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NVIDIA today made available the NVIDIA CUDA 5 production release, a powerful new version of the world?s most pervasive parallel computing platform and programming model for accelerating scientific and engineering applications on GPUs. It can be downloaded for free from the NVIDIA Developer Zone website. With more than 1.5 million downloads, supporting more than 180 leading engineering, scientific and commercial applications, the CUDA programming model is the most popular way for developers to take advantage of GPU-accelerated computing.
Building on this success, the new programming features of the CUDA 5 platform make the development of GPU-accelerated applications faster and easier than ever, including support for dynamic parallelism, GPU-callable libraries, NVIDIA GPUDirect? technology support for RDMA (remote direct memory access) and the NVIDIA Nsight? Eclipse Edition integrated development environment (IDE).
Developer Accolades for CUDA 5 Developers who evaluated the pre-release version of CUDA 5 have reported often dramatic application acceleration and improved programmability.
The defense and aerospace industries realize the benefits of CUDA GPU acceleration for processing images, video and sensor data, such as radar. According to Dustin Franklin, GPGPU applications engineer at GE Intelligent Platforms in Charlottesville, Va., ?CUDA 5 is a significant technology for us. Many of the applications we?re using involve streaming sensor data directly into the GPU with low latency, so the GPUDirect support for RDMA on new Kepler GPUs is incredibly important for our customers. We have integrated support for many custom sensors already and are very happy with the results.?
Guillaume Belz, a research biochemist at Lyon University Hospital in Lyon, France, has been using dynamic parallelism and GPU-callable libraries for complex signal analysis and data mining. ?With GPU acceleration, we can get results in several hours for projects that used to require weeks or even months with CPUs alone. Without GPU acceleration, analysis is not possible at all,? said Belz.
Weihua (Wayne) Sun, Ph.D. candidate in imaging science at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, was impressed with NVIDIA Nsight Eclipse Edition. ?When I learned that CUDA 5 included the new Nsight Eclipse Edition IDE, I knew I needed it right away. Having all my programming, debugging and optimization tools in a single integrated development environment is a great productivity boost for me.?
New CUDA 5 Features CUDA 5 enables developers to take full advantage of the performance of NVIDIA GPUs, including GPU accelerators based on the NVIDIA Kepler? compute architecture ? the fastest, most efficient, highest-performance computing architecture ever built. Key features include:
Dynamic Parallelism ? Brings GPU acceleration to new algorithms GPU threads can dynamically spawn new threads, allowing the GPU to adapt to the data. By minimizing the back and forth with the CPU, dynamic parallelism greatly simplifies parallel programming. And it enables GPU acceleration of a broader set of popular algorithms, such as those used in adaptive mesh refinement and computational fluid dynamics applications.
GPU-Callable Libraries ? Enables third-party ecosystem A new CUDA BLAS library allows developers to use dynamic parallelism for their own GPU-callable libraries. They can design plug-in APIs that allow other developers to extend the functionality of their kernels, and allow them to implement callbacks on the GPU to customize the functionality of third-party GPU-callable libraries. The ?object linking? capability provides an efficient and familiar process for developing large GPU applications by enabling developers to compile multiple CUDA source files into separate object files, and link them into larger applications and libraries.
GPUDirect Support for RDMA ? Minimizes system memory bottlenecks GPUDirect technology enables direct communication between GPUs and other PCI-E devices, and supports direct memory access between network interface cards and the GPU. It also significantly reduces MPISendRecv latency between GPU nodes in a cluster and improves overall application performance.
NVIDIA Nsight Eclipse Edition ? Generate CUDA code quickly and easily NVIDIA Nsight Eclipse Edition enables programmers to develop, debug and profile GPU applications within the familiar Eclipse-based IDE on Linux and Mac OS X platforms. An integrated CUDA editor and CUDA samples speed the generation of CUDA code, and automatic code refactoring enables easy porting of CPU loops to CUDA kernels. An integrated expert analysis system provides automated performance analysis and step-by-step guidance to fix performance bottlenecks in the code, while syntax highlighting makes it easy to differentiate GPU code from CPU code.
