First 3D Printed Organ Expected Next Year... -

First 3D Printed Organ Expected Next Year... - 



Approximately 18 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. But that may change someday sooner than you think -- thanks to 3D printing.

Advances in the 3D printing of human tissue have moved fast enough that San Diego-based bio-printing company Organovo now expects to unveil the world's first printed organ -- a human liver -- next year.

Like other forms of 3D printing, bio-printing lays down layer after layer of material -- in this case, live cells -- to form a solid physical entity -- in this case, human tissue. The major stumbling block in creating tissue continues to be manufacturing the vascular system needed to provide it with life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients.

Organovo, however, said it has overcome that vascular issue to a degree. "We have achieved thicknesses of greater than 500 microns, and have maintained liver tissue in a fully functional state with native phenotypic behavior for at least 40 days," said Mike Renard, Organovo's executive vice president of commercial operations.

A micron is one-millionth of a meter. To better understand the scale Renard is describing, think of it this way: A sheet of printer paper is 100 microns thick. So the tissue Organovo has printed is the thickness of five sheets of paper stacked on top of each other.

Printing hepatocytes -- the cells that make up most liver tissue -- isn't enough, however. There are multiple types of cells with different functions in tissue that must be combined to create a living human organ.

Organovo's researchers were able to bring together fibroblasts and endothelial cells, which perform the function of developing tiny vascular networks, allowing the company to achieve thick tissue with good cell viability, Renard said.

Read more -

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244884/The_first_3D_printed_organ_a_liver_is_expected_in_2014

Young users see FACEBOOK as 'dead and buried'... -

Young users see FACEBOOK as 'dead and buried'... - 



A study of how older teenagers use social media has found that Facebook is “not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried” and is being replaced by simpler social networks such as Twitter and Snapchat.
Young people now see the site as “uncool” and keep their profiles live purely to stay in touch with older relatives, among whom it remains popular.
Professor Daniel Miller of University College London, an anthropologist who worked on the research, wrote in an article for academic news website The Conversation: “Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be associated with it.
“This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a sustained decline of what had been the most pervasive of all social networking sites. Young people are turning away in their droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service.
“Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives. Parents have worked out how to use the site and see it as a way for the family to remain connected. In response, the young are moving on to cooler things.

Read more -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10539274/Young-users-see-Facebook-as-dead-and-buried.html

America Is Addicted To Porn -

America Is Addicted To Porn - 



With food prices soaring, and alcohol demand on the rise, it seems the American public is turning to the only thing left... porn. Every 30 minutes a porn video is made, 30,000 people are 'consuming' pornography every second, and the industry earns over $13 billion per year which has led to 200,000 Americans described as "porn addicts" - spending 11 hours or more per week online looking at porn... but what are the consequences...



Read more -

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-27/america-addicted-porn

Python strangles man at luxury hotel on Bali -

Python strangles man at luxury hotel on Bali - 



A python strangled a security guard near a luxury hotel on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Friday, and then escaped into nearby bushes following the deadly attack, police and a hotel employee who witnessed the incident said.

The incident happened around 3 a.m. as the 15-foot-long python was slithering across a road near the Bali Hyatt hotel, said Agung Bawa, an assistant security manager at the hotel, which is closed for renovations until 2015.

The victim, Ambar Arianto Mulyo, was a 59-year-old security guard at a nearby restaurant.

He had offered to help capture the snake, which had apparently been spotted several times before near the hotel, located in Bali's Sanur area, Bawa said.

Mulyo managed to secure the snake's head and tail and put it on his shoulders, but the python wrapped itself around his body and strangled him, said Bawa, who was present during the attack.

People watching the incident were unable or unwilling to help and called the police, who came but failed to save the man. The python escaped into nearby bushes, and police were still searching for it.

Denpasar police Capt. Gusti Ngurah Yudistira said Mulyo died of suffocation.

"It happened so fast," Bawa said. "We were sad because we could not do anything to help him."

Yudistira warned people to be alert since the snake was still on the loose in the area, which is popular with tourists.

Read more -

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/27/python-kills-security-guard-near-luxury-hotel-on-indonesian-resort-island-bali/?intcmp=latestnews

STUDY: Walking each day cuts heart attack, stroke risk...

STUDY: Walking each day cuts heart attack, stroke risk...



