Stem cell industry ready to liftoff

Posted on by

By Gu Yang

According to statistics, up to August 1st, 2013, clinical trials on stem cell research publicly registered on the website of Clinical Trial have reached 4704, among which 213 were from China. Though it is far from 2805 of the US, Xu Xiaochun, the director of INCOSC and founder of Boya Life, insists that gap between China and developed countries in stem cell research field is not big -- "we are almost starting at the same time, since the key technology of stem cell has just got breakthrough in recent two or three years, and the development history of the whole industry is just 20 years."

"This is an original contribution in science which is most likely to be accomplished by China!" Xu Xiaochun stated briefly. The next few years will be the critical period for the development of global stem cell industry, and China is not to miss this valuable but fleeting opportunity.

A "gold mine" of USD400 billion is to be discovered

Who will be the next Microsoft? Even Gates himself admits that this company will surely come from the field of biological medicine, and it has been a consensus in the industry that stem cell industry is one of the cores and the most promising modules in the field of biological medicine.

In global market, stem cell technology and its development has been crazily pursued by international capital market in recent years, and relevant market value of stem cell concept stocks listed in NASDAQ only has exceeded USD30 billion. It is predicted by experts that the potential market of global stem cell industry will be about USD80 billion within the next two years, and reach up to USD400 billion around 2020.

In China, the stem cell industry also has bright prospects. According to the research reports from the institution named First Capital, the stem cell industry of China has formed a complete industry chain from the upstream storage to the downstream clinical application, and it is predicted that the income of stem cell industry in the coming 5 years will increase to RMB 30 billion from the current RMB 2 billion, at the average annual growth rate of 170 percent.

For many people, the stem cell, with the ability to repair and generate all human cells, has not been a strange concept. However, there are still some widespread misunderstandings in society about the cognition of stem cells in clinical application.

"Stem cell application doesn't only mean the storage of stem cells, but it has many downstream applications. Moreover, stem cells can also be used as a tool for new medicine research and development as well as other personalized medicine." Xu Xiaochun told the journalist that, Boya Life, founded by him, is such a group starting from stem cell research, turns the view to the whole field of biological economy while constantly extending upstream and downstream on the industry chain.

Read more:

Stem cell industry ready to liftoff

The Practicing Parent: Pros & cons of stem cell banking

Posted on by

Umbilical cord stem cell banking can be expensive and controversial, but Jamie and Ben Page decided to bank their daughter, Harlow's stem cells just in case.

"We had heard about cord blood banking and talked about it a lot and thought let's just go for it and have it just as a backup," Jamie Page said.

They did need it. Harlow had cancer in her uterus.

"On the ultrasound they immediately saw that there was a mass in her abdomen about the size of a grapefruit," Page said.

After a year of chemo, the tumor was gone. Doctors wanted to keep it that way.

"So, when the doctors found out we actually had her own stem cells, they were very excited," Page said.

Oncologist Elaine Morgan says those stem cells helped Harlow.

"I think that her umbilical cord cells were used as a boost to her own cells when we harvested her to have adequate cells for reconstitution," Dr. Morgan said.

Dr. Morgan does not advocate private cord stem cell banking at birth to be saved for a healthy baby's later use, because it's not clinically useful and it's expensive.

The Pages paid almost $2,000 for the initial banking fee, plus an extra $125 per year.

Link:

The Practicing Parent: Pros & cons of stem cell banking

Minecraft – MainBlock Day 166 – Space Station Pod 1 Build Complete and Solar Panels – Video

Posted on by


Minecraft - MainBlock Day 166 - Space Station Pod 1 Build Complete and Solar Panels
NEW Channel! - KBDToysTV: - https://www.youtube.com/user/KBDToysTV Extreme Ant Farm - Ep 1 - http://youtu.be/P3x43rF-1I4 Ant Farm Survival Day 1 - http://you...

By: KBDGamesTV

Read the original post:

Minecraft - MainBlock Day 166 - Space Station Pod 1 Build Complete and Solar Panels - Video

WAGs light up red carpet

Posted on by

Mitchell Johnson and Jessica Bratich-Johnson. Picture: Getty Images

It wasn't just in the recent Ashes whitewash that Dave Warner batted above his average.

On the red carpet for the Allan Border Medal awards night the big-hitting opening batsman admitted that when it came to girlfriend Candice Falzon, he's batting above average there too.

MITCHELL JOHNSON WINS ALLAN BORDER MEDAL

Ms Falzon and the other wives and girlfriend of Australian cricketers strutted into the annual cricket awards on Monday night, held for the first time in Sydney.

Wearing a lace and gold gown by Western Australian designer Alchemy, Ms Falzon turned heads as she entered Doltone House.

"I've been very fortunate to wear this dress tonight," she said.

Captain Michael Clarke's wife Kyly, who's hoping to design clothes herself, was wearing a sheer embellished navy gown adorned with sequins.

