Scientists find a master control gene for blood stem cells

Dr. John Dick, senior scientist with the
University Health Network

Canadian and Italian scientists say they have identified “a master control” gene for turning on blood stem cells, which could lead to a greatly expanded supply of these precious cells for medical treatments.

The discovery, published Thursday in the journal Cell: Stem Cell, follows another major development in 2011, when the Canadian researchers first isolated a human blood cell in its purest form a single stem cell capable of regenerating the entire blood system.

These advances are critical for people who suffer from blood disorders such as leukemia, a form of cancer. Doctors currently treat leukemia by using chemotherapy to destroy the cancerous cells in the bone marrow, where blood cells are produced, in the process also killing off normal blood cells. The blood system is then replaced with healthy cells from a bone-marrow donor.

Worldwide, about 40,000 people a year receive bone-marrow transplants. But an additional 120,000 patients fail to find a suitable match. Many die on waiting lists.

While blood stem cells taken from an umbilical cord have recently offered an alternative transplant source, they cannot be grown in large enough quantities to treat an adult. And even with last year’s announcement that Canadians had isolated the prized stem cells that endlessly replenish human blood, they still did not know how to control them.

“Stem cells are actually dormant in the cord blood or in your bone marrow. They lie dormant for long periods of time,” explained John Dick, a senior scientist at the University Health Network’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine and the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto.

But the discovery of a master control gene could mean that scientists will be able to finally harness the power of stem cells. “Now we have peered into those cells and identified one of these master regulator switches which actually governs the dormancy,” Dick said. “By altering the master regulators, you could greatly expand the number of stem cells which could then be used to transplant into an adult.”

The researchers still have to identify other genes that regulate blood stem cells. But Dick believes that goal is within their grasp.

- theglobeandmail.com

'Bundle' signals from SPACE seize control of small car in Germany

Sunita Williams on a spacewalk outside the ISS. Last month, she controlled a small lego car

An internet hookup intended for interplanetary use has been used by an astronaut on the International Space Station to drive a small lego car located in a laboratory in Germany.

Station commander Sunita Williams was able to drive the car around the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt last month by sending out commands from the ISS using the "interplanetary internet" - NASA's experimental deep space comms channel based on their Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol.


The test is part of NASA and the European Space Agency's attempt to enable long-distance robot control over an internet-like protocol. And one of the ways that NASA and the ESA have decided to test out deep space internet is by doing it in reverse - using humans on the International Space Station and robots on earth. It's easier than sending the lego to Mars.

At the core of Disruption Tolerant Networking is the Bundle Protocol (BP) similar to the Internet Protocol, or IP, the basis of the Internet here on Earth.

Bundle Protocol is built to withstand both the long distances and time delays associated with communication through deep space, allowing for errors and disconnections — glitches that commonly plague long-distance comms.

Data moves through the BP network in a series of short hops, waiting at one node until the next link becomes available, NASA officials said.

Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation at NASA HQ, said that the comms channel used to control a lego car today, could be used to control robots on Mars in the future:

The experimental DTN we've tested from the space station may one day be used by humans on a spacecraft in orbit around Mars to operate robots on the surface, or from Earth using orbiting satellites as relay stations.

South Africa jails Thai rhino horn trader to 40 years in prison

Surging demand for rhino horns in Asian traditional medicine has spawned a vast criminal trade in South Africa.

A THAI national who pleaded guilty to organising bogus trophy hunts to sell rhino horns on the international black market has been sentenced to 40 years in a South African jail, in what is being hailed as a landmark ruling.

A record number of unnatural rhino deaths are reported this year.

Chumlong Lemtongthai had admitted to paying prostitutes to pose as hunters, in order to harvest horns which were then sold on Asia's lucrative traditional medicine market.

The group is thought to have netted around 26 rhino horns.

South Africa is home to around 80 per cent of the world's rhinos. The population forms a linchpin of the country's famed "Big Five" biodiversity and of its lucrative safari industry.

There are more than 18,000 white rhinos in the country and around 1,600 critically endangered black rhinos.