New Online CUDA Resource Center To help developers maximize the potential of parallel computing with CUDA technology, NVIDIA has launched a free online resource center for CUDA programmers at http://docs.nvidia.com. The site offers the latest information on the CUDA platform and programming model, as well as access to all CUDA developer documentation and technologies, including tools, code samples, libraries, APIs, and tuning and programming guides.
CUDA Registered Developer Program Parallel programmers are invited to join the free CUDA Registered Developer Program for early access to software releases, tools and resources. Visit http://www.nvidia.com/paralleldeveloper for more information.
Source: NVIDIA | News Archive
Tags: CUDA 5 Nvidia Parallel Computing Parallel Computing Platform
By Agence France-Presse Wednesday, October 10, 2012 14:59 EDT
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The PC is not dead, but it?s no longer king of the technology universe.
As Microsoft prepares to launch Windows 8, the newest version of its operating system, the tech landscape is dramatically different from three years ago, when Windows 7 was launched.
The market for mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones is red-hot, leaving the personal computer as an afterthought for many. Microsoft, which was the biggest tech firm in 2009, has fallen behind Apple and Google in market value.
Onetime giants like Hewlett-Packard and Dell are struggling amid sluggish demand as sales of tablet computers and other devices surge.
A report by research firm IDC projected global PC sales this year of 367 million, up just a fraction of a percent from 2011 and marking the second consecutive year of growth below two percent.
ABI Research predicts tablet computers will overtake notebook PCs by 2016 as consumers shift to newer devices like the Apple iPad.
PCs are not heading for the graveyard yet, and will likely get a lift from Windows 8. But the PC appears has taken a back seat to hotter mobile devices.
Rob Enderle, analyst and consultant with Enderle Group, said that talk of the ?post-PC era? is premature.
?A lot of us are looking at this as a PC-plus world,? he told AFP.
?People are retaining their PCs, but not cycling them as fast. They are supplementing them with tablets. People can?t afford to buy both new devices and a lot of people are locked into a cycle on their smartphone.?
Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates said that the PC ?still is pretty relevant? but ?not the center of the computing universe.?
?I think people are going to choose a pantheon of devices, and all of these are connected through the cloud? so the user is now the center of the tech universe.?
A Pew Internet study showed in September that 85 percent of American adults have a cell phone, 45 percent have a smartphone and 18 percent have a tablet computer.
Pew found 31 percent of those with Internet-ready phones mostly go online using their cell phone, and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer.
IHS iSuppli said that for the first time since the 1980s, PCs account for less than half the semiconductor chips known as DRAMs. This highlights the illustrates the diminishing domination of PCs in the electronics supply chain.
Clifford Leimbach at IHS said the trend means ?PCs are no longer generating the kind of growth and overwhelming market size that can single-handedly drive demand, pricing and technology trends in some of the major technology businesses.?
Yet the PC is likely to get a lift with the October 26 release of Windows 8 and a variety of new PCs designed to take advantage of the new system,
Analysts at Gartner say Microsoft is adding some excitement by releasing its own Surface tablet with the new Windows system.
?Windows 8 is not your normal low or even high impact major release of the OS,? said Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner.
?It?s the start of a new era for Microsoft.?
The new versions of Windows and Internet Explorer set for release have been designed with an emphasis on touch-screen controls to adapt them to new mobile devices.
And Microsoft will have the ability to leverage its productivity tools like Office and Word to keep people in the Microsoft ?ecosystem? via cloud computing.
Gartner analysts say that if Windows 8 on tablets is successful, it can regain some traction in the workplace and grab some momentum from Apple and Google-based Android devices.
Kay said Microsoft may be ?surprisingly successful? in tablets and other devices because ?there are a lot of people who are wary of Apple.?
He said Apple ?makes corporate buyers less comfortable, it doesn?t communicate.?
?There is a corporate desire for a good Windows platform in the tablet and the phone area,? he said.
E. Werner Reschke of the consultancy Wrinkledog said however Microsoft is becoming less relevant in an era where Google and Apple are taking center stage and that Windows 8 would offer ?nothing fantastically new or compelling.?
?Their Windows 8-tiled approach may be different, but not necessarily better,? he said. ?Windows 8 will be Microsoft?s version of what you already have ? but about four to five years less mature than the rest of the market.?
