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Week 36
Mind blowing speech by Robert Welch
in 1958 predicting Insiders plans to destroy America
Proof that the NEW WORLD ORDER has been
planned by the elite. Robert Welch, Founder of The John Birch Society, predicted today's
problems with uncanny accuracy back in 1958 and prescribed solutions in 1974 that are very
similar to Ron Paul's positions today. This is proof that there are plans in place by the
elite to systemically disassemble US sovereignty.
Funny Talking Animals - Walk On The
Wild Side
Walk On The Wild Side is a brand new comedy
series that seeks to provide a long overdue forum for the views and opinions of the animal
kingdom. It's a world of hip hop-loving badgers, dieting pandas and a marmot called Alan.
They and a whole bunch of other characters come together in a show which combines
comedy with jaw-dropping natural history footage.
U-M researchers discover
therapeutic target that could help patients with pulmonary fibrosis
More than 40,000 people die each year from
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition with no effective treatment. Now, researchers
at the University of Michigan have discovered a therapeutic target in mice that could lead
to treatment for patients.
UFO crash hits wind turbine
A UFO is believed to have struck a giant
wind turbine in South Lincolnshire.
Secondhand Smoke Levels Higher in
Cars than in Bars or Restaurants
The concentrations of secondhand smoke are significantly higher in cars than
concentrations generally measured in bars, restaurants and other public places that allow
smoking, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health. The study is among the first to measure smoking in cars under real-world
driving conditions and is published on August 24, ahead of print, in Tobacco Control. For
the study, researchers monitored the air in the cars of 17 smokers and 5 non-smokers.
“Two air monitors were placed in each car for a 24- hour period,” said study
author Miranda Jones, a master’s student with Bloomberg School of Public Health who
conducted the study as part of her Diversity Summer Internship Program. The cars were
driven as the participants commuted to and from work for at least 30 minutes. The median
air concentrations measured were 9.6 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter.) After 1 to 3
cigarettes, airborne concentrations of nicotine were 72 times higher in cars with smoking
compared to smoke-free cars. After adjusting for factors such as air conditioner use,
vehicle size, window opening and sampling time, there was a 1.96-fold increase in air
nicotine concentrations per cigarette smoked.
Dental researchers confirm
microRNAs as biomarkers for oral cancer detection
A new study published by researchers at the UCLA School of Dentistry substantiates the
effectiveness of measuring the microRNAs present in saliva to detect oral squamous cell
carcinoma. Like hall monitors in an elementary school, microRNAs are the molecules
produced by cells that simultaneously asses the behavior of multiple genes and control
their activity. Dr. David Wong, UCLA's Felix and Mildred Yip Professor of Dentistry, and
his colleagues previously demonstrated the usefulness of proteome and transcriptome
diagnostics for oral cancer; this new research expands the "diagnostic alphabet"
of genetic salivary biomarkers that can yield a diagnosis on the molecular level long
before a tumor is present. The scientists' latest results show that while the saliva of
healthy individuals contains about 50 microRNAs, two in particular — miR-125a and
miR-200a — are present at significantly different levels in the saliva of individuals
suffering from oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Common blood disorder may not be
linked to as many serious diseases
A symptomless blood disorder, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, known as
MGUS, is not linked to as many serious diseases as previously thought. This finding may
save patients from undergoing unnecessary workup and treatment according to a study
published in the August 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. MGUS has long been thought
to be a precursor of serious disease, such as multiple myeloma, primary amyloidosis and
Waldenström macroglobulinemia. However, for years physicians have reported possible
association of MGUS with many more diseases. As a result, some patients with MGUS who had
these disorders were subjected to investigations and sometimes additional treatments as a
precaution. MGUS is a fairly common disorder, affecting roughly 3 percent of the U.S.
population. This study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of
Health and the U.S. Public Health Service.
New technology helps Parkinson's
patients speak louder
Researchers have developed a new technology that helps Parkinson's patients overcome the
tendency to speak too quietly by playing a recording of ambient sound, which resembles the
noisy chatter of a restaurant full of patrons. "People with Parkinson's disease
commonly have voice and speech problems," said Jessica Huber, an associate professor
in Purdue's Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. "At some point in
their disease they will have some form of voice or speech disorder that generally occurs a
little later in the disease." Parkinson's affects 1.5 million people in the United
States and is one of the most common degenerative neurological diseases. About 89 percent
of those with Parkinson's have voice-related change, which is related to how loudly they
speak, and about 45 percent have speech-related change, or how clearly they speak. "A
major therapy is to get people to speak louder, which also may cause them to articulate
more clearly," Huber said. The most common therapy, the Lee Silverman voice treatment
program, trains patients to speak louder in one-hour sessions four days a week for a
month. "Some Parkinson's patients do great with this approach, but others do
not," Huber said. "They forget to keep speaking louder the minute they have left
the therapy room. Lee Silverman tends to work less for people with later stages of disease
or those who have some cognitive decline. So I wanted to know whether there was an easier
way to cue people during therapy, rather than telling them, 'Try to be twice as loud,' or
'Try to focus on this sound meter and achieve this loudness.'"
Surprising results in teen study -
adolescent risky behavior may signal mature brain
A new study using brain imaging to study teen behavior indicates that adolescents who
engage in dangerous activities have frontal white matter tracts that are more adult in
form than their more conservative peers. The brain goes through a course of maturation
during adolescence and does not reach its adult form until the mid-twenties. A
long-standing theory of adolescent behavior has assumed that this delayed brain maturation
is the cause of impulsive and dangerous decisions in adolescence. The new study, using a
new form of brain imaging, calls into question this theory. In order to better understand
the relationship between high risk-taking and the brain's development, Emory University
and Emory School of Medicine neuroscientists used a form of magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to measure structural changes in white matter
in the brain. The study's findings are published in the Aug. 26, 2009 PLoS ONE. "In
the past, studies have focused on the pattern of gray matter density from childhood to
early adulthood, says Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, principal investigator and professor of
Psychiatry and Neuroeconomics at Emory University and director of the Center for
Neuropolicy. "With new technology, we were able to develop the first study looking at
how development of white matter relates to activities in the real world." Gray matter
is the part of the brain made up of neurons, while white matter connects neurons to each
other. As the brain matures, white matter becomes denser and more organized. Gray matter
and white matter follow different trajectories. Both are important for understanding brain
function. The study enrolled 91adolescents ages 12 through 18 over a three-year period.
