Travel Blogger Visits 100th Country in 16 Years' Non-stop Travel

Posted on by

Kiev, Ukraine (PRWEB) November 09, 2014

While the world watches the Ukraine crisis from afar, world-renowned travel blogger Andy Lee Graham is relaxing in Kiev, savoring his singular achievement visiting 100 countries in more than 16 years of perpetual world travel.

Ukraine is actually my 105th country 104th if you count Transnistria as a rogue country, said Graham. Number 100 was Greece, which I visited at the beginning of October.

I would have stayed in Athens a while longer, but I wanted to make my way over to Ukraine and get a man-in-the-street feel for whats going on here, said Graham. Rather than fly direct, though, I stopped in Malta, Romania, Moldova and Transnistria along the way.

Another of Grahams claims to fame is visiting countries that tourists and other travelers avoid. He actually prefers so-called developing countries and locations where significant world events are taking shape. He was in Iraq in Aug. 2003 after heavy fighting had ended; Thailand during the 2004 tsunami; and Ivory Coast when its civil war heated up in Feb. 2011.

Hes been to places that are so far off the tourist trail that the beaten path is a days bus ride away, wrote travel writer Tim Leffel in his foreword to Grahams recent book, The Rules of Travel (Real Travelers Press, 2014). He has supported himself for more than a decade on the road, writing about his experiences on multiple continents.

Graham, who has been traveling non-stop since 1998, has traveled to more places and continually traveled longer than any human alive today.

Ive had a challenge out there for years for someone to step forward whos been continuously traveling longer than I have, said Graham. By continuously, I mean you cant have stopped for longer than three months in a row at any one place. So far, no one in the hardcore traveler community has stepped forward. Travel writers arent even on the list.

The founder and chief blogger of HoboTraveler.com, Graham has documented his travels with more than 8,000 blog posts and has posted about 30,000 photos and 2,000 videos since founding the site about 15 years ago.

Whats unique about Andy is that, unlike most other travel writers, he only writes about places hes actually visited actually lived in, really, said Alan Oak, editor at Real Travelers Press. He gets to know local people and almost exclusively patronizes local hotels, restaurants and services. He isnt just sitting all comfy in U.S., rehashing the same old garbage about high-priced tourist traps.

Read more here:

Travel Blogger Visits 100th Country in 16 Years' Non-stop Travel

Oman Air celebrates awards at World Travel Market 2014

Posted on by

Oman Air celebrated its awards at this years four-day World Travel Market (WTM), which ended on Nov. 6. The national carrier of Oman shared with guests its awards success over the last 12 months. In a move aimed to reciprocate the airlines success, Oman Air used the WTM occasion to announce the winners of its own new awards program, the Oman Air Media Awards UK. Since last years highly successful participation in WTM, Oman Air has scooped numerous international awards, been named in an array of magazine Top 10 lists and received praise from customers and travel trade representatives alike. Furthermore, Oman Airs own Extreme Sailing Series crew has competed globally to great acclaim, and Oman Air-sponsored Omani motorsports ace Ahmad Al-Harthy was named as the winner of the 2014 British GT Championship following a series of spectacular drives. Ahmads Aston Martin Vantage, resplendent in Oman Airs colors, provided the perfect backdrop for the announcement of the winners of the Oman Air Media Awards UK. This is the first time that these awards are being presented, and the outstanding work of UK journalists and bloggers who have written about Oman, Oman Air and the airlines sports sponsorship is being recognized. The winners of each of the four categories of the awards went ahead for consideration as overall winner of the Oman Air Media Awards UK, with the successful writer taking home a long weekend for two in Oman. Mohammed Al-Shikely, GM marketing at Oman Air, comments: Following a year in which we have been honored by more awards than ever before, it is only fitting that we recognize the invaluable role that the UKs journalists and bloggers have played in the success of Oman Air, and of the destination of the Sultanate of Oman.

Here is the original post:

Oman Air celebrates awards at World Travel Market 2014

Clinical Trials: Advanced Cell Technology – Stem Cell Therapy – Video

Posted on by


Clinical Trials: Advanced Cell Technology - Stem Cell Therapy
Last month (October 2014) in The Lancet, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) published their preliminary phase 1 clinical data for their Stem Cell therapy trials for Stargardt #39;s Macular Dystrophy...

By: Essceejulies

Go here to see the original:

Clinical Trials: Advanced Cell Technology - Stem Cell Therapy - Video

Parkinson's stem cell therapy works in rats

Posted on by

Dopamine-making neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells.

A rat model of Parkinson's disease has been successfully treated with neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells, according to a study led by Swedish scientists. Its a promising sign for scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Scripps Health who hope to perform similar therapy on Parkinsons patients, using artificial embryonic stem cells.

In rats and people, neurons that make the neurotransmitter dopamine are essential for normal movement. The cells are destroyed in Parkinson's, leading to the difficulty in movement that characterizes the disease.

Researchers transplanted dopamine-producing cells grown from human embryonic stem cells into the brains of rats whose own dopamine-making neurons had been destroyed. The rats were immune-suppressed so they would not reject the cells. Within five months, the transplanted cells boosted dopamine production to normal levels, restoring normal movement in the rats.

The study was published Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The senior author was Malin Parmar of Lund University in Lund, Sweden.

The results support the Scripps approach of using the artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, said Jeanne Loring, who heads the Center for Regenerative Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. Loring is part of a group called Summit 4 Stem Cell that's raising funds to treat eight Parkinson's patients with their own IPS cells.

Particularly significant is the study's comparison of the effects of dopamine-making neurons derived from fetal cells to that of embryonic stem cells, Loring said by email.

"In the 1980s and 1990s, there were several clinical trials that showed that grafts of fetal brain containing the precursors of dopamine neurons could reverse the effects of Parkinson's disease in some patients," Loring said. "We, and the others developing stem cell therapies, based our plans on the results of those studies, but no one had ever directly compared fetal tissue and human pluripotent stem cell-derived dopamine neurons in an animal model of PD."

Induced pluripotent stem cells appear to have much the same capacity as human embryonic stem cells to generate different tissues and organs.

There has been uncertainty about how similar they are to each other, specifically whether the IPS process produces mutations. But recent studies have found the cell types are extremely similar, including a study also published in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday. That study compared IPS cells with embryonic stem cells produced by SCNT, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same process used to create Dolly the sheep.

View original post here:

Parkinson's stem cell therapy works in rats

BioEden the specialist tooth stem cell bank announce record sales up 45%

Posted on by

(PRWEB UK) 9 November 2014

Every day stem cell treatments are in the news, often bringing the last hope for many patients with serious conditions that have defied traditional medicine.

BioEden's Group CEO Tony Veverka says, 'the increase in popularity in banking a persons own cells is as a result of two main things; 1. The likelihood of needing stem cell therapy is high, and 2. You need a stem cell match - your own cells are the perfect match'.

BioEden's tooth stem cell banking service is the only way you can access your own cells without the need for medical intervention. More and more parents are choosing to bank their children's stem cells as the baby tooth is shed naturally. However, stem cells can be banked from a healthy adult molar, that perhaps is being removed for orthodontic reasons.

Obtaining stem cells from other sources such as bone marrow is not only invasive but costly. Taking the decision to bank ones own cells is a sensible consideration, and costs from just 295.

Here is the original post:

BioEden the specialist tooth stem cell bank announce record sales up 45%