Posted: 04 Jun 2014 01:44 PM PDT

Organ replication took a leap at a Boston hospital, as doctors finally nailed the process of artificial vascularization with the use of advances in 3D bio printing together with biomaterials in order to create the first synthetic blood vessels.
Although huge strides have already been made in replicating all sorts of human tissue and organs, making delicate conduits from scratch was still some way off from reality. Now, by approaching the problem in a complex way involving several layers, vessels were engineered in a fashion conducive to the health of the blood vessel cells, which makes for more long-lasting vessels.
There is no other way to approach something that lines our entire bodies, performing the crucial function of delivering nutrients and siphoning off bad materials and waste in order to keep our organs alive. Blood vessels are incredibly fragile things – their constitution is infinitely more delicate than anything science has tried to synthetically bio-print before, because this particular brand of printing organs involves considerations on a cellular level. The study was published in the journal Lab on a Chip recently.
As biomedical engineer and project leader, doctor Ali Khademhosseini explained, “creating artificial blood vessels remains a unique challenge in tissue engineering. We’ve attempted to address this challenge by offering a unique strategy for vascularization of hydrogel constructs that combine advances in 3D bio-printing technology and biomaterials.”
To do this, his team first 3D-printed something called agarose fiber templates, which are designed to be removed at a later date. The resulting mold is then covered in a liquid, yet durable substance called hydrogel, which coats the channels.
This durable combination ensures that “the fiber templates we printed are strong enough that we can physically remove them to make the channels,” Khademhosseini said, explaining that this is crucial because it “prevents having to dissolve these template layers, which may not be so good for the cells that are entrapped in the surrounding gel.”
The team was able to construct micro-channel networks that display a range of architectural features. Embedding these networks into different types of gel showed their durability. However, the real magic of science here was the successful growth of endothelial monolayers inside the synthetic channels.
This process needs to be explained in more detail to the layman: the interior walls of blood vessels are lined with a special layer called endothelium, formed out of endothelial cells. The cells perform the key functions of vascular biology by filtering fluids, trafficking hormones, hemostasis and others. Without that layer, the amazing synthetic blood vessels would essentially just be impressively thin tubes.
As Khademhosseini put it enthusiastically, “In the future, 3D printing technology may be used to develop transplantable tissues customized to each patient’s needs, or be used outside the body to develop drugs that are safe and effective.”
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Posted: 04 Jun 2014 01:05 PM PDT

Discovery of a huge rocky planet 17 times as heavy as the Earth has prompted scientists to, judging from its age, rethink the origins of the universe.
Kepler-10c, the new find by NASA’s Kepler mission, goes around a star 560 light years away.
It belongs to the Kepler-10 system, which is some 11 billion years old. Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, said, “Finding Kepler-10c tells us that rocky planets could form much earlier than we thought. And if you can make rocks, you can make life.”
“This is the Godzilla of Earths!” he said, referring to the orbiter, which is 2.3 times the size of the Earth.
Sasselov said, “…Kepler-10c has positive implications for life.”
“Kepler-10c didn’t lose its atmosphere over time. It’s massive enough to have held onto one if it ever had it,” said astronomer Xavier Dumusque.
The technique used by the telescope has it monitor the light emitted by stars and see whether it dims from time to time. Using the method, scientists can obtain the planet’s diameter.
The planet is much denser than earth. Sasselov said the rock composing it is twice as dense as the rock we are used to.
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Posted: 04 Jun 2014 12:59 PM PDT