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A new $10 million, three-year study will investigate whether daily doses of a common dietary supplement could help curb the number of suicides among military personnel and veterans, researchers said on Monday.
The study, set to begin in South Carolina in January, is part of the Defense Department's heightened focus on suicide prevention as the number of service members attempting to take their own lives has risen.
There were 17,754 suicide attempts among veterans last year - about 48 a day - up from 10,888 in 2009, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs. In July of this year, 26 active-duty soldiers were believed to have committed suicide, the most ever recorded in a month since the U.S. Army began tracking such deaths.
The first part of the new clinical trial will examine the effects of daily omega-3 fatty acid supplements on about 320 at-risk military personnel and veterans, said researcher Ron Acierno, director of the post-traumatic stress disorder clinic at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Charleston.
Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish oil and not produced by the human body, are instrumental in repair and regeneration of brain cells, Acierno said.
"The thinking is that the areas of the brain that are affected by this lack of a regenerative advantage of omega-3 also play a role in depression and other emotional disorders, and by proxy, suicide," he said.
Those considered to be at risk have talked about suicide, he said. Researchers will also include people with alcohol problems, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
They will be given two commercially available "juice boxes" of omega-3 fatty acids a day, Acierno said.
"It doesn't taste like medicine at all," he said. "Here you have a very cheap intervention with very few side effects that could have significant impacts."
The study will be funded by taxpayer dollars allotted by the Defense Department. It will be conducted by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
On average, about 100 Americans die each day from suicide, officials said. More that 8 million U.S. adults seriously thought about suicide in the last year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Among military members, the rate of suicide in non-combat personnel is slightly higher than the rate of combat personnel, Acierno said.
"The problem of suicide is big," Acierno said. "But the problem of suicidality is massive, and that is having these suicidal thoughts. We don't want people to even have these thoughts or, if they are having them, to not have them as frequently." (Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Paul Simao and Andre Grenon)
Opening night (Thursday, October 11, 7 p.m.) at the Boonshoft CJCE will feature a solo performance of Raoul Wallenberg: Letters From Young Men by New York based director, writer and performer David F. Chapman. Honoring his 100th birthday, the performance tells the story of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish humanitarian who chose to act and saved thousands of Jews from extradition to Nazi death camps. The performance humanizes the Holocaust hero by combining theatre, historical events, selections from a recently published archive of Wallenberg?s letters, and Chapman?s own childhood diaries.
The nationally-known a cappella group The Maccabeats will kick off his year?s 2013 United Jewish Campaign at the Boonshoft CJCE on Sunday, November 4, 2:30 p.m. Known for their family-friendly musical stylings, The Maccabeats inject Jewish culture into current pop-music favorites, creating comedy and history lessons every generation can enjoy and learn from. During the event, community members will have the opportunity to make their 2013 pledge to the United Jewish Campaign, which provides funds to Jewish agencies and social services in Dayton, Israel, and around the world.
The Maccabeats
The line-up, spanning from October through December, also includes four author events that cover genres such as history, post-apocalyptic political and historical fiction, lighthearted romantic satire, and deep personal loss and recovery.
The Jewish Cultural Arts and Book Festival is presented annually by the Dayton Jewish Community Center (DJCC). ?On behalf of the Dayton Jewish Community Center, we are excited to bring an array of thought provoking events to the community. Our festival allows participants to immerse themselves in rich, cultural activites that everyone can enjoy.? says Cheryl Carne, director of the DJCC.
The chairperson of this year?s festival, Dr. Martin Jacobs, says, ?Each year we try to feature a diverse collection of interesting authors and performers. We want not just the Jewish community but?anyone and everyone in the area to feel welcome and engaged by the activities. Our goal is something for everyone!?
Tickets for events are available at the door or in advance online at www.jewishdayton.org. For more information, please call the DJCC at 937-853-0372.
