This is rather interesting.....

Until the next time, cheers.

This loo turns poo into power

By Gail Chai

• NTU's Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C) 'No-Mix Vacuum Toilet' (Photo courtesy of NTU)

Don’t let a lot of water or your poo just go down the drain.

That’s the idea behind a new toilet system developed by a team of scientists and research assistants from Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Essentially, the team’s ‘No-Mix Vacuum Toilet’ will turn poo into power and saves 90 per cent of water flushed down in a typical toilet.

“Waste is not waste, but a misplaced resource,” said associate professor Wang Jin-Yuan, who led the team. “With this new toilet system, 90 percent of water can be saved, so can you imagine how much water we waste every other day?”

The toilet system has two chambers that separate the liquid and solid wastes and uses a vacuum suction technology, similar to those used in aircraft lavatories.

Liquid waste is diverted to a processing facility where components used for fertilisers such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium can be recovered.

Solid waste is sent to a bioreactor where it will be digested to release bio-gas which contains methane that can replace natural gas used in stoves or converted to electricity.

The team behind the project will be starting a six-month trial in NTU starting next month and will use prototypes that will be installed in two toilets. The trial will test the two chambers that separate the solid and liquid wastes as well as gets feedback from users.

The real deal will be tested out two years from now and discussions have been made to test that system out on a new town in Singapore.

Assistant professor Chang Wei-Chung told Yahoo! Singapore, “If there’s no new build, we will use a retrofit system and modify it to make the new toilet system work but there will be extra piping to be done and it is not one 100 per cent compatible with the new system.” He says that building the new toilet system in a new town would be the best way to go.

The new toilet system is part of a project that has received $10 million from Singapore’s National Research Foundation’s Competitive Research programme.

The scientists have been working on the ‘No-Mix Vacuum Toilet’ since 2010 and have been collaborating with the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Housing Development Board (HDB) since the beginning of the project.

Balding men offered hope of waking their 'sleeping' hair

I have to wake up most of my sleeping hair...hahaha.

Until the next time, cheers.

Balding men offered hope of waking their 'sleeping' hair

 

Today Online, Jun 26, 2012

 

LONDON - Scientists have discovered that hair follicles in people who are balding are trapped in a "sleeping" state and are now developing a new treatment to combat baldness.

It sounds more like an explanation that would be used by nursery children than respected scientists, but researchers have found that rather than losing their hair altogether, people who are going bald are suffering from "sleeping" hair follicles, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Trichologists have discovered that hair follicles on the scalp can become trapped in a resting state where they do not grow new hair, leading to thinning.

They now claim to have identified a way of waking the follicles up again to help restore a fuller head of hair to people who are going bald.

Unfortunately they may not be able to delay the balding process forever, as eventually the hair follicles lose the ability to make new hair, but for those who are starting to get a bit thin on top, it may help stave of the need for embarrassing wigs, comb overs or hair transplants.

Dr Bruno Bernard, head of hair biology at L'Oreal in Paris who carried out the research, has now announced that the company are developing a new treatment that can be applied to the scalp in a shampoo or cream to help encourage hair to grow again.

He said: "Hair follicles exist in two stable states - either an active state or a dormant state. From time to time, they will jump from one state to another.

"Some of the follicles are just resting in the dormant state and are waiting for the right signal to make new hair. They are in a latency period. If you can reduce this latency period, you will have more hair.

"We have identified a compound and we are going to make a formulation of it that can be applied to the scalp to wake the follicle up from its sleeping state to the active state."

Up to half of all men suffer from androgenic alopecia, the most common cause of hair loss and thinning in humans. It is estimated that around eight million women in the United Kingdom also suffer excessive hair loss to some degree.

Typically hair strands grow continually for a period of up to four years before the follicles switch to a dormant state and the strand of hair falls out. During this dormant period, stem cells in the skin begin the processes needed to grow new hair.

In people who are going bald, however, this process can stall and new hair does not form.

Scientists working with Dr Bernard at L'Oreal believe they have identified why this happens. They have found two reservoirs of stem cells help are responsible for creating new hair, one that is near the surface of the skin and one that is deeper in the layers of the skin.

The bottom reservoir of stem cells, called CD34+ cells, are in an environment that is low in oxygen, known as hypoxia, which helps to keep the stem cells in a healthy condition.

Dr Bernard, who presented the findings at the European Hair Research society in Barcelona, said that in people who are going bald, the levels of oxygen around these stem cells have changed, meaning they work less efficiently and so preventing the creating of new hair.

"The stem cells can sense the amount of oxygen around them," he said. "We have identified molecules that mimic the effect of hypoxia on the stem cells. It means we can push the empty hair follicles to make new hair fibres faster." AGENCIES

Very interesting but hard to have proof.....

Until the next time, cheers.

Who is Ho Yeow Sun? (City Harvest Church)

By Elizabeth Soh

• Getty Images - Ho Yeow Sun in 2009's Victoria Secrets Show

(UPDATED 26 June to clarify CHC's move to Suntec, donations)

Who is the woman behind beleaguered City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee, now at the centre of the most shocking probe into a religious organization in Singapore?

Ho Yeow Sun, who now styles herself Sun Ho, is no stranger to controversy or the spotlight.

She is expected to come even under more scrutiny after her husband and four other key ministry members were reportedly arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly using church funds to funnel S$23 million into promoting her music and albums.

Since first bursting onto the scene in 2003 as Kong Hee’s Mando-pop singing wife, Ho has been praised and slammed in equal parts by a public shocked by her skimpy dressing and blatant use of her husband’s church as a platform to promote her music albums.

The Anglican High and Victoria Junior College alumnus had previously stayed under the radar as part of CHC’s creative team until she resigned in 2003 to pursue her dreams of pop-stardom. Soon she started performing in flamboyant and expensive costumes on stage, sparking an uproar in the city-state.

When news leaked in 2005 that she had once been a victim of sexual abuse, the public wasted no time in slamming the information as part of her strategy to promote her new album “Embrace” at that time.

Coverage of her album’s successes was limited and muted, compared to the likes of other home-grown talent like Stefanie Sun.

She tried to defend herself and told Channel NewsAsia around then that she hoped that Singaporeans could “give me a chance”.

CHC had also began to prosper on donations from members who were encouraged to set aside a tenth of of their income to CHC every month.

