How mice teach us about disease

Public release date: 18-Jul-2013
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Contact: Aileen Sheehy
press.office@sanger.ac.uk
44-012-234-96928
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Open access resource reveals new genes and pathways linked to human disease

Researchers have created a large new resource of more than 900 genes switched off one-at-a-time in mice to discover which genes are important for a wide range of biological functions such as fertility or hearing.

This resource, known as the Mouse Genetics Project, screens for characteristics and early signs of disease, revealing many new functions for well-known genes, as well as for genes with no previously-known role in disease. Many of these variations in body function are likely to underlie human diseases.

The human genome has more than 20,000 identified genes, but our understanding of what they do and how disease results from their malfunction is quite limited. Studies using mice are central to understanding how genes function and how variation to genes causes disease. Mice share the vast majority of their genes with humans and researchers can use mice that have a specific gene switched off to start to unravel human disease.

The Mouse Genetics Project provides researchers and clinicians with a wealth of freely available clinical and biological information that will help find new treatment strategies and options for a wide range of diseases. Furthermore, research groups worldwide can use these new mouse lines to continue the work of investigating the fundamental mechanisms of disease, as the mouse lines are openly available to researchers.

"Our project has revealed many completely unexpected associations between genes and traits like body weight, emphasising how difficult it is to predict the importance of a gene in disease until there is a model like the mouse to give us clues," says Professor Karen Steel, lead author from King's College London and Honorary Faculty at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "There are many paths to developing a disease that aren't immediately obvious. This resource provides an efficient way to uncover these paths.

"This resource is the largest collection of mouse lines available to researchers where all other genes are virtually identical except the gene switched off. Together with the careful optimisation of their environment and the systematic analysis of a wide range of characteristics in each line, we are able to detect features that otherwise would be missed."

So far the team have individually switched off more than 900 genes in mice to understand how they function and how they relate to disease. Rather than tunnelling in on one or two potential effects, the team are systematically studying a large number of potential outcomes to build an entire catalogue of gene functions and effects. The new report published today describes the detailed analysis of the first 250 lines to undergo this systematic health screen.

The researchers discovered that newly identified and unknown genes are just as likely to underlie disease features as known genes. This finding emphasises the value of a broad approach to studying diseases rather than the current tendency of researchers to focus on well-known genes. The availability of mouse models and publicly-available information about their characteristics should encourage a broader understanding of the full extent of gene function and how genetic changes can result in disease.

The team revealed that a gene, Kptn, previously thought to be linked to deafness could actually be associated with obesity. They found that when the gene is switched off in mice fed with a high fat diet, the mice gain weight faster than those that have working copies of the gene. This is one of the many examples of genes identified by the team to have a surprising new role in disease.

Among the genes reported in detail are 26 brand new mouse models for human diseases, allowing detailed investigation of the underlying biology of these diseases. For example, variations to the gene SMS can cause a rare, inherited condition associated with both mental and physical difficulties, called Snyder-Robinson syndrome. The team switched off the same gene in mice and the results reproduced those seen in the human disease. They also detected male infertility, suggesting a new feature of the disease that may not have been recognised in humans with SMS mutations.

"Not only is the biological information openly available to the wider scientific and clinical community, but so are our mouse models," says Dr Jacqui White, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Already 447 research teams in 25 different countries across the world are using our mouse lines and taking this research to new levels. Our hope is that other research teams will take our research forward to better understand disease and develop new and effective therapies against these diseases."

"This resource is revealing a wealth of information about human disease that has great potential for improved diagnosis and treatment options," says Professor Philip Beales Professor of Medical Genetics at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, and a consultant clinical geneticist at Guy's Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital. "This is just the start of a long journey, but I'm excited by the research that this resource will allow us to do."

###

Notes to Editors

The Mouse Genetics Projects has been awarded three Wellcome Trust strategic awards to investigate developmental biology, infection susceptibility and bone disease traits. It is extremely difficult to predict which genes are involved in disease. These programmes will look at different aspects of disease traits more closely and link both common and rare human diseases to malfunctioning genes.