Levels of engagement in dangerous behaviors were measured by a survey that included
questions about the teens' thrill seeking behaviors, reckless behaviors, rebellious
behaviors and antisocial behaviors. DTI was used to measure corresponding structural
changes in white matter.
Reinterpretation of proximal colon
polyps called hyperplastic in 2001
Serrated colorectal polyps include the subgroups hyperplastic polyps, sessile serrated
polyps (also called sessile serrated adenomas), and serrated adenomas. Recent studies have
found that serrated polyps share molecular features with a subgroup of colon cancers,
leading to the hypothesis that serrated polyps can be precursors of cancer through a
hyperplastic polyp to serrated adenoma to cancer sequence. These cancers tend to arise in
the proximal colon. Sessile serrated polyps may be an intermediate step between
hyperplastic polyp and serrated adenomas. There is currently insufficient understanding of
the clinical significance of hyperplastic polyps and sessile serrated polyps to make
reliable recommendations to clinicians about how to respond (e.g. when to repeat
colonoscopy) when these lesions are detected. A research article to be published on August
14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question.The study
material was 40 consecutive polyps at least 5 mm in size from the proximal colon,
identified in 2001 at a single institution, and interpreted as hyperplastic in 2001 by
general pathologists. In 2007 reinterpretation was performed by 3 experts gastrointestinal
pathologists, The gastrointestinal (GI) pathologists interpreted 85%, 43% and 30% of the
polyps as sessile serrated polyps (sessile serrated adenomas). The overall Kappa was 0.16.
When diagnoses were compared in pairs, Kappa values were 0.38 and 0.25 (fair agreement)
and 0.14 (slight agreement). The results indicated that many polyps interpreted as
hyperplastic in 2001 were considered sessile serrated lesions by GI pathologists in 2007,
but there is substantial inter-observer variation amongst GI pathologists.
Unlocking the body's defenses
against cancer
Scientists have discovered a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous
cells and stop them developing into tumours in what could provide a new approach to
treating early-stage cancers. University of Manchester researchers found that a special
type of the chemicals known as 'kinase inhibitors' opened up communication channels on the
surface of cells that enabled healthy cells to 'talk' to the cancer cells. "When we
added the chemicals to a mixture of healthy and cancerous cells in a flask the diseased
cells stopped multiplying and began acting like normal cells again," said Dr Ian
Hampson, who carried out the research with wife Dr Lynne Hampson. "Further tests
revealed that the chemicals helped the cancer cells form connections with surrounding
healthy cells that allowed these normal cells to take charge of the mechanism by which
cancer cells divide and grow out of control." Cell division occurs naturally and
continuously in human organs and tissue as part of the body's normal repair processes to
combat wear and tear but in cancer the cells divide in an uncontrolled way. Dr Hampson
says the findings, published in the British Journal of Cancer, are all the more exciting
because the chemicals, which were developed with colleagues at the University of Salford,
appear to be relatively non-toxic and the positive effect on the cancer cells persists
even when the chemicals are withdrawn. "When the chemicals were added to a culture
containing just cancer cells they had little effect," said Dr Hampson, who is based
in Manchester's School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences. "It was only when we added the
chemicals to a mixture of cancer cells and normal cells – similar to how you would
find them in the body – that growth was suppressed.
New link between pre-eclampsia and
diet
A chemical compound found in unpasteurised food has been detected in unusually high levels
in the red blood cells of pregnant women with the condition pre-eclampsia. These results
are important because they suggest that the compound, 'ergothioneine', is an indicator of
pre-eclampsia and may help scientists to understand the cause of the condition, which is
currently unknown. Scientists at the University of Leeds took blood samples from a group
of thirty-seven pregnant women and compared the red blood cells from women with
pre-eclampsia with the red blood cells from women with no symptoms. In results published
in the journal Reproductive Sciences, chemists found a significantly higher concentration
of the ergothioneine - a compound made by fungi - in the red blood cells of the women with
pre-eclampsia. Ergothioneine is already well known to be made by micro-organisms that are
commonly found in foods such as unpasteurised dairy products. As it cannot be synthesised
by humans it finds its way into human cells exclusively through our diet. The NHS does not
advise against pregnant women eating fungi or foods such as unpasteurised dairy products
which contain ergothioneine producing fungi. In fact scientific studies on animals
highlight the benefit of ergothioneine. "These results suggest that a higher level of
ergothioneine is an indicator of pre-eclampsia," says Dr Julie Fisher, a chemist at
the University of Leeds who lead the research.
More obesity blues
Obesity is on a rampage, with the World Health Organization pegging the numbers at more
than 300 million worldwide, with a billion more overweight. With obesity comes the
increased risk for cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, and hypertension. Now comes
more discouraging news. In the current online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping,
Paul Thompson, senior author and a UCLA professor of neurology, and lead author Cyrus A.
Raji, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues
compared the brains of people who were obese, overweight, and of normal weight, to see if
they had differences in brain structure; that is, did their brains look equally healthy.
They found that obese people had 8 percent less brain tissue than people with normal
weight, while overweight people had 4 percent less tissue. According to Thompson, who is
also a member of UCLA's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, this is the first time anyone has
established a link between being overweight and having what he describes as "severe
brain degeneration." "That's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive
reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases that attack
the brain," said Thompson. "But you can greatly reduce your risk for
Alzheimer's, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control." The
researchers used brain images from an earlier study called the Cardiovascular Health Study
Cognition Study. Scans were selected of 94 elderly people in their 70s who were healthy
not cognitively impaired—five years after the scan was taken. To define the weight
categories, they used the Body Mass Index (BMI), the most widely used measurement for
obesity. Normal weight people were defined as having a BMI between 18.5-25; overweight
people between 25-30, and obese people greater than 30. The researchers then converted the
scans into detailed three-dimensional images using tensor-based morphometry, a
neuroimaging method that offers high resolution mapping of anatomical differences in the
brain. In looking at both grey matter and white matter of the brain, they found that the
people defined as obese had lost brain tissue in the frontal and temporal lobes, areas of
the brain critical for planning and memory, and in the anterior cingulate gyrus (attention
and executive functions), hippocampus (long term memory) and basal ganglia (movement).