Last year, CHC moved to its new home in Suntec though the church did shelve more ambitious plans to build a 12,000 seater auditorium at the site after the Urban Redevelopment Authority released guidelines restricting the use of commercial buildings for religious purposes.

Initial plans for the Church to pay S$310 million to become a co-owner of Suntec sparked widespread debate when it was announced in March last year.

Ho’s husband, Kong, started to refer to himself as a “businessman” and together with his wife, set up Skin Couture, a luxury fashion apparel business in 2005.

When the five successive albums she released between 2002-2007 hit double or triple platinum status, rumours of her “staged” popularity started to fly.

One church member reportedly accused Kong of using CHC funds to fuel Ho’s music career, but the allegation was later retracted.

In the wake of the accusations, Ho abruptly announced that she would be “looking overseas” to further her career, moving to Los Angeles, Hollywood with her young son, Dayan Kong.

The allegations were investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department in 2010, leading to the reported arrests Tuesday of her husband and four other key ministry members for alleged criminal breach of trust and falsifying church accounts.

But what was Ho up to in those three years she upped and moved to LA?

According to media reports, she was living the lavish lifestyle of a bona fide Hollywood celebrity.

It was reported by The New Paper in 2010 that Ho was renting a S$7.7 million estate in Hollywood Hills with her son, an assistant, a nanny, and her relatives.

The 29,000 sq ft Mediterranean style building boasted four structures, including accommodation for a butler, nanny, and maid. It also had a swimming pool and space for 11 cars, the tabloid said.

Famous neighbours in the area were the likes of Nicky Hilton, Amercia Ferrera, and singer Leona Lewis.

When Ho wasn’t relaxing in her multi-million dollar home, she hobnobbed with music A-listers like Wyclef Jean, who produced her 2007 album, “China Wine” and whom, according to Ho, she is so close to that her son calls him “Uncle Clef”.

According to her website, in 2008, Ho donated 500 tents to victims of the Sichuan earthquake and released a single, “Eternal Blossom”, which was broadcast over radio stations there.

A single “Kill Bill”, which she released the same year with rapper Lady Saw, saw Ho calling herself a “Geisha” and gyrating around household appliances wearing only revealing kimono-styled lingerie and singing about killing her fictional husband.

Ho also became the first Asian pop singer to be invited to the MTV Europe Awards when she attended it in 2007, and subsequently also turned up for the Grammys in 2010.

Things were not looking so good for Kong back in Singapore, who was in the news again, this time because he and other members of CHC were part of a CAD probe into allegations of the misuse of funds and cooking the church’s account books.

Ho herself was placed under scrutiny when she was asked to return to assist in investigations in 2010 and reportedly grilled for eight hours by the police.

Now, even more questions on Kong and Ho will likely be raised.

Borrow an iPad, for reading at leisure

This is what differentiate between developed and developing country. Hope we learn from our neighbor.

Until the next time, cheers.

Today Online, June 22, 2012

Borrow an iPad, for reading at leisure

Loan service launched to allow libraries to provide eDevices to those unable to afford one

by Amanda Lee

SINGAPORE - Apart from borrowing books and DVDs, the public can now get their hands on iPads, TumbleBooks Playaways and Kindles as part of the National Library Board's (NLB) efforts to help bridge the digital divide among Singaporeans.

One hundred TumbleBooks Playaways, 100 iPads and five Kindles will be available for loan from today at Bedok Public Library.

Each iPad has 55 pre-loaded titles, while each TumbleBooks Playaway - hand-held devices pre-loaded with animated picture books from the TumbleBooks Library collection - has five to six pre-loaded titles. Each Kindle has 48 pre-loaded titles.

In addition, the iPads can be used to access the NLB's 2.2 million eBooks, magazines and newspapers.

Launching the eDevice loan service yesterday, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development Lee Yi Shyan said: "Now with this eDevices loan service, visitors to the library, especially students from less well-off homes, will have access to more knowledge through the devices.

"It will benefit those who don't own such devices or can't afford one."

Users who wish to borrow the devices must be a Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident, and those below 18 years old must have parental consent. Borrowers of the iPads are required to attend an hour-long introductory workshop to learn how to use it and how to access the NLB's eResources.

NLB CEO Elaine Ng said the NLB hopes to extend the service to other libraries. The NLB is also enhancing the wireless broadband service Wireless@SG at all libraries.

Even the Inland Revenue is thinking outside the box to increase revenue. Maybe our IRD should also do something?

Until the next time, cheers.

The third sex take on the tax dodgers

Guardian News, June 24, 2012 

 

Cross-over ... a hijra dances at a conference for equality. Photo: AP

Legal recognition for Pakistan's transgender community has changed their role in society, writes Jon Boone in Karachi.

In a bright pink salwar kameeez and matching headscarf, Nargis marches around one of Pakistan's richest neighbourhoods on a mission to embarrass residents into paying their taxes.
Armed with a bundle of paperwork, the 32-year-old raps on the gate of a mansion whilst a pick-up truck full of guards and tax officials remains at a distance.

The householder who answers grins nervously at Nargis, who is a ''hijra'' - a member of Pakistan's increasingly assertive transgender community. With a sheepish look to see whether anyone is watching from the street, the owner meekly accepts a bill for outstanding property tax and municipal fees.

Given his effusive promises to pay, there is no need for what Qazi Aftab, the head of tax collection for the Clifton Cantonment Board in Karachi, calls ''the nuclear option'' - clapping, shouting and making a scene. ''Because of the neighbours they get very embarrassed,'' he said. ''Usually just one minute of shouting is enough and then they pay up.''

