Banks, business partners cut Trump Org ties after Capitol attacks
President Donald Trump (Getty)President Donald Trump’s family business is facing mounting challenges after last week’s violent attack in Washington, D.C., as banks, business partners and political allies seek to distance themselves from the president.New York City said it is “reviewing whether legal grounds exist” to exit its business deals with the Trump Organization, the Washington Post reported. The Trump name is on the carousel and two ice-skating rinks in Central Park, as well as the Ferry Point golf course in the Bronx.A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is reviewing its business relationships after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.The Trump Organization removed the president’s name from the two ice-skating rinks in 2019, though it did not provide an explanation for the change.The fallout from Wednesday’s mob attack is also affecting Trump personally: Signature Bank said on Monday that it would close Trump’s personal bank accounts, which held about $5.3 million, the New York Times reported. In a statement, the bank also called for Trump’s resignation.Trump Organization also faces pressure from its longtime lender Deutsche Bank, which has said it will not do business with the president in the future. The lender holds about $340 million of the firm’s debt.In the wake of last week’s attack, the e-commerce company Shopify shut down online stores tied to the president. On Sunday, PGA of America said it would not allow the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to host the 2022 PGA Championship.The commercial brokerage JLL also dropped its involvement to sell Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel, although it was not clear if that was connected to the events in D.C.Day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization were handed over to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric in 2016, after Donald Trump was ushered into the Oval Office. Since then, the company has mostly been focused on selling its assets.In addition to the financial fallout, the company also faces an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who is probing Trump and his company for potential crimes. New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a civil investigation into Trump’s business, exploring whether it overvalued its assets to secure financing and tax breaks.[Washington Post, NYT] — Keith Larsen Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare via Email Share via Shortlink TagsDonald TrumpManhattantrump organization
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Job Qualifications:Education: MDBaylor College of Medicine is an Equal Opportunity/AffirmativeAction/Equal Access Employer.946CA; CH Baylor College of Medicine and Department Summary:Baylor ( www.bcm.edu ) isrecognized as one of the nation’s premier academic health sciencecenters and is known for excellence in education, research, andhealthcare and community service. Located in the heart of theworld’s largest medical center ( Texas MedicalCenter ), Baylor is affiliated with multiple educational,healthcare and research affiliates ( Baylor Affiliates).SummaryRecruiting a Chief candidate for the Section of Endocrinology inthe Department of MedicineJob Responsibilities:Provide oversight of the clinical operations of the Section,including the Faculty Group Practice, the Michael E. DeBakey VAMedical Center (MEDVAMC), the Harris Health Ben Taub GeneralHospital (BTGH) and the Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center (BSLMC).To assist you in this oversight role, you will delegate appropriateauthority to the service chiefs/clinical directors at the MEDVAMC,BTGH, and the BSLMC who will report to you.With the assistance of the Section Administrator, SectionAdministrative Assistant, clinical directors and with the supportof the Department of Medicine’s administrative staff includingclinical, financial and research administrators, you will provideoversight of the business and financial operations of the Section.This includes: refinement and implementation of the Section’sstrategic plans, and ensuring that the timelines for the definedaction steps and achievement of associated measures are being met;developing and meeting the Section’s annual budget; regular reviewsof sources of revenues and expenses; ensuring that direct costspend rate for grants (80% per grant year standard); monitoring ofexternal grant funding per square foot for assigned lab space; andtracking extramural grant funding.Managing the Faculty Group Practice toward successfulperformance and measures of clinical productivity determined by DOMFaculty Group Practice (currently at least the 65th percentile ofthe UHC benchmarks for wRVUs), as well as relevant MGMA benchmarksfor AMS providers; lead improvement initiatives to assureexcellence in patient experience, as measured by Press Ganey; andwork with college leadership to explore additional opportunitiesfor beneficial joint ventures, as well as collaborate with theOffice of Development to raise funds to support Section strategicinitiatives.Education. Provide oversight of the educational programs of thesection, which will include: educational initiatives targeted tomedical students, medical residents, subspecialty fellowshiptrainees, post- doctoral research fellows, and faculty; delegationof appropriate leadership authority to the designated programdirectors, associate director and coordinator while playing anactive teaching and mentorship role in the areas of your expertise;and ensuring that trainees in the Section participate in a formalresearch training post-doctoral fellowship program (e.g., T32funded program)Faculty Development and Assessment: With the assistance of therelevant affiliate service chiefs, you will conduct an annualreview of the academic progress of each faculty member (includingservice to the research, teaching, clinical and administrativemissions), providing written documentation of the review. You willactively promote the academic careers of your faculty includingnominations of qualified individuals for relevant awards, honors,and scholarly opportunities; you will develop in collaboration withVice Chair of Faculty Staff and Development a mentoring plan forfaculty and trainees.
