Stem Cells Turned into Blood

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with colleagues at three other institutions, report the discovery of two genetic programs responsible for turning stem cells into both the red and white cells that make up human blood. The scientists say their finding is important because it identifies how nature itself makes blood products at the earliest stages of development and provides researchers with the tools to make the cells themselves, investigate how blood cells develop, and produce clinically relevant blood products.

The study (“Direct induction of hemato endothelial programs in human pluripotent stem cells by transcriptional regulators”) was reported in Nature Communications.

“This is the first demonstration of the production of different kinds of cells from human pluripotent stem cells using transcription factors,” explained Igor Slukvin, Ph.D., from the department of pathology and laboratory medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center.

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Can Facebook Make You Sad & Depress ?

Studies suggest that browsing Facebook can make you unhappy, says Justin Mullins. Why might that be?

Not so long ago a new form of communication swept the world, transforming life in ways unimagined just a few years before. One commentator heralded it as “the greatest means of communication ever developed by the mind of man” while others pointed to its potential to revolutionise news, entertainment and education. But the poet and playwright TS Eliot had a different take. “It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome,” he wrote.

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Science Of Sleep

We spend a third of our lives doing it.Napoleon, Florence Nightingale and Margaret Thatcher got by on four hours a night. Thomas Edison claimed it was waste of time. 😛

Why do we sleep?

So why do we sleep? This is a question that has baffled scientists for centuries and the answer is, no one is really sure. Some believe that sleep gives the body a chance to recuperate from the day’s activities but in reality, the amount of energy saved by sleeping for even eight hours is miniscule – about 50 kCal, the same amount of energy in a piece of toast.

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Sleep deprivation can cause schizophrenia like symptoms

Twenty-four hours of sleep deprivation can lead to conditions similar to the symptoms of schizophrenia in healthy persons, a new study has found.

A team led by researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany and King’s College London said that after 24 hours of sleep deprivation in healthy patients, numerous symptoms were noted which are otherwise typically attributed to psychosis or schizophrenia.

 

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Common Causes of Cancer That You Should know!

There are about 200 different types of cancer. It can start in any type of body tissue. What affects one body tissue may not affect another. For example, tobacco smoke that you breathe in may help to cause lung cancer. Overexposing your skin to the sun could cause a melanoma on your leg. But the sun won’t give you lung cancer and smoking won’t give you melanoma.

Apart from infectious diseases, most illnesses (including cancer) are multifactorial. This means that there are many factors involved. In other words, there is no single cause for any one type of cancer.

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Flu Medicines Can Increase Spread of the Virus

Got the flu? Think twice before you pop a pill to feel better.

Most over-the-counter flu medications include a fever-reducing ingredient such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. But suppressing fever, according to new research, actually increases the number of seasonal flu cases by at least 5 percent in the U.S., and could cause as many as 1,000 additional deaths from influenza nationally each year.