But a dizzying spike in rhino killings has put the future of the animals in doubt.

South African officials say 528 rhinos have been killed already this year, shattering previous annual records.

Most of the rhinos are killed in the world-famous Kruger National Park and their horns turn up in Vietnam, China and other east Asian nations.

The animals' distinctive horns are used to produce a fingernail-like substance that is falsely believed to have powerful healing properties.

Monet painting sells for $41.5m

A WORK from Claude Monet's Water Lilies series has been sold for more than $US43 million ($41.50 million) at a New York City auction.

The 1905 work is considered among the best of a feverish series of Monet paintings depicting his garden's lily pond in Giverny, France.

The painting is from the estate of Ethel Strong Allen, widow of Wall Street executive Herbert Allen Sr. She bequeathed the Monet to a suburban boarding school, along with two Impressionist landscapes by Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley.

Christie's auction house says the three works  raised a total of nearly $US51 million school.

Hollande makes 'friendly' mistake in note to Obama

A letter from French President Francois Hollande to US President Barack Obama congratulating him on his
 reelection bears an unusual handwritten salutation. (Source: AP)

FRENCH President Francois Hollande's attempt to sign a note congratulating Barack Obama for getting re-elected wound up lost in translation - and all over Twitter.

In the great Gallic tradition of murdering the English language, Hollande ended the letter to the US president in his own hand, writing: "Friendly, Francois Hollande."

The mistake was a literal translation of the French "amicalement," instead of what probably should have been "kind regards."

It went viral on Twitter, overshadowing the rest of the note, which fleetingly touched on topics such as the Middle East and the economy.

According to local media, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was also weak in English. To excuse bad weather in January 2010, Mr Sarkozy told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "Sorry for the time."

In French " le temps" can mean both time and weather.

- AP

Japanese maitre d' Shin Miyazaki wins world cup for waiters

'World's best waiter' Japanese maitre d' Shin Miyazaki sets a table during the
International Georges Baptiste Cup world service competition in Tokyo. (AFP)

A JAPANESE maitre d' was crowned world's best in an international competition to find the top high-end server.

Shin Miyazaki, 35, who works at Chateau Restaurant Joel Robuchon in Tokyo, proved his mettle through nine rounds that tested his ability to dress a salad, flambe a pineapple and identify which wine works well with certain flavours.

Mr Miyazaki beat off competitors from 14 different countries under the gaze of an expert jury who were examining everything from how he put customers at ease to how he made the Irish coffee after desert.

"I practised every day for years, I'm hooked, and now I get this award," an emotional Miyazaki said as he received the Georges Baptiste Cup.

"But this is only the beginning, tomorrow I go back to work to do my best."


The Georges Baptiste Cup was established in France in 1961 in honour of the chef and butler of the same name.

It expanded to include European entrants three decades later and in 2000 went global when it was held in Canada. Subsequent editions were held in France, Mexico and Vietnam.

- AFP

Snowy post-Sandy storm pulls away from east coast

Utility workers check the power lines as snow covered debris from Superstorm
 Sandy lay on the side of a street following a nor'easter storm in New Jersey. (AP)

The nor'easter that stymied recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness after a blanket of thick, wet snow snapped storm-weakened trees and downed power lines. Meanwhile, New York imposed a gas rationing plan Friday that allows motorists to fill up every other day.

Sandy slammed the coast and inflicted tens of billions of dollars in damage, and hundreds of thousands of customers in New York and New Jersey were still waiting for the electricity to come back on, with lots of cold and tired people are losing patience.

If that wasn't enough, the nor'easter then brought gusting winds, rain and snow on Wednesday, though not the flooding that was anticipated. Snow blanketed several states and stymied recovery efforts spawned by Sandy as storm-weakened trees snapped and power lines came down before the nor'easter pulled away.

A new petrol rationing plan was put in place starting Friday that lets motorists fill up every other day. Police will be at gas stations to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island.