I wanna be like Osama/ I wanna bomb a path to fame across the earth!” Not a quote from Al-Qaida’s latest video release, but a song featured in Jihad! The Musical, one of the many shows at this year’s Edinburgh Festival that sought to shock. And one of many which had, on the whole, failed to raise even a gasp by the time the curtain went down. ‘Stirring things up’ has long been one of theatre’s self-appointed roles but when the show’s title appears to have been dreamt up before its plot, the action itself is likely to be about as controversial as an episode of Richard and Judy. Sex, Politics and Religion were the hot buttons of choice for companies on the ragged edge of this year’s Fringe, issues guaranteed to generate exposure in the mainstream press. The Tony Blair Musical, Tony! The Blair Musical, Songs About Vaginas and a show apparently exposing the truth about Scientology all vied to court controversy. But for audiences inured to cheap shots at George W Bush and evangelical Christianity there seemed to be little, even on the Fringe, which could raise an eyebrow. As it happens the most offensive thing I saw this year was a swing version of Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’ but the only controversy there, sadly, was in whether or not the offense was intended.Jihad! was the kind of Edinburgh show that announces itself in a blaze of un-PC glory, and promptly garners broadsheet comment. But this doesn’t detract from the fact that as a piece of theatre it was woefully defunct. As a musical parody, it ticked certain boxes, ‘The Jihad Jive’ being a musical highlight. But as a commentary on the modern world it was a non-starter, with politics so basic and unoriginal it hurt. (It’s overriding lesson: “The Americans can be corrupt too!”). Indeed, its most offensive element was that its white American writer, who looked – and sang – like a refugee from the cast of Fame, played the central young Afghan character, and seemed capable of far less expression than the play’s seductive, burqa-wearing femme fatale.Attempt 3.4, a show devised in part by an Oxford graduate, at least had some structure, and a real tension – none of the actors knew what was going to happen each night, though full-frontal male nudity does seem to have cropped up rather a lot. Because of the contained nature of the action, set in a post-apocalyptic city, despite its spontaneity the show had a natural growth. Meanwhile, in Raz-Mataz, the Ruskin School-supported performance piece, the audience could sit secure in the knowledge that truly spontaneous madness was unlikely to erupt, if only because Health and Safety would have had a fit and fake-blood-spattered audiences would likely sue.The main problem that beset so many Edinburgh shows that aimed at the radical market this year was that image was conceived before substance. Raz-Mataz was at times fascinating to watch, but a lack of any true passion or direction meant that its interminable shouting, counting, drumming, gallons of fake blood and use of a pantomime horse were generally greeted with mixed amusement and bewilderment from its supposedly-participatory audience. As another Cherwell critic put it, “I’d hate to deny the Raz gang the primal joy they’re obviously having. The show is, admittedly, fun to watch, much like watching a gang of nihilistic three-year-olds wreaking havoc in kindergarten art class. But it’s missing the charming innocence which makes playground anarchy redeemable. Instead the mood prevailing is that the Razzers think the “show” is in anyway shocking, controversial or original, while in reality their performance was an affront to the words ‘provocative”, ‘controversial’, ‘experimental’, and ‘theatre’.” At least the show could never be accused of eliciting a complacent reaction.Xenu is Loose!