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বুধবার, ৬ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Buying What Buffett Sells? Sometimes It Works | Stocks ... - Minyanville

Editor's Note: This content was originally published on Benzinga.com by Gordon Wilcox.

With 13F filing season right around the corner, investors will once again be treated to a bevy of data regarding which stocks some of Wall Street's most famous names were buying and selling in the fourth quarter. This is also a time to remember the dichotomy presented by 13F filings.

Sure, it is useful to know that investing luminaries such as Bill Ackman, Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn initiated new positions and sold out of others in the prior quarter. Conversely, investors must remember that the copycat approach does not always work because there is a good chance the retail crowd will not be getting the same prices that the pros got. Frankly, there is a good chance retail investors opting to use 13F filings as a guide to finding winning stocks will pay more than pros did for the same names.

There is something else to note about 13F filings. That being the pros are not perfect. No one has a perfect batting average on Wall Street, not even the venerable Buffett, perhaps the greatest value investor of all-time. All of that is to say that just because a famed investor has parted ways with XYZ Corp. that does not mean shares of XYZ are not worth a look.

Believe it or not, some of the stocks Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) dumped or trimmed positions in during the third quarter of 2012 have taken off nicely since then. Some are still worth looking at, particularly for patient, dividend investors with longer-term time horizons. In no particular order:

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG): Berkshire trimmed its massive stake in the world's largest consumer products in the third quarter and Buffett said as recently as late October 2012 that his company had sold some P&G shares due to valuation.

Berkshire is still one of the largest P&G shareholders having held 52.7 million shares at the end of the third quarter, so it would not be accurate to say Buffett is bearish on the stock. However, newcomers to the stock have been rewarded as shares of P&G have surged almost 10 percent since early November.

What is interesting about P&G is not so much that investors could have done well by going the opposite way of Buffett. Rather, had investors played copycat to another noteworthy professional they would be sitting on impressive gains. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management boosted its P&G stake to 34.4 million shares during the third quarter.

Pershing Square's stake in P&G was revealed in July 2012 and for all the controversy Ackman finds himself in the middle of with Herbalife (NYSE:HLF), folks seemed to have forgotten that P&G has soared 19.5 percent since August. So even waiting a couple of weeks to follow Ackman into P&G was not a bad idea.

(See also: The One Question About Herbalife That Ackman Can't Answer)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): It is not surprising that Berkshire trimmed its stake in J&J. Going back to 2011, Buffett was not a fan of the company acquiring Swiss medical-device maker Synthes for most shares. Acquisitions paid for in shares dilute current shareholders and J&J paid for Synthes with two-thirds stock and one-third cash.

Buffett did not idly criticize J&J. He put his money where his mouth is by reducing Berkshire's stake in the Dow (INDEXDJX:.DJI) component by 95 percent during the third quarter. Translation: A few years ago, J&J was one of Berkshire's largest equity holdings. Today, J&J is one of Berkshire's smallest stock holdings.

In mid-December, we predicted J&J would be one of the Dow's 2013 rebound candidates. That assessment has proven accurate as the shares are up 4.7 percent year-to-date.

An investor that bought the stock in say November 2012 upon learning Berkshire dumped most of its stake has earned 6.2 percent. Again, Berkshire selling most of its J&J stake does not mean J&J is a bad company. An AAA credit rating, $2.9 billion in cash and a five-decade dividend increase streak say otherwise.

Below, find some more great ETF and market content from Benzinga:

Herbalife, Nu Skin Drop After Post Says FTC Readying Probe

The Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads

Can Microsoft's Xbox 720 Withstand an Early Assault From Sony's PlayStation 4?

Twitter: @Benzinga

Benzinga Pro covers this and all market news in real time. Get your free trial?here.

No positions in stocks mentioned.

The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.