It's more mortifying on an ordinary day, when groups of four hijras exercise their powers of persuasion on the doorsteps of Karachi, where there is a tradition of rich and well-connected residents ignoring tax demands.
The authorities are extremely pleased with their efforts to combat the tax dodgers. Aftab says recovery rates are up 15 per cent from when conventional tax collectors clashed violently with householders. That never happens with the hijras, he said.
For centuries, hijras in South Asian society have been both respected and exploited. Their blessings on a newborn child are regarded as propitious, while the curses of hijra beggars are to be avoided. But their work as entertainers, dancers and beggars often transmutes into prostitution.
Several hours after Nargis has finished her rounds, a gang of hijras in a nearby market work evening crowds of men going to restaurants, a licensed beer store and a gun shop. They hold out their hands, as if begging. If they sense a potential customer, they'll quietly try to negotiate a price for sex.
''Begging and sex work is not an honourable job,'' says Nirma, a thickset 30-year-old wearing heavy eye make-up and a green sari. But she claims to earn up to $31 a customer and is not impressed by the tax collectors' $139 a month salary. But times are tough, Nirma concedes.
Although some claim to be born into the third sex, most hijras are cross-dressers or pay up to $600 to be surgically castrated. Also available from surgeons prepared to risk performing the unlawful operations are breast implants costing up to $970.
Full sex-change procedures can be illegally obtained but, according to one hijra, are too risky in Pakistan.
Hijras usually live in groups with their ''gurus'', men who are part protectors, part business managers - many would say pimps. Harassment, rape and violence is a problem. A 2009 incident in which a group of wedding dancers were raped by police prompted the supreme court to try and improve their lot, giving hijras the right to vote and recognition as a separate gender on ID cards.
A court order that the government should find jobs for hijras that exploited their ''special skills'' led Karachi to set up the tax collecting scheme.
Not everyone in the transgendered community is impressed by the debt collecting initiative, which is soon to be emulated in Punjab province. ''It's just so demeaning,'' says Natasha. ''It's no different from begging.''
The 22-year-old wears tight jeans and a sleeveless shirt rather than more traditional women's clothes. She sees herself as the face of a modern form of the hijra tradition. She has given up having sex for money.
Because of the supreme court initiative, she now works as an assistant supervisor at a branch of the national ID card agency. ''It means I live like a normal human being,'' she said.
But Natasha is disappointed by the unwillingness of hijras to give up lucrative prostitution. Many, she says, are not interested in their new rights, including the ID card carrying the word transgender. ''We are calling like hell to them to come and get their cards,'' she said. ''I feel like a fool for fighting for them.''

Guardian News & Media

Underage prostitute case – shrewd, calculated defence move by Subhas Anandan

Read this and then you will know the difference between a lawyer and a good lawyer. You will also know why they are paid so high.

So the morale of the story is when in deep shit, please make sure you get a really good lawyer.

Until the next time, cheers.

From TRMeritus.com, 22 June 2012

Underage prostitute case – shrewd, calculated defence move by Subhas Anandan

The law is the law is the law. If you have paid sex with an underage girl, you break the law. It does not matter if you were tricked into believing she was not underage. Too bad, you should have been more careful.

So when some of the men charged in the underage prostitution case decided to claim trial, I thought these men were crazy. Until Subhas Anandan reportedly said that the underage girl may have to take the stand.

Excerpt from Yahoo News:

The underage callgirl at the centre of the online vice ring scandal is likely to have to testify in court should trials be held, says defence counsel Subhas Anandan.

Speaking to reporters after a round of closed pre-trial conferences on Monday, Subhas said he once again objected to the prosecution’s application for a gag order on the girl’s name in amended charges served on his clients.

“She (will have to testify) if they are going to trial,” he said.

“I objected to it [the gag order] on the basis that the provisions of the law do not protect people like her because she’s not a victim of rape or molest, and provisions do not apply,” he said.

The prosecution was required to serve amended charges on the accused men, adding the girl’s identity, as it was not disclosed initially.

The presiding judge decided, however, that under the interest of justice, the gag order must remain enforced, said Subhas.

Note the argument above. Subhas Anandan tried to get the Court to remove the gag order because the young lady in question is not a victim of a sex crime. In other words, there is no need to hide her identity.

But that is the very foundation of the Prosecution’s position. The Prosecution fears that if her name is made public, their star witness may crumble and the charges against all the men may have to be dropped.

Currently, the Judge has decided in the favour of the Prosecution on the gag. But there lies the issue of impartiality. Why must there be any favour shown by the Courts towards the Prosecution?

But even with the gag order, it has not stopped speculation about her identity. Getting her to testify in court may well be unnerving for the young girl, with all the public attention.

For whatever reason, if Subhas Anandan gets his way and have the gag order dropped, the Prosecution’s star witness may well crumble under pressure and the defence may not even have to make their stand.

Subhas is going for the Prosecution’s weakest spot. That is their star witness’ resilience (or is it lack of resilience?) to face the Court and possibly the media and public.

A very shrewd and calculated move from one of Singapore’s top defence lawyer. He ain’t at the top fer nuthin’ yer know.

Inside the US, Israel cyberattack on Iran

This is really like the spy novels that we have been reading....

Until the next time, cheers. 

Inside the US, Israel cyberattack on Iran

Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post, June 20, 2012

 

Sabotage ... the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, examines gas centrifuge cascades at the Natanz nuclear facility. Photo: Official Office of Iran's Presid

WASHINGTON: The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected critical intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage attacks aimed at slowing Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.

The massive piece of malware was designed to secretly map Iran's computer networks and monitor the computers of Iranian officials, sending back a steady stream of intelligence used to enable an ongoing cyberwarfare campaign, according to the officials.

The effort, involving the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel's military, has included the use of destructive software such as the so-called Stuxnet virus to cause malfunctions in Iran's nuclear enrichment equipment.

Under attack ... an anti-aircraft gun at the Natanz nuclear facility. Photo: AP

The emerging details about Flame provide new clues about what is believed to be the first sustained campaign of cyber-sabotage against an adversary of the United States.

"This is about preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action," said one former high-ranking US intelligence official, who added that Flame and Stuxnet were elements of a broader assault that continues today. "Cyber collection against the Iranian program is way further down the road than this."

Flame came to light last month after Iran detected a series of cyberattacks on its oil industry. The disruption was directed by Israel in a unilateral operation that apparently caught its US partners off guard, according to several US and Western officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

There had been speculation that the United States had a role in developing Flame, but the collaboration on the virus between Washington and Israel has not been previously confirmed. Commercial security researchers last week reported that Flame contained some of the same code as Stuxnet. Experts described the overlap as DNA-like evidence that the two sets of malware were parallel projects run by the same entity.

Spokespersons for the CIA, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment.

The virus is among the most sophisticated and subversive pieces of malware exposed to date. Experts said the program was designed to replicate across even highly secure networks, then control everyday computer functions to send a flow of secrets back to its creators. The code could activate computer microphones and cameras, log keyboard strokes, take computer screen shots, extract geolocation data from images and send and receive commands and data through Bluetooth wireless technology.

