Thursday, March 15, 2012

White farmers refuse to give up land

HARARE, Zimbabwe--The deadlock between white farmers and theZimbabwean government, which has ordered them to abandon their land,showed no signs of breaking Sunday.

For a third straight day since the eviction deadline passed,farmers defying the order reported no official moves to forciblyremove them.

Nearly 3,000 white farmers were ordered to leave their property byFriday as part of a plan to seize white-owned lands and turn themover to blacks.

Several senior government officials have warned white farmers theyface arrest and possible imprisonment of up to two years if theycontinue to defy eviction orders.

Farming officials reported tension in some …

GM better get Europe back on track

GM Europe faces serious leadership problem, but one with a solution.

Lou Hughes has had a tough year. As president of General Motors International Operations he's supposed to make the automaker a global company. It's a directive from his two bosses, former GM chairman John Smale and current Chairman Jack Smith.

That formidable task put him at odds with executives at Opel and GM Europe. They claim Hughes is "bleeding" those operations, overworking its people and micromanaging to achieve his global goals. They might have a point. Earnings from GM Europe, which is made up of Opel and Vauxhall with the bulk of the money generated by Opel, dropped from $778 million in 1996 to …

Brazilian Football Results

Results from the 13th round of the Brazilian first-division football championship (home teams listed first):

Saturday's Games

Fluminense 1, Figueirense 0

Gremio 1, Cruzeiro 0

Ipatinga 4, Portuguesa 1

Sunday's Games

Goias 3, Palmeiras 2

Santos 1, Sport 0

Atletico Paranaense 3, Vasco 1

Nautico 1, Internacional 1

Flamengo 0, Vitoria 1

Obituaries & News

Donald L. Barker

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Donald Lee "Sonny" Barker, 64, of Cleveland,formerly of Page, Fayette County, W.Va., died Monday, Jan. 31, 2000,at home after an apparent heart attack.

He retired from Ford Motor Co. with 31 years of service, was amember of Page Church of God and an Army veteran of the Korean War.

Surviving: wife, Irish Kirwood Barker; sons, Lee Allen, PaulDavid and Gary Junior of Cleveland, Ronald of Muncie, Ind., Tommy ofPage; daughters, Cindy Barker of Cleveland, Ronda Barker of Muncie;sisters, Shirley T. Hildebrand of Dixie, W.Va., Rosalee Willis ofCannelton, W.Va., Lilly M. Frazier of Kincaid, W.Va., CarolineNutter of West Salem, Susie M. …

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Homegoing: La Doris J. Foster, Johnson Publishing Co. VP

Memorial services for LaDoris J. Foster, 71, vice president and director of human services at Johnson Publishing Company, parent company of Ebony and Jet, will be held Thursday at Unity Funeral Parlors, 4114 S. Michigan Ave., at 7 p.m. Visitation is at 5 p.m. A memorial will also be held in St. Paul, Minn.

Foster passed away Thursday from heart failure at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said her brother, Frank Foster.

A 47-year veteran, Foster, one of the company's most loyal and dedicated executives, was noted for her profound professionalism and compelling charm and wit. She connected well with employees despite being a no-nonsense professional committed to …

Capitals-Lightning Sums

Washington 1 1 1—3
Tampa Bay 1 2 2—5

First Period_1, Tampa Bay, Malone 3 (Lecavalier, St. Louis), 12:37 (pp). 2, Washington, Sturm 1 (Arnott, Ovechkin), 18:30 (pp). Penalties_Knuble, Was (goaltender interference), 8:59; Ovechkin, Was (charging), 11:14; Ohlund, TB (cross-checking), 15:13; Thompson, TB (goaltender interference), 17:30.

Second Period_3, Tampa Bay, Bergenheim 6 (Moore, Downie), 4:41. 4, Tampa Bay, Bergenheim 7 (Moore), 12:34. 5, Washington, Erskine 1, 13:40. Penalties_Schultz, Was (hooking), …

Bollywood star Salman Khan filming in Sri Lanka

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has begun shooting his latest film "Ready" in Sri Lanka, weeks after the Indian ocean island hosted the annual Bollywood awards that drew protests from South Indian film artists.

The film, directed by Anees Bazmee, also stars South Indian actress Asin Thottumkal and Paresh Rawal.

The story is woven around Prem (Khan), who falls for Sanjanna (Thottumkal) and tries to stop her two uncles from stealing her fortune.

Khan told reporters Wednesday that he was delighted to film in Sri Lanka because the country is close to India and its landscape is suitable for Indian productions.

The movie will be …

Protest at courthouse

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips speaks to ahandful of folks protesting wasteful pork projects and earmarks inthe federal government. Americans for Prosperity, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, …

What your phone app doesn't say: It's watching

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Your smart phone applications are watching you — much more closely than you might like.

Lookout Inc., a mobile-phone security firm, scanned nearly 300,000 free applications for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones built around Google Inc.'s Android software. It found that many of them secretly pull sensitive data off users' phones and ship them off to third parties without notification.

That's a major concern that has been bubbling up in privacy and security circles.

The data can include full details about users' contacts, their pictures, text messages and Internet and search histories. The third parties can include advertisers and companies that analyze data …

Drink of the week: Black Velvet Mimosa

Where you can find it: Flo, 1434 W. Chicago.

The damage: $9.

Thousands of bars in Chicago, why this one? When I tell my over easy- and omelet-loving friends that eggs bore me, they shoot me looks of confusion and disgust. But it's true. In my book, the incredible edible egg is more like the incredibly dull breakfast mainstay. Even when it's dressed up, stuffed with cheese and topped with salsa, I end up pushing the fluffy mass around my plate, picking out the veggies and strategically removing the Cheddar to reposition it atop my hash browns. Despite this egg-aversion, I keep making brunch plans for the sake of my social life. But why should my taste buds suffer? …

"Matisse Picasso": Tate Modern, London

If the Kimbell Art Museum's 2999 "Matissi and Picasso" had needed a complement, then "Matisse Picasso," the touring exhibition organized by Tate Modern, the Grand Palais, and the Museum of Modern Art, would surely be it. But it didn't, and it isn't, not really. So what is it?

The answer will have to be comparative, at least as a start.

The Kimbell title, with its conspicuous conjunction, "Matisse and Picasso," suggested a story. Jack and Jill went up the hill And that is just what the show delivered, it four "acts," from 1930 to 1954, with a prelude and a coda too. The curator, Yve-Alan Bois (an admired colleague, I should admit) told how two opposing spirits developed …

Kennedy not expected to return to Senate this week

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is not expected back at work in the Senate this week, his office said Monday as doctors searched for the cause of a weekend seizure that sent the 76-year-old lawmaker to the hospital.

There was no word on how long Kennedy would remain hospitalized. But after 48 hours, physicians not involved in his care debated whether the length of his stay was an indication of something more serious or simply an outgrowth of caution in dealing with a prominent patient.

President Bush telephoned Kennedy at Massachusetts General Hospital with get-well wishes Monday. "Take care of my friend," he told Kennedy's wife, Vicki, according to a family …

Stocks fall following downgrades, spike in oil

Stocks tumbled Thursday as Wall Street contended with a barrage of bad news: another surge in oil prices and warnings of trouble in the key financial, automotive and high-tech industries. The major indexes showed losses of more than 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which shed more than 200 points and dropped to its lowest level of the year.

The Dow fell as low as 11,581.57, well under its 2008 trading low of 11,634.82. That sent some investors rushing for the safety of Treasury bonds _ government debt is a haven when the stock market is in turmoil.

The passel of worries investors juggled included analyst comments on General Motors Corp. A downbeat assessment sent shares of the largest U.S. automaker to their lowest level in more than 30 years, while Citigroup Inc. fell sharply after an analyst placed a "sell" rating on the stock and warned investors to expect less from the brokerage sector.

