CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's state news agency says the Gaza Strip's Hamas ruler has met with Egypt's intelligence chief to discuss Palestinian reconciliation and the cease-fire between the militant group and Israel.
Ismail Haniyeh's met with Rafaat Shehata on Sunday, a day after arriving in Egypt. Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi mediated a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel last year.
Relations between Egypt and Hamas are high on the agenda. Hamas, a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood ? the group from which Morsi hails ? has come under attack by some in Egypt who accuse it of harboring militants that operate in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is also in Egypt, where the group is expected to choose its next leader. Mashaal is a top candidate for the post.
The satisfaction of biting into a piece of perfectly crispy fried chicken is matched only by some cooks' fear of deep frying. After all, it requires a large pot of hot, bubbling oil sitting on your stove, ready to dole out third degree burns, or soggy chicken (or both!) at will. By monitoring the temperature of your oil and following a few easy guidelines, however, you too can fry chicken?or green beans, or fritters?at home with confidence and ease.
Listen Up: Fried Foods May Not Be as Terrible as You Think
Yes, frying adds fat to your food. But it likely doesn't add as much as you would expect. Cook's Illustrated conducted a test where they fried chicken in 3 cups of oil, and then poured off almost 3 cups of oil after all the chicken was cooked?meaning that very little was actually absorbed by the chicken itself. As long as you're keeping your oil hot enough?high heat ensures that the water in your food will boil, evaporate, and keep oil from seeping in?your food won't get overly soggy or greasy.
Choose Your Oil Wisely
Neutral oil is best for frying, because it won't impart its flavor on whatever you drop into it. Refined peanut oil is preferred by many master fryers for its neutral taste, high smoke point, and low levels of saturated fats. Canola oil is another good option?you can even use olive oil if you're cooking at a low enough temperature, as in this recipe for tiny, crispy purple artichokes. Intrigued? Check out our post on oils and their varying smoke points for more information.
Solid fats, namely lard, are lauded by some for their ability to produce the perfect crisp fried chicken?see Pete Wells' treatise on rendered pig fat?but procuring enough lard to fill a large pot may require buying your own farm. We'll leave the decision up to you.
Equip Yourself
Success in the kitchen means arming yourself with the right tools, and frying is no different. A heavy-bottomed pot or deep saut? pan is the most traditional choice, but Serious Eats has discovered that woks make great vessels for deep frying, too. To make sure you're frying your oil at the right temperature, a clip-on thermometer is your best bet.
Don't have a thermometer? No problem. Oil that's ready for frying will bubble around the stick end of a wooden spoon when it's inserted. Alternatively, a piece of dried popcorn will pop in hot oil somewhere between 325 and 350 degrees?and will give you something to snack on while you cook.
Get Your Temperature Just Right
Once you add food to your hot oil, the temperature will drop?therefore, you'll want to get it hot before cooking. Recipes may vary, but you'll want to preheat your oil to somewhere between 325 and 375 degrees. During cooking, you should aim to keep it between 250 and 325 degrees. Keeping your oil hot enough?but not too hot?will ensure crispy, golden, never-soggy results.
If your oil begins to smoke, you know it's too hot. This can impart bad flavor on your food, so if you see smoke, remove your pan from the heat carefully.
Beware of Crowding
Frying in large batches will cause the temperature of your oil to drop too low, resulting in a less crispy (and, therefore, less delicious) finished product. Fry in small batches, and be sure to stir while cooking?this will fry your food more evenly. Frozen food should be cooked in very small batches in order to keep cooking temperatures level. Between batches, keep your oil clean by scooping out any pieces of food left behind.
Don't Forget to Drain and Season
Once your food is done, drain on a paper towel-lined plate; this will absorb more oil than draining it on a wire rack. And be sure to season your food immediately?after all, what is fried food without salt?
Steer Clear of the Burn Unit
One of the biggest deterrents to deep frying is the fear of hot oil splashing all over your kitchen and your self. Armed with confidence and a few tips up your sleeve, you can keep your skin intact and your food crispy. While it's tempting to throw your food into the pot from afar to maximize the distance between yourself and the bubbling oil, this will actually increase the likelihood of splashing. Food dropped in from a short distance?either by a fearless hand close to the oil's surface or a slotted spoon or bamboo strainer?won't cause as much of a disturbance.