Taking just 2,000 extra steps a day could help people prone to heart attacks and stroke cut their risk by eight per cent, claim researchers.
The exercise is equivalent to walking 20 minutes a day at a moderate pace, says a study in The Lancet medical journal (must credit).
The health benefits are gained by anyone doing 2,000 extra steps for a year on top of their normal levels of activity.

But doing 4,000 extra steps - 40 minutes of additional daily walking - matches the benefits from taking a statin, says study leader Dr Thomas Yates, of the Diabetes Research Unit at Leicester University.
He said ‘Doing 4,000 extra steps a day reduces your cardiovascular risk by about 16-20 per cent, which is the equivalent of taking a statin.
‘However, a statin has side effects and only reduces cholesterol, whereas walking has a much bigger range of health benefits.’

The study looked at 9,306 adults from 40 countries who had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), which can lead to diabetes, or other heart disease risk factors.
Using a pedometer, researchers recorded usual walking activity in terms of average number of steps taken per day over a week, both at the start of the study and again 12 months later.
The researchers analysed the relationship between the number of steps taken per day and the risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease after taking account of a wide range of factors such as body-mass index, smoking status, diet, clinical history, and medication use.
Altogether 531 cardiovascular events such as heart attacks were recorded.

Read more: -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2526750/2-000-steps-healthier-heart-Walking-far-day-year-reduce-heart-attack-stroke-risk-8.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Elk Rescued After Christmas Lights and Candy Canes Get Stuck In Antlers -

Elk Rescued After Christmas Lights and Candy Canes Get Stuck In Antlers - 



Banff residents got quite the holiday display this week after an elk got tangled up in some Christmas lights and decorations. 

A resident spotted the bull elk wandering around with the lights and some candy cane ornaments strung up in his antlers near the Albertan mountain town Wednesday. 

Parks Canada, who responded to the call, tranquilized the elk to get him untangled from the lights. About four and a half metres of lights were trailing behind him. 

"We thought that it could get wrapped up in its legs and cause some injury and or get wrapped up in a bush and somewhat hold that elk hostage to the bush," said resource management officer Blair Fyten. 

Out of concern an incident could happen again, more drastic action was taken. 

Antlers taken off 

"This elk is one that frequents the edge of the townsite and we just thought there could be another possibility that he could find himself wrapped up in some more Christmas lights, so instead of putting him through the drugging situation again we decided to cut his antlers off." 

The elk is doing fine without his antlers, said Fyten. The animal's antlers grow back every year. 

"Every couple of years we'll get an animal that's got Christmas lights on him and sometimes they're able to shed the lights themselves, and sometimes they're wrapped up so tight that we have to intervene."

This year, at least two animals have been trapped in Christmas lights, he said. 

Parks Canada is warning residents who live in areas frequented by deer or elk to string lights onto their houses rather than trees or shrubs, where some wildlife feed.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/19/banff-elk-christmas-lights_n_4476858.html

1,250 Bags Of Heroin Stamped Obamacare’ Seized -

1,250 Bags Of Heroin Stamped Obamacare’ Seized - 



Four people are facing drug trafficking charges after Massachusetts State Police say a Trooper found 1,250 plastic bags of heroin in their vehicle. The heroin packages were all marked with stamps that read either “Obamacare” or “Kurt Cobain.”
Officials say Trooper Joseph Petty had pulled over a car on Interstate 91 in Northampton when a passing vehicle committed “several violations,” State Police said.
Trooper Petty caught up to the vehicle in Hatfield and pulled it over.
During the stop, Trooper Petty says he noticed illegal drugs in the car.
A K-9 unit was called in and allegedly found 1,250 individual plastic bags of heroin in the vehicle.
All four people in the vehicle were arrested.

Read more- 

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/12/20/1250-bags-of-heroin-stamped-obamacare-and-kurt-cobain-seized/

5 Surprising Things We Feed Cows -

5 Surprising Things We Feed Cows - 



In addition to the old standbys of corn, soy, hay (and, uh, drugs), "there's a lot of stuff which the general public might not think of as feeds which are actually quite common," says Cory Parsons, a livestock nutrition expert at Oregon State University. For example:

Sawdust: Decades ago, when Bob Batey, an eastern Iowa entrepreneur, observed cows gobbling up sawdust hosed down from his paper mill, he had an idea: Why not make the stuff into a commercial cattle feed? Sawdust is made largely of cellulose, a carbohydrate, but it's bound together with a compound called lignin, which makes it hard to digest. To strip the lignin, Batey soaked some of the stuff in nitric acid, and voilà! The cows were ready to chow down. "They like it," he says. "It's good for them. It's economical. And it's green." 