Publication Details

Jacqueline K. White, Anna-Karin Gerdin, Natasha A. Karp et al (2013) 'Genome-wide generation and systematic phenotyping of knockout mice reveals new roles for many genes'

Advanced online publication in Cell on 18 July.

Funding

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council NIH, European Commission, Research to Prevent Blindness Australian Research Council, and Cancer Research UK.

Participating Centres

• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK
• Omics Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
• Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
• Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK
• Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK

Selected Websites

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease. http://www.sanger.ac.uk

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk

End of Notes to Editors

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 18-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Aileen Sheehy
press.office@sanger.ac.uk
44-012-234-96928
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Open access resource reveals new genes and pathways linked to human disease

Researchers have created a large new resource of more than 900 genes switched off one-at-a-time in mice to discover which genes are important for a wide range of biological functions such as fertility or hearing.

This resource, known as the Mouse Genetics Project, screens for characteristics and early signs of disease, revealing many new functions for well-known genes, as well as for genes with no previously-known role in disease. Many of these variations in body function are likely to underlie human diseases.

The human genome has more than 20,000 identified genes, but our understanding of what they do and how disease results from their malfunction is quite limited. Studies using mice are central to understanding how genes function and how variation to genes causes disease. Mice share the vast majority of their genes with humans and researchers can use mice that have a specific gene switched off to start to unravel human disease.

The Mouse Genetics Project provides researchers and clinicians with a wealth of freely available clinical and biological information that will help find new treatment strategies and options for a wide range of diseases. Furthermore, research groups worldwide can use these new mouse lines to continue the work of investigating the fundamental mechanisms of disease, as the mouse lines are openly available to researchers.

"Our project has revealed many completely unexpected associations between genes and traits like body weight, emphasising how difficult it is to predict the importance of a gene in disease until there is a model like the mouse to give us clues," says Professor Karen Steel, lead author from King's College London and Honorary Faculty at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "There are many paths to developing a disease that aren't immediately obvious. This resource provides an efficient way to uncover these paths.

"This resource is the largest collection of mouse lines available to researchers where all other genes are virtually identical except the gene switched off. Together with the careful optimisation of their environment and the systematic analysis of a wide range of characteristics in each line, we are able to detect features that otherwise would be missed."

So far the team have individually switched off more than 900 genes in mice to understand how they function and how they relate to disease. Rather than tunnelling in on one or two potential effects, the team are systematically studying a large number of potential outcomes to build an entire catalogue of gene functions and effects. The new report published today describes the detailed analysis of the first 250 lines to undergo this systematic health screen.

The researchers discovered that newly identified and unknown genes are just as likely to underlie disease features as known genes. This finding emphasises the value of a broad approach to studying diseases rather than the current tendency of researchers to focus on well-known genes. The availability of mouse models and publicly-available information about their characteristics should encourage a broader understanding of the full extent of gene function and how genetic changes can result in disease.

The team revealed that a gene, Kptn, previously thought to be linked to deafness could actually be associated with obesity. They found that when the gene is switched off in mice fed with a high fat diet, the mice gain weight faster than those that have working copies of the gene. This is one of the many examples of genes identified by the team to have a surprising new role in disease.

Among the genes reported in detail are 26 brand new mouse models for human diseases, allowing detailed investigation of the underlying biology of these diseases. For example, variations to the gene SMS can cause a rare, inherited condition associated with both mental and physical difficulties, called Snyder-Robinson syndrome. The team switched off the same gene in mice and the results reproduced those seen in the human disease. They also detected male infertility, suggesting a new feature of the disease that may not have been recognised in humans with SMS mutations.

"Not only is the biological information openly available to the wider scientific and clinical community, but so are our mouse models," says Dr Jacqui White, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Already 447 research teams in 25 different countries across the world are using our mouse lines and taking this research to new levels. Our hope is that other research teams will take our research forward to better understand disease and develop new and effective therapies against these diseases."