Comments from technology bellwethers Oracle Corp. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. further soured investors' moods and made the tech sector one of the steepest decliners.

Wall Street sank a day after the Federal Reserve interrupted a series of interest rate cuts by leaving rates unchanged and warning of an increased threat of inflation. Stocks, which posted uneven gains Wednesday after the Fed's decision, also benefited during that session from a decrease in oil prices.

But oil prices rebounded Thursday, adding to Wall Street's inflation concerns. OPEC President Chakib Khelil was quoted as telling a French television station that oil could rise as high as $170 per barrel this summer before pulling back. That and a falling dollar helped send light, sweet crude up $4.03 to $138.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Rising oil has saddled nearly all parts of the economy with higher costs. The increased expenses have weighed on consumers who now have to reach much deeper into their wallets at the gas pump and therefore have less to spend elsewhere.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 216.91, or 1.84 percent, to 11,594.92.

Broader stock indicators also fell sharply. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 24.97, or 1.89 percent, to 1,297.00, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 59.09, or 2.46 percent, to 2,342.17.

Bond prices rose sharply. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.05 percent from 4.10 percent late Wednesday.

___

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Michigan minister runs for Congress from prison

The Rev. Edward Pinkney's congressional campaign has many obstacles to overcome, not the least of which is that he's currently behind bars.

Pinkney, who turns 60 on Monday, is the Green Party candidate for Michigan's 6th Congressional District. Among his opponents is 55-year-old incumbent Fred Upton, a Republican who has occupied the seat since 1987.

Besides battling for a spot in the U.S. House of Representatives, Pinkney also is fighting what he considers to be a corrupt legal system that has imprisoned an innocent man. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is working to overturn his convictions on election fraud and other charges.

"Life is tough here. It's definitely not peaches and cream, that's for sure," he told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview from the Ojibway Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula. The state prison is about 10 miles from the Wisconsin line and roughly 600 miles from the district he'd like to represent in Congress.

Pinkney, a Benton Harbor resident and longtime community activist, was sentenced to five years of probation after a jury convicted him in March 2007 of felony and misdemeanor fraud charges stemming from a successful recall election of a local official that he led in 2005. He was accused of paying some people to vote absentee and of improperly handling valid absentee ballots.

Then in June of this year, Pinkney was sent to prison for three to 10 years after being convicted of violating his probation by writing something in a progressive Chicago newspaper that a judge ruled as a threat to a fellow judge. Pinkney and his Detroit attorney, Hugh "Buck" Davis, say he was only paraphrasing some Bible verses from the book of Deuteronomy.

"As far as I know, Pinkney's the first preacher in the history of America to get locked up for quoting the Bible," Davis says.

Davis is appealing the conviction and supporters have presented a clemency petition with several thousand signatures to Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Pinkney says he's being harassed for his outspoken opposition to an upscale, 530-acre residential and commercial development in southwestern Michigan. Pinkney is upset that Benton Harbor city leaders are allowing the developers to use 22 acres of a city park that borders Lake Michigan for three holes of a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course that is the heart of the project.

Pinkney decided to run for Congress to bring attention to his situation and "stand up for what is right."

"The only way that we can get the word out and bring these people to justice is if I ran for office," Pinkney says.

Others running for Upton's seat include Democrat Don Cooney, 71, of Kalamazoo and Libertarian Greg Merle, 41, of Vicksburg.

Pinkney's lawyer, Davis, says there is nothing in federal election law prohibiting Pinkney or any other convicted felon from seeking, winning or holding elected office, regardless of whether that person is incarcerated.

Only one person has been elected to Congress while incarcerated. Matthew Lyon of Vermont was re-elected to Congress in 1798 while serving time for sedition after criticizing President John Adams.

More recently, James Traficant of Ohio ran for re-election as an independent from a prison cell in 2002 but lost.

Also, Socialist Eugene Debs ran for president from prison in 1920; James Michael Curley was elected to the Boston Board of Alderman in 1904 while serving time for fraud _ and later became mayor of the city; and earlier this year Michael McGee lost a re-election bid to the Milwaukee Board of Alderman while serving time on corruption charges.

While Pinkney isn't given much shot of winning, he says he's still trying to do some good where he can. As a minister, he says he often counsels other inmates about their problems and, with his wife, Dorothy, tries to help them find support when they get out.

"The people here have accepted me with open arms and they understand why I'm here and the reason behind it," he says.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Small earthquake rattles LA airport

A small earthquake has rattled Los Angeles International Airport, but there are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said in a preliminary report that the magnitude-3.2 temblor struck Monday at 9:14 p.m. It was centered under the airport runways.

City Fire spokesman Devin Gales said no damage has been reported and there has been no increase in emergency calls. Airport Supervisor Steve Goodwin said a routine runway check found no evidence of damage and no flights were delayed.

Enter the hybrid; New 35 mpg rules to mean more gas-electric cars, diesel SUVs

The Senate passed a trimmed-back energy bill Thursday that wouldbring higher-gas mileage cars into showrooms in the coming decadeand fill their tanks with ethanol.

The measure was approved with strong bipartisan support 86-8after Democrats abandoned efforts to impose billions of dollars innew taxes on the biggest oil companies, unable by one vote toovercome a Republican filibuster against the new taxes.

The bill now goes to the House. The White House issued astatement saying President Bush will sign the legislation if itreaches his desk, as is expected.

The bill calls for the first major increase by Congress inrequired automobile fuel efficiency in 32 years, something the autocompanies have fought for two decades.

The car companies will have to achieve an industrywide average 35mile per gallon for cars, small trucks and SUVs over the next 13years, an increase of 10 mpg over what the entire fleet averagestoday.

This bill "will begin to reverse our addiction to oil. It's astep to fight global warming," said Majority Leader Harry Reid ofNevada.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a longtime protector of the autoindustry that is so important to his state, called the fuel economymeasure "ambitious but achievable."

For consumers, the legislation will mean that over the next dozenyears auto companies will likely build more diesel-powered SUVs andgas-electric hybrid cars as well as vehicles that can run on 85percent ethanol. They will push engineers to develop newtechnologies to save fuel.

"Automakers can meet the new standards with today's technology,"said David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Cars andtrucks will be the same size and perform the same way they dotoday."

- - -

CAR TALK

The federal rules' effect:

- 1.1 million barrels of oil a day, equal to half the PersianGulf oil imported, will be saved.

- Consumers will spend $22 billion less at the pump.

- Annual greenhouse gas emissions will dip by 200 million tons.

Source: Sen. Daniel Inouye

Second Virial Coefficient Studies of Cosolvent-Induced Protein Self-Interaction

ABSTRACT

Protein self-interaction is important in protein crystal growth, solubilization, and aggregation, both in vitro and in vivo, as with protein misfolding diseases, such as Alzheimer's. Although second virial coefficient studies can supply invaluable quantitative information, their emergence as a systematic approach to evaluating protein self-interaction has been slowed by the limitations of traditional measurement methods, such as static light scattering. Comparatively, self-interaction chromatography is an inexpensive, high-throughput method of evaluating the osmotic second virial coefficient (B) of proteins in solution. In this work, we used self-interaction chromatography to measure B of lysozyme in the presence of various cosolvents, including sucrose, trehalose, mannitol, glycine, arginine, and combinations of arginine and glutamic acid and arginine and sucrose in an effort to develop a betterfundamental understanding of protein self-interaction in complex cosolvent systems. All of these cosolvents, alone or in combination, increased B, indicating a reduction in intermolecular attraction. However, the magnitude of cosolvent-induced changes in B was found to be largely dependent on the ability to control long-range electrostatic repulsion. To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the most comprehensive virial coefficient study to date focusing on complex cosolvent-induced effects on the self-interaction of lysozyme.

