You tell me (part 1)

Introduction

People of any religious background have many things that are in common and that assembly them together as they base their beliefs and values in some truths which are to be revealed through their actions and sometimes their teachings. Muslims have had fundamental beliefs that have been drawn from the Holy Koran. This paper makes it public why truth seeking and good-loving people or person should remain or become Muslim.

Muslim Virtues

There are so many virtues that Islam teaches through the Holy Koran which every true Muslim must observe and be a true Muslim of all seasons and societies. However, it must be remembered that every denomination or religious sect are liberals and conservatives and even though these two camps exist, there is a general belief of the values and on the same virtues. Nevertheless, there are some who are radicals who distort the truth about the Muslim society and their beliefs and virtues. The actions of every true Muslim are outlined taught clearly in the Holy Koran. Moreover, the best way to live and act are taught and based in the Holy Book, the Koran. Inasmuch one misrepresentations and or misconceptions, there are those who are bent to smear murk and mire the virtues of Islam. For example, people who talk about and support jihad which is true and have put many genuine Muslims out in the cold and lastly and ending to loose opportunities. Some people have had phobia when they know they are with Muslims around. Strongly it must be known that true and genuine Muslims either conservatives or liberals live by the principles of Allah and some of them should seek Allah and live by the virtues revealed in and through the Holy Koran, for example, the virtue truth and good-seeking. The virtues were given to Muhammad and written in the Holy Koran for every Muslim and those who will like to convert into Muslim everywhere and anywhere in the world.

The loving Muslim must seek the truth and obtain or learn good qualities that will please the Creator to abundantly bless such a Muslim regardless of age, skin color, social status and gender. A true Muslim can only live comfortably by providing for the needy in the society which is for the purpose of signs of submission to God and respect to his Creation for the reason that He is the one who has created everything and everybody. The moral of good seeking and loving Muslims is ignited by the need to do well and enter into paradise which is the ultimate prize of devout Muslims. There are hundreds of virtues that good Muslims exhibit, which include friendliness, discipline, empathy, honesty, obedience, sharing, openness, self-respect, tolerance, cleanliness, understanding, forgiveness, thankfulness, responsibility, courageous respectfulness, among many other virtues. Many problems are evaded through the observance of the teachings of the Holy book, the Koran. These and other virtues that are not in the list, encourage Muslims to remain steadfast in their belief of doing well to others, the society and the world at large. Not only these virtues that encourage and promote the sense of a good Muslim but other social values like the family where respect for husbands and parents is paramount as the Holy book, the (Koran 3: 104) says, “let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong”. The great teaching of the Koran boosts the morale of those to be Muslims and those who yearn to convert into Muslims.

Muslims strongly adhere to and observe their teachings unlike other sects and some punishment to those who break laws and commandments are severely punished and hence even in the countries where there is Islam dominance; there is no robbery and crime. A free society from crime encourages other people to respect Muslims, Islam and its doctrines which in turn bring more converts, young and old. Their (Muslims) teachings encourage and beseech people to respect their parents, strangers, orphans and all people in any given society. The virtue of temperance is properly advocated by the Muslims and hence it encourages those who are Muslims already and those who are seeking to become ones. Temperance outlines that eating must be controlled and good foods should be eaten in order to take care of the body which has been given and blessed by God.

What potential benefits can medical treatments using stem cells provide (part 6)

Stem Cells Research

The longer that researchers work with embryonic stem cells the more issues seem to crop up. The idea that ESCs can survive indefinitely in culture, thereby providing an inexhaustible source of cellular treatments, is only partially true. Recent studies have shown that while ESCs will reproduce quite happily again and again in suitable growth medium, over time they develop chromosomal abnormalities similar to those found in some cancers. Stem cell pioneer James Thomson agrees that embryonic stem cell lines have a limited “shelf life.” He notes that “over time, you accumulate mutations. It’s a fact of life. It’s just a question of differences in the rates. If you accumulate enough of those mutations, you could actually create cancer.” (Humber 2004) In fact, the dual threat of mutations and the introduction of mouse viruses in Thomson’s original stem cell lines is one of the reasons cited by researchers for lilting the Bush administration’s restrictions on funding for new lines of embryonic stem cells. (Humber 2004)

