Pan African travel market launched

Cape Town - Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), organisers of the World Travel Market (WTM), has announced its intention to expand this flagship event into the African continent with the launch of World Travel Market Africa. This two day event will be held at Cape Towns International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 May 2014.

It aims to emulate the success of sister events, WTM (which has taken place in London for the past 53 years), and WTM Latin America. Forming part of Africa Travel Week, WTM Africa will be one of three co-located Reed Exhibitions events during the week of April 28 to May 3 2014.

Africa Travel Week will target Africas inbound and outbound markets under RTEs established portfolio brands of WTM (World Travel Market), ILTM (International Luxury Travel Market) and IBTM (Incentives, Business Travel & Meetings). As the finale of Africa Travel Week, WTM Africa will showcase a wide range of tourism products from pan African and international exhibitors and will attract a broad audience of local, pan African and international visitors from all tourism sectors focusing on both inbound and outbound travel markets.

In addition to this, an insightful and topical Africa-focused education programme, brought together by key industry figures, will run during the two days of the event.

It will cover topics such as responsible tourism, including the business benefits of sustainable tourism, education within the African tourism industry, blogging and how businesses can successfully work with travel bloggers, travel technology and the latest trends in the region.

The Hosted Buyer Programme will bring in 300 high-profile buyers from across the globe looking to source products and services from the WTM Africa exhibitors.

According to Kate Shepherd, marketing manager of WTM Africa, there is a huge interest in the tourism industry in emerging markets like Africa due to the growing middle class on the continent.

"Our vision is clear: We want to deliver the best business contacts and we are able to do this due to our international profile," Polly Magraw, exhibition manager of WTM Africa told Fin24.

"We are not trying to replicate the Tourism Indaba in Durban. We do not have a political agenda and our exhibition is open to the whole industry."

She said WTM Africa offers added leverage because of the global spread of RTE's events.

See the article here:

Pan African travel market launched

Couch surf the world

Couch surfing at 60 is the way I am going to travel from now on. The Kombi vans we travelled the world in decades ago have been replaced by the multiple people-to-people options opened up by the internet. Couch surfing is a vibrant, healthy, cheap and cosy way to traverse continents and countries, couch by couch, host by host, seeing real people in real time, without sitting in a Big Red Topless Bus with other tourists, looking down on the local population like ants.

When your kids tell you they are travelling the world, they don't tell you they are couch surfing, because, as with everything else, you wouldn't understand. You would think it was a dating site, a pick-up venue, a dangerous place to go, like Kings Cross. Couch surfers are drawing up real profiles with real facts, looking for a bed and a human exchange.

Couch surfing is exactly what it says. It is about enjoying the world's surfeit by using the world's hidden generosity.

Travel is about people and experiences, not about temples, shrines or pyramids. It is not about the Empire State Building, but about the people who work in it, if you can be lucky and vital enough to meet them at their home, on their couch.

No matter how much or how little money you have, the couch is the best way and, like good fishing holes, it is the best-kept secret among the younger generation. They know better than to put it on Facebook, where parents prey like mantises. They have hideaways devoted to hosts and guests around the world. It's like a digitalLonely Planet, where the information is disclosed by the couch owner in exchange for the experience of the traveller. It is new but seems as old as the Silk Road.

I am not a good traveller. My couch-surfing profile will tell a few little white lies, about my age, my professional status, and the breadth of my amazingly disparate interests. I want to impress potential hosts, who will haggle with each other for the right to offer me a couch.

In couch surfing, like everything, I want to leave a lasting impression not a stain. My profile does not suggest I carry pills and potions that soothe and pharmacologically treat my many physical and mental disorders. If you want to succeed, do not ever mention words like depression, herpes, baby wipes, special needs, needles or blood. Learn to eat vegan and lie that you are, because vegan hosts are very trustworthy and gentle souls.

Seek out hosts who share your interests. If you are female, and unless you enjoy it, don't couch-request BDSM photographers, slave masters, angry Islamists, college fraternities or curious couples seeking to expand their experiences.

The best way to start is in the next suburb, stay overnight in Surry Hills and say you are travelling to London in short spurts from Darlinghurst - baby steps.

Declutter. Travel lightly but with a healthy credit card. If you don't have one, buy a debit card that looks like a credit card and load it up. Although you might look penniless, you can not be penniless or you risk everything.

Excerpt from:

Couch surf the world

How to stream the Super Bowl to your computer, tablet, or smartphone

Ah, Super Bowl Sunday: A day to gather around the television and watch commercials football (or run errands in peace if football isn't your thing). But thanks to a streaming arrangement between Fox and the NFL, you'll be able to stream Super Bowl XLVIII for free.