INTRODUCTION

The study of protein interactions in solution is key to advances in biotechnology, biopharmaceutical development (1), understanding and treating protein misfolding diseases (2), and structural genomics and proteomics (3). Proteins naturally exist in complex multicomponent solutions containing numerous cosolvents (also known as excipients when used in pharmaceutical preparations) that serve vital roles in regulating protein solubility and stability (4). Timasheff (5,6) and colleagues pioneered the development of preferential interaction parameters and excluded volume effects, greatly improving our understanding of protein-cosolvent-water interactions. Nevertheless, direct measures of cosolvent-induced changes to protein behavior in solution are difficult to obtain and labor-intensive (7), prompting continued interest in the development of more efficient and reliable characterization approaches.

The osmotic second virial coefficient (B) is a thermodynamic parameter that characterizes two body interactions in dilute solutions by reflecting the magnitude and sign of interaction (8). Positive B values indicate predominantly repulsive intermolecular interactions, whereas negative values reflect predominantly attractive interactions (9). B correlates to protein stability (as seen in aggregation behavior) and solubility (9-17) by accounting for contributions from electrostatics, van der Waals interactions, excluded volumes, hydration forces, and hydrophobic effects, the same interactions that regulate protein phase behavior (18-20). Current applications and views on evaluating protein self-interaction through B values, along with technological advances aimed at improving the efficiency of making such measurements, are summarized in a recent excellent review by Tessier and Lenhoff (21).

Historically, static light scattering (SLS) has been the most common approach for measuring B of proteins in solutions. Unfortunately, widespread applications of these studies are lacking due to numerous experimental limitations. Macromolecular solution additives, such as polyethylene glycols and surfactants, are difficult to use because they scatter too much light. Small peptides, on the other hand, do not scatter enough light for B measurements. Even when the right conditions are met, SLS measurements can still be prohibitive because of the large quantities of sample needed and the long analysis times. By contrast, self-interaction chromatography (SIC), introduced less than a decade ago (22,23), offers an inexpensive, high-throughput approach to measuring B in complex protein solutions. Compared to SLS, SIC requires at least an order of magnitude less time and sample (24), permits the use of high molecular weight or self-associating cosolvents (25), allows virial coefficient measurements on small biomolecules (i.e., peptides), and has demonstrated the potential for miniaturization (26), further improving its efficiency.

In this study, SIC was used to measure B of lysozyme (LYZ) as a function of sucrose, trehalose, mannitol, glycine, arginine, glutamic acid, and NaCl. This study is broader than previous work because it focuses on the effects of multiple cosolvents on B of a single protein. Existing data in the field of cosolvent-induced changes in protein stability and solubility primarily comes from thermal denaturation experiments (27,28), hydrogen exchange studies (29), circular dichroism spectra (30), surface tension (31), and partial specific volume measurements (32). Thus, in many cases, direct comparison of these results with published literature values would be difficult. However, our SIC results qualitatively agree with the results obtained by these other methods. Additionally, we have obtained limited SLS results that validate the accuracy of using SIC to make B measurements in complex cosolvent systems.

SIC theory

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Reagents

Lysozyme and trehalose were obtained from Calbiochem (San Diego, CA). Mannitol, sucrose, L-arginine, L-glutamic acid, glycine, ethanolamine, potassium phosphate, sodium hydroxide, and sodium chloride were obtained from Fisher Scientific (Pittsburgh, PA). Glacial acetic acid was obtained from Mallinckrodt (Phillipsburg, NJ). Toyopearl AF-Formyl-650M and AF-Amino-650M particles were purchased from Supelco (Bellefonte, PA). All reagents were used as received, without further purification.

Stationary phase modification procedure

LYZ was immobilized onto AF-Formyl-650M chromatography particles as outlined by Tessier et. al. (24). Briefly, LYZ (8 mg) was dissolved in 1.2 mL of 1.0M K^sub 2^HPO^sub 4^, pH 7.0. AF-Formyl 650-M chromatography particles (375 �L) were washed three times with 1.2 ml of the same phosphate buffer. The particles and LYZ solution were combined and allowed to settle. Then, 20 �L of the supernatant was removed and diluted to 250 �L for UV absorption measurement of the initial LYZ concentration at 280 nm using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Genesis 10uv, Thermo Spectronic, Rochester, NY). Sodium cyanoborohydride (15 mg) was added to the remaining LYZ-particle mixture to activate the coupling reaction. The reaction vial was then put in a room temperature rotary mixer for ~80 min, after which a final UV measurement was taken exactly as described above. The remaining LYZ was removed by washing the particles with 2.4 mL of phosphate buffer containing 5% (w/v) NaCl. The particles were then washed with the original phosphate buffer. The particles were placed back in the rotary mixer, along with 1.2 mL of 1.0 M ethanolamine, pH 8.0, and 10 mg sodium cyanoborohydride. to cap any unreacted formyl groups. Finally, the particles were washed with 0.1 M acetate. pH 4.5, and stored at 4�C. Ethanolamine capped AF-Formyl-650M particles (used for the dead column) were prepared according to the final step of the coupling procedure described above.

Static light scattering

Sodium acetate buffer containing 5% (w/v) NaCl and varying excipient concentrations were prepared by adding 6.0 g of glacial acetic acid. 50.0 g of NaCl, and the appropriate amount of excipient to ~900 ml of deionized water, titrating to pH 4.5 with 0.1 M NaOH, and filling with DI water to a 1.0-L mark. Lysozyme stock solutions were prepared in the desired buffer solutions at concentrations ranging from ~2 to 7 mg/ml, depending on the solubility of the protein. The stock solutions were filtered using 0.22 �m Millex Millipore filters. Protein concentrations were determined spectrophotometrically using ε (1%, 1 cm, 280 nm) = 26.3.

SLS measurements for obtaining the second virial coefficient, B, were performed using a DAWN F laser photometer from Wyatt Technology (Santa Barbara, CA). The SLS method requires that the intensity of light scattered by a protein solution be measured as a function of protein concentration. Typically, four to five dilutions of a particular protein stock were prepared and filtered directly into the DAWN F scattering cell. The incident light source was a vertically polarized. 5-mW He-Ne laser with wavelength of 633 nm. Relative scattering intensities in excess of background (solvent, stray light) were converted to absolute scattering intensities (R^sub 90^) by calibrating the instrument response using toluene as the calibration standard (R^sub 90^ = 14.06 � 10^sup -6^ cm^sup -1^ at 633 nm).

Self-interaction chromatography

All buffers were prepared with 18 Mohm water (Nanopure, Barnstead, Dubuque, IA) and the pH adjusted with either NaOH or HCl. pH was followed using a digital pH meter (UB-5, Denver Instruments, Denver, CO). All mobile phases were buffered at pH 4.5 with 0.1 M acetate, except for the results in Fig. 5, where the buffer pH was increased to 6.0. LYZ and acetone injection samples were dissolved at 15 mg/mL and 2% (v/v), respectively. The SIC column consisted of Teflon FEP Tubing (1/8-inch outer diameter, 1/16-inch inner diameter, Upchurch, Oak Harbor, WA) fitted with a stainless steel frit (2-�m pores, Upchurch). The column was conditioned after packing for several hours with 0.1 M acetate, pH 4.5, at 0.15 mL/min, after which, no further bed settling was observed. Generally, for all experiments where the mobile phases incrementally increased in cosolvent concentrations, one buffer with no cosolvent and another with the maximum cosolvent concentration used were mixed by the high-performance liquid chromatography pump to achieve the entire range of desired conditions. Dead column experiments utilized identical mobile phase conditions with one exception, 5% NaCl was added to all mobile phases to suppress electrostatic interactions between mobile phase analytes and the ethanolamine capped stationary phase.