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Thursday, October 11 Raoul Wallenberg: Letters From Young Men
7 p.m. Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education
Co-sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice
Event Details
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Tuesday, October 16 Sweet & Meet with Author Rich Cohen
7 p.m. Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education
Event Details
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Sunday, November 4 The Maccabeats
2:30 p.m. Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education
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Wednesday, November 7 Perfect is Overrated with author Karen Bergreen
7 p.m. Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education
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Thursday, November 15 Take Us Home
7 p.m. Dayton Art Institute
A collaborative sponsorship: The Dayton Art Institute; FilmDayton; WYSO; the DJCC?s Cultural Arts Department and the Jewish Community Relations Council
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Thursday, November 29 The Aftermath of 9/11 with author Jennifer Gardner Trulson
7 p.m. Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education
Sponsored by the Brandeis-Joffe Scholarship Fund of the Dayton Jewish Federation Foundation in memory of Eugene and Pearl Joffe
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Thursday, December 6 The Truth About Fiction: An Interactive Panel Discussion with authors Martha Moody and Eileen Pollack
7 p.m. Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education
A state senator in Maryland told the Washington Post that the Penn National Gaming company paid more than $340,000 for a mailing that the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force sent to Maryland households in August opposing a bill to expand gambling in the state.
According to the Post, Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George?s County), who voted against Maryland?s same-sex marriage law, said a Penn National vice president told him the casino company gave the money for the mailer to the DCI Group, a D.C. based consulting firm. The Post reported that Muse said the DCI Group then gave the money to the Task Force.
At that time, Monique Hall, a member of the NGLTF Action Fund board of directors, also served as a vice president for the DCI Group, a Republican-leaning consulting firm. Sources familiar with DCI Group told the Blade in August that DCI had been retained by one of the Maryland casinos to campaign against the gambling bill.
Hall, DCI Group, and Penn National have not responded to calls from the Blade seeking comment. NGLTF spokesperson Inga Sarda-Sorenson could not be immediately reached for comment.
The gambling bill calls for allowing a sixth casino to operate in the state in Prince George?s county and would allow casinos approved for five existing sites in Maryland as well as the one in P.G. County to operate table games. The existing sites are currently required to operate only slot machines.
Casino owners involved with the five existing sites, including Penn National, are vehemently opposed to allowing a new casino to open in P.G. County, saying the new casino would take away customers from their locations. They have spent millions of dollars on TV commercials calling on voters to vote no on the gambling expansion measure on the November ballot.
At the time it sent out its mailing in August, NGLTF said the gambling bill, introduced by Gov. Martin O?Malley, would be detrimental to efforts to save the state?s same-sex marriage law, which will come before voters in a referendum in the November election.
NGLTF noted that if the Maryland General Assembly approved the gambling bill ? which it did in late August ? it would come before voters in a referendum in November at the same time that the state?s marriage equality law appears on the ballot in a separate referendum.
The group noted that a gambling referendum would likely attract a larger than usual number of conservative voters to the polls who oppose both gambling and gay marriage. This would make it more difficult for marriage equality advocates to persuade voters to cast their ballot in support of same-sex marriage, the Task Force argued.
?We do not have a position on gambling, but rather on marriage equality,? NGLTF Deputy Executive Director Darlene Nipper said in a statement released in August.
?The purpose of the marriage equality mailer, funded by the Task Force Action Fund, which like other nonprofits includes many donors, some named and some who are not, is to get marriage equality over the finish line,? Nipper said. ?It was sent to a portion of registered Democratic households in Maryland.?
NGLT has declined to disclose who paid for the expensive mailer, saying only that it was funded by contributors to its Action Fund, which gets involved in political campaigns in support of LGBT equality.
Josh Levin, campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the organization leading the effort to uphold the same-sex marriage law, said the group?s internal polling has shown that a gambling referendum would have no impact on the marriage equality vote.
?We?ve been looking at this carefully for a long time and have yet to see any data that suggest there are any voters who would come out in the election because of the gaming initiative who were not already going to be out for a presidential election or to vote on the question of marriage equality,? he told the Blade.
However, at least one pollster, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a gambling referendum could bring out more conservative voters than usual, despite the relatively high turnout expected for a presidential election.
Gay Republican strategist Tom Synhorst, the founder and chair of the DCI Group, also did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment on what specific role DCI is playing in the campaign to oppose the gambling bill or whether it acted as a conduit for transferring funds for the NGLTF mailer from a gaming company.
The DCI website describes it as a public affairs company that ?Helps corporations navigate their most challenging political, legislative and regulatory problems anywhere in the world.?
