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POPSGene test could 'prevent' heart disease I believe genetic testing should be an option, not a requirement. That may be a good principle for adults, but the call is for testing to be done on 'at risk' children under 10. I'd be surprised if they could find anyone in the world that wasn't subject to some genetic risk or another. Still, a DNA Database is as good as a chip, or an ID card, and much better than a finger print...but I'm a cynic..or perhaps an optimist with experience.
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POPSScientists identify childhood cancer gene They are beginning to find genes that are believed to be involved in a number of types of cancer. The study of these genes may not only tell us how they work, but why they are there, and how they are related to some essential, and regular metabolic functions, what exactly can turn a regular/benign cell cancerous, so potential sufferers can be Identified early.
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POPSStem cells could allow 'blood farms' One of the issues recently has been the shelf life of blood, where the rotation principle-first in first out can leave blood 'stale' and unsafe. There is also the fact that the contributions cannot meet the demand, and the increase in surgery that requires large volumes of blood. Transplant, and heart surgery being prime examples. They have been searching for a means of producing blood artificially, but the prospect of using stem cells, makes it more likely to be a reality. One of the most important aspects is that the red cells have no nucleus, so no nucleic DNA. A fact that can relieve many ethical, and practical problems.
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POPS'Flexi-bee' could pre-empt varroa mite.
Of course there is the honey, but there is also the critical role bees play in pollination, particularly crop fertilization. The loss of honey bee populations has the potential to have a devastating effect in many crops that at the moment we take for granted. There are two suggestions. One is to prevent the mite laying by altering a chemical released by the bees. The other disrupts the life cycle of the mite. It doesn't have to be either/or, both approaches need to be tried, in addition to further suggestions. The main thing we have to worry about taking into account our record of 'fixing' problems in nature (we don't seem to be that good at it) Is that our efforts don't further endanger the bee populations At the moment however, if we do nothing we will lose the bees. There is the possibility, that bees will develop their own resistance to the mite naturally. Selective breeding may be an option. I would be more inclined to listen to a beekeeper than a geneticist,.
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POPSJoggers outpace an early grave As they say "Use it or lose it" The study finds that regular exercise is the key. There doesn't seem to be any 'magic formula' (despite what they say on late night TV...or spam) except that the exercise be vigorous. That can be relative -walking is more vigorous than sitting down, but what can be described as vigorous escalates as fitness improves. Not just a matter of deciding to do 20 sit ups for example (it helps to start with an anchor) which can be an aim, but seem impossible. Start with what CAN be done, no matter the amount, and set targets. It also helps to monitor heart rate, as this can be a critical fitness measure. Everyone has their individual optimum heart rate, depending on fitness, age, and health.
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POPSExpert concerned by DIY genetic tests While DIY gene tests may have their place, often they can only highlight a factor, or give a likelihood rather than a certainty. I would think they would also tend to be used by people who expected to find problems. It being hard for their view of the results to be either objective, or subject to comparison with other possibilities and cases. I have trouble imagining a better test than family history, and the fact remains, that despite any number of tests our genes wont change.(Yet?) An interesting thing I heard which is somewhat related particularly with the statistics regarding the likelihood of cancer from any number of sources, is that by the age of 85 50% of people will have had some form of cancer. (One of the side effects of living for another generation.) I can't be sure of the accuracy of the figure, but it makes me feel more comfortable about smoking. At least if I'm going to get cancer, I can get it doing something I enjoy.
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POPSGorilla 'mother lode' found in Congo I can't help thinking that they are there, because we didn't know about them, but there are other species that have been downgraded from critically endangered to endangered due to conservation efforts. However the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that 48% of the 634 known species and sub-species of primates, humankind's closest relatives such as chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and lemurs, are at risk of extinction. Primates are suffering most in Asia, with 71% of all species at risk, against 37% in Africa.
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POPSSpider helps track disease outbreaks A 'Spider' being "The Web-walking part of a search engine that collects pages for indexing in the search engine's database. Also called a bot.":answers.com I thought I'd better put that in, because when I first saw the title, I had visions of biologists, out in the wild, catching spiders to be tested for disease. Now if you want to find out about disease outbreaks, you can just google them before the WHO Centres of disease control have any idea. Maybe WHO should google not yahoo.