Overweight people showed brain loss in the basal ganglia, the corona radiata, white matter
comprised of axons, and the parietal lobe (sensory lobe).
MicroRNA in human saliva may help
diagnose oral cancer
Researchers continue to add to the diagnostic alphabet of saliva by identifying the
presence of at least 50 microRNAs that could aid in the detection of oral cancer,
according to a report in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association
for Cancer Research."It is a Holy Grail of cancer detection to be able to measure the
presence of a cancer without a biopsy, so it is very appealing to think that we could
detect a cancer-specific marker in a patient's saliva," said Jennifer Grandis, M.D.,
professor of otolaryngology and pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine and Cancer Institute and a senior editor of Clinical Cancer Research. MicroRNAs
are molecules produced in cells that have the ability to simultaneously control activity
and assess the behavior of multiple genes. They are a thriving research topic right now,
and researchers believe they could hold the key to early detection of cancer. The
emergence of a microRNA profile in saliva represents a major step forward in the early
detection of oral cancer. "The oral cavity is a mirror to systemic health, and many
diseases that develop in other parts of the body have an oral manifestation," said
David T. Wong, D.M.D., D.M.Sc., Felix and Mildred Yip Endowed Professor at the University
of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry.
Farming With Nature - Permaculture
with Sepp Holzer
This is a clip from the film "Farming
With Nature" about permaculture farmer Sepp Holzer. We went to film Sepp Holzer for
about 2,5 years. He created an edible landscape on 1500 m above sea level. Between the
pinetree monocultures of Austria he built the biggest functioning permaculture landscape
of Europe. You can see all films about Sepp Holzer on a DVD called "Sepp Holzer“s
Permaculture" published by the filmmakers, Malcolm St.Julian Bown and Heidi Snel.
Find the DVD at www.ecofilm.de
Tip: Jan van Vlerken
Ethics of Outsourcing Pregnancy to
India - Michael Sandel
Political philosopher Michael Sandel
analyzes the moral implications of using poor women in developing countries like India as
commercial surrogate mothers. Sandel challenges the audience to debate the ethics of
outsourcing surrogacy as a profitable business.
Brainwashing: The Key to Weight
Loss? - Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth Loftus discusses her
psychological work using false memories to influence food choices. By embedding a false
food experience, Loftus found subjects avoided fattening foods after being convinced the
food caused them to be extremely sick.
When it comes to chicken, Europeans are
picky. With most only wanting chicken breast, the rest of the meat is sold on the cheap in
Africa but this is forcing African chicken farmers out of business. With Europeans
desperate to get rid of their surpluses, the EU has spent 3.7 billion Euros on export
subsidies over the past 10 years. With cheap frozen imports flooding the African market,
farmers are left struggling. Previously, the women came and said, I have a festival, I
need 50 chickens. Today, thats no more. These people buy the same parts in a box. In order
to survive, farmers are seeking new solutions. Poultry breeder Alex Yeboah has started
selling to demanding top quality restaurants. They buy it because they like the taste of
our local chicken. They appreciate our quality. But for most market sellers, customers are
diminishing as they opt for the cheaper foreign options.
Attenborough: Bad Breath From the
Gentle Sea Cow - Life of Mammals - BBC
In the shallow waters, the gentle sea cows
graze on plants. This endearing clip shows David Attenborough swimming with water based
mammals as graceful as one can imagine. From the BBC's Life of Mammals documentary
series..
Lunchtime for Baboons - Mountain of
the Sea - BBC
It's lunchtime on the beach for these
baboons, the most southerly living primates after humans. Watch this interesting clip from
BBC wildlife programme Mountain of the Sea.
Fatigue Related to Radiotherapy May
Be Caused by Inflammation
Patients who experience fatigue during radiotherapy for breast or prostate cancer may be
reacting to activation of the proinflammatory cytokine network, a known inflammatory
pathway, according to a report in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American
Association for Cancer Research. Julie Bower, Ph.D., an associate professor in the
Department of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and
colleagues, conducted an observational study among 28 patients with breast cancer and 20
patients with prostate cancer, all early stage. Patients completed questionnaires and
provided blood samples so researchers could determine the level of proinflammatory
markers. As expected, there was a strong link between radiotherapy treatment and fatigue.
In a new finding, the researchers noted that increases in serum markers of cytokine
activity, specifically IL-1 receptor antagonist and C-reactive protein, were also linked
with fatigue. "This study suggests that exposure to radiation is releasing these
inflammatory cytokines and that may be contributing to fatigue," said Bower.
Long-term tamoxifen use increases
risk of an aggressive, hard to treat type of second breast cancer
While long-term tamoxifen use among breast cancer survivors decreases their risk of
developing the most common, less aggressive type of second breast cancer, such use is
associated with a more than four-fold increased risk of a more aggressive,
difficult-to-treat type of cancer in the breast opposite, or contralateral, to the initial
tumor. These findings by Christopher Li, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center were published online Aug. 25 in the journal Cancer Research.
Hormonal therapy with drugs like tamoxifen is one of the most common treatments for breast
cancer because it has been shown to reduce the risk of dying from the disease but, as this
study suggests, it does have risks. Comparing breast-cancer patients who received the
estrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen to those who did not, the researchers found that while
the drug was associated with a 60 percent reduction in estrogen receptor-positive, or ER
positive, second breast cancer – the more common type, which is responsive to
estrogen-blocking therapy – it also appeared to increase the risk of ER negative
second cancer by 440 percent. "This is of concern, given the poorer prognosis of
ER-negative tumors, which are also more difficult to treat," said Li, an associate
member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division. These findings confirm
preliminary research by Li and colleagues, published in 2001, which was the first to
suggest a link between long-term tamoxifen use and an increased risk of ER-negative second
cancers. "The earlier study had a number of limitations. For example, we did not have
information on the duration of tamoxifen therapy the women received," Li said.