8 October 2012Last updated at 09:58 ETBy James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC News
British scientist John Gurdon told a news conference he still keeps a bad report given to him by his school science teacher
Two pioneers of stem cell research have shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology.
John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan were awarded the prize for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body.
Prof Gurdon used a gut sample to clone frogs and Prof Yamanaka altered genes to reprogramme cells.
The Nobel committee said they had "revolutionised" science.
The prize is in stark contrast to Prof Gurdon's first foray into science when his biology teacher described his scientific ambitions as "a waste of time".
Continue reading the main story
Gurdon school report, aged 15
"I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him."
Cloned frog
When a sperm fertilises an egg there is just one type of cell. It multiplies and some of the resulting cells become specialised to create all the tissues of the body including nerve and bone and skin.
It had been though to be a one-way process - once a cell had become specialised it could not change its fate.
In 1962, John Gurdon showed that the genetic information inside a cell taken from the intestines of a frog contained all the information need to create a whole new frog. He took the genetic information and placed it inside a frog egg. The resulting clone developed into a normal tadpole.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
Their work has created the field of regenerative medicine...this is a wonderfully well-deserved Nobel prize?
End QuoteSir Mark WalportDirector of the Wellcome Trust
The technique would eventually give rise to Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal.
Reset button
Forty years later Shinya Yamanaka used a different approach. Rather than transferring the genetic information into an egg, he reset it.
He added four genes to skin cells which transformed them into stem cells, which in turn could become specialised cells.
The Nobel committee said the discovery had "revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.
"The discoveries of Gurdon and Yamanaka have shown that specialized cells can turn back the developmental clock under certain circumstances.
"These discoveries have also provided new tools for scientists around the world and led to remarkable progress in many areas of medicine."
Continue reading the main story
Sir John Gurdon is relishing the story about his failings at school and how his teachers ridiculed any notion that he might pursue a career as a scientist. Dressed casually in a sweater, and rushed from his labs in Cambridge to face the world's media, a fine sense of humour allowed him to take today's tumult in his stride. When I met him, he admitted to being bemused that a Nobel attracted so much more attention than any other prize. I asked what he thought of the 50-year gap between publishing his ground-breaking paper, in 1962, and winning the award only now. Actually, he said, the experiment on the frog cells was carried out back in 1958 - "rather a long time ago", but he said, with infinite patience, that science works best by making sure one's theories are right.
Prof Yamanaka said it was a "tremendous honour" to be given the award. He also praised Prof Gurdon: "I am able to receive this award because of John Gurdon.
"This field has a very long history, starting with John Gurdon."
Medicine
It is hoped the techniques will revolutionise medicine by using a sample of person's skin to create stem cells.
The idea is that they could be used to repair the heart after a heart attack or reverse the progress of Alzheimer's disease.
Prof Gurdon, now at the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge University, said: "I am immensely honoured to be awarded this spectacular recognition, and delighted to be due to receive it with Shinya Yamanaka, whose work has brought the whole field within the realistic expectation of therapeutic benefits.
"I am of course most enormously grateful to those colleagues who have worked with me, at various times over the last half century.
"It is particularly pleasing to see how purely basic research, originally aimed at testing the genetic identity of different cell types in the body, has turned out to have clear human health prospects."
Prof Yamanaka, who started his career as a surgeon, said: "My goal, all my life, is to bring this stem cell technology to the bedside, to patients, to clinic."
The president of the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse, said: "I was delighted to learn that John Gurdon shares this year's Nobel prize for physiology or medicine with Shinya Yamanaka.
"John's work has changed the way we understand how cells in the body become specialised, paving the way for important developments in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
"My congratulations go out to both John and Shinya."
Prof Anthony Hollander, the head of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Bristol, said: "This joint Nobel Prize traces and celebrates the wonderful scientific journey from John Gurdon's pioneering early work to the sensational discovery of somatic cell reprogramming by Shinya Yamanaka.
"It's fantastic news for stem cell research."
Sir Mark Walport, the director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "John Gurdon's life has been spent in biology, from collecting insects as a child to over 50 years at the laboratory bench. He and Shinya Yamanaka have demonstrated conclusively that it is possible to turn back the clock on adult cells, to create all the specialised cell types in the body.