All chromatographic data were collected on a Hewlett Packard 1050 high-performance liquid chromatography and analyzed using Chemstation software (Dayton, OH). Mobile phases were mixed and degassed online. Sample volumes of 1.0 �L were injected using a Hewlett Packard 1050 autosampler and analyzed at a flow rate of 80 �L/min. Temperatures were controlled with a digital column heater (TC-50, Eppendorf, Westbury, NY). Eluting samples were detected by UV absorption at 280 nm. LYZ samples were run in quadruplicate, and acetone samples in triplicate. The sample chromatograms in Fig. 1 demonstrate the sensitivity of the LYZ peak shape to changes in solution conditions, i.e., LYZ retention times increase and the peaks broaden as LYZ self-interaction becomes increasingly attractive. By contrast, the ACE peak shape is unaffected by changes in solution conditions, indicating its suitability as a neutral marker. In all cases, retention times were taken as the maximum peak height. The methods for B calculations, as well as the relevant assumptions and uncertainties associated with SIC measurements of B, are discussed in detail elsewhere (24).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

NaCl

To demonstrate the accuracy of SIC, the ability to reproduce SLS results is critical. Therefore, changes in B as a function of NaCl were measured. Salts affect both protein structure and solubility to various degrees (36). In the case of LYZ and NaCl, the salt ions interact strongly with water molecules, shield long-range electrostatic repulsion and enhance attractive hydrophobic effects (37). The result is a reduction in LYZ solubility that corresponds to the decreasing trend in B seen in Fig. 2, where B goes from 3.43 � 0.38 � 10^sup -4^ at 0% (w/v) NaCl to -6.50 � 0.04 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 5% (w/v) NaCl. Clearly, our SIC results are in excellent quantitative agreement with those obtained from several independent SLS studies (12,14,38). The line at B = 0 mol mL/g^sup 2^ has been included as a visual aid indicating a conditions where there is no net attraction or repulsion between LYZ molecules. The correlation between data sets obtained by SIC and SLS strengthens the validity of our experimental approach. This experiment can also be employed as a control to evaluate the stability of a SIC column. Typically, lysozyme-SIC columns lasted for several weeks.

Sugars and polyols

The disaccharides sucrose and trehalose and the polyol mannitol are naturally occurring osmolytes that have long been known to stabilize protein structure (39-41). Mechanistically, these cosolvents preferably interact with water (42), migrating away from the protein surface, creating an excluded volume that is proportional to the protein's solvent-exposed surface area (32). Thus, in the presence of these cosolvents, proteins favor a more compact, native-like state (29) determined by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and hydrogen exchange studies with infrared spectroscopy. Fig. 3 shows the results of our SIC measurements of LYZ in the presence of sucrose, trehalose, and mannitol. Interestingly, we found that the measured effects of these cosolvents were significantly dependent on the total solution ionic strength. When 2% (w/v) NaCl was added to all mobile phases, the subsequent addition of the sugar and polyolbased cosolvents had little effect on B, indicating no cosolvent-induced changes in protein self-interaction. For example, in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl, B for LYZ changed from 0.10 � 0.04 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M sucrose to 0.87 � 0.09 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.5 M sucrose and from 0.73 � 0.29 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M mannitol to 1.03 � 0.19 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.2 M mannitol. On the other hand, addition of the cosolvents to a 5% (w/v) NaCl solution clearly reduced the magnitude of attraction between LYZ molecules. Here, B for LYZ changed from -6.56 � 0.35 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M sucrose to -0.72 � 0.43 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.5 M sucrose, from -7.25 � 0.11 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M trehalose to -1.05 � 0.06 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.5 M trehalose, and from -5.89 � 0.15 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M mannitol to -2.81 � 0.28 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/ g^sup 2^ at 0.2 M mannitol. It appears that in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl protein self-interaction is still being dominated by long-range electrostatics, as B values for LYZ in 2% (w/v) NaCl, pH 4.5, are slightly positive (between 0.10 � 0.04 � 10^sup -4^ and 0.73 � 0.29 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^), indicating weakly repulsive interactions. Increasing the NaCl concentration to 5% (w/v) lowers B to negative values (between -5.89 � 10^sup -4^ and -7.25 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^), as seen in Fig. 2, where long-range electrostatic repulsions are suppressed and protein self-interaction becomes sufficiently attractive to result in self-association. To verify the accuracy of our results with respect to measuring B in the presence of sugars and polyols, SLS experiments were performed. Table 1 compares B obtained by SIC and SLS for sucrose, trehalose, and mannitol. The trends for B are similar between the two techniques.

It is known that protein self-association is largely driven by the formation of short range, noncovalent contacts, such as the coalescence of hydrophobic surface patches between individual molecules (43). This is one of the major ways that proteins reduce their thermodynamically unfavorable excluded volume and solvent-exposed surface area. The other major route involves intramolecular contractions of individual molecules. Notably, it has previously been reported that sugars (29,44) and polyols (45) influence the conformational dynamics of proteins, favoring the most compact conformation within the native-state ensemble. This reduction of protein volume is accompanied by a concomitant reduction in the hydrophobicity of the protein surface, thus reducing the tendency for self-association. These SIC results show that once long-range electrostatics have been minimized, the addition of sugars or polyols significantly reduces the intermolecular attractions, resulting in increased B values.

It is important to stress that the effects of structure-stabilizing cosolvents are independent of ionic strength (30,46). Rather, the conferred stabilization is a result of short-range excluded volume and/or hydrophobic effects, which necessarily influence conformational changes that alter a protein's solvent-exposed surface area. Strong electrostatic repulsion may keep proteins sufficiently far apart that intermolecular interactions are unaffected. Thus, at low ionic strengths and pH values far from the isoelectric point, B measurements may be similarly unaffected by the addition of cosolvents. Conversely, at high ionic strengths where electrostatic repulsion is minimized, intermolecular distances can be reduced to the range where cosolvent-induced stabilization is reflected in the measured B trends.

Amino acids

Glycine and arginine are two of the most well studied amino acid cosolvents. Glycine is a naturally occurring, preferentially excluded structure stabilizer (28,47,48). Conversely, the guanidinium group of arginine is believed to favorably interact with aromatic side chains based on structural analysis studies (49-51), making it a valuable aggregation suppressor, but an inefficient protein structure stabilizer. The effects of arginine and glycine on B, as a function of concentration, are shown in (Fig. 4). The same ionic strength dependence is observed as before. For example, in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl, the B value for LYZ changed from 1.04 � 0.48 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M arginine to 0.94 � 0.19 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M arginine and from 0.20 � 0.24 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M glycine to 0.54 � 0.14 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M glycine. In the presence of 5% (w/v) NaCl, the B value for LYZ changed from -5.97 � 0.05 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M arginine to -3.11 � 0.31 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M arginine and from-6.51 � 0.33 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M glycine to -5.45 � 0.11 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M glycine. From these data, it becomes clear that 0.1 M arginine has a much greater impact on B than an equivalent concentration of glycine. The increase in B as a function of arginine (from -5.97 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M arginine and 5% (w/v) NaCl to -3.11 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M arginine and 5% (w/v) NaCl) signifies a reduction in intermolecular attractions. These data are consistent with an SLS study reporting that the addition of 0.5 M arginine to the renaturation buffer significantly increases B (from 1.71 � 0.76 � 10^sup -3^ at 0.0 M arginine in a buffer of 1.25 M Gdn-HCl, 6 mM GSSG, 5 mM dithiothreitol, 50 mM Tris, pH 8.0, to 4.76 � 1.02 10^sup -3^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.5 M arginine in the same buffer), thereby suppressing LYZ aggregation (52).

