoff homer.
Youkilis hit two-run drives in the first and eighth.
NOTES: Joyce played after turning his right ankle in the outfield before the game. He had an RBI single in the first. ... New York RHP Adam Warren gave up five runs ? one earned ? and six hits over 3 2-3 innings. ... Yankees LHP Cesar Cabral (left elbow fracture) says he will throw batting practice Tuesday for the first time since getting hurt. ... CC Sabathia is scheduled to make his final spring training start Tuesday night against Houston. ... The Yankees reassigned INFs Walter Ibarra, Addison Maruszak and Jose Pirela to their minor league camp.
___
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
Share ] 