… The Musical was another Oxford production whose concept and posters were at least as much fun as the show- not least because it’s title was almost as long as the first act. Watching it one couldn’t help but feel -however charitably- that the production must have been cramped by the threat of the legal might of the Church of Scientology which it supposedly lambasted. The play’s only coherent comment upon the scriptural science-fiction lunacy it portrayed was to set it alongside an equally mawkish and ridiculous high school love story.Offensive material on the Fringe comedy circuit abounded as usual, but offense in the guise of comedy seems to have gone mainstream and is worth big money. Why else would Jimmy Carr be so ubiquitous on Channel 4? No theatre show could gain the celebrated notoriety of comics like Stephen Amos or the I.F. Award-Winner Brendon Burns. What seemed to be lacking among this year’s theatre offerings was a true passion for controversy that meant anything. Laughter can be a powerful enough weapon at the best of times, but not when the targets being satirised are patently absurd on their own. There was little that seemed likely to affect the audience’s perceptions once they’d walked out the door and into a flurry of ads for the hundreds of other Festival shows. Certainly few of the shows that attracted big audiences and the attentions of the press on the pretence of sheer daring could be said to fulfill the promise of a snappy or downright bizzarre title.
Professor Laurie Riccadonna ×Professor Laurie Riccadonna Hudson County Community College (HCCC) Program Coordinator and Professor of Fine Arts, Laurie Riccadonna, has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) Northeast Regional Faculty Member Award.The award, which will be presented virtually on October 7, recognizes those faculty who demonstrate excellence in teaching, and outstanding contributions to one’s community. Regional-level awardees are the sole contenders for the ACCT 2020 national-level William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award that will be presented virtually during the ACCT Leadership Conference on October 8, 2020.
“Professor Riccadonna developed the HCCC Associate in Fine Arts program and helped lead the program to achieve national distinction,” said HCCC President Dr. Chris Reber. “In promoting HCCC arts programs, Professor Riccadonna has championed the College and enriched the community’s cultural life. She is an inspiration to our students, and all of our colleagues and students join me in congratulating Laurie for this national recognition of her teaching and scholarly excellence.”A respected and beloved member of the New Jersey/New York arts community, Laurie Riccadonna is an internationally recognized artist/curator, and a dedicated educator. She began her teaching career at HCCC in 2003, initiating the College’s first two art courses, and has been instrumental in expanding the College’s Associate in Fine Arts degree program to include options in Studio Arts and Computer Arts.Professor Riccadonna holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Art, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from Pennsylvania State University.Her works have been exhibited in Spring Break Art Fair, (NY, NY); Techningmuseet, The Museum of Drawing (Laholm, Sweden); Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Brooklyn, NY); Space B Gallery (NY,NY); Van Vleck House and Gardens (Montclair, NJ); Hamilton Square (Jersey City, NJ); Village West Gallery (Jersey City, NJ); Center for the Arts at Casa Colombo (Jersey City, NJ); Amelie A. Wallace Gallery (Old Westbury, NY); Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences Institute for Research on Women, (New Brunswick, NJ); Art Fair 14C (Jersey City, NJ); and Sensaspace Gallery (NY, NY).In addition, her work is included in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth Collection (Middleton and Montvale, NJ); Hudson County Community College Foundation Permanent Art Collection (NJ); and those of several private collections in the United States.Professor Riccadonna has been involved with many arts organizations, including New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs, Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences Institute for Research on Women, Art Fair 14C, and Casa Colombo. She continually utilizes her significant connections in the arts community to provide students with opportunities and experiences that increase their knowledge and skills, and help cultivate their careers.
