Finally exam was over. I wish I can jump and shout my lungs out that finally the horror is over. But, there is nothing much for me to shout about since I do not think I did as well as I should do. All my hard work for a month didn’t seemed to pay off when last minute in the exam hall; it was the most tense and stressful exam period that I’ve been through in my entire university life. I guess I was over-stressed. When I flipped open the exam paper, I was actually kind of relieved because I’ve went through some of the questions before. Well, I seemed to get the back bone right, but none of the little puzzles that make up the big picture pop out of my brains.

Well that freaks me out! Not being able to remember something that I’ve went through dozens of times. I spent the whole two and a half hour wrestling in my head, figuring out the little pieces. Even though it is one subject you will say, but somehow or rather… *sigh* I don’t know what happened. Exam has never been my best choice of assessment.

I just hope the lecturers are generous with the marks and let me get through this stage.

Please. I beg you.

I'll pray each and every day and I work on vegetarian diet for 2 weeks. *I cross my heart and hope to die* Just let me go.

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists plan to use stem cells to cure a common form of blindness, with the first patients receiving test treatment in five years.

The pioneering project, launched on Tuesday, aims to repair damaged retinas with cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. Its backers say it involves simple surgery that could one day become as routine as cataract operations.

They believe the technique is capable of restoring vision in the vast majority of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among the elderly that afflicts around 14 million people in Europe.

Some drugs, like Genentech Inc.'s Lucentis, can help the one in 10 patients with so-called "wet" AMD and U.S. biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology is looking at stem cells in other eye conditions. But there is no treatment for the 90 percent with "dry" AMD.

AMD is caused by faulty retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, which form a supporting carpet under the light-sensitive rods and cones in the retina.

The new procedure will generate replacement RPE cells from stem cells in the lab, with surgeons then injecting a small patch of new cells, measuring 4 by 6 millimeters, back into the eye.

U.S. DONOR

The London Project to Cure AMD brings together scientists from University College London (UCL), Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and the University of Sheffield.

It has been made possible by a 4 million pounds ($8 million) donation from an anonymous U.S. donor, who the project's leaders said had become frustrated by U.S. curbs on stem cell work.

Embryonic stem cells are the ultimate master cells of the body, giving rise to all of the tissues and organs. Their use is controversial because many people oppose embryo destruction, although Britain has encouraged such research.

Surgeons at Moorfields have already restored the vision of a few patients using cells harvested from their own eyes, which were moved to a new site. But this process is complicated and only a small number of cells can be moved, limiting its use.

By injecting RPE cells derived from stem cells instead, Dr Lyndon Da Cruz of Moorfields hopes the operation can be reduced to a simple 45-minute procedure under local anesthetic.

"If it hasn't become routine in about 10 years it would mean we haven't succeeded," he told reporters. "It has to be something that's available to large numbers of people."

Similar tests on rats have already proved highly effective.

Pete Coffey of UCL, the director of the project, said he was confident the procedure would work in humans but the team needed to ensure the safety and quality of batches of cells, which would take time.

"The goal is within five years to have a cohort of 10 or 12 patients to put the cells into," he said.

The project, which is non-commercial, was welcomed by patient support groups. Alistair Fielder of the eye research charity Fight for Sight said it represented a real chance to tackle a hitherto untreatable condition.

Happy Birthday Chek Fong! (22nd May 2007)
Happy Birthday Hong Vee! (23nd May 2007)
Happy Birthday Szuchen! (24nd May 2007)

Clockwise, Yong, Shing Wei, Peggy and the birthday girl, Szuchen!From left to right: Chek Fong, Tim Nam, Hong Vee (head jutting out in the middle of nowhere), Flo and me. From left to right: Khai Ming, Sally, Eileen and me.From left to right: Ah Chi, Sally, Chai Har and me. I did not get everyone's pic. Mervyn and Karin left earlier.Gossip, gossip gossip! Basically, that is what we do best... especially when it comes to... topics of lab incidents? *erhem* that is the best explanation I can give.Group photo infront of Kim Gary, we are actually obstructing the entrance but some one's missing. Oh ya, Chek Fong!As if we care if we were obstructing, pictures first, it only takes...3 minutes? Finally everyone's in (those that did not left early).Okay, these two people are the couple of the day. Hong Vee and Yee Mei. They look so cute together! Finally Hong Vee has the guts to actually tell Yee Mei he is interested. I think that's all for now. Yee Mei is SO going to kill me for this. Okay fine, maybe Hong Vee will have my head for this too.

