You just got a whole lot sexier.  Worryingly, I mean that.

And I used to write such things.  Nerds of the world, unite.

"It has been established that oncogenic mutations often target signaling pathways that regulate proliferation and self-renewal.  This fact raises an interesting question:  are stem cells, highly proliferative progenitor cells, or both the target cells of neoplastic transformation?  Theoretically, stem cells could be transformed by acquiring mutations that deregulate proliferation, while highly proliferative progenitors could be transformed by mutations conveying the ability to self-renew. 

Several lines of evidence suggest that stem cells may play several key roles in the evolution of a cancer.  First, multiple mutations are necessary for a cell to become cancerous(Knudson, Strong and Anderson 1973) (Fearon and Vogelstein 1990).  Since both progenitor cells and mature cells have a very limited lifespan, it is unlikely that all of the mutations could occur during the life of these relatively short-lived cells(Reya, Morrison, Clarke and Weissman 2001) (Akashi and Weissman 2001) (Weissman 2000) (Uchida and Weissman 1992).  This evidence suggests that, in many cases, mutations accumulate in a stem cell.  Second, the regulation of stem cell expansion and self-renewal is under strict genetic regulation by multiple genes.  Unregulated expansion of the stem cell pool would therefore be analogous cancer(Morrison, Qian, Jerebek, Thiel, Park, Ford, Kiel, Schork, Weissman and Clarke 2002) (Phillips, Reinhart and Van Zant 1992) (Muller-Sieburg, Cho, Sieburg, Kupriyanov and Riblet 2000).  Third, most cancers arise in tissues that contain stem cells, which have the intrinsic ability to self-renew.  Cancer cells must overcome the tight genetic regulation restricting both self-renewal and proliferation.  Since cancer cells must possess the ability to self-renew, it follows that stem cells (which could be transformed by altering only proliferative pathways) may more easily undergo malignant transformation than progenitor cells that lack this fundamental property and must therefore activate both proliferative and self-renewal pathways to become malignant.  In the hematopoietic system, the only cells with self-renewal capability are HSCs and mature lymphocytes.  The common blood cancers, acute leukemias and lymphomas, may arise from the HSCs or lymphocytes, respectively.  This may take place through the constitutive activation of mitogenic pathways associated with the proliferation of normal cells(Reya, Morrison, Clarke and Weissman 2001) (Hanahan and Weinberg 2000) (Park, Qian, Kiel, Becker, Weissman, Morrison and Clarke 2002) (Wechsler-Reya and Scott 2001).  Finally, while many cancers contain cells displaying aberrant expression of differentiation markers from their tissue of origin, germ cell cancers are the only cancers to produce differentiated cells from multiple tissues (Figure 4).  For this reason, marker expression is routinely used to determine the tissue of origin in metastatic disease.  If a differentiated cell were to be the origin of a cancer, it would be necessary for the cell to dedifferentiate exclusively along its parent lineage to produce expression of markers from multiple cell types within the tissue.  However, if a somatic stem cell or early multipotent progenitor were transformed, the cell would already be genetically programmed to give rise to cells expressing markers of multiple lineages, but from only one tissue type, as is usually observed clinically.  Since most identified oncogenic mutations are involved in the regulation of proliferation and self-renewal and not lineage commitment, the latter hypothesis seems more likely. "

If you are reading this, you are a nerd because you actually made it through a whole page of that.

Okay, Spaniel and bhearn are both increasingly attractive right now.  Good read, thanks Spaniel.  I'm attempting to play with MSCs at the moment, but only wrt to musculoskeletal repair (or lack thereof).  Who needs pictures when you can imagine geeky runners as you read.

Clive, that stung-in-the-mouth-by-a-mystery-bug story is officially nightmare material. I scream like a little girl if a friggin' ant crawls up my leg.

A sample o my work from years ago:

In contrast to the subset of sensors discussed, supra, a second subset of the system's sensors obtain parameter measurements irrespective of subject cooperation. More specifically, those sensors are operative to measure physiological or cognitive parameters as the subject engages in everyday activities generally unrelated to health monitoring. The sensors comprise many types, including thermocouples, infrared and motion sensors, conductive elements, force sensors and other transducing sensors. A person skilled in the art will also recognize other sensors that can be used.

As an example, a load sensor can be embedded in a chair in the subject's personal living space, enabling body weight 240 to be measured whenever the subject sits in the chair. In this manner, the subject need not use a conventional scale, consciously report the weight reading, or even be aware that the load sensor resides in the chair. The unrelated act of sitting in the chair, e.g., to rest, read or watch television, is sufficient to enable the system to obtain a body weight measurement.

Weight 230 is detected via force sensors positioned to measure z-axis force applications to the subject's sleeping surface. These sensors thus enable determination of the mass of an object or person resting on the surface. Sleeplessness 250 can be simultaneously measured using additional sensors to detect lateral motion of the surface owing to movement of the subject. Occurring during the night, this movement is indicative of subject restlessness and can be utilized to perceive and quantify sleep difficulties or disorders.

Examples of other sensor types and their deployment include a plurality of sensors embedded in a toilet seat in a subject's living space. During a routine toileting event, these sensors can measure temperature, pulse, hydration and weight.

Temperature 220 and body hydration 280 can be measured by thermocouples in the seat. A set of conductive elements, embedded in the toilet seat, measure body impedance during a routine toileting event. From this impedance data, both pulse and body hydration can be calculated. These calculations are well-known in the art.

Bowel movement and urination 290 are monitored by sensors in the toilet seat and bowl. Thermocouples in the seat and bowl measure the subject temperature 220 and the temperature of the bowl contents, respectively. As well, force sensors provide weight 230 readings at the beginning and end of the toileting event. Changes, occurring during the toileting event, in subject weight and in the temperature of the bowl contents can be used to calculate the fecal mass and/or urine volume of the event. The data also displays the subject's regularity in terms of frequency and volume. When accumulated over time, this information is useful to detect changes in the subject's habits or abilities. These changes can be due to physical problems or to declining mental faculties.

I don't think y'all want to see my academic writing, unless you have a pathological interest in theoretical computer science. But I did foray into neuroscience for a few years, maybe a little closer to home for this discussion.

You just got a whole lot sexier.  Worryingly, I mean that.

I'm not worried. If it starts to be a problem, I can just re-post some Bay to Breakers pics.

I have happily refrained from academic writing for quite a few years now. Mine wasn't ever on anything remotely so useful as sciencey stuff though. Probably the deepest I ever shovelled it was a counterfactual intellectual history imagining Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche discussing global environmental treaties.

Okay.  This isn't fair.  I'm now having fantasies about bhearn, Spaniel and Clive.

I liked the Bay to Breakers pic, so reposting won't be necessary. 

I don't have any intelligent writing to post.  I'm not even intelligent.  I am however still thinking about a move over the ocean.  The Turtle can talk clever shit, despite now being in finance he once did stuff with mach 6 vehicles and is just generally geeky (but doesn't wear gold spandex or talk biology)...but even his stuff was more interesting than cell signalling and cartilage.