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Shakira review: Another appealing album from a charming pop star

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Is there anyone alive who doesnt have a special, secret fondness for Shakira? Besides maybe that famously angry sea lion who attacked the singer in 2012 and was presumably unaware of her selfless work with the United Nations and had probably never even heard She Wolf, because he would have really liked it.

Everyone else seems to have long ago succumbed to Shakiras hip-swiveling charms. Shes an avatar of pop-culture globalization a Colombian singer-songwriter of Lebanese descent whose songs are a multicultural grab bag of melodies from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and, most prominently on her new, self-titled album, the American South. Shes a social-media giant. Statues have been erected in her honor. (Okay, one statue. Made of metal, not the hand-chiseled marble she deserves. And it depicts Shakira wearing pants she probably would never wear. But its a start.)

Shakira has weird, very specific tastes: Shakira is not her first album to feature near-lethal doses of reggae and 90s alt-rock, as if she hasnt realized that those things are mostly awful. Yet she also has the broadest canvas of any pop diva in memory she can contain multitudes, from cumbia to country, and still sound instantly, recognizably like herself.

Shakira, her charming, awkward, immensely appealing new disc, tests this theory. It was assembled by a murderers row of expensive producers and writers, including Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut. Any student of recent pop history knows what comes next: dignity-killing, one-size-fits-all dance-pop songs predestined for success and oblivion in the same month.

Shakira submits to Dr. Lukes dehumanizing ministrations and manages to come out the other end sounding only slightly less like herself. Dare (La La La) doubles as the background music for Shakiras new commercial for Activia yogurt, and it sounds like something Lady Gaga would have made before she became ridiculous. Its wonderful.

Most of the rest of Shakira seems like an uneasy bargain between what she wants (rootsy, often acoustic-based pop with a rangy feel and an affinity for early Alanis Morissette) and what the producers want (hits). Its familiar territory for the singer, who has routinely employed of-the-moment production teams to contemporize (and Americanize) her sound, but seldom has the divide seemed so great.

The best tracks split the difference: The new wave/reggae hybrid Cant Remember to Forget You is an energetic duet with Rihanna, pops favorite inanimate object. Loca por Ti (one of a handful of Spanish tracks on the standard edition of the album) is 80s jukebox country, finely rendered. The midtempo Latin pop track You Dont Care About Me recalls vintage Marc Anthony.

Shakira has four fully formed emotions Reproachful, Cheery, Lets Dance and I Want to Do Things to You. Thats two more than Dr. Luke usually has to work with, and she also has a voice thats hiccupy and distinct, especially at the wildest, warbliest reaches of her register. To make Shakira sound like everybody else takes some effort. On the discs weakest track, Spotlight, she sounds unerringly, depressingly, like Taylor Swift; the song sounds like a reheated Red outtake, and the vocal similarity is too marked to be accidental.

Swift is the unlikeliest of specters. But, if only because she is one of Shakiras few rivals who can credibly deliver a slender love song backed by an acoustic guitar, she also haunts the folk ballad 23, one of the albums starkest and best songs. Shakira has never been much of a lyricist, but 23 is clunkier, and braver, (I used to think that there was no god/ But then you looked at me with your blue eyes/ And my agnosticism turned into dust) than Swift would ever dare to be.

Shakiras comfort level seems to ebb and flow throughout the album: Shes commanding on the Spanish-language songs, playful on the bangers, subdued on the songs that are obviously ill-suited for her, such as the Nashville ballad Medicine, a collaboration with Blake Shelton, her fellow judge on The Voice. Its one of those duets where two famous people from different genres are joined by their business managers in pursuit of a crossover hit. They sing at each other and both sound as if theyd rather be anywhere else. Shelton, also at half-wattage, treats her with unusual delicacy, as if he was enlisted partly for his hit-making skills and partly to stop her from running away.

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Shakira review: Another appealing album from a charming pop star

Replacing insulin through stem cell-derived pancreatic cells under the skin

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Mar-2014

Contact: Susan Gammon Ph.D. sgammon@sanfordburnham.org 858-795-5012 Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute

LA JOLLA, Calif., March 25, 2014 Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) and UC San Diego School of Medicine scientists have shown that by encapsulating immature pancreatic cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC), and implanting them under the skin in animal models of diabetes, sufficient insulin is produced to maintain glucose levels without unwanted potential trade-offs of the technology. The research suggests that encapsulated hESC-derived insulin-producing cells hold great promise as an effective and safe cell-replacement therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes.

"Our study critically evaluates some of the potential pitfalls of using stem cells to treat insulin-dependent diabetes," said Pamela Itkin-Ansari, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor in the Development, Aging, and Regenerative Program at Sanford-Burnham, with a joint appointment at UC San Diego.