The icing on a cake can fulfil a number of requirements. It can be used to make a cake more aesthetically pleasing and can pull together the theme of an occasion. It can be used to keep a cake fresh and help products stand out from their competitors. But icing a cake is not always a sweet success.Common icing problems encountered by cake decorators include dryness, cracking, icing which is too soft and too sticky, as well as difficulty in achieving specific colours. Another problem is that over time white icing can lose its snowy appearance.”Occasionally we have problems with the product being too dry, difficult to roll or it cracks,” says John Slattery of Slattery Patisserie, who explains that European regulations can also be an issue. “One problem we have to overcome is the restriction in the colours we can use, as we’re not allowed to use certain ones anymore,” says Slattery. For example, he says colours such as a bright Barbie pink colour are very difficult to match. “Sometimes we need to make changes to the product for more delicate decorations or if the icing needs to dry faster or harder than it would normally,” he adds.Iced Innovations’ cake decorator Erica Galvin knows one of the biggest problems a cake decorator can face is cracking. “Occasionally the corners of the icing might dry out a bit, but you can cut them off,” she says, “but cracking can be a big problem.” She also explains that some icings that have been pre-coloured can create dryness. For example “red is always fine,” she says, but “it tends to be the blues and greens,” that cause the most dryness. Black can also cause problems as a lot of colouring is needed to get a deep rich colour.Working with a larger cake means you are working with the icing for a lot longer, explains Galvin. This means the icing tends to be exposed to the air for longer and is more likely to dry out and crack. “Try to minimise the time you spend working with the icing,” says Galvin. “You need to kneed long enough to make it pliable but no more. Don’t fiddle with the icing. Handle it as much as you need to and then leave it. If it’s a bit dry you can also add a bit of water with your fingers, but make sure you don’t use too much.”Icing solutionsFlemings produce a wide range of fondant icings, roll out icings, speciality quick-dry icing and high-gloss icings, which contain no hydrogenated fat. “Bakers can take a block of fondant and turn it into three, four or even five different lines, whether it’s butter cream or to be used as an enrobing icing,” says Flemings’ sales and marketing manager Douglas McCabe.Flemings also offer bespoke solutions. “We talk through the customer’s requirements, for example, if they need six months’ shelf-life on the product, or a glossy or dull finish. We then take that criteria and manufacture against it,” says McCabe.We are in an age where consumers are more conscious about
Dave SimmonsBells of LazonbyDave Simmons has been appointed to the board of family-owned craft bakery Bells of Lazonby as director with responsibilities for finance and business systems.Simmons joined the business in April 2007 and has played a key role in integrating the company’s computer systems and providing better access to the financial and management information needed to run the business successfully. Much more real time data is now available and production operations and planning will be linked directly into the new system in the New Year.Stuart WilsonPremier FoodsFood manufacturer Premier Foods has appointed Stuart Wilson as director of ambient – sweet, with responsibility for developing and driving profitable growth in categories including cakes, desserts, home baking, spreads and beverages. He will report to Will Carter, managing director – ambient.Wilson spent the last 14 years at Kraft Foods in various commercial and strategy roles and previously worked for Cadbury in the UK. In his new role he will manage a portfolio of brands, including Mr Kipling and Cadbury cakes, and Hartley’s, Robertson’s and Frank Cooper’s spreads and preserves.Gillian WattDouble D Food EngineeringGillian Watt has been appointed customer service administrator with Double D Food Engineering, as the company aims to enable quicker and more efficient processing of routine requests, allowing the service department to concentrate on more technical issues.Watt is responsible for managing and scheduling service enquiries by pinpointing the position and availability of the nearest service engineer, using a Global Positioning System. She will also route spare parts enquiries through an Enterprise Resource Planning system to ensure same-day dispatch.