Flame was designed to do all this while masquerading as a routine Microsoft software update, evading detection for several years by using a sophisticated program to crack an encryption algorithm.

"This is not something that most security researchers have the skills or resources to do," said Tom Parker, chief technology officer for Fusion X, a security firm specialising in simulating state-sponsored cyberattacks, who does not know who was behind the virus. "You'd expect that of only the most advanced cryptomathematicians, such as those working at NSA."

Flame was developed at least five years ago as part of a classified effort code-named Olympic Games, according to officials familiar with US cyber operations and experts who have scrutinised its code. The US-Israeli collaboration was intended to slow Iran's nuclear program, reduce the pressure for a conventional military attack and extend the timetable for diplomacy and sanctions.

The cyberattacks augmented conventional sabotage efforts by both countries, which included inserting flawed centrifuge parts and other components in Iran's nuclear supply chain.

The best-known cyberweapon set loose on Iran was Stuxnet, a name coined by researchers in the antivirus industry who discovered the virus two years ago. It infected a specific type of industrial controller at Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, causing almost 1000 centrifuges to spin out of control. The damage occurred gradually, over months, and Iranian officials initially thought it was the result of incompetence.

The scale of the espionage and sabotage effort "is proportionate to the problem that's trying to be resolved," the former intelligence official said, referring to the Iranian nuclear program. Although Stuxnet and Flame infections can be countered, "it doesn't mean that other tools aren't in play or performing effectively," he said.

To develop these tools, the United States relies on two of its elite spy agencies. The NSA, known mainly for its electronic eavesdropping and code-breaking capabilities, has extensive expertise in developing malicious code that can be aimed at US adversaries, including Iran. The CIA lacks the NSA's level of sophistication in building malware, but is deeply involved in the cyber campaign.

The agency's Information Operations Centre is second only to the CIA's Counterterrorism Centre in size. The IOC, as it is known, performs an array of espionage functions, including extracting data from laptops seized in counterterrorism raids. But the centre specialises in computer penetrations that require closer contact with the target, such as using spies or unwitting contractors to spread a contagion on a thumb drive.

Both agencies analyse the intelligence obtained through malware such as Flame, and have continued to develop new weapons even as recent attacks have been exposed.

Flame's discovery shows the important role of mapping networks and collecting intelligence on targets as the prelude to an attack, especially in closed computer networks. Officials say gaining and keeping access to a network is 99 per cent of the challenge.

"It is far more difficult to penetrate a network, learn about it, reside on it forever and extract information from it without being detected than it is to go in and stomp around inside the network causing damage," said Michael Hayden, a former NSA director and CIA director who left office in 2009. He declined to discuss any operations he was involved with during his time in government.

The effort to delay Iran's nuclear program using cyber-techniques began in the mid-2000s, when President George W. Bush was in his second term. At that point it consisted mainly of intelligence gathering to identify potential targets and develop tools to disrupt them. In 2008, the program went operational and shifted from military to CIA control, former officials said.

Despite their collaboration on developing the malicious code, the United States and Israel have not always co-ordinated attacks. Israel's April assaults on Iran's Oil Ministry and oil export facilities caused only minor disruptions. The episode led Iran to investigate and ultimately discover Flame.

"The virus penetrated some fields - one of them was the oil sector," Gholam Reza Jalali, an Iranian military cyber official, told Iranian state radio in May. "Fortunately, we detected and controlled this single incident."

Some US intelligence officials were dismayed that Israel's unilateral incursion led to the discovery of the virus, prompting countermeasures.

The disruptions led Iran to ask a Russian security firm and a Hungarian cyber lab for help, according to US and international officials familiar with the incident.

Last week, researchers with the Kaspersky Labs, the Russian security firm, reported their conclusion that Flame - a name they came up with - was created by the same group or groups that built Stuxnet. Kaspersky declined to comment on whether it was approached by Iran.

"We are now 100 per cent sure that the Stuxnet and Flame groups worked together," said Roel Schouwenberg, a Boston-based senior researcher with Kaspersky Labs.

Kaspersky also determined that the Flame malware predates Stuxnet. "It looks like the Flame platform was used as a kickstarter of sorts to get the Stuxnet project going," Schouwenberg said.

Washington Post

What will they think of next....are you daring enough to try this?

Until the next time, cheers.

GM calves pave way for milk revolution

Richard Gray

Telegraph, London June 18, 2012
 

 
Researchers have created a calf whose milk could be drunk by those who are lactose intolerant. Photo: Quentin Jones

SCIENTISTS have genetically modified calves so that the milk they produce as cows will be healthier for humans.

In separate breakthroughs, researchers have created a calf that, when it becomes a cow, will produce milk that can be drunk by people who are lactose intolerant. Milk from a second animal, when adult, will contain high levels of the kind of healthy fat found in fish.

The GM calves are part of a growing effort by scientists to make healthier food and drink products from livestock by genetically altering the animals.

The work is likely to inflame the debate about the ethics of GM foods. Critics of the technology have reacted angrily to the research and questioned the safety of milk from GM animals.

Geneticists have introduced a gene into cow embryos that causes lactose, the principal sugar in dairy products, to break down into other types of sugar that are more easily digestible by humans.

Three calves were born after 14 GM embryos were implanted into surrogate cows. The one surviving calf, Lucks, is expected to start producing low-lactose milk after she gives birth at about two years of age.

Dr Zhou Huanmin, the director of the state laboratory for biomanufacturing at the Inner Mongolia University where the calf was created, said the team hoped to have lactose-free milk in the shops in about five years.

''Most people suffer the lactose intolerance in varying degree,'' he said. ''We are attempting to breed a dairy cow that will produce low-lactose milk for supplying the market. We hope to commercialise it in the future.''

In Britain about 5 per cent of people are lactose intolerant, but in some parts of Africa and Asia up to 90 per cent of the population do not have the ability to digest milk properly.

In a separate study, published in Transgenic Research, another group of scientists at the Inner Mongolia University has created a GM calf they hope will produce milk with high levels of omega 3 fatty acids.

The research has concerned animal rights groups and critics of GM technology. Dr Helen Wallace, the director of Genewatch, which monitors genetic technology, said: ''As with all GM technology, there is a potential for unintended consequences as it is interfering with the natural biological production pathways.''

I suppose I am also a contributor......the average Asian weighs 57.7 kg....oh my God....

Until the next time, cheers.