On the other hand, there is only a marginal increase in B as a function of glycine (from 0.20 � 0.24 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M glycine to 0.54 � 0.14 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M glycine in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl and from -6.51 � 0.33 � 10^sup -4^ at 0.0 M glycine to -5.45 � 0.11 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.1 M glycine in the presence of 5% (w/v) NaCl). Previous investigators (47,48) found that glycine was effective at stabilizing LYZ against thermal denaturation using CD spectroscopy. It is quite possible that glycine could stabilize individual protein structure without affecting intermolecular interactions. The commonality between the previous cosolvents that have been shown to increase B is that they all in some way reduce attractive hydrophobic effects, either by direct interactions with surface hydrophobic patches (as with arginine (53)) or by influencing proteins to intramolecularly bury such patches (as with sugars (29,44) and polyols (45)). However, it has also previously been observed that glycine does not significantly affect the native structure of LYZ (28), providing stabilization only against thermal denaturation (unfolding). This is consistent with the observation that glycine is less effective at altering B and, thus, LYZ intermolecular interactions.

Mixed cosolvents

Combined effects of two amino acids (arginine and glutamic acid) and a sugar and amino acid (sucrose and arginine) on B were also investigated. In the presence of 5% (w/v) NaCl, increasing equimolar amounts of arginine and glutamic acid, up to a combined concentration of 0.2 M. changed B values from -1.41 � 0.41 � 10^sup -3^ at 0.0 M arginine + glutamic acid to -8.13 � 0.29 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ at 0.2 M arginine + glutamic acid (Fig. 5). In these experiments, the initial solution conditions, representing ΔB = 0, are 0.1 M acetate, 5% (w/v) NaCl, pH 6.0.

On a per-mole basis, the combination of arginine and glutamic acid is more effective at reducing intermolecular attraction (i.e., increasing LYZ B values by 5.98 � 0.43 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ for a combined concentration of 0.2 M) than any single cosolvent in this study. These data support previous findings (54) that the simultaneous addition of arginine and glutamic acid dramatically increases protein solubility and long-term stability up to eightfold. Noting that they were working with poorly soluble proteins, these same researchers speculated that the charged and aliphatic portions of these amino acids were favorably interacting with oppositely charged and hydrophobic portions of the protein surface, respectively. Another study (31), using LYZ in solution conditions more comparable to ours with surface tension measurements, reported that the affinity of charged amino acids for oppositely charged groups on the protein surface is enhanced as electrostatic repulsions are minimized. Drawing from these suggestions, we speculate that our data in Fig. 5 support the theory that both arginine and glutamic acid are masking hydrophobic surface patches, thus stabilizing LYZ against self-association.

Arginine and sucrose were also combined (Fig. 6) to determine the impact of two different types of cosolvents on B. The complexity of this particular two cosolvent system is compounded by the very different nature of their preferential interactions with LYZ. It is known by CD spectroscopy that sucrose stabilizes compact native conformations (29,44) and arginine suppresses aggregation (49-51). The former is preferentially excluded from the protein surface and the latter displays weak binding. The link between the two is that they both decrease LYZ self-interaction by reducing attractive hydrophobic effects. These ideas are key to interpreting the data found in Fig. 6, which show a combined but not completely additive effect of arginine and sucrose on B.

First, consider the individual effects of sucrose on LYZ structure. It has been shown that the tendency toward more compact conformations and reduction of surface hydrophobicity is proportional to sucrose concentration (29). Consistently, SIC data in Figs. 4 and 6 indicate that higher concentrations of sucrose yield larger increases in B. Meanwhile, arginine is small enough to penetrate the sucrose-excluded volume and interact with LYZ. However, the degree of this interaction depends on the presence of hydrophobia side chains on the surface of LYZ, which is now proportional to the sucrose concentration. This would explain why adding 0.05 M arginine to a solution of 0.25 M sucrose and 5% (w/v) NaCl changed B from 4.07 � 0.16 � 10^sup -4^ to 5.46 � 0.16 � 10^sup -4^ (a change of 1.39 � 0.23 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^) and adding 0.05 M arginine to a solution of 0.50 M sucrose and 5% (w/v) NaCl changed B from 6.00 � 0.21 � 10^sup -4^ to 6.28 � 0.17 � 10^sup -4^ (a change of only 0.28 � 0.27 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^). Furthermore, increasing the concentration of arginine from 0.05 M to 0.10 M changed B by only 0.03 � 0.23 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ in the presence of 0.25 M sucrose and only 0.20 � 0.23 � 10^sup -4^ mol mL/g^sup 2^ in the presence of 0.50 M sucrose. This suggests that there is a reduction in the number of hydrophobic patches on the protein surface and, thus, even low arginine concentrations can saturate the surface.

CONCLUSIONS

It appears that SIC is an excellent method for determining B for lysozyme self-interaction as a function of several cosolvents, including sucrose, trehalose, mannitol, glycine, arginine, and combinations of arginine and glutamic acid and arginine and sucrose. All of these cosolvents (including cases of combined cosolvents) lead to increased B, reflecting a reduction of intermolecular attraction. An interesting outcome of this study was that B was most affected by these cosolvents once electrostatic repulsions between lysozyme molecules had been fully suppressed (accomplished here by the addition of 5% (w/v) NaCl). This was not completely unexpected since cosolvent-induced stabilization is mechanistically explained in terms of hydration and excluded volume effects, which are much shorter-range than electrostatic forces.

SIC results agree with comparable SLS measurements, strengthening the validity of this approach to measuring B. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study on the ability of cosolvents to affect the self-interaction, and therefore B value, of a protein. Virtually all previous protein B studies have focused on salting out effects for crystallization purposes. Overall, this work demonstrates that SIC offers an efficient, high-throughput approach to measuring B of proteins in complex solutions. More studies of this nature are needed to fully explore all potential advantages and limitations of this characterization approach as well as to develop a fundamental understanding of protein self-interaction in complex solutions.

[Reference]

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[Author Affiliation]

Joseph J. Valente,* Kusum S. Verma,[dagger] Mark Cornell Manning,[double dagger] W. William Wilson,[dagger] and Charles S. Henry*

* Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; [dagger] Department of Chemistry, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi; and [double dagger] Legacy Biosciences, Loveland, Colorado

[Author Affiliation]

Submitted June 10, 2005, and accepted for publication September 8, 2005.

Address reprint requests to Charles S. Henry, Dept. of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Tel.: 970-491-2852; Fax: 970-491-1801; E-mail: chuck.henry@colostate.edu.

Burrell hits 3-run homer in 8th, Phillies beat Arizona 6-3 and lead NL East into break

Pat Burrell hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-3 to hold their National League East lead heading into the All-Star break on Sunday.

Arizona still leads the NL West, albeit with a 47-48 record.

After starters Brandon Webb and Cole Hamels left after the seventh with the score tied at 2, the Phillies broke away.

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard singled and Burrell followed with his 23rd home run, connecting against Chad Qualls (2-7). Pedro Feliz hit a solo homer one out later.

Chad Tracy homered and Chris Burke had three hits for the Diamondbacks.

Brewers 3, Reds 2

At Milwaukee, CC Sabathia homered in his first NL complete game to help Milwaukee avoid being swept by Cincinnati.

Sabathia hit a home run off Reds starter Homer Bailey in the third, his third career home run and second this season. He became the first pitcher to hit home runs in both leagues in one season since Earl Wilson did it in 1970 for Detroit and San Diego, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Sabathia (2-0) struck out nine batters, all from the fourth inning on. He struck out the side in the ninth.

The game was tied at 2 in the ninth when pinch-hitter Craig Counsell hit a game-winning sacrifice fly for the Brewers.

