- - European weblog on food, health and environment
News - Week 42 - 2008
Pineal Gland or The Third Eye
Rick Strassman was permitted to embark on the first human research with psychedelic,
hallucinogenic, or entheogenic substances in the 1990s in the United States after 20
years' intermission in the field. In the intermission period it has only been legally
possible to research on animals. Strassman's studies investigated the effects of
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful entheogen, or psychedelic, that he theorizes is a
substance produced by the human brain in the pineal gland (without any conclusive proof),
and an active ingredient in ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is any of the various psychoactive
infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, native to the Amazon
Rainforest (which is also called ayahuasca). The resulting drinks are pharmacologically
complex and used for shamanic, folk-medicinal, and religious purposes. Occidental
ethno-biologists have noted a variety of 200-300 plants used in the different brews made
by the Ayahuasceras. It is an open question whether Ayahuasca should be noted as one
particular shamanic medicinal brew, or that it should be noted as an entire medicinal
tradition alongside, for instance, Ayurveda or Tibetan Medicine. During the project's five
years, he administered approximately 400 doses of DMT to 60 human volunteers. This
research took place at the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine in Albuquerque,
New Mexico where he was tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Strassman has
conjectured that when a person is approaching death, the pineal gland releases DMT,
accounting for much of the imagery reported by survivors of near-death experiences.
Dr. Michael Parenti:
"Terrorism, Globalism and Conspiracy" - 61 min
Dr. Michael Parenti, one of North America's leading radical writers on U.S. imperialism
and interventionism, fascism, democracy and the media, spoke to several hunded people at
St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver. Dr. Parenti has taught political science at a
number of colleges and universities in the United States and other countries. He was
written 250 major magazine articles and 15 books and is frequently heard on public and
alternative radio.
The Secret of the Universe - The
Ultimate Solution
The ancient secrets of antigravity are revealed as the result of an in depth study -
clues left by Edward Leedskalnin at Coral Castle, and the Freemasons Lodge (Grand Masonic
Lodge) at Philadelphia. The Golden Ratio (Phi), or the Golden Section, and it's
relationship to Prime Numbers, Prime Quadruplets, and the Pyramid Shape with an angle of
51.83 degrees is revealed for the first time! The formerly hidden secrets of anti-gravity
and magnetism are here. The Star of David hexagram is a key as well, along with the number
144. Learn how the ancient megaliths of the world were really constructed. The best way to
a real antigravity solution - infinitely easier to construct than Searl, Hutchison, etc.
Vitamin D deficiency may be characterized by muscle pain, weak bones/fractures, low energy
and fatigue, lowered immunity, depression and mood swings, and sleep irregularities. Women
with renal problems or intestinal concerns (such as IBS or Crohn’s disease) may be
vitamin D deficient because they can neither absorb nor adequately convert the nutrient.
The three best reasons why you
should avoid fructose like the plague ASAP
The process of metabolizing fructose uses up lots of energy molecules called Adenosine
triphosphate, or ATP. When this happens, the body reacts by feeling really tired and
repeating this strain on the liver has been found to cause fatty liver disease and could
lead to metabolic syndrome. Additionally, the more fructose that is in your system, the
greater risk you are putting the protein in your body.
Every family I have spoken with that did not vaccinate subsequent children tell me that
have not had autism recur in these children. Typically these are parents who didn't have
an in hospital hepatitis B vaccine either because they had a plan for their child ahead of
time. I think this particular group is increasing and I hope you have heard from more than
me.
Overeating makes the brain go haywire, prompting a cascade of damage that may cause
diabetes, heart disease and other ills, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
Group With Big Pharma Ties Wants to
Shut Down Vaccine “Conspiracy Theories”
A foundation populated by the giants of business, banking, government and military wants
to “vet” websites and limit the spread of information that it says creates
“conspiracy theories”.The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), fronted by Internet
creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee, says it is worried about the way the web has been “used
to spread disinformation”.
Study links phthalate exposure to
genital changes in baby boys
U.S. researchers say new study results suggest pregnant women exposed to high levels of
commonly found chemicals called phthalates are more likely to have baby boys with genitals
issues, including undescended testicles and smaller penises.
City Streets with Trees Reduce
Asthma in Children Living Nearby
Young children who live on tree-lined streets have lower rates of asthma than children
living on streets with less vegetation, according to a new study conducted by researchers
from Columbia University.
Burnham Researchers Turn Cancer
Friend into Cancer Foe
Burnham Institute for Medical Research today announced that scientists have created a
peptide that binds to Bcl-2, a protein that protects cancer cells from programmed cell
death, and converts it into a cancer cell killer. The research, which was published as the
featured article in the October 7 edition of Cancer Cell, may lead to new cancer
treatments. The Bcl-2 protein has long been implicated in protecting cancer cells from
apoptosis (programmed cell death), the process that usually keeps cancer cells in check.
This peptide (called NuBCP-9) and its enantiomer (mirror-image molecule) work on Bcl-2
like a molecular switch, converting it into a pro-apoptotic protein, and inducing cell
death in cancer cells.
Study provides insight on a common
heart rhythm disorder
University of Iowa researchers and colleagues in France have identified a gene variant
that causes a potentially fatal human heart rhythm disorder called sinus node disease.
Also known as "sick sinus syndrome," the disease affects approximately one in
600 heart patients older than 65 and is responsible for 50 percent or more of the
permanent pacemaker placements in the United States. While the newly discovered gene
variant is rare, the study provides insight into cellular mechanisms that regulate sinus
node function and identifies an unanticipated new pathway for developing future therapies
to regulate more common forms of sinus node disease. The findings, which also have
research implications beyond heart disease, were published online Oct. 1 by the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The team first analyzed data from two
families in France: a family of 74 individuals, 26 of whom had sinus node dysfunction, and
a family of 44 individuals, 13 of whom had the disease. Many of the affected individuals
carried the same gene variant, and many experienced variable heart rate and bradycardia
(dangerously low heart rate). The investigators found that variants in a gene called
ankyrin 2, or ANK2, resulted in dysfunction in the protein ankyrin-B in the members of
these two different families, said the study's senior author Peter Mohler, Ph.D.,
associate professor of internal medicine in the University of Iowa Carver College of
Medicine. "While a small number of the patients displayed heart disease symptoms,
including ventricular arrhythmias, the prevalence of sinus node dysfunction in these
patients was extremely high. In fact, most required the implantation of cardiac
pacemakers," said Mohler, who also is a Pew Scholar. "We predict that there are
likely additional unidentified ankyrin variants in the larger general population that
predispose humans to a combination of heart disease symptoms, including sinus node
dysfunction, atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias.
UI study finds genetic variant
plays role in cleft lip
University of Iowa researchers and collaborators have found, in a previously identified
gene, a variation that likely contributes to one in five cases of isolated cleft lip. It
is the first time a genetic variant has been associated with cleft lip alone, rather than
both cleft lip and palate. The study provides insight on a previously unknown genetic
mechanism and could eventually help with diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cleft lip,
which affects more than five million people worldwide. The findings appeared Oct. 5 in the
journal Nature Genetics. In 2004, a worldwide team involving the UI identified the gene
IRF6 as a contributor to about 12 percent of cases of the common form of cleft lip and
palate. The new finding pinpoints a regulatory part of the IRF6 gene that binds to a
protein called AP2. This regulatory part controls how much and when the critical IRF6
protein is made.
Genetic finding implicates innate
immune system in major cause of blindness
Scientists have identified one of the genes implicated in age-related macular
degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in developed countries. The research,
published online today in the Lancet, adds to the growing understanding of the genetics of
age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which the researchers believe should ultimately
lead to novel treatments for the disease. Almost two-thirds of people aged 80 years or
older are affected by AMD to some degree, with more than one in ten left blind by the
disease. In the UK, the annual economic burden from the disease has been estimated to be
as high as £80 million, a figure set to increase as our ageing population expands. The
total yearly costs of health-care usage are seven times higher for patients with AMD than
for those unaffected. Researchers have previously identified a number of other genes or
genetic loci (regions of the genome) which affect a person's susceptibility to the
disease. Now, in research part-funded by the Wellcome Trust, researchers at the University
of Southampton have shown that a particular variant of the gene SERPING1, carried by just
under a quarter of the population, appears to offer protection against the disease.
Herbal Menopause Therapy a Good Fit
for Breast Cancer Patients?
When it comes to understanding the effectiveness and safety of using herbal therapies with
other drugs, much is unknown. Now, a University of Missouri researcher will study how
black cohosh - an herbal supplement often used to relieve hot flashes in menopausal women
- interacts with tamoxifen, a common drug used to treat breast cancer. As women age and
reach menopause, their risk of developing breast cancer increases. Many women who have, or
are at risk, for breast cancer take tamoxifen. The drug prevents approximately 50 percent
of breast cancers in women who have an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
However, when women take tamoxifen, they cannot take hormone replacement therapies to
relieve menopausal symptoms. Their options are limited to taking antidepressants that can
have complications, enduring uncomfortable menopausal symptoms, or trying the black
cohosh. “Hopefully, this study will provide evidence that black cohosh is safe to use
for breast cancer patients,” said Rachel Ruhlen, a postdoctoral researcher in the MU
School of Medicine. “Currently, there is little reliable information guiding women in
how they can use foods and botanical supplements to enhance their treatment or improve
their quality of life.”