Gordon PolsonDirector, Federation of BakersAugust is usually known as the silly season in the media with little genuine news. But this summer, the newspaper columns were filled with more sobering stories about wheat prices and food costs and it’s a topic that has been hitting the headlines constantly ever since. The extreme weather conditions in Russia, the world’s third-largest wheat exporter, led to an export ban by mid-August and to wheat prices rising at their fastest rate since 1973.Predictions on the impact on the price of a loaf have varied wildly since then, from journalists suggesting possible similarities to the 87% price hikes between 1973-1974 to bakery industry experts’ more conservative estimates of around 5p-15p being added to the price of a loaf. A survey conducted by mysupermarket.co.uk in mid-August claimed bread prices had already risen by 18% since 2007. However, on the flip side, the end of August saw a bread price war in supermarkets, which reduced the cost of a basic sliced white loaf.British millers have already warned that a poor UK wheat harvest, due to high rainfall, means the yield is expected to be smaller and of poorer quality than usual. And in early September, the British Retail Consortium announced that the global spike in food prices was already feeding through to the shops.Yet it is not just cost that must be considered, but value. Bread contributes significantly to the nutrient intake of the British population, providing 20% of UK adult total dietary fibre intake, for example. It is our job to ensure that consumers still realise that, despite price rises, bread still represents great value for money and is low in cost. We must encourage them to look beyond the headlines and choose bread as a healthy cost-effective staple food.
Annotated work contains notes made by wife of judge who oversaw famous 1960 obscenity trial
. Temporary export bar has been issued to try to keep the copy in the country. The Arts Council champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. It supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. www.artscouncil.org.uk. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) made its recommendation on the grounds that the departure of the book from the UK would be a misfortune because of its close connection to our history and national life.The decision on the export licence application for the book will be deferred until 12 August 2019. This may be extended until 12 October 2019 if a serious intention to raise funds to purchase the item is made at the recommended price of £56,250.ENDSNotes to editors The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by The Arts Council, which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.
Picture the scene: the High Court Judge presiding in his red robes, his wife beside him on the Bench (as was allowed in those days) as a succession of singular and distinguished witnesses for the Defence were cross examined day by day. I was 17 at the time and studying a DH Lawrence as a set text for A Levels – it was not Lady Chatterley’s Lover, but at least I could follow the riveting course of the trial in the daily papers. It would be more than sad, it would be a misfortune, if this last surviving ‘witness’ left our shores. Provenance: It belonged to the family of the judge who originally owned the book until sold at Sotheby’s, London, 13 December 1993, lot 137 where bought by Christopher Cone & Stanley J Seeger until sold at Sotheby’s, London, 30 October 2018, lot 159 The annotated copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by the judge who presided over the 1960 obscenity trial is at risk of leaving the UK unless a buyer can be found to match the £56,250 asking price.Lady Chatterley’s Lover was D. H. Lawrence’s final novel before his death in 1930. While it was published privately in Florence in 1928 and in France the following year, the book was not published in full in Britain until 1960 due to fear of prosecution. Its eventual publication led to the trial in which this particular copy played a significant role.The book was owned by Sir Laurence Byrne, the judge who presided over the now famous obscenity trial. It contains annotations and two pages of notes with a list of page numbers with short content summaries. The principal hand is that of Byrne’s wife Dorothy, who had studied the book and prepared a list of the pages she had annotated. Later notes have been made by the judge himself during the trial. Dorothy also sewed a blue-grey fabric bag for her husband to carry the book to and from court.In 1960, Penguin Books decided to publish the uncensored work to test the 1959 Obscene Publications Act, which was designed to protect works of literature while strengthening laws against pornography. Potentially obscene works could now be published if they were of literary merit or contributed to the public good.The trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was a sensation with the acquittal of Penguin viewed as a landmark moment in cultural history. The trial’s drama, its class tensions and its explicit references to sex captured the public’s attention. After the trial, Penguin quickly sold 3 million copies.Arts Minister Michael Ellis said:
The trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover captured the public attention in 1960. It was a watershed moment in cultural history, when Victorian ideals were overtaken by a more modern attitude. I hope that a buyer can be found to keep this important part of our nation’s history in the UK. The prosecution of Penguin Books for publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover was one of the most important criminal trials of the 20th century. Judge Byrne’s copy of the novel, annotated by him and his wife, may be the last surviving contemporary ‘witness’ who took part in the proceedings. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the items should contact the RCEWA on 0845 300 6200.