Giants 4, Cubs 2

At Chicago, Tim Lincecum tossed eight strong innings to hand fellow All-Star Ryan Dempster his first loss at Wrigley Field, leading San Francisco over Chicago.

Dempster (10-4), one of eight Cubs selected for Tuesday's game at Yankee Stadium, entered with a 10-0 record in 11 home starts this season, but was upstaged by another brilliant start by Lincecum (11-2). The Giants right-hander struck out nine, allowed one runs and six hits and also drove in a run with his first career triple.

Ray Durham hit a two-run single in the third and Fred Lewis tripled in a run in the seventh for San Francisco, which ended a six-game losing streak.

Cardinals 11, Pirates 6

At Pittsburgh, Aaron Miles drove in five runs with a home run and a triple and St. Louis held off a Pittsburgh comeback this time.

After Pittsburgh rallied for the second day in a row and took a 6-5 lead on Chris Gomez's two-run double in the sixth, Miles finished St. Louis' four-run, go-ahead seventh with a two-run triple.

Ryan Ludwick added his 21st homer, a solo shot in the eighth that was his third in as many games. Troy Glaus completed a 10-for-13 weekend with a home run.

Astros 5, Nationals 0

At Washington, Brandon Backe pitched seven-plus innings and helped himself with a pair of hits to lead Houston over Washington in a battle of last-place teams.

Backe (6-9) raised his batting average to .345 while lowering his ERA to 4.76. He scored after leading off the third inning with a double, then singled and scored in the seventh.

Ty Wigginton hit his eighth home run of the season and Carlos Lee had three RBIs for the Astros, who took two of three from the Nationals and finished 4-5 on their road trip leading into the break.

The Nationals, who have MLB's worst record and worst offense, were shut out for the 12th time, most in the majors.

Braves 12, Padres 3

At San Diego, All-Star catcher Brian McCann homered and drove in three runs to help Atlanta rout San Diego and win the three-game series.

McCann extended his on-base streak to eight straight. That includes three walks on Saturday and a walk and hit by pitch along with his 3-for-3 on Sunday.

Braves rookie Jorge Campillo tossed six strong innings to even his record at 4-4. He had to leave the game in the top of the seventh when he fouled a pitch off his left foot.

Dodgers 9, Marlins 1

At Los Angeles, Chad Billingsley struck out a career-high 13 without walking a batter and Los Angeles used a six-run first inning to beat Florida, avoiding a four-game sweep.

Billingsley (9-8) allowed a run and five hits over seven innings.

Andrew Miller (5-9) lost his fourth straight decision, allowing seven runs, five hits and a season-high five walks in just 1 2-3 innings.

Study: Human virus threatens mountain gorillas

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A group of researchers said Wednesday they have found that a virus causing deadly respiratory diseases in humans can be passed on to mountain gorillas in Central Africa.

Researchers who spent time in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park said they found traces of Human Metapneumovirus during post-mortem examinations of two gorillas that died in 2009. The two, a mother and a newborn, were in a group of 12 infected gorillas. Researchers could not establish the source of the virus that killed the two gorillas. Human Metapneumovirus can cause severe colds and pneumonia.

There are only 786 mountain gorillas in the wild that live in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The study published Tuesday in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that while gorilla tourism provides revenue for conservation activities, it poses risks of infection.

The study says close genetic similarities between the two — gorillas share approximately 98 percent of their DNA with humans — has led to concerns that the apes may be susceptible to many of the infectious diseases that affect people.

The study says that while mountain gorillas are "immunologically naive and susceptible to infection with human pathogens," most of the focus has been on how diseases affecting apes can be transmitted to humans.

The report says gorillas' existence is threatened by encroachment on their habitat, poaching and infectious diseases. Diseases account for 20 percent of all sudden deaths of the apes.

"The potential for disease transmission between humans and mountain gorillas is of particular concern because over the past 100 years, mountain gorillas have come into increasing contact with humans," researchers said in a statement. "In fact, the national parks where the gorillas are protected in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are surrounded by the densest human populations in continental Africa."

The researchers added: "Also, gorilla tourism, while helping the gorillas survive by funding the national parks that shelter them, brings thousands of people from local communities and around the world into contact with mountain gorillas annually."

The study was conducted by researchers from the nonprofit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, the Wildlife Health Center at the University of California, Davis, the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University and the Rwanda Development Board.

US forces say 2 American service members killed in an attack in southern ...

US forces say 2 American service members killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan.

Skeleton World Championships Results

Results Saturday from the world skeleton championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg (heat times in parentheses):

Men

1. Gregor Staehli, Switzerland, 2 minutes, 46.58 seconds (56.16-55.33-55.09).

2. Adam Pengilly, Britain, 2:46.93 (56.92-55.23-54.78).

3. Alexander Tretiakov, Russia, 2:47.09 (56.25-55.23-55.61).

4. Jon Montgomery, Canada, 2:47.13 (56.19-55.33-55.61).

5. Michi Halilovic,Germany, 2:47.17 (56.81-55.28-55.08).

6. Sandro Stielicke, Germany, 2:47.26 (56.80-55.12-55.34).

7. Eric Bernotas, United States, 2:47.34 (56.60-55.54-55.20).

8. Jeff Pain, Canada, 2:47.43 (56.44-55.54-55.45).

9. Matthew Antoine, United States, 2:47.45 (56.45-55.43-55.57).

10. Zach Lund, United States, 2:47.62 (56.78-55.40-55.44).

Monday, March 12, 2012

Premji's other baby ; Away from the arclights, Wipro's Consumer Care & Lighting division is expanding its market share and challenging the established players in the business.

When Godrej relaunched its flagship soap brand, Cinthol, in March2008, with a Hrithik Roshan commercial, the Bollywood star said inan interview that the ad film was bigger than Dhoom 2 there was, hesaid, more action in the ad than in the film. Well, it could nothave been less. India's Rs 6,750-crore toilet soap market, growingat 10 per cent per annum in value terms, is full of suspense andaction. Last year, ITC unnerved the entrenched players with itsFiama Di Wills, Vivel Di Wills and Superia range of personal careproducts; and, Wipro's Santoor dislodged Godrej No.1 to take thirdplace, in value terms, with a 7.6 per cent share of the market.

It would have raised few hackles if Wipro's advance had stoppedthere. But it is moving ever closer to #2 Godrej Consumer Products(GCPL) in overall market share in toilet soaps as well. At 9.2 percent, the Mumbai-based Godrej is less than a percentage point aheadof Wipro's share of 8.3 per cent.

Powered by Santoor

Santoor, which accounts for 40 per cent of Wipro Consmer Care & Lighting (WCCL's) revenues, is clearly leading the charge. Thedivision has grown at 25 per cent-plus for the last nine quartersand 27.7 per cent last year, far in excess of the industry averageof 13-16 per cent. Its Indian business alone has reported acompounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 per cent over the lastfour years.

If UNZA, one of South East Asia's leading personal carecompanies, which Wipro acquired in August 2007 for Rs 1,010 crore,is included, then the fourth quarter numbers look even moreformidable: revenues of Rs 1,521 crore and PBIT of Rs 190 crore forthe year ended March 31, 2008. The UNZA acqusition has put us intoa new league altogether we have grown from being a Rs 1,000-crorebusiness to a Rs 2,000-crore business, says Vineet Agrawal,President, WCCL.Not surprisingly, Agrawal and his team are weavingall their strategies around Santoor. We are looking at ways toincrease the equity of Santoor beyond soaps and into the broaderpersonal care space. We will soon introduce more Santoor products, says Anil Chugh, Senior Vice President, WCCL. On the anvil are araft of skincare products under Santoor umbrella like Santoorhandwash, Santoor talcum powder and Santoor face wash.