"This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance, so the lines aren't too oppressive and that we can get through this," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said the system worked well in New Jersey, where lines went from a two-hour wait to 45 minutes after Gov. Chris Christie announced a similar rationing plan.

Meanwhile, some who have been without power are demanding investigations of utilities they say aren't working fast enough. An angry New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined the calls for an investigation, ripping the utilities as unprepared and badly managed.

"Privately I have used language my daughters couldn't hear," he fumed. He added: "It's unacceptable the longer it goes on because the longer it goes on, people's suffering is worse."

The power companies have said they are dealing with damage unprecedented in its scope and doing the best they can. And there is no denying the magnitude of what they have done: At the peak, more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across 21 states lost power. As of Thursday, that was down to about 750,000, almost entirely in New York and New Jersey.

- AP

Obama victory welcomed by tourism industry

Tourism insiders around the world have welcomed the re-election of American president Barack Obama following a hotly contested battle with Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Obama is widely seen as proactive in the tourism arena, having overseen the launch of Brand USA during his first term.

The public-private initiative is an attempt to reinvigorate the flagging tourism sector in the United States.

As president, Obama also moved to cut visa waiting times for visitors from China and Brazil, as well as reducing restrictions on travel to and from Cuba.

In 2010, North Korea eased travel restrictions on Americans, and in January 2011 president Obama restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar.

America’s first black president secured the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win the race earlier this morning.

In his victory speech before supporters in Chicago, Obama said he would talk to Romney about “where we can work together to move this country forward”.

Zooey Deschanel And Style Bloggers Are Digging This 52 Year Old Backpack. Yes, Really!

When Zooey Deschanel Instagram’d the pic of herself above wearing a – what to many would be an unidentified – geeky rucksack, she confirmed a fashion inkling Grazia’s Style Hunter had been feeling for quite some time. So here it is: there’s a new street style phenomenon a-happening and it’s not about the latest Givenchy printed t-shirt or Alexander Wang heels, it’s about a £55 mini school-friendly nylon rucksack from a Swedish outdoors brand called Fjällräven (prounced, erm... not sure). It’s functional purpose has made it popular enough amongst hikers, mountaineers and active types since its inception in 1960 to warrant it’s ‘most sold rucksack in the world’ status, but fast forward 52 years and a following of Shoreditch hipsters, cool kids who cycle everywhere and style bloggers across the globe is growing. And now Zooey, aka the queen of nerdy-cool, has put a stamp on it by tweeting this shot of her and Olivia Munn doing a bezzies-wearing-backpacks pose on the set of New Girl.We’ll leave Fjällräven’s anoraks and fleeces also to one side (thanks), because the only piece you need to know about is the Kanken. This is the style that everyone is wearing and there’s even an entire website, I Love My Kanken, dedicated to people who, surprisingly, love their Kanken! It’s a simple rectangular backpack that comes in 23 different colours (we like the very A/W’12 Ox Red), and what it lacks in size it makes up for in kudos-factor. Buy now on Fjällräven’s site, ASOS and Farfetch.com.  

Starlet (2012)

By Paras Pitafi
Entertainment Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

An unlikely friendship forms between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.

Director of the movie is Sean Baker and writers are Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch.

Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson and James Ransone are starring with many other heart-throb actors. Genre of the movie is Drama.

SYNOPSIS: STARLET explores the unlikely cross-generational friendship between 21 year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and the elderly Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley. Jane, an aspiring actress, spends her time getting high with her dysfunctional roommates, Melissa and Mikey (Stella Maeve and James Ransone), while caring for her Chihuahua, Starlet. Sadie, a widow, passes her days alone, tending to her flower garden. After a confrontation between the women at Sadie's yard sale, Jane uncovers a hidden stash of money inside a relic from Sadie's past. Jane attempts to befriend the caustic older woman in an effort to solve her dilemma and secrets emerge as their relationship grows. Director Sean Baker continues in the naturalistic style of his previous films, the award-winning and Spirit Award nominees PRINCE OF BROADWAY and TAKE OUT capturing the rhythms of everyday life with an authenticity rarely seen in cinema. Featuring a pair of exceptional debut performances by Dree Hemingway (great granddaughter of Ernest and daughter of Mariel) and 85 year-old Besedka Johnson who received a Special Jury Recognition for her performance at SXSW. STARLET is at once provocative, haunting, unpredictable, and surprisingly sweet.

