Cells are crawling all over our bodies, but how?

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

For better and for worse, human health depends on a cell's motility ?? the ability to crawl from place to place. In every human body, millions of cells ?are crawling around doing mostly good deeds ??? though if any of those crawlers are cancerous, watch out.

"This is not some horrible sci-fi movie come true but, instead, normal cells carrying out their daily duties," said Florida State University cell biologist Tom Roberts. For 35 years he has studied the mechanical and molecular means by which amorphous single cells purposefully propel themselves throughout the body in amoeboid-like fashion ??absent muscles, bones or brains.

Meanwhile, human cells don't give up their secrets easily. In the body, they use the millions of tiny filaments found on their front ends to push the front of their cytoskeletons forward. In rapid succession the cells then retract their rears in a smooth, coordinated extension-contraction manner that puts inchworms to shame. Yet take them out of the body and put them under a microscope and the crawling changes or stops.

But now Roberts and his research team have found a novel way around uncooperative human cells.

In a landmark study led by Roberts and conducted in large part by his then-FSU postdoctoral associate Katsuya Shimabukuro, researchers used worm sperm to replicate cell motility in vitro ?? in this case, on a microscope slide.

Doing what no other scientists had ever successfully done before, Shimabukuro disassembled and reconstituted a worm sperm cell, then devised conditions to promote thecell's natural pull-push crawling motions even in the unnatural conditions of a laboratory. Once launched, the reconstituted machinery moved just like regular worm sperm do in a natural setting ?? giving scientists an unprecedented opportunity to watch it move.

Roberts called his former postdoc's signal achievement "careful, clever work" ?? and work it did, making possible new, revealing images of cell motility that should help to pinpoint with never-before-seen precision just how cells crawl.

"Understanding how cells crawl is a big deal," Roberts said. "The first line of defense against invading microorganisms, the remodeling of bones, healing wounds in the skin and reconnecting of neuronal circuits during regeneration of the nervous system ?? all depend on the capacity of specialized cells to crawl.

"On the downside, the ability of tumor cells to crawl around is a contributing factor in the metastasis of malignancies," he said. "But we believe our achievements in this latest round of basic research could eventually aid in the development of therapies that target cell motility in order to interfere with or block the metastasis of cancer."

Funding for Robert's worm-sperm study came from the National Institutes of Health. The findings are described in a paper ("Reconstitution of Amoeboid Motility In Vitro Identifies a Motor-Independent Mechanism for Cell Body Retraction") published online in the journal Current Biology.

Why worm sperm?

For one thing, said Roberts, the worm sperm is different from most cells in that itdoesn't use molecular motor proteins to facilitate its contractions; it shimmies along strictly by putting together and tearing down its tiny filaments. And the simple worm sperm makes a good model because, while it is similar to a human cell it has fewer moving parts, making it less complicated to take apart and reassemble than, say, brain or cancer cells.

Armed with the newfound ability to reconstitute amoeboid motility in vitro, cell biologists such as Roberts may be able to learn the answers to some major moving questions. Among them: How can some cells continue to crawl even after researchers have disabled their supply of myosin, the force-producing "mover protein" that functions like a motor to help power muscle and cell contraction?

For Roberts and his team, the next move will be to determine if what they've learned about worm sperm also applies to more conventional crawling cells, including tumor cells.

"As always, there will be more questions," Roberts said. "Are there multiple mechanisms collaborating to drive cell body retraction? Is there redundancy built into the motility systems?"

###

Florida State University: http://www.fsu.edu

Thanks to Florida State University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114411/Cells_are_crawling_all_over_our_bodies__but_how_

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Rick Perry's flat tax: A 'path to victory'? (The Week)

New York ? With his poll numbers sagging, the former GOP frontrunner tries to jolt his campaign with a proposal to throw out America's complex tax code

Rick Perry hit the campaign trail with renewed energy on Wednesday, saying he'll soon unveil a plan to scrap the entire federal tax code and replace it with a simple, flat tax?that all Americans would pay.?Perry didn't say how his tax would differ from Herman Cain's highly scrutinized ? and controversial ? 9-9-9 plan, although the Texas governor said his system would be "flatter and fairer" than Cain's. Will Perry's tax proposal revive his stalled campaign?

