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The connection between mother and child is ever deeper than thought Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mothers’ Brains The connection between mother and child is ever deeper than thought By Robert Martone | Tuesday, December 4, 2012 | 37 A living connection Image: ock / Анастасия Попова ADVERTISEMENT The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while...

The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while her heartbeat provides a soothing constant rhythm. The physical connection between mother and fetus is provided by the placenta, an organ, built of cells from both the mother and fetus, which serves as a conduit for the exchange of nutrients, gasses, and wastes. Cells may migrate through the placenta...

The onset of wrinkles, muscle wasting and cataracts has been delayed and even eliminated in mice, say researchers in the US.It was done by "flushing out" retired cells that had stopped dividing. They accumulate naturally with age. The scientists believe their findings could eventually "really have an impact" in the care of the elderly. Experts said the results were "fascinating", but should be taken with a bit of caution. The study, published in Nature, focused on what are known as "senescent cells". They stop dividing into new cells and have an important role in preventing tumours from progressing. These cells...

(Medical Xpress) -- Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a way to stimulate a rat’s stem cells after a liver transplant as a means of preventing rejection of the new organ without the need for lifelong immunosuppressant drugs. The need for anti-rejection medicines, which carry serious side effects, is a major obstacle to successful long-term transplant survival in people. With a combination of a very low, short-term dose of an immunosuppressive drug to prevent immediate rejection and four doses of a medication that frees the recipient’s stem cells from the bone marrow to seek out and populate the donor organ, the...

Companies Stop Using Abortion Cells to Test Artificial Flavors Washington, DC -- Since a pro-life group announced that a biotech firm, Senomyx, is using aborted fetal cell lines to test their artificial flavor enhancers, two companies have announced they have disaffiliated with the firm. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/31/companies-stop-using-abortion-cells-to-test-artificial-flavors/

On a tip provided by a concerned American yesterday, information has been discovered indicating a widespread network of radical Islamist sleeper cells in the U.S. that have quietly blended in with communities so as not to arouse suspicion. Evidence indicates that the cells are lying in wait, possibly in order to receive a signal to embark on a simultaneous mission to murder hundreds of citizens. Several pieces of information from several sources indicate a troublesome scenario. First, counter-terrorism experts have noted for years that the nation's borders are so shockingly insecure that terrorists would have relatively little trouble gaining entrance...

Scientists at the University of Connecticut Health Center have successfully converted stem cells derived from the adult skin cells of four humans into region-specific forebrain, midbrain, and spinal cord neurons (nerve cells) with functions. The research is a key step toward realizing the cells’ potential to treat various neurodegenerative diseases.The UConn team, led by Dr. Ren-He Xu, director of the Health Center’s Stem Cell Core facility, and Dr. Xuejun Li, a neural scientist in the Neuroscience Department, recently published a paper describing how they used cell reprogramming protocols to first transform the adult tissue into "induced pluripotent stem cells" that...

Rubrene crystal raises hope for the use of organic semiconductors and cheaper, more efficient solar cells Rutgers University physicists have found new properties within a material that could lead to the production of less expensive and more efficient plastic solar cells. Vitaly Podzorov, co-author of the study and assistant professor of physics at Rutgers University, along with his research team have discovered that organic semiconductors allow energy-carrying particles -- which are created by "packets" of light -- to journey a thousand times farther than researchers previously thought. "Organic semiconductors are promising for solar cells and other uses, such as video displays, because they can be...

Note: Photos included. SNIPPET: "Shin Bet arrests eight men from northern city of Nazareth, local council of Yafa an-Naseriyye over weapons offences, discussing possibility of murdering soldiers, Pope Benedict XVI" SNIPPET: "The eight indicted men were identified as Bader Salah, 33, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; Suhil Salah, 26, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; Misara Yaad, 28, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; Abdel Rahman Abu Salim, 19, of Nazareth; Ibrahim Muhammad Abu Aaqab, 27, of Nazareth; Bilal Ubeid, 29, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; and Sabri Narni, 29 of Yafa an-Naseriyye. The ninth defendant, who was a minor when he committed the alleged acts. was not named due...

When cells move about in the body, they follow a complex pattern similar to that which amoebae and bacteria use when searching for food, a team of Vanderbilt researchers has found. The discovery has a practical value for drug development: Incorporating this basic behavior into computer simulations of biological processes that involve cell migration, such as embryo development, bone remodeling, wound healing, infection and tumor growth, should improve the accuracy with which these models can predict the effectiveness of untested therapies for related disorders, the researchers say. "As far as we can tell, this is the first time this type...