Chairman of the RCEWA, Sir Hayden Phillips, said: Details of the book are as follows:
DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE, 1885-1930 LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER HARMONDSWORTH: PENGUIN, 1960, first impression 8vo, original decorated paper wrappers,THE JUDGE’S COPY FROM THE 1960 OBSCENITY TRIAL, ANNOTATED FOR HIM BY HIS WIFE, c.118 pages containing pencil markings, underlining, and occasional marginal notes (names of characters etc.), also with a list of significant passages (“love making”, “coarse”, etc.) with page numbers loosely inserted (four pages, 8vo, on headed stationery of the Central Criminal Court), housed in a blue-grey damask bag with blue ribbon tie, spine chipped at foot, text block partially detached from spine, paper clip with rust mark on lower wrapper
Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. A study of the genomes from 38 cancer samples has yielded new and unexpected insights into the events that lead to this form of cancer and could influence the direction of multiple myeloma research. This work, led by Harvard-affiliated scientists at the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, appears in the March 24 issue of Nature.Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the United States, and about 20,000 new cases are diagnosed in this country every year. The disease’s five-year survival rate is less than 40 percent, which is low compared with other forms of cancer. Multiple myeloma begins in the bone marrow, where plasma cells (a type of white blood cell) become malignant, crowding out normal cells and attacking solid bone. No one knows the cause of the disease — it can develop in people with no known risk factors and, in many cases, no family history of multiple myeloma.The emerging genomewide picture of multiple myeloma reveals genes never before associated with cancer as well as multiple genetic mutations that disrupt just a handful of common pathways, or chains of chemical reactions that trigger a change in a cell. Individually, each of these mutations is fairly uncommon and might have remained undiscovered had the researchers not looked at such a large collection of samples.“Already, we can see that mutations are funneling into a limited number of pathways,” said co-senior author Todd Golub, director of the Broad’s Cancer Program and Charles A. Dana Investigator in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “This is a demonstration of the value of looking at more than just a single tumor in great depth.”Never before have scientists taken an in-depth look at so many multiple myeloma samples. Over the past six years, next-generation sequencing technologies — machines that can sequence DNA at a rapid pace and deliver massive amounts of data in a short period of time — have surged. Sequencing the full genome of a tumor is still a feat of technical and analytical prowess and only a few studies to date have looked across more than one. The team of researchers studied 38 multiple myeloma patients, comparing the patients’ normal genomes to the genomes from their malignant cells.With the whole cancer genome in view, one of the most challenging aspects of multiple myeloma research now is separating so-called driving events — the important mistakes that drive cells toward becoming cancerous — from passenger mutations, genetic alterations that are merely along for the ride. A team of researchers led by co-senior author Gad Getz, director of Cancer Genome Analysis at the Broad Institute, has developed computational tools to address this.“Next-generation sequencing has the great potential and promise to allow us to comprehensively analyze the cancer genome at extremely high resolution and see all of the events that happen in cancer,” said Getz. “These tools that we’ve developed are state of the art — we’ve been able to dramatically decrease the error rate for detecting all types of mutations. Now, we can find those genes whose mutations occur more than expected by chance.”The researchers found sets of mutations affecting many genes in the same pathways, including the NF-kB pathway. If this pathway is turned on at the wrong time, it can activate genes that allow a cancer cell to grow and divide unchecked. Previously, multiple myeloma researchers had suspected that this pathway was involved in the cancer’s development, but it was unclear exactly what events were turning this pathway on. In this latest study, the researchers discovered 11 different genes involved in this pathway that were altered in at least one multiple myeloma sample.Additionally, the study has brought to light new mutations affecting genes that had never previously been tied to cancer. “These genes, which are frequently mutated, were not on anyone’s radar before when thinking about multiple myeloma specifically or cancer in general,” said Golub, who is also an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “This shows that there are entirely new cancer-causing genes that are going to be discovered through these sequencing efforts.”In half of the study’s patients, the researchers found mutations in genes that control two fundamental cellular processes: how RNA is processed and how proteins are folded. Two of these genes, DIS3 and FAM46C, appear to play important roles in the stability of RNA and hence its translation into protein. Researchers also found genes involved in blood clotting mutated in multiple myeloma patients, a new and surprising discovery. Follow-up studies will be needed to understand what role these defective genes play in cancer and how they can inform treatment.