"This resource is revealing a wealth of information about human disease that has great potential for improved diagnosis and treatment options," says Professor Philip Beales Professor of Medical Genetics at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, and a consultant clinical geneticist at Guy's Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital. "This is just the start of a long journey, but I'm excited by the research that this resource will allow us to do."

###

Notes to Editors

The Mouse Genetics Projects has been awarded three Wellcome Trust strategic awards to investigate developmental biology, infection susceptibility and bone disease traits. It is extremely difficult to predict which genes are involved in disease. These programmes will look at different aspects of disease traits more closely and link both common and rare human diseases to malfunctioning genes.

Publication Details

Jacqueline K. White, Anna-Karin Gerdin, Natasha A. Karp et al (2013) 'Genome-wide generation and systematic phenotyping of knockout mice reveals new roles for many genes'

Advanced online publication in Cell on 18 July.

Funding

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council NIH, European Commission, Research to Prevent Blindness Australian Research Council, and Cancer Research UK.

Participating Centres

• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK
• Omics Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
• Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
• Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK
• Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK

Selected Websites

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease. http://www.sanger.ac.uk

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk

End of Notes to Editors

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/wtsi-hmt071713.php

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Earth's gold came from colliding dead stars

[unable to retrieve full-text content]We value gold for many reasons: Its beauty, its usefulness as jewelry, and its rarity. Gold is rare on Earth in part because it's also rare in the universe. Unlike elements like carbon or iron, it cannot be created within a star. Instead, it must be born in a more cataclysmic event -- like one that occurred last month -- known as a short gamma-ray burst.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/SyS7qnykJfU/130717134921.htm

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Iowa View: Bad Policies in Education Reform law - Interfaith Alliance ...

by Connie Ryan Terrell

Des Moines Register, Iowa View,?7.16.13

From all the pounding of chests and declarations of victory from both sides of the aisle, one would think the 2013 education reform bill passed by the Iowa Legislature and signed into law by the governor was the panacea for Iowa?s education system. The truth is a large portion of the legislation will come back to haunt the Legislature.

The education reform bill was a broad, meandering piece of legislation that included items such as student assessments, teacher compensation guidelines and allowable growth. The bill also included special interest demands, such as decreasing parental accountability by making assessments for home school children optional, limiting the state?s oversight of non-public schools, permitting home school parents to teach driver?s education, and allowing home school parents to teach up to four unrelated students with little oversight by the state.

In separate legislation, increased financial support was provided to non-public schools through direct funding and tax credits. Together, the legislation moves our state further down the road toward privatization and inequity in education, fueled by the misleading notion of ?parental choice.?

As an example, any parent can choose to home school their child. The oversight of the student?s education includes a partnership between the family and the public education system. The partnership supports a parent in teaching the child at home but also ensures the parent successfully fulfills his or her obligation through assessments.

The education reform weakens that partnership. Now, the state has limited oversight and parents have no real accountability. One hopes all home school parents have the capability to fulfill the promise of a good education. However, logic should tell you not all parents can meet that obligation, and now the children in those families will undoubtedly fall through gaping cracks.

Privatization of education continues to be prioritized in line items of the state budget. Parents who choose a non-public school still receive the benefit of state aid through transportation, textbook and technology supports.

Additionally, Iowans are encouraged to make contributions to benefit non-public schools through school tuition organizations and receive a tax credit. Line items and tax credits continue to grow, using precious public tax money to subsidize private education choices.

Nationally, there is momentum toward privatization of education in our country. Privatization is a strategy of religiously conservative organizations to replace public education with private options that support their world view. Conservative organizations find themselves strangely in bed with for-profit businesses.

Religious conservatives tout parent choice, home schooling, online options, vouchers and charter schools. For-profit businesses have cropped up across the country to fill a niche and make a buck on the backs of children through private schools, charter schools and online learning. It?s a marriage made in heaven.

