Cell reprogramming during liver regeneration

Friday, March 29, 2013

During embryonic development, animals generate many different types of cells, each with a distinct function and identity.

"Although the identities of these cells remain stable under normal conditions, some cells can be persuaded to take on new identities, through reprogramming," says Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Researchers have been able to reprogram cells experimentally, but few have shown that cells can change their identities under normal physiological conditions in the body, particularly in mammals.

In the cover article of this month's issue of Genes and Development, Stanger, PhD candidate Kilangsungla Yanger, Yiwei Zong, PhD, and their colleagues, did just that in the liver of a mouse. Stanger is also an investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

The adult liver contains two major cell types ? hepatocytes and biliary cells ? that differ dramatically in appearance and function. Hepatocytes are the main cell type in the liver, where they synthesize proteins and other macromolecules, and detoxify toxic substances. Biliary cells, on the other hand, line the bile ducts, which carry bile from the liver to the small intestine to help digest fats.

Using a sensitive method to tag and track how cells develop and differentiate, the researchers found that conditional expression of an activated Notch1 gene converted hepatocytes into biliary cells. Notch is an important receptor for relaying signals to tell cells how to develop.

What's more, after the researchers injured liver cells with a variety of toxins to stimulate wound healing, they found that over two to three weeks hepatocytes activated a biliary cell program on their own, acquiring the shape and function of biliary cells. These changes were dependent on the activation of endogenous Notch signaling.

"This is direct evidence that cells can be converted from one mature cell type to another in a live animal, as part of a normal response to injury," says Stanger. "We think that augmenting pre-existing cell reprogramming relationships may be another way to engineer cells for the treatment of diseases in which there are not enough bile ducts, such as cholestasis."

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University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127525/Cell_reprogramming_during_liver_regeneration

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Food & Drink: Tips On Cooking Fish : How-to Cooking Videos

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Source: http://how-to-cooking-video.com/cooking-fish/food-drink-tips-on-cooking-fish/

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98% 56 Up

All Critics (55) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (54) | Rotten (1)

Yes, on some level it's just a seven-year check-in with people maybe half-remembered, if that. Yet the films also serve as a kind of check-in with us, too.

What ultimately is so compelling about 56 Up is the universality of the experiences. We were all once children. And we all will die. And in between, there is everything else.

We feel good, refreshed and depressed in watching these people get older, also embarrassed in moments and cautioned about the passage of time.

Apted, himself now in his early 70s, says he hopes to continue the series further. Long may it live.

Watching "56 Up" gives you the wonderful feeling of seeing a sociological experiment blossom into something novelistically rich and humane.

Time has been neither kind nor cruel to the 13 men and women profiled in "56 UP." It has just been time, which is what this groundbreaking series is about.

Chances are that you'll come away from this long film feeling a sense of knowing its characters.

We might say that '56 Up' serves much the same function as 'Amour,' but it responds to the inevitability of decline with compassion, not dread.

What started as a crafty way of looking at the U.K.'s rigid class structure has grown into a portrait of melancholy middle age, with its heartbreaks and minor-key triumphs.

Those British kids are now 56

Watching the eighth film is intriguing but, in a way, disappointing. At this point in the game, it feels as if all the characters have determined their lots in life and are simply plodding through their interviews.

Quite simply one of the great documentary projects in the history of cinema, an engrossing sociological experiment on film; and though this mostly mellow installment isn't as revelatory as some earlier ones, it's still a remarkable document.

... feels like a retrospective and summation of the whole series, with ample quotation from the previous films, an approach that makes it interesting even for viewers who haven't seen the previous installments.

A completely unique and remarkable documentary project.

Apted skillfully weaves old footage with the new, and we become poignantly aware of another factor shaping their lives (and our own): biology, as the we watch the once-cute kids grow gray and heavy.

Perhaps the boldest and probably longest running sociological experiment on film.

I think the best thing about this movie (and the entire series) is that it forces the viewer to think about their own lives. It's kind of an awakening experience.

Once again, Apted assembles a captivating documentary that's profoundly educational, essential viewing to aid the understanding of the human experience.

"56 Up" is well worth seeing.

56 Up is still moving and philosophic, though not as exciting as earlier episodes, which had more drama.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/56_up/

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Syrian rebels capture key town near Jordan border

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels on Friday captured a strategic town near the border with Jordan after a day of fierce clashes that killed at least 38 people, activists said, as opposition fighters expand their presence in the south, considered a gateway to Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 rebels were among the dead in the fighting in and around Dael. The town lies less than 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Jordanian border in Daraa province, where the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began two years ago.

The rebel gains have coincided with what regional officials and military experts say is a sharp increase in weapons shipments to opposition fighters by Arab governments in coordination with the U.S. in the hopes of readying a push into Assad's stronghold in the capital, Damascus.

Although rebels control wide areas in northern Syria that border Turkey, the Jordanian frontier is only about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Damascus, or a third of the distance to the Turkish border.

The battle for Dael came as authorities ordered an investigation into a mortar attack on Damascus University that killed at least 10 students on Thursday, state media said. The attack was the deadliest since a wave of mortar shells began hitting the capital last month, puncturing the sense of normalcy the regime has tried to cultivate in the city.

