Stem Cells Turned into Blood

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with colleagues at three other institutions, report the discovery of two genetic programs responsible for turning stem cells into both the red and white cells that make up human blood. The scientists say their finding is important because it identifies how nature itself makes blood products at the earliest stages of development and provides researchers with the tools to make the cells themselves, investigate how blood cells develop, and produce clinically relevant blood products.

The study (“Direct induction of hemato endothelial programs in human pluripotent stem cells by transcriptional regulators”) was reported in Nature Communications.

Science of Sleep

We spend a third of our lives doing it. Napoleon, Florence Nightingale and Margaret Thatcher got by on four hours a night. Thomas Edison claimed it was waste of time.

Why do we sleep?

So why do we sleep? This is a question that has baffled scientists for centuries and the answer is, no one is really sure. Some believe that sleep gives the body a chance to recuperate from the day's activities but in reality, the amount of energy saved by sleeping for even eight hours is miniscule - about 50 kCal, the same amount of energy in a piece of toast.

Medical Trials To Bringing The Dead Back To Life

A radical procedure that involves replacing a patients’ blood with cold salt water could retrieve people from the brink of death, says David Robson.

“When you are at 10C, with no brain activity, no heartbeat, no blood – everyone would agree that you’re dead,” says Peter Rhee at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “But we can still bring you back.”
Rhee isn’t exaggerating. With Samuel Tisherman, at the University of Maryland, College Park, he has shown that it’s possible to keep bodies in ‘suspended animation’ for hours at a time. The procedure, so far tested on animals, is about as radical as any medical procedure comes: it involves draining the body of its blood and cooling it more than 20C below normal body temperature.

Flu Medicines Can Increase Spread of the Virus

Got the flu? Think twice before you pop a pill to feel better.
Most over-the-counter flu medications include a fever-reducing ingredient such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. But suppressing fever, according to new research, actually increases the number of seasonal flu cases by at least 5 percent in the U.S., and could cause as many as 1,000 additional deaths from influenza nationally each year.

14 Facts You Don't Know About Stress

How a broken heart can really break your heart, and do you know violent games can ease your stress.

1) Think about money, work, economic outlook, family, and relationships. Feeling anxious? In a 2010 American Psychological Association survey [pdf], those five factors were the most often cited sources of stress for Americans.

2) Stress is strongly tied to cardiac disease, hypertension and inflammatory diseases, but stress can compromised immune systems, and possibly cause Cancer.

Drugs Banned in other Countries But Available in India

Each country has its own list of banned drugs, it is worrisome that some drugs that are banned in other countries for proven adverse effects are still available in the Indian market.  Some of these drugs are available over – the – counter and people may take it without realizing the risk. A note of caution on these drugs could help patients in deciding whether they want to take the drug. Some of these drugs are:

'Bad' cholesterol can increase Metastasis of Cancer

When cancer starts to spread to other parts of the body this a process called metastasis. It becomes much more difficult to treat. New research, published in the journal Cell Reports and led by the University of Sydney in Australia identifies "bad" cholesterol helps in metastasis of cancer. Cancer happens when normal cells grow out of control and multiply to form lumps called tumors. If untreated, cancer cells can escape their primary tumors, travel to other parts of the body and grow into secondary cancers or metastases(note: Metastasis & metastases both are different). Metastases are the major cause of death from cancer.

Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS)

Alien hand syndrome, (AHS) is a rare neurological disorder that causes hand movement without the person being aware of what is happening or having control over the action. The afflicted person may sometimes reach for objects and manipulate them without wanting to do so, even to the point of having to use the healthy hand to restrain the alien hand. Patient suffering from AHS feels that one's hand is possessed by a force outside of ones control and feels sensation in the affected hand but thinks that the hand is not part of their body and that they have no control over its movement, that it belongs to an alien. Hence, syndrome is name as Alien hand syndrome.

The first case of AHS was reported 1908 in German by the preeminent German psychiatrist, Kurt Goldstein. Goldstein described a right-handed woman who had suffered a stroke affecting her left side from which she had partially recovered by the time she was seen. However, her left arm seemed as though it belonged to another person and performed actions that appeared to occur independent of her will.The patient complained of a feeling of "strangeness" in relationship to the goal-directed movements of the left hand and insisted that "someone else" was moving the left 

10 Amazing Facts OF Human Brain

Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.

Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.