Progressives fall easily into the trap. What?s the harm? Isn?t choice a good thing? Shouldn?t parents have the final say?

Although to date, Iowa has placed limits on the business side of this equation, legislators continue to chip away at our state?s responsibility in oversight and accountability with home schooling and non-public schools. Each of these strategies alone may appear to do only minimal harm, but together they significantly weaken our educational system.

When the state creates bad public policy by relinquishing oversight and reducing accountability and continues to shift public funds from public education to private entities through allocation or credit, the entire education system is weakened. This negatively affects all students, but the greatest burden is placed on students in public schools.

Iowans believe in our schools and understand that a healthy and vibrant public education system is the greatest equalizer for all students. Legislators can claim a victory, but, in reality, education in Iowa lost this year.

Future legislative sessions should consider reversing course and put state oversight and parental accountability back into the private education part of the equation. In addition, with our country?s long tradition of separating the institutions of religion and government, the state should stop funneling public resources directly or indirectly to non-public schools, most of which are religiously based. It?s simply bad public policy.

CONNIE RYAN TERRELL is executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. Contact: connie@interfaithallianceiowa.org.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130716/OPINION01/307160039/-1/GETPUBLISHED03WP-LOGIN.PHP/Iowa-View-Bad-policies-education-reform-law

Source: http://interfaithallianceiowa.org/2013/07/16/iowa-view-bad-policies-in-education-reform-law/

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Knog Blinder 4 and 4V bicycle lights review

Having given up the cigarettes for almost 10 months now ?and feeling heaps fitter, ?I decided it was time for me to step up my fitness. ?What started as walking to the bus stop just outside the house, turned into walking about 2 kilometres to another bus route, which turned into walking the whole 5 [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/07/15/knog-blinder-4-and-4v-bicycle-lights-review/

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Marissa Mayer, Year 1: Yahoo has energy, but ad business challenged

SUNNYVALE -- In her first year as CEO at Yahoo (YHOO), Marissa Mayer has revamped products, shrugged off controversy and presided over a corporate shopping spree that has gobbled up 17 smaller companies, all in an effort to re-energize the struggling Web giant.

At the same time, Yahoo's stock has surged more than 70 percent, thanks to a long-held stake in a high-flying Chinese Internet firm. "The company is worlds ahead of where it was a year ago," said longtime shareholder Eric Jackson, a hedge fund investor

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer smiles during an announcement that Yahoo acquired the Tumblr blogging site in order to upgrade its Flickr site, in New York, May 20, 2013. YAFP PHOTO/Emmanuel DunandEMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images ( EMMANUEL DUNAND )

and outspoken critic of previous Yahoo bosses.

But Yahoo's most important advertising business has continued to show an alarming decline. And as Mayer approaches her anniversary at the company on Tuesday, analysts say Yahoo is far from out of the woods.

"Yahoo is trying to sell a product that fewer and fewer advertisers want," warned Karsten Weide, a media analyst for the IDC research firm. "They've been consistently losing market share."

An pioneer in the Internet industry, Yahoo is still one of Silicon Valley's most prominent companies. Its websites, email service and other programs are used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. But its influence has waned as the company missed key market shifts toward mobile

computing and social networking. Sales have sagged in recent years, and a revolving cast of chief executives was unable to stem the tide.

Mayer, a 38-year-old former Google (GOOG) executive, has warned that Yahoo's turnaround will take several years. Even so, she insists the company is on its way after a series of high-profile moves aimed at boosting internal morale and redesigning the company's online services for smartphones and other mobile gadgets, which a growing number of Internet consumers are using instead of desktop computers.

By building new products that "delight and inspire," Mayer told shareholders in June, Yahoo will attract more users, which in turn will draw more advertisers and revenue. "The future for us," she declared, "is that virtuous cycle."

While Mayer declined to comment for this article, she has outlined her strategy in recent public talks.