Obesity creates global hunger pang

Ella Pickover, Press Association

Press Association June 19, 2012

 
Food security threat... being overweight could exacerbate a lack of ecological sustainability due to increasing population sizes. 

LONDON: Overweight people are a threat to future food security and increasing population fatness could have the same implications for world food demands as an extra billion people, researchers have found.

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine examined the average weight of adults across the globe and said tackling population weight was crucial for food security and ecological sustainability.

The United Nations predicts that by 2050 there could be a further 2.3 billion people on the planet and that the ecological implications of the rising population numbers will be exacerbated by increases in average body mass.

The world's adult population weighs 287 million tonnes, 15 million tonnes of which is due to being overweight and 3.5 million tonnes to obesity, according to the study, which is to be published in BMC Public Health.

The data, collected from the UN and the World Health Organisation, shows that while the average global weight per person is 62 kilograms in 2005, Britons weighed 75 kilograms. In the US, the average adult weighed 81 kilograms. Across Europe, the average was 70.8 kilograms compared with just 57.7 kilograms in Asia.

More than half of people living in Europe are overweight compared with only 24.2 per cent of Asian people. Almost three-quarters of people living in North America are overweight.

Researchers predict that if all people had the same average body mass index as Americans, the total human biomass would increase by 58 million tonnes.

The authors of the study say the energy requirement of humans depends not only on numbers but average mass.

''Increasing biomass will have important implications for global resource requirements, including food demand and the overall ecological footprint of our species,'' they wrote.

''Although the concept of biomass is rarely applied to the human species, the ecological implications of increasing body mass are significant and ought to be taken into account when evaluating future trends and planning for future resource challenges. Tackling population fatness may be critical to world food security and ecological sustainability.''

Professor Ian Roberts, who led the research at LSHTM, said: ''Everyone accepts that population growth threatens global environmental sustainability - our study shows that population fatness is also a major threat.''

I am also guilty of this. I saw some business associates do this in Europe and have started to stand and work whenever possible. Coupled with sitting in the car, the hours can be even longer.

Until the next time, cheers.

Standing up for office health

Jane Southward

Sydney Morning Herald, June 21, 2012

 

Macquarie Bank introduced activity-based working at its headquarters. Photo: Lee Besford

BANKER Martin Whelan is a man without a desk.

Instead of starting each day at a workstation armed with a computer, swivel chair and some fond family photos, the 44-year-old executive places his bag and overcoat in a locker, turns on his laptop and heads off to a ''workspace''.

Some days he stands at a high desk and clears his emails, on others he lounges on a comfy couch near the in-house cafe, and sometimes he heads for a communal table.

Mr Whelan, general manager of consumer marketing at Commonwealth Bank, said moving around throughout the workday improved his efficiency and provided ''a lot more flexibility''.

But it may also help him to live longer, based on the findings of a recent study from the University of Sydney that found people who sat for eight to 11 hours a day increased their risk of dying by 15 per cent.

A Dutch company, Veldhoen & Co, is building a worldwide business around a concept known as activity-based working. The company's Sydney-based managing partner, Luc Kamperman, said between 80 and 100 companies in Europe and Australia had changed their workspaces to stop staff being chained to a desk with a personal computer.

Macquarie Bank was the first (in 2008) while Commonwealth Bank introduced activity-based working at its headquarters in Sydney's Darling Harbour almost a year ago.

Staff such as Mr Whelan are encouraged to work in different sections of the office, depending on their tasks, and about 10 per cent of desks in each office ''home zone'' are standing work stations in which the desks are set at chest height.

''Some people like going and sitting at a desk that is their own space. I'm lucky I'm not one of those … you need to be more organised and have a more flexible attitude,'' he said.

Jennifer Saiz, Commonwealth Bank's head of property, said the more active work environment had already delivered tangible benefits.

''We surveyed our staff and found, on average, people were sitting down just 50 per cent of the time they were at work,'' she says. ''We thought, 'How can we get people to work better with each other and to do their work more effectively, in a healthier way?'.

''In surveys over the past year since we started it, staff report they are more productive and more engaged thanks to the activity-based working.''

Interest from Australian companies means Veldhoen's Mr Kamperman has settled in Australia to meet the demand. He is now working with Bankwest in Perth and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canberra and Perth.

''The biggest hurdle is the shift in mindset,'' he said. ''I get thrilled in my job when … you feel like people finally get it, that they have seen the light. They start to acknowledge that they have to change themselves and how they think about work.''

Academic Catriona Bonfiglioli doesn't have the luxury of working in a modern bank building, but is keenly aware of our overreliance on chairs.

A senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Technology Sydney, Dr Bonfiglioli has set up her computer on the top of a filing cabinet and does her best to stand up for close to half the hours she spends at work.

''I wanted to break the nexus between the computer and chair,'' she said. ''People can be sitting 15 hours a day when you add up time at work, time commuting, eating and watching TV or reading.

''I have reduced my sedentary time … I do my emails, admin and editing standing up but for creative work I tend to sit down. People need to rethink their whole relationship with their computer and stop assuming if they are using a computer they have to sit down.''

Her interest was spurred by studies showing that inactivity was damaging to health and even a cause of premature death.

An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare study published in 2007 found physical inactivity was the fifth leading health risk for men after tobacco, high blood pressure, high body mass and high blood cholesterol. And for women, physical inactivity was an even bigger burden than high cholesterol and tobacco.

Adults spend, on average, 90 per cent of their leisure time sitting down, according to University of Sydney researcher Hidde van der Ploeg, and fewer than half meet World Health Organisation recommendations for 150 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity each week.

As for the health benefits of activity-based working, Mr Whelan is in no doubt. ''I'm a surfer and I had compressed vertebrae,'' he said. ''My chiropractor and physiotherapist said the impact of sitting in the same place in the same way all day every day was a bad thing. So the set-up has been good for me.

''It will be interesting to see the long-term effects. At the moment it feels like a healthier building and the variety of environments, from a mental and physical perspective, are brilliant.''

Paul McClure, managing director of Back Centre and Specialty Seating, said demand for standing workstations had increased dramatically in the past three years. Desks that can be adjusted for standing and sitting sell from $950.

''Government departments and big business are really onto this issue now,'' he said.

Cases of families defaulting on nursing home payments on the rise

This is really the sign of the times. I suppose nobidy want it this way.


Until the next time, cheers.

