Good Afternoon all,
Here is yesterday's post. Todays will follow soon. :)
Today's Top 5:
1. Get Smart About What You Eat and You Might Actually Improve Your Intelligence (Eurekalert.org)
2. New Approach Offers Chance to Finally Kill Herpes (Yahoo News)
3. Long Sought Boyhood Home of George Washington Found (ABC News)
4. Ethanol Byproduct Produces Green Results (Bio-medicine.org)
5. University of Washington Medical Center Takes Part in World Health Organization Surgical Checklist Initiative (University of Washington News)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Humans Wore Shoes 40,000 Years Ago, Fossil Suggests (National Geographic)
2. Taiwan Power Co to Plant 1 Million Trees in Exchange for Expansion (Earth Times)
Today's Top 5:
1. Get Smart About What You Eat and You Might Actually Improve Your Intelligence
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/foas-gsa070208.php
Public release date: 2-Jul-2008
Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan@faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
MIT researchers offer tantalizing evidence on how to make people smarter, naturally
New research findings published online in The FASEB Journal provide more evidence that if we get smart about what we eat, our intelligence can improve. According to MIT scientists, dietary nutrients found in a wide range of foods from infant formula to eggs increase brain synapses and improve cognitive abilities.
"I hope human brains will, like those of experimental animals, respond to this kind of treatment by making more brain synapses and thus restoring cognitive abilities," said Richard Wurtman, MD, senior researcher on the project.
In the study, gerbils were given various combinations of three compounds needed for healthy brain membranes: choline, found in eggs; uridine monophosphate (UMP) found in beets; and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), found in fish oils. Other gerbils were given none of these to serve as a baseline. Then they were checked for cognitive changes four weeks later. The scientists found that the gerbils given choline with UMP and/or DHA showed cognitive improvements in tasks thought to be relevant to gerbils, such as navigating mazes. After these tests were concluded, the researchers dissected the mouse brains for a biological cause for the improvement. They found biochemical evidence that there was more than the usual amount of brain synapse activity, which was consistent with behaviors indicating higher intelligence.
"Now that we know how to make gerbils smarter," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "it's not too far a stretch to hope that people's intelligence can also be improved. Quite frankly, this can't happen soon enough, as every environmentalist, advocate of evolution and war opponent will attest."
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This article is scheduled for final publication in the November 2008 issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), which is published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and is the most cited biology journal worldwide according to the Institute for Scientific Information. FASEB comprises 21 nonprofit societies with more than 80,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. FASEB advances biological science through collaborative advocacy for research policies that promote scientific progress and education and lead to improvements in human health.
2. New Approach Offers Chance to Finally Kill Herpes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/herpes_treatment_dc
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Wed Jul 2, 5:39 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday they may have found a way to flush out herpes viruses from hiding -- offering a potential way to cure pesky and painful conditions from cold sores to shingles.
They discovered that a mysterious gene carried by the herpes simplex-1 virus -- the one that causes cold sores -- allows the virus to lay low in the nerves it infects.
It does so via microRNAs, little pieces of genetic material that regulate the activity of many viruses, the researchers report in the journal Nature.
It may be possible to "wake up" the virus and then kill it with standard antiviral drugs such as acyclovir, said Jennifer Lin Umbach of Duke University in North Carolina, who worked on the study.
"We are trying to go into animal trials," Umbach said in a telephone interview.
The Duke team is discussing a potential collaboration with Regulus Therapeutics LLC, a joint venture between Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc that specializes in microRNAs.
Herpes viruses cause permanent infections. They head straight to nerve cells, where they stay latent for the life of an animal or person, often causing periodic outbreaks.
Herpes simplex 1 or HSV-1 causes cold sores, HSV-2 causes genital herpes, while varicella causes chicken pox and returns in middle or old age as herpes zoster to cause shingles.
Acyclovir and related drugs can suppress symptoms but only when the virus is active.
IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL
"Inactive virus is completely untouchable by any treatment we have. Unless you activate the virus, you can't kill it," said Bryan Cullen, who oversaw the research.