But it was only after a 2012 drought laid waste to local hay and grass that Batey put his idea into action. He teamed up with local feed producers to devise a mix of sawdust, corn, vitamins, and minerals. While ranchers have not yet widely adopted the sawdust feed, Byron Leu, a regional beef specialist at Iowa State University, said with corn prices high, the stuff could catch on "pretty fast." The Iowa City Gazette noted that in tests, the cows ate the stuff "like candy." Speaking of which…

Candy, wrapper and all: Ranchers report feeding their beef steers and dairy cows a variety of bulk candy, including gummy worms, marshmallows, hard candy, sprinkles, chocolate, candy corn, and hot chocolate mix. Candy provides sugar that cows would usually get from corn, giving them more energy and making them fatter. When corn prices skyrocketed, the practice became popular: In fall 2012, one candy supplier who sells farmers and ranchers "salvage" chocolate—that's imperfect and broken chocolates—said the price of the stuff had recently doubled.

In some cases, ranchers found, the candy feed comes wrapped. Asked if he was concerned about his cattle eating plastic, one animal nutrition expert in Tennessee said he was not worried. "I think it would pass through just like excess fiber would."


Chicken shit: What's not to love about the fecal waste of America's 36-million-plus broiler chickens? It's plentiful and cheap. But according to a recent OnEarth story by Brad Jacobson, the problem may be less the poop itself than the smorgasbord of other substances it frequently comes with, including feathers, heavy metals, bacteria, antibiotics, and bits of rodents. Jacobson also notes that the practice could promote the spread of mad cow disease. 

Ground limestone: Strange as feeding rocks to cows may sound, limestone can be found in cattle troughs all over the United States. The stuff is a cheap source of calcium, and it also seems to promote growth. As one study put it, cows that ate limestone late in life "tended to have more desirable carcasses" than cows that didn't. 

Crab guts: For ranchers and feedlots near the coast, the guts and other undesirable parts of fish, crabs, shrimp, and crawfish can be an abundant source of cheap protein. Ground up into a tasty meal, seafood byproducts can be mixed into other feeds. Fish-meal cattle feed isn't a new idea; Marco Polo observed in his diary that cows ate it "without any sign of dislike." 

Read more -

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/12/cow-feed-chicken-poop-candy-sawdust

Study: Your Dog Probably Recognizes Your Face — Even In Photos -

Study: Your Dog Probably Recognizes Your Face — Even In Photos - 



Your dog may be able to recognize your face in a photo.
That’s the latest from the University of Helsinki, which published the results of its study in the journal Animal Cognition this December.
According to Science News Daily, the researchers had dogs look at facial images of familiar humans (such as their owner) and other dogs in the family, as well as unfamiliar humans and dogs they’d never encountered. Then the researchers measured the dogs’ eye movements as they viewed the photos.
Scientists say that while the dogs viewed the faces of other dogs for longer than the human faces (backing up findings from previous studies), the canines studied also studied the faces of familiar humans for longer than unfamiliar ones.
Additionally, when the dogs were given upside-down photos of faces to view, they viewed those in much the same way that humans do. While the pups stared at the inverted pictures for just as long, they tended to focus more on the eye area of the upright photos.
“Familiar faces and eyes attracted more fixations than the strange ones, suggesting that dogs are likely to recognize conspecific [relating to the same species] and human faces in photographs,” the study’s authors conclude.
It’s just more proof that “dogs are people, too.”

Read more - 

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/12/19/study-dogs-able-to-recognize-familiar-faces-in-photos/

OOps - Nelson Mandela Tribute Billboard Uses Picture of Morgan Freeman... -

OOps - Nelson Mandela Tribute Billboard Uses Picture of Morgan Freeman... - 



Actor Morgan Freeman earned kudos for his portrayal of South African leader Nelson Mandela in the Clint Eastwood drama Invictus.
Perhaps Freeman's performance in the 2009 was too good as it lead to some confusion for an Indian-based billboard artist.
An owner of a billboard dedicated to Nelson Mandela was red-faced on Thursday after the discovery that a photo of actor Morgan Freeman was used instead of one of the anti-apartheid hero.
The billboard was erected on the side of a road in Coimbatore as part of memorials across India and the world to Mandela, who died on December 5.

Read more - 

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/12/19/freeman-mandela-billboard-mistake