Blood From Stem Cells

Every year, more than 100 million blood transfusions are needed worldwide. The best blood type for transfusions is type 0 negative, due to its universal acceptance. However, only 7 % of the world's population has this specific blood type and is therefore able to donate it.

Now, for the first time in history, a research team from the UK has managed to produce artificial 0 negative blood from induced pluripotent stem cells in the appropriate quality required for transfusions. They are highly optimistic that human trials will start within the next three year. If these trials prove the artificial blood to be successful, the dependence on blood donors could be reduced drastically. The second important advantage of artificial blood is that is is disease free - guaranteed!

However great the advantages of artificial blood from stem cells may be, there is still one challenge to overcome: as of yet, there is no quick and economically feasible way to produce the quantities needed. One single transfusion unit consists of more than a trillion blood cells; and now multiply this number by the number of transfusions needed yearly. Furthermore, clinical trials involving humans usually take years, so we could still be a decade away from the everyday use of artificial blood transfusions.

Sources:
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/factory-made-blood-nearing-human-trials
http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/7482/Artificial-Blood-on-Its-Way-to-Clinical-Trials.aspx
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f6f1914c-c3d6-11e3-870b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2znoegDuM

The Napalm Girl

The photograph shows a flat scenery where only grass and small shrubs and bushes grow. Right through this flat wasteland runs a broad street and a small house can be seen in the background. The background is filled by an enormous wall of smoke, like the ones caused by huge explosions. In the foreground you can see 5 children, of which three seem to be crying, one completely naked, one dressed in a shirt and underpants, one dressed in what seems to be pyjamas, one dressed in a shirt and what seems to be either long, airy pants or a skirt and one smaller child apparently in just a shirt. Behind them, there are five American soldiers in full Vietnam war gear, seemingly completely unfazed by the suffering children as they do not seem to have any intention of intervening or helping them. The soldiers also do not expect any attacks as three of them carry their weapons at least partly concealed.

Narrative Article Homework: Crimea

We visit Irina and Pavel on a bleak day in early March. Their apartment, located on the sixth floor of a soviet-style building on the outskirts of Kiev, consists of only three rooms. In the center of the living room stands a small coffee table on which a framed picture of a young man is surrounded by candles and flowers. The young man on the photo is their son Ivan, 20. He is currently serving in the Ukrainian military and is currently deployed in Sewastopol on the Crimea. With Russia invading the peninsula, his parents fear that he might never come back. “If our government decides to fight the Russians, my son and his comrades will die for sure”, Irina says as she is wiping tears from her cheeks.

Currently, thousands of Ukrainians are losing sleep over the fate of their loved ones, just like Irina and Pavel. The conflict with Russia has been escalating since Russia took first steps towards an annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Rhetoric Analysis of an Opinion Article on Stem Cells

http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48969936.html

The article discusses the ethical issues of stem cell derivation from the view of the Jewish religion. The author explains ethical questions in a neutral style and provides answers to them based on the Torah and Jewish religious teachings. While doing so, he uses many examples, like the example of a man dying of liver failure. The author states that derivation of stem cells from aborted fetuses is considered unethical in Jewish religion, with the exception of fetuses aborted because they were a hazard for the mother's life. In contrast to Christianity, Judaism does not consider the derivation of stem cells from pre-embryos (leftover embryos from IV-fertilizations) as unethical. Nevertheless, it opposes the creation of pre-embryos for the purpose of their destruction, since this practice would devalue human life.