"Their work has created the field of regenerative medicine, which has the potential to transform the lives of patients with conditions such as Parkinson's, stroke and diabetes.
"This is a wonderfully well-deserved Nobel Prize."
Jessica Biel feels completely unstressed about her upcoming wedding to Justin Timberlake.
The 30-year-old 'Psycho' actress - who got engaged to the 'SexyBack' singer in Big Sky, Montana on their annual vacation last January after dating for five years - is determined to take a laid-back approach to her big day.
She told E! News: "I'm just pretty much cool as a cucumber in general in my life. So no, I'm cool."
The 'Total Recall' star previously admitted that she has no desire to become a "bridezilla" and is happy to let a wedding planner create their special day.
She said: "I'm one of those people who is not very detail-oriented. I'm sort of the big idea person, so I'll probably give an idea and then let it be created."
Her fiance Justin also recently opened up about their relationship and his hopes that his marriage is successful describing it as a "team effort".
He said: "Some days are better than other days for all of us - and if we have our good days and bad days individually, and then we're dealing with someone else's good and bad days on top of that, it's going to add up.
"My mother is a ball of fire in the world and I love that about her. But what I have learned from my stepdad is something as important, which is patience and compassion.
"Because when you are living with someone else, those two qualities go a long way."
ScienceDaily (Oct. 8, 2012) ? The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.
The Nobel Prize recognizes two scientists who discovered that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.
John B. Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the specialisation of cells is reversible. In a classic experiment, he replaced the immature cell nucleus in an egg cell of a frog with the nucleus from a mature intestinal cell. This modified egg cell developed into a normal tadpole. The DNA of the mature cell still had all the information needed to develop all cells in the frog.
Shinya Yamanaka discovered more than 40 years later, in 2006, how intact mature cells in mice could be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells. Surprisingly, by introducing only a few genes, he could reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells, i.e. immature cells that are able to develop into all types of cells in the body.
These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and cellular specialisation. We now understand that the mature cell does not have to be confined forever to its specialised state. Textbooks have been rewritten and new research fields have been established. By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy.
Life -- a journey towards increasing specialisation
All of us developed from fertilized egg cells. During the first days after conception, the embryo consists of immature cells, each of which is capable of developing into all the cell types that form the adult organism. Such cells are called pluripotent stem cells. With further development of the embryo, these cells give rise to nerve cells, muscle cells, liver cells and all other cell types -- each of them specialised to carry out a specific task in the adult body. This journey from immature to specialised cell was previously considered to be unidirectional. It was thought that the cell changes in such a way during maturation that it would no longer be possible for it to return to an immature, pluripotent stage.
Frogs jump backwards in development
John B. Gurdon challenged the dogma that the specialised cell is irreversibly committed to its fate. He hypothesised that its genome might still contain all the information needed to drive its development into all the different cell types of an organism. In 1962, he tested this hypothesis by replacing the cell nucleus of a frog's egg cell with a nucleus from a mature, specialised cell derived from the intestine of a tadpole. The egg developed into a fully functional, cloned tadpole and subsequent repeats of the experiment yielded adult frogs. The nucleus of the mature cell had not lost its capacity to drive development to a fully functional organism.
Gurdon's landmark discovery was initially met with scepticism but became accepted when it had been confirmed by other scientists. It initiated intense research and the technique was further developed, leading eventually to the cloning of mammals. Gurdon's research taught us that the nucleus of a mature, specialized cell can be returned to an immature, pluripotent state. But his experiment involved the removal of cell nuclei with pipettes followed by their introduction into other cells. Would it ever be possible to turn an intact cell back into a pluripotent stem cell?
A roundtrip journey -- mature cells return to a stem cell state
Shinya Yamanaka was able to answer this question in a scientific breakthrough more than 40 years after Gurdon?s discovery. His research concerned embryonal stem cells, i.e. pluripotent stem cells that are isolated from the embryo and cultured in the laboratory. Such stem cells were initially isolated from mice by Martin Evans (Nobel Prize 2007) and Yamanaka tried to find the genes that kept them immature. When several of these genes had been identified, he tested whether any of them could reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells.