Umbach said that for still unknown reasons, viruses infecting different neurons in the same body activate at different times, making it impossible to eradicate an infection.
Her team found that a gene called LAT controls microRNAs that turn off other genes in the virus.
"The presence of these active microRNAs keep the virus dormant," Umbach said. "When the virus is activated by stress like UV (ultraviolet) light or a wound, production of (other) genes goes up."
Then LAT is overwhelmed and unable to keep the virus in check. It wakes up and causes an outbreak.
A drug that would turn off the microRNAs could drive the virus out of hiding and allow all copies of the virus to be killed with acyclovir, she said.
"You would have one cold sore but you would get rid of it," she said. Curing something more painful, such as shingles, might be a little trickier, she added.
One class of drug called an antagomir might work, Umbach said. These chemically engineered oligonucleotides are short segments of RNA that can be made into mirror images of a targeted bit of genetic material -- such as the herpes microRNAs. They would attach and "silence" the microRNA.
The potential market is large. An estimated one in five Americans have genital herpes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 100 million have the HSV-1 virus that causes cold sores.
The CDC estimates there are a million cases of shingles every year in the United States alone.
3. Longsought Boyhood Home of George Washington Found
Discovery Offers Insight Into First President's Life
http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=5297035&page=1
By JOHN DONVAN
July 2, 2008
Nearly everyone has heard of George Washington's Mount Vernon, Va., estate, where tourists flock to visit the place where our first president lived and died.
Archeologists' discovery of George Washington's childhood home offers insight into the life of our nation's first president.
(AP Photo)Now, archeologists believe they have found the home where, according to legend, Washington, who could not tell a lie, chopped down the cherry tree.
The Ferry Farm site, located near Fredericksburg, Va., overlooking the Rappahannock River, just 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., which archeologists have excavated, is believed to be the house where Washington lived as a child, from the time he was 6 years old,.
After Washington moved away, the house rotted and was swallowed by time and grassland, preventing archeologists from finding its actual site until now.
The search for Washington's childhood home began seven years ago. First, researchers found remains of a home predating Washington's, and then they uncovered another home from the 19th century. Through trial and error, researchers found this area and excavated for three years, before verifying that it was the Washington's family home.
Related
The 'Real' George Washington EstateFloods Dash Historic Town's Tourism HopesNew D.C. Walking Tour Traces Lincoln's End"If George Washington did, indeed, chop down a cherry tree, as generations of Americans have believed, this is where it happened," said Philip Levy, who is a historical archaeologist and professor at the University of South Florida.
"What we see at this site is the best available window into the setting that nurtured the father of our country," Levy said.
David Muraca, director of archeology at the George Washington Foundation, made the find. From the remains, they were able to debunk historical assumptions about Washington's first home.
While historians had long believed Washington lived in a small cottage, the foundation and cellars that were found prove that the house was one and a half stories. Evidence also shows that the fire that had been said to have driven the family from the home, was merely minor.
Also from the remains, archeologists unearthed thousands of artifacts that once belonged to the Washington family: fragments of ceramic tableware, the bowl of a clay pipe with Masonic markings, scissors and a set of 18th century wig curlers -- perhaps used by Washington himself.
The clay pipe bowl -- with the Masonic crest -- is especially exciting for archeologists, since Washington joined the Masons in 1753.
4. Ethanol Byproduct Produces Green Results
http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Ethanol-byproduct-produces-green-results-3864-1/
2 July 2008
PROSSER WA Commercial flower and plant growers know all too well tha...Enter dried distillers grains with solubles or DDGS. DDGS a byprod...Researchers applied DDGS two ways: to the soil surface and mixed into...When mixed into the potting media however dried distillers grains we...[RSS]
http://www.bio-medicine.org/inc/biomed/biology-news.asp
http://feeds.bio-medicine.org/latest-biology-news
Email Subscription: Get Latest Biology News delivered by emailDate:7/2/2008[Outline] [RSS]
PROSSER, WA Commercial flower and plant growers know all too well that invasive, ubiquitous weeds cause trouble by lowering the value and deterring healthy growth of potted ornamental plants. To control weeds, many commercial nursery owners resort to the expensive practice of paying workers to hand-weed containers. Some growers use herbicides, but efficacy of herbicides is questionable on the wide range of plant species produced in nurseries, and many herbicides are not registered for use in greenhouses.