"What we needed to do was reinvent ourselves," she told a Stanford University audience last month. That's not easy, Mayer acknowledged, but she said the trend toward mobile computing is "so big"

that Yahoo "can catch a part of it and ride it" to success.

Some analysts say they're still waiting for results. "Marissa Mayer has been Yahoo's CEO for almost a year and the metrics associated with its display (advertising) business have not improved," Carlos Kirjner of Bernstein Research wrote in a report this month. "One could argue they have deteriorated."

Mayer was already a prominent Silicon Valley executive when she joined Yahoo. One of the first hires at Google, she rose from software engineer to senior manager while earning a reputation as a tough boss in a male-dominated field -- and as a self-proclaimed fan of quirky humor, designer cupcakes and couture.

Now she's even more in the spotlight as she tries to pull off what Joseph Grundfest, a Stanford law and business professor, described as "one of the most important turnaround efforts in Silicon Valley," along with veteran CEO Meg Whitman's similar bid to revive another struggling tech giant, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

Yahoo makes its money from advertising, but its revenue slid from $7.2 billion in 2008 to $4.9 billion last year, as advertisers turned to newer rivals such as Google and Facebook. During the same period, Yahoo employees were whipsawed by a series of CEOs, including cofounder Jerry Yang, tough-talking Carol Bartz and short-lived Scott Thompson, ousted last spring over false-r?sum? claims.

Soon after she was hired last summer, Mayer moved to restore morale by providing free food in company cafeterias and letting employees choose new smartphones. She also sparked a national debate by ending a policy of letting staff members work from home. But the move was applauded by some, including Yahoo employees who said it could foster discipline and collaboration.

Yahoo says job applications have increased, although the workforce has shrunk to 11,300 from 12,500 last year, without major layoffs. Mayer now enjoys an 85 percent approval rating from Yahoo workers on the job-rating site Glassdoor -- higher than the average CEO rating of 67 percent and much higher than her Yahoo predecessors.

Mayer also launched an overhaul of Yahoo's online products, revamping designs and adding new features to the company's home page, email service and Flickr photo-sharing site, among others. At the same time, she has presided over one of the busiest corporate shopping sprees in recent Silicon Valley history.

Yahoo's $1.1 billion purchase of the social-blogging site Tumblr drew headlines in the spring and raised eyebrows because the site had only $13 million in annual revenue. Mayer has vowed Tumblr will help Yahoo reach a new audience of younger Internet users.

But most of Mayer's acquisitions involved small startups, like social recommendation service Jybe and mobile game-maker Loki Studios, in deals ranging from a few million dollars to $50 million. Analysts say these helped Yahoo gain talented engineers or technology that Mayer can use to create new products for mobile devices.

Mayer has also said she's "realigning" Yahoo's ad business, after hiring Google ad executive Henrique De Castro to serve as her chief operating officer.

So far, according to Weide, "there's been little visible progress." To compete with the likes of Google and Facebook, he said, Yahoo needs to implement more automated advertising technology that will help advertisers deliver messages to consumers at exactly the right time and place.

Yahoo's display advertising sales have fallen in each of the last two quarters under Mayer. The company also makes money from another category of ads, which appear next to Internet search results, but its share of that market is shrinking, too.

Mayer's efforts and personal star power have helped boost Yahoo's share price, analysts say. But many also believe the surge is driven by investors who expect a big payout when Alibaba goes public next year. Yahoo owns 24 percent of the Chinese firm.

Meanwhile, analysts will be watching closely for signs that Yahoo's ad business is improving. Mayer is scheduled to issue another quarterly report on Tuesday.

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022. Follow him at Twitter.com/brandonbailey.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_23653204/marissa-mayer-year-one-yahoo-has-energy-but?source=rss

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Officials' Children Get Plum Summer Jobs At State Agency

Rosemary Bove, the $101,000-a-year state official who manages Connecticut's five "Welcome Centers" on interstate highways, didn't have to look very far for at least a couple of the young people who were hired in May to work in 13 highly-coveted summer jobs.

