I’ve Learned…
That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

I’ve Learned…
That when you’re in love, it shows.

I’ve Learned…
That just one person saying to me, “You’ve made my day!” makes my day.

I’ve Learned…
That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.

I’ve Learned…
That being kind is more important than being right.

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Sam Lister, Health Editor
A drop of blood or speck of tissue no bigger than a full stop could soon be all that is required to diagnose cancers and assess their response to treatment, research suggests.
New technology that allows cancer proteins to be analysed in tiny samples could spell the end of surgical biopsies, which involve removing lumps of tissue, often under general anaesthetic.
Researchers at Stanford University, California, have developed a machine that separates cancer-associated proteins by means of their electric charge, which varies according to modifications on the protein’s surface.
Antibodies, immune system agents that bind to specific molecules, are then used to identify the relative amounts and positions of different proteins. The technique was able to detect varying levels of activity of common cancer genes in human lymphoma samples and even distinguish between different lymphoma types.
The researchers said that the same system could be used to monitor cancer treatment more quickly and easily. Although the study focused on blood cancers, scientists also hope to apply the technique to solid tumours and are currently testing the technique on head and neck tumours.
Dean Felsher, from the university, said: “Not only can we detect picogram levels — one trillionth of a gram — of protein, but we can also see very subtle changes in the ways the protein is modified.”

The researchers, who reported their findings online in the journal Nature Medicine, were able to confirm the anti-cancer effect of a cholesterolreducing statin drug on one lymphoma patient. “This is the first time we have been able to see that this compound affects the biology of cancer cells in patients,” Dr Felsher said.
Alice Fan, a clinical instructor in the division of oncology at Stanford’s medical school, said it could be a real advance in rapid tracking of tumour cells during treatment. “The standard way we measure if a treatment is working is to wait several weeks to see if the tumour mass shrinks. It would really be a leap forward if we could detect what is happening at a cellular level.”
The scientists found that the technique worked on lymphoma samples drawn from laboratory mice as well as on cultured tumour cells.
The researchers were able to detect varying levels of two common oncogenes — a gene that, when mutated or found at high levels, helps to turn a cell cancerous — in 44 of 49 human lymphoma samples. But they said more research was needed before the technology became widely available.

The bomb was tested on October 30, 1961 in Novaya Zemlya, an island in the Arctic Sea. The 57MT-bomb exploded and a mushroom cloud with a height of 64km rose to the sky.

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Cisco, Dell, IBM and Sun have all rolled out their plans to cater to the next generation of data centers. Now it’s Hewlett-Packard’s turn.

HP on Monday will reportedly launch a new server system designed for corporate data centers. The Wall Street Journal reports:

According to HP documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal and people briefed on the matter, HP plans to announce Monday a blade server, dubbed Matrix, which will be able to automate many data-center processes. The system will come with HP software for monitoring and controlling an array of chores, such as managing email and information storage.

Cisco’s entry into the server market and plans for the data center—dubbed the Unified Computing System—has headlined a bevy of announcements from IT giants. Dell has its simplify the data center strategy. Sun has its cloud plan and new servers as does IBM, which offers cloud computing services.

While all the vendors claim to be different there are a few common themes that emerge in the data center wars:

• The data center is going virtual;
• The enterprise data center is increasingly referred to as a private cloud;
• The rallying cry is to make the data center more modular for easy box—server, storage and networking—swaps;
• And vendors need to consolidate and save space, labor and energy costs.

We’ll update with more information on HP’s grand plan as we get it.