Sperm cells have the consciousness of mind to make the journey to be born. When the sperm of two males is injected into the same female, they battle against each other to be born. The intelligence of sperm is displayed by their ability to somewhat sense the movements of the sperm of another male and they will even sacrifice themselves to ensure that the sperm cells of the male they came from make it into the female to be born over the sperm of another male.

Imagine a tragic automobile accident that leaves a young girl a quadriplegic. Imagine a young mother of two who discovers that a disease is ravaging her body and turning her vital organs into stone. Imagine a young baby who is dying from sickle cell anemia. These are haunting images. They capture our minds and rend our hearts. Yet in each case, there is a remarkably happy ending. Simply put, these patients didn’t die, but cheated death and disability by receiving adult stem cell transplants. Each of these persons are medical miracles and living proof that adult stem cell treatments are...

Vitamin C could be used to overcome hurdles in creating stem cells for treating human diseases, scientists believe. The vitamin boosts the reprogramming of adult cells to give them the properties of embryonic stem cells. Scientists who made the discovery believe it may help them overcome long-standing problems in creating the reprogrammed cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. researchers have discovered antiviral proteins in cells that naturally fight off influenza infections, a finding that may lead to better ways to make vaccines and protect people against the flu. They said a family of genes act as cell sentries that guard cells from an invading influenza virus, the team reported on Thursday in the journal Cell. "This prevents the virus from even getting into the cell," said Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School and a Howard Hughes Investigator at Brigham & Women's Hospital. "It is out there fighting the flu all of the time," Elledge...

The Obama administration on Wednesday approved the first human embryonic stem cells for experiments by federally funded scientists under a new policy designed to dramatically expand government support for one of the most promising but also most contentious fields of biomedical research. The National Institutes of Health authorized 11 lines of cells produced by scientists at the Children's Hospital in Boston and two lines created by researchers at the Rockefeller University in New York. All were obtained from embryos left over by couples seeking treatment for infertility.

A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has developed a method that dramatically improves the efficiency of creating stem cells from human adult tissue, without the use of embryonic cells. The research makes great strides in addressing a major practical challenge in the development of stem-cell-based medicine. The findings were published in an advance, online issue of the journal Nature Methods on October 18, 2009. The new technique, which uses three small drug-like chemicals, is 200 times more efficient and twice as fast as conventional methods for transforming adult human cells into stem cells (in this case...

Live-cell fluorescence imaging identifies bona fide reprogrammed cells.Fluorescence imaging could help resolve whether iPS cells have been properly programmed.Alamy The next tools for reprogramming cells to an embryonic-like state might just be a camera and a set of fluorescently tagged antibodies. Researchers imaged more than a million human cells in vitro as they changed from skin tissue cells, known as fibroblasts, into colonies of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. As expected, many similar-looking colonies appeared, but only very few consisted of fully reprogrammed iPS cells. After assessing which were which, researchers led by Thorsten Schlaeger and George Daley of the...

Haifa scientists have adapted an innovative Japanese gene-implantation technique and succeeded in "turning back the clock" for human skin cells, reprogramming them into artificial embryonic stem cells and then switching them into heart cells in the lab. Although implementing this clinically to repair damaged human hearts is at least a decade or two away, the Israeli accomplishment can already be utilized for in-depth study of genetic diseases and the development of personalized drugs for inherited disorders, such as those involving irregular heartbeat.

H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccines Don't Rely on Cells From Babies Killed in Abortion Washington, DC -- A pro-life group that monitors vaccinations is pleased to report that the new H1N1 swine flu vaccines the federal government will be distributing next month do not rely on cells from babies killed in abortions. Other vaccinations have been condemned for relying on such cells to formulate the vaccines.

A newly made synthetic ribosome is an important step in the quest to create artificial life forms. By Emily Singer Researchers at Harvard University have built a functional ribosome--the cell's protein-making machine--from scratch, molecule by molecule. The creation represents a significant step toward making artificial life, and it could ultimately fill a major gap in our understanding of the origins of life. But the scientists who made the ribosome are most interested in its industrial applications. They plan to genetically tinker with the molecular machinery so that it can make proteins more efficiently, as well as proteins that are the...