Gene key to developing stem cells found

Researchers have found a gene that could be key to the development of stem cells – cells that can potentially save millions of lives by morphing into practically any cell in the body.

The gene, known as ASF1A, is at least one of the genes responsible for the mechanism of cellular reprogramming, a phenomenon that can turn one cell type into another, which is key to the making of stem cells.

Researchers at the Michigan State University analysed more than 5,000 genes from a human egg, or oocyte, before determining that the ASF1A, along with another gene known as OCT4 and a helper soluble molecule, were the ones responsible for the reprogramming.

“This has the potential to be a major breakthrough in the way we look at how stem cells are developed,” said Elena Gonzalez-Munoz, a former MSU post-doctoral researcher and first author of the paper.

“Researchers are just now figuring out how adult somatic cells such as skin cells can be turned into embryonic stem cells. Hopefully this will be the way to understand more about how that mechanism works,” said Gonzalez-Munoz.

In 2006, an MSU team identified the thousands of genes that reside in the oocyte. It was from those, they concluded, that they could identify the genes responsible for cellular reprogramming.

In 2007, a team of Japanese researchers found that by introducing four other genes into cells, stem cells could be created without the use of a human egg. These cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs.

“This is important because the iPSCs are derived directly from adult tissue and can be a perfect genetic match for a patient,” said Jose Cibelli, an MSU professor of animal science and a member of the team.

The researchers say that the genes ASF1A and OCT4 work in tandem with a ligand, a hormone-like substance that also is produced in the oocyte called GDF9, to facilitate the reprogramming process.

“We believe that ASF1A and GDF9 are two players among many others that remain to be discovered which are part of the cellular-reprogramming process,” Cibelli said.

The finding was published in the journal Science.

From the discomfort Zone: Ingenuity to transform habits

Changing the behaviour of a product’s end-user does not happen by chance. Only an enterprise with special motivation can make it happen, as I wrote last week. Behavioural change is extremely physical. There’s got to be some bodily object that interacts with people for behaviour to change; no intangible theory can do this job at the mass level.

Shaving behaviour: The straight razor, where the blade folds into its handle, what roadside barber shops still use, was invented around 1680. In 1901, Gillette initiated the double-edged safety razor with replaceable blades. To modernise men’s shaving habit, Gillette invented the single-side razor. Introducing the “razor and blades business model” or inexpensive razor with disposable blades, Gillette’s business grew tremendously. The beauty here is the high-tech blade; it’s expensive, but gives a large number of shaves. The razor picks it up from its packaging socket, men don’t touch it. It’s so simple and safe that women are attracted to use it.

So year after year with single focus, Gillette follows every generation, social trend, state-of-the-art engineering with precision manufacturing to innovate and revolutionise the way the world shaves. The Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall Technology they’ve just announced has a maneuverable handle that moves, adjusts, pivots across a man’s facial contours to allow it to capture every hair. This is a grand example of Gillette’s drive for world leadership by constantly changing men’s practical behaviour.

Walkman, the incredible behaviour changer: History shows that Philips, the fundamental inventor of many products, could barely get registered in people’s minds as a behaviour changing agent. On the other hand, newcomer Sony — not a fundamental inventor — successfully did so with the Walkman in 1979. The behavioural change the Walkman established was phenomenal; people moved around with little earphones, hands-free, enjoying music with a personal device. Being able to transform habits often comes from single focused, creative entrepreneurial challenge. Sony masterminded entertainment devices with the Walkman. But then it diversified and ran into losses. The big behavioural change the Sony Walkman introduced has shifted to Apple. Sony lost focus on entertainment devices for the digi-tech generation when it derooted its creative ingenuity into too many directions.

Smartphone: Changing people’s habit and behaviour through the smart mobile phone, Apple dynamised the finger touch. Monopolistic Microsoft missed the boat with people shifting from the laptop to the mobile phone. Till a few years ago, I was comfortable with my Blackberry — the typewriter replica. The day my IT engineer changed my ‘dumb phone’ to a ‘smart phone’, I was lost. But just a few days of usage changed my habit. I could never imagine I’d write articles and books on the touch screen. Just look at how these industries have not only innovated, but contaminated people to change their product usage behaviour.