It was unclear who fired the mortar rounds. The government blamed "terrorists," its blanket term for those fighting Assad's regime. Anti-regime activists accused the regime of staging the attack to turn civilians ? many of whom in Damascus are already wary of the opposition fighters ? against the rebels.

"Rebels now control wide areas in the Daraa countryside,'" said Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Observatory. "Every area that goes out of government control is important."

Syrian activist Maher Jamous, who is from Dael but currently lives in the United Arab Emirates, said that despite the steady advances and the latest rebel victory in Dael, the regime still maintains a strong presence in the strategic province that leads to the capital.

Jamous said the capture of Dael increases the pressure on the regime.

The regime is known to have posted elite troops in Daraa province, which separates Damascus from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that the Jewish state captured in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Jamous said Dael has a population of 40,000, making it one of the bigger towns in the primarily agricultural region, which is dotted with small family farms. He added that the town fell briefly into the opposition's hands in the early days of the uprising, but was quickly retaken by regime forces in May 2011.

Amateur videos posted online by activists, showed rebels in the streets of Dael and the bodies of dead soldiers lying on the ground. The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.

In other areas, the Observatory said heavy clashes were taking place between regime forces and fighters renewing their attempts to storm a strategic military facility, known as the 17th Division base, north of the city of Raqqa that was captured by rebels earlier this month.

The division is considered one of the most important remaining regime strongholds in the northern province that borders Turkey, the Observatory said. It added that warplanes carried out several air raids in the area.

The Observatory said regime forces bombarded the Damascus suburb of Adra, while the government al Al-Ikhbariya TV said troops killed "many terrorists" in the area which is close to one of the main jails in the country.

The Aleppo Media Center and the Observatory reported clashes, shelling and attacks by helicopter gunships near the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and commercial center.

Syria's crisis began in March 2011 with protests demanding Assad's ouster. Following a harsh government crackdown, the uprising steadily grew more violent until it became a full-fledged civil war. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed since.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-capture-key-town-near-jordan-border-093516668.html

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BBC TeachingEnglish Article : 'Creative writing for language ...

BBC TeachingEnglish team has posted article an article ?Creative writing for language learners (and teachers)?.

BBC TeachingEnglish team says, ?Creative writing normally refers to the production of texts which have an aesthetic rather than a purely informative, instrumental or pragmatic purpose. Most often, such texts take the form of poems or stories, though they are not confined to these genres. (Letters, journal entries, blogs, essays, travelogues, etc. can also be more or less creative.) In fact, the line between creative writing (CW) and expository writing (ER) is not carved in stone. In general, however CW texts draw more heavily on intuition, close observation, imagination, and personal memories than ER texts.?

Creative writing for language learners (and teachers)

BBC TeachingEnglish

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Source: http://www.englishteachingdaily.com/2013/03/bbc-teachingenglish-article-creative-writing-for-language-learners-and-teachers/

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Bungie shows off 'Destiny' characters on video

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 7 hrs.

"Halo" creator Bungie has been sparing with details on the gameplay of its next big project, "Destiny," but liberal with concept art. The veil was lifted a little further Friday with the release of a video showing characters making the jump from concept to in-game model.

The video was shown at Bungie's panel at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. While it doesn't contain any actual gameplay, there's plenty of info to be extracted from the character models and animations.

For instance, the "Cabal" fighters are heavily armored and likely fill the role of tank. The three classes shown at the end ? Titan, Warlock, and Hunter ? fit neatly into the "warrior, wizard, rogue" archetypes already in place in thousands of games.

Sharp-eyed viewers will identify several influences, from "Warhammer 40K" and "Star Wars" to manga like "Appleseed" to, of course, Bungie's previous games. A batch of concept art was also released, which Kotaku has kindly collected here.

More substantial information about the game itself will likely be given out at E3 in June.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a254d92/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cingame0Cbungie0Eshows0Edestiny0Echaracters0Evideo0E1C9145348/story01.htm

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"Quit What You Suck At"

When you suck at something, it's not a lot of fun but you've likely convinced yourself to keep going for one reason or another. We tend to get stuck out of habit, but sometimes you just need to quit. As venture capitalist Brad Feld often says, "quit what you suck at." He explains why in an interview with productivity and ideas blog the 99u:

If you are doing something poorly AND you don't enjoy it, then you probably suck at it. If you are doing it poorly, but it's important to you, or you want to get better at it, or it fascinates you ? keep trying. You usually know when you hate something ? that's a leading indicator that it's not worth doing, unless you have no other choice.

You are, however, going to suck at most everything the first time you try it and probably for a little while after that. This advice wasn't crafted to tell you to give up every time you suck, but rather to pay attention to what you hate and aren't any good at. When those two things coincide, and you've given that line of work/activity/whatever a decent change, you should quit or you'll continue making yourself unhappy.

Brad Feld: On Not Mourning Your Failures & Overcoming Burn-Out | The 99u

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/fZw1H2uOjNY/quit-what-you-suck-at

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