Source: http://www.minyanville.com/trading-and-investing/stocks/articles/Buying-What-Buffett-Sells-investing-ideas/2/4/2013/id/47869

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Alcohol mixed with diet drinks may increase intoxication more than alcohol and regular drinks

Feb. 5, 2013 ? An individual's breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) following alcohol intake is influenced by several factors, including food. While it is known that food delays the stomach emptying, thus reducing BrAC, only recently has the role of nonalcoholic drink mixers used with alcohol been explored as a factor influencing BrAC. A new comparison of BrACs of alcohol consumed with an artificial sweetener versus alcohol consumed with a sugared beverage has found that mixing alcohol with a diet soft drink can result in a higher BrAC.

Results will be published in the April 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

"More attention needs to be paid to how alcohol is being consumed in the 'real world,'" said Cecile A. Marczinski, assistant professor of psychology at Northern Kentucky University. She referenced an earlier field study of bar patrons. "Researchers found that, one, individuals who reported consuming alcohol with diet beverages had the highest BrACs, as compared to all other bar patrons, and two, that women tended to be more frequent consumers of diet mixers with their alcohol. These good naturalistic observations give researchers many ideas to explore in a controlled laboratory setting."

Dennis L. Thombs, professor and chair of the department of behavioral and community health at UNT Health Science Center, was the author of the field study referenced by Marczinski. "Research on artificially sweetened drink mixers is new," he said. "I believe this might be only the third study published to date on this issue, and the findings are quite consistent with ours."

"I am really interested in drinking and driving as a problem, so I wanted to know if the simple choice of mixer could be the factor that puts a person above or below the legal limit," added Marczinski. "I also wanted to determine if any BrAC difference would be something that subjects would notice, since this has implications for safe drinking practices, including decisions to drive."

Study authors had 16 participants (8 females, 8 males) attend three sessions where they received one of three doses -- 1.97 ml/kg vodka mixed with 3.94 ml/kg Squirt, 1.97 ml/kg vodka mixed with 3.94 ml/kg diet Squirt, and a placebo beverage -- in random order. The participants' BrACs were recorded, as well as their self-reported ratings of subjective intoxication, fatigue, impairment, and willingness to drive. Their objective performance was assessed using a cued go/no-go reaction time task.

"Alcohol consumed with a diet mixer results in higher BrACs as compared to the same amount of alcohol consumed with a sugar-sweetened mixer," said Marczinski. "The subjects were unaware of this difference, as measured by various subjective ratings including feelings of intoxication, impairment, and willingness to drive. Moreover, their behavior was more impaired when subjects consumed the diet mixer."

When asked why mixing alcohol with a diet drink appears to elevate BrACs, Thombs explained that the stomach seems to treat sugar-sweetened beverages like food, which delays the stomach from emptying. "The best way to think about these effects is that sugar-sweetened alcohol mixers slow down the absorption of alcohol into bloodstream," he said. "Artificially sweetened alcohol mixers do not really elevate alcohol intoxication. Rather, the lack of sugar simply allows the rate of alcohol absorption to occur without hindrance."

Both Marczinski and Thombs were concerned about the risk that diet mixers can pose for alcohol-impaired driving. "In this study, subjects felt the same whether they drank the diet or regular mixed alcoholic beverage," said Marczinski. "However, they were above the limit of .08 when they consumed the diet mixer, and below it when they drank the regular mixed beverage. Choices to drink and drive, or engage in any other risky behavior, often depend on how people feel, rather than some objective measurement of impairment. Now alcohol researchers who are interested in prevention have something new to consider when developing or modifying intervention programs."

Thombs agreed. "Research on alcohol mixers is critically important for improving serving practices in on-premise drinking establishments," he said. "About one-half of all drinking and driving incidents are estimated to occur in persons leaving these settings. This type of research can provide guidance to policy-makers interested in improving the safety of bars and nightclubs."

"We have an obesity crisis in this country," added Marczinski. "As such, individuals tend to be conscious about how many calories they are consuming, and they might think that mixing alcohol with diet drinks is a healthy choice. Yet the average reader needs to know that while mixing alcohol with a diet beverage mixer may limit the amount of calories being consumed, higher BrACs are a much more significant health risk than a few extra calories."