Dispose of Your Oil Properly
Don't want to pour hot oil down the sink? (You shouldn't.) Save your oil bottles, let your oil cool after you're done cooking, and pour it back into the bottles with a funnel. Seal them tightly and toss them in the trash.
...or Don't Toss Them
If you're looking to conserve money and oil, you can safely store used oil for a few weeks after its first use. Be sure to strain out any lingering pieces of food?a fine mesh strainer is great for this. To keep your oil from smelling stale or fishy, keep it in as dark and as cold of a place as you can find. Cook's Illustrated suggests keeping your used oil in a very dark, very cold freezer for up to two months.
Ready to get frying? Try you hand with these recipes from Food52:
Baby Purple Artichokes Fried in Olive Oil
Rosemary-Brined, Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Deep Frying Without Fear Food52
Marian Bull is an editor at Food52. She takes any chance she gets to travel, explore, and eat. Coffee is the most anticipated part of her day. She expresses affection by feeding people. And she loves vegetables, especially chocolate.
Apple's ring-shaped, gleaming "Spaceship Headquarters" will include a world class auditorium and an orchard for engineers to wander. Google's new Bay View campus will feature walkways angled to force accidental encounters. Facebook, while putting final touches on a Disney-inspired campus including a Main Street with a B-B-Q shack, sushi house and bike shop, is already planning an even larger, more exciting new campus.
More than ever before, Silicon Valley firms want their workers at work.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has gone so far as to ban working from home, and many more offer prodigious incentives for coming in to the office, such as free meals, massages and gyms.
This spring, as the tech industry is soaring out of the Great Recession, plans are in the works for a flurry of massive, perk-laden headquarters.
"We're seeing the mature technology companies trying to energize their work environments, getting rid of cube farms and investing in facilities to compete for talent," said Kevin Schaeffer, a principal at architecture and design firm Gensler in San Jose. "That's caused a huge transition in the way offices are laid out."
New Silicon Valley headquarters or expansions are under way at most of the area's major firms, including eBay, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia and Oracle. Many will be huge: Apple Corp.'s 176-acre campus will be one of the world's largest workplaces. On the outside, many of the new buildings boast striking architectural designs and will collectively be among the most environmentally friendly in the country. Inside, there are walls you can draw on, ping pong tables, Lego stations, gaming arcades and free haircuts.
Critics say that while some workplace perks and benefits are a good thing, the large, multibillion dollar corporate headquarters are colossal wastes of money that snub the pioneering technology these firms actually create.
"Companies led by older management tend to be very controlling, but when I look at people in the 20s or 30s, they're totally capable of working on their own and being productive," said Kevin Wheeler, whose Future of Talent Institute researches and consults on human resources for Silicon Valley businesses. "To have artificial structures that require everybody to be in the office at certain hours of the day is simply asinine."
Wheeler said he thinks Yahoo called everyone back to work "because they had gotten into a culture of laziness," and that the firm will likely loosen the restrictions soon.
Yahoo was, in fact, an early model of Silicon Valley's happy workplace culture, touting their espresso bar and inspirational speakers as a method of inspiring passion and originality. Today yoga, cardio-kickboxing and golf classes at the office, as well as discounts to ski resorts and theme parks, help it receive top ratings as one of America's happiest workplaces.
Companies say extraordinary campuses are necessary to recruit and retain top talent and to spark innovation and creativity.
And there are business benefits and financial results for companies that keep their workers happy. The publicly traded 100 Best Companies To Work For in America consistently outperform major stock indices and have more qualified job applicants and higher productivity, according to the San Francisco-based Great Place to Work Institute. That may not always be obvious, however.
"People do work really, really hard here," Facebook spokesman Slater Tow said as an engineer glided past a row of second floor conference rooms on a skateboard. "They have to be passionate about what they do. If they're not, we would rather someone who is."