Even occasional cigarette smoking can impair the functioning of your arteries, according
to a new University of Georgia study that used ultrasound to measure how the arteries of
young, healthy adults respond to changes in blood flow. “Most people know that if
they have a cigarette or two over the weekend that it’s not good for their
arteries,” said study co-author Kevin McCully, a professor of kinesiology in the UGA
College of Education, “but what they may not be aware of—and what our study
shows—is that the decrease in function persists into the next week, if not
longer.” Previous studies have shown reductions in the arterial health of people who
smoke regularly, McCully said, but what’s surprising about his finding is that the
study subjects were occasional smokers (less than a pack a week) who had not smoked for at
least two days before their ultrasound. The study, which appears in the early online
edition of the journal Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, found that the arteries of
occasional smokers were 36 percent less responsive to changes in blood flow than
non-smokers. McCully explained that the healthier an artery is, the more responsive it is
to changes in blood flow. A reduction in responsiveness, known as impaired flow-mediated
dilation, is an early sign of arterial damage that often foreshadows cardiovascular
disease. The researchers recruited 18 college students for their study, half of whom were
non-smokers. The other half smoked less than a pack a week and had not smoked for at least
two days before undergoing testing. The researchers measured the responsiveness of the
participants’ arteries by inflating a blood pressure cuff around their non-dominant
arm to reduce blood flow to the forearm for various durations up to 10 minutes. The
researchers then rapidly deflated the cuff and measured how well the main artery in the
forearm responded to the sudden increase in blood flow.
What is the influence of tumor
removal on the serum level of carbohydrate's antibody?
Cancer immune surveillance is considered to be important in the anti-tumor protection of
the host. The growing tumor escapes the immune control under the immunosuppressive
conditions. The surgical removal of the tumor may reverse the immunosuppression. The TF
antigen and Tn belong to tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACA). TF antigen is
implicated in the metastatic spread due to the adhesion of cancer cells to the
endothelium. However, the dynamic changes of the level of TF and Tn-antibodies in the
serum of patients with cancer and its association with survival have been insufficiently
studied. A research article to be published on July 21, 2008 in the World Journal of
Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Dr. Kurtenkov from
National Institute for Health Development (Tallinn, Estonia) have undertaken a long-term
follow-up of cancer patients to determine changes in the postoperative level of TF- and Tn
antibodies, as well as to elucidate the association of this level with the progression of
cancer, and survival. The level of antibodies in serum was determined by the ELISA using
synthetic polyacrylamide (PAA) glycoconjugates. Their result indicated that the surgical
operation raises the level of anti-carbohydrate IgG in most patients, especially in those
with the G3 tumor of the gastrointestinal tract. The stage and morphology-dependent
immuneosuppression affects the TF-antibody response and may be one of the reasons for
unresponsiveness to the immunization with TF-antigens.
Director Robert Kane Pappas’ ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE is the consummate critical
examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether
America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the
truth, Pappas explores what the media doesn’t like to talk about: itself.
Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted and often dismissed actual
news events, Pappas presents a riveting and eloquent mix of media professionals and
leading intellectual voices on the media. Among the cast of characters in ORWELL ROLLS IN
HIS GRAVE are Charles Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity, Vincent
Bugliosi, former L.A. prosecutor and legal scholar, film director and author Michael
Moore, Rep. Bernie Sanders, Danny Schecter, author and former producer for ABC and CNN,
and Tony Benn, former member of the British Parliament. ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE provides
a vital forum for ideas that will never be heard in mainstream media. From
Globalvision’s Danny Schecter: “We falsely think of our country as a democracy
when it has evolved into a mediacracy – where a media that is supposed to check
political abuse is part of the political abuse.” New York University media professor
Mark Crispin Miller says, “These commercial entities now vie with the government for
control over our lives. They are not a healthy counterweight to government. Goebbels said
that what you want in a media system – he meant the Nazi media system - is to present
the ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity.” From the very size of
the media monopolies and how they got that way to who decides what gets on the air and
what doesn’t, ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE moves through a troubling list of questions
and news stories that go unanswered and unreported in the mainstream media. Are Americans
being given the information a democracy needs to survive or have they been electronically
lobotomized? Has the frenzy for media consolidation led to a dangerous irony where in an
era of more news sources the majority of the population has actually become less informed?
ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE reminds us that 1984 is no longer a date in the future.
Europe's Forgotten Citizens:
Defending Roma Rights in the Eu
There are between ten and twelve million Roma living in the European Union today --
roughly equal to the population of a medium-sized EU Member State, like Belgium or Greece.
Yet despite the fact that the Roma have played an integral part in European history and
culture for over seven centuries, most of us still know very little about them. And what
we think we do know is more often than not based on ignorance, prejudice and stereotypes.
This has led to a situation where millions of Roma in the EU today face extreme levels of
social deprivation. Unemployment in many Roma communities is rife. Basic education is
often lacking and when it comes to health care, life expectancy is well below the EU
average. This report, filmed in Hungary and Spain tries to look at the reasons why
anti-Roma feeling has been so ingrained in so many European countries for so long and also
looks at efforts being made to remedy the problem.
New light on link between snoring
and cognitive deficits in children
About two-thirds of children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB)— snoring or
obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)— have some degree of cognitive deficit, but the
severity of the cognitive deficit has been notoriously difficult to correlate to the
severity of the SDB, suggesting that other important issues may be at play, or that the
right factors were simply not being measured. A new study that will be published in the
first issue for November of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine opens the door to understanding the complex
relationship between sleep, breathing and brain function in a whole new way. "A
history of snoring is a predictor for cognitive deficit in children with SDB," said
principle investigator Raouf Amin, M.D., professor of pediatrics and the director of the
Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
"However, the frequency of apnea events during sleep does not predict cognitive
deficit and does not correlate with the degree of cognitive deficit. Such a paradox raised
the question of whether there are some variables that we do not traditionally measure in
the sleep laboratory that might modify the effect of SDB on cognition." Dr. Amin and
colleagues measured a new parameter to determine whether it could explain the variability
in cognitive dysfunction better than the severity of SDB: the degree to which the brain's
blood remains oxygenated during sleep. Using a technology called near infrared
spectroscopy, which is able to penetrate the skull with high-powered light beams to assess
oxygen saturation, they measured the "regional cerebral oxygen concentration"
(SrO2) in children 7 to 13 years old with SDB to varying degrees. They also measured blood
pressure (BP) during sleep. As expected, they found that children with snoring had lower
regional cerebral oxygen concentration than healthy children. But, paradoxically, they
found that children with sleep apnea, which is usually considered a more severe degree of
sleep-disordered breathing, have higher regional cerebral oxygen concentration than
children with just snoring.
Moderate consumption of red wine may decrease the risk of lung cancer in men, according to
a report in the October issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; a
journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "An antioxidant component in
red wine may be protective of lung cancer, particularly among smokers," said Chun
Chao, Ph.D., a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Department of Research and
Evaluation in Pasadena, California. Chao analyzed data collected through the California
Men's Health Study, which linked clinical data from California's health system with
self-reported data from 84,170 men aged 45 to 69 years. Researchers obtained demographics
and lifestyle data from surveys computed between 2000 and 2003, and identified 210 cases
of lung cancer.Researchers measured the effect of beer, red wine, white wine and liquor
consumption on the risk of lung cancer. Adjustments were made for age, race/ethnicity,
education, income, body mass index, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or
emphysema, and smoking history.
Post-term pregnancies risk
infant’s life and health, UCSF studies show
Infants born more than one week past their due dates have a higher risk of both impaired
health and death, according to two new studies by authors from the University of
California’s San Francisco and Berkeley campuses. The studies compared more than 2.5
million normal-weight births from healthy pregnancies of 37 to 42 weeks gestation, the
range that is considered to be full-term. Findings appear in the October, 2008 issue of
the “American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology” and also can be found online
at www.ajog.org.
Outlook for Crohn's disease
improves due to new therapies
study led by Mayo Clinic has found that infliximab (Remicade®)administered alone
(monotherapy) or in combination with azathioprine is a more effective treatment for
patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease than azathioprine alone. These findings
were presented today at the 2008 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual
Meeting. Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that
affects an estimated 500,000 people in the United States. Symptoms include abdominal pain,
fever, nausea, vomiting, weight loss and diarrhea. Crohn's disease has no known medical
cure. One common therapy used to manage the disease is a series of intravenous infusions
of infliximab, which blocks tumor necrosis factor, an important cause of inflammation in
Crohn's disease. Azathioprine is an orally-administered, small molecule immunosuppressive
which has a broad immunosuppressive effect.
Large Mayo Clinic-Led Study Shows
Stool DNA Testing for Colorectal Cancer has Potential, but Challenges Remain
The first generation of a stool DNA test to identify early colorectal cancer has
limitations, according to a Mayo Clinic-led study published in the Oct. 7, 2008, issue of
Annals of Internal Medicine. Results did not corroborate findings of an earlier
multicenter study that showed stool DNA testing was more accurate than fecal blood testing
for colorectal cancer detection. * "But the concerns we identified with stool DNA
testing are all solvable," says David Ahlquist, M.D., lead researcher in the study
that included 4,482 participants and 22 academic medical centers. Researchers have hoped
that stool DNA testing could be the user-friendly and accurate screening tool that would
increase screening numbers.