"In natural drinking settings, such as bars and nightclubs, young women are significantly more likely than young men to order drinks mixed with diet cola," said Thombs. "I suspect this occurs because young women tend to be more weight conscious than young men. Thus, from a public health perspective, artificially sweetened alcohol mixers may place young women at greater risk for a range of problems associated with acute alcohol intoxication."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Cecile A. Marczinski, Mark T. Fillmore. Letter to the Editor in Response to The Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drinks Debate: Masking the Facts!. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/acer.12019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/ggHW3Fh-JAc/130205162524.htm

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মঙ্গলবার, ৫ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Zynga revenue flat as company shifts emphasis to mobile gaming

February 6, 2013

zynga-mobile-gaming Social gamers Zynga reported $311m in Q4 2012 revenues, a figure virtually unchanged from the same period a year ago, but which nonetheless beat analysts? expectations. The net loss for the quarter was $48.6m, or six cents per share, compared to $435m in Q4 2011. Expenses fell dramatically ? from $798m to $274m ? in part due to cost-cutting measures announced in October that included significant layoffs, production studio closures and scrapping of unpopular games. Full year revenue rose 12% to $1.28b, while net loss for the year hit $209m ? just over half 2011?s $404.3m. For Q1 2013, Zynga is projecting revenues of $255m-$265m and an adjusted loss of four cents to five cents per share.

During Q4, Zynga?s daily average users tally came in at 56m ? up 11% year-on-year but down 6% from Q3 2012 and well off the 72m peak in Q2 2012 ? and monthly average users were also down 4% to 298m from Q3?s 311m. The key metric of average daily bookings per average daily active user fell from six cents in Q4 2011 to five cents. Overall bookings fell 15% to $261m, the fourth straight quarter that figure has fallen. Monthly unique payers were down 1% year-on-year and down 2% from Q3. Game revenue fell 3% while ad revenue rose 35% to $36.8m. Despite the negativity, Zynga shares closed out the day up 7% at $2.74, and were up further still in after-hours trading.

Three unpopular games ? CityVille 2, The Friend Game and Party Place ? will get the axe, and Zynga says it won?t wait as long in future to ?call the ball? on games that don?t set the world on fire. (Brian Reynolds, the game designer who took the lead on CityVille 2, resigned from Zynga a week ago.) Looking ahead, Zynga?s pipeline is full of ?midcore? games, i.e. games that allow players to get a complete game fix in a shorter session, custom made for mobile users.

On the post-earnings analyst call, CEO Mark Pincus said that, like Facebook, the emphasis was on mobile, with more Zynga teams now working on mobile product than for the web. For the first time, Zynga offered hard numbers on its mobile users, revealing that around 72m (24%) of Zynga?s monthly average users are playing solely via mobile devices, which CFO Mark Vranesh said represented a 75% increase from a year ago. Mobile accounted for 21% of Zynga?s overall bookings in Q4, up from 8% last year. However, Vranesh said he doesn?t expect mobile games to ?have a meaningful contribution to 2013 revenues,? and Zynga projected overall bookings would fall to $200m?$210m in the current quarter, presumably because mobile users are generally less likely to pay for virtual goods than web users. So careful what you wish for.

Zynga Poker?s audience grew 8% year-on-year to 37m monthly active users in Q4 and was responsible for 20% of Zynga?s total online game revenue ? more than any other single title (although Words With Friends is Zynga?s most popular mobile title). As for Zynga?s real-money gambling tie-up in the UK with Bwin.party, Pincus would be no more specific than to say the launch was on target for H1 2013. Who knows? Zynga may find out whether its Nevada interactive gaming license application is approved before ZyngaPlus earns its first real-money gambling dollar.

Source: http://calvinayre.com/2013/02/06/business/zynga-revenue-flat-emphasis-on-mobile-gaming/

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সোমবার, ৪ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Report: Missing NYC mom found dead in Turkey

Family photo via AP

Sarai Sierra, 33, in an undated family photo.