Cases of families defaulting on nursing home payments on the rise

By Vimita Mohandas/Lip Kwok Wai/Wee Leng

 

SINGAPORE: Some eldercare facilities in Singapore are seeing more cases of families defaulting on their payment and also facing the challenge of trying to contact family members.

About half of the 110 patients at Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home have defaulted on their payments, which range from about one to two months.

To help these financially strapped families, the home works out instalment plans and even offers subsidies, but more often than not its hands are tied as families are just not able to fork out the expenses. Some remain uncontactable, simply abandoning their loved ones.

The home said it has tried to seek help from the Small Claims Tribunal and the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents, but it is not as easy as it seems.

Manager of the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home Then Kim Yuan said: "We as a caregiver of the patient can help apply for this tribunal (The Maintenance of Parents Act), but we have to be authorised by the patient or by the parents.

"Unfortunately, most of the time we don't get the permission because to them, it's a shame to be abandoned in the nursing home. If they were to force their children to pay for the expenses, they will feel even more embarrassed".

Mr Then added that the process at the Small Claims Tribunal is also long and tedious and family members usually do not turn up for these sessions. The home also feels that the small fee that they have to fork out for the mediation process is not money well spent.

This problem has also spread across the causeway to the Comfort Ville Home nursing care centre in Taman Johor Jaya.

Representatives from the home said they have tried to contact Singaporean Joseph Tay, whose mother was admitted in March.

The home alleges that Mr Tay owes them 6,000 ringgit.

Staff-in-charge at Comfort Ville Home Goh Ker Xin said: "When we admit a patient, we will collect a one-month deposit from the patients' families. However, Mr Tay said he couldn't afford it and we still decided to help him. But he hasn't come back to visit his mother and has disappeared."

Mr Tay, who is unemployed, said he could not afford the bills and that his siblings would settle the expenses.

Responding to queries from Channel NewsAsia, the Ministry of Health said it does not condone the abandonment of patients in residential healthcare institutions, such as nursing homes or hospitals.

"We are saddened to see such occurrences," a ministry spokesperson said. "In such situations, institutions will engage the family on an amicable resolution, such as financial assistance through subsidies, Medifund, charity dollars or payment by installations.

"The Maintenance of Parents Act can be exercised by elderly patients to pursue his/her child for maintenance, should such an unfortunate situation occur."

- CNA/wm

I really like this. Think of all the convenience when you forgot to bring your wallet or short of cash. Hope they will introduce this soon here.

Until the next time, cheers.

ATMs of the future: get cash without a card

Glenda Kwek

Sydney Morning Herald, June 15, 2012

 

Cardless ATMs ... launched in Britain. Photo: RBS screengrab

Australian banks are investigating the possibility of operating cardless ATMs after British banks unveiled a mobile app that allows their customers to withdraw money without a card.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest* unveiled a mobile phone app called "GetCash" that allows users to request up to £100 ($155) by entering a six-digit code generated through the smartphone into the ATM, the BBC reported.

The banks said the app meant people could leave their wallets at home, or withdraw cash if their cards were lost or forgotten.

"You could send that code as a text to anyone, and they could go to any RBS group cash machine, input it and get themselves out of trouble," a spokesman told The Guardian.

RBS and NatWest's head of mobile, Ben Green, said the system was "simple and secure". A password would be needed to access the app, the withdrawal code would only be revealed when the user taps the screen and the people withdrawing the cash would not be able to take out more or less than the amount specified, the banks said.

The codes would be valid for three hours and would not reveal information about the sender's bank account, they added.

A Westpac spokesman said the bank was closely following the innovations and looking at similar initiatives, such as using an SMS to access ATMs.

A NAB spokeswoman said mobile internet banking made up one-third of the bank's online log-ins - and its fastest growing banking platform.

"Contactless transacting is the next logical step and NAB is actively working towards a future where our customers will be able to use their mobile phone as a wallet," the spokeswoman said.

A Commonwealth Bank spokeswoman added that, while it had no plans to launch a similar emergency cash app, it offers a "Kaching" app that allows customers to make mobile payments.

Contactless ATMs have already started to appear in Europe. The ATMs allow people to wave their cards across the machine's reader instead of inserting them, saving queueing times.

Contactless payments, where customers pay for a product by waving their card in front of a scanner, already exist in Australia through retailers such as Coles and Woolworths.

Last month, MasterCard announced its digital wallet service PayPass, which allows customers to make payments through tapping their mobile phones on a store's scanner and paying for items via a "PayPass button" on your smartphone.

*NatWest is a member of the RBS Group.

It is really sad to read about this type of story over and over again.

Until the next time, cheers.

Chinese woman forced to abort her seven-month foetus

Malcolm Moore

Telegraph, London; Bloomberg June 16, 2012 

 

BEIJING: A Chinese mother was held down while a lethal injection was given to her seven-month-old foetus, after she failed to fill in an application form to have a second child.

A photograph showing 23-year-old Feng Jianmei lying on a hospital bed, with the corpse of her unborn daughter on a plastic sheet beside her, has spread virally through the internet and forced the Chinese government to admit an illegal infanticide.

The photograph, taken by her cousin A San was posted on the internet on Monday, a week after local communist party cadres in Ankang, Shaanxi province, forcibly aborted Mrs Feng's child.

Mrs Feng and her 29-year-old husband, Deng Jiayuan, already have a child, a six-year-old girl. But, as farmers, they were entitled by Chinese law to have a second baby with the permission of their local family planning bureau.

When Mrs Feng was three months pregnant, officials said they visited her and asked her to fill in an application form and to change her hukou, a Chinese registration permit, to say she lived in the countryside.

It is not clear why Mrs Feng failed to fill in the forms and transfer her residence. She has complained on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, that she was not warned of the consequences until it was too late. But as her pregnancy progressed, local officials offered her family a deal: pay 40,000 yuan to smooth the bureaucracy over.

When the couple said they did not have the money, Mrs Feng was taken from her home on May 30 by more than 20 officials and ransomed, her husband said. The officials held her for three days, apparently sending threatening text messages to members of her family, before giving the foetus a lethal injection on June 2.

''It should not be a cent less than that [40,000 yuan],'' read one text message, allegedly sent by Yuan Fang, a family planning official, to Mr Deng's sister, Deng Yan. A photograph of the message on what appears to be a smartphone has been posted by the family to HSW.cn, a local Shaanxi internet portal by the family.