I feel as if I am now without an aim in life. You are now in a huge green meadow covered with waist high greens which run almost forever, there are so many paths that you can take; any direction will lead you to a different ending. Even when the path is chosen, it is like walking on a thin trapeze, not knowing when you will fall. Insecurity. You can only walk straight and take the risks and obstacles not knowing where it will lead. I always feel as if I need an aim and plan in life to be a success. Without a plan, it would definitely be a failure. There is a saying which goes ‘what doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger’. I know I am strong and I can take up any challenges that come my way. I know I can. Even if my plans for the future may fail, I will manage to find my way back and start again. No matter where I am and in what situation I am in. Home or abroad.

The challenges may come up sooner than you think...

Sometimes, walking in the rain helps to refresh a confused mind. Feeling the raindrops wash out all your worries and predicaments. At least you feel better for a while. Just make sure you don’t fall sick or get struck by the lightning.

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Yesterday I had a heart to heart talk with a relative of mine about everything, what has been happening recently back to how I feel and my opinions about life. It feels as if a part of the burden’s been lifted off my shoulders but nevertheless, I still need to find my own way though life.

The technological advancement of our time is a fast pace changing trend. There is a new discovery almost everyday. Somehow or rather this had seeped into our daily life, where technology has became a neccesity. For example; mobile phones; it is now a neccesity, a mean of communication. However, there are many side effects which are associated with such advancement. For example; in this article; ipod. The world famous mp3 player produced and make known by Mac. It is like a lust flaming in most to own an ipod. However, according to the study done, it can also cause several side effects. So ipod users or electronical gadget lovers, please take note of this. Technological advancement, an advantage or a boon to mankind? Well, you decide.

iPods Make the Heart Skip a Beat

May 10, 2007 08:40:43 PM PST
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News) -- Listening to tunes on an iPod may be great for putting a skip in your step, but it can also play havoc with a heart pacemaker, a new study found.

The portable music players caused pacemakers to malfunction in 50 percent of patients, according to the study by a Michigan high school senior that was expected to be presented Thursday at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting, in Denver.

The biggest concern is that pacemakers store the history of a heart's rhythms, said Jay Thaker, the Okemos High School student, who worked with several doctors on the research. "If a physician was to go back and look at that (history), the physician might think that the patient was having abnormal heart rhythms," he added.

One danger is that heart patients might be treated for conditions that aren't really present, Thaker said. "In addition, if an iPod stopped a pacemaker from working in a patient who was totally dependent on their pacemaker, it could cause the heart to stop," he said.

Many electric devices -- such as cell phones, appliances, microwave ovens and high tension wires -- can produce the same effect. That's why doctors tell their patients not to put any electric device over their pacemaker.

For the study, Thaker and his research team -- which included doctors from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan -- held an iPod two inches from the chests of 83 patients for five to 10 seconds. The result: So-called "telemetry interference" occurred in 29 percent of the patients, and "over sensing" (a pacemaker misreading the heart's function) occurred in 20 percent of patients. In one patient, the pacemaker stopped working. In some cases, interference was detected even when the iPods were held as far as 18 inches from the chest, the study found.

Thaker acknowledged that pacemaker patients aren't the typical iPod user. But because the music players are so common, people with pacemakers need to be aware of the risk, he said.

"People commonly strap their iPod to the arm right next to their pacemaker or put it in a shirt pocket. There are quite a few situations where they come in proximity to the pacemaker -- closer than we would like them to," said Thaker, whose father is an electrophysiologist and whose mother is a doctor, and who hopes to attend medical school.

Dr. Edwin Kevin Heist, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, agrees that iPods can be a danger to patients with pacemakers.

"It's clear that iPods can affect pacing function," said Heist. "There is a possibility for a severe reaction, such as loss of consciousness."

Heist said he tells his patients that they can use any household device, including cell phones and iPods, but not to put them over their pacemaker. "Patients with a pacemaker could safely use an iPod, just don't put it over the device," he said.

iPods could also pose a problem for patients with implanted pacemaker defibrillators, Heist said. "The possibility would be there for inappropriate shock," he said. "The shocks are quite painful and traumatic for patients."

This 2003 composite image released by NASA from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory shows the planet Mercury in transit. A molten core may make Mercury spin in its orbit like a raw egg, according to a study.(AFP/NASA/File). Photo obatined from yhe Yahoo photo Archives.

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Thu May 3, 1:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Researchers have cracked a mystery at the core of Mercury — and say there's molten fluid inside the tiny planet. They did it by using the same trick as cooks who want to know if an egg is raw or hard-boiled.

The finding helps explain the unexpected discovery several years ago that Mercury has a small magnetic field.