Movie was released on 11th of March in USA in South by Southwest Film Festival and in UK on 12th of October this year in London Film Festival.

Lady Gaga Auctions Costumes

By Paras Pitafi
Entertainment Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

A selection of Lady Gaga’s most famous and outrageous stage costumes are now up for auction. They are to be included as part of a new ‘Icons and Idols 2012: Rock ‘n’ Roll’ sale from California based auction house ‘Julien’s Auctions.’

Some of the singers iconic pieces which are now up for sale include; a gold python gown by Greek designer Eddie Gavriilidis, a rubber mask and an embellished head piece designed by Franc Fernandez, who was the designer also responsible for Gaga’s controversial meat dress. We can also expect to see a metal facemask by London-based designer Keko Hainswheeler, which was made famous when the singer wore it in her video for her hit single ‘Bad Romance.’

The lot have estimates ranging from $2,000 to $12,000 are among 450 pieces of memorabilia from the music world, ranging from the thirties to present. Other pieces include; a signed Madonna calendar, a Michael Jackson signed white fedora, and a Beatles’ Sargent Pepper album cover autographed by John Lennon. We can’t wait to see who takes some of these iconic pieces home!

Headline November10,2012

''BAD FOOD IS ALWAYS SO HORRIBLY EXPENSIVE!''

Even in good times,student life is tough! Surviving in these horrid times is even tougher! With this every growing inflationary spiral, there's so much knocking around at the moment about how we all need not to spend money, that it's to forget that the opposite it true too -for if we do not spend any money at all. The entire economy is going to grind to a halt.

Especially the canteen, the cafetaria, and the restaurant economy.

Students are cutting back their discretionary spending, and cafetaria eating as discretionary as it gets. In this part of the world, the Student Cafetarias had better come up to the required standards of hygiene, nutrition, and price. !WOW! will soon be publishing ''The Good Food Guide!'' Health is a students greatest Wealth and Asset and there never will be any compromise on that.

In my personal stealth visits' to the Universities and School Canteens, I found folly, greed and ''nonstudentcentric'' operations and behaviour. And now is not the time to reward these ''robbers'' when we all are going through such hard economic times!

There are no good guys out there to reward!

It is time to begin the battle at home and request for good service,value and subsidised offerings at all School and University canteens and cafetarias. Lets go Socialist for a while! Haha!

To subsidy is a 'charming'. Every Institution ought to look into it

Having said all that, my best advise to every student is to watch what they eat and consider returning to a simple life.Set a budget for yourself and stick to it.

And all Students to take heart from what the great Food writer A.J.Liebling said:'' it is important to have a period of not having much money if you wanted to learn how to eat -then you can appreciate the simple things, the cheaper ingredients, as well as the fancier meals you can afford you can afford in fatter times.'' Hahaha!

If you put that into practice, we are going to do a lot of good all around and contribute to a frothing economy.

The State must sit up and take notice of all these impending problems. Ideally, handing over responsibility to the individuals, -to all of you- through a targeted education, like this post that I have written, could help reduce the need for a ''nanny'' state. Hahaha! AND empower the students to prevent illness.

My advise is a balance between ''nannying'' and pushing individual responsibility!

And bear in mind the famous maxim of a world class eater, Sydney Smith: ''Fate cannot harm me, I have dined well today!''

Many many thanks to !WOW!

Good Night & God Bless!

Quebec students, business owners disagree on tuition financing

The Quebec government is trying to build a consensus with a series of public consultations before the education summit it promised during its election campaign, but parties are divided when it comes to financing post-secondary education.

Small business owners in the province say they're paying too much in taxes while students get off easy because of the government's decision to cancel this year's tuition hike.