Moreover, while it is true that embryonic stem cells can be used to create “any kind of cell in the body,” that same developmental elasticity works against ESCs as well as in their favor. In fact, only a few researchers have been able to differentiate an embryonic stem cell culture into a pure cell culture of the exact kind of cell they were seeking. It is even more questionable whether the researchers who have been able to differentiate the ESCs into targeted cell populations have been able to consistently repeat the task. In the vast majority of “successful” attempts to change embryonic stern cells into specific cell types, the result was instead a petri dish that contained an unhealthy melange of unwanted cells along with the target strain. (Holland et al 2006)

But for now, only embryonic stem cells can he considered truly pluripotcnt, their inner essence still molten enough to shape. “They (ESCs) are a blank slate,” stated Dr. Theo Palmer, neuroscientist at the Stanford University School of -Medicine. “They do not know what their role is. An adult stem cell has enormous potential that’s already been realized.” (Humber 2004) Palmer asserted that embryonic stem cells should he easier to work with than the adult version for this very reason.

While scientists, admittedly, are still groping for ways to reliably “retrograde” the blank slate of the embryonic stem cell, the possibilities just seem too great to ignore. And embryonic stem cells, since they come from a point where the organism has yet to mature, simply provide much more insight into the complexities of stem cell function and development. Ironically, years of research spent on embryonic stem cells are very likely to teach scientists how to best reprogram an adult stem cell to make tissues as easily as an embryonic stem cell can.

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What potential benefits can medical treatments using stem cells provide (part 5)

At the most basic level, the promise that stem cells hold is also the source of the controversy over them. The idea that replacement parts for our bodies might one day be as easy to create as ordering prescription medication from the local drugstore is breathtaking. But if these same cells can only work their magic through the destruction of human embryos, then cure and curse will be one and the same to many people. To those who see a human being’s life as starting from the moment of fertilization, regenerative medicine via stem cells is nothing more than high-tech cannibalism. There is an alternative, imperfect though it may be. In recent years, scientists have discovered that similar kinds of cells can be found outside the holy sphere of the human embryo’s blastocyst. These “adult” stem cells can be found in the blood, the pockets of our bone marrow, the umbilical cord, under the dermis of the skin, and, just perhaps, buried deep in the brain.

What Are The Adult Stem Cells?

Adult stem cells (ASCs) are the technology of choice among those who morally object to the use of embryonic stem cells. At a May 2005 White House press conference, President Bush reaffirmed his opposition to funding embryonic stem cell research outside of the existing stem cell lines, but praised the use of “alternative sources” of stem cells. (Potten et al 2006) The ones mentioned in the above paragraph, such as stem cells from bone marrow and umbilical cord blood, are classic examples of ASCs. “With the right policies and the right techniques,” Bush asserted, “we can pursue scientific progress while still fulfilling our moral duties.” (Potten et al 2006) But is this indeed the case, or is it wishful thinking? As with many complex subjects, there is no clear-cut answer.

The degree to which adult stem cells can be put to use often depends on who is being interviewed. However, if one sticks as closely as possible to what has been reliably reproduced in multiple laboratories over time, some hard facts do become available. That is, at least as “hard” as the facts can be, before the technology advances yet further and changes reality yet again.

Clinical Research

A fair number of therapies involving adult stem cells are in human clinical trials at present, and the number continues to grow. It is likely that these therapies will make their appearance at the local hospital or health clinic long before embryonic stem cells can even begin to make it to human trials. At the third annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, held in 2005, the clear majority of the presentations dealt with therapies related to adult stem cells. (Holland et al 2006) Clearly, the interest—and, not coincidentally, the private sector venture capital—lies in ASCs for now.

Embryonic Stem Cell 

There is simply no tool as powerful as the embryonic stem cell (ESC). In possesses, in the words of one researcher, “the potential to address every single disease or condition that our species is heir to.” (Holland et al 2006) This is because embryonic stem cells, which are extracted from the fifth day of the embryo’s blastocyst formation, have such a high degree of developmental plasticity that they are capable of becoming any type of cell in the body. It is medical fact that ESCs are incredibly pluripotent. (Humber 2004) However, a second look must be taken when advocates of embryonic stem cells claim that the cells can be grown in infinite numbers.