This is actually the third year that the NFL has offered a free stream of the big game, and you have a couple options for streaming the game, so don't think you have to spend Super Sunday tethered to your laptop.

Visit Fox's Super Bowl siteand select the green button labelled Watch Online. Better yet, you can just bookmark this page. You will also be able watch it through Fox Sports Goand its iOS app.

That green Watch Online button on Foxs Super Bowl site will bring you streaming action of the game when the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks kick things off at 6:30 p.m. ET.

If you've got a smartphone through Verizon, you can watch the game through the NFL Mobile app, available in iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry versions. (If you happen to be in New Yorkand at a specific Verizon-sponsored eventthe carrier is also streaming the Super Bowl via LTE Multicast.)

Now, enough talklet's play ball! Er, wait, wrong sport.

This article was updated on February 2, 2014 with information for Super Bowl XLVIII.

See the article here:

How to stream the Super Bowl to your computer, tablet, or smartphone

Super Bowl Betting, Last-Minute Point Spread, Trends, Picks

If the Super Bowl computer prediction at Odds Shark turns out to be accurate Sunday, it will be the best-case scenario for several sportsbooks.

The NFL picks computer projected a 35-34 final for Denver, which would be great news for oddsmakers. The Broncos would fail to cover the spread with that margin of victory, which would be a victory for sportsbooks, who have seen 60 percent of the betting volume on Denver.

It would also be a victory on the moneyline, where most books had more action on Seattle.

And while a high-scoring game is not the preferenceof many Vegas books, one online shop would be happy with an OVER play.

Odds Shark Computer Prediction

35-34, Denver

Latest Super Bowl Point Spread and Total

After opening with Seattle at -1, the line ballooned quickly to -2. A ton of Denver money this weekend has pushed the number to -2.5 (with one book monitored by OddsShark.comat -3, the best line for Seattle bettors). Several shops were predicting a surge of late Seattle money, which could push the closing spread back to -2 or lower.

Original post:

Super Bowl Betting, Last-Minute Point Spread, Trends, Picks

Super Bowl 2014 live blog: Seahawks rout Broncos, 43-8

Malcolm Smith of the Seahawks won the Super Bowl's MVP award, a fitting representative for an underrated Seattle defenders who combined to make a fearsome whole.

11:00 p.m. Eastern:Searches for the word rout are currently spiking on Merriam-Websters website. Thats really all you need to know about tonights Super Bowl.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

The perfect ending to Peyton Mannings historic season proved doomed from the first bad snap, which resulted in a safety for the Seahawks. Somehow, his day only got worse from there. The Seattle defense held Manning to 280 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, pedestrian numbers for a guy who has been anything but. Malcolm Smith, the Seattle linebacker who grabbed Mannings first interception and recovered a fumble, was named the games Most Valuable Player, but it could have just as easily been any number of players on Seattles defense. Richard Sherman had an uncharacteristically quiet game before his injury, but thats because Denver mostly avoided throwing the ball anywhere near him.

Seattles defense did pretty much what theyve done all season. The Seahawks offense, though, didnt, and that was a good thing. Russell Wilson had 206 yards for two touchdowns and zero interceptions. That doesnt seem like much, but it didnt matter because the Seahawks used several players like they were number one weapons. Four different Seahawks were credited with at least one touchdown. Eight different players had receiving yards.

Smith as MVP, though, is a fitting representative for the rest of the Seahawks, a group of roundly overlooked individuals who combined to make a fearsome whole. He was drafted in the seventh round in the 2011 draft and didnt even start for the Seahawks until Week 15. Seattle is full of similar stories: Richard Sherman was a fifth rounder ; Russell Wilson was drafted in the third round, after a punter. But developing that underrated talent has allowed Seattle the freedom to spend elsewhere in free agency, ultimately giving them a team that was too well-rounded for anyone to stop. Wilson and Sherman both made under $1 million in salary this season; under the terms of the most recent CBA, Wilson has to go at least another before the Seahawks can even think about paying him more. The real MVP of Seattles Super Bowl then, was a front office willing to take risks and some really good accounting.

-Schuyler Velasco

10:15 p.m. Eastern time Billed as one of the best matchups ever, the clash between the record-setting offense of the Denver Broncos and the top-ranked defense of the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII was a total wash.

In the end, the Seahawks, one of the leauge's youngest teams and without any Super Bowl experience, dominated both sides of the ball, winning 43-8. The Bronco's, led by their 37-year-old quarterback Payton Manning, who was coming off the most remarkable single-season passing performance the NFL has ever seen, could not match the Seahawks intensity and speed.