Yamanaka and his co-workers introduced these genes, in different combinations, into mature cells from connective tissue, fibroblasts, and examined the results under the microscope. They finally found a combination that worked, and the recipe was surprisingly simple. By introducing four genes together, they could reprogram their fibroblasts into immature stem cells!
The resulting induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) could develop into mature cell types such as fibroblasts, nerve cells and gut cells. The discovery that intact, mature cells could be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells was published in 2006 and was immediately considered a major breakthrough.
From surprising discovery to medical use
The discoveries of Gurdon and Yamanaka have shown that specialised cells can turn back the developmental clock under certain circumstances. Although their genome undergoes modifications during development, these modifications are not irreversible. We have obtained a new view of the development of cells and organisms.
Research during recent years has shown that iPS cells can give rise to all the different cell types of the body. These discoveries have also provided new tools for scientists around the world and led to remarkable progress in many areas of medicine. iPS cells can also be prepared from human cells.
For instance, skin cells can be obtained from patients with various diseases, reprogrammed, and examined in the laboratory to determine how they differ from cells of healthy individuals. Such cells constitute invaluable tools for understanding disease mechanisms and so provide new opportunities to develop medical therapies.
Sir John B. Gurdon was born in 1933 in Dippenhall, UK. He received his Doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1960 and was a postdoctoral fellow at California Institute of Technology. He joined Cambridge University, UK, in 1972 and has served as Professor of Cell Biology and Master of Magdalene College. Gurdon is currently at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge.
Shinya Yamanaka was born in Osaka, Japan in 1962. He obtained his MD in 1987 at Kobe University and trained as an orthopaedic surgeon before switching to basic research. Yamanaka received his PhD at Osaka City University in 1993, after which he worked at the Gladstone Institute in San Francisco and Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan. Yamanaka is currently Professor at Kyoto University and also affiliated with the Gladstone Institute.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nobel Foundation.
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Journal References:
Gurdon, J.B. The developmental capacity of nuclei taken from intestinal epithelium cells of feeding tadpoles. Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology, 1962; 10: 622-640 [link]
Kazutoshi Takahashi, Shinya Yamanaka. Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Mouse Embryonic and Adult Fibroblast Cultures by Defined Factors. Cell, 2006; 126 (4): 663 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.07.024
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Sometimes getting out for a date with your spouse or spending the night away just isn?t possible or financially feasible, so why not plan ahead and send the kids to bed a little early or trade favors with friends and do a sleepover and have a budget-friendly evening at home!
All relationships need nurturing, so even if you can?t go all out and leave the house, it?s important to figure out a way to do it at home and prioritize your relationship. Those years with young children underfoot can wreak havoc on your relationship and reconnecting is necessary. Below you?ll find some ideas to get you moving in the right direction.
Candlelight Fondue Dinner
Fondue pots are pretty affordable these days. Google a few recipes for a good broth and chocolate to make a whole meal out of it or simply do the chocolate and wine portion.
Fondue is a great way to linger over a meal while having conversation. Add some candlelight to tap into the romance element of the evening and you?ll have what you need to enjoy a lovely evening.
Raclette Meal and Conversation
The Raclette is a pricey investment at the start ($130 on average), but if you?re looking to do regular dates at home, then it will get its money?s worth.
The raclette meal is a great way to again, linger over your meal, chat, sip wine and enjoy each other?s company. You prepare your food as you go and it?s a slow process, so it?s perfect for quality time. Add those candles in the mix, too, for ambiance.
Game Night with Spice
If you and your spouse are naturally competitive (in a fun and good natured way!) then set up game night with spice. You can go for the simple strip poker (don?t forget to draw the blinds!) or try out some of the new games they have out for couples ? there are many that come with question and answer formats to just plain competition. Definitely a way to bring in some fun for an evening.
Wine by the Fire
If you just want to keep it simple, then build a fire out back, pop open a bottle of wine and snuggle up on the same bench seat while you chat, catch up on the week or just sit in silence. Sometimes, just being together is all you need.
Relationships can quickly become distant when you don?t find the time to be together in a quality way ? so make dating your spouse a priority. Even if you don?t have a lot of money, it?s possible to ?date? at home.
What are your favorite ways to reconnect with your spouse??
Image via Flickr praktycnyz
Tagged as: cheap dates at home, Dates at home, dating your spouse
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