''I told your father this already and he said he did not have the money, so we did not have a choice. It is you guys that have been careless,'' the message continued. Mr Deng said he had tried to raise the money until the last minute, but had failed.

''At the hospital they held her down,'' said Mr Deng to All Girls Allowed, a Christian organisation in the United States that campaigns against the one-child policy. ''They covered her head with a pillowcase. She could not do anything because they were restraining her.'' He said his wife had tried to kill herself after the abortion.

Mrs Feng told All Girls Allowed she could ''feel the baby jumping around inside me all the time, but then she went still''.

Mr Deng declined to comment further on the case, but said the government's attitude was now ''supportive''. Officials were at the family's home yesterday. The deputy head of Ankang town, Yu Yanmei, visited the family on Wednesday.

Mrs Yuan, at the local family planning bureau, claimed the 40,000 yuan had been a ''deposit'' which was to be returned to the family once Mrs Deng had transferred her household registration. Angry Chinese internet users compared the case to the atrocities inflicted by Japanese soldiers on Chinese victims during the war. By Thursday, more than a million comments had been left on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, about the abortion.

Authorities have now admitted that the abortion was illegal. Late Thursday, three officials, including the head of Zhenping county's family planning bureau and the head of the Zengjiazhen township government, were suspended. Ankang city government has apologised to the woman after a preliminary investigation found officials violated national and provincial regulations, according to Xinhua news agency.

Are people getting more resourceful or weird? Anyhow, one will get a different perspective of food in the bin.

Until the next time, cheers.

Dumpster diver

Sydney Morning Herald, June 17, 2012

University student Lucien Alperstein barely pays a cent for groceries, but he eats like a king.

For just over a year, I have sourced the majority of the food I eat from bins, and it's far more glamorous than you might imagine.

I'm a dumpster diver, and I'm eating better than I ever have. I was still eating a banana with my cereal every morning when they were fetching $14 a kilo. And having another with afternoon tea. I can pull off a killer cheese platter for guests and can always serve a lavish dessert.

I don't go dumpster diving out of a lack of income or some anti-consumption ideology; I do it out of choice. I eat several income brackets fancier than what I could otherwise afford. I always have a constant supply of seasonal fruit and vegetables and usually an abundance of relishes and dips, chocolate mousse, fresh pasta, handmade tomato sauce and organic yoghurt.

Treasure hunt … you never know what you'll find. Photo: Lucien Alperstein

As I write this, there are 19 types of cheese, from gruyère to bocconcini to epicure cheddar, in my fridge – all in blocks of 200 to 300 grams, all individually vacuum sealed. The irony is that the longer I don't pay for groceries, the more of a food snob I become.

I was introduced to dumpster diving in Berlin while travelling on half a shoestring. A bakery chain had its strudels, dense rye loaves and olive breads consigned nightly to a bin the size of a cargo-ship freight container, and my group of new friends from around the world and I would jump in and fill our bags.

I know of six bins near major food provedores in Sydney's inner west and eastern suburbs that never fail to provide. The inner west is consistent, with good, fresh produce always in supply. But the bins of the eastern suburbs have the added touch of class you'd expect of the area: it's where we find the cheese, hummus, smoked fish, purple carrots, dragon fruit, organic tofu, lumpfish caviar, Ben & Jerry's ice-cream and Sonoma sourdoughs.

Cheese platter … dumpster diving allows you to eat foods several levels higher than your income. Photo: Lucien Alperstein

Nathan Donovan, a friend from Melbourne, hits the bins after midnight between North Melbourne and Coburg. "There's nothing I really look for," he says. "I find all kinds of things; it just really depends on the night." When I visited Melbourne during a January heatwave, we serendipitously rescued four electric fans with damaged packaging, along with 30 bags of chips and a case of Coca-Cola (some of the cans were dented).

Donovan says that many of the bins owned by larger supermarkets in Melbourne are kept under lock and key. It's the same in Sydney. While Coles and Woolworths have food-rescue programs, there is at least one bin owned by one of the supermarket giants that is filled with fresh fruit and vegetables every day and could (indeed, it probably does, considering how many people I've seen there) feed 30 people every day.

My neighbour and I go dumpster diving at least every Sunday, providing for each of our households. The enthusiasm of my girlfriend and her housemates waxes and wanes with their workload. At first we'd wait until midnight but we've recently become cockier, and go as soon as a shop closes.

Prep school … whipping up a delicious meal with scrounged ingredients. Photo: Lucien Alperstein

Bin politics need to be learnt. Some store employees will scream at us and shoo us away, while others will tell us what to look out for. One worker once gave me some minced meat that was getting thrown out the next day and that he was going to take home himself. "Is that enough?" he asked politely. He also recommended some quality yoghurt hidden in the depths of the bin.

Some of the bins are small enough to reach in and sort through, but the bigger, and often most fruitful, bins need to be jumped into to sort through (awkward when you're told to leave). We've had mixed responses from passers-by. Some have laughed or heckled us, others have filmed us, and a few have joined in. One nice man offered money for dinner.

Many people can't get over the stigma of eating something that comes from a bin. But of the bins I frequent, all but one are emptied daily. They smell like the fresh fruit and veg section of a supermarket. Generally, there is no grime, no dirty smells – just packaged food on or just about to reach its expiry date.

Tucking in … this meal was sourced from a bin (as was the cheese knife). Photo: Lucien Alperstein

Long before I started dumpster diving, I was ignoring best-before and use-by dates. Back in the day, people would check their food first with their eyes, then their nose, then their mouth. I know about 25 people who regularly dive dumpsters, and only one has ever had an adverse reaction to food from the bins. (A friend took some chorizo because its label read $60 a kilo. The next day he complained about a stomach bug, but after that was fine. He still dives every week.)

Australian households throw out $5.2 billion worth of food annually, according to a 2009 study by The Australia Institute – and that figure doesn't take into consideration how much is thrown out by shops. My mother has passed on stories of her mother's food rationing in the Depression that have stuck with me. The more I see thrown out, the more I think about the wastefulness in Australian food consumption, and how some of that may be fuelled by a constant excess of what's available at shops.
I cautiously refuse to eat most meat I find, especially poultry, so when there are five quails and 12 whole chickens all sitting in their own vacuum-sealed packages, I can't help but despair. Not just for the animals raised to (not) be eaten, but also for the food, water, time and energy required to raise them.