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POPSResearchers close on chlamidia vaccine For the Australian native koala. When combined with habitat destruction, chlamydial disease continues to be a major threat to koalas. The disease is similar to the strain suffered by humans, and the research could help develop a vaccine in humans.
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POPSScientists find malaria's 'sticky' genes The understanding of the malaria parasite, which seems to behave in a similar way to a virus, can help the development of new treatment methods, both in the stage that causes the disease in humans, and the phase in which it is carried by the intermediate host, the Anopheles mosquito. Research is also continuing into the genes behind the immune system of the mosquito, which actively fights against the malaria parasite.
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POPSOlder men told to 'use it or lose it' Other factors that contribute to erectile dysfunction that were taken into account include include age diabetes, and heart disease. Blood is retained by a muscle that stops blood from being returned to the body during arousal. Perhaps without regular exercise it is more inclined to lose its grip on the blood vessels. How being caught by surprise affected function, was not mentioned
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POPS'Devil-proof' fences to save Tassie icon The cancer affecting Tasmanian devils is infectious. In areas where the disease is present, up to 95% of the population of devils have been killed. According to the Save the Tasmanian Devil program the disease is now present across more than 60% of Tasmania.
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POPSHow to fold Proteins Proteins are complex molecules, and understanding the way they can fold using distributed computing, in the unused cpu load of home computers, can spread the load and research in more detail , both the way proteins fold, and the effects of incorrect folding. A prime example of such an instance in in the proteins known as prions, which with a wrong fold can be one of the contributing factors in Alzheimer's disease. The foldingathome network is the biggest computer in the world, with calculations done by the petaflop
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POPSScientists put cocoa under the microscope 70% of the world's cocoa is grown in Africa, and it has remarkable resistance to drought and disease. I wonder however if the study will help the African farmers, or the chocolate manufacturers, due to the the tendency to pay a pittance for the beans, then mark up the price substantially after manufacture. Often the cacao industry is the equivalent of slavery.
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POPSBecoming immortal A very interesting read! Of course, what are we going to do with eternity is not a medical question but rather philosophical and emotional. At least we will have time enough for love... For the quasi immortal humans of the future, nothing in this existence will look even remotely similar to the way we see things today.
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POPSBrain drug abuse on the radar They restrict the damage that is caused by this kind of drug, in a similar way to the way they have restricted the damage caused by addictive drugs in the present, and the past. One dangerous side effect of 'stay alert' or 'thought accelerators' is that often they can be taken at the expense of the minimum required amount of sleep (which can vary from person to person.) Sleep is necessary for our brains to operate properly, and they've yet been able to find any cases where it can be compromised to any great extent. Sleep deprivation can lead to delusion and psychosis, poor concentration, and performance, and both short and long term memory loss. A bad combination. Where too many 'flashes of brilliance' are really just flashes. By the way. Who is going to test these drugs. Perhaps we'll have some smart monkeys that will unify Einstein's 'Grand Universal Theory' for us. I'm sure they'd find it much easier to be objective. (Douglas Adams told us what happens when you have smart mice
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POPSExtinct thylacine genome brought to life Known as the Tasmanian Tiger, it was one of the few marsupial predators that were in Australia before the arrival of the west. The other is the Tasmanian Devil, which survives, but is threatened by a disease that causes ulcers.
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POPSLow tech best in China, Burma disasters Sometimes the only way rescuers can dig someone out of the rubble, without making the situation more dangerous, is with their bare hands, after the Human ears of the searchers recognize cries for help. People who are drowning, or buried don't have the time to wait for technology to arrive, particularly in remote areas, where the survivors in an immediate area,who can start looking straight away, may be the only chance they have. In China, many hands seem to be on the job, While the regime in Burma are trying to wash their hands. Not as Pilate, but as Lady Macbeth. The Damned spot will not disappear.
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POPSTiny tubes, rocket fuel soup up motors Nanomotors. The rods that are part of the nanomachines, are coated, one end with platinum, the other with gold. The metals act as a catalyst and break up either hydrogen peroxide, or rocket fuel (hydrazine). While other nanomachines use the metals, it is the way they break up the rocket fuel that gives the kick. They draw water from the chemicals, and use it as a 'jet' . Of course they use much less rocket fuel than a launch.