Fast food: ‘Eat slowly’ is our social nicety when hosting a meal for invited guests. Yet along with 118 countries worldwide, India has abandoned specific, food-related cultural nuances to embrace typical American fast food like McDonald’s. Europeans hated this “time ismoney” fast food concept, and resisted its entry. But when at midnight you don’t find any restaurant open in rural Europe, a McDonald’s welcomes you. In fact, McDonald’s has democratised society globally. A low economic strata family now dares to eat at the extremely expensive Champs Elysees street of Paris because McDonald’s, which is affordable, is there. Also tourists amidst alien ways and food habits make a beeline for the predictably familiar McDonald’s.

In places famous for gastronomy like France and Italy, McDonald’s tweaks its menu and décor to attract locals. In Milan’s 14th century Piazza del Duomo with Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — the world’s oldest and beautiful shopping mall — there’s luxury brand Prada on the left, Louis Vuitton on the right, Cartier, Gucci, Ferragamo; all within view, jostling for prominence. I was amused to see the bright yellow M twinkling at the edge, saying “I’m lovin’ it”, and attracting heavy traffic in total defiance of the dissonance traditionalists feel.

The only food connecting poor, rich, old and young across heterogeneous India is the jalebi, which is why my book is called Jalebi Management to represent everyone. India’s traditional food habit is different every 500 km, but McDonald’s — with the same vegetarian and non-vegetarian menu — is mesmerising all age groups across south, east, north and west India.

Never so easy: Behaviour change through product usage is not always easy. Take the e-cigarette that’s trying so hard to shift smokers. The response is minimal as e-cigarettes merely give flavoured vapour that simulates tobacco smoking. Actually the main question is, do cigarette companies really want their business model to change? Is the e-cigarette an eye-wash to fool the public and regulators that people’s health is not being damaged? As the e-cigarette is not addictive, it doesn’t work towards behavioural change. So will smokers and cigarette companies forget about changing behaviour and continue to injure health?

Enterprises need a different mindset to change the end user’s behaviour: It’s the ingenuity of the enterprise that drives behaviour creation. Before the digital age, human behaviour took time to change. Digi-tech now helps speed up innovation for industrial production to satisfy human needs. Corporate ideation for changing and sustaining the customer’s behaviour tomorrow will be very challenging because of fast changing digi-trends. An innovative but traditional mindset company can make profitable growth, but when it can command the mechanism of changing behaviour, it enters another league.

The substance of changing customer behaviour always requires a distinct spark. The product or service has to be extremely humane and uplift routine to ideal habit. Society’s drivers may start the change in a small way, but if it’s really scientific it quickly shapes up to addict the masses — who are the followers in society.

Defence projects worth Rs. 21,000 crore cleared

Also okays a project for production of transport aircraft, which is open only to Indian private sector companies.

The government on Saturday cleared defence procurement proposals worth over Rs 21,000 crore and also okayed a project for the production of transport aircraft, which is open only to Indian private sector companies.

Among the major proposals to receive approval is a Rs 9,000 crore tender to provide five fleet support ships for the Navy, for which the request for proposal (RFP) would be issued to all public and private sector shipyards, Defence Ministry officials said.

Chairing his first meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said, “There are many proposals in the pipeline for the defence forces and, today, we have tried to expedite quite a few of them.”

Thus, a proposal for supply of 32 HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopter, ‘Dhruv’, to the Coast Guard and the Navy at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore was also okayed, officials said.

Under the proposal, HAL will supply 16 helicopters each to the Coast Guard and the Navy and also provide maintenance for the machines to ensure the “highest level of operational maintenance and efficiency”.

DAC also cleared an IAF proposal for issuance of a tender for construction of 56 transport aircraft by private industry players to replace the force’s fleet of Avro aircraft, they said.

As per the proposal, private Indian defence companies such as Tata and Mahindra would be issued tender and they would build the aircraft in partnership with foreign firms.

The meeting also cleared the procurement of five fast patrol vessels (FPV) and offshore patrol vessels (OPV) each for the Coast Guard at the cost of Rs 2,360 crore.

The FPVs and OPVs would be built by the state-owned GRSE and Goa Shipyards Ltd, respectively, officials said.

A proposal to procure search and rescue (SAR) equipment for the three services at a cost of Rs 900 crore, too, received the green light.