By Isolde Raftery, Staff Writer, NBC News

A New York City mom who went missing while visiting Turkey was found dead Saturday, according to the Turkish state-run news agency.?

The Anadolu Agency reported that residents discovered a woman?s body near ancient city walls of the Fatih district, a historic and working-class area in Istanbul. Police identified the body as that of Sarai Sierra, a mother of two from Staten Island.

The private news broadcaster NTV reported that she had been stabbed to death, and that police had identified her by her driver?s license, according to The Associated Press, although another news agency said it appeared she had died of a blow to the head.

Sierra had not been in contact with her family since Jan. 21, the day before she was supposed to fly home after a two-week vacation. She left for Turkey on Jan. 7 ? alone, because a friend had dropped out of the trip. She wanted to pursue her photography hobby. An Instagram account she set up over the summer, with images of scenes around New York City, had developed a strong following. ?

During her two-week trip abroad, Sierra also visited the Netherlands and Munich, Germany, according to the AP.

At least nine people were detained at the crime scene, police sources told Hurriyet Daily News in Turkey. Two of those detained were women, the AP reported.

Sierra?s family remained hopeful that she was alive because her telephone was twice activated after she disappeared, according to Hurriyet.

Police briefly detained a man last week who exchanged messages with Sierra online. The man had contacted her and made plans to meet with her on a bridge she wanted to photograph, according to Hurriyet. The bridge was a short distance from where Sierra's body was found.

The man was released after being questioned. It was unclear whether he was among the 10 arrested after the body was found.

Sierra?s husband, Steven Sierra, said she stayed in close touch with him and their children, ages 9 and 11, by phone and by Skype. After she didn?t arrive at the airport as planned, Steven Sierra and his brother-in-law David Jimenez booked one-way tickets to Turkey to look for her.?

Related:

Phone of NYC mom missing in Turkey used twice in recent days

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/02/16820467-report-new-york-city-mom-found-dead-in-turkey?lite

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China services activity highlights modest recovery

BEIJING (Reuters) - Growth in China's increasingly important services sector ticked up slightly in January, the fourth straight monthly rise, adding to evidence that the recovery in the world's second-largest economy is a modest one.

China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector rose to 56.2 in January from 56.1 in December, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday.

A reading above 50 indicates growth is accelerating, while one below 50 indicates it is slowing. The bureau said the retail, air cargo and shipping sectors all reported levels of activity above 60.

The construction sector, one of the big drivers of growth, ticked down slightly to 61.6 from December's 61.9, the bureau said in a statement.

The services sector index follows the bureau's manufacturing PMI on Friday, which eased to 50.4 in January, missing market expectations and underscoring that the economy's recovery from its weakest year since 1999 is mild.

The marginal rise in the services PMI is consistent with the view of many economists that recent data signals a modest recovery and that steady policy support may well be needed to keep it on track.

"The economy should continue to recover moderately in 1Q13 on the back of the earlier acceleration in government-led infrastructure investment and the more recent recovery of real estate investment," economists at China International Capital Corporation wrote in a note to clients after the manufacturing PMI numbers.

A Reuters poll last month showed that China's economic growth is likely to rebound to 8.1 percent in 2013 from 7.8 percent last year.

The services sector generated 44 percent of China's GDP in 2011, up from 35 percent in 2000, and Beijing has acknowledged that greater consumer activity is needed to reduce the economy's reliance on the exports sector and investment-led growth.

The services industry has so far weathered the global slowdown much better than the factory sector, with the PMI consistently signaling healthy expansion and hitting a 10-month high of 58.0 in March.

That is partly due to a maturing economy as well as a historic shift in the last decade leading a majority of Chinese to live and work in cities rather than the countryside.

The January index of expected activity remained above 60, down slightly from December but indicating that service sector enterprises continued to be optimistic, the bureau said.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-services-activity-highlights-modest-recovery-024357681--business.html

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রবিবার, ৩ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Why is Beckham sitting on the bench for nothing?