Mayo Researchers Explore Issues
Related to Multiple Myeloma Treatment
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a cancer of plasma cells that affects approximately 3 in 100,000
people each year. Although there is no cure for this disease, researchers have developed
treatments that help relieve pain, control complications, and slow the progress of MM in
many patients. Unfortunately, some of the most effective therapies also have toxic side
effects that can pose serious health risks and reduce quality of life. In the October
issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, two articles authored by Mayo researchers address the
issue of how to balance the risks and benefits associated with MM treatments.
JDRF Funded Study Links
"Hygiene Hypothesis" to Diabetes Prevention
A research study funded by JDRF suggests that a common intestinal bacteria may provide
some protection from developing type 1 diabetes. The findings provide an important step
towards understanding how and why type 1 diabetes develops in people, and may lead to
potential cures. The study, reported this week in Nature Magazine, lends further support
to the "hygiene hypothesis," that exposure to an appropriate amount and
composition of bacteria may be important to living a healthy life, and that susceptibility
to type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders may actually be caused by a lack of
exposure to certain parasites and microbes. In the study, researchers at Yale University
and the University of Chicago found that exposure to certain bacteria will trigger an
immune system response in mice. That response is believed to be what prevents autoimmune
disorders -- conditions where the immune system attacks healthy cells in the body. In
people with type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas,
stopping a person's ability to detect glucose and produce insulin. For the purposes of the
study, the bacteria used were harmless microbes typically found in the human intestine.
The scientists suggest that safe, measured exposure to certain bacteria may lower the risk
of immune disorders.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have developed a new prenatal blood test that
accurately detected Down syndrome and two other serious chromosomal defects in a small
study of 18 pregnant women. If confirmed in larger trials, they say, the test would offer
a safer and faster alternative to invasive prenatal tests such as amniocentesis that pose
a small risk of miscarriage. Researchers have long known that a pregnant woman's blood
contains small amounts of DNA from the fetus. Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher
Stephen R. Quake and colleagues at Stanford University devised an ingenious way to the
scan fetal DNA present in the mother's blood to determine whether the fetus' cells contain
extra chromosomes associated with several types of severe birth detects.
MU Researchers Identify Proteins
that Play Important Role in Blood Vessel Dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes
According to the American Heart Association, three-fourths of people with diabetes die of
some form of heart or blood-vessel disease. Previous studies have shown that cardiac
function is compromised and cardiovascular diseases are increased in people with type 2
diabetes. Before vascular diseases develop in diabetics, blood-vessel cell dysfunction
occurs. Using precise microscopes, University of Missouri researchers are dissecting
coronary microvessels and testing which proteins are responsible for inflammation that
causes blood-vessel dysfunction. By identifying the proteins that play important roles in
blood-vessel dysfunction, they hope to develop new treatments for blood-vessel dysfunction
in people with type 2 diabetes. “We believe that understanding blood-vessel
dysfunction in diabetes is critical because the progression of vascular diseases may be
significantly reduced if dysfunction is corrected,” said Cuihua Zhang, an
investigator in the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center and associate professor of
internal medicine in the MU School of Medicine. “The results of our studies may
provide new approaches for the treatment of blood-vessel diseases and disorders in type 2
diabetes, such as the possible use of antibodies that work to stop the proteins
responsible for inflammation.”
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Scientists Trace a Novel Way Cells are Modified in Cancer
A research team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is clarifying a previously
unappreciated way that cellular processes are disrupted in cancer. Last year, scientists
from the same CHSL team discovered that a “splicing factor” called SF2/ASF--a
protein that changes the instructions for how other proteins are assembled--can induce
tumors in cell cultures. The team’s newly published results show that, in ways not
yet fully understood, this same splicing factor acts on a group of other molecules that
has long been known to affect cancer.
Oral Vitamin D May Help Prevent
Some Skin Infections
A study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
suggests that use of oral Vitamin D supplements bolsters production of a protective
chemical normally found in the skin, and may help prevent skin infections that are a
common result of atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema. The study – led
by Richard Gallo, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and chief of the Division of
Dermatology at the UCSD School of Medicine and the Dermatology section of the Veterans
Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and Tissa R. Hata, M.D., associate professor of
medicine at UC San Diego – found that use of oral vitamin D appeared to correct a
defect in the immune systems in patients with this skin disease. Their findings will be
published in the October 3 edition of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology
Early-stage gene transcription
creates access to DNA
A gene contained in laboratory yeast has helped an international team of researchers
uncover new findings about the process by which protein molecules bind to control
sequences in genes in order to initiate gene expression, according to findings reported in
the journal Nature. Previously thought to be inert carriers of the genetic instructions
from DNA, so-called non-coding RNAs turn out to reveal a novel mechanism for creating
access to DNA required by transcriptional activation proteins for successful gene
expression, according to Boston College Biology Prof.Charles Hoffman, a co-author of the
study with researchers from two Japanese universities.
Discovery of receptor’s
function could halt blinding diseases, stop tumour growth, preserve neurons
An international team of researchers has discovered what promises to be the on-off switch
behind several major diseases. In the advance online edition of today’s Nature
Medicine, scientists from Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, the Université de
Montréal and the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM) in
France report how the GPR91 receptor contributes to activate unchecked vascular growth
that causes vision loss in common blinding diseases. These findings could also have
wide-ranging and positive implications for brain tissue regeneration.
University professor stresses links
between US Navy sonar and whale strandings
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a series of lower court
rulings that restrict the Navy's use of sonar in submarine detection training exercises
off the coast of Southern California. The court is due to hear the case after its term
begins again this month. For many years, professor Chris Parsons has been tracking the
patterns of mass whale strandings around the world. In his most recent paper, "Navy
Sonar and Cetaceans: Just how much does the gun need to smoke before we act?" Parsons
and his co-authors bring together all of the major whale and dolphin strandings in the
past eight years and discuss the different kinds of species that have been affected
worldwide. They also strongly argue for stricter environmental policies related to this
issue. "We are increasingly finding if there is a beaked whale mass stranding, there
is a military exercise in the area," says Parsons. "Sonar is killing more whales
than we know about." Parsons is a national delegate for the International Whaling
Commission’s scientific and conservation committees, and on the board of directors of
the marine section of the Society for Conservation Biology. He has been involved in whale
and dolphin research for more than a decade and has conducted projects in South Africa,
India, China and the Caribbean as well as the United Kingdom. Though Parsons believes that
there is a good chance the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Navy, he thinks
there is a chance for a win-win situation on both sides.
Pediatric Study Finds Alternatives
for Radiation of Low-Grade Brain Tumors
A multi-institutional study led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson
Cancer Center has found that using chemotherapy alone and delaying or avoiding cranial
radiation altogether can be effective in treating pediatric patients with unresectable or
progressive low-grade glioma. The study was presented Sunday at the 40th annual
International Society of Pediatric Oncology Meeting in Berlin, Germany. Low-grade glioma
is the most common brain tumor in children. If eligible for surgery, overall survival rate
for these children is 95 percent. However, for patients with tumors in locations that
prevent surgical removal or whose tumor is progressive after surgery, prognosis is worse.
A majority of pediatric oncologists use cranial radiation to treat patients with
unresectable or progressive brain tumors. Although radiation is often effective, the
long-term effects such as mental impairment, hormonal deficiencies and increased rate of
stroke late in life can be detrimental to young patients - causing some physicians and
families to decide against treatment.
U of T Researchers demonstrate that
Epstein-BarrVirus protein contributes to cancer
Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered that the EBNA1 protein of
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) disrupts structures in the nucleus of nasopharyngeal carcinoma
(NPC) cells, thereby interfering with cellular processes that normally prevent cancer
development. The study findings are published in the Oct. 3 edition of the journal PLoS
Pathogens and describes a novel mechanism by which viral proteins contribute to
carcinogenesis. EBV is a common herpes virus whose latent infection is strongly associated
with several types of cancer including NPC, a tumor that is endemic in several parts of
the world. With NPC only a few EBV proteins are expressed, including EBNA1. EBNA1 is
required for the persistence of the EBV genomes; however, whether or not EBNA1 directly
contributes to the development of tumours has not been clear, until now.
Research shows Brazilian acai berry
antioxidants absorbed by human body
A Brazilian palm berry sweeping the globe as a popular health food - though little
research has been done on it – now may have its purported benefits better understood.
In the first research involving people, the acai (ah-sigh-EE) berry has proven its ability
to be absorbed in the human body when consumed both as juice and pulp. That finding, by a
team of Texas AgriLife Research scientists, was published in a recent issue of the Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Vitamin D deficiency common in
patients with IBD, chronic liver disease
New research presented at the 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of
Gastroenterology in Orlando found patients with inflammatory bowel disease or chronic
liver disease were at increased risk of developing vitamin D deficiencies. Two separate
studies highlight the importance of regular vitamin D checkups in the evaluation of
patients with certain digestive diseases.
Could there be a link between high levels of air pollution and the risk of appendicitis?
New research presented at the 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of
Gastroenterology in Orlando, suggests a novel connection. "Adult onset appendicitis
is a common condition whose cause is unclear and almost universally requires
surgery," explained Dr. Gilaad G. Kaplan of the University of Calgary. Dr. Kaplan and
his colleagues identified more than 5,000 adults who were hospitalized for appendicitis in
Calgary between 1999 and 2006. The team used data from Environment Canada's National Air
Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) monitors that collect hourly levels of ozone, nitrogen
dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter of varying sizes.
Regression analysis was used to evaluate whether short-term daily changes in air pollution
levels were related to the development of appendicitis.
