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Tag Archives: Health
Truth, Lies and Public Health
Truth, Lies, and Public Health: How We Are Affected When Science and Politics Collide
A Step Towards Defeating Malaria
A lectin is a funny little protein that seems to be used in a lot of biological systems. They bind to sugars, and one of the roles they play is inhibition of “agglutination” … clumping, or gluing together … of other molecules.A sea cucumber is an echinoderm that lives in the ocean. It looks kind of like a cucumber, but if you saw a cucumber that looked and acted like an echinoderm you would probably not put it in your salad.Malaria is a type of protozoan, a single celled organism that is not a bacteria. There are many kinds, and they complex life cycle with many different stages, including one stage that lives in the gut of a mosquito, and another stage that lives in the blood cells of a vertebrate host. One of the nasty forms of malaria that affects humans is Plasmodium falciparum.An ookinete is the general name for a protozoan zygote. It is an egg that moves, as you can guess from its name. The malaria parasite is an ookinete when it enters the gut of a mosquito.A sporozoite is the life stage of malaria when it has moved from the gut to the salivary glands, from where it is potentially passed to the vertebrate host when the mosquito is busy sucking blood. Continue reading A Step Towards Defeating Malaria
Reduced Verbal Ability in African American Children
African American children may have reduced verbal ability compared to other children to a degree that is roughly equivalent to missing a year in school, according to a recently published paper. Is this evidence of a racial difference?The study by Sampson et.al., published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences included more than 200 children aged 6-12 living in Chicago, and followed these children over seven years. The study controlled for poverty, and interestingly, poverty was not found to be a good predictor of differences in verbal ability. Continue reading Reduced Verbal Ability in African American Children
Geek the Vote
Popular Mechanics (one of those magazines that genteel people refuse to admit they read, but that is actually a blast) has published a thing called “Geek the Vote.” According to an email from PM, this is:
…an online guide to all the candidates’ stances on issues related to science and technology including energy policy and climate change, gun control, science education and infrastructure investment. The full chart, which can be navigated by candidate or issue, is [provided]
The site is here.This is apparently in response to (maybe not, but there is evidence to suggest this) the Science Debate 2008 initiative (see this). Continue reading Geek the Vote
Minnesotans Will Not Let Harm Come to our Women
And others who may wear mascara and other cosmetics. We’ve banned cosmetics with mercury. This makes Minnesota stricter in this regard than the Federal Government or any other state.What I find amazing is that Mercury was not already banned from substances that you rub on yourself.[source]
Reprogramming Adult Cells to Cure Sickle-Cell
MIT researchers have successfully treated mice with sickle-cell anemia in a process that begins by directly reprogramming the mice’s own cells to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the use of eggs.This is the first proof-of-principle of therapeutic application in mice of directly reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, which recently have been derived in mice as well as humans.”This demonstrates that IPS cells have the same potential for therapy as embryonic stem cells, without the ethical and practical issues raised in creating embryonic stem cells,” said MIT biology professor Rudolf Jaenisch, a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.[Source]
Missing protein may be key to autism
From an MIT press release:
A missing brain protein may be one of the culprits behind autism and other brain disorders, according to researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.The protein, called CASK, helps in the development of synapses, which neurons use to communicate with one another and which underlie our ability to learn and remember. Improperly formed synapses could lead to mental retardation, and mutations in genes encoding certain synaptic proteins are associated with autism.
Mapping the News
Have you seen the Marumushi news map? Continue reading Mapping the News
Health News
Ebola in Uganda:
New Ebola fatalities push Uganda toll to 25: official from PhysOrg.com
A dreaded Ebola outbreak has killed two people, bringing the toll to 25 in western Uganda, an official said Saturday, as health teams battled to contain the virulent strain in the region.[…]
With the outbreak earlier in the year in DRC, and this outbreak, this is a big year for Ebola. Some time soon, someone is going to have to go and figure out where this disease resides in the wild. I’m betting on it being a plant virus that reaches human populations through a number of different routes, including but not limited to fruit bats. I will be very interesting to see how this particular strain, which is very different in its presentation from other strains, relates at a phylogenetic level from what is already know. (If, indeed, it ends up actually being Ebola proper as opposed to something closely related).
Father of bird flu victim tests positive: China from PhysOrg.com
The father of a man in China who died this week of bird flu has also tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the disease, the country’s health ministry reported on Friday.[…]
Britain warns of homeopathic risks from PhysOrg.com
A top British health official says people who use homeopathic medicines could be causing themselves more harm than good.[…]
Teen Sex Video: Why Fund Abstinence-Only Programs?
Coturnix points out that the following video of Dan Abrams speaking with two women about sex among teenagers is a good example of reporting about a scientific issue mired in a political quagmire.Keywords and phrases:Well, what that study actually reveals is…Well, in a number of cases….The study said it didn’t work. So we need to do more of it to make it work.I say, if the legislation doesn’t work, screw it.
Woman Wakes During Surgury, Gets 11 Large
A court on Wednesday awarded $11,000 to a woman who said she woke up during major abdominal surgery but was unable to tell doctors she was in terrible pain. … The 62-year-old retiree in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia had demanded more than $57,000 in compensation for mental and physical suffering during the October 2002 operation, public broadcaster ORF reported.
Then they spilled coffee on her… Ouch.
Speaking of corn….
Gene Therapy Video
Improving Rodent Brain Function
A new study addresses the link betwen omega-3 acidss and brain function, in this case in gerbils.
These studies show that oral supplementation with DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, increases dendritic spine density in adult gerbil hippocampus…). This effect of DHA is approximately doubled when animals also receive [uridine-5â?²-monophosphate] and is accompanied by parallel increases in membrane phosphatides and in specific pre- and post-synaptic proteins. Supplementation with arachidonic acid (ARA), an omega-6 fatty acid, fails to increase spine density….
What does this mean? Continue reading Improving Rodent Brain Function