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'Tasting' Mechanism Used By Airway Cells To Detect And Clear Harmful Substances
The same mechanism that helps you detect bad-tasting and potentially poisonous foods may also play a role in protecting your airway from harmful substances, according to a study by scientists at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. The findings could help explain why injured lungs are susceptible to further damage.
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Jellyfish Shed Fluorescent Light On How The Brain Works
Scientists at the University of Leicester are developing new ways of studying how brain cells work -thanks to jellyfish!
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UAW To Accept Up To 20% Of GM Stock; Agrees To Concessions On Retiree Health Care Obligations, Labor Rules
United Auto Workers leaders on Tuesday agreed to accept up to 20% of General Motors stock, as well as concessions on labor rules and retiree health care obligations, as the automaker faces a June 1 deadline to restructure or seek bankruptcy protection, the Detroit News reports (Aguilar/Shepardson, Detroit News, 5/27). Under the deal, the voluntary employees" beneficiary association would receive 17.5% of common GM stock, $6.5 billion of preferred shares, a $2.5 billion note and warrants equal to 2.5% of GM"s stock (Reuters/USA Today, 5/27). In addition, the VEBA would receive $585 million annually in interest income on its preferred stock (Detroit News, 5/27). Another concession included in the tentative deal is the elimination of dental, vision and some prescription drug coverage for hourly retirees (Shepardson/Aguilar, Detroit News, 5/26). UAW also would hold a seat on the GM board of directors (Cho et al., Washington Post, 5/27).Because of a proposed deal announced earlier this month, the Treasury Department and UAW, together, are to own 89% of GM"s stock, meaning that if the UAW-GM deal is approved, the Treasury would own about a 70% share of GM"s stock (Detroit News, 5/26). Current bondholders would hold about a 10% stake in the company (Washington Post, 5/27). The remaining 1% would be held by existing shareholders (Detroit News, 5/26).The total 20% is about half of what was anticipated (Higgins, Detroit Free Press, 5/26). The "significant concessions" made by UAW, which was eligible to receive up to 39% of GM"s equity through the VEBA, "could mean that [GM] is attempting to appease unsecured bondholders, who charged that the UAW was getting a better deal," according to the News (Detroit News, 5/27). UAW said the revised agreement with GM was necessary for the automaker to survive, but the deal will leave hundreds of thousands of GM retirees paying higher out-of-pocket medical expenses, the Wall Street Journal reports (Stoll et al., Wall Street Journal, 5/27).UAW members are scheduled to vote on the agreement on Wednesday and Thursday (Detroit News, 5/26). However, "[e]ven with UAW approval, GM is still likely to file for bankruptcy, since bondholders are unlikely to swallow deep concessions," according to the News (Detroit News, 5/27).
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Human Term Placenta A New Abundant Of Hematopoietic Cells

Investigators at Children"s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California found a way to obtain large numbers of hematopoietic stem cell from human term placenta. The results, which appear in the July 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, describe detailed report on quantification, characterization, engraftment capacity, and most importantly, practical way to obtain hematopoietic stem cells from placenta in numbers that are several-fold higher than could be obtained from cord blood. The research team, Dr. Vladimir Serikov, MD, PhD, D.Sci, Assistant Staff Scientist, Catherin Hounshell, a research associate, Sandra Larkin, a research associate, Mr. William Green, student, Dr. Hurokazy Ikeda, MD, Visiting Scientist, Dr. Mark Walters, Medical Director of Children"s Hospital Oakland Hematology and Oncology Programs, and Dr. Frans Kuypers, Senior Scientist, performed studies in human term placentas, human cord blood, and immunodeficient mice. Dr. Serikov said, that the fact the human term placenta is a hematopoietic organ was reported by our team for the first time more then a year ago, and this year this finding was confirmed by UCSF scientists headed by Dr. S. Fisher. In this report, said Dr. Serikov, we demonstrate for the first time that human placentas could provide abundant amounts of CD34+ CD133+ colony-forming cells, as well as other primitive hematopoietic progenitors, suitable for transplantation in humans. The total amount of live hematopoitic stem cells, or colony-forming units in culture that could be obtained from placentas was an order of magnitude larger than the number of hematopoietic stem cells obtained from cord blood from the same . Hematopoietic stem cells which maintain their differentiation capacity, as well as stromal stem cells that support long-term culture of hematopoietic cells, can be harvested from perfusate of placenta following CXCR4 receptor blockade, said Dr. F. Kuypers. Importantly, live HPCs can similarly be obtained from whole cryopreserved placentas. Cells derived from placental tissue differentiated into all blood lineages in vitro. Animal experiments further demonstrated successful engraftment of placenta-derived HSC, which reconstituted hematopoiesis in immunodeficient mice. In summary, said Dr. F. Kuypers, our results indicate for the first time that human term placenta is a high capacity of live and functional hematopoietic stem cells. By using placental circulation and stem cell receptor blockade an abundant amounts of hematopoietic stem cell could be easily obtained in sterile conditions by non-destructive methods. Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said "the outstanding importance of these results for practical hematology is determined by the fact that total number of stem cells that can be harvested from cord blood limits the efficacy of this stem cell for transplants only to small children. These novel findings demonstrate that placenta may provide a of autologous stem cells sufficient for reconstitution of hematopoiesis in adult patients. Use of methods to obtain hematopoietic cells from placenta, developed by Dr. Serikov and Dr. Kuypers as augumentation of cord blood-based therapy or replacement of bone marrow for transplantation will dramatically change whole field of transplantology." Dr. Frans Kuypers Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine


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