Enter "dried distillers grains with solubles", or DDGS. DDGS, a byproduct of converting corn to fuel ethanol, is typically used as livestock feed. Rick A. Boydston, Harold P. Collins, and Steve Vaughn, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, undertook a research study on the use of DDGS as a weed deterrent on potted ornamentals. The study results, published in the February 2008 issue of HortScience, evaluated the use of DDGS as a soil amendment to suppress weeds in container-grown ornamentals.
Researchers applied DDGS two ways: to the soil surface, and mixed into the potting media of transplanted ornamentals. Applied to the soil surface after transplanting, DDGS caused no injury to plants. According to Dr. Boydston, an agronomist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), "grains applied to the surface at rates that gave good coverage of the soil (800 and 1600 g/m2) reduced the number of common chickweed and annual bluegrass. Weed control was not perfect, but could reduce the amount of hand-weeding typically required."
When mixed into the potting media, however, dried distillers grains were toxic to transplanted rose, coreopsis, and phlox plants. Researchers concluded that DDGS may be useful for reducing weed emergence and growth in container-grown ornamentals when applied to the soil surface at transplanting. Dr. Boydston noted that additional research is needed to identify and confirm the safety (of using DDGS) to ot
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Contact: Michael W. Neff
mwneff@ashs.org
703-836-4606
American Society for Horticultural Science
Source:Eurekalert
5. University of Washington Medical Center Takes Part in World Health Organization Surgical Checklist Initiative
http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=42704
2 July 2008
Mary Guiden
UW Medical Center (UWMC) took part in an international broadcast and global launch of the World Health Organization's "Safe Surgery Saves Lives" campaign Wednesday, June 25. UWMC is the only U.S. site of eight sites around the globe participating in the pilot phase of the project, which involves the use of a checklist for care before, during and after surgery.
Dr. E. Patchen "Patch" Dellinger, vice-chair of surgery, is directing UW efforts and implemented use of the checklist for all general surgical operations at UWMC starting in April. It will be used for all operations by all surgical specialties by fall 2008.
Dellinger's work coincides with Dr. David Flum's efforts on the state's Surgical Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program and is supported by groups including the Washington State Hospital Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington State Medical Association, Group Health and others. Flum is a UW associate professor of surgery.
What items are covered on the checklist? Before a patient is rolled into the operating room, medical center staff ask the patient to confirm his or her identity and the procedure. Once in the operating room (OR), all team members introduce themselves by name and role ("I'm Patch, and I'm the surgeon," is how Dr. Dellinger introduced himself before a recent surgery).
As a visual prompt, the checklist is poster-sized and hangs from an IV (intravenous) pole. The patient's identity is again confirmed as well as the site of the surgery and procedure due to be performed. The health-care team discusses any anticipated critical events and goes over an antibiotic redosing plan for cases that may last more than three hours. The OR checklist takes from one to four minutes to complete.
Dellinger said the UW "jumped at the chance to be a pilot site" for the WHO initiative. "A lot of us feel as if we don't know why the checklist hadn't been there" all along, he said. Not all reactions were initially positive, he admitted. "One surgeon said, ‘It sounds like a good idea as long as I don't have to do anything I'm not already doing,'" Dellinger said, with a chuckle.
Registered nurse Jodi Bloom said she was initially skeptical because she thought the checklist was cumbersome. "But now, when I go to other specialties, I feel as if something is missing," Bloom said. (She will no longer have that "missing" feeling as the checklist is rolled out more broadly at UWMC.)