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The Poetry of Everyday Song (part 3)

“Arcades” resembles the combination of song, music, costume drama, dance and verse generally performed before an aristocratic sponsor. Its length (109 lines in total) suggests that it was written and performed as the prelude to a more extensive series of events (Patterson 89). The prose preface calls it “Part of an entertainment presented to the Countess Dowager of Derby at Harefield…”. Alice, the Countess Dowager was the nominal head of the family who would be Milton’s principal patrons during the time when the poem was written (Patterson 90).

“Arcades” is an address of about sixty lines, done in heroic couplets, by the so-called “Genius of the Wood”, a version of whom would reappear in Comus as the “Attendant Spirit” (Patterson 92). This is topped and tailed by a short sequence of Songs performed by younger members of the Countess’s family. The address is little more than a celebration of the presence and grand status of the Countess:

To the great mistress of the yon princely shrine

Whom with low reverence I adore as mine (Milton 36-7)

The phrase “yon princely shrine” signifies the way in which “Arcades” continually crosses the border between actuality and a part-classical, part-Christian spirit world. With “yon” audiences are aware of the material presence of Harefield House, while “shrine” praises the house’s mistress, the noble Dowager, to a higher, mythical status – her young relatives, the singers, are referred to as nymphs (Patterson 90). He introduces the “celestial sirens” (63) and blends this image with his by now familiar notion of

… the heavenly tune, which none can hear

Of human mould with gross unpurged ear (Milton 72-3)

The most intriguing section of “Arcades” is the conclusion of the Genius’s address (74-84), in which Milton finds himself having to reconcile the notion of music which is beyond human comprehension with the newly elevated, almost otherworldly, status of the Dowager (Patterson 93). To have caused her to hear it would have been both anti-religious and insane, and Milton provides a skillfully evasive compromise: “Such music” would be worthy of “her immortal praise” if only my inferior hand or voice could hit/Inimitable sounds” (75-8). The “heavenly tone” would indeed be a fitting tribute to her status, but she is attended by lowly human beings who cannot produce it.

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The Poetry of Everyday Song (part 2)

The twenty-line passage following the reflection on King’s departure (64-84) is a disquisition on the function, practice and status of poetry. Fame (70) would be the spur to poetic distinction. Those who do not wish to “meditate the thankless Muse” (66), that is, write serious poetry, can “sport with Amaryllis” (68).

Amaryllis was the young woman praised by “Virgil’s poet-swain Tityrus and for contemporary readers the reference would have evoked the ongoing Metaphysical tradition of amatory verse which, Milton implies, is a diversion” (Danielson 45). Lines 85-102 constitute a section that is both cohesive and transitional. In the former respect it centralizes and emphasizes a theme which features throughout the poem, water. Here the water, in which Lycidas drowned, the sea, is contrasted with the constantly mobile rivers, specifically the stream of “Arethuse” (85) and the “Mincius” (86), Virgil’s native river (Danielson 54-55).

It is the “Camus”, which flows past the ancient colleges of Cambridge, and it opens the passage (103-31) which is the most debated and problematical of the entire poem (Honigman 67). Cambridge has already been introduced as the intellectual home of King and Milton and it is generally accepted that Milton takes the reader there a second time in order to address a particular religious-political agenda. Suddenly we are introduced to “the pilot of the Galilean lake” (109) who bears “Two massy keys … of metal twain”. The pilot is assumed to be St. Peter, to whom Christ gave the symbolic keys of the true Church (Honigman 69-70). This image is much debated, and the most widely accepted interpretation comes from John Ruskin. Ruskin commented that a “Bishop” means “a person who sees” (Qtd in Patterson 78). A “Pastor means a person who feeds” and went on to interpret Milton’s “Blind mouths” as referring to the higher clergy of the Laudian church, who deserved neither the title of bishop, since they had blinded themselves to Christian truth, nor the term pastor since they were greedy and corrupt (Qtd in Patterson 79).

The next 12 lines (119-31) avoid specific reference either to religion or to individual practitioners of it – Christopher Hill, a well-known critic, points out that “Critics who complain of Milton’s obscurity here forget the censorship” (51). All interpreters of the poem agree that the section is a condemnation of the Laudian, Anglican Church. Pastors here are not the shepherd-priests who would care for their flock, but corrupt “hedonists more concerned with the ‘lean and flashy songs’ of high ceremony” (Hill 52).