CPF2014 PAPER1 BREAKUP

Topic MCQs in CAPF-2013 Weightage
Geography & Environment 22 18%
Polity 20 16%
Aptitude 20 16%
History & Culture 19 15%
Science 15 12%
Economy 10 8%
IR & defense related 10 8%
PIN, Sports, Books 9 7%
Total 125 100%

Outrage in the skies

The tragic and outrageous shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian airspace on Thursday is a direct consequence of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Even while offering solace to the family of the dead, the international community needs to fix the responsibility for the firing of the missile that brought down the aircraft that was flying 33,000 feet above sea level, with 298 people on board. There have been at least 20 such incidents since the 1940s, when aircraft have been struck down by a missile or military jet. The blame game has already started among the Ukrainian government, the pro-Russian rebel forces fighting the separatist war in the eastern part of the country, and Russia itself. There have been previous instances of Ukraine’s military aircraft getting shot down in the same region. It is surprising that some international carriers have been sticking to this dangerous airspace all these weeks and months and only now have decided to steer clear of the zone. The Ukrainian rebels, the prime suspects, were perhaps targeting another Ukrainian military aircraft expected at that time; they even claimed they were in possession of missiles and had shot down a military aircraft.

This ghastly tragedy could not have come at a worse time for Malaysian Airlines. Hardly four months ago, one of its aircraft went missing while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Even debris has not been found and there is no clue on what happened to it. The fallout of the war in Ukraine, in which Russia has played a controversial role, has now become an even bigger international issue with the shooting down of this aircraft. Some countries have already called for the United Nations to play a more decisive role in ending this conflict and also taking charge of the investigation. There were a couple of other aircraft quite close to the site where the Malaysian aircraft was shot down. An Air Indiaaircraft carrying Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a diversion to avoid this zone. Tragedies such as this only revive the demand for international aviation organisations to take a more active and dynamic role in tracking or monitoring flights in the interests of the safety of passengers. Airlines will have to accept such a monitoring mechanism sooner rather than later. The Ukrainian authorities have already begun a probe and have taken note of some Twitter posts purportedly put out by the separatists who they say are to blame. The immediate need is to order a full-fledged international investigation into this tragedy, as demanded by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, perhaps headed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Climbing the beanstalk

Tucked between the tax breaks and FDI declarations in the Narendra Modi government’s inaugural budget sits a nugget of a new programme announcement: Rs 100 crore to develop career centres by upgrading employment exchanges, especially in traditionally underserved communities. I have previously made the case for information institutions where young people could reliably procure information on job opportunities, get customised career guidance and meet inspiring role models. Based on thousands of interviews, I had found that young people from poorer communities, no matter how capable and hardworking, were not able to win higher-paying jobs. Those who have recently become engineers, business managers and civil servants are the children of parents who are themselves highly educated and employed in high positions.

This gives rise to a dynamic of layered development —  different strata moving forward at different speeds. There are households in India that get by at levels below Rs 5,000 per month. There are others that live global middle-class lifestyles, not very different from their counterparts in other and richer societies. And then there are a series of layers in between.

Problems arise because these layers are growing at different rates, with higher and richer layers growing faster than lower and poorer ones, resulting in rising inequality. The bigger problem arises because these layers are growing increasingly apart from one another. There is very little movement of people from lower to higher layers. My examination of more than 20,000 households in four states showed that while many people have escaped poverty, most have become the near-poor. They live just a little distance above the poverty line, only a handful have become secure; none are rich.

Bumping up the scope of self-improvement is essential. Why do poor youth not manage to secure bigger career achievements? Lack of information is critical to the potential going under-utilised. People growing up in poor communities do not know about career opportunities simply because no one from their community has ever achieved any such career. What children in poor communities lack most is knowledge of alternative careers, how to prepare for them. Children in richer communities have it in abundance and take for granted a cousin writing the IAS entrance exam, a family friend who flies Mirages for the air force. These examples illuminate the career road for a young person in a richer community. In a poorer community, this road is mostly dark; a school teacher here, a police constable there are the only examples. A vicious cycle links underachievement with lack of information.

Career centres can fill such information gaps. Informing, guiding and motivating young people from poorer communities will help talented ones climb higher, crossing from lower to higher layers, an achievement previously denied.

