‘A synthetic version of a molecule found in the egg cells of the Northern Leopard frog (Rana pipiens) could provide the world with the first drug treatment for brain tumours.
Known as Amphinase, the molecule recognises the sugary coating found on a tumour cell and binds to its surface before invading the cell and inactivating the RNA it contains, causing the tumour to die.
In new research published in the Journal of Molecular Biology, scientists from the University of Bath (UK) and Alfacell Corporation (USA) describe the first complete analysis of the structural and chemical properties of the molecule.
Although it could potentially be used as a treatment for many forms of cancer, Amphinase offers greatest hope in the treatment of brain tumours, for which complex surgery and chemotherapy are the only current treatments.’
‘Four Asians who murdered another Asian and then ate his body were caught when one of their victim’s finger was found in the stomach of one during treatment for acute food poisoning, the daily Al-Sharq newspaper said today.
The Qatari newspaper said the four men had to seek emergency hospital treatment after eating part of the corpse, various bits of which, including a finger, showed up on hospital X-rays.’
‘The psychologists, who studied yawning in college students, concluded that people do not yawn because they need oxygen, since experiments show that raising or lowering oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood fails to produce the reaction. Rather, yawning acts as a brain-cooling mechanism. The brain burns up to a third of the calories we consume, and as a consequence generates heat.
According to Gallup and Gallup, our brains, not unlike computers, operate more efficiently when cool, and yawning enhances the brain’s functioning by increasing blood flow and drawing in cooler air.’
‘Italian scientists have developed a pill that expands in the stomach to make dieters feel full.
They liken the effect to eating a bowl of spaghetti and say the pill can stop hunger for a few hours.
It is made from a hydrogel, which the team developed when trying to make more absorbent nappy linings, and may help in the battle against obesity.
So far it has been tested on 20 people but experts warned bigger trials would be needed to test safety.’
‘A sex worker hurt when she and her client plunged 100m down a Canterbury hillside in his car may be eligible for compensation for a work-related injury.
The woman is believed to have been in the car with a man driving on Christchurch’s Port Hills when the vehicle went off the Summit Rd in icy weather and fell into a gully early on Friday morning.
It is understood the man had hired the woman for sexual services before the accident. [..]
An Accident Compensation Corporation spokesman told the Herald he did not know details of the case, but if the woman was registered as a sex worker and paid taxes, she could make a claim for a work-related injury based on that.’
‘A new study says, in a breakthrough that could potentially lead to a cure for HIV infection, scientists have discovered a way to remove the virus from infected cells.
According to the study published in Science magazine, the scientists engineered an enzyme which attacks the DNA of the HIV virus and cuts it out of the infected cell.
The enzyme is still far from being ready to use as a treatment, the authors warned, but it offers a glimmer of hope for the more than 40 million people infected worldwide.
“A customised enzyme that effectively excises integrated HIV-1 from infected cells in vitro might one day help to eradicate (the) virus from AIDS patients,” Alan Engelman, of Harvard University’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, wrote in an article accompanying the study.’
‘A 65-year-old St. Louis man is missing after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly behavior, kicked him off a train in the middle of a national forest, according to police in Williams, Ariz.
Police said Roosevelt Sims was headed to Los Angeles but was asked to leave the train shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday at a railroad crossing five miles outside Williams.
“He was let off in the middle of a national forest, which is about 800,000 acres of beautiful pine trees,” Lt. Mike Graham said.
Police said there is no train station or running water at the crossing, which is about two miles from the nearest road, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet.
Amtrak personnel told police dispatchers that Sims was drunk and unruly.
The Sims family said Sims is diabetic and was going into shock.’
‘Symptoms of mental retardation and autism have been reversed for the first time in laboratory mice.
US scientists created mice that showed symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome – a leading cause of mental retardation and autism in humans.
They then reversed symptoms of the condition by inhibiting the action of an enzyme in the brain. [..]
Researcher Dr Susumu Tonegawa stressed that the mice were not treated until a few weeks after symptoms of disease first appeared.
“This implies that future treatment may still be effective even after symptoms are already pronounced,” he said.’
‘Toucan Sam’s Froot Loop-hawking days on Saturday morning TV may be numbered.
The Kellogg Co. said Wednesday that it would phase out advertising its products to children younger than 12 unless the foods meet specific nutrition guidelines for calories, sugar, fat and sodium.
Kellogg also announced that it would stop using licensed characters or branded toys to promote foods unless the products meet the nutrition guidelines.
The voluntary changes, which will be put in place over the next year and a half, will apply to about half the products Kellogg markets to children worldwide, including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks cereals and Pop-Tarts.’
‘Playing videogames is a great workout for your eyes. In a recent study at the University of Toronto, videogame players consistently beat nongamers in timed searches for targets in both simple and complex visual environments (spotting the b in a field of ks, for example). The scientists say that videogames—which reward rapid searches for hidden targets—boost quick, efficient eye movement and improve scanning skills that can enhance your reading and driving. You can’t find exercise like that at the gym.’
‘Two-year-old Freeman, a rare Catahoula leopard dog with boundless energy, might very well be the reason his owner Darcy Ingram is alive today. [..]
In December 2005, at just six months old, Freeman sniffed out what Ingram’s doctors assured her was not there: a cancerous tumour in her right breast.
“He kept hurting me and hurting me,” said Ingram, a picture of health today. “He wouldn’t leave that breast alone.” One day, Freeman’s powerful snout knocked Ingram’s breast: “It swelled up like a cantaloupe. That’s when all the fun started.”‘
Apparently it causes muscle spasming as well as hilarious vulgarity.
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‘A female pit bull living at a Long Island animal shelter needs donations of Viagra to stay alive, according to a spokesperson of the Little Shelter Animal Adoption Center.
Ingrid, 4, was rescued in April after being near death from heartworms, according to Marge Stein, a spokesperson for the shelter.
The shelter sought a vet who suggested giving Viagra a try to keep the dog’s blood vessels open.
“We were really worried she wouldn’t make it,” Stein said during a phone interview with WNBC.