The remainder of the poem returns us to pastoral figures and images, the most notable being that of Lycidas, “Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor,” (16) transmuted to another realm of existence, “mounted high”, and united with “the dear might of him (Christ) that walked the waves” (173). This enables Milton to integrate the contrasting images of sea and freshwater which inform the poem. Lycidas is now with “other groves and other streams” (174) which “With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves” (174). Lycidas can in these wash from his hair the oozy, salty memory of his drowning at sea. Milton finishes his celebration-remembrance of King with Lycidas as “the genius of the shore” (187),

Arcades

As opposed to “Lycidas”, which was written to praise King Edward, Milton’s attachment to the family is celebrated in his poem “Arcades”. In this work, the Duchess is presented as the matriarch of a rural paradise in which the arts flourish (Danielson 89-93). In June 1631 the Earl of Bridgewater, the Countess’s son-in-law, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wales, and Lawes and Milton decided to collaborate in the writing of a mosque (a dramatic entertainment involving verse, music, dancing and scenic effect) to celebrate this (Danielson 89-93). Lawes wrote the music for the song parts, and the words, sung and spoken, were Milton’s (Danielson 89-93)

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What potential benefits can medical treatments using stem cells provide (part 4)

What is Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative medicine is a field that is still very much in its infancy. “Before stem cells can lie used routinely, there is a great deal more that researchers have to learn,” reports one embryonic stem cell researcher. “We still don’t know what signals are required to make the stem cells mature into specific tissue types. It’s also only educated guessing at this point about how to avoid tumor formation or rejection after transplanting stem cells into a new host. You might say that Nature holds her cards close.” (Potten et al 2006)

International Research Team Conclusions

The rejection issue is being researched at Stanford University, utilizing strains of laboratory mice for testing. Dr.Vlicha Drukker has been part of an international research team examining the immune response that might be launched against transplanted stem cells. “We used two experimental platforms to examine the in vivo immune system response toward transplanted stem cells,” said Dr. Drukkcr. “First, mice with both normal and immunodeficient immune systems were used to identify T cells as the major component that causes rejection.” T cells are a subset of leukocytes or white blood cells. They can be thought of as the “hunter-killer” cells that swarm an infection. “Second,” said Drucker, “mice that were conditioned to carry peripheral blood leukocytes from human origin were used to test the response toward undifferentiated and differentiated human embryonic stem cells.” (Potten et al 2006)

Using this model, Drukker’s research team detected only a minute immune response toward both undifferentiated and differentiated stem cells over the course of a month. “Our data showed that stem cells evade immune destruction due to a low immunostimulatory potential,” said Drucker. (Potten et al 2006) If this feat is replicated in human stem cell transplants, then the possibilities for healing damaged organs and tissue without fear of rejection greatly expands the range of possibilities for stem cell therapies.

Given enough time, it is likely that therapeutic cloning will become more acceptable to the vast majority of Americans who view it with certain queasiness today. This will be for two reasons. First, given the pace of advancements in the field of cellular surgery, it should eventually be possible to remove portions of the inner cell mass of a blastocyst without destroying the embryo. Second, a little-noted fact about stem cell research is that the knowledge gleaned at the cellular level allows the best window into how a disease such as Parkinson’s or diabetes works. Stem cells, in other words, can operate as valuable research tools in the background, instead of taking center stage as a transplant therapy. (Lovell-Badge 2001) Once every aspect of a disease’s biology is thoroughly understood, a targeted drug or therapy can be developed and administered. Eventually, it may be one where a patient will never know that a stem cell was involved in figuring out the remedy.

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The Poetry of Everyday Song (part 1)

The Poetry of John Milton Analysis

This paper, by referring to John Milton’s poems “Lycidas” and “Arcades”, examines the relationship between these works and occasions for which they were written; as well as explores the extent to which the author directly addresses the original purpose of these poems.

“Lycidas” was Milton’s contribution to the volume of memorial works written on the occasion of King Edward’s death. King and Milton were almost the same age and would have known each other in Cambridge, but there is no evidence to suggest that they were close friends. The title and name of Lycidas carry a number of literary reflections; he is a piper in the world of Theocritus, and a shepherd in Virgil’s Eclogues (Patterson 65). These roles are customarily associated with those of poet and priest and Milton presents Lycidas-King as both.