He points out the Jumbotron frame for outdoor movies, the Nacho Royale taqueria, a bank branch with tellers standing by, an artist in residence. Traditional benefits are part of the Silicon Valley packages as well. Facebook offers free train passes, a shuttle to work, a month of paid vacation, full health care and stock options.
Facebook staffers are welcome to stop by and play in Ben Barry's Analog Research Laboratory, a large, sunlit studio with laser cutters, woodworking tools, a letter press machine and silk screening supplies.
"I believe if people feel they can control their environment, that leads to a greater sense of ownership over the product," says Barry, who makes posters for the campus walls with mantras like "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" and "Move fast and break things."
About six miles north at Google's headquarters, workers on one of more than 1,000 Google-designed bikes rolled from one building to another. Others stepped into electric cars, available for free check outs if someone has an errand. In one office, two young engineers enjoyed a beer and shot pool.
Google doesn't want its Googlers to have to worry about distractions in their life.
Concerned about the kids? Childcare is on campus. Need to shop and cook? Have the family dine at Google. Dirty laundry piling up? Bring it in to the office. Bring Fido too, so he doesn't get lonely. There's a climbing wall, nap pods (lay down in the capsule, set the alarm, zzzzz), a bowling alley, multiple gyms, a variety of healthy cafes, mini kitchens, and classes on anything from American Sign Language to Public Speaking. In a shared, community garden, Googlers plant seeds, knowing that if they get too busy, a landscaper will pull their weeds.
The company has no policy requiring people to be at work. But officials say Googlers want to come in.
"We work hard to create the healthiest, happiest and most productive work environments possible that inspire collaboration and innovation," said spokeswoman Katelin Todhunter-Gerberg.
Wheeler says the mega-complexes being built today will be hard to staff 10 years from now, and that the next era will see smaller workplaces where employers are responsible for meeting achievements and objectives, and have flexibility about when they come in to their office.
"When you look at how some of these companies operate, they're in effect, sweat shops. ... They want 80, 90, 100 hours of work. In order to even make that tolerable, of course you have to offer haircuts and food and places to sleep or else people would have to go home," he said.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Apr. 1, 2013 ? California sagebrush in the southern part of the state will adjust better to climate change than sagebrush populations in the north, according to UC Irvine researchers in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology affiliated with the Center for Environmental Biology.
The results of their study, which appears online in Global Change Biology, will assist land management and policy decisions concerning coastal sage scrub restoration.
California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), also known as "cowboy cologne," is the fragrant gray-green shrub that once filled area ranch land. It's found on coastal hillsides for more than 400 miles along California's Pacific coast. Only about 10 percent of its original habitat remains -- the rest having been converted to human use -- and is home to a number of endangered species, including the California gnatcatcher, which depend on plants like sagebrush.
In their study, Jessica Pratt and Kailen Mooney transplanted sagebrush from sites up and down the California coast to a test garden near UC Irvine to see which shrubs were best able to withstand particular environmental challenges. They measured the differences in plant traits and responses to experimentally altered precipitation.
The researchers found that populations from southern sites, with historically variable rainfall amounts, adjusted with greater ease to altered precipitation than did populations from the historically invariant north. Accordingly, they asserted, reaction to climate change will differ across this species's range, with southern populations adapting more readily to future conditions.
"For instance, sagebrush from San Diego stretches, where precipitation varies substantially from year to year, were better able to respond to changes in precipitation than those from the San Francisco area," said Mooney, an assistant professor of ecology & evolutionary biology.
He and Pratt also analyzed long-term climate data from along the California coast and discovered that year-to-year variability in rainfall has been increasing.
Taken together, these findings suggest that it might be prudent to plant Southern California sagebrush on Northern California hillsides to compensate for this heightened fluctuation in precipitation.
Taxpayers and private donors currently spend millions trying to properly manage the remnants of coastal sage scrub and other diverse habitats that remain on public and private land. Pratt and Mooney hope to determine which strategies are most effective for the least cost.
"This work addresses basic issues in ecology in an applied framework that will be immediately useful in informing land management and policy decisions for coastal sage scrub restoration," said Pratt, a Ph.D. candidate in ecology & evolutionary biology. "Understanding the responses of important species to environmental change -- and how those responses scale up to affect other species -- will help us predict and mitigate the impacts."