Neurotransmitter defect may trigger
autoimmune disease
A potentially blinding neurological disorder, often confused with multiple sclerosis (MS),
has now become a little less mysterious. A new study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota, may have uncovered the cause of Devic's disease. Their new study,
which will appear online on October 6th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, could
result in new treatment options for this devastating disease. Devic's disease, also known
as neuromyelitis optica (NMO), results in MS-like demyelinating lesions along the optic
nerves and spine. Affected individuals often experience rapid visual loss, paralysis, and
loss of leg, bladder, and bowel sensation. Some lose their sight permanently. Unlike MS,
Devic's disease can be diagnosed by the presence of a specific self-attacking immune
protein—an autoantibody referred to as NMO-IgG—in the blood. Until now, however,
clinicians didn't know how that protein damaged nerves and contributed to disease
symptoms. The Mayo team, lead by Dr. Vanda Lennon, now show that NMO-IgG sets off a chain
of events that leads to a toxic build-up of a neurotransmitter called glutamate. NMO-IgG
binds to a protein that normally sops up excess glutamate from the space between brain
cells. When NMO-IgG is around, this sponge-like action is blocked, allowing glutamate to
accumulate. And too much glutamate can kill the cells that produce myelin—the protein
that coats and protects neurons. The authors suggest that glutamate-induced damage to
nerve cells and their insulating myelin coats might account for the neurological symptoms
associated with Devic's disease. If the groups' results—generated using nerve cell
cultures—are confirmed in vivo, drug development could be very straightforward.
Therapeutic trials for glutamate blockers, created to treat other neurodegenerative
diseases like Lou Gehrig's disease (or ALS), are already underway.
Women require less tobacco exposure
than men to increase colon cancer risk
While smoking poses a health threat to both men and women, women require less tobacco
exposure than men to have a significant increased risk for colorectal cancer, according to
new research presented at the 73rd Annual ACG Scientific Meeting in Orlando. In a separate
analysis, researchers found smoking may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer precursor
lesions, particularly in patients with a strong family history of the disease. While
research has demonstrated that smoking is associated with a two-fold risk for colorectal
neoplasia, less is known about the exposure quantity needed. Joseph C. Anderson, M.D., of
the University of Connecticut in Farmington and Zvi A. Alpern, M.D. of Stony Brook
University in New York compared the quantity of tobacco exposure to increased colorectal
cancer risk in men and women. The levels of tobacco exposure were measured by multiplying
the packs of cigarettes smoked per day by the number of years smoked ("pack
years.") In a large cross-sectional study, Drs. Anderson and Alpern analyzed data of
2,707 patients (average age 57.3) who underwent colonoscopy between 1999 and 2006. Data
collected included age, height, weight, family history of colon cancer, medication use,
surgery, exercise, diet and smoking history. Patients were divided into three smoking
groups: heavy exposure, low exposure, and no exposure. The heavy exposure group was placed
into two different groups: those who smoked 30 pack years or less and those who smoked
more than 30 pack years. Women's Risk Higher for CRC with Fewer "Pack Years"
After adjusting for potentially confounding factors such as age, body mass index, and
family history, researchers found women who smoked less than 30 pack years were almost
twice as likely to develop significant colorectal neoplasia compared to women who were not
exposed to cigarette smoke. "While men and women shared a similar two-fold risk for
developing significant colorectal neoplasia, women required less tobacco exposure in pack
years than men to have an increase in colorectal cancer risk," said Dr. Anderson.
Prosecution of George W Bush for
Murder!' Vincent Bugliosi
New studies examine the
effectiveness of probiotics in IBS
A systematic review of the efficacy of probiotics in IBS that included 19 randomized
controlled trials in 1,628 IBS patients found that "probiotics are effective in IBS,
but we do not have enough information to be sure whether there is one probiotic that is
particularly effective or whether combinations of probiotics are required," according
to Dr. Paul Moayyedi, the study's lead researcher. Moayyedi and co-investigators at Mayo
Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and Rochester, MN; McMaster University in Ontario, Canada;
University College in Cork, Ireland and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City,
conducted this meta-analysis presented at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando.
In a large U.S. population-based study presented at the 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of
the American College of Gastroenterology, metabolic syndrome patients had a 75 percent
higher risk of colorectal cancer compared to those without metabolic syndrome. Dr. Donald
Garrow and Dr. Mark Delegge of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston
analyzed data of patients who reported a history of metabolic syndrome and colorectal
cancer from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a comprehensive nationally
representative study conducted each year by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Metabolic syndrome was defined as having a combination of three common chronic medical
conditions: hypertension, diabetes and elevated cholesterol. The risk of colorectal cancer
among patients with metabolic syndrome was determined by multivariate logistic regression
analysis, controlling for age, race, gender, obesity, smoking and alcohol use. "Since
individuals with the metabolic syndrome have a significantly higher lifetime risk of
colorectal cancer, they should closely adhere to published guidelines for colorectal
cancer screening," said Dr. Garrow.
Flu vaccine not associated with
reduced hospitalizations or outpatient visits among young children
Use of the influenza vaccine was not associated with preventing hospitalizations or
reducing physician visits for the flu in children age 5 and younger during two recent
seasons, perhaps because the strains of virus in the vaccine did not match circulating
strains, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics &
Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Influenza causes substantial
illness among young children; therefore, the United States and other countries have
expanded their childhood vaccination requirements, according to background information in
the article. As of June 2006, U.S. health officials recommend annual vaccinations for all
children age 6 to 59 months. "An inherent assumption of expanded vaccination
recommendations is that the vaccine is efficacious in preventing clinical influenza
disease," the authors write.
New test could help catch serious
infections in babies
A simple blood test may help detect serious bacterial infections (SBIs) like urinary tract
infections and blood stream infections in young infants who come to the emergency
department (ED) with fevers that have no clear cause. Researchers at Children's Hospital
Boston, collaborating with investigators at George Washington University, show that a new
diagnostic marker called procalcitonin can help identify infants at high risk for SBIs
while potentially reducing unnecessary and aggressive testing, medication and
hospitalization in low risk infants. The study, published in the October Pediatrics, is
the first to examine procalcitonin as a tool for evaluating infant fever in an emergency
situation. The researchers used a novel procalcitonin test, recently approved by the FDA,
in 234 feverish babies under 3 months of age, of whom 18 percent had definite or possible
SBIs confirmed by independent clinical criteria. The results showed that procalcitonin not
only detected all cases of SBIs in feverous infants but proved sensitive enough to
establish a threshold value that would identify infants at low risk for serious
infections. Indeed, its overall performance as a single clinical marker of infection
approached that of current strategies that involve a variety of laboratory tests and
clinical evaluations.
More evidence on why we need
radical reform of science publishing
This phenomenon operates in science publishing because the elite journals that accept only
a fraction of papers submitted to them go for the “best” and are thus likely to
be publishing papers that are suffering from the winner's curse — for example, in
that they give dramatic results that are a considerable distance from the “true”
results. They are exciting outliers — and so very attractive to the elite journals.
The articles that the high impact journals publish are bound to be atypical and will
present a distorted view of science, leading to false conclusions and "misallocation
of resources."
People who occasionally forget an appointment or a friend's name may have a loss of brain
volume, even though they don't have memory deficits on regular tests of memory or
dementia, according to a study published in the October 7, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the
medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study involved 500 people age 50
to 85 with no dementia who lived in the Netherlands. Participants were asked about
occasional memory problems such as having trouble thinking of the right word or forgetting
things that happened in the last day or two, or thinking problems such as having trouble
concentrating or thinking more slowly than they used to. Participant's brains were scanned
to measure the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain important for memory and one
of the first areas damaged by Alzheimer's disease. Of the 500 people, 453 reported that
they had occasional memory or thinking problems, which are also called subjective memory
problems, because they would not show up on regular tests of memory and thinking skills.
The study found that in people with occasional subjective memory problems, the hippocampus
was smaller than in people who had no memory problems. On average, the hippocampus had a
volume of 6.7 milliliters in those with occasional subjective memory problems, compared to
7.1 milliliters in people with no memory problems.
New Stanford diagnostic test for
rare leukemia appears to give faster results, study finds
A new twist on a well-known cell sorting technique may allow physicians to diagnose rare
leukemias in hours instead of weeks, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford
University School of Medicine and UC-San Francisco. The clinical promise of the
Stanford-developed approach, which eavesdrops on individual cells to decipher potentially
dangerous molecular conversations, is likely to extend to many other disorders in which
cell-signaling pathways are disrupted.
Form of Crohn's disease traced to
disabled gut cells
Scientists report in this week's Nature that they have linked the health of specialized
gut immune cells to a gene associated with Crohn's disease, an often debilitating and
increasingly prevalent inflammatory bowel disorder. The link to immune cells intrigued
researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis because they and
others believe Crohn's disease is caused by misdirected immune responses in the intestine
that damage gut tissue. In addition, cells in the mouse model scientists used for the
study had altered genetic activity that could lead to increased production of certain
hormones. Those same hormones are elevated in some Crohn's patients."We now have a
significant new piece of the puzzle that is Crohn's disease, but not the solution just
yet," says senior author Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., the Edward
Mallinckrodt Professor and head of the Department of Pathology and Immunology. "As
many as 30 different areas in human DNA have potential links to Crohn's disease, and to
develop new treatments it's going to be essential to find out how each of them, as well as
environmental factors, contribute to the disorder."