While the logic tosupport career centres is strong, how these should be staffed and programmed remains to be discovered. The new centres must have comprehensive information on a variety of career choices and skill-acquisition opportunities of different kinds. They must be staffed by professionals trained in career counselling, people who realise that poverty and potential are unrelated. We need sensitive counsellors providing customised advice.

Rs 100 crore is not a princely sum in a country of India’s size but strategically used, it can help develop working models. The need of the day is policy experimentation. Let us encourage states to compete for the pot by developing an innovative plan for one centre and carrying out this plan successfully for a number of years. Let a dozen such experimental career centres (of different models) be implemented simultaneously, and let us observe the results each year for five years. There should be only one criterion for success: how many individuals were able to climb up layers because of your efforts? How many poor kids did you help gain admission to professional colleges and civil service positions? Different modes of engagement should emerge as a result of announcing a competition for the best few models to be initially funded. Some models may be organised in public-private partnership and with CSR funds, some may be run by NGOs, and some managed by government. Different ways of doing things must be tried out and their results assessed.

The dumbest thing would be for the Central government to pick and nominate locations or to apportion the money among state governments without any action plans. The next dumbest thing would be to prescribe a standardised template. There is too little knowledge available. We must first learn —  relatively cheaply — what works at the local level, before implementing over a broader region.

Modi’s career centres have to be carefully launched, and the potential is vast. Helping people climb layers is timely and necessary. Equality of outcomes is usually an idealist’s dream, but equality of opportunity is the bedrock of political order and social cohesion