"The current study is larger, is based on much more detailed data, and is the first
study specifically designed to determine whether tamoxifen use among breast cancer
survivors influences their risk of different types of second breast cancers," Li
said. This new study assessed history of tamoxifen use among 1,103 breast cancer survivors
from the Seattle-Puget Sound region who were initially diagnosed with ER positive breast
cancer between the ages of 40 and 79. Of these, 369 of the women went on to develop a
second breast cancer. Nearly all of the women in the study who took adjuvant hormonal
therapy used tamoxifen specifically. Detailed information about tamoxifen use was
ascertained from telephone interviews and medical record reviews. While the study
confirmed a strong association between long-term tamoxifen therapy and an increased risk
of ER-negative second cancer, it does not suggest that breast cancer survivors should stop
taking hormone therapy to prevent a second cancer, Li said. "It is clear that
estrogen-blocking drugs like tamoxifen have important clinical benefits and have led to
major improvements in breast cancer survival rates. However, these therapies have risks,
and an increased risk of ER negative second cancer may be one of them. Still, the benefits
of this therapy are well established and doctors should continue to recommend hormonal
therapy for breast cancer patients who can benefit from it," Li said.
Researchers from Turku, Finland, have identified a blood-flow glucose consumption mismatch
that predicted pancreatic tumor aggressiveness, according to results of a study published
in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Based on these findings, they suggested that the relationship between several
physiological tumor parameters might provide more important information about a tumor than
just looking at any of these parameters alone. Gaber Komar, M.D., research fellow at the
Turku PET Center, and colleagues investigated the importance of two physiological
parameters in the tumor microenvironment among patients with pancreatic tumors to evaluate
tumor aggressiveness. The parameters measured were blood flow in the tumor tissue and
glucose consumption, which could be seen as a measurement of general metabolic activity of
a tissue.
New treatment option for ruptured
brain aneurysms
Researchers in Finland have identified an effective new treatment option for patients who
have suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, a potentially life-threatening event. Results of
the new study on stent-assisted coil embolization were published today in the online
edition of Radiology. An aneurysm is a bulge or sac that develops in a weak area of a
cerebral artery wall. Subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs when an aneurysm ruptures, diverting
oxygen-rich blood from vital areas to the space between the brain and the skull. The
ruptured vessel can be repaired surgically or through a minimally invasive procedure
called embolization, in which the sac is filled with metal coils in order to prevent
repeat bleeding from the aneurysm and to restore normal blood flow in the artery.
"The treatment decision is complicated in cases of acutely ruptured aneurysms,"
said the study's lead author, Olli Tähtinen, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at
Tampere University Hospital in Tampere, Finland. Embolization treatment of cerebral artery
aneurysms is becoming increasingly favored over surgical repair, especially when the
patient is older or in poor medical condition. However, embolization is challenging when
the neck of the aneurysm is wide, because the metal coils have a tendency to protrude out
of the sac into the artery. A balloon-tipped catheter threaded to the site of the aneurysm
can sometimes, but not always, solve the problem. "When the width or neck of the
bulge is particularly wide, aneurysms can be difficult to treat surgically or with
balloon-assisted embolization," Dr. Tähtinen said.
Unlocking the body’s defences
against cancer
Scientists have discovered a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous
cells and stop them developing into tumours in what could provide a new approach to
treating early-stage cancers. University of Manchester researchers found that a special
type of the chemicals known as ‘kinase inhibitors’ opened up communication
channels on the surface of cells that enabled healthy cells to ‘talk’ to the
cancer cells. “When we added the chemicals to a mixture of healthy and cancerous
cells in a flask the diseased cells stopped multiplying and began acting like normal cells
again,” said Dr Ian Hampson, who carried out the research with wife Dr Lynne Hampson.
“Further tests revealed that the chemicals helped the cancer cells form connections
with surrounding healthy cells that allowed these normal cells to take charge of the
mechanism by which cancer cells divide and grow out of control.” Cell division occurs
naturally and continuously in human organs and tissue as part of the body’s normal
repair processes to combat wear and tear but in cancer the cells divide in an uncontrolled
way.
U-M researchers discover
therapeutic target that could help patients with pulmonary fibrosis
A diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is not much better than a death sentence:
there is no treatment and the survival rate is less than three years. But researchers at
the University of Michigan have discovered that targeting of a novel gene utilizing
genetic and pharmacologic strategies was successful in treating pulmonary fibrosis in mice
and will be developed for future testing in humans. The treatments attack an
oxidant-generating enzyme, NOX4, that researchers discovered is involved in the fibrotic
process — which involves scar-like tissue formation in an organ such as the lung. The
researchers' findings will be published in the September issue of the journal Nature
Medicine. "We've identified the target. We know the enemy now," said Subramaniam
Pennathur, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine/nephrology. "This is the
first study that shows pulmonary fibrosis is driven by this NOX4 enzyme. "But what's
really significant is this discovery may have relevance to fibrosis in other organ
systems, not just the lung." So those suffering from common cardiac or kidney
diseases, which often involve fibrosis, also may benefit from treatments stemming from
this research, Pennathur said. Pennathur said continued support from the National
Institutes of Health will eventually allow researchers to take the treatment to human
studies. The University of Michigan also has filed for patent protection and is currently
looking for a licensing partner to help bring the technology to market.
New treatments offer better
survival and fresh challenges in colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western
world. Fortunately physicians today have an abundance of drug therapies available to
improve survival length for more advanced cancer patients. Now the discovery of genetic
biomarkers relevant to CRC means that targeted personalised medication is increasingly
common. CRC affects approximately 150,000 patients and leads to over 52,000 deaths every
year in the US alone. In the early stages, CRC can often be cured by surgery. It is in the
more advanced, palliative cases that the abundance of drug therapies comes into play,
according to Mayo Clinic oncologist Axel Grothey, MD. In his paper Medical treatment of
advanced colorectal cancer in 2009 published this week in the journal Therapeutic Advances
in Medical Oncology, Grothey details the interplay of therapies currently on offer.