Food for thought–regulating
energy supply to the brain during fast
If the current financial climate has taught us anything, it's that a system where
over-borrowing goes unchecked eventually ends in disaster. It turns out this rule applies
as much to our bodies as it does to economics. Instead of cash, our body deals in energy
borrowed from muscle and given to the brain. Unlike freewheeling financial markets, the
lending process in the body is under strict regulation to ensure that more isn't lent than
can be afforded. New research by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
reveals just how this process is implemented. "We have all seen the sub-prime
mortgage crisis," says Marc Montminy, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the Clayton
Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology who led the current study. "If you take
out a loan, sooner or later you've got to pay your debt, and the same is true in fasting
metabolism." The Salk researchers' findings, which are published ahead of print in
the Oct. 5 edition of the journal Nature, may pave the way for novel therapies for
sufferers of metabolic diseases in whom such regulation can spiral out of control.
To understand where fat comes from, you have to start with a skinny mouse. By using such a
creature and observing the growth of fat after injections of different kinds of immature
cells, Rockefeller Fat chance. Using an animal strain called the leptin-luciferase mouse,
Rockefeller University researchers observed the formation of fat from precursor cells over
12 weeks. A luminescent marker (red) switches on to indicate where mature fat cells have
developed. University scientists have discovered an important fat precursor cell that may
in time explain how changes in the numbers of fat cells might increase and lead to
obesity. The finding, published online in this week’s issue of the journal Cell,
could also have implications for understanding how fat cells affect conditions such as
diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
New Study on Effects of Disclosing
Financial Interests on Participation in Medical Research
Knowing how an investigator is paid for running a research study surprisingly plays a
small role in patients' willingness to take part in clinical trials. However, according to
a new Johns Hopkins University study more participants are troubled when they are told
that the investigator could profit or lose money depending on the results. In an effort to
learn more about the effects of disclosing an investigator's financial interests on
potential study participants, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of
Bioethics, Duke University Medical Center, and Wake Forest University surveyed 470
patients from an outpatient cardiology clinic. Each of these patients, who were diagnosed
with coronary artery disease, agreed to go through a consent process over the phone for a
hypothetical clinical trial. The study, published in the October issue of the American
Heart Journal, found that simply revealing an investigator's financial interest in a study
does little to affect the patient's decisions to enroll in a hypothetical clinical trial.
What the study did find was that patients were more concerned about certain types of
financial interests, especially when the investigator owned stock in the company financing
the study.
Discovery of natural compounds that
could slow blood vessel growth
Using computer models and live cell experiments, biomedical engineers at the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine have discovered more than 100 human protein fragments that
can slow or stop the growth of cells that make up new blood vessels. Reporting online last
week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say the
findings could lead to developing treatments to fight diseases that depend on the growth
of new blood vessels, including cancer, macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis.
"Before, there were only 40 known antiangiogenesis peptides," says Aleksander
Popel, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at Hopkins. "Now, using a
whole-genome, computer-based approach, we have identified more than 100 new ones, all of
which can be further researched for their ability to fight the more than 30 known diseases
affected by excessive blood vessel growth." To identify short protein fragments
— peptides — that can block blood vessel growth, the team started by looking at
40 known peptides that have been studied and characterized by other experts in the field
to stop blood vessel growth in animal models of disease. Working under the assumption that
the antivessel activity of these peptides can be attributed to similar features that are
shared by a number of proteins, like the sequence of the peptide building blocks, the team
first categorized the 40 known peptides by where they are located and what they look like.
Having defined nine families, the researchers then used computer programs and compared the
peptide families to all of the proteins encoded by the genome. They found more than 120
peptides contained in 82 different proteins, many of which were not previously known to
have any activity on blood vessel development.
Inside a cell it is so crowded that a certain protein from borrelia winds up being
crunched. From having been like an oblong rugby football, it gets bent and then collapses
into a lump. At this point a previously hidden part appears, known to trigger the
formation of antibodies. This explains how Borrelia can be diagnosed, a process that was
previously unknown. Congestion in the cell environment forces the protein V1sE, which
exists in borrelia bacteria, to change shape. Like a jack-in-the-box, an antigen- a
substance alien to the body -then pops up, prompting the body to start producing
antibodies. It is precisely the prevalence of these antibodies that physicians often use
to diagnose borrelia. Until today, we have had no knowledge of how these antibodies are
produced, since the antigen is hidden in the original form of the V1sE protein. “We
suspect that the changes in the shape of the protein are nature’s own origami to
control what functions the protein should have in specific circumstances. In this way
different parts can be exposed, roughly as in the jumping fleas made of folded paper that
children play with,” says Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, who was recently named
professor of biological chemistry at Umeå University in Sweden.
The birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) does not end completely during development but
continues throughout all life in two areas of the adult nervous system, i.e.
subventricular zone and hippocampus. Recent research has shown that hippocampal
neurogenesis is crucial for memory formation. These studies, however, have not yet
clarified how the newborn neurons are integrated in the existing circuits and thus
contribute to new memories formation and to the maintenance of old ones.The team of
researchers of CNR-LUMSA-EBRI at the European Centre for Brain Research, organization
established in Rome with the key contribution of the Santa Lucia Foundation, has taken a
step forward to understand the requirements of newborn neurons in the process of learning
and memory. The neuroscientists coordinated by dr. Felice Tirone of the Institute of
Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine (INMM) of CNR, in collaboration with prof. Vincenzo
Cestari of the Institute for Neuroscience of CNR and the LUMSA University and with dr.
Alberto Bacci of the European Brain Research Institute, have shown that a key factor for
neurogenesis is represented by the speed of differentiation of progenitors (stem cells
that give rise to neurons) in hippocampus. From such speed will in fact depend the success
of the whole process. “New neurons must maturate according to a correct temporal
sequence in order to become able to acquire new memories and retrieve the existing
ones”, explains Tirone.
Eating meat and dairy products may increase the risk of prostate cancer, research
suggests. Such a diet raises levels of a hormone called Insulin-like Growth Factor-1
(IGF-1) which promotes cell growth.
This book was a critical influence for Parts 3 and 4 of "Zeitgeist: Addendum"
and offers a possible way out of our recurring cycles of boom and recession, famine,
poverty, corruption, a declining environment, and territorial conflicts where peace is
merely the interval between wars. It outlines an attainable, humane social design of the
near future where human rights are no longer paper proclamations but a way of life.
"The Best That Money Can't Buy", by Jacque Fresco is a challenge to all people
to work towards a society in which all of the world's resources become the common heritage
of all of the earth's people. 176 Pages, Published 2002.
Solar updraft tower
The solar updraft tower is a proposed type of renewable-energy power plant. Air is
heated in a very large circular greenhouse-like structure, and the resulting convection
causes the air to rise and escape through a tall tower. The moving air drives turbines,
which produce electricity. A research prototype operated in Spain in the 1980s.
Fighting Inflammation instead of
focussing on cholesterol
The reason that cardio vascular disease has not become less prominent despite our best
efforts is that we are not treating the primary cause. We have been told to lower our
cholesterol in order to prevent heart disease, however by far the most substantial cause
is in fact inflammation. Combat inflammation by deep breathing, relaxation, eating healthy
food, getting lots of sleep drinking lots of water and watching your acid intake.
The Inflammation-Heart Attack
Connection: New Evidence
Dr. Peter Libby explores new evidence on the connection of inflammation to heart
attack. Series: "Inflammation as Cause and Consequence of Disease"
White Sugar Now Coming From
Genetically-Modified Sugar Beets
This year saw the first commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) sugar beets in
the United States, with that sugar to hit the food supply soon after. Farmers across the
country will soon be planting Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beet, genetically engineered
for resistance to Monsanto's herbicide glyphosate (marketed as Roundup). John Schorr,
agriculture manager for Amalgamated Sugar, estimates that 95 percent of the sugar beet
crop in Idaho will be of the new GM variety in 2008, or a total of 150,000 out of 167,000
acres.
With increasing consumer pressure on both farmers and supermarkets to minimise the use of
chemical pesticides in fruit and vegetables, a new study, funded by the Economic and
Social Research Council (ESRC), looks at why there is currently little use of biological
alternatives in the UK. Biological products, known as biopesticides, can play a
significant role in a more sustainable food chain as chemical pesticides are withdrawn due
to resistance problems or because they are no longer commercially viable, according to the
research. Chemicals also endanger workers' health and can contaminate groundwater."It
is evident that biopesticides have a potentially important contribution to make to a
competitive agriculture industry," said lead researcher, Professor Wyn Grant, at the
University of Warwick. "They have the potential to increase consumer confidence in
fruit and vegetables whilst moving away from a polarised and over-simplified choice
between conventional and organic modes of production." The research suggests that
consumer concerns about toxic residues could undermine the recommended 'five a day' target
for the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables. Supermarkets have responded to consumer
pressure by banning some approved pesticides, but have been slow to embrace biopesticides.
Biological control agents such as naturally occurring fungi, bacteria or viruses are
applied in much the same way as chemical pesticides to fight insect pests, but have
obvious benefits as they have little impact on other organisms, are compatible with other
natural enemies, do not leave toxic residues and are relatively cheap to develop. These
far outweigh the disadvantages of lower effectiveness and a shorter shelf life. So why has
there been poor uptake in Britain?