“Lycidas” is brief, 193 lines in total, and could be called to be the most complex short poem in English. It is excellent in its misuse of the sole purpose of why it was produced in the first place. Even though the King is supposed to be the subject of the poem, Milton uses it to illustrate his own views on religion and world in general.

The opening is traditional, yet puzzling:

Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more,

Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,

And with forced fingers rude,

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.

(Milton 1-5)

There is nothing unusual about this routine writing strategy but what causes one to suspect that something else is about to occur is the phrasing of “with forced fingers rude/Shatter your leaves…” (Patterson 67). Next, Lycidas is celebrated as shepherd and poet and the passage which has been looked at as both biographical and controversial is the verse paragraph of lines 25-6, in which Milton presents himself and Lycidas-King together as shepherd-poets in what is assumed by editors to be the gardens and meadows surrounding Cambridge colleges.

Milton appears to be as much promoting his own extraordinary talents as he is memorializing King’s, and a little later (37-8) he reminds us that “now thou art gone/Now thou art gone, and never must return!” He follows this (50-63) with a strange passage which deals specifically with King’s death because he states that King’s poetic and intellectual promise was of no practical benefit at his untimely death (Patterson 68).

Where were ye nymphs when the remorseless deep

Closed o’er the head of your loved Lycidas?  (Milton lines 50-51)

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What potential benefits can medical treatments using stem cells provide (part 3)

Stem Cell’s Structure

In therapeutic cloning, the host egg is first isolated in a petri dish. The outer cell wall is then penetrated without destroying the egg, and a tiny pipette is used to gently suck the nucleus, with the host’s DNA, out of the cell in the same way one might pit an extremely tiny olive. The result is a hollow structure called an enucleated cell. The empty space within the host cell is quickly injected with a nucleus from the cell of the donor. (Alternatively, the donor cell can be placed in extremely close proximity and fused with the host cell by means of an electrical pulse.) Now the host cell’s mechanisms have essentially been “reprogrammed” to make copies based on the new nucleus’ genetic codes. (Holland et al 2006)

If ibis procedure were to be used for reproductive cloning, the egg would be stimulated to begin dividing and developing. The newly created embryo would be genetically identical to the donor source of DNA. The resulting offspring would have only one genetic parent with whom it shares all its genes. Once reaching the blastocyst phase, the embryo can be implanted in a womb to develop naturally. In therapeutic cloning, the embryo is also stimulated to begin dividing. Hut the cells will never be implanted in a womb. Instead, the embryonic stem cells are taken from the inner cell mass of the embryo, when it has formed info the ball-shaped blastocyst stage of just a couple of hundred cells.

The technology does not exist for doing this without tearing apart the delicate blastocyst. (Holland et al 2006) The procedure, which is not too unlike shelling extremely delicate peas from a microscopic pod, must necessarily puncture and destroy the embryo. This allows the precious cargo of stem cells to spill out for collection into the petri dish medium like a handful of jewels strewn on a blood-red carpet. One of the major biological concepts overturned by the therapeutic cloning process is that once cells have differentiated, they cannot be induced to revert. Yet in this one circumstance, the rules have been broken. The isolated nuclei of an adult donor cell can revert back to pluripotency by being exposed to the inside of an egg. (Holland et al 2006) In effect, this creates a fertilized egg with the donor’s genetic complement without going through the process of fertilization.

In the past, it has been conclusively demonstrated that human nuclear-transfer cloning works regardless of the most basic differences between the host cell and the donor cell. The nucleus donor and the host egg can be from the same person or from different people. The two parties can be of different races, gender, and ages—nuclei from people as young as 2 and as old as 56 have been successfully transplanted. (Holland et al 2006) Therapeutic cloning has great potential for generating stem cell lines that are genetically matched to the donor’s genetic makeup. These stem cells lines, in turn, have the potential to provide amazing therapies for illnesses and injuries that have no cure today. Therapies to remedy damage due to disease or genetic abnormality—and eventually, even physical injury—are part of the quickly expanding field of regenerative medicine.

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