Oncologists now integrate conventional cytotoxic agents oxaliplatin and irinotecan (which
directly fight tumour cells) with treatments such as bevacizumab and epidermal growth
factor receptor (EGFR) antibodies, cetuximab and panitumumab, as novel targeted agents
into standard medical therapy. The result is that median overall survival in metastatic
CRC now exceeds two years for the first time.
Significant glyphosate herbicide
transport to plant roots
The doctoral dissertation of MTT scientist Pirkko Laitinen is the first study to show a
connection between glyphosate transport in plants and residues detected in soil.
Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. In Finland, it
accounted for about 66% of all herbicide sales in 2007. “The study indicated that
glyphosate transport to plant roots involves a significant amount – more than 12% of
the volume used. Transport within the plant must be taken into account in evaluating the
environmental risks of glyphosate,” Pirkko Laitinen says. Glyphosate does not
decompose in plants. From the roots, the substance is released into soil, where microbes
may decompose it, or it may bind to soil particles and leach further with water. Transport
through the plant deep into the soil is a rapid process and can occur even under dry
conditions.
Core of Corruption: In The Shadows
Core of Corruption is a documentary film
series which details a comprehensive investigation into clandestine intelligence
operations and conspiracies. The project is surfacing exclusive whistleblowers, insiders
and critical evidence for the very first time. Over 2,000 hours of credible network news
clips have been surfaced for this ground breaking event, most of which have never been
seen since they aired and have never been available on the internet. Some of the video
news segments for this project, when requested from the networks, were denied access to
and corporate representatives would say that the information sought does not exist or has
been misplaced. Someone doesnt want the public to see these stories, that when put
together, establish a conspiracy of the magnitude that could change the way one views the
world. Countless millions of people are being manipulated and lied to by a network of
individuals within government that work on behalf of private interests. The individuals
were involved in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Many of those same figures are
are connected to historical events that have shaped our understanding of government crime.
For instance, the Iran Contra affair involved many figures that showed up in the 9/11
attacks.
State of the Planet is a three-part
environmental documentary series, made by the BBC Natural History Unit. It is written and
presented by David Attenborough, and produced by Rupert Barrington. It includes interviews
with many leading scientists, such as Edward O. Wilson and Jared Diamond. Each of the
programmes attempts to find answers to the potential ecological crisis that threatens the
Earth.
Fly eyes help researchers 'see' new
proteins involved in memory
With more than 1,500 eyes, not much escapes the fruit fly's sight. Now, a new research
report in the journal GENETICS (http://www.genetics.org), describes how researchers from
the United States and Ireland used those eyes to "see" new proteins necessary
for memory. In addition to shedding light on this critical neurological process, the study
also provides information on a form of mental retardation in humans. "Understanding
translational control mechanisms in the brain teaches us how the brain learns and adapts,
and will inform the design of treatments for specific types of neurologic disease,"
said Dr. Anne-Marie Cziko, at the University of Arizona and co-author of the study.
Specifically, the scientists found that the "fragile X mental retardation
protein," which plays a crucial role in the cellular processes involved in learning
and memory, needs five other proteins to function normally. The scientists identified
these proteins using an artificial system of increasing fragile X mental retardation
protein in the eyes of fruit flies. Its high level leads to visible deformities in a fly's
eyes. To test the requirement of various candidate proteins for function of the fragile X
mental retardation protein, the researchers genetically modified the flies to prevent them
from making each candidate protein. They found that loss of any one of the five proteins
caused the fruit fly's eye to be significantly less deformed, revealing that each is
required for function of the fragile X mental retardation protein. Because previous work
suggested that the fragile X protein regulates gene expression via an important group of
small RNAs called "microRNAs," the scientists tested whether the proteins they
identified were required for a specific microRNA named "bantam" to function in
fruit flies. The researchers performed these experiments by removing copies of the
identified proteins from the fly. Instead of looking at the flies' eyes, the researchers
looked inside the flies using a fluorescent protein that indicates how well bantam is
functioning. The investigators were surprised to find that none of the five proteins
identified in the study had an effect on bantam. Even more surprisingly, neither did the
fragile X mental retardation protein.
Online social networks leak
personal information to tracking sites, new study shows
More than a half billion people use online social networks, posting vast amounts of
information about themselves to share with online friends and colleagues. A new study
co-authored by a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has found that the
practices of many popular social networking sites typically make that personal information
available to companies that track Web users' browsing habits and allow them to link
anonymous browsing habits to specific people. The study, presented recently in Barcelona
at the Workshop on Online Social Networks, part of the annual conference of the
Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Data Communications, is
the first to describe a mechanism that tracking sites could use to directly link browsing
habits to specific individuals. "When you sign up with a social networking site, you
are assigned a unique identifier," says Craig Wills, professor of computer science at
WPI, who conducted the study with an industry colleague. "This is a string of numbers
or characters that points to your profile. We found that when social networking sites pass
information to tracking sites about your activities, they often include this unique
identifier. So now a tracking site not only has a profile of your Web browsing activities,
it can link that profile to the personal information you post on the social networking
site. Now your browsing profile is not just of somebody, it is of you." Like most
commercial websites, online social networks use third-party tracking sites, called
aggregators, to learn about the browsing habits of their visitors. Cookies are maintained
by a Web browser and contain information that enable tracking sites to build profiles of
the websites visited by a user. Each time the user visits a new website, the tracking site
can review those cookies and serve up ads that might appeal to the user. For example, if
the user frequently visits food sites, he or she might see an ad for a new cookbook.
Fat in the liver -- not the belly
-- is a better marker for disease risk
New findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Louis suggest that it's not whether body fat is stored in the belly that affects metabolic
risk factors for diabetes, high blood triglycerides and cardiovascular disease, but
whether it collects in the liver. Having too much liver fat is known as nonalcoholic fatty
liver disease. The researchers report online in the journal PNAS Early Edition that when
fat collects in the liver, people experience serious metabolic problems such as insulin
resistance, which affects the body's ability to metabolize sugar. They also have increases
in production of fat particles in the liver that are secreted into the bloodstream and
increase the level of triglycerides. For years, scientists have noted that where
individuals carried body fat influences their metabolic and cardiovascular risk. Increased
fat inside the belly, known as visceral fat, is associated with an increased risk of
diabetes and heart disease. "Data from a large number of studies shows that visceral
fat is associated with metabolic risk, which has led to the belief that visceral fat might
even cause metabolic dysfunction," says senior investigator Samuel Klein, M.D.
