Python programing language has been a powerful and scalable language. Many open source invaluable programs are written with this robust interpretive language. With this in mind, we could not see a descent Integrated Development Environment(IDE) for this language, until now.

Thanks to open source community of Codeplex and folks at Microsoft, we can now witness the most powerful IDE for this language so far. Python Tools for Visual Studio is an add-on which is installed on Visual Studio to bring support for Python programming language on this powerful platform. This add-on is very helpful because not only it supports python specific indentation, but also it suggest language specific keywords as you begin to type them(called intellisense).

Although this add-on has many pros, it is not deprived of cons, however. So it is possible that over time it become more powerful as bugs are being plugged. It requires Visual Studio so make sure you have it installed before you begin installing the add-on.

Check the project website at http://pytools.codeplex.com.

Starting from very near future, I would publish monthly cell and cancer centered news magazine. The magazine will contain news of the latest published papers in monthly basis manner. The magazine will contain the following materials:

• A cover featured paper
• In the news
• Special coverage on the paper of the month
• Molecule of month

I hope this magazine help to advance our understanding of cells.

Update: A glimpse of the upcoming magazine:

Please check this website again for more information.

Loosing data can be very gruesome specially when you are in harry to complete your project. How one can make a safe backup from data and additionally and in the same time keep track of the every nuance changes in the data as the project goes on? Here, in this article, I will describe step by step how you can easily and effortlessly setup a united repository for your research data or papers.

NOTE: This paper is intended for those who use Microsoft Windows as operating system.

1. Download and install TortoiseSVN from the vendor site. It is an open source and safe program. After that, you may need to restart your computer.
2. Sign up in the one of the major online repository websites. I prefer two of them over the others. They offer free plans and good online service. https://www.assembla.com/ and https://projectlocker.com/
3. Create a space or repository in those websites.
4. Create a folder on your computer where you can sync and commit your changes, lets say “Thesis”.
5. Right click on the folder and select “SVN checkout” from the context menu.
6. In the URL of repository type or paste the address of the repository you’ve create before:(An example: https://pl3.projectlocker.com/******/Thesis/svn where ***** denotes your user name)
7. Click OK and it is good to go. The folder now is your local repository.
8. To add/update a file, you need to put/change the file in the folder, then Right click on the folder, “Thesis” in my case, and then select SVN commit. You can write some descriptions for the commitment that you make.

I hope this recipe would help those who want to organize their data into a unified database.

How the earth was formed? How the life began to flourish the earth?

These are simple, yet fundamental questions that one may ask. In a recent online booklet named “Creation in a nutshell: Highlights of the Los Alamos Origins Debate” Professor John R. Baumgardner and Nicholas Petersen tried to answer some, if not all of these questions.

It happens that this booklet includes several of my designed figures. That is an honor for me to have a small part in educational activities. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

Source of Booklet: http://www.daytonopenbible.org/graphics/UploadFile/1192/01_CreationInANutshell_.pdf

The poster is available online at http://amin.mahpour.com/essays/poster.pdf

I would be delighted to have and hear your comments too!

The process of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition(EMT) and its reverse process, Mesenchymal-Epithelial Transition(MET), have been under intense research during last decade. Various results suggest their implication in development, disease and cancer metastasis. However new studies point to yet another properties of these processes.

Mani et al. in their elegant study, which was published in Cell journal, demonstrated that cancer cells that have undergone EMT show stem cell properties. These results imply that epithelial cells that lose epithelial characteristic, as a direct consequence of EMT program, are more amenable to become stem cells or stem-like cells.

But in papers from Li et al and Samavarchi-Tehrani et al published recently in Cell Stem Cell journal, they cleverly demonstrated that the first and the limiting step in the process of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) formation from fibroblasts is set of events that closely resembles that of MET. In fact the authors thoughtfully predict that epithelial cells are more amenable to become stem cells in comparison to mesenchymal fibroblasts cells.

This contradiction may stem from the fact, that these two study are very different in context and nature. However it would be very interesting to understand the molecular mechanism of each context conducive to stem cell traits.

Today Gmail’s home page is kinda odd without having vowels! but what make it more peculiar is the failure of Google’s servers to show vowels! great news for those of us who think Google is a reliable vendor!

No way! I removed my account from Google!

It is getting more hilarious as everyday passes This time is Sourceforge turn -formally the Open source software host. It blocks open source downloads from IP originated from Iran. As I mentioned in a post about Google chrome’s similar action, this is a futile deed. 

Huh! To get open source software you should search in torrents and other sites! It is purely ridiculous! This is the screenshot I got as a proof :

Share your comments with me and others

I was due to visit the Pymol website where I saw a regrettable statement:

Our founder, Warren L. DeLano, passed away suddenly on November 3rd , 2009

I was absolutely stunned at the moment. I didn’t believe my eyes. The man behind Pymol development is now deceased.

There is also a memorial webpage on the net for him: http://www.wldmemorialfund.org/

I should express my condolences to Warren’s family and friends.

What is Bib.Net?

Bib.Net is an upcoming free .Net based program whose work is to create Bibtex compatible database files(bib). Only you need to enter specified information and the rest of job is done by this slick program!

The program is in Experimental phase and by no means can be considered a released and stable version. What makes this program perfect, is your helpful suggestions.

Features

• Free and in future open source
• Portable – No need for install at all
• Light weight
• No virus, spyware or malware for sure!
• Simple GUI – VISTA & 7 Aero Ready

Download

The program can be downloaded in near future. Please visit this page later.