太原治痣疮(太原市便血专科医院) (今日更新中)

LOS ANGELES, July 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. scientists have proven that oncogenes can change normal cells into stem-like cells, paving the way to a safer and more practical approach to treating diseases like multiple sclerosis and cancer with stem cell therapy.In a collaborative study, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), and the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) in California and Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in New York have successfully converted human skin cells into brain cells by suppressing the expression of p53, a protein encoded by a widely studied oncogene. This suggests that p53 mutation helps determine cell fate -- good or bad -- rather than only the outcome of cancer.Oncogenes are generally thought to be genes that, when mutated, change healthy cells into cancerous tumor cells.Study findings were appearing Monday on the website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)."The reality may be more complicated than people think," said Jiang F. Zhong, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at the Keck School. "What is a stem cell gene? What is a cancer gene? It may be the same thing.""When you turn off p53, people think the cell becomes cancerous because we tend to focus on the bad thing," Zhong said. "Actually, the cell becomes more plastic and could do good things, too. Let's say the cell is like a person who loses his job (the restriction of p53). He could become a criminal or he could find another job and have a positive effect on society. What pushes him one way or the other, we don't know because the environment is very complicated."Stem cells can divide and differentiate into different types of cells in the body. In humans, embryonic stem cells differentiate into three families, or germ layers, of cells. The reasons why and how certain stem cells differentiate into particular layers are not clearly understood. However, from those layers, tissues and organs develop. The endoderm, for example, leads to formation of the stomach, colon and lungs, while the mesoderm forms blood, bone and heart tissue. In its study, Zhong's team examined human skin cells, which are related to brain and neural cells from the ectoderm.When p53 was suppressed, the skin cells developed into cells that looked exactly like human embryonic stem cells. But, unlike other man-made stem cells that are "pluripotent" and can become any other cells in the body, these cells differentiated only into cells from the same germ layer, ectoderm."IPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) can turn into anything, so they are hard to control," Zhong said. "Our cells are staying within the ectoderm lineage."Zhong said he expects that suppressing other oncogenes in other families of cells would have the same effect, which could have critical significance for stem cell therapy. Future research should focus on determining which genes to manipulate, Zhong said.The study is slated to appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences later this month, according to AAAS.

SANTO DOMINGO, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of deaths caused by cholera in the Dominican Republic have increased to 109, and there are 15,876 suspect cases, according to government figures released on Friday.Public Health Ministry said in a statement that the intensity of the outbreak has been decreasing since six weeks ago, but the region of Gran Santo Domingo, which includes the Dominican capital city, still faces a serious epidemic situation.The government is developing preventive measures which include informing the population, careful observation of diarrhea cases, providing drinkable water and building new public toilets as part of efforts to contain the outbreak, it added.The latest Cholera outbreak appeared in the Dominican Republic last November, a month after cases were reported in Haiti.The Ministry said they stepped up efforts to monitor the situation after tropical storm "Emily" passed through parts of the country two weeks ago.After the beginning of the rain season, cholera cases have increased generally and all the public hospitals in the country are provided with supplies and medical staff to care for the people with symptoms of cholera or other tropical diseases.

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's second moon orbiter, the Chang'e-2, has arrived in outer space about 1.5 million km away from Earth and is now orbiting the second Lagrange Point (L2), where gravity from the sun and Earth balances the orbital motion of a satellite, Chinese scientists said Tuesday.Chang'e-2 entered L2's orbit at 11:27 p.m. last Thursday after spending 77 days traveling away from its previous orbital path around the moon, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND).The SASTIND said that China is now the world's third country or organization to successfully put a spacecraft into orbit around L2, after the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States.The Chang'e-2 orbiter will carry out exploration activities around L2 in the coming year, SASTIND said.There are five so-called "Lagrange Points" about 1.5 million km way from the Earth in the exact opposite direction from the sun. Putting a spacecraft at any of these points allows it to stay in a fixed position relative to the Earth and sun with a minimal amount of energy needed for course correction.The orbiter completed all of its assigned tasks after blasting off on Oct. 1, 2010, according to the SASTIND. Although the orbiter was only supposed to remain in space for six months, the SASTIND decided to assign additional tasks to it, as it still had fuel in its reserve tanks.Traveling into outer space from the moon's orbit was one of the orbiter's most important missions, according to the SASTIND.Before arriving at its current position in outer space, the Chang'e-2 took photos of the northern and southern poles of the moon. It then descended to a lower orbit, approximately 15 km away from the moon's surface, where it captured high-resolution images of the Sinus Iridum, or "Bay of Rainbows," an area where future moon probes may land.The SASTIND is reportedly planning to launch measure and control stations into outer space by the end of the second half of next year. The Chang'e-2 will be used to test the two stations' functionality at that time.China's ambitious three-stage moon mission will include a moon landing, as well as the launch of a moon rover during the second stage, which is scheduled to take place in 2012. During the third phase, another rover will land on the moon and return to Earth with lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research around 2017.China does not currently have a timetable in place for a manned moon landing. It launched its first lunar probe, the Chang'e-1, in October 2007.In 2003, China became the third country after Russia and the United States to send a human into space. Two more manned space missions followed, the most recent of which took place in 2008.0 The Chang'e probes are named after the Chinese legendary goddess of the moon.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Facebook and Time Warner announced on Tuesday that they are teaming up to launch a wide- ranging, major cross-platform partnership initiative to fight bullying.The multi-media campaign, named "Stop Bullying: Speak Up" after the original anti-bullying initiative by Time Warner's Cartoon Network, will integrate broadcast, print, online and social media to educate parents, teachers and youth about the actions that will help protect young people from the impact of bullying, the two said in a joint statement.As part of the initiative, Facebook is scheduled to launch an interactive application in the back-to-school season this fall, which will enable educators, parents, and kids to make a personal commitment to help stop bullying."We care deeply about the safety of our nation's children and are proud to be partnering with Time Warner to raise awareness of bullying," Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said in the statement."We believe that by working together with parents and teachers, we can teach young people to speak up and stop bullying," she added.Time Warner is also planning to expand its multiplatform efforts to communicate the anti-bullying message to an broader audience.It said in October, three of its magazines -- People, Sports Illustrated and Time -- and their affiliated websites will feature editorial content that highlights the problem of bullying and innovative programs and measures being taken to combat it.In partnership with Facebook, CNN's Anderson Cooper will also host a new town hall, which is scheduled to air in October and will be dedicated to discussing bullying issues confronting kids today as well as discussions with experts to teach adults on coping with the bullying epidemic."I'm confident that through our multiplatform approach and combined resources we can inspire even more people to take action against bullying," said Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's chairman and chief executive officer.

BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Lifestyle changes such as exercise, eating healthily and not smoking could reduce the chances of having Alzheimer’s disease by half, researchers said in a study quoted by news reports Tuesday.Hundreds of thousands of patients could potentially avoid the devastating illness by simply changing bad habits, according to the study published in the journal Lancet NeurologyFor the first time, scientists have calculated the extent to which certain lifestyle traits -- including lack of exercise, smoking and obesity -- all contributed to the disease.Researchers found that in the Western world, an inactive “couch potato” lifestyle was the most important possible cause.Smoking, obesity in middle-age, high blood pressure and diabetes all increased the risk as they cause damage to blood vessels in the brain, leading to death of brain cells. Together, the modifiable risk factors contributed to 50 percent of Alzheimer’s cases worldwide.The researchers want to carry out more work to find out how many people can prevent the disease by making small changes to their lifestyle.

来源：资阳报