"However, visceral fat tracks closely with liver fat. We have found that excess fat
in the liver, not visceral fat, is a key marker of metabolic dysfunction. Visceral fat
might simply be an innocent bystander that is associated with liver fat."
UCLA scientists uncover immune
system's role in bone loss
Got high cholesterol? You might want to consider a bone density test. A new UCLA study
sheds light on the link between high cholesterol and osteoporosis and identifies a new way
that the body's immune cells play a role in bone loss. Published Aug. 20 in the journal
Clinical Immunology, the research could lead to new immune-based approaches for treating
osteoporosis. Affecting 10 million Americans, the disease causes fragile bones and
increases the risk of fractures, resulting in lost independence and mobility. Scientists
have long recognized the relationship between high cholesterol and osteoporosis, but
pinpointing the exact mechanism connecting the two has proved elusive. "We've known
that osteoporosis patients have higher cholesterol levels, more severe clogging of the
heart arteries and increased risk of stroke. We also knew that drugs that lower
cholesterol reduce bone fractures, too," explained Rita Effros, professor of
pathology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "What we didn't understand
was why." Effros suspected a clue to the mystery involved oxidation -- cell and
tissue damage resulting from exposure of the fatty acids in cholesterol to molecules known
as free radicals. In the study, UCLA researchers focused on low-density lipoprotein (LDL),
the so-called "bad" cholesterol. They examined how high levels of oxidized LDL
affect bone and whether a type of immune cell called a T cell plays a role in the process.
Using blood samples from healthy human volunteers, the team isolated the participants' T
cells and cultured them in a dish.
Lower-cost solar cells to be
printed like newspaper, painted on rooftops
Solar cells could soon be produced more cheaply using nanoparticle “inks” that
allow them to be printed like newspaper or painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops
to absorb electricity-producing sunlight. Brian Korgel, a University of Texas at Austin
chemical engineer, is hoping to cut costs to one-tenth of their current price by replacing
the standard manufacturing process for solar cells – gas-phase deposition in a vacuum
chamber, which requires high temperatures and is relatively expensive. “That’s
essentially what’s needed to make solar-cell technology and photovoltaics widely
adopted,” Korgel said. “The sun provides a nearly unlimited energy resource, but
existing solar energy harvesting technologies are prohibitively expensive and cannot
compete with fossil fuels.” For the past two years, Korgel and his team have been
working on this low-cost, nanomaterials solution to photovoltaics – or solar cell
– manufacturing. Korgel is collaborating with professors Al Bard and Paul Barbara,
both of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Professor Ananth Dodabalapur of
the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. They recently showed proof-of-concept
in a recent issue of Journal of the American Chemical Society. The inks could be printed
on a roll-to-roll printing process on a plastic substrate or stainless steel. And the
prospect of being able to paint the “inks” onto a rooftop or building is not
far-fetched.
Strong link found between
concussions and brain tissue injury
Concussions, whether from an accident, sporting event, or combat, can lead to permanent
loss of higher level mental processes. Scientists have debated for centuries whether
concussions involve structural damage to brain tissue or whether physiological changes
that merely impair the way brain cells function, explain this loss. Now, for the first
time, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have linked
areas of brain injury to specific altered mental processes caused by concussions. The
research, described in the August 26 edition of Radiology, provides compelling evidence
that concussions involve brain damage. The findings suggest that diffusion tensor imaging
(DTI), the brain scanning method used by the Einstein scientists, could help in diagnosing
concussions and in assessing the effectiveness of treatments. "DTI has been used to
look at other brain disorders, but this is the first study to focus on concussions,"
said Michael Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance
Research Center (MRRC) and associate professor of radiology, of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences, and of neuroscience at Einstein and lead author of the study. "It proved to
be a powerful tool for detecting the subtle brain damage that we found to be associated
with concussions." Each year, more than one million Americans sustain a concussion
(technically referred to as mild traumatic brain injury). Concussions in adults result
mainly from motor vehicle accidents or falls. While most people recover from concussions
with no lasting ill effects, as many as 30 percent suffer permanent impairment —
undergoing a personality change or being unable to plan an event. A 2003 federal study
called concussions "a serious public health problem" that costs the U.S. an
estimated $80 billion a year.
New treatments offer better
survival and fresh challenges in colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western
world. Fortunately physicians today have an abundance of drug therapies available to
improve survival length for more advanced cancer patients. Now the discovery of genetic
biomarkers relevant to CRC means that targeted personalised medication is increasingly
common. CRC affects approximately 150,000 patients and leads to over 52,000 deaths every
year in the US alone. In the early stages, CRC can often be cured by surgery. It is in the
more advanced, palliative cases that the abundance of drug therapies comes into play,
according to Mayo Clinic oncologist Axel Grothey, MD. In his paper Medical treatment of
advanced colorectal cancer in 2009 published this week in the journal Therapeutic Advances
in Medical Oncology, Grothey details the interplay of therapies currently on offer.
Oncologists now integrate conventional cytotoxic agents oxaliplatin and irinotecan (which
directly fight tumour cells) with treatments such as bevacizumab and epidermal growth
factor receptor (EGFR) antibodies, cetuximab and panitumumab, as novel targeted agents
into standard medical therapy. The result is that median overall survival in metastatic
CRC now exceeds two years for the first time.For decades, standard first-line therapy
consisted of the drugs fluorouracil (5-FU) plus leucovorin, which helped just a fifth of
patients to survive a median of one year. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the addition
of oxaliplatin and irinotecan to the backbone of 5-FU and leucovorin led to dramatic
improvement in median survival to nearly 24 months. Most recently, biologic agents such as
bevacizumab, cetuximab, and panitumumab, have yielded even better results for many
patients. "It cannot be overemphasized that these significant improvements in outcome
of patients with CRC are closely linked to the number of active drugs available to treat
this disease," says Grothey. However, he adds that this treatment abundance also
provides oncologists with specific challenges for managing palliative medical therapy in
advanced CRC, particularly when they use targeted agents.