“It’s going to take a lot of biological research to sort out whether these will make good drug targets,” said Golub, “but this is an example of how genetic analysis can help point the field in the right direction very dramatically.”One finding with more immediate clinical importance is the discovery of BRAF mutations in a small number of multiple myeloma patients. BRAF mutations have “never been a part of the multiple myeloma lexicon before,” according to Golub, but have been previously seen in other forms of cancer, including melanoma and colon cancer. Drugs are now in clinical development to target this particular gene and have shown promising early results in patients with melanoma.When the scientists looked at samples from more than 150 patients with multiple myeloma, they found BRAF mutations in about 4 percent of cases. Further studies will be needed to see if drugs that inhibit BRAF are as effective in patients with multiple myeloma as they have been in patients with melanoma.Golub pointed out that with more samples and the analytical tools to look genomewide, a new picture of the multiple myeloma genome is beginning to develop, and with it, new genetic insights. “This study shows that there really are entirely new cancer-causing genes that are going to be discovered through these efforts,” he said.All of the data generated through this project have been made publicly available to cancer researchers worldwide. Funding for this project was provided by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and tissue samples were provided by the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium tissue bank.
Several St. Mary’s and Notre Dame students volunteered their time Saturday during Mahoney Family Dentistry’s second annual “Dentistry from the Heart” event, providing 297 people in the South Bend community with free dental care. Close to 200 people camped out the night before to ensure a spot for the 6 a.m. registration. A total of five local dentists and 75 volunteers, under the leadership of Dr. Terrance Mahoney, provided exams, cleanings and fillings for underprivileged citizens 18 years old and older, Dr. Mahoney said. “You get back more than you are giving and to know you can make a difference in someone’s life is so rewarding,” Dr. Mahoney said. “Access to care is the major problem in dental health care right now because many people don’t have insurance.” Dr. Mahoney said this year’s “Dentistry from the Heart” event provided close to $125,000 in dental work. The money came from both Mahoney Family Dentistry and generous donations from sponsors such as Heraeus Dental Supplies, he said. Volunteers ranged from Notre Dame seniors planning to attend dental school to parishioners of local churches, he said. Dental students from the community also gathered to provide education and advice on oral health to those waiting outside. St. Mary’s junior Kathryn Mahoney and daughter of Dr. Mahoney said she felt honored to be able to give back. “It was a great opportunity to serve the community,” Kathryn Mahoney said. “It was truly an amazing experience to see so many different people come together and help provide such an expensive necessity for absolutely free.” St. Mary’s junior and volunteer Brookelin Propestsaid it was a day well spent. “Dr. Mahoney and his office touched the lives of both the people who received the free dental care and the volunteers who witnessed it,” Propes said. “Everyone involved made a huge impact in the lives of the community.” Local businesses Einstein Bagels, Martin’s Supermarket and Papa Vino’s provided breakfast and lunch throughout the day, and Kevin’s Guitar Studio students played live entertainment throughout the afternoon. From registration at 6 a.m. to the final person served at 8 p.m., Dr. Mahoney said the day was a successful one for the community. “The people were extremely thankful and many of them shed tears of gratitude,” Dr. Mahoney said. Mahoney Family Dentistry will also be holding a free day of dental care just for children in February. Dr. Mahoney said he and his associates hope to see even more students from the Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame communities for another day of giving back.