OneDrive update allows business users to easily share files

LG’s ridiculously cute AKA gets a wider release

Stanford scientists make leukemia ‘grow up’ and eat itself

A team at Stanford’s School of Medicine has reportedly uncovered a potent new treatment method for combating one of leukemia’s most aggressive forms — and they did it pretty much by accident. While survival rates for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a particularly nasty form of white blood cell cancer, have risen to about 85 percent over the past decade thanks to the advent of stem cell therapies, the prognosis for this disease in the presence of a Philadelphia chromosome mutation remains quite poor. But thanks to a chance observation by Dr. Scott McClellan, the Stanford team believes it’s figured out way to neutralize the disease using its own cancerous cells against it.

The research effort began when, in the lab one day, McClellan noticed that a number of leukemic cells had transformed from cancerous cells into “mature” macrophages. These are a type of immune cell tasked with not only directly consuming cellular debris, pathogens and cancers but also with recruiting other immune cells for the fight. “B-cell leukemia cells are in many ways progenitor cells that are forced to stay in an immature state,” Dr. Ravi Majeti, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, said in a statement. But with the addition of various transcription factors — proteins capable of latching onto and activating specific DNA sequences — Majeti and McClellan essentially forced these deadly cancer cells to “grow up” into fully formed macrophages.

What’s more, the researchers discovered that this process didn’t just neutralize that specific cancer cell. It also instigated the newly made macrophage to begin digesting the cancerous plague and call in the rest of the immune system to actively fight the mutation. “Because the macrophage cells came from the cancer cells, they will already carry with them the chemical signals that will identify the cancer cells, making an immune attack against the cancer more likely,” Majeti said. Now that the cellular mechanism is known, the team’s next challenge is finding a drug that instigates the same response and can be leveraged as the basis for a new therapy regimen. The team’s research appears in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Filed under: Science

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Source: Stanford University

Runtastic finally releases the Runtastic Libra Weight Tracker on Android, works with Runtastic Libre smart scale

Runtastic has been offering the Libre smart scale for some time, but iOS users were the only ones that had an app that worked with it. Well Runtastic finally woke up and released an app for Android.

The Runtastic Libre app works in conjunction with the $129 Libre scale. You will be able to measure your weight, body fat, bone mass, muscle mass, body water content, and more. The app lets you define and set goals for weight loss, weight gain, or reducing body fat. All the data from the Libre scale will transfer to your smartphone via Bluetooth LE. And of course there is MyFitnessPal integration and the ability to save your body metrics and progress to Runtastic.com.

You can grab the Libre Scale from the Runtastic website and we have Google Play download links below.

Play Store Download Link

Come comment on this article: Runtastic finally releases the Runtastic Libra Weight Tracker on Android, works with Runtastic Libre smart scale

Target’s proposed data breach settlement pays victims up to $10k each

Target has agreed to a $10 million settlement with lawyers for victims of its 2013 data breach, and CBS News reports it could pay individuals up to $10,000 each in damages. It has yet to be approved by a judge, but Target spokesperson Molly Snyder says the company is “pleased to see the process moving forward.” In case you’ve already forgotten, the retailer discovered in December 2013 that hackers had stolen information for some 40 million credit and debit cards, while its security ignored breach alerts for 12 days. The company’s CEO stepped down in May saying he felt “personally accountable” for the lax security. KSTP TV5 in Minnesota has posted a copy of the form victims will fill out to receive their damages if the settlement is approved, which you can see here.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: CBS News, KSTP

Uber cars now outnumber yellow cabs in New York City

You may see yellow taxis as virtually synonymous with New York City transportation, but you might have to reconsider that image before too long. New Taxi and Limousine Commission data shows that Uber cars now outnumber cabs on NYC streets, with 14,088 black and luxury vehicles versus 13,587 taxis. It’s not hard to see why the ridesharing service has grown so quickly since its arrival in 2011, mind you. Uber drivers can earn much more in the right circumstances, and they don’t have to worry about fixed schedules, complicated licensing or cheapskates who don’t pay. This milestone probably won’t thrill city officials, who are worried that Uber is both depriving them of tax revenue (since drivers don’t need medallion licenses) and playing fast and loose with regulations. However, it’s doubtful that there’s any going back now — Uber is huge enough in New York that commuters would notice if it went away.

[Image credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images]

Filed under: Transportation, Internet

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Source: New York Post