This could make him a frontrunner again: This is Perry's chance to differentiate himself from "the two other real candidates in the race at this point ? Cain and [Mitt] Romney," says Freedoms Truth at RedState. Romney's tax ideas lack ambition; "Cain's 9-9-9 is the hot, bold plan," but its regressive 9 percent national sales tax makes it a hard sell. Perry appears to be "leaning on flat tax proponent Steve Forbes for advice," and if he follows through, this could be Perry's "path to victory."
"Perry's path to victory: The flat tax"

The details might not be so impressive: Let's reserve judgment until we see what Perry actually proposes, says Jonathan Chait at New York. "Tax reform has historically meant cleansing the tax code of special breaks and loopholes, especially those inserted at the behest of powerful lobbies." But before Perry even unveils his ideas, he's meeting in Washington with representatives of special interest groups. "Nothing says 'reform' like 'ask lobbyists to help write my plan.'"
"Rick Perry knows just who can help him reform the tax code"

Perry knows he has to be bold: Perry's flat tax promise is part of his aggressive new image, says David Weigel at Slate. Before he teased the plan in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Perry "literally ran onstage," and later "left the stage as if he'd been spring-loaded," proclaiming, "Let's roll!" The "message: I'm the scrappy, ass-kicking underdog," the anti-Romney. It's worth a shot ? but only time will tell if it works.
"Rick Perry comes alive!"

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Industrial by-products upgraded into fuel

ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? Researchers have achieved good results in using waste and other excess products from industry to develop new and innovative fuels for transport. Working within the Academy of Finland's research programme Sustainable Energy (SusEn), researchers have studied the processing of both biobutanol and biogas into transport fuels. Biobutanol can be produced from by-products of the food industry and the pulp and paper industry, which makes it a suitable candidate for replacing petrol as a fuel. Methane derived from biogas is also a top candidate for a fuel substitute, as shown in life-cycle assessment, which measures the entire production chain.

"Butanol is a very energy-efficient alternative and, like ethanol, lends itself well for industrial-scale production," says Professor Ulla Lassi from the University of Oulu, who has been working on a research project investigating the use of biobutanol as a transport fuel. Butanol production is a microbiological process where raw material is converted into sugars and further processed using microbes. The microbes efficiently turn carbon compounds into butanol. Butanol contains more carbon than ethanol does and is therefore also more energy-efficient.

Lassi's project has also studied the production of butanol via chemical synthesis, which uses novel catalyst materials to convert compounds such as glycerol, methanol or ethanol into alcohols such as butanol, pentanol and alcohol mixes. These are directly suitable as liquid fuels. According to Lassi, using glycerol in fuel production could be quite cost-efficient, as it is a by-product of biodiesel.

There are a number of challenges in the microbiological production of butanol. One of the main challenges concerns the digestion of the raw material to fermentable sugars. In addition, the multi-stage fermentation is in itself a very complex process. Another major challenge is that the fermentation process is inhibited by high solvent contents, which combined with instability in solvent production may also cause a drop in microbial activity.

Lassi explains: "Recent breakthroughs in butanol fermentation techniques have partly solved these problems. However, if we want to produce new liquid fuels, we need completely new chemical synthesis routes and catalyst development."

The research project investigating the production of biobutanol involves researchers from the University of Oulu and ?bo Akademi University.

Once landfill gas, now fuel

Another research project within the SusEn research programme has looked at the use of biogas as a transport fuel. As a joint Finnish-Chilean effort, the researchers studied the upgrading of landfill gas into fuel. "In recent years, interest in using biogas technology in the utilisation of industrial by-products for energy purposes has increased considerably. Some countries have already introduced this technology on a large scale," says Professor Jukka Rintala, the principal investigator of the project.

Biogas can be produced from many different materials ranging from biodegradable waste to energy crops. "The biogas produced in this process is a versatile source of energy. It can be used for heat and electricity, be processed into vehicle fuel or fed into the natural gas grid. In addition, the residual material, the so-called digestate, from the process can be used as fertilizer or soil conditioner," Rintala explains.

Methane derived from biogas has been shown to be one of the most suitable candidates for use as biofuel, thanks to its sustainable production chain. Methane also meets the EU's criteria for sustainable biofuels, which will take effect in a few years' time.

The experiments in Rintala's project were carried out at the Mustankorkea Waste Treatment Facility in Jyv?skyl? and they particularly focused on the fate and removal of trace compounds of biogas. "Biogas can be used as a biofuel once its methane content is raised above 95 per cent. In our research, we used water absorption, which yielded a methane content of 80-90 per cent. The rest is carbon dioxide and nitrogen."

Nitrogen does not cause any damage to car engines, but it does lower the energy content of biogas. "To reach a higher methane content through this process, we should prevent the access of nitrogen in the gas collection system in the landfill. Carbon dioxide does not damage engines either, but it lowers the energy value of biogas," says Rintala.