The UNZA advantage

Then, it has already launched premium UNZA products likeperfumes, body mist sprays, hand and body lotions and deo roll-onsunder the Enchanteur brand in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhiand Mumbai. We plan to launch other UNZA products at the premiumend of the market in due course, says Chugh.

These products already command huge market shares in Malaysia,Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and some countries in West Asia. UNZAgives WCCL a readymade basket of personal care products that arealready popular in several countries. Then, their presence acrossthe mid to premium segment will allow WCCL to expand rapidly withinIndia, says Ashok Jainani, Head (Research), Khandwala Securities, aMumbaibased broking firm.

The growth conundrum

A glance at The Nielsen Company data reveals the market fortoilet soaps was flat last year at 548,000 tonnes, but still grew9.6 per cent in value terms, owing to better realisations. But inputcosts have risen faster. Vegetable oil prices have risen 45 percent over the last year, and total costs have gone up 25 per cent ifall inputs are considered, but we have raised the price of Santoorby 14 per cent only, says Agrawal.

Despite this, WCCL has been able to protect its operating marginat 12-13 per cent. We could do it because our Six Sigma qualityprogrammes have improved efficiency and also because we have beenable to control our overheads. Then, we are investing in brands toensure that our top line grows faster than the industry, saysAgrawal. But storm clouds are gathering on the horizon. Consumerconfidence in India is dipping, and the latest Nielsen GlobalConsumer Confidence Index reveals that 42 per cent of respondentsfeel that a recession may be around the corner.Wipro admits thatthis could impact its plans. Any slowdown in economic growth ratesor saturation of urban demand coupled with a volatile monsoon couldhamper our ability to grow and maintain profitability, its annualreport for 2007-08 says.

What Wipro gains from UNZAUNZA operates with 48 brands, in 15different categories in 36 countries. Wipro can have ready access tothem.Wipro now can address larger consumer base; If China is takenout, then the GDP of rest of the countries where UNZA operatesbecomes equal to India's GDP.UNZA has experience in managing moderntrade (organised retail) in advanced countries. This will help Wiproto strengthen its relationship with fast growing modern trade inIndia. With combined Wipro-UNZA revenues, Wipro figures among top 10FMCG companies in India and among top three Indian FMCG companies.

Wipro products

Santoor toilet soaps, talcs, face wash and fairness cream, WiproBaby Soft, Wipro Shikakai, Chandrika, Wipro Safewash, WiproSanjeevani, Wipro Honey, Glucovita etc.

UNZA products in India

Enchanteur and Romano shower foam, hair care, body care and malefragrances

Says Jainani of Khandwala Securities: None of the soapmanufacturers will do very well in the coming year, particularly inview of ITC's aggressive foray into this market at various pricepoints. ITC's financial muscle will make it difficult for thesmaller players to grow. This makes us believe that it will be toughfor Wipro to make Santoor the #2 brand.

Then, Indian consumers are also very price-sensitive. The Indianskincare market holds great promise for personal care players. Butthe key to long-term success will be product and packaginginnovation, the ability to keep costs down, a well-oileddistribution channel and the ability to cater to the needs ofIndia's discerning consumers, says N.V. Sivakumar, ExecutiveDirector & Leader, Retail & Consumer Industry, at consultancymajor PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Market leader Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is growing the market byreaching out to customers not touched by the establisheddistribution system. We reach over 100 million rural consumersthrough Project Shakti and by 2010, we expect to reach over 600million of them. This will give us enormous competitive advantageand growth potential, says an HUL spokesperson. WCCL is equallyconfident. Our distribution reach has gone up, especially in ruralareas, and we are reaching more than 1.4 million outlets.Then, ouradvertising is creating a menting our distribution reach, saysAgrawal. Independent studies suggest that the Indian skincare marketis worth over Rs 4,000 crore and is growing at over 15-20 per centannually. It is estimated that the market will be worth Rs 5,880-6,720 crore by 2011. Sivakumar notes that India's per capitaconsumption of cosmetics and toiletries, at Rs 27.20 per annum, islower than those of most other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Cool lighting

A leading player in commercial and industrial lighting, Wipro'slighting division was set up in 1992. It claims to be thesecondlargest player, next only to Philips, in segments such ascommercial lighting. A leading player in institutional lighting inspecified segments like software, pharma and retail, the divisionalso serves retail consumers and offers lighting solutions acrossvarious application areas. The division says it offers lightingsolutions for people and not buildings, and prides itself on its brightness management solutions .

Lighting was a technical issue earlier, rather than one whichaffected people. We changed that, says Rajesh Kochhar, ChiefExecutive, Wipro Lighting. The division turned aggressive ininnovation and marketing seven years ago and is upbeat about thegreen movement in lighting, which it successfully spearheaded inIndia. Out of 19 certified green buildings in India, the lighting in13 is done by Wipro. In a market that is estimated to be growing at22-25 per cent, the lighting division reported growth of 36 per centlast year, and accounted for 18 per cent of the Consumer Caresegment's revenue last year.

The division functions out of Pune, and has 18 offices all overIndia.

Products: Softlite; Fusion; Ideos; Solariz; Platina; Platinum;Crescent; Float; Rumbuzz; Solsoft etc.

KPMG India's Manager (Strategic and Commercial IntelligenceTransaction) C. Ravishankar adds: A walk down the aisles of asupermarket in South East Asia will reveal a host of productcategories that have barely penetrated the Indian market. Those areexactly the sub-segments that ITC has targeted. I agree it is aformidable player and has a good distribution network. But so far,it has not really impacted us too much. I'm confident that we willprotect our market share and continue to grow, says Agrawal.

A quiver full of arrowsHis confidence stems partially from theperformance of two other divisions WCCL's commercial & institutional lighting division and its three-year-old modularfurniture business that have been growing at a fast clip. The Wiproteam often markets the offerings from these two divisions as part ofa package deal. Office lighting and furniture complement each otherand are critical for ambience creation, says Parag Kulkarni, VicePresident, Furniture Business, WCCL, adding: Wipro's decentralisedpresence and wide network of third-party furniture manufacturers cutlead time for delivery, and has given us a leg-up over thecompetition.

Last year, revenues from the furniture and lighting businessesgrew 40 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively. We do lighting forpeople, not for buildings, and we're setting standards in lightingwith major innovations, says Rajesh Kochhar, Chief Executive, WiproLighting. The team is particularly proud that two of every threecertified green buildings in India use Wipro lighting solutions.

Overall, WCCL has hit a sweet spot in personal care, in lightingand in the furniture business. The synergies between Wipro andUNZA, and between its lighting and furniture divisions, are hugefactors in favour of WCCL. We feel that if WCCL is de-merged fromits parent entity, it will unlock massive value, says Jainani.

That's a suggestion Wipro Chairman Azim Premji cannot brush asidewithout deep consideration.

Buzz building about Marlins slugger Mike Stanton

MIAMI (AP) — Sitting in the visitors' dugout one afternoon last September, Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel watched rain fall as he gushed about the Florida Marlins' precocious slugger, Mike Stanton.

"He's one of the best young hitters I've seen come along," Manuel said. "The ball really jumps off his bat. He's as strong as anybody I've ever seen."

Manuel went on like that for 15 minutes. Eventually the rain stopped, the game began and Stanton struck out four times.

Oh well; no one ever claimed Stanton would get a hit every time up. But there's a buzz building about the 21-year-old right fielder, whose propensity for prodigious homers is — dare we say it? — Ruthian. Or Mantlesque.

Or at least Pujols-ish.

"It makes BP-watching a lot more fun," teammate Gaby Sanchez said. "We're catching our groundballs and Mike will come up, and you're like, 'Hold on a sec. I don't want to miss this.'"