South African Gandhian Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, a true Gandhian adopted democratic methods for achieving Human Rights, freedom and emancipation of Blacks from the South African apartheid regime. As a leader, Nelson Mandela can be compared to radical reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, Garibaldi of Italy and Lenin of Soviet Union who waged life-long struggles for freedom and human dignity. He led the struggle against apartheid- the inhuman practice of racial discrimination followed by rulers in South Africa. Mandela’s relentless crusade fructified in getting equal rights for Black people who were denied the basic rights to equality, freedom, human dignity and right to life. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in the prisons of oppressive white rulers. Eventually, the Pretoria government had to release him in the autumn of 1990. The Indian Government honored Mandela with Nehru Peace Prize in 1980 and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna conferred on him in 1990.  Bharat Ratna was conferred on him, the award so far given to only two foreign nationals and the other one being Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan- Frontier Gandhi, a freedom fighter during Indian Freedom Struggle. The Entire world hailed him as a great leader, who launched constructive revolt for the liberation of the coloured nationals in association with the African National Congress. The world recognized his struggle for freedom and awarded Noble Peace Prize to him. Mandela was a symbol of courage and crusader for human dignity and liberty. Mandela helped for smooth transition of power in South Africa and avoided bloodshed and hatred. The UNO celebrates 18th July as Mandela Day. CHILDHOOD Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela popularly known as Madiba in his homeland was born on 18th July 1918. His father was chief of Tembu Tribe. As a young law student, he became involved in political opposition to the white minority regime. As a boxer, Mandela loved the sport and in his younger years, he was classed as a heavy-weight. The boy would later be given the English name Nelson by his school teacher; Mandela was name of his grandfather. POLITICAL STRUGGLE Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942 and co-founded its more dynamic Youth League in 1944. His father was the chief of the Thembu tribe and counselor of Thembu king. Mandela has had a first-hand experience of the atrocities unleashed by the white rulers on the coloured people. He came to Johannesburg at the age of 22. There, he met an active revolutionary named Walter Sisulu. He started studying Law. Mandela in association with Sisulu and Oliver Tambo started an agitation against the white rule which was crushed by the Pretorian authorities. The 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party led to apartheid system of racial segregation becoming law. Mandela rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, whose adoption of the Freedom Charter provided the fundamental programme of the anti-apartheid cause. Initially committed to non-violent mass struggle and acquitted in the marathon Treason Trial of 1956-1961, Mandela and his colleagues accepted the case for armed action after the shooting of unarmed protesters at Sharpeville in March 1960 and the banning of anti-apartheid groups. In 1961, he became the commander of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. In August of the following year, he was arrested and jailed for five years. In June 1964, he was sentenced again, this time to life imprisonment, for his involvement in planning armed action. He started his prison years in the infamous Robben Island Prison, a maximum security facility on a small island off the coast of Cape Town. In April 1984, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and in December 1988 he was moved to the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl from where he was eventually released. IMPRISONMENT FOR 27 YEARS During his incarceration Mandela taught himself to speak Afrikaans and learned about Afrikaner history. While in prison, Mandela rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the Bantustan policy by recognising the independence of the Transkei region and agreeing to settle there. Amongst opponents of apartheid in South Africa and internationally, he became a cultural symbol of freedom and equality. Mandela remained in prison until February 1990, when sustained ANC campaigning and international pressure led to his release. On 2 February 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations. Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison on 11 February 1990. He and President de Klerk - who did much to dismantle the institutions of apartheid - shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. In Mandela's 1994 autobiography, 'Long Walk to Freedom', he did not reveal anything about the alleged complicity of de Klerk in the violence of the 1980s and 90s, or the role of his ex-wife Winnie Mandela in that bloodshed. However, he later discussed those issues in 'Mandela: The Authorised Biography'. While he was in prison and was invited to negotiate with White regime in February 1985, he stated that “only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated”. LIFE AFTER PRISON After his release, Mandela returned to the leadership of the ANC and, between 1990 and 1994, led the party in the multi-party negotiations that resulted in the country's first multi-racial elections. As the first black president of South Africa (1994 - 1999) he presided over the transition from minority rule and apartheid. He won praise for his leadership during this time, even from his former white opponents in South Africa. Following his retirement as president in 1999, Mandela went on to become an advocate for a variety of social and human-rights organizations. He used his status as a respected elder statesman to give weight to pertinent issues. The fight against Aids was one of Mandela's primary concerns and he used his gravitas to raise awareness about the issue on the global stage. Having backed the 46664 Aids fundraising campaign, which was named after his prison number, he went on to call for more openness in discussing the condition. In 2007, he brought together elder statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates including Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland and Li Zhaoxing under a non-governmental organization dubbed The Elders. The aim of the organization was to combine the elders' collective wisdom and use it to solve some of the world's problems. Although he spoke out less about issues affecting neighboring country Zimbabwe in his retirement. His last public outing was during the closing ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg. He started Nelson Mandela foundation and served the poorest of the poor and needy. AWARDS In November 2009, Mandela's contributions to world freedom were rewarded with a unique gesture by the United Nations General Assembly. In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly announced that Mandela’s birthday, 18 July, is to be known as ‘Mandela Day’ marking his contribution to world freedom. On 18 July 2012, Mandela's 94th birthday, 12 million schoolchildren across South Africa honored him with a specially composed song to mark the day. Mandela has won international acclaim for his sacrifices for the cause of human rights and freedom. In 1980, he was given the Nehru Peace Prize by India. In 1990, India conferred its highest award the ‘Bharat Ratna’ on him. Nelson Mandela has come to symbolize human struggle against racial discrimination. East Germany honored him with the ‘Star of International Friendship’ and Venezuela conferred the ‘Simon Boliver Award’ on him. He has also been honored with the ‘Sakharov Award’ and the ‘Human Rights Award’. Nelson Mandela was a protestor, prisoner and peacemaker. His death on 5th December 2013 has become a celebration of life of fellow human beings on the Earth. Nelson Mandela changed South Africa and the world. He became a father of a nation, an international icon, and a legend. He showed that heroes may leave but their wisdom remains. His compassion, humility, genuine caring, listening and talk leave an indelible impression on human history. Nelson Mandela admired Gandhi who started his own freedom struggle in South Africa in 1890s but he regarded non-violence as a tactic. By the time he stepped down as the country’s first black President in 1999 in the age of 80, he was, almost without rival, the most admired person on Earth- seen as a secular saint, an embodiment of human greatness and an icon of peace and wisdom. He became the rarest thing in African history, a one term President who chose not to run for again. Like George Washington, he understood that every step he made would be template for others to follow. He could have been President for life, but he knows that democracy, he could not. Two democratic elections have followed his presidency, and if the men who have succeeded him have not been his equal, well, that too is democracy. He was a large man in every way. His legacy is that he expanded human freedom. He was tolerant of everything but intolerance. Nelson Mandela believed in justice throughout his life. The UNO celebrates 18th July as Mandela Day.