View post:

Super Bowl 2014 live blog: Seahawks rout Broncos, 43-8

Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Stem Cell Research & Therapy is the major forum for translational research into stem cell therapies. An international peer-reviewed journal, it publishes high quality open access research articles with a special emphasis on basic, translational and clinical research into stem cell therapeutics and regenerative therapies, including animal models and clinical trials. The journal also provides reviews, viewpoints, commentaries and reports.

There has been an error retrieving the data. Please try again.

Paranasal sinus source of MPCs

Mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) from the ethmoid sinus mucosa have multilineage differentiation potential, high proliferative ability, and an increased capacity for secretion of immunomodulatory cytokines.

Matrix remodeling effects therapeutic potential

There are significant changes in the properties of the extracellular matrix following remodeling after myocardial infarction; characterization of the matrix could increase the efficiency and efficacy of cell therapy treatment.

MHC-mismatched MSCs are immunogenic

All potential donor mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) should be immunophenotyped and screened for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expression to prevent inciting an immune reaction.

PSC-derived cardiomyocyte production

Steve Oh and colleagues review progress in the development of platforms for the large scale differentiation of cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) as part of the cardiovascular regeneration series.

View original post here:

Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Split Decision: Stem Cell Signal Linked with Cancer Growth

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a protein critical to hematopoietic stem cell function and blood formation. The finding has potential as a new target for treating leukemia because cancer stem cells rely upon the same protein to regulate and sustain their growth.

Hematopoietic stem cells give rise to all other blood cells. Writing in the February 2, 2014 advance online issue of Nature Genetics, principal investigator Tannishtha Reya, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmacology, and colleagues found that a protein called Lis1 fundamentally regulates asymmetric division of hematopoietic stem cells, assuring that the stem cells correctly differentiate to provide an adequate, sustained supply of new blood cells.

Asymmetric division occurs when a stem cell divides into two daughter cells of unequal inheritance: One daughter differentiates into a permanently specialized cell type while the other remains undifferentiated and capable of further divisions.

This process is very important for the proper generation of all the cells needed for the development and function of many normal tissues, said Reya. When cells divide, Lis1 controls orientation of the mitotic spindle, an apparatus of subcellular fibers that segregates chromosomes during cell division.

During division, the spindle is attached to a particular point on the cell membrane, which also determines the axis along which the cell will divide, Reya said. Because proteins are not evenly distributed throughout the cell, the axis of division, in turn, determines the types and amounts of proteins that get distributed to each daughter cell. By analogy, imagine the difference between cutting the Earth along the equator versus halving it longitudinally. In each case, the countries that wind up in the two halves are different.

When researchers deleted Lis1 from mouse hematopoietic stem cells, differentiation was radically altered. Asymmetric division increased and accelerated differentiation, resulting in an oversupply of specialized cells and an ever-diminishing reserve of undifferentiated stem cells, which eventually resulted in a bloodless mouse.

What we found was that a large part of the defect in blood formation was due to a failure of stem cells to expand, said Reya. Instead of undergoing symmetric divisions to generate two stem cell daughters, they predominantly underwent asymmetric division to generate more specialized cells. As a result, the mice were unable to generate enough stem cells to sustain blood cell production.

The scientists next looked at how cancer stem cells in mice behaved when the Lis1 signaling pathway was blocked, discovering that they too lost the ability to renew and propagate. In this sense, the effect Lis1 has on leukemic self-renewal parallels its role in normal stem cell self-renewal, Reya said.

Read more:

Split Decision: Stem Cell Signal Linked with Cancer Growth

Pt 2 – Two Steps Forward & One Step Parallel – Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People – Video


Pt 2 - Two Steps Forward One Step Parallel - Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People
I hope this gets you thinking and provides new experiences. Enjoy. I #39;d personally like to thank - Tritone Productions, Columbia Pictures, eedobaba7726, Ellio...

By: DavesDigital

Original post:

Pt 2 - Two Steps Forward & One Step Parallel - Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People - Video

Pt 1 – Two Steps Forward & One Step Parallel – Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People – Video


Pt 1 - Two Steps Forward One Step Parallel - Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People
I hope this gets you thinking and provides new experiences. Enjoy. I #39;d personally like to thank - Tritone Productions, Columbia Pictures, eedobaba7726, Ellio...

By: DavesDigital

Read the original post:

Pt 1 - Two Steps Forward & One Step Parallel - Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People - Video

Pt 3 – Two Steps Forward & One Step Parallel – Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People – Video


Pt 3 - Two Steps Forward One Step Parallel - Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People
I hope this gets you thinking and provides new experiences. Enjoy. I #39;d personally like to thank - Tritone Productions, Columbia Pictures, eedobaba7726, Ellio...

By: DavesDigital

View post:

Pt 3 - Two Steps Forward & One Step Parallel - Life, Personal Development, Spirituality, People - Video