The quirky number was a collaboration between Ms Clarke and designer Daniela Stephanie.

"She's done a fantastic job. We were after something that was sexy but demure, something chic and classic," the glowing brunette said as light ricocheted off her diamond bling.

Read more here:

WAGs light up red carpet

VanOLINDA: Red Lion boys on roll since Christmas

Posted on by

COLUMN By DICK VANO'LINDA

505-5407/@ydsports

Two days before Christmas, the Red Lion boys' basketball team lost a game.

The Lions haven't lost one since their 50-45 setback to Central York.

Red Lion is riding a 10-game winning streak as the York-Adams League heads into the final third of its season.

The victories during the run include a signature triumph over York High, a team that Red Lion hadn't beaten since the 2009-10 season.

The Lions count on balanced scoring and a defense that is ranked second in the league.

Three Red Lion players are averaging in double figures. Mike Fox, a senior, is the team leader at 17.8 points a game. He's followed by Stone McCreary (11.0) and Evan Miller (10.5). Fox, according to York Dispatch records, has 927 career points.

McCreary and Miller have combined for 66 3-point baskets.

Defensively, the Lions are holding opponents to 43.1 points a game. Jason Rebuck, who is averaging 7.2 points game, is a strong rebounder and defender in the post and Head Coach Steve Schmehl lauded the defense of guard Austin Huson following the Lions' 62-40 victory over Dover.

Original post:

VanOLINDA: Red Lion boys on roll since Christmas

Red-hot Hershey owns boards, stops Susquehanna Township

Posted on by

RECAP

When Hersheys girls basketball team walked off the court on Dec. 20 after a 33-25 loss to Lower Dauphin, the Trojans were 1-6 overall and scratching their collective heads.

Now, Hershey is one of the hottest teams not only in Mid-Penn Keystone play, but also around District 3.

The Trojans won for the eighth time in nine games on Monday night, beating the approaching Polar vortex with a 48-35 Keystone win over visiting Susquehanna Township.

WATCH REPLAY OF LIVE VIDEO WEBCAST from Hershey's victory

Hershey got back to .500 in the division at 6-6, and improved to 9-7 overall. It trails front-runner Mechanicsburg by five games, but has played major spoiler here lately with wins over Palmyra and Trinity.

Susquehanna Township, which never led Monday, had its 3-game winning streak snapped and slipped to 6-5 in the Keystone and to 8-8 overall.

Like Hershey, the Indians have been relegated to Keystone spoiler. And Hanna will get a chance to throw a major monkey wrench into the race; the Indians play first-place Mechanicsburg on Jan. 27 and again on Jan. 31.

Hershey and Hanna are still thinking postseason; Trojans are 25th in the latest District 3-AAAA power rankings the top 20 teams qualify and the Indians are 12th in the latest District 3-AAA power rankings, with the top 18 teams getting a bid.

UPDATED DISTRICT 3 GIRLS' BASKETBALL POWER RANKINGS

More here:

Red-hot Hershey owns boards, stops Susquehanna Township

New Year’s Asteroid Strike Equal to 500 Tons of TNT | NASA Space Science HD – Video

Posted on by


New Year #39;s Asteroid Strike Equal to 500 Tons of TNT | NASA Space Science HD
Coconut Science Lab: http://www.coconutsciencelab.com On New Year #39;s Day 2014, the small asteroid 2014 AA exploded in the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean w...

By: CoconutScienceLab

Read more:

New Year's Asteroid Strike Equal to 500 Tons of TNT | NASA Space Science HD - Video

kamalanathan03.jpg

Posted on by

BY LOOI SUE-CHERN January 20, 2014

Malaysian universities will automatically improve their ratings if they produce more researches, said Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan (pic).

He said universities here will have to focus on research and development initiatives to help them compete among their Malaysian counterparts and also other institutions of higher learning overseas.

"Universities are not just tasked with producing graduates these days. They must also have initiatives to compete with other institutions worldwide.

"If we conduct more researches, we will be able to do better in our ratings (internationally)," he said today in a press conference at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang.

It was reported in September last year that Malaysian public universities had continued to fall in the QS World University rankings with only Universiti Malaya (UM) still in the top 200.

QS said Malaysian universities had not been producing enough cited research although they have quality academics and produced employable graduates.

Kamalanathan said for universities to conduct more researches and develop products, the private sector also has to play a part.

He said partnerships between the universities and the industries will help generate more research and development activities.

The private sector, he said, can contribute by providing resources or funding for researches and to market the products developed.

Go here to read the rest:

kamalanathan03.jpg

Cops baby-step into social media | Business Recorder

Posted on by

January 21, 2014

Tooreluctant to pick up the phone and dial 15 to launch a complaintagainst an eye-witnessed street crime in the past few minutes-themaddening feeling sounds familiar? Then how about interacting withcops on facebook and twitter?