One of them is Bove's 23-year-old daughter ? who's been paid $12 an hour since being hired May 17 in a job eligible to last through Nov. 2. She makes $960 every two weeks.

Another is the son of Rhonda Olisky, a $74,800-a-year official in the same state agency as Bove: the Department of Economic and Community Development. Jon Olisky-Veneziano, 20, is making $14 an hour, as a returning summer worker, and makes $1,120 every two weeks; the state paid him $12,376 last year, comptroller's records show.

Rosemary Bove and the department's human resources director interviewed the candidates, including Bove's daughter, Natasha Bove, the department says. The jobs were not advertised ? although the department did set up a booth at three college job fairs to recruit a number of those hired.

Meanwhile, a 22-year-old nephew of DECD Deputy Commissioner Ronald Angelo was hired May 20 as one of four summer workers at the department's central office at 505 Hudson St. in Hartford, the agency confirmed. The nephew, Tyler Naumann, makes $14 an hour, or $1,120 every two weeks, records show.

That's three relatives that The Courant was able to confirm out of 17 summer hires at the department. DECD officials say there's nothing wrong it.

"There is no language in [the State Personnel Act] that prohibits an agency hiring an employee family member," said DECD Human Resources Director Antoinette Alphonse. She said that no family member can supervise another family member or influence his or her evaluations or promotions. "These hirings were proper!!!" Alphonse said in an emailed response to Courant questions. "These employees are not supervised by a relative.''

The employment of a few relatives for seasonal jobs is not unique to DECD, Connecticut and the innumerable towns whose recreation departments hire lifeguards in the summer.

Still, the summer hirings of DECD officials' relatives serve as a reminder that people still care about fairness even in matters of government that involve such relatively small amounts of taxpayer money. The hirings have prompted discussion among state workers that found its way to The Courant.

Part of the discussion is that some of these jobs could have been filled by young people from Hartford; at least seven of the jobs are in the DECD's city offices. None of the 17 summer workers has a Hartford address, according to documents released Friday by the DECD in response to a week-old Freedom of Information Act request from The Courant.

DECD spokesman Jim Watson said candidates were recruited at three college job fairs earlier this year ? at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Fairfield University, and Connecticut College in New London. "We were very pro-active" about those efforts, which involved setting up a booth and, at times, returning to a campus subsequently, Watson said. He did not know how many of those hired were recruited at those job fairs, as opposed to finding out about the jobs some other way.

One reason the duration of the summer jobs is so long ? May to November ? is that the Welcome Centers need to be staffed with people to advise tourists seven days a week through the fall foliage season, Watson said. A number of the summer workers will need to return to their studies at summer's end, but they can still get hours on weekends, Watson said.

The 13 Welcome Center jobs fall under the DECD's Office of Tourism, which is located in a separate office at One Constitution Plaza in Hartford. Most of them are spread among the five centers, which are in: Danbury on I-84 eastbound; Darien on I-95 southbound; North Stonington on I-95 southbound; Westbrook on I-95 northbound; and West Willington on I-84 westbound. The Greenwich Welcome Center is temporarily closed.

A few of the 13, including Natasha Bove, are assigned to work at the Office of Tourism at One Constitution Plaza. Her mother, whose title is community development specialist, works in the same office but another employee there supervises her, Watson said. Natasha Bove works on special projects, including "marketing and tourism website projects," Watson said, adding that she also serves as a "backup worker" at all the Welcome Centers, as needed.

Olisky-Veneziano is supervised by Rosemary Bove and works as a courier among the Welcome Centers, delivering promotional materials. He also serves as a backup worker at any of the Welcome Centers when needed, Watson said. Prior to coming to Connecticut to work in 2012, Olisky-Veneziano had been living in Florida with his father; now he lives in Berlin with his mother, his resume says. His mother is a program associate for DECD's Office of the Arts, which also is located at One Constitution Plaza.