Compassion meditation may improve
physical and emotional responses to psychological stress
Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may
benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been
linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses. The study's findings are published
online at www.sciencedirect.com and in the medical journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
"While much attention has been paid to meditation practices that emphasize calming
the mind, improving focused attention or developing mindfulness, less is known about
meditation practices designed to specifically foster compassion," says Geshe Lobsang
Tenzin Negi, PhD, who designed and taught the meditation program used in the study. Negi
is senior lecturer in the Department of Religion, the co-director of Emory Collaborative
for Contemplative Studies and president and spiritual director of Drepung Loseling
Monastery, Inc. This study focused on the effect of compassion meditation on inflammatory,
neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress, and evaluated the degree
to which engagement in meditation practice influenced stress reactivity. "Our
findings suggest that meditation practices designed to foster compassion may impact
physiological pathways that are modulated by stress and are relevant to disease,"
explains Charles L. Raison, MD, clinical director of the Mind-Body Program, Emory
University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory School of Medicine,
and a lead author on the study. Sixty-one healthy college students between the ages of 17
and19 participated in the study. Half the participants were randomized to receive six
weeks of compassion meditation training and half were randomized to a health discussion
control group. Although secular in presentation, the compassion meditation program was
based on a thousand-year-old Tibetan Buddhist mind-training practice called
"lojong" in Tibetan. Lojong practices utilize a cognitive, analytic approach to
challenge an individual's unexamined thoughts and emotions toward other people, with the
long-term goal of developing altruistic emotions and behavior towards all people. Each
meditation class session combined teaching, discussion and meditation practice.
Narcissistic people most likely to
emerge as leaders
When a group is without a leader, you can often count on a narcissist to take charge, a
new study suggests. Researchers found that people who score high in narcissism tend to
take control of leaderless groups. Narcissism is a trait in which people are
self-centered, exaggerate their talents and abilities, and lack empathy for others.
“Not only did narcissists rate themselves as leaders, which you would expect, but
other group members also saw them as the people who really run the group,” said Amy
Brunell, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State
University at Newark.
Mayo Clinic physicians estimate
new, tiny, super-sensitive probe could cut colon polyp removal in half
Based on results of a landmark study, researchers at Mayo Clinic's Florida campus see a
future in which virtual biopsies will eliminate the need to remove colon polyps that are
not cancerous or will not morph into the disease.Currently one-third to one-half of the
polyps removed during colonoscopies end up being harmless, but they need to be examined by
pathologists, and this increases time, expense and the potential for complications to the
beneficial screening. At the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology,
Mayo Clinic gastroenterologists will present final details of a study testing a probe so
sensitive that it can tell if a cell in the colon is becoming cancerous or not. They
specifically found that the system, known as probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy
(pCLE), was 90 percent accurate in identifying benign or harmless polyps in patients. With
further tweaking, the researchers believe pCLE can reach about 100 percent accuracy.
Atomic-resolution views give clues
to the function of an enzyme critical in regulating light-detecting signals inside the eye
An atomic-resolution view of an enzyme found only in the eye has given researchers at the
University of Washington (UW) clues about how this enzyme, essential to vision, is
activated. The enzyme, phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6), is central to the way light entering
the retina is converted into a cascade of signals to the brain. This particular form of
the enzyme comes from the cone photoreceptors of the retina and has not been
well-researched, in contrast to its rod form. Rods are involved in night vision and motion
sensation; the cones are responsible for color sensitivity, visual acuity, daylight
vision, and adjustment to bright light. The section of the enzyme molecule that most
interests the researchers is the so-called GAF A domain. A small messenger molecule, cGMP,
binds to the GAF A domain to regulate the enzyme. "The domain binds to this small
molecule with extremely high sensitivity," said UW biochemist Clemens Heikaus, who
along with Sergio E. Martinez, now a research associate at Rutgers, carried out the study.
"From our structure, we can infer why it prefers cGMP over other messenger
molecules." He added that the domain is quick in recognizing and responding to the
messenger molecule to create an instantaneous flow of information to the brain.
Solvents may cause brain disorders,
but rehabilitation is possible
This randomised controlled trial evaluates a treatment programme based on previous outcome
studies of patients with chronic fatigue, whiplash and traumatic brain damage.The
treatment consisted of 8 group sessions based on cognitive behavioural principles focusing
on inadequate illness behaviours, and 8 sessions of cognitive strategy training to
compensate memory problems. The research design was an RCT with follow-up, comparing the
cumulative effect of the 2 interventions allocated in random order with a waiting-list
control group. Outcome measures were treatment satisfaction, self-ratings of psychosocial
and cognitive changes, psychosocial and memory questionnaires and neuropsychological
tests. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed with baseline scores, treatment
versus control condition, effort status, and litigation or financial compensation status
as predictors. 95 patients started treatment, 84 patients had complete data. Treatment
satisfaction was high. At the end of the treatment, only the treatment group had improved
on objective memory tests and on complaints related to CSE, but not on other
questionnaires. Treatment effects diminished at follow-up. Insufficient effort and
litigation were negatively associated with treatment outcome. This study demontrated that
the positive treatment effects on the cognitive tests were only temporary. It might be
important to study the effect of booster sessions to update practiced cognitive
strategies. Effort was an important predictor of success, more important than involvement
in a litigation procedure. This finding should have implications for the selection of
patients.
A computer program reports on air
quality in the major Spanish municipalities
Google presented the Google Earth Outreach Spain scheme at Barcelona today. Google Earth
Outreach is an influential scheme offering charitable organizations and non-profit
institutions the knowledge and resources required to use Google Earth and Google Maps with
a view to showing and publicizing the work they do among the general public. Air is one of
the leading Spanish projects participating in the scheme through the Environmental
Software and Modelling Group based at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s School
of Computing. As a School of Computing press release reports, this group is showing the
air quality forecasting system for all Spanish municipalities with a population of over
50,000 on Google Earth Outreach. Roberto San José, Professor of Numerical Calculus and
Environmental Numerical Models at the School of Computing, led the development of this
forecasting system. The system is a latest generation model covering traffic, industry and
biogenic emissions used to calculate estimated air pollutant concentrations for the coming
72 hours at a resolution of 50 km. The outcomes, itemized according to four atmospheric
pollution levels of pollutants whose concentrations are limited by Directives and Royal
Decrees to reduce risks to public health, are shown in Google Earth graphics mode, as
Roberto San José, Director of the Environmental Software and Modelling Group at the
School, explained.This Group has conducted over 100 projects in conjunction with European
institutions, councils, regional governments and private companies, including over 35 air
quality impact studies for future power stations, incinerators, petrol companies, etc.
There are many who argue that anti-depressants got to nr 1 status because Big Pharma has
spent hundreds of millions to create a nation of psychological hypochondriacs using canny
marketing to blur the difference between serious depressive states and merely painful,
Billie Holiday-like blues. But what exactly would turn psychotropic drugs like Prozac and
Paxil and Zoloft into a subplot in the subprime mess? It's the biochemistry. Those drugs
are SSRIs—serotonin uptake inhibitors—and they spin their mood magic by
elevating levels of serotonin in the brain. And serotonin is a neurotransmitter associated
with behaviors that might contribute to the temptation of borrowing $501,000 on a $500,000
house.
Proteins in sperm unlock
understanding of male infertility says new study
Proteins found in sperm are central to understanding male infertility and could be used to
determine new diagnostic methods and fertility treatments according to a paper published
by the journal Molecular and Cellular Proteomics (MCP). The article demonstrates how
proteomics, a relatively new field focusing on the function of proteins in a cell, can be
successfully applied to infertility, helping identify which proteins in sperm cells are
dysfunctional. "Up to 50 percent of male-factor infertility cases in the clinic have
no known cause, and therefore no direct treatment. In-depth study of the molecular basis
of infertility has great potential to inform the development of sensitive diagnostic tools
and effective therapies," write co-authors Diana Chu, assistant professor of biology
at San Francisco State University and Tammy Wu, post-doctoral fellow at SF State. The
study is included in a special Oct. 10 issue of MCP dedicated to the clinical application
of proteomics.
MSU professor helps federal
government adopt first-ever physical activity guidelines
Moderate physical activity during pregnancy does not contribute to low birth weight,
premature birth or miscarriage and may actually reduce the risk of complications,
according to a Michigan State University professor who contributed to the U.S.
government's first-ever guidelines on physical activity.
MSU scientists find new gene that
helps plants beat the heat
Michigan State University plant scientists have discovered another piece of the genetic
puzzle that controls how plants respond to high temperatures. That may allow plant
breeders to create new varieties of crops that flourish in warmer, drier climates. The MSU
researchers found that the gene bZIP28 helps regulate heat stress response in Arabidopsis
thaliana, a member of the mustard family used as a model plant for genetic studies. This
is the first time bZIP28 has been shown to play a role heat tolerance. The research is
published in the Oct. 6 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We also found that bZIP28 was responding to signals from the endoplasmic reticulum,
which is the first time the ER has been shown to be involved with the response to
heat," said Robert Larkin, MSU assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular
biology and corresponding author of the paper. "We're finding that heat tolerance is
a more complex process than was first thought."