Rintala would like to see more research on the effects of process parameters on the costs of biogas upgrading and the effects of pressurisation on compound removal. "As a rule, the only criterion for biomass is that it can be broken down by microbes under oxygen-free conditions. Of course, the composition of feedstocks does affect the composition of the biogas produced and also the chosen method of purification. Landfill gases are generally thought of as being the most difficult ones to upgrade into fuel."

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111018084402.htm

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Bangkok may face new eastern flood front

Buddhist monks pile up sand bags to make flood barriers at Dhamagaya temple in Pathum Thani province, central Thailand Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. Soldiers, civil servants and families worked frantically Tuesday to add more than 1 million sandbags to Bangkok's vulnerable northern flood defenses after the city's governor warned they were needed to keep waters from swamping the capital. (AP Photo)

Buddhist monks pile up sand bags to make flood barriers at Dhamagaya temple in Pathum Thani province, central Thailand Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. Soldiers, civil servants and families worked frantically Tuesday to add more than 1 million sandbags to Bangkok's vulnerable northern flood defenses after the city's governor warned they were needed to keep waters from swamping the capital. (AP Photo)

A Thai worker piles up sandbags to protect from flooding in Bangkok on Tuesday, Oct ,18.2011. Soldiers, civil servants and families worked frantically Tuesday to shore up vulnerable flood defenses along Bangkok's northernmost outskirts after the city's governor said more than 1 million more sandbags would be needed to stop floodwaters from swamping the capital. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Workers wade through floodwater during an evacuation at Nawa Nakhon industrial estate on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. Soldiers, civil servants and families worked frantically Tuesday to add more than 1 million sandbags to Bangkok's vulnerable northern flood defenses after the city's governor warned they were needed to keep waters from swamping the capital. (AP Photo)

A Thai navy officers carries sand bags as he and his fellow officers make flood barriers at Bang Kradee industrial estate in Pathum Thani province, central Thailand, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. Soldiers, civil servants and families worked frantically Tuesday to add more than 1 million sandbags to Bangkok's vulnerable northern flood defenses after the city's governor warned they were needed to keep waters from swamping the capital. (AP Photo)

Thai navy officers dig up flood barriers at Bang Kradee industrial estate in Pathum Thani province, central Thailand, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. Soldiers, civil servants and families worked frantically Tuesday to add more than 1 million sandbags to Bangkok's vulnerable northern flood defenses after the city's governor warned they were needed to keep waters from swamping the capital. (AP Photo)

BANGKOK (AP) ? Floodwaters pressed toward Bangkok on several fronts Tuesday as soldiers and residents raced to pile sandbags and officials sounded a new alarm about vulnerable areas east of the capital near the international airport.

Much of the efforts in recent days have been aimed at shoring up defenses along Bangkok's northern perimeter, facing the brunt of runoff from inland areas where Thailand's worst flooding in a half-century has killed 315 people. Officials added concerns Tuesday about a new front: a flood plain near Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Droves of civilians joined soldiers in desperate dike-building efforts after Bangkok's governor delivered a dramatic late-night TV warning that the city had until late Wednesday to lay down 1 million sandbags to protect an especially vulnerable 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) stretch.

"When the governor said we had 48 hours left, I thought we could not just wait until the water arrived, so I took a day off and volunteered," said Suriya Termchoksap, 39, who took the day off from his job at IBM to help build a dike along a key canal.

North of the city of 9 million people, the government has meanwhile been fighting a losing battle against floods in communities where residents have been trapped on the upper floors of their homes.

Monsoon downpours that began in July have affected two-thirds of the country, bringing life to a standstill in several towns and cities where some areas remain under more than 6 feet (2 meters) of water that is unlikely to dissipate for weeks.

Hundreds of factories have been swamped, and economic analysts say the floods already have reduced projections for economic growth in 2011 to 2.5 percent, down from 4.4 percent, and could inflict about $6 billion in damage ? an amount that could double if floods swamp Bangkok.

Outside the capital, the military is helping deliver relief supplies to displaced and stranded residents struggling to survive in half-submerged towns.

"When the northern provinces were flooded, I felt sooner or later Bangkok would be hit," said Santi Pongwinyan, 37, a garment exporter in Bangkok who shut his business Tuesday to join the chains of people building sandbag walls.

"We hope it will be in time," he said.

The Royal Irrigation Department on Tuesday advised residents in districts east of Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi to secure their homes with sandbags and move valuables to upper floors because water levels there were rapidly rising.

A department spokesman stressed that the airport itself was not threatened because it was well-protected.

Bangkok's other airport at Don Muang, north of Bangkok, is in another area where floods threaten but is also believed to be safe for now. However, the Thai air force, which maintains a base there, said it has moved about 20 planes to other bases as a precaution.