Olisky and Rosemary Bove declined comment. Natasha Bove, Naumann and Olisky-Veneziano could not be reached for comment.

DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith, whose signature was on each of the 17 letters appointing the candidates to their summer jobs, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Although Alphonse cited the State Personnel Act in saying all of the hirings were proper, there are other laws that apply to such situations ? including the statutes known as the Code of Ethics for Public Officials. The code prohibits a state official from using his or her office to benefit a family member financially.

The director of the Office of State Ethics, Carol Carson, declined comment Thursday when asked if a public official interviewing his or her child, who then is hired, amounts to benefiting a family member financially.

But her agency routinely investigates such allegations, and weeks ago announced that a state Department of Transportation employee was fined $2,500 for failing to disclose his son's employment by a consultant on a highway project that he was overseeing, in violation of the nepotism provisions in the Code of Ethics.

In addition to the three relatives of DECD officials who were hired, at least one other candidate ? apparently not a relative ? was referred by a top department official for a job, was offered a position, but then turned it down because it did not fit in with his schedule, records show. It was unclear Friday whether any of the others hired were sons or daughters of DECD employees' friends.

Jon Lender is a reporter on The Courant's investigative desk, with a focus on government and politics. Contact him at jlender@courant.com, 860-241-6524, or c/o The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115 and find him on Twitter at @jonlender.

Source: http://hartfordcourant.feedsportal.com/c/34278/f/623718/s/2e9e76db/l/0L0Scourant0N0Cnews0Cpolitics0Chc0Elender0Ecolumn0Eofficials0Echildren0Ehired0E0A7140E20A130A7130H0A0H6134830Bcolumn0Dtrack0Frss/story01.htm

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The regular fitness exercises and proper diet keep the people fit and slim always. Doing exercises is also one of the most effective ways to keep yourself away from various dangerous diseases. Most of the people join the fitness training centers to get health benefits in the efficient manners. You can even search for these fitness training service providers while doing a comprehensive search over the internet. The internet is the best medium through which you get lots of options to make your choice for affordable and reliable fitness training studio. Among many of the service providers we are one of the leading training studios that specialize in providing the best fitness training meeting your health and fitness needs.

We at ?Move Personal Training Studio? strive to provide top class Personal training Mount Hawthorn services that comprise weight loss, rehabilitation, sports specific programs, postnatal exercise, training for kids and general health training programs. Most of the people face problem due to overweight. You can hire our experienced trainers that offer the personal training with the aim to provide realistic, productive and effective results. We pride ourselves to offer a complete personalized service that fits your life. Our utmost goal is to help out those people who struggle a lot to achieve health and fitness goals. We are dedicated to help our each trainee by motivating and supporting them.

Our highly experienced fitness coaches help their trainees by providing expert guidance through every step of the way. You can join our fitness boot camps in Perth to get training for different exercises. We are the most popular health and fitness specialists and our priority is to help you as per your fitness requirements. There are various formats of exercises offered by our expert trainers. They help you by providing advice to choose the best exercise that better suits your fitness needs. Due to overweight most of the people suffers from heart diseases. We offer top Cardio training Mount Hawthorn programs for the people having heart disease. Our fitness boot camp is applicable to any age group people.

It is very important for those ladies who are expecting a baby to go through the pre-natal exercises. These exercises help in keeping pregnant women healthy and fit during their pregnancy period. We offer Mother?s group fitness class Perth postnatal training to provide benefits for mothers such as speed healing and recovery, reduce stress and depression, improve muscle tone and strength and so on.

You are advised to visit our online website (http://www.movepts.com.au/) to know more about our fitness training programs.

Contact Us:

Move Personal Training Studio

Unit 4, 190 Scarborough Beach Road

Mt Hawthorn 6016

Adrian: 0406 750 137

Source: http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/get-the-benefits-of-personal-fitness-training-in-perth

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