The study received support from the Newkirk Center for Science & Society, the UC Irvine Graduate Division (through a 2011-12 Public Impact Fellowship), the Orange County Association of Environmental Professionals, the Newport Bay Conservancy and the Lake Forest Garden Club, as well as grants from the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Center for Environmental Biology at UC Irvine links academic research and education with ecosystem management, stewardship of natural resources and sustainability efforts throughout Southern California.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Irvine.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Jessica D. Pratt, Kailen A. Mooney. Clinal adaptation and adaptive plasticity inArtemisia californica: Implications for the response of a foundation species to predicted climate change. Global Change Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12199
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Contact: Toni Baker tbaker@gru.edu 706-721-4421 Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University
AUGUSTA, Ga. A new study will help determine if an antibiotic is a partial antidote for the poisonous effect blood has on the brain following a hemorrhagic stroke, researchers say.
They want to know if minocycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, can reduce high rates of disability from this comparatively rare stroke type characterized by spontaneous bleeds into the brain, said Dr. Jeffrey A. Switzer, stroke specialist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.
"We hope that, given early, minocycline can help reduce the damage of a type of stroke for which there is currently no proven therapy," Switzer said. He is principal investigator on an American Heart Association grant funding a trial enrolling 24 patients over two years, half of whom will get minocycline.
Dr. David Hess, Chair of the MCG Department of Neurology, and Dr. Susan C. Fagan, Assistant Dean of the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, have shown minocycline is safe and potentially effective at combating some collateral damage of the more common clot-based strokes.
In a follow-up analysis, minocycline also appeared to reduce the inflammation that follows the initial stroke as well as levels of matrix metalloproteinases, or MMPs, a family of enzymes that destroys the basement membrane of blood vessels, making rupture more likely.
Elevated levels of MMPs and inflammatory cells have been found in the blood of both kinds of stroke patients and high levels correlate with poor outcomes. Minocycline also is known as a powerful collector of iron, a vital blood component that helps transport oxygen inside blood vessels but poisons brain tissue upon direct contact.
Switzer hopes minocycline will reduce levels of all three in hemorrhagic stroke, reducing bleeding and the size and impact of the stroke. Nearly 40 percent of hemorrhagic strokes increase in size during the first 24 hours. Most of the growth occurs within the first few hours, so timely intervention could reduce brain tissue loss, he said.
In fact, if minocycline proves safe in hemorrhagic strokes, the researchers believe the best place to give it would be in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Minocycline may be able to expand the window during which the clot buster tPA can be given to ischemic stroke patients. Switzer and his colleagues have first-hand experience that the earlier the better with stroke intervention. "If we could give something in the field before we can confirm the type of stroke because we know it's safe for both, that would be a novel strategy to help patients," he said.
For the study, they will use computerized tomography, or CT, to confirm a hemorrhagic stroke then get baseline assessments of blood levels of agents of interest, such as MMPs, as well as the patient's cognitive and physical abilities before giving the first dose of minocycline intravenously. Subsequent doses will be given orally, if the patient can swallow, over the next four days. Measures of outcomes and biomarkers will be reassessed at 24 hours, seven days or at time of hospital discharge and again at 90 days post-stroke.
They hope that decreasing blood levels of MMPs will serve as an indicator of how well the therapy works.
Risk factors for hemorrhagic stroke include uncontrolled hypertension; use of older blood thinners commonly prescribed for conditions such as heart disease and clots in the legs; and amyloid angiopathy, a deposit of Alzheimer's-like plaque that weakens the walls of blood vessels on the brain surface, typically in older individuals.
In addition to the substances in the blood that do harm, the physical mass created by bleeding causes damage. "It's tearing and pushing on structures in the brain and can cause a shifting of tissue that can be fatal in the closed chamber of the skull," Switzer said. "However, for those with smaller bleeds, better treatments, such as perhaps minocycline, are needed to combat the toxic effects of blood on brain tissue."
###
For more information, contact Clinical Research Assistant Brian Close at 706-721-2675.
[ | 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.