Debby Lunde, also a registered nurse, described herself as perhaps the "biggest skeptic" when it came time to employ the checklist. "It was one more thing that we had to do," she explained. After a few months of using the checklist, however, Lunde said she is now one of the strongest supporters of the initiative. One of the things she appreciates is the opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns. "I love the way it brings us together in open communication and connection as a team, totally focusing on the patient," Lunde said.
The checklist has now been used in more than 500 operations at UWMC, and Dellinger estimates that it has helped to reduce patient safety errors by about half.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Humans Wore Shoes 40,000 Years Ago, Fossil Suggests
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080630-oldest-shoes_2.html
Scott Norris
for National Geographic News
July 1, 2008
Humans were wearing shoes at least 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study.
The evidence comes from a 40,000-year-old human fossil with delicate toe bones indicative of habitual shoe-wearing, experts say.
A previous study of anatomical changes in toe bone structure had dated the use of shoes to about 30,000 years ago.
Now the dainty-toed fossil from China suggests that at least some humans were sporting protective footwear 10,000 years further back, during a time when both modern humans and Neandertals occupied portions of Europe and Asia.
Study author Erik Trinkaus, a paleoanthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, said the scarcity of toe bone fossils makes it hard to determine when habitual shoe-wearing became widespread.
However, he noted, even Neandertals may have been strapping on sandals.
"Earlier humans, including Neanderthals, show [some] evidence of occasionally wearing shoes," Trinkaus said.
Regular shoe use may have become common by 40,000 years ago, but "we still have no [additional] evidence from that time period—one way or the other," the scientist said.
The study by Trinkaus and Chinese co-author Hong Shang appears in the July issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Tale of the Toes
In a previous study, Trinkaus found that shoe-wearing and barefoot human groups show characteristic differences in the size and strength of their middle toe bones.
Consistent shoe use results in a more delicate bone structure, because footwear reduces the force on middle toes during walking.
In his latest study, this anatomical evidence allowed Trinkaus to date the origin of shoes to a period long before the oldest known shoe remains.
Elizabeth Semmelhack curates the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada. She said given what we know about the effects of shoe-wearing, Trinkaus' approach makes perfect sense.
"The simple act of wearing shoes alters the structure of our feet," Semmelhack said.
"It's interesting that [Trinkaus] is looking at these prehistoric remains and coming to the same conclusions."
Function vs. Fashion
The first forms of protective footwear probably evolved from simple wrappings used to insulate the feet from snow and freezing temperatures, experts say.
The oldest preserved shoe remains, dating to roughly 10,000 years ago from the western United States, are simple sandals woven of plant fibers.
But at some point shoes stopped being mere protection and become a fashion item.
Some anthropologists have suggested that even the earliest shoes may have served a more symbolic than protective function.
Beads found around the ankles and feet of human skeletons dated to 27,000 years ago suggest the presence of decorated footwear, Trinkaus said.
"History is replete with examples of impractical, irrational shoes," noted shoe museum curator Semmelhack.
"The actual first shoes may have been created out of necessity. But elements of irrationality probably crept in very early on," she said.
"Even these ancient people were probably trying to express something."
2. Taiwan Power Co to Plant 1 Million Trees in Exchange for Expansion
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/216557,taiwan-power-co-to-plant-1-million-trees-in-exchange.html
Posted : Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:27:05 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Environment
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Taipei - The Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), after promising to plant 1 million trees, has won permission from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to expand one of its power plants, a newspaper said on Thursday. According to the Commercial Times, EPA gave approved Taipower's plan to expand its coal-fired power plant in Linkou, outside Taipei, after Taipower had promised to plant 1 million trees to compensate for green house emissions from the expanded plant.
In its report to EPA, Taipower detailed short-, mid- and long-term measures for environmental protection, and pledged to cut its 2020 greenhouse emission to the level of 2008, the daily said.
The state-run Taipower plans to install 3 more generators at the Linkou Power Plant to boost the plant's power generation capability from the current 1 million kilowatts to 2.48 million kilowatts.
Taipower will invite international tenders for the 3 generators, with the contract worth about 4.8 billion US dollars. The first generator is scheduled to go into operation in 2013, the Commercial Times said.
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