El futbolista David Beckham posa con su nueva camiseta del Paris Saint-Germain el jueves, 31 de enero de 2013, en Par?s. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PARIS (AP) ? David Beckham has won league championships in three countries on two continents, earns millions of dollars in endorsements and his name is practically synonymous with celebrity itself. He has his own cologne, for goodness sake. So why is he even bothering to sit on the bench for the Paris Saint-Germain football club?

His royal highness of football doesn't need the money ? and he's said he'll donate his PSG salary to charity ? but he does need to start thinking about life after the game. At 37, Beckham is practically a dinosaur for the sport, and he acknowledged in his welcoming press conference on Thursday that he probably won't be in the team's starting lineup.

Instead, Beckham may be beginning to put in place a plan for life after the final whistle. Ellis Cashmore, a sociologist who writes about sports and media culture at Staffordshire University, said that prolonged exposure is always useful to celebrities building empires. In that way, the deal with PSG does double work: It keeps his name in lights for longer and also garners extra attention for the charitable contribution.

"When he does stop playing, which is going to be quite soon, his overall brand appeal will inevitably decline because we will inevitably forget about this guy," he said. "I think he's probably thinking, I want to stay in the shop window for a bit longer."

But Cashmore also cautioned against being too cynical in assessing Beckham's motives: "The guy is an athlete. He wants to do what he loves to do."

Bruno Satin, an independent players' agent who was with IMG for a decade, also said that the move to PSG ? even if it's to sit on the bench ? is a step up for Beckham.

"For him, to be on the PSG team, it's a higher level than being on the Los Angeles Galaxy," he said. "For the world of football, for real football, the Los Angeles Galaxy is nothing on the map of football."

Some wondered if Beckham was trying to avoid the notoriously sticky fingers of the French state with his plans to donate his salary.

But Sandra Hodzic, a tax lawyer with Salans, said the deduction an individual can take on such contributions is limited. Instead, it would be smarter for PSG to directly donate the salary ? and take a big tax break in the process.

Doing so would have an added benefit for the club: UEFA, the governing body for European football, mandates that clubs break even. The donation could allow PSG to essentially write off Beckham's entire salary ? a huge help for a team notorious for mega-contracts.

Beckham, meanwhile, would be better off trying to avoid becoming a French tax resident at all. So far, Hodzic said, he is making all the right moves: His family is staying in London, he plans to live only part-time in the country for less than six months, and his primary source of income ?whether or not he donates his salary ? isn't being earned in France.

Beckham's agent did not return calls for comment on specifics of the contract.

Still, the charitable contribution has raised the question about what Beckham is getting out of the deal. For one, he likely is still getting a cut of rights to his image. Jerseys with his name on them were already selling out at the PSG store on the Champs-Elysees on Friday.

Cashmore, who wrote a book called "Beckham," calls him a "marketing phenomenon" and estimates that about 70 percent of Beckham's income comes from endorsement deals ? with Adidas, for instance. That makes salary almost irrelevant ? especially for a man estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be worth 160 million pounds ($253 million).

But the football feeds the endorsements, Cashmore says.

"It makes an awful lot of business sense to perpetuate, to prolong his active competitive football career," he said, especially with a team that's doing fairly well this year. "It makes an awful lot of sense for him to showcase himself because it will generate more income from his various other sponsorship and licensing activities."

But certainly this move, as any at this late-stage in his playing career, is being made with an eye on what will come next. Cashmore said that when Beckham signed with the L.A. Galaxy, there was an understanding that he would eventually become an ambassador for American soccer. That plan clearly fell by the wayside ? perhaps because Major League Soccer decided it was just too expensive to keep on the star after his presence on American soil failed to generate more interest in the game.

It's possible, Cashmore said, that Beckham is looking for a similar deal after his stint at PSG, which is Qatari-owned. The tiny, wealthy nation is hosting the World Cup in 2022, and Beckham's contract with PSG will establish a relationship with it; from there, a role as, say, an ambassador for the tournament would seem more natural.