Researchers Seek to Understand, and
Improve, Virus That Can Infect Lung Cancer Cells
Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have, for the first time, solved the
structure of a virus that can infect specific cancer cells. This new knowledge may help
drug designers tweak the pathogen enough so that it can attack other tumor subtypes. The
study was published in the October 8 issue of Structure, a Cell Press journal. The 3-D
structure of the virus, known as Seneca Valley Virus-001, reveals that it is unlike any
other known member of the Picornaviridae viral family, and confirms its recent designation
as a separate genus "Senecavirus." The new study reveals that the virus's outer
protein shell looks like a craggy golf ball—one with uneven divets and raised
spikes—and the RNA strand beneath it is arranged in a round mesh rather like a
whiffleball. "It is not at all like other known picornaviruses that we are familiar
with, including poliovirus and rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold," says the
study's senior author, Associate Professor Vijay S. Reddy, Ph.D., of The Scripps Research
Institute. "This crystal structure will now help us understand how Senecavirus works,
and how we can take advantage of it."
Circadian clock may be critical to
learning and memory
The circadian rhythm that quietly pulses inside us all, guiding our daily cycle from sleep
to wakefulness and back to sleep again, may be doing much more than just that simple
metronomic task, according to Stanford researchers. Working with Siberian hamsters,
biologist Norman Ruby has shown that having a functioning circadian system is critical to
the hamsters' ability to remember what they have learned. Without it, he said, "They
can't remember anything." Though not known for their academic prowess, Siberian
hamsters nonetheless normally develop what amounts to street smarts about their
environment, as do all animals. But hamsters whose circadian system was disabled by a new
technique Ruby and his colleagues developed consistently failed to demonstrate the same
evidence of remembering their environment as hamsters with normally functioning circadian
systems. Until now, it has never been shown that the circadian system is crucial to
learning and memory. The finding has implications for diseases that include problems with
learning or memory deficits, such as Down syndrome or Alzheimer's disease. The work is
described in a paper published Oct. 1 online in the early edition of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences. Ruby is lead author on the paper. Siberian hamsters,
also known as dwarf hamsters, are about the size of a mouse.
RNA molecules, delivery system
improve vaccine responses, effectiveness
A novel delivery system that could lead to more efficient and more disease-specific
vaccines against infectious diseases has been developed by biomedical engineers at The
University of Texas at Austin. The findings use specific ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules
to significantly bolster a vaccine’s effectiveness while tailoring it based on the
type of immune response that is most desirable for a particular disease, says Krishnendu
Roy, associate professor of biomedical engineering and lead investigator on the study. Roy
and his team, which included his graduate student Ankur Singh and collaborators at M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, achieved their results during a two-year study
primarily working with a DNA-based hepatitis B vaccine. Their work was recently published
in Molecular Therapy, the official journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy. In
their studies using mice, immune responses were five to 50 times stronger than with
traditional vaccine delivery. The stronger the immune response to a vaccine, the better
protection the vaccinated person should have. Their research uses a novel polymer-based
delivery system that consists of micron-sized particles carrying both the vaccine and the
RNA to immune cells.
New study re-emphasizes natural
cocoa powder has high antioxidant content
Over the past ten years, dark chocolate and cocoa have become recognized through numerous
studies for flavanol antioxidant benefits. In a study published this month in the Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists from The Hershey Company and Brunswick
Laboratories of Norton, MA report on the levels of antioxidants in selected cocoa powders
and the effect of processing on the antioxidant levels. The study, which analyzed
Hershey's Natural Cocoa Powder and nineteen other cocoa powders, reported that natural
cocoa powders have the highest levels of antioxidants. Natural cocoa powders contained an
average of 34.6 mg of flavanols per gram of cocoa powder, or about 3.5% of total flavanols
by weight. This places cocoa powder among the foods highest in these types of
antioxidants. The study went on to look at a variety of Dutched (alkaline processed) cocoa
powders, which are commonly used by the food industry. New findings showed that the
Dutched cocoa powders, especially the light- and medium-Dutched cocoa powders, retained
significant amounts of cocoa flavanol antioxidants. In fact, despite the losses created by
light to medium Dutch processing, these cocoa powders still were in the top 10% of
flavanol-containing foods when results were compared to foods listed in the USDA
Procyanidin Database. "This is an important finding for people who like all things
chocolate." said Ken Miller, the lead author of the paper. "Because cocoa powder
is one of the richest sources of flavanol antioxidants to start with, even lightly- or
medium-Dutched processed cocoa powders still retain significant levels of the beneficial
antioxidants."
Pollution From Livestock Farming
Affects Infant Health
A new study in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics explores the effects of
pollution from livestock facilities on infant health and finds that production is
associated with an increase in infant mortality. Stacy Sneeringer of Wellesley College
utilized data on spatial variation in livestock operations from the past two decades to
identify the relationship between industry location and infant health. As livestock
production has become more concentrated in larger farms, production has become more
concentrated in certain areas.
Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments, say
University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists. The research study, led by UC’s Nira
Ben-Jonathan, PhD, says that BPA—a man-made chemical found in a number of plastic
products, including drinking bottles and the lining of food cans—actually induces a
group of proteins that protect cancer cells from the toxic effects of chemotherapy.
One Dose of EPO May Halt Cell
Suicide Following a Heart Attack
Two things happen following a heart attack—necrosis (normal cell death) and apoptosis
(programmed cell death)—and both are bad. Now researchers in Japan have found that a
single intravenous dose of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) immediately after myocardial
infarction (heart attack) can drastically reduce or eliminate apoptosis and thereby limit
the amount of damage to the heart, according to an article in the October issue of The
Journal of Nuclear Medicine. "The study's concept is very novel. We wanted to see if
the area of cell death following acute coronary occlusion could be reduced by a single
dose of EPO," said H William. Strauss, M.D., attending physician in the Nuclear
Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, professor of radiology at
Weill Cornell School of Medicine and a co-author of the manuscript. "Cells deprived
of blood quickly begin to die. By administering 99mTc-annexin V, a radiotracer with a high
affinity for apoptotic cells, we were able to view the effects of EPO on heart cells
immediately following the restriction of blood flow that occurs during MI."
An international team of researchers is a step closer to understanding the spread of
deadly diseases such as listeriosis, after observing for the first time how bacteria
respond to stress. The research, published in the October issue of the prestigious
international journal Science, details how a huge molecule called a stressosome protects
bacterial cells from external stress and danger. Scientists from the University of
Newcastle in Australia, and Newcastle University and Imperial College in the United
Kingdom, collaborated on the discovery. Associate Professor Peter Lewis from the Faculty
of Science and Information Technology at the University of Newcastle in Australia said
until now, researchers had not fully understood how bacteria responded to stress and
potential danger.
A key mechanism regulating neural
stem cell development is uncovered
A research team at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montreal (IRCM), funded by the
Foundation Fighting Blindness – Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
(CIHR), discovered a novel mechanism that regulates how neural stem cells of the retina
generate the appropriate cell type at the right time during normal development. These
findings, published today in the renowned journal Neuron, could influence the development
of future cell replacement therapies for genetic eye diseases that cause blindness. In
their report, the scientists show that a gene called Ikaros is expressed in the most
immature retinal stem cells in the mouse, which are “competent” to generate all
seven different cell types that compose the retina. But this gene is not expressed in the
“older” stem cells, which are more restricted in their differentiation potential
and produce only the late-born neurons. “By studying the retina of a mouse in which
the Ikaros gene was inactivated, we found that the generation of early-born retinal cell
types was impaired, whereas the generation of the late-born retinal cell types was not
affected,” explained Dr. Michel Cayouette who led the study. In contrast, forcing the
expression of Ikaros in older retinal stem cells, which have normally turned off its
expression, was sufficient to give back the competence to these cells to generate
early-born neurons. Overall, these results indicate that the expression of Ikaros in
retinal stem cells is both necessary and sufficient to confer the competence to generate
early-born retinal neurons.
Cell protein suppresses pain 8
times more effectively than morphine
More people suffer from pain than from heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined, but
many of the drugs used to relieve suffering are not completely effective or have harmful
side effects. Now researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of
Medicine and the University of Helsinki have discovered a new therapeutic target for pain
control, one that appears to be eight times more effective at suppressing pain than
morphine. The scientists pinpointed the identity and role of a particular protein that
acts in pain-sensing neurons, or nerve cells, to convert the chemical messengers that
cause pain into ones that suppress it. "This protein has the potential to be a
groundbreaking treatment for pain and has previously not been studied in pain-sensing
neurons," said lead study author Mark J. Zylka, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell
and molecular physiology at UNC. The results of the study will be published online in the
journal Neuron, on Wednesday (Oct. 8) and in the print edition the following day.
Stanford scientists pinpoint key
proteins in blood stem cell replication
A family of cancer-fighting molecules helps blood stem cells in mice decide when and how
to divide, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Blocking the
molecules' function spurs the normally resting cells to begin proliferating strangely -
making too much of one kind of cell and not enough of another. Many types of human blood
cancers involve a similar disruption in the expression of that same family of molecules.
The blood stem cells' misguided enthusiasm also inhibits their ability to successfully
repopulate the immune system of a recipient animal after a bone marrow transplant - a
common leukemia treatment. The discovery is the first to directly link the notorious
members of the retinoblastoma family of proteins to the cellular production factories
responsible for churning out all the blood and immune cells in the body. "This is an
important step in understanding the initiation of human cancer at a cellular level,"
said Patrick Viatour, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar who performed the research in the
laboratory of Julien Sage, PhD.