About 10 aircraft have stayed to carry out flood relief missions, but they also may need to be moved if the situation worsens, Air Force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchukorn said.

Soldiers were meanwhile hustling to evacuate people from the country's oldest industrial zone, also north of Bangkok, where about 200 factories were fighting to save their businesses after water starting breaking into the facility two days earlier.

Military trucks took people and their belongings out of buildings and shops inundated with water at much as one meter (one yard) deep.

Although the government ordered an evacuation of the Nava Nakorn industrial estate on Monday, many factory workers stayed put to try to reinforce their companies' defenses, with water pumps running nonstop to drain water.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-18-AS-Thailand-Floods/id-e8bdfd0e26904a018c18c83e079df0cd

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Communications On the internet | All Stuff Ari

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Source: http://stuff-ari.com/2011/communications-on-the-internet/

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Clarification: Activision-Skylanders story (AP)

NEW YORK ? In a story Oct. 16, The Associated Press reported that a new game from Activision Blizzard Inc. uses some of the company's "Guitar Hero" technology. The game uses technology similar to what "Guitar Hero" uses to connect to video game consoles, but this is not proprietary "Guitar Hero" technology.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111018/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_activision_skylanders

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Predictive model developed for polio

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Oct-2011
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Contact: Clare Weaver
press@plos.org
44-122-344-2834
Public Library of Science

Press release from PLoS Medicine

Using outbreak data from 2003-2010, Kathleen O'Reilly of Imperial College London, UK and colleagues develop a statistical model of the spread of wild polioviruses in Africa that can predict polio outbreaks six months in advance. The authors' findings, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, indicate that outbreaks of polio in Africa over the study period resulted mainly from continued transmission in Nigeria and other countries that reported polio cases, and from poor immunization status.

The authors highlight how the geographical risk of polio is changing over time in Africa, saying "As the incidence of polio in Nigeria has remained very low in 2010 and 2011, there may be a unique opportunity to eliminate polio from Africa in the near-term through targeted vaccination informed by appropriate predictive models."

###

Funding: This work was funded by the Poliovirus Research subcommittee of the WHO, a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to NCG. KMO, NCG, and CAD acknowledge the Medical Research Council for funding of the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College. WHO is one of the spearheading partners of GPEI, and provides technical assistance and supports surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis. The Royal Society and the Medical Research Council had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: CM is a serving staff member of the World Health Organization. NG has received funding from the World Health Organization. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation: O'Reilly KM, Chauvin C, Aylward RB, Maher C, Okiror S, et al. (2011) A Statistical Model of the International Spread of Wild Poliovirus in Africa Used to Predict and Prevent Outbreaks. PLoS Med 8(10): e1001109. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001109

CONTACT:

Kathleen O'Reilly
Imperial College London
Department of Medicine
12 Norfolk Place
London
United Kingdom
k.oreilly@imperial.ac.uk



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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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Clare Weaver
press@plos.org
44-122-344-2834
Public Library of Science

Press release from PLoS Medicine

Using outbreak data from 2003-2010, Kathleen O'Reilly of Imperial College London, UK and colleagues develop a statistical model of the spread of wild polioviruses in Africa that can predict polio outbreaks six months in advance. The authors' findings, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, indicate that outbreaks of polio in Africa over the study period resulted mainly from continued transmission in Nigeria and other countries that reported polio cases, and from poor immunization status.

The authors highlight how the geographical risk of polio is changing over time in Africa, saying "As the incidence of polio in Nigeria has remained very low in 2010 and 2011, there may be a unique opportunity to eliminate polio from Africa in the near-term through targeted vaccination informed by appropriate predictive models."

###

Funding: This work was funded by the Poliovirus Research subcommittee of the WHO, a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to NCG. KMO, NCG, and CAD acknowledge the Medical Research Council for funding of the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College. WHO is one of the spearheading partners of GPEI, and provides technical assistance and supports surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis. The Royal Society and the Medical Research Council had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: CM is a serving staff member of the World Health Organization. NG has received funding from the World Health Organization. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation: O'Reilly KM, Chauvin C, Aylward RB, Maher C, Okiror S, et al. (2011) A Statistical Model of the International Spread of Wild Poliovirus in Africa Used to Predict and Prevent Outbreaks. PLoS Med 8(10): e1001109. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001109

CONTACT:

Kathleen O'Reilly
Imperial College London
Department of Medicine
12 Norfolk Place
London
United Kingdom
k.oreilly@imperial.ac.uk



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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/plos-pmd101211.php

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For a jobs bill in pieces, Obama hits road in NC (AP)

FLETCHER, N.C. ? Rolling through small Southern towns in a campaign-style bus, President Barack Obama on Monday pressed lawmakers back in Washington to start taking up pieces of his rejected jobs bill and mocked the Republicans who had shot it down in total. The Senate moved to vote soon on one part, a plan to help states hire teachers, but the proposal seemed doomed.