The powerful regional organisations created in Latin America, an important legacy of the late Hugo Chavez, have forced cracks in Washington’s 50-year economic blockade of Cuba. Senior US regime figures have called on President Barack Obama to loosen the blockade.
Obama loosened a few of the additional measures imposed by Bush the Second (lifting some severe restrictions on family member visits) but has mostly maintained the status quo of travel bans on US citizens, ‘trading with the enemy’ sanctions and imposing large fines on companies (with over 10% US shareholding) which trade with Cuba.
The US economic, commercial, and financial blockade (called an ‘embargo’ in the US) has tried to isolate and lay siege to Cuba since the early years of the revolution. The first version was signed into force by President John F Kennedy, just after he ordered a personal supply of 1,000 fine Cuban cigars.
However, now that Cuba has taken on a leading role in continental organisations such as the CELAC, Washington insiders have been forced to admit that it is the USA (‘America’) that has become ‘increasingly isolated’ in the Americas.
The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his political mentor, former Cuban President Fidel Castro, in the early 2000s, led the movement against a proposed ‘Free Trade Area of the Americas’ (FTAA) and against the Washington-dominated Organization of American States (OAS). Venezuela and Cuba created the left-bloc ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for Our Americas) as a counter to the FTAA. In 2005, at a summit in Argentina, Chavez held a shovel to demonstrate that he had come to ‘bury’ the FTAA; and indeed he did.
Then in 2008, backed by others including President Lula of Brazil and President Kirchner of Argentina, Chavez led the creation of UNASUR, a South American bloc that has since helped defuse Washington’s destabilisation plans in several countries.
The unification process peaked a little more than year before Chavez died of cancer. In Caracas, in December 2011, 33 Latin American and Caribbean heads of government confirmed the creation of CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States). The only countries of the Americas left out were the USA and Canada. With a population twice the size of the US, CELAC has become a new counter-weight to the Washington-based OAS. This new bloc moved immediately to build new direct relations, for example with the European Union.
We should see this recent letter to Obama on Cuba, from 50 US establishment figures, in this wider context. Titled ‘Open letter to President Obama: support civil society in Cuba’ (http://www.supportcubancivilsociety.org/), it calls for relaxation of travel to Cuba by US citizens, increased support for Cuban civil society, ‘principled engagement in areas of mutual interest’ and some relaxation of financial restrictions for ‘authorised’ relations.
This is a very long way from the liberal ideas of free movement and free trade, so often preached by Washington. But while the letter’s proposals are quite modest, and there is a traditional destabilisation agenda, it is the authors that make a difference. There have been many similar proposals from what we might call US ‘official dissidents’, former officials who have disagreed with the bipartisan US policy on Cuba.
This time the proposal comes from figures still deeply embedded in the US security, finance and diplomatic oligarchy. Notably there is John Negroponte, mastermind of death squads (under the Reagan and Bush 2 administrations) in Central America and Iraq, along with several military and business figures and recent heads of the US mission in Havana (called an ‘Office of Interests’, as there is no US Embassy).
The letter admits that US policy on Cuba (embedded in both US law and Presidential decree) has left Washington ‘increasingly isolated’ in the Americas. That policy is unpopular in the US and even more unpopular in Florida, where the anti-Cuban mafia have their main base. An Atlantic Council poll (February 2014) said that 56% of US people and 63% of Florida residents were in favour of a change in US policy towards Cuba.
Nevertheless, given the bizarre, elite politics of the US Congress (a Republican dominated Lower House has just voted to impose sanctions on Venezuela, because of violence initiated in that country by US client groups), the letter recognises that the legislative form of the policy (set in two laws passed under the Clinton administration in the 1990s) cannot be quickly changed. However they suggest Obama can act to make some important changes by presidential decree.
In the imperious language of Washington these changes are said to ‘serve as catalysts for meaningful change in Cuba’; in practice they signal a fear of being left out of a Cuban development process which is slowly but steadily engaging a range of other countries.
The week after the letter was published a high level delegation headed by Thomas J. Donohue, the President of the US Chamber of Commerce, paid a visit to Havana. Their main interest seemed to be in reviewing the economic reforms underway, over the past few years.
Cuba’s ‘updating’ of its economic model (in the Cuban view this is a subset, and not the defining feature, of Cuban socialism) has included changes to the 1995 foreign investment law, which selectively attracts capital to joint ventures in identified priority areas. These areas have been tourism, mining, oil and energy, the health sector, light engineering and infrastructure. Key partners so far have been Venezuela, China, Spain, Canada, Brazil and Russia.
The letter to Obama from 50 US figures proposes an expansion of ‘licensed travel’ for a range of US citizens (professionals, business people, NGOs, academics), including authorising the use of ‘pre-paid’ credit cards. Presently, the US Treasury has to license US citizens and residents to travel to and spend money in Cuba. Non-US citizens are generally not affected by these laws, unless they try to use US-linked banks and credit cards.
Second, the group proposes that Obama authorise finance, scholarship and communications links between ‘civil society’ groups in the two countries. This has been contentious on the Cuban side because the US has for some years used ‘civil society’ groups in attempts at political destabilisation. The Sumate group in Venezuela was one such group. Its former leader Maria Corina Machado, now a leading opposition politician, was recently implicated in a plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro. In Cuba US citizen Alan Gross remains in jail for smuggling satellite communications equipment, with which he was trying to set up a US-mentored political network. Similarly, a USAID project to start an alternative twitter network (Zunzuneo) was recently exposed.
Third, the letter proposes priority for ‘principled engagement in areas of mutual interest’. This is important because issues such as migration, drug control, environmental management and counter-terrorism have all failed because of the poor relations, rooted in the US refusal of diplomatic relations. The failure was best illustrated by the outcome of Cuba’s sharing of intelligence, in the late 1990s, on planned bombings of Cuban tourist hotels. Instead of moving against the Florida-based terrorists, the FBI traced back and arrested some of the sources of that intelligence, five Cuba agents now known as the Cuban Five. Three of these men are still in US jails, political prisoners for more than 15 years, simply because they tried to warn of terrorist attacks planned against their country. Securing their freedom will be at the forefront of any such ‘mutual interest’ dealings.
Finally the US group asks for financial liberalisation to allow all US-authorised activities. This is also important, as the blockade has made many simple, day-to-day transactions difficult.
A US president can authorise the use of certain forms of credit, but the Congress would have to change the legal basis of wider sanctions, and these have been aimed at bigger targets, in recent years. US citizens are still banned from buying Cuban cigars, for example, but there have been very few fines for such infractions since about 2008. The US Treasury (through its OFAC agency) has shifted its focus to finance companies, resulting in some big fines.
For example, under these anti-Cuban laws the Dutch travel company Carlson Wagonlit Travel was fined nearly $6 million and Despegar, an Argentine travel firm, was fined $2.8m, this year. Back in 2009 the ANZ Bank was fined $5.7m while Credit Suisse was fined $536m, the largest ever US sanctions penalty. These fines underline the point that US laws continue to affect even foreign companies, if they have 10% or more US-based shares.
The US economic blockade of Cuba is trul y a dinosaur policy. It is rejected at the UN every year by almost every nation on earth, it is rejected by the US people and it is now rejected by Washington insiders, who have finally discovered that is it they who are isolated. Whether the Obama administration moves on this or not, it is clear that Latin American unity has been the recent driving force for change.
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Posted: 04 Jun 2014 12:21 PM PDT