"The businesses in Quebec have double the taxation than in Canada. It's more to be able to find a way that everyone can contribute," said François Vincent, senior policy advisor for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The organization represents 24,000 small business owners across the province.

The association representing Quebec's university rectors, CREPUQ, said the tuition freeze represents a $42 million shortfall for universities this year.

CREPUQ believes this number only represents a fraction of the hundreds of millions in shortfalls universities are facing in the province.

Meanwhile, students are prepared to mobilize and hit the streets to demand free post-secondary education.

"When the tuition was frozen back in the 70s, it was just a momentary step in the process going to free education. Because of some constraints, this has been stopped," said Ludvic Moquin-Beaudry, spokesman for the student union ASSE.

The government urges people to share their thoughts by attending a public consultation session or by taking part in the web forum.

Opposition parties doubt effectiveness
Quebec Post-Secondary Education Minister, Pierre Duchesne, said the education summit planned for February will serve as a starting point for new initiatives. The consultations leading up to it will tackle the issues of quality, accessibility, administration and financing.

Both the province's Federation of University Students and the federation of college students, FECQ, welcomed the government's plans to hold a summit.

"All of the elements are there to have an open, constructive and fruitful debate," wrote FECQ president Élianne Laberge on Twitter.

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault said he does not believe Premier Pauline Marois and Duchesne have an understanding of the state of university financing.

"I can't believe we have a premier and a post-secondary education minister who doubt the underfunding of universities. It baffles me," said Legault.

- CBC News 

Greece: Protests erupt as lawmakers back austerity

Protesters wave flags of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain as they face riot police in Syntagma Square,
Athens, during a 48-hour strike by unions yesterday.

Lawmakers in Greece have narrowly backed a fresh round of austerity measures, despite violent protests across the country.

As evening fell, Greeks holding flags and banners carrying slogans such as “It’s them or us!” and “End this disaster!” packed the square. The protesters chanted: "People - don't bow your heads!".and "Fight! They're drinking our blood!". More than 70,000 protesters poured into the streets of Athens in one of the largest rallies in months, police said.

Public transport was halted; schools, banks and government offices were shut; and garbage was piling up on streets on the second day of a two-day nationwide strike to protest against the vote. “These measures are killing us little by little and lawmakers in there don’t give a damn,” said Maria Aliferopoulou, a 52-year-old mother of two living on €1,000 a month.

“They are rich, they have everything and we have nothing and are fighting for crumbs, for survival.”


The austerity package aimed at securing the next round of bailout funds was passed with the support of 153 MPs in the 300-member parliament.

The 13.5bn-euro ($17.3bn; £10.5bn) bill includes tax rises and pension cuts.

Measures in austerity package

• Retirement age up from 65 to 67
• A further round of pension cuts, of 5-15%
• Salary cuts, notably for police officers, soldiers, firefighters, professors, judges, justice officials; minimum wage also reduced
• Holiday benefits cut
• 35% cut to severance pay
• Redundancy notice reduced from six to four months

Occupy protesters were right, says Bank of England official

Members of the movement occupied the grounds of St Paul’s and remained camped
there for more than three months until police evicted them in February last year - AP

The anti-capitalist protesters who occupied St Paul’s Cathedral were both morally and intellectually right, a senior Bank of England official said last night.


The Occupy movement sprang up last year and staged significant demonstrations in both the City of London and New York, protesting about the unequal distribution of wealth and the influence of the financial services industry. Members of the movement occupied the grounds of St Paul’s and remained camped there for more than three months until police evicted them in February last year.

“Occupy has been successful in its efforts to popularise the problems of the global financial system for one very simple reason; they are right,” Mr Andrew Haldane said last night.

Mr Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, was speaking to Occupy Economics, an offshoot of the Occupy movement, at an event in central London.

In a speech entitled Socially Useful Banking, he said the protesters had helped bring about a “reformation” in financial services and the way they are regulated.

Partly because of the protests, he suggested, both bank executives and policymakers were persuaded that banks must behave in a more moral way, and take greater account of inequality in wider society.

- telegraph.co.uk