"For his after-career conversion, it's important to have links with major actors in the world of sports," said Satin. And Qatar is certainly one. It has poured money into PSG, drawing major names like striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It also funds the satellite network Al Jazeera, which could provide Beckham with a platform. And then there's the World Cup.

In the end, though, Satin said the clue to Beckham's thinking may be as simple as the eternal draw of Paris.

"PSG has become a glamorous club, a pretty nice club in a beautiful city," said Bruno Satin, an agent. "It's just two hours on the Eurostar (train) from London."

____

AP Sports Writer Rob Harris contributed to this report from London.

____

Follow Sarah DiLorenzo at http://www.twitter.com/sdilorenzo

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-02-Beckham-Where's%20the%20Money?/id-654927a6c613474e82b832da0234da5a

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শনিবার, ২ ফেব্রুয়ারী, ২০১৩

Bioelectric signals can be used to detect early cancer

Feb. 1, 2013 ? Biologists at Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences have discovered a bioelectric signal that can identify cells that are likely to develop into tumors. The researchers also found that they could lower the incidence of cancerous cells by manipulating the electrical charge across cells' membranes.

"The news here is that we've established a bioelectric basis for the early detection of cancer," says Brook Chernet, doctoral student and the first author of a newly published research paper co-authored with Michael Levin, Ph.D., professor of biology and director of the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology.

Levin notes, "We've shown that electric events tell the cells what to do. The voltage changes are not merely a sign of cancer. They control and direct whether the cancer occurs or not."

Bioelectric signals underlie an important set of control mechanisms that regulate how cells grow and multiply. Chernet and Levin investigated the bioelectric properties of cells that develop into tumors in Xenopus laevis frog embryos.

In previous research, Tufts scientists have shown how manipulating membrane voltage can influence or regulate cellular behavior such as cell proliferation, migration, and shape in vivo, and be used to induce the formation or regenerative repair of whole organs and appendages. In this study, the researchers hypothesized that cancer can occur when bioelectric signaling networks are perturbed and cells stop attending to the patterning cues that orchestrate their normal development.

Tumor Cells Exhibit a Bioelectric Signature

The researchers induced tumor growth in the frog embryos by injecting the samples with mRNAs (messenger RNA) encoding well-recognized human oncogenes Gli1, KrasG12D, and Xrel3. The embryos developed tumor-like growths that are associated with human cancers such as melanoma, leukemia, lung cancer, and rhabdomyosarcoma (a soft tissue cancer that most often affects children).

When the researchers analyzed the tumor cells using a membrane voltage-sensitive dye and fluorescence microscopy, they made an exciting discovery. "The tumor sites had unique depolarized membrane voltage relative to surrounding tissue," says Chernet. "They could be recognized by this distinctive bioelectric signal.

Changing Electrical Properties Lowers Incidence of Tumors

The Tufts biologists were also able to show that changing the bioelectric code to hyperpolarize tumor cells suppressed abnormal cell growth. "We hypothesized that the appearance of oncogene-induced tumors can be inhibited by alteration of membrane voltage," says Levin, "and we were right."

To counteract the tumor-inducing depolarization, they injected the cells with mRNA encoding carefully-chosen ion channels (proteins that control the passage of ions across cell membranes).

Using embryos injected with oncogenes such as Xrel3, the researchers introduced one of two ion channels (the glycine gated chloride channel GlyR-F99A or the potassium channel Kir4.1) known to hyperpolarize membrane voltage gradients in frog embryos. In both cases, the incidence of subsequent tumors was substantially lower than it was with embryos that received the oncogene but no hyperpolarizing channel treatment.

Experiments to determine the cellular mechanism that allows hyperpolarization to inhibit tumor formation showed that transport of butyrate, a known tumor suppressor, was responsible

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (awards AR061988, AR055993) and the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation.