Copyright © 2004 & 2007 Ibrahim Mohamed! Inc. All rights reserved.e-mail:ibumohd@gmail.com
Local Skins
Copyright © 2004 & 2007 Ibrahim Mohamed! Inc. All rights reserved.e-mail:ibumohd@gmail.com
Zebrafish study may point way to blindness cure
LONDON (Reuters) - The ability of zebrafish to regenerate damaged retinas has given scientists a clue about restoring human vision and could lead to an experimental treatment for blindness within five years.
British researchers said on Wednesday they had successfully grown in the laboratory a type of adult stem cell found in the eyes of both fish and mammals that develops into neurons in the retina.
In future, these cells could be injected into the eye as a treatment for diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetes-related blindness, according to Astrid Limb of University College London's (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology.
Damage to the retina -- the part of the eye that sends messages to the brain -- is responsible for most cases of sight loss.
"Our findings have enormous potential," Limb said. "It could help in all diseases where the neurons are damaged, which is basically nearly every disease of the eye."
Limb and her colleagues studied so-called Mueller glial cells in the eyes of people aged from 18 months to 91 years and found they were able to develop them into all types of neurons found in the retina.
They were also able to grow them easily in the lab, they reported in the journal Stem Cells.
The cells have already been tested in rats with diseased retinas, where they successfully migrated into the retina and took on the characteristics of the surrounding neurons. Now the team is working on the same approach in humans.
"We very much hope that we could do autologous transplants within five years," Limb told Reuters.
Autologous transplants, initially on a trial basis, will involve manipulating cells and injecting them back into an individual's own eye. Eventually, Limb hopes it will also be possible to transfer the cells between different people.
"Because they are so easy to grow, we could make stem cell banks and have cell lines available to the general population, subject to typing as with blood transfusions," she said.
Just why zebrafish have an abundant supply of adult stem cells to regenerate their retinas, while they are rare in mammals, remains a mystery but Limb suspects it is because mammals have a limiting system to stop proliferation.
The new work on Mueller glial cells is the latest example of researchers exploring the potential of different kinds of stem cells in treating eye disease. Another team from UCL and Moorfield's Eye Hospital said in June they aimed to repair damaged retinas with cells derived from embryonic stem cells.
Flickr...Flickr...flickr
Copyright © 2004 & 2007 Ibrahim Mohamed! Inc. All rights reserved.e-mail:ibumohd@gmail.com
THE MEANING OF LIFE - JOURNEY
Who am I and what am I doing here? For thousands of years, men and women have pondered the meaning of life and their place in the cosmos. Whole civilizations were born, grew up, and died around their answers to these questions. From the ancient Egyptians through the Industrial Revolution, from Romeo and Juliet to you and me, each person and each society defines for itself what is important, and hence how to put order to life and resources.
Context is everything. Imagine the commitment of time and energy necessary to build the pyramids. Did the Egyptians (or their captives) gladly march to Cheops, eager contributors to their Pharaoh's immortality, or were they coerced, baking miserably in the Saharan Sun? For one, each day is slavery, while another exalts in the culmination of a life's dream.
What about you? What is important in your life? How well do you know your context? The same way that on a macro-scale it is the governing ethos that defines a civilization, on a micro-scale, it is your Life Purpose that defines what is significant.
Knowing your Life Purpose makes clear the core issues of your existence, sheds new light on the key events and people in your life, and brings a new understanding to current circumstances.
Look around you. A new world view is emerging, and with it, a new definition of what is important. Like all preceding world views, from Cleopatra's to Newton's, our current version, advanced though it may be, has been found confining and incomplete; confining in that too many people work at jobs with little or no satisfaction; incomplete in that it has disregarded humanity's universal need to contribute to something greater than ourselves, to connect to our soul, our spirituality, and its expression point in each of us in the form of our Life Purpose.
Adapt or perish. Any country, company or person that cannot or will not adhere to this emerging reality is doomed. The Information Age will self destruct, stillborn, choking on a glut of lifeless data if it cannot add to the value of people's lives, help individuals define and manifest that which is really important, help all of us better connect to our spiritual center.
Like seeing the oak tree contained within the acorn, one's soul purpose can be seen in the wave energy imprint frozen in the form of our fingerprints five months prior to birth. An understanding of this Life Purpose map revolutionizes our understanding of who we are and therefore what is important. Through this redefinition, we can better participate in humanity's daunting task of recreating civilization in the twenty-first century.
Read on to find out more about your Life Purpose.
----------------------------------------------------
The journey of life begun
That fateful day I was born
My eyes opened up blissfully to the sun
My soul, heart and brain emerged as one
Behold my journey had begun!
This little child in time has grown
Yes! Time has flown, time has flown
A lot has been learnt on my very own
Life has been a mystifying journey
With every up and down
With tears and laughter
With hate and love
With stupidity and wisdom
With enemies and friends
But even in my journey of frustration
I have found a means of celebration
In my toilsome exploration to my fateful destination
Tick tock, the clock goes on
Minute by minute, then hourly
Month by month then yearly
Tick tock, and in my journey
I have searched, questioned and answered
Whilst walking painfully along many paths
Sometimes requesting protection
Seeking from above immunization
When hit by obstacles in locations
But I am still on this journey
Shaking hands with the sad and merry
My passion for life which was once raw
Is now confined within the Almighty’s law
For life's journey itself never ends
Once you have reached the end of each road
Uplifting off your entire cloggy load
Be it in a hot summer or a winter’s cold
Behold! A new journey will unfold.
Context is everything. Imagine the commitment of time and energy necessary to build the pyramids. Did the Egyptians (or their captives) gladly march to Cheops, eager contributors to their Pharaoh's immortality, or were they coerced, baking miserably in the Saharan Sun? For one, each day is slavery, while another exalts in the culmination of a life's dream.
What about you? What is important in your life? How well do you know your context? The same way that on a macro-scale it is the governing ethos that defines a civilization, on a micro-scale, it is your Life Purpose that defines what is significant.
Knowing your Life Purpose makes clear the core issues of your existence, sheds new light on the key events and people in your life, and brings a new understanding to current circumstances.
Look around you. A new world view is emerging, and with it, a new definition of what is important. Like all preceding world views, from Cleopatra's to Newton's, our current version, advanced though it may be, has been found confining and incomplete; confining in that too many people work at jobs with little or no satisfaction; incomplete in that it has disregarded humanity's universal need to contribute to something greater than ourselves, to connect to our soul, our spirituality, and its expression point in each of us in the form of our Life Purpose.
Adapt or perish. Any country, company or person that cannot or will not adhere to this emerging reality is doomed. The Information Age will self destruct, stillborn, choking on a glut of lifeless data if it cannot add to the value of people's lives, help individuals define and manifest that which is really important, help all of us better connect to our spiritual center.
Like seeing the oak tree contained within the acorn, one's soul purpose can be seen in the wave energy imprint frozen in the form of our fingerprints five months prior to birth. An understanding of this Life Purpose map revolutionizes our understanding of who we are and therefore what is important. Through this redefinition, we can better participate in humanity's daunting task of recreating civilization in the twenty-first century.
Read on to find out more about your Life Purpose.
----------------------------------------------------
The journey of life begun
That fateful day I was born
My eyes opened up blissfully to the sun
My soul, heart and brain emerged as one
Behold my journey had begun!
This little child in time has grown
Yes! Time has flown, time has flown
A lot has been learnt on my very own
Life has been a mystifying journey
With every up and down
With tears and laughter
With hate and love
With stupidity and wisdom
With enemies and friends
But even in my journey of frustration
I have found a means of celebration
In my toilsome exploration to my fateful destination
Tick tock, the clock goes on
Minute by minute, then hourly
Month by month then yearly
Tick tock, and in my journey
I have searched, questioned and answered
Whilst walking painfully along many paths
Sometimes requesting protection
Seeking from above immunization
When hit by obstacles in locations
But I am still on this journey
Shaking hands with the sad and merry
My passion for life which was once raw
Is now confined within the Almighty’s law
For life's journey itself never ends
Once you have reached the end of each road
Uplifting off your entire cloggy load
Be it in a hot summer or a winter’s cold
Behold! A new journey will unfold.
Flickr...Flickr...alway flickr
Copyright © 2004 & 2007 Ibrahim Mohamed! Inc. All rights reserved.e-mail:ibumohd@gmail.com
India elects first woman president
National lawmakers and state legislatures have chosen Pratibha Patil as India's president, the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial post.
Patil, the 72-year-old candidate of the governing Congress party and its political allies, took nearly two-thirds of the vote Saturday to defeat incumbent Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the 84-year-old candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the election commission said.
The win by Patil, a lawyer and governor of the northwestern state of Rajasthan, was hailed as a victory for women in a country where gender discrimination is deep-rooted and widespread.
"It is a special moment for us women, and men of course, in our country because for the first time we have a woman being elected president of India," said Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who hand-picked Patil and was one of the first to congratulate her.
Still, it's not clear how much Patil can or will do to improve the lives of her countrywomen.
While India has had several women in positions of power, most notably Indira Gandhi, who became prime minister in 1966, women still face hardships based on the view that they are a financial burden to their families.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)