The discovery of the magnetic field by the Mariner 10 spacecraft puzzled scientists, who believed that because of its small size the planet's core had long ago solidified.

But the most common explanation for a magnetic field is a molten interior, such as on Earth. The Moon and Mars, for example, show evidence only of ancient magnetic fields.

The Messenger spacecraft is on its way to Mercury and is expected to arrive next year, but in the meantime researchers led by Jean-Luc Margot, an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University, launched their own attempt to learn about the planet's core.

Cooks wondering if an egg is raw or has been cooked have used a simple trick for many years — spin the egg. A hard-boiled egg with a solid interior will spin smoothly, a raw one with a liquid center will wobble.

Of course, Mercury may be small, but they obviously couldn't spin it themselves.

Instead, they closely studied its movements using telescopes in California, Puerto Rico and West Virginia.

They sent powerful radar signals at the planet, then received the echo, which appeared as a unique pattern of speckles reflecting the roughness of the planet's surface, at widely separated locations.

By measuring how long it took for a particular speckle pattern to reproduce at different locations they were able to calculate Mercury's spin rate with an accuracy of one part in 100,000.

The observations, conducted over five years, allowed the scientists to calculate twists in Mercury's spin, called librations, caused by the effect of the sun's gravity. The magnitude of the librations was twice what would be expected for a completely solid body, they concluded. But it matched what would be expected for an object whose outer core is molten and not forced to rotate along with its shell.

Sean C. Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was not part of the research team, said in a commentary that the measurements "constitute a triumph" of theoretical ideas developed in the past.

Margot's research was supported by NASA..

Read more about this issue at Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Nevertheless I stumble upon three interesting discovery that day.

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La Boheme in One Utama sells dorayaki doughnuts for RM1 each! There are red bean, peanut, kaya and strawberry flavour. I love dorayaki doughnuts, it’s about time I find a bakery shop that sells them (I've never seen so many dorayaki doughnuts in one place at the same time before, except for in Doremon). By the way, there are dorayaki doughnuts in Pyramid too!
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Last 2 years I visited a store in One Utama to get my pet newts. Somehow or rather in the middle of last year my friends told me that the store closed down and I can’t find it during my previous visits (not to mention that I don’t remember the name of the store). Guess what? Today I found out that the store was not closed down but relocated and renovated. It’s the Jusco Home Center. Yup, the pet store is not situated in the lower ground. The name of the store is Jusco Home Center’s Pet House. There are many beautiful and exotic animals sold. Most of them are reptiles mind you. One of the main highlight is the Elephant Trunk Snake, which is a water snake that lives in the water and it is not for sale, only display. It was considerably huge as the body of the snake is only slightly smaller than my hand wrist. It is beautiful! Unfortunately I did not get any picture of this fascinating creature. But I did got photos of the other animals opt for sale. It’s really an interesting sight to see so many fascinating creatures all at once.

There are two Green Iguanas basking. The colour of the skin is so vibrant and enchanting shade of green. I would definately love to have one in the future!

This is another Iguana up and ready for a photo shoot. Nice pose you got there. I wonder what is it focusing on. It only changes its position like every 10 minutes?This is an interesting sight. A snake shading it's skin! Can you see the beautiful black and yellow colour under the old skin? Not to mention it's scales are so shiny and smooth!The photo is not clear (they're in a plastic aquarium in the glass cage, due to defraction of the light) but no, these are not eels. Nope. Nothing of those sort. It's water snakes. Beautiful and graceful creatures they are. But they like to clump together all the time.Another common tree snake, resting on the tree branch. Look at the vivid colour of the scale. I was mesmerized by the beauty of it's colour.Next, we have skinks. These are a bunch of lizard like fellas who loves to burrow in the sand. Beautiful markings they have. Hedgehogs! There are two of them curled up in a ball. I did not managed to take very nice photos of them. Only the ball of prickly spines. I wonder, do they every prick one of themselves? Cute little fellas though.Rabbits! Hmmp. Actually it's singular. Rabbit. Cute but lonely fella, with no company. The cute little fur ball has beautiful markings with adorable flappy ears.Squirrels. This is a hyperactive squirrel jumping all over the cage. There is one more in the flower pot. Bushy little creatures.Finally, I do not know what type of bird is this (if you know, please let me know). It was not labelled. Looks a bit like piegeons though.

TVXQ on the cover of .. chocolate sticks? Anyway, it doesn't matter.

All of them, from left, Micky, Xiah, Yunho, Jaejoong and Changmin! *claps claps*

This is the first time I find merchandise such as this being sold around.