In 2010, Woolworths sent nearly 6000 tonnes of organic waste to EarthPower, which converts the waste into natural gas and fertiliser. While that's a vast improvement on landfill, I still question why two Olympic-size swimming pools of once-edible food manage to end up as compost.

It looks like more and more breakthrough in the fields of bioscience. Hope there will be proper control before we make a real frankenstein.

Until the next time, cheers.

Girl gets vein grown from her own stem cells for transplant

Alok Jha

Guardian News & Media June 15, 2012

 

LONDON: Scientists have successfully transplanted a vein made from a 10-year-old girl's own stem cells into her body. It is the first time such an operation has been reported and marks an important step in the practical ability of doctors to use stem cells to grow replacement cells for damaged or diseased tissue.

Writing in the medical journal The Lancet, a team led by Professor Suchitra Sumitran-Holdgersson, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, described how the girl had a blocked hepatic portal vein, which takes blood away from the gut and spleen to the liver.

The blockage can lead to complications including internal bleeding, developmental problems and even death. The usual treatment for the condition is to remove the blocked vein and replace it with sections of healthy vein from other parts of the body.

The team instead grew a vein for the young girl using her own bone marrow stem cells.

They started with a nine-centimetre section of vein taken from the groin of a donor and stripped it of its cells, leaving behind a tubular protein scaffold. This was seeded with the girl's stem cells and the resulting vein was transplanted into the girl.

The procedure restored blood flow out of her liver immediately.

''The patient increased in height from 137 to 143 centimetres and increased in weight from 30 to 35 kilograms in the one year since the first operation,'' the authors wrote. ''Although we undertook no neurocognitive tests, the parents reported that the patient had enhanced physical activity (increased long distance walks of two to three kilometres and light gymnastics) and improved articulated speech and concentration power in school activities.''

Nine months after the operation, the vein had constricted slightly in size and this was corrected in a follow-up procedure. Most significantly, scientists found no antibodies for the donor vein in the girl's blood. Her body was not rejecting the transplant because it was recognised as being made of her own cells.

''The young girl in this report was spared the trauma of having veins harvested from the deep neck or leg with the associated risk of lower limb disorders, and avoided the need for a liver or multivisceral transplantation,'' Professors Martin Birchall and George Hamilton of University College London wrote in an accompanying commentary article in The Lancet.

''Although the graft had to be extended by a second stem cell-based graft at one year, she has an improved exercise tolerance and evidence of improved cognition. Thus, in a long-term economic analysis, the substantial price for a one-off, personalised treatment can be justified. However, acute pressures on health systems mean that this argument might be impractical in larger numbers of patients.''

Professors Birchall and Hamilton said the procedure might get cheaper as medical companies start producing protein scaffolds from human and animal sources more efficiently.

They concluded that Professor Sumitran-Holdgersson's work was promising but it needed to be properly tested in full clinical trials if such regenerative medicine treatments were to become widely used and accepted.

This is truly amazing.....

Until the next time, cheers.

The Telegraph, Monday, 11 June 2012

Human bones grown from fat in laboratory

Scientists have grown human bone from stem cells in a laboratory.

Dr Shai Meretzki, chief executive of Bonus BioGroup, with the human bones grown from stem cells 

 

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

Scientists have grown human bone from stem cells in a laboratory. 

The development opens the way for patients to have broken bones repaired or even replaced with entire new ones grown outside the body from a patient's own cells. 

The researchers started with stem cells taken from fat tissue. It took around a month to grow them into sections of fully-formed living human bone up to a couple of inches long. 

The first trial in patients is on course to be conducted later this year, by an Israeli biotechnology company that has been working with academics on the technology. 

Professor Avinoam Kadouri, head of the scientific advisory board for Bonus BioGroup, said: "There is a need for artificial bones for injuries and in operations.

"We use three dimensional structures to fabricate the bone in the right shape and geometry. We can grow these bones outside the body and then transplant it to the patient at the right time.

"By scanning the damaged bone area, the implant should fit perfectly and merge with the surrounding tissue. There are no problems with rejection as the cells come from the patient's own body." 

The technology, which has been developed along with researchers at the Technion Institute of Research in Israel, uses three dimensional scans of the damaged bone to build a gel-like scaffold that matches the shape. 

Stem cells, known as mesenchymal stem cells, which have the capacity to develop into many other types of cell in the body, are obtained from the patient's fat using liposuction. 

These are then grown into living bone on the scaffold inside a "bioreactor" – an automated machine that provides the right conditions to encourage the cells to develop into bone. 

Already animals have successfully received bone transplants. The scientists were able to insert almost an inch of laboratory-grown human bone into the middle section of a rat's leg bone, where it successfully merged with the remaining animal bone.

The technique could ultimately allow doctors to replace bones that have been smashed in accidents, fill in defects where bone is missing such as cleft palate, or carry out reconstructive plastic surgery. 

Professor Kadouri said work was also under way to grow the soft cartilage at the ends of bones, which is needed if entire bones are to be produced in a laboratory. 

Bone grafts currently involve taking bits of bone from elsewhere in the patients body and transplanting them to the area which is damaged to encourage healing. 

More than 250,000 bone grafts are performed in the UK each year, including repairs to damaged jaws and the replacement of bone lost in operations to remove tumours. 

This technique requires the patient to undergo two traumatic operations. In other cases bone is obtained from donations, but can be rejected by the body. 

As the new technique uses cells from the patient's own body, it reduces the chance of the new bone being rejected. 

Dr Shai Meretzki, chief executive of Bonus BioGroup, added that they hoped to develop the technology in the future to provide replacements for damaged joints such as hips. 

He said: "It is the same type of technology, but the equipment would be different for bigger bones."

A number of research teams around the world are developing techniques for regrowing bone using stem cells, but most have used a different kind of stem cell and injected them into the patient rather than growing them into bones outside the body for transplant. 

Professor Alicia El Haj, head of the regenerative medicine group at Keele University, has been involved in clinical trial using cells taken from cartilage and has treated 450 patients with the technique. Her team has started conducting trials to repair gaps in patient's bones using cells from bone marrow. 

She said: "Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells are much less common when used medically, but are easier to obtain. 

"There are a lot of people coming up with cells that can be used to repair bone but there are not many progressing to produce tissues that can be grown outside of the body and used clinically. 

"If a company is starting to do this, then it is an important step."