Contact: Toni Baker tbaker@gru.edu 706-721-4421 Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University
AUGUSTA, Ga. A new study will help determine if an antibiotic is a partial antidote for the poisonous effect blood has on the brain following a hemorrhagic stroke, researchers say.
They want to know if minocycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, can reduce high rates of disability from this comparatively rare stroke type characterized by spontaneous bleeds into the brain, said Dr. Jeffrey A. Switzer, stroke specialist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.
"We hope that, given early, minocycline can help reduce the damage of a type of stroke for which there is currently no proven therapy," Switzer said. He is principal investigator on an American Heart Association grant funding a trial enrolling 24 patients over two years, half of whom will get minocycline.
Dr. David Hess, Chair of the MCG Department of Neurology, and Dr. Susan C. Fagan, Assistant Dean of the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, have shown minocycline is safe and potentially effective at combating some collateral damage of the more common clot-based strokes.
In a follow-up analysis, minocycline also appeared to reduce the inflammation that follows the initial stroke as well as levels of matrix metalloproteinases, or MMPs, a family of enzymes that destroys the basement membrane of blood vessels, making rupture more likely.
Elevated levels of MMPs and inflammatory cells have been found in the blood of both kinds of stroke patients and high levels correlate with poor outcomes. Minocycline also is known as a powerful collector of iron, a vital blood component that helps transport oxygen inside blood vessels but poisons brain tissue upon direct contact.
Switzer hopes minocycline will reduce levels of all three in hemorrhagic stroke, reducing bleeding and the size and impact of the stroke. Nearly 40 percent of hemorrhagic strokes increase in size during the first 24 hours. Most of the growth occurs within the first few hours, so timely intervention could reduce brain tissue loss, he said.
In fact, if minocycline proves safe in hemorrhagic strokes, the researchers believe the best place to give it would be in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Minocycline may be able to expand the window during which the clot buster tPA can be given to ischemic stroke patients. Switzer and his colleagues have first-hand experience that the earlier the better with stroke intervention. "If we could give something in the field before we can confirm the type of stroke because we know it's safe for both, that would be a novel strategy to help patients," he said.
For the study, they will use computerized tomography, or CT, to confirm a hemorrhagic stroke then get baseline assessments of blood levels of agents of interest, such as MMPs, as well as the patient's cognitive and physical abilities before giving the first dose of minocycline intravenously. Subsequent doses will be given orally, if the patient can swallow, over the next four days. Measures of outcomes and biomarkers will be reassessed at 24 hours, seven days or at time of hospital discharge and again at 90 days post-stroke.
They hope that decreasing blood levels of MMPs will serve as an indicator of how well the therapy works.
Risk factors for hemorrhagic stroke include uncontrolled hypertension; use of older blood thinners commonly prescribed for conditions such as heart disease and clots in the legs; and amyloid angiopathy, a deposit of Alzheimer's-like plaque that weakens the walls of blood vessels on the brain surface, typically in older individuals.
In addition to the substances in the blood that do harm, the physical mass created by bleeding causes damage. "It's tearing and pushing on structures in the brain and can cause a shifting of tissue that can be fatal in the closed chamber of the skull," Switzer said. "However, for those with smaller bleeds, better treatments, such as perhaps minocycline, are needed to combat the toxic effects of blood on brain tissue."
###
For more information, contact Clinical Research Assistant Brian Close at 706-721-2675.
[ | 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.
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I have eight years experience of mostly lender work in FL and I am considering a move to LA. The states do not have reciprocity so a new CA will cost $ and take time. How long will it take for lenders to consider me geographically competent in my new area? I feel that with MLS access, many calls to other appraisers and Realtors, and driving around town I can be up to speed quickly but I wonder if some clients will require residency of a certain length of time before they will feel the same.
The satisfaction of biting into a piece of perfectly crispy fried chicken is matched only by some cooks' fear of deep frying. After all, it requires a large pot of hot, bubbling oil sitting on your stove, ready to dole out third degree burns, or soggy chicken (or both!) at will. By monitoring the temperature of your oil and following a few easy guidelines, however, you too can fry chicken?or green beans, or fritters?at home with confidence and ease. 
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Public release date: 1-Apr-2013
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