After corporations and politicians, the cops in Islamabad are all set to dive into the cosmos of social media. The notion of calling the police on the emergency number has long turned out to be old-fashioned. Pursuant to the current trend, when people come across a suicide bomb explosion or a big fire, the first thing they do is to update their facebook status or upload a picture or tweet it and the last thing that knocks their mind is reporting police about the incident.

Considering this, law enforcement organizations ought to line their nest to maintain active presence on social media sites to be able to get the insights about criminal cases, this is more than ever meaningful in situations where cases are not actually reported as is the case in our country where people are reluctant to report criminal cases because of the so-called thanay wala mentality.

No other government department is subjected to public ridicule and abuse more than the police department. Policemen are seen by the public not as friends but as sharks and oppressors.

According to a public opinion poll by Berlin based non-profit group Transparency International (TI) released in July 2013, police and government agencies are the major corrupts in Pakistan with 86 percent, followed by political parties with 84 percent, the parliament with 76 percent, medical services and judiciary with 66 percent, the education system with 64 percent and the NGOs with 62 percent. The survey reassures that the people of Pakistan have least trust in police forces and the government.

Even though the overall image of police in Pakistan is viewed as hostile, Islamabad police is weighed to be more sophisticated by people as the publication released by Pakistan Crime Monitor in April 2013 referred Punjab as the highest crime reporting region, while regarding the potential reasons for lesser number of FIRs registered in other areas as unjust judicial system, lack of public trust in police and difficulty in accessing the police. In this context, there is some optimism that the use of social media by the cops in Islamabad can rally round in transforming the mindsets of public at large as well as ensuring friendly interaction between police forces and the victims of criminal activities.

Departments that create a presence on social media sites open a new door of communication with the general public. Given the Pakistani sarkari mindset mentality that pays no heed to voices of public, few people try to fathom the reasons for their poor performance where all the ills and blame are heaped at the doors of police alone. The solution to this attitude lies in two-sided interface being provided by the social networking sites.

Not only that social media can pave the way for police officers to interact with people for disseminating information to the public and getting recommendations and feedbacks from them to improve policing, it can also help them investigation crimes by taking input from the people. Imagine how easy it will be to locate a criminal if the photograph labeled as Wanted goes viral on the facebook.

Social sites are effective ways to disseminate crime alerts, investigation updates, safety alerts and to counter propaganda. In this regard, Pakistani cops baby-stepping into the social media is a step forward in refining the tarnished crime complaint processes as well as mending the wrecked image of police community.

Read more here:

Cops baby-step into social media | Business Recorder

Philip Pillkington: Libertarian Paternalism is Clearly an Oxymoron

Posted on by

By Philip Pilkington, a writer and research assistant at Kingston University in London. You can follow him on Twitter @pilkingtonphil. Cross posted from Fixing the Economists

Blackwhitethis word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink.

George Orwell, 1984

Hey, look, Im not racist but. You just know that this statement is likely to be followed by a racist comment of some sort, right? Well, what about the statement issued in the title of a paper that libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron. Yeah, youre probably going to think that what is likely to follow is going to be oxymoronic and poorly argued.

Well, youd be right. But even the term itself libertarian paternalism is so obviously a perversion of language that it should be immediately confined to the dustbin of duoblethink words along with blackwhite and goodbad. What the coiners of the term have done is fuse together two words that are mutually contradictory. In doing so they seek to obfuscate thinking and confuse people.

Dont get me wrong. Politically and economically Im very sympathetic to the argument put forward by the so-called libertarian paternalists. I certainly think that state intervention is a necessity in a modern economy; I certainly think that people do not always act in their own self-interest; and I fully agree that the less encroachment upon personal freedom that the state has to engage in to achieve the best results the better. But this does not excuse nonsense. We do not need to pervert language and reason to make this case.

Here is the basic argument as laid out in Sunstein and Thalers paper Libertarian Paternalism is Not an Oxymoron,

We elaborate a form of paternalism, libertarian in spirit, that should be acceptable to those who are firmly committed to freedom of choice on grounds of either autonomy or welfare. Indeed, we urge that libertarian paternalism provides a basis for both understanding and rethinking a number of areas of contemporary law, including those aspects that deal with worker welfare, consumer protection, and the family. In the process of defending these claims, we intend to make some objections to widely held beliefs about both freedom of choice and paternalism. Our emphasis is on the fact that in many domains, people lack clear, stable, or well-ordered preferences. What they choose is a product of framing effects, starting points, and default rules, leaving the very meaning of the term preferences unclear.

The substance of the above quote is actually true. When scrutinised in any meaningful way so-called preferences in marginalist economics are fairly meaningless. Human beings are not robots and their decisions are usually made under the substantial weight of framing and subject to all sorts of biases and blindnesses. Put more simply: sometimes people dont make very good decisions.

See the article here:

Philip Pillkington: Libertarian Paternalism is Clearly an Oxymoron