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POPSIncubator fields affect baby's heart rate. The heart ? No doubt it is going to be affected, but the brain seems like it is more at risk. The brain runs at a very low frequency - between 0, and 25 Hz in a natural state -compared to MHz, and kHz for radio, and GHz for a cpu, but as with the chords in music, a frequency higher up the scale can, amplify a note it harmonizes with somewhere else on the scale. Maybe there is a link between incubator EMR. and ADHD. A kid may not need Ritlin, they might need a tune up. If you want to know more about brain frequencies, wikki has a good summary in electroencephalograpy. Below is the url : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography#Wave_patterns
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POPSCancer Survivors=Couch Potatoes? What does it take to get people to adopt healthy lifestyles? According to this HealthDay article, surviving cancer is not the wake up call you might think. While research has shown that eating well, exercising and generally watching your weight can prevent the recurrence of cancer, a new study to be published in the journal, Cancer, found that less than a quarter of cancer survivors are regularly physically active. I don't know about you but I'm consistently amazed at how much people dislike exercise/physical activity... These people have faced life-threatening illnesses and most of them still don't want to get up off of the couch.
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POPSNew virus causes deadly bleeding This virus has just been identified and distinct from some other viruses with similar symptoms but is not a mutation. They believe it had been around for a while before it was isolated.
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POPSCloned mice cells treat Parkinson's The cells came from the mouse used, and were accepted more easily. Embryonic stem cells are often said to be useful, because they don't have an identity yet, but the immune system can be hard to fool, and as every person has their own supply of stem cells, at different stages of advancement, . it makes sense to use cells that will be recognized. The field is only in it's early stages. While Embryonic stem cells seem to have had potential, there are no doubt cells that are just as pliable within each of us, and using them for any treatments, will mean a number of other problems wont have to be overcome.
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POPSOvereating disrupts web of genes. They say perhaps they can develop drugs that will solve the problem.? Perhaps sensible eating would be a good idea. We don't have any idea of the effects of a bad diet on our genes, amongst many other things. Many of these effects are no doubt passed down to the children.
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POPSDEET messes with mosquito 'nose' Known as an insect repellent, Scientists were not sure how it worked until now. DEET does not so much repel mosquitoes and ticks which are attracted to carbon dioxide, and other human odors which give a signal that there is a blood supply somewhere, It masks these signals so the mosquitoes go and look for their blood supply somewhere else. DEET has been available to the to the public,for over 50 years and is an active ingredient in many insect repellents, but adverse health effects have been noted such as rashes and seizures, is toxic to some marine species. The risk of DEET side effects are generally rare and must be matched with the risk of mosquito borne disease. Advice is given to avoid using on broken skin, and to wash off if no longer needed. The standard warning on an insect repellent can. I've always found that any itch or sting from an insect repellent is better than the itch of a mosquito bite.
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POPSSea cucumber makes hard plastic go soft and back again. It's amazing the number of discoveries we have made which have been described as great innovations, when nature has found a quicker and easier way long before us. Our destruction of the environment is destroying many of these examples before we find them. Nature has a remarkable way of working around problems, as the 'law of survival remains fundamental, and it has had hundreds of millions of years of field tests.
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POPSFolding(Proteins)@home-Distributed Computing Stanford University is doing valuable protein research spreading the load to thousands of personal computers using unallocated CPU time.It has a low 'status' so all other programs are given priority. I had heard about it but didn't know it was so easy to join. You can be anonymous, have a username, or also be part of a team. where the work done is tallied. I found out about it at the Ubuntu site, so I joined team Ubuntu, but thought there could always be a team clipmarks. I'll leave that with egoldstein, I just joined and have no idea about teams and team numbers. Theres 1 'client' per CPU so dual cores can have 2 (2 teams?) There is a link in the program to show how many proteins have been done. Programs for linux,apple and mac. I don't know about after rebooting. Ubuntu has a script that restarts every reboot Windows may have to run exe again. mac? I can't be sure the username search works from the clip, but if you're interested the top link to Stanford will make a lot more sense
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POPSCassowaries still feeling cyclone pain 2 years ago, all of the dependent chicks were blown away, presumed dead, They are suffering tuberculosis, and are being hit by cars, dog attacks, after a lack of food in the rainforests has sent them onto the roads, and weakened their immune systems. Moore also says .that around 90% of the flying fox populations have also disappeared
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