Deep in the mountains of politically important North Carolina, Obama soaked up the region's autumn beauty at the same time he assailed foes of his jobs legislation, accusing them of failing to listen to the public.

Back at the Capitol, Senate Democrats announced they would act first on a single part of Obama's plan, a longshot bid to help states hire teachers and police. A Senate vote could come as soon as the end of the week. If not, it would probably fall into November because the Senate plans to take a break next week, even as Obama urges quick action.

In North Carolina, the president directed his most pointed remarks at Senate Republicans, who last week blocked action on his full $447 billion proposal combining tax cuts and new spending.

"Essentially they said no to you," Obama told a supportive crowd outside Asheville. Noting that Republicans will now get a chance to vote on elements of his jobs agenda one by one, he said: "Maybe they just couldn't understand the whole thing all at once. So we're going to break it up into bite-size pieces."

Republicans denounced the bus trip as nothing more than a taxpayer-funded campaign trip through two must-win states to try to bolster Obama's standing for the 2012 election.

As he traveled along on his imposing black bus, there was little denying the presidential politics at play at each stop. Over three days, Obama is covering the countryside of both North Carolina and Virginia, two traditionally GOP-leaning states that he won in 2008 on his campaign's ability to boost turnout among young people and black voters.

Senate Democrats unveiled the first individual bill, which would spend $30 billion to create or save education jobs and $5 billion to do the same for police and firefighters.

The money would come from a new half-percent tax on income over $1 million, a proposal vigorously opposed by GOP lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised a vote "as soon as possible."

The outcome seemed clear: The plan is unlikely to gain the 60 votes it would need to proceed in the Senate. And it's a non-starter in the Republican House.

More broadly, some aspects of Obama's jobs agenda are expected to become law this fall.

The most likely include extending tax breaks for businesses that buy new equipment, and offering a $4,800 tax credit to companies that hire veterans. There's also bipartisan support for repealing a law that requires the withholding of 3 percent of payments to government contractors.

Democrats and the White House, meanwhile, are confident that Obama's call to extend cuts in Social Security payroll taxes will pass. A two percentage point payroll tax cut enacted last year expires at the end of the year; Obama has proposed cutting it by an additional percentage point and extending the cut to the first $5 million of a company's payroll.

That proposal is hugely expensive ? almost $250 billion by administration estimates ? and it is not clear how and whether the parties would agree on how to pay for it.

Happy to be back on the road, Obama found a friendly audience that broke into a chant of "four more years." Said the president in response: "I appreciate the four more years, but right now I'm thinking about the next thirteen months."

Still, his travel essentially doubles as his bid for another term. His jobs bill serves as a platform to contrast himself with Republicans on both the legislation and his vision for the nation.

Obama's poll numbers are down in both Virginia and North Carolina, languishing in the mid- to low-forties in recent polls. The numbers mirror his approval ratings nationally. Obama's campaign is pressing to hold both Southern states, even choosing to hold next year's Democratic convention in Charlotte.

The president's bus tour fit into that effort, giving Obama a chance to engage in some of the retail politics that is a staple of presidential campaigns.

Obama's sleek, $1.1 million bus rolled through North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains for more than four hours, an unusually long stretch that included unannounced stops.

At Countryside Barbeque in Marion, he shook hands and took photos, and he also had a chance of to talk to potential voters about his jobs bill. The tour took him through a blaze of bright red and orange fall colors. He later stopped at the Mast General Store in Boone, near the campus of Appalachian State University, for some Halloween candy.

Capping his public comments at a high school in Millers Creek, N.C., Obama chided Republicans again, this time in an apparent reference to the influence of the tea party. "It's way overdue for us to stop trying to satisfy some branch of the party and take some common-sense steps to help America," Obama said.

House Republicans were quick to point out that they originally proposed breaking Obama's jobs plan into pieces. House Speaker John Boehner's office said Monday that the Ohio Republican has offered to work the president on aspects of the bill Republicans agree with but the president opted for a bus trip instead.

However, Obama and his opponents on Capitol Hill don't agree on how much they have tried to agree. Obama insisted he would work with the GOP "in any way possible." Noting the angst within some in his own party about his willingness to compromise, Obama said: "I tried so hard to cooperate with Republicans, Democrats have been getting mad at me."

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Ken Thomas and Ben Feller in Washington, Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va., and Tom Breen in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111018/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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