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Taking one type of cell and transforming it into another type is now possible. Cells taken from the thymus have been transformed into skin cells -- a discovery that may have important ramifications for the field of organ regeneration.

The findings, published on the 19th of August in Nature, show that these stem cells change their genetic make-up according to their environment to contribute to the long-term functioning of the skin, even producing hair for up to a year after implantation. In collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, UK, the Swiss research team with European colleagues isolated thymic epithelial cells (TECs)-taken from the thymus of a rat-and integrated them into the rat's skin cells with surprising results.

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Single neurons in the brain are surprisingly good at distinguishing different sequences of incoming information according to new research by UCL neuroscientists.

The study, published August 12 in Science and carried out by researchers based at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at UCL, shows that single neurons, and indeed even single dendrites, the tiny receiving elements of neurons, can very effectively distinguish between different temporal sequences of incoming information. This challenges the widely held view that this kind of processing in the brain requires large numbers of neurons working together, as well as demonstrating how the basic components of the brain are exceptionally powerful computing devices in their own right.
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The British Veterinary Association, some of the UK’s largest animal charities, law enforcement agencies and unions are jointly calling on the leaders of the main political parties to work together to introduce improved and updated legislation to protect dog welfare and public safety.

The 20 groups have come together to demand action against irresponsible dog owners by the Government and the provision of necessary resources for those tasked with policing dog control laws.

It comes ahead of the summary of responses from Defra’s consultation on dog legislation which is expected this autumn. The consultation received more than 4,000 responses by the time it closed in June, indicating the scale of interest in the subject.

The statement will be sent to Prime Minister David Cameron MP, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP and acting leader of the opposition Harriet Harman MP.

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Posted by: DALIP K GOSAIN, Ph.D.

Dr. A.K. Srivastava, Director National Dairy Research Institute informed that another cloned buffalo calf, through the new and advanced ‘Hand-guided Cloning Technique’ was born at NDRI, Karnal on August 22, 2010. Dr. A.K. Srivastava said that “this cloned buffalo calf is different from the earlier clone calf because, in this case the used donor cell was embryonic stem cell”. However, in earlier cloning, the donor cell was from somatic cells. The donor embryonic stem cell was isolated from the 8 day old blastocyst. These cells were cultured up to 29-passages (117 days) till it expressed pluripotent marker and then confirmed to be stem cell.

Dr. A.K. Srivastava, Director emphasized that this technology could go a long way in helping for faster multiplication of superior milch buffaloes in India. He said that although the world’s largest population of buffaloes is in India and they are contributing about 55% of total milk production in country, but the percentage of elite animals is very low and there is an urgent need to enhance the population of these elite buffaloes. He further emphasized that there is an acute shortage of good bulls and the technology of cloning will decrease this gap between supply and demand of breeding the bulls in the shortest possible time.