High serum insulin levels and risk
of prostate cancer
Elevated insulin levels in the normal range appear to be associated with an increased risk
of prostate cancer, according to a new study published online August 21 in the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute. Insulin-like growth factors appear to be involved in the
development of prostate cancer, but the relationship between circulating insulin levels
and prostate cancer risk has been unclear. Demetrius Albanes, M.D., of the Nutritional
Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer
Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues investigated the relationship of the level of
serum insulin and glucose, as well as surrogate indices of insulin resistance, to the
development of prostate cancer. Researchers conducted a prospective case–cohort study
nested within a cancer prevention study of Finnish men (100 case subjects with prostate
cancer and 400 non-case subjects without prostate cancer). Levels of insulin were
determined in fasting serum that had been collected 5-12 years before diagnosis of
prostate cancer. The authors found that when subjects in the second through fourth
quartiles of serum insulin concentration were compared with those in the first or lowest
quartile, higher insulin levels within the normal range were associated with statistically
significantly increased risk of prostate cancer. Risk was not associated with serum
glucose concentration.
Fecal DNA methylation detects
gastric and colorectal cancers
A preliminary evaluation of methylation of two gene promoters in fecal DNA showed promise
as a noninvasive method to detect colorectal and gastric cancers, according to a new study
published online August 21 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Because many
patients are reluctant to undergo invasive tests for the detection of gastrointestinal
cancers, the development of nonintrusive screening tests is desirable. Especially in
cancer patients, some cells are sloughed off from the gastrointestinal tract, so small
amounts of DNA from these cells present in stool samples can be examined for the presence
of cancer biomarkers. Takeshi Nagasaka, M.D., of the Department of Gastroenterological
Surgery and Surgical Oncology at the Okayama University of Graduate School of Medicine,
and colleagues analyzed methylation of the RASSF2 and SFRP2 gene promoters from 788
primary gastric and colorectal tissue specimens to determine whether methylation patterns
could act as stage-dependent biomarkers of gastrointestinal tumorigenesis. Next, a
highly-sensitive assay was developed for the detection of these methylation patterns among
296 fecal DNA specimens from patients with colorectal or gastric tumors. Extensive
methylation at these gene promoters was much more likely to be found in advanced gastric
tumors and colorectal tumors than in normal tissue. Methylation markers were detected in
57% of gastric cancer patients, 75% of colorectal cancer patients, and 44% of subjects
with advanced colorectal adenomas, but only 10.6% of patients with none of these cancers.
UBC research sheds light on sudden
death in people with high cholesterol
Cholesterol can affect the flow of the electrical currents that generate the heart beat,
according to a study from two UBC cardiovascular researchers funded by the Heart and
Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon. The research team has just published the important
discovery about the causes of cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats) in one of the
world's leading scientific journals. Together with a group from Paris, France, UBC
researchers David Fedida and Jodene Eldstrom found that too much cholesterol can affect
the electrical currents, perhaps causing the heart to start beating out of rhythm or even
stop beating. In contrast, reducing the cholesterol normalized the structures underlying
the electrical activity, thus promoting a regular and healthy heartbeat. The researchers
discovered that the key mechanism by which this happens is the Kv1.5 potassium channel, a
protein that facilitates the flow of electrical charges through heart cells. Cholesterol
blocks the functioning of these proteins while lowering of cholesterol levels enhances
their function. Prior to this research, scientists already knew that cholesterol plays an
important role in regulating the heart's electrical system. However, they didn't know how.
"There is recent clinical and experimental evidence that lipid-lowering therapy, such
as statins, can restore normal heart rhythms, thus helping to prevent sudden death,"
Dr. David Fedida said. "However, these pharmacological effects of statins are poorly
understood and could involve other effects than their well-understood reduction of the
cholesterol in blood vessels. Here we show that cholesterol regulates the submembrane pool
of ion channels readily available for recruitment into the surface membranes of heart
cells. This process could be a major mechanism for the tuning of the heartbeat and might
contribute to the reduction in the incidence of abnormal and fatal heart rhythms during
treatment with lipid-lowering drugs." "Arrhythmias are a serious problem,"
said Dr. Jeff Sommers, Manager, Research and Science, Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC
& Yukon. "Although they affect people of all ages, this is especially so with an
aging population. This is a really exciting development that moves us well along the road
of understanding how to target heart rhythm disorders for prevention and treatment."
This discovery points toward a new path for developing therapies that can directly target
the causes of arrhythmia both before and after they start. Presently, anti-arrhythmic
drugs are non-specific and may have significant side-effects. About 40% of Canadians have
high blood cholesterol.
Alcohol advertising reaching too
many teens on cable TV
A new study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, in collaboration with UCLA,
has found a striking correlation between teenage viewership and the frequency of alcohol
advertising on cable television. The findings show that ads for beer, spirits and
"alcopop" aired much more frequently when more teens were watching. While
previous studies have shown that the average adolescent is exposed to well over 200
alcohol ads on television each year, this is the first to demonstrate an association
between ad placement and teen cable TV viewership. Cable TV attracts about 95 percent of
all nationally televised alcohol ads. The study will be published in the October issue of
the American Journal of Public Health and is currently available online by subscription.
"Alcohol advertisers have pledged to avoid audiences made up of more than 30 percent
underage viewers — such as children's programming," said David H. Jernigan,
director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth and an associate professor at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "However, many other shows have
adolescent appeal. This research suggests that ads are aimed at groups that include a
disproportionate number of teens and that the alcohol industry's voluntary self-monitoring
is not working to reduce adolescent exposure to ads."