"We have shown that encapsulated hESC-derived pancreatic cells are able to produce insulin in response to elevated glucose without an increase in the mass or their escape from the capsule. These results are important because it means that the encapsulated cells are both fully functional and retrievable," said Itkin-Ansari.

In the study, published online in Stem Cell Research, Itkin-Ansari and her team used bioluminescent imaging to see if encapsulated cells stay in the capsule after implantation.

Previous attempts to replace insulin-producing cells, called beta cells, have met with significant challenges. For example, researchers have tried treating diabetics with mature beta cells, but because mature cells are fragile and scarce, the method is fraught with problems. Moreover, since the cells come from organ donors, they may be recognized as foreign by the recipient's immune systemrequiring patients to take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent their immune system from attacking the donor's cells, ultimately leaving patients vulnerable to infections, tumors, and other adverse events.

Encapsulation technology was developed to protect donor cells from exposure to the immune systemand has proven extremely successful in preclinical studies.

Itkin-Ansari and her research team previously made an important contribution to the encapsulation approach by showing that pancreatic islet progenitor cells are an optimal cell type for encapsulation. They found that progenitor cells were more robust than mature beta cells to encapsulate, and while encapsulated, they matured into insulin-producing cells, which secreted insulin only when needed.

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Replacing insulin through stem cell-derived pancreatic cells under the skin

UW-Madison professor debunks therapeutic stem cell tourism

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University of Wisconsin-Madison law and bioethics professor Alta Charo works to raise awareness for the dangers of stem cell tourism, according to a university press release Monday.

Stem cell tourism refers to people who travel within the United States and abroad in the pursuit of stem cells. These people are often sick and desperate and are falsely led to believe stem cell therapy can cure an array of medical conditions, Charo said in the release.

Advertisements for stem cell clinics often tout their treatments, but although patients all over the world are convinced stem cells will cure their disease, little data exists that proves the effectiveness of using stem cell therapeutically, according to Charo.

Not only are some stem cell treatments advertised by clinics questionable and often useless, they can also be dangerous, according to the release.

We already have had two reported deaths of children, and there are probably more injured than anybody would imagine, Charo said in the release. Its time we started complaining a little more loudly.

Though there have been instances of approved and unapproved treatments in the United States, many clinics that pose danger exist outside the country. Clinics in China are responsible for about half of all stem cell treatments, and Mexico, Russia and Costa Rica also have defective clinics, according to the release.

Charo emphasized the importance of regulation and realism when dealing with stem cells.

It is time to lose the hype without losing the hope, she said in the release.

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UW-Madison professor debunks therapeutic stem cell tourism

Pioneer Award recipients Marina Cavazzana and Adrian Thrasher recognized for advancing gene therapy to the clinic for …

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Mar-2014

Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, March 24, 2014Marina Cavazzana, MD, PhD, Paris Descartes University, France and Adrian J. Thrasher, MD, PhD, University College London Institute of Child Health, UK, have been honored with the Pioneer Award for basic and clinical gene therapy for immunodeficiency disorders. Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, is commemorating its 25th anniversary by bestowing this honor on the leading 12 Pioneers in the field of cell and gene therapy selected by a blue ribbon panel* and publishing a Pioneer Perspective by the award recipients

Dr. Cavazzana has been at the forefront of advances in treating life-threatening inherited diseases of the immune system with gene therapy, using a patient's own modified stem cells. She describes the translation of this work to the clinic and its ongoing advances and novel applications in the article "Hematopoetic Stem Cell Gene Therapy: Progress on the Clinical Front." The article by Dr. Cavazzana is available free on the Human Gene Therapy website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/hum.2014.2504.

A pioneer of gene therapy in the UK, Dr. Thrasher has been at the leading edge of basic science research on the function of therapeutic genes for inherited disorders and the development of viral vectors to deliver them to affected patients. He has collaborated on gene therapy clinical trials targeting immunodeficiency disorders with groups in Europe and the USA.

"Cell therapy and gene therapy are advancing together to improve patient care," says Dr. Cavazzana. "We can expect to be able to rebuild a new immune system not only in primary immunodeficiencies but also in severe acquired clinical conditions (such as those in HIV-1-infected patients)."

"I've seen some very exciting times in the field, from the first evidence that biochemical defects can be corrected in vitro, to some remarkable clinical successes in patients with devastating diseases. I look forward with huge enthusiasm to the exciting developments on the horizon, which are likely to impact on more patients with an even wider range of disorders," says Dr. Thrasher.

"These pioneers contributed to the first real clinical successes of gene therapy through their work in inherited immune deficiency disorders," says James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Human Gene Therapy, and Director of the Gene Therapy Program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia.

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Pioneer Award recipients Marina Cavazzana and Adrian Thrasher recognized for advancing gene therapy to the clinic for ...