Stanton was called up from Double-A to make his big-league debut last June. His first home run was a grand slam, and in 100 games hit 22 homers, several of the tape-measure variety. He batted .259, including .312 with eight homers in the final month of the season, giving the Marlins reason to believe they're set in the cleanup spot for however long they can afford Stanton.

Others agree. One national publication even predicted he'll be this year's National League MVP.

"He's got awesome power," said Marlins special adviser Jack McKeon, not one for hyperbole. "With a little maturity and better pitch recognition, he's going to be something special."

Some sluggers make the ball sound different off their bat. Hall of Famer Tony Perez, a Marlins executive, said Stanton's bat sounds different even before he makes contact.

"When you're around the cage when he hits BP, you can hear the bat: "Sssswwwwhhhhh,'" Perez said. "It's bat speed. Only a few players have that."

Then there's the flight of the ball. Many of Stanton's homers leave a lasting impressive, such as the shot he launched last week that dented a video scoreboard 40 feet beyond the left-center field wall at the Marlins' spring training ballpark.

A right-handed hitter, he made upper-deck drives in batting practice commonplace last season, and cleared a building beyond center field during the first week of spring training in February. Mark McGwire cleared that same building in 1998, the year he hit 70 home runs.

"When a guy hits a ball that far, it doesn't matter how many times you see it, it still has that little wow factor," Sanchez said. "I can watch Stanton do it for the next 10 years and it's still going to be, 'Golly, that's unbelievable.'"

Stanton said he's not trying for tape-measure homers and is satisfied with clearing the fence.

"It's all worth the same," he said. "The length is for the fans. I don't care; otherwise I would be trying to do it every single pitch. It's not good to try to hit it farther and farther and farther. I figured that out once I got to professional ball. You need a sense of discipline."

Even so, when spring training began, Stanton came out swinging. In the first game, he homered on the first pitch he saw. Then he strained his right quadriceps in the next inning and was sidelined several weeks.

His first game back, he homered twice and drove in seven runs.

"Unbelievable," said 2009 NL batting champion Hanley Ramirez, who's glad to have Stanton batting behind him this season — and perhaps for years to come.

The Marlins promoted Stanton to the cleanup spot this spring even though he never hit fourth last year and seldom did in the minors.

"I've hit third or fifth or sixth," he said. "I'll be in bigger situations a lot more often, and I'll be ready to step up and take care of business. Otherwise the spot's not going to be mine for long."

At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, he looks the part. And with an appetite that leaves teammates in awe, he's still growing.

New Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, fired as the Marlins' manager last June, watched Stanton make the climb through the minors. They crossed paths again during spring training.

"I ran into him, and oh my goodness — he has put on another 10 pounds of muscle," Gonzalez said. "Holy cow. I guess that's what maturity does. Or reaching puberty."

Yes, Stanton's still a youngster, and he's still learning when not to swing. He struck out 123 times last season and endured an 0-for-31 slump in August. In 324 minor-league games, he had 371 strikeouts.

But when he connects, the ball can go a long way. He hits homers to the opposite field; he hits line-drive homers; hit hits homers with plenty of hang time.

"It reminds me of when Miguel Cabrera came up," Perez said. "Miguel came up from Double-A the same way at the same age. He turned out to be a pretty good player. Mike has the same potential to be a great player."

And so the buzz builds — but slowly. After all, Stanton's on a team often overlooked and playing in front of 65,000 empty seats.

The Californian said he was recognized by strangers only once or twice during the offseason. But his jersey is starting to sell in souvenir shops, which he finds amazing.

"It still blows my mind that I'm even in the majors," he said. "You dream about this all your life, and you're living it. It's surreal sometimes."

The Marlins are certain Stanton's for real. They figure any hitter who can dent a scoreboard is going to have a big impact on the score.

___

AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

Lawmakers Warn FBI Over Spy Power Abuse

WASHINGTON - Republicans and Democrats alike sternly warned the FBI on Tuesday that it risks losing its broad power to collect telephone, e-mail and financial records to hunt terrorists because of rampant abuses of the authority.

The threats were the latest blow to the embattled Justice Department and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is already on the defensive and fighting to keep his job over the firings of federal prosecutors.

The warnings came as the department's chief watchdog, inspector general Glenn A. Fine, told the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI engaged in widespread and serious misuse of its authority to issue national security letters, which resulted in illegally collecting data from Americans and foreigners.

If the FBI doesn't move swiftly to correct the mistakes and problems revealed last week in Fine's 130-page report, "you probably won't have NSL authority," said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., a supporter of the power, referring to the data requests by their initials.

"I hope that this would be a lesson to the FBI that they can't get away with this and expect to maintain public support for the tools that they need to combat terrorism," said Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the former Judiciary chairman, who called the abuses "a gross overreach."

"Let this be a warning," Sensenbrenner said.

Fine, who called the problems he uncovered inexcusable, said he did not believe they were intentional. Most involved information that could have been legally obtained if proper procedures had been followed, he said.

"We believe the misuses and the problems we found generally were the product of mistakes, carelessness, confusion, sloppiness, lack of training, lack of adequate guidance, and lack of adequate oversight," Fine said.

Still, the FBI's failure to control and monitor how it collected the information constituted "serious and unacceptable" lapses, Fine told the committee. He was to appear Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary panel.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., called the abuses part of a disturbing pattern of misconduct at the Justice Department.

"This was a serious breach of trust," Conyers said. "The department had converted this tool into a handy shortcut to illegally gather vast amounts of private information while at the same time significantly underreporting its activities to Congress."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Congress should revise the USA Patriot Act, which substantially loosened controls over the letters.

"We do not trust government always to be run by angels, especially not this administration," Nadler said. "It is not enough to mandate that the FBI fix internal management problems and record keeping, because the statute itself authorizes the unchecked collection of information on innocent Americans."

Valerie Caproni, the FBI's general counsel, testified that steps were already being taken to rectify the problems, which she called "a colossal failure on our part."

"We're going to have to work to get the trust of this committee back, and we know that's what we have to do, and we're going to do it," Caproni said.

That did little to appease lawmakers who said they had fought hard to give the Justice Department wide latitude to chase terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"From the attorney general on down, you should be ashamed of yourself," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. "We stretched to try to give you the tools necessary to make America safe, and it is very, very clear that you've abused that trust."

Some Republicans, however, said the FBI's expanded spying powers were vital to tracking terrorists.

"The problem is enforcement of the law, not the law itself," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the panel's senior GOP member. "We need to be vigilant to make sure these problems are fixed."

Both Caproni and Fine said national security letters were an indispensable tool in terrorism investigations.

In a review of headquarters files and a sampling of just four of the FBI's 56 field offices, Fine found 48 violations of law or presidential directives from 2003 through 2005, including failure to get proper authorization, making improper requests and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records. He estimated that many violations hadn't been found or reported.

The bureau has launched an audit of all 56 field offices to determine the full extent of the problem. Members of the Senate panel will likely demand answers about the matter from FBI Director Robert Mueller at a broader hearing next week.

In 1986, Congress first authorized FBI agents to obtain electronic records without approval from a judge using national security letters. In 2001, the Patriot Act eliminated any requirement that the records belong to someone under suspicion. Now an innocent person's records can be obtained if FBI agents consider them merely relevant to an ongoing terrorism or spying investigation.

Fine's review, authorized by Congress over Bush administration objections, found that the number of national security letters requested by the FBI skyrocketed after the Patriot Act became law.

He also found more than 700 cases in which FBI agents obtained telephone records through "exigent letters" which asserted that grand jury subpoenas had been requested for the data, when in fact such subpoenas never been sought. He called those instances "the most troubling aspect of this."

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On the Net:

Department of Justice: http://www.usdoj.gov

House Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.house.gov/