A simpler twist of fate

A simpler twist of fate.

Until the day it dies, a cell that has become a skin cell remains a skin cell — or so scientists used to think. Over the past decade, it has become clear that cellular identity is not written in stone but can be rewritten by activating specific genetic programs. Today, the field of regenerative medicine faces a question: should this rewriting take the conventional route, in which mature cells a...

A twist of proepicardial fate.

Methadone-induced torsades de pointes: a twist of fate.

A case of methadone-induced torsades de pointes is presented to demonstrate clinical features that predispose patients to this serious cardiac arrhythmia. A patient who was receiving methadone maintenance treatment for heroin addiction presented to the hospital with dizziness and near-syncope. He was taking a relatively high dose of methadone but was not taking any concomitant cytochrome P450 i...

Direct conversion in the heart: a simple twist of fate.

In a recent issue of Nature, Qian et al (2012) show that by injecting adult mouse hearts with a few transcription factors on a retroviral vector, they can switch cardiac fibroblasts—the workhorse supporting cells of the heart—into cardiomyocytes, the beating muscle cells driving the contractile forces that pump blood. When injected into the hearts of mice with induced myocardial infarctions, th...

Simulation of a New Process Design to Fabricate a Rectangular Twist Waveguide Using Extrusion and a Twist Die

The aim of the present study is to determine the feasibility of making a rectangular twist waveguide used to rotate electromagnetic waves. For this purpose, the process of fabricating an aluminum rectangular twist waveguide was simulated by making use of finite element method and Deform software. The optimum length and angle of the twist die for manufacturing a twist waveguide with inner cross ...