MSU research supports calls to
study health benefits of nitrate, nitrite
A Michigan State University researcher is challenging health standards that consider
nitrates and nitrites in food to be harmful. Norman Hord’s research suggests that
although there are negative health effects associated with the use of nitrogen-based
fertilizers and excessive nitrates in groundwater, nitrates and nitrites -- as they occur
in plants -- may actually provide health benefits. Nitrate and nitrite are naturally
occurring ions associated with the nitrogen cycle in soil and water. They are regulated in
water and certain foods by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug
Administration because they have been associated with gastrointestinal cancer, blood
disorders in infants and other health problems. The World Health Organization established
a standard of 222 milligrams per day as an acceptable daily nitrate intake. Most of the
concern with these compounds relates to their presence in drinking water from shallow
wells near farms and the consumption of processed meats. In most diets, however, between
70 percent and 80 percent of the nitrates comes from vegetables, government and research
sources say. “We and others have shown that components of vegetables and fruit that
originate in the soil may function as nutrients by contributing to cardiovascular
health,” says Hord, associate professor of food science and human nutrition.
“Since these components of plant foods have important health implications, the
regulatory limits on the consumption of plant foods that contain nitrates and nitrites
need to be seriously reconsidered.”
UC Study Finds Low Risk in Treating
Previously Coiled Aneurysm
The risks associated with treating a recurrent or residual brain aneurysm that was
initially treated by endovascular coiling are low, according to a multicenter study led by
researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute. In the study of
311 patients with coiled aneurysms who underwent retreatment procedures at eight academic
health centers, the risk of death or permanent major disability was slightly over one in
100, or 1.28 percent. The study is part of an ongoing effort to quantify the risks of
treating dangerous brain aneurysms by filling them with tiny coils delivered with a
catheter. It was published in the August 2009 issue of Neurosurgery.
Unlocking the secret of the
bladder's bouncers
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center may have a new way to stop and even prevent
the urinary tract infections (UTIs) that plague more than a third of all adults, some of
them repeatedly. The researchers have discovered how cells within the bladder are able to
sense the presence of E. coli bacteria hiding within compartments in the bladder's own
cells. This starts a process that then kicks them out. Knowing how the bladder's own cells
sense the bacteria and what they do to expel them are both processes the Duke scientists
think they can exploit to do a better job of helping the bladder protect itself. New
treatments based on their findings might be able to tackle antibiotic-resistant UTIs and
perhaps even bacterial infections in other parts of the body, said Soman Abraham, a
professor of pathology at Duke. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
Increase in visceral fat during
menopause linked with testosterone
In middle-aged women, visceral fat, more commonly called belly fat, is known to be a
significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but what causes visceral fat to
accumulate? The culprit is likely not age, as is commonly believed, but the change in
hormone balance that occurs during the menopause transition, according to researchers at
Rush University Medical Center. "Of all the factors we analyzed that could possibly
account for the increase in visceral fat during this period in a woman's lifetime, levels
of active testosterone proved to be the one most closely linked with abdominal fat,"
said Imke Janssen, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine and the study's lead
investigator. The study, which has been published early online in the medical journal
Obesity, included 359 women in menopausal transition, ages 42 to 60, about half black and
half white. Fat in the abdominal cavity was measured with CT scans, a more precise
measurement than waist size. Blood tests were used to assess levels of testosterone and
estradiol (the main form of estrogen). Medical histories covered other health factors
possibly linked with an increase in visceral fat. Statistical analyses showed that the
level of "bioavailable" testosterone, or testosterone that is active in the
body, was the strongest predictor of visceral fat. A woman's age did not correlate
significantly with the amount of visceral fat. Nor did race or other cardiovascular risk
factors. The level of estradiol also bore little relationship to the amount of visceral
fat.
Acupuncture may bring relief for a
common condition in women
Polycystic ovary syndrome, a common condition among women, can be relieved by the use of
acupuncture and exercise. This has been shown by a recent study at the Sahlgrenska
Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Nearly 10% of women of reproductive age have
polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The syndrome expresses itself as a large number of small
immature cysts on the ovaries that cause a disturbance in the production of hormones and
an increase in the secretion of the male sex hormone. This means that many women with the
condition do not ovulate normally, and the syndrome may lead to infertility. The women run
an increased risk of becoming obese, developing type 2 diabetes, or developing
cardio-vascular disease. “We do not know for certain what causes the condition,
despite it being so common. We have seen that women with the syndrome often have high
activity in that part of the nervous system that we cannot consciously control, known as
the “sympathetic nervous system”. We believe that this may be an important
underlying factor in the syndrome”, says Elisabet Stener?Victorin, who has led the
research at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
A clue to the elusive cause of type
1 diabetes - Ottawa researchers investigate immune response to wheat
Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa have
discovered what may be an important clue to the cause of type 1 diabetes. Dr. Fraser Scott
and his team tested 42 people with type 1 diabetes and found that nearly half had an
abnormal immune response to wheat proteins. The study is published in the August 2009
issue of the journal Diabetes. Early in life, the immune system is supposed to learn to
attack foreign invaders such as viruses and bacteria, while leaving the body’s own
tissues and harmless molecules in the environment alone (including food in the gut). When
this process goes awry, autoimmune diseases and allergies can develop. Type 1 diabetes is
an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the pancreas,
the organ that regulates blood sugar. Dr. Scott’s research is the first to clearly
show that immune cells called T cells from people with type 1 diabetes are also more
likely to over-react to wheat. His research also shows that the over-reaction is linked to
genes associated with type 1 diabetes. “The immune system has to find the perfect
balance to defend the body against foreign invaders without hurting itself or
over-reacting to the environment and this can be particularly challenging in the gut,
where there is an abundance of food and bacteria,” said Dr. Scott, a Senior Scientist
at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Professor of Medicine at the University of
Ottawa. “Our research suggests that people with certain genes may be more likely to
develop an over-reaction to wheat and possibly other foods in the gut and this may tip the
balance with the immune system and make the body more likely to develop other immune
problems, such as type 1 diabetes.”
UCSF researchers identify two key
pathways in adaptive response
UCSF researchers have identified the two key circuits that control a cell’s ability
to adapt to changes in its environment, a finding that could have applications ranging
from diabetes and autoimmune research to targeted drug development for complex diseases.