Sleep in man is divided in two main phases : non-REM sleep, which occupies most of our
early sleep night, and REM sleep, during which our dreams prevail. Non-REM sleep is
usually considered as a compensatory ‘resting’ state for the brain, following
the intense waking brain activity. Indeed, previous brain imaging studies showed that the
brain was less active during periods of non-REM sleep as compared to periods of
wakefulness. Although not rejecting this concept, researchers from the Cyclotron Research
Centre of the University of Liège in Belgium and from the Department of Neurology of
Liege University Hospital demonstrate that, even during its deepest stages (also called
‘slow-wave-sleep’), non-REM sleep should not be viewed as a stage of constant
and continuous brain activity decrease, but is also characterized by transient and
recurrent activity increases in specific brain areas. In a study published recently in the
prestigious american journal « Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences » (PNAS),
the research team led by Dr Thanh Dang-Vu and Pr Pierre Maquet shows that brain activity
during these sleep stages is actually profoundly influenced by spontaneous slow rhythms
(also called ‘slow oscillations’) which organize neuronal functioning during
non-REM sleep.
Scientists Identify Gene That May
Make Humans More Vulnerable To Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Researchers from the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and its collaborators have now
identified for the first time a new gene that may confer susceptibility to pulmonary
tuberculosis. Their findings, published on October 8, 2008 in the journal PLoS Genetics,
reported that a gene, named Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8), previously shown to only
recognize some factors from viruses such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has a
probable role in human susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. The
results from the study also found that males are more susceptible than females. Dr Sonia
Davila, Research Scientist at the GIS and first author of the article said, “We are
really excited about this discovery as it is the first time TLR8 has been implicated in
bacteria infections. Our analysis of the results from cohort studies in Indonesia and
Russia suggested that susceptibility was attributed to genetic variants of TLR8, whichis
located at the X chromosome. Males carrying only one copy of the gene could have a higher
chance of suffering from the disease. These findings open up a whole new area of research
and we hope that it will increase our understanding of the disease process of pulmonary
tuberculosis.”
Researchers design artificial cells
that could power medical implants
Researchers at Yale University have created a blueprint for artificial cells that are more
powerful and efficient than the natural cells they mimic and could one day be used to
power tiny medical implants. The scientists began with the question of whether an
artificial version of the electrocyte – the energy-generating cells in electric eels
– could be designed as a potential power source. "The electric eel is very
efficient at generating electricity," said Jian Xu, a postdoctoral associate in
Yale's Department of Chemical Engineering. "It can generate more electricity than a
lot of electrical devices." Xu came up with the first blueprint that shows how the
electrocyte's different ion channels work together to produce the fish's electricity while
he was a graduate student under former Yale assistant professor of mechanical engineering
David LaVan, now at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But the scientists
didn't stop there. "We're still trying to understand how the mechanisms in these
cells work," said LaVan. "But we asked ourselves: 'Do we know enough to sit down
and start thinking about how to build these things?' Nobody had really done that
before." Using the new blueprint as a guide, LaVan and Xu set about designing an
artificial cell that could replicate the electrocyte's energy production. "We wanted
to see if nature had already optimized the power output and energy conversion efficiency
of this cell," said Xu. "And we found that an artificial cell could actually
outperform a natural cell, which was a very surprising result." The artificial cell
LaVan and Xu modeled is capable of producing 28 percent more electricity than the eel's
own electrocyte, with 31 percent more efficiency in converting the cell's chemical energy
– derived from the eel's food – into electricity.
Stabilizing force for good
communication between neurons and muscle cells found
You can't raise a finger without your brain directing muscle cells, and scientists have
figured out another reason that usually works so well. A neuron sends a message, or
neurotransmitter, to the muscle cell to tell it what to do. To get the message, the
receiving cell must have a receptor. Oddly, the unstable protein rapsyn is responsible for
anchoring the receptor so it's properly positioned to catch the message. Medical College
of Georgia scientists have found what keeps rapsyn in proper conformation. It is a heat
shock protein, one of a large family of molecular chaperones that make sure proteins get
where they are needed and do what they should, says Dr. Lin Mei, chief of developmental
neurobiology at MCG and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Neuroscience.
Leipzig. German and American researchers have for the first time identified complete gene
sequences and function of two proteins in mussels that play a key defensive role against
environmental toxicants. These proteins form part of an active, physiological barrier in
mussel gills that protects them against environmental toxicants, researchers from the
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and Stanford University in California
report in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and
Comparative Physiology. Mussels like the California mussel (Mytilus californianus) can
pump over 20 litres of water through their gills every hour. The active barrier protects
the organism against harmful substances in the water. The presence of such proteins in
mussel gills has been previously indicated, but it is only now that they can be accurately
identified. The function of these proteins can be inhibited by chemicals introduced into
the environment by humans, e.g. galaxolide, a perfume used in cleaning products. This
means that such substances open the way for other chemicals to enter cells. Even chemicals
that are not regarded as toxic by conventional standards can enhance toxicity of other
compounds. Little is known about the global environmental and human impacts of these
‘chemosensitizers’.
Formoterol for Asthma - Evidence of
Serious Adverse Effects
Asthma sufferers who regularly take the beta2-agonist formoterol are more likely to suffer
non-fatal serious adverse events than those given placebos. A review carried out by
Cochrane Researchers showed a significantly increased risk for people who took the drug
once or twice daily for at least 12 weeks.
What's the worst that could happen after eating a slice of pepperoni pizza? A little
heartburn, for most people. But for up to a million women in the U.S., enjoying that piece
of pizza has painful consequences. They have a chronic bladder condition that causes
pelvic pain. Spicy food -- as well as citrus, caffeine, tomatoes and alcohol-- can cause a
flare in their symptoms and intensify the pain. It was thought that the spike in their
symptoms was triggered when digesting the foods produced chemicals in the urine that
irritated the bladder.However, researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School
of Medicine believe the symptoms -- pain and an urgent need to frequently urinate -- are
actually being provoked by a surprise perpetrator. Applying their recent animal study to
humans, the scientists believe the colon, irritated by the spicy food, is to blame. Their
idea opens up new treatment possibilities for "painful bladder syndrome," or
interstitial cystitis, a condition that primarily affects women (only 10 percent of
sufferers are men.) During a flare up, the pelvic pain is so intense some women administer
anesthetic lidocaine directly into their bladders via a catheter to get relief. Patients
typically also feel an urgent need to urinate up to 50 times a day and are afraid to leave
their homes in case they can't find a bathroom.
Areas Imaging study reveals a
battle between the lure of reward and fear of failure
That familiar pull between the promise of victory and the dread of defeat – whether
in money, love or sport – is rooted in the brain’s architecture, according to a
new imaging study. Neuroscientists at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute have
identified distinct brain regions with competing responses to risk.Both regions are
located in the prefrontal cortex, an area behind the forehead involved in analysis and
planning. By giving volunteers a task that measures risk tolerance and observing their
reactions with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers found that
activity in one region identified risk-averse volunteers, while activity in a different
region was greater in those with an appetite for risk.
Children with Cystic Fibrosis Not
Well Covered By Guidelines for Vitamin D Needs
Existing recommendations for treating vitamin D deficiency in children with cystic
fibrosis (CF) are too low to cover the serious need, leaving most at high risk for bone
loss and rickets, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. In
results of their investigation, published in the October issue of The Journal of
Pediatrics, the Johns Hopkins team found that nearly half of the 262 children with CF in
the study were vitamin D deficient, and the majority of these remained persistently so,
despite getting restorative doses equal to or higher than the recommendations set by the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. As a result of the findings, Hopkins already has amended its
treatment protocol and now treats both adult and pediatric CF patients who have vitamin D
deficiency with 50,000 IU daily for four weeks. Growing children with CF are especially
vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency because a hallmark of their condition is poor
absorption of nutrients and malnutrition. CF, a genetic disorder, is marked by the
body’s inability to transport chloride in and out of cells, causing mild to
life-threatening complications, including recurrent and severe lung infections and delayed
growth.
According to Professor Laws from the University’s School of Psychology, taking the
drug just once can damage memory. In a talk entitled Can taking ecstasy once damage your
memory, he will reveal that ecstasy users show significantly impaired memory when compared
to non-ecstasy users and that the amount of ecstasy consumed is largely irrelevant.
Indeed, taking the drug even just once may cause significant short and long-term memory
loss. Professor Laws findings are based on the largest analysis of memory data derived
from 26 studies of 600 ecstasy users.
Licorice Heals Ulcers,
Inflammation, and Skin Conditions
Licorice root has recently been shown effective against allergies, hepatitis, inflammation
and swelling, hypertension, excessive potassium in the body.
Anthocyanins have potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and are being
studied for their possible preventative role in fighting cancer, heart disease,
Alzheimer's and other effects of aging.
Dr. James Joseph, Ph. D., from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging has been
studying the anti-inflammatory potential of the polyphenols in blueberries, since chronic
inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related
diseases. When rats with neuronal lesions were fed a blueberry-supplemented diet, not only
did they perform better in cognitive tests, the concentration of several substances in the
brain that can trigger an inflammatory response was significantly reduced. The polyphenols
in blueberries appear to inhibit the production of these inflammatory mediators.
Non-Invasive Treatment for
Depression Made Available for Patients
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy has received clearance from the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) and is now an entirely new treatment option for patients
suffering from depression. Dr. Phil Janicak, a professor of psychiatry at Rush University
Medical Center, was the principal investigator for the clinical trials of TMS, which is a
system that uses repeated short bursts of magnetic energy introduced through the scalp to
stimulate nerve cells in the brain to alleviate major depression.