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected as unacceptable, arguments that the UK should leave the European Union if London refuses to sit back in a dispute over the European Commission’s (EC) next president.
Merkel told the German parliament on Wednesday that she was aware of London’s objection to her favored candidate for EC presidency, Jean-Claude Juncker, but hoped that the UK would remain in the bloc.
This comes as German media reports have accused London of blackmailing the EU for years and that the UK should decide once and for all whether to remain a member of the bloc.
British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened earlier this week that his country would exit the EU if Juncker, the former Luxembourg premier, becomes the next EC president, as the appointment would politicize the Commission.
Besides the UK, other European leaders, namely Swedish Premier Fredrik Reinfeldt and Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, have also voiced their opposition to Juncker’s candidacy.
The developments come as EU leaders are at loggerheads over choosing a replacement for European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, whose term ends in October.
Juncker, a federalist, was chosen as the EC president candidate after the European People’s Party (EPP), to which both Juncker’s and Merkel’s parties belong, won 213 out of 751 seats in the recent European Parliament elections. Juncker’s main rival is Martin Schulz, whose Social Democrats finished second in the elections.
EU leaders traditionally choose the commission’s head on their own, but under current rules they have to take into account the results of the European Parliament elections.
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Posted: 04 Jun 2014 11:56 AM PDT

Frustrated with their representation in government, residents in two of California’s northern counties are heading to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether they should consider seceding from the state.
According to Reuters, campaigns in both Del Norte and Tehama counties are underway to convince residents that permanently separating from California is in their best interests. By supporting the measures at the ballot box, supporters would be pushing local officials to continue efforts to combine parts of northern California with parts of southern Oregon into the nation’s 51st state.
The new state would be called Jefferson, as a tribute to Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who once believed that parts of the Western United States could form a freestanding republic.
If the measures are approved, local lawmakers would join other counties and continue to try and generate momentum for secession. Already, four counties, Glenn, Modoc, Siskiyou, and Yuba have voted to join the effort, while others are waiting for the results in Del Norte and Tehama before taking action.
As noted by the Associated Press, as many as 16 counties in northern California could potentially join the movement, though official secession would require approval by the state legislature as well as the US Congress. If they all decide to seek separation, the counties would make up about a quarter of California’s territory.
Despite their size, however, the disgruntled counties only contain a small percentage of California’s inhabitants – Del Norte, for example, is home to just 28,000 of the state’s 38 million-strong population. Fed up with the way California allocates representatives, lawmakers are delegated based on population, secession supporter and organizer Aaron Funk sees the ballot as a way forward.
“We have 11 counties up here that share one state senator,” he told the AP, noting that the greater Los Angeles area and San Francisco Bay have far more. “Essentially, we have no representation whatsoever.”
The measure faces opposition, however, from groups who worry about how Jefferson would be able to support itself financially, especially since many of its residents are poor and unemployed. California already supplies most of the funding for infrastructure and education, and most of the large swathes of land are owned by the federal government – something that would remain the same even if Jefferson were to become a state.
“We will continue to face the same challenges,” Del Norte County officials wrote in a formal argument against the idea, as quoted by Reuters. “Except we will no longer be subsidized by the State.”
Meanwhile, Ethan Rarick of the University of California, Berkeley, noted that problems with representation wouldn’t stop with the establishment of Jefferson, either.
“There is no incentive,” he said to Reuters. “If you’re one of 100 senators, you don’t want to become one of 102.”
Although supporters of secession haven’t presented detailed plans regarding Jefferson’s ability to sustain itself, provide health care, education, and other social services, Funk and others state they would eliminate regulations and other state agencies in an attempt to attract businesses.
“We have the water, forests, timber, we have the minerals. We have unspoiled agricultural land,” added Funk to the AP. “We would be the wealthy state if we were allowed to go back and use our natural resources ourselves.”
Still, the explanations don’t add up for opposing groups in Del Norte, who fear that approving a measure that calls for secession would simply result in lawmakers using their time debating the creation of Jefferson instead of fixing real problems.
“It’s a lot of broad promises about things being better and representation being better,” Kevin Hendrick, who is leading the opposition in Del Norte, said to the AP. “But the more they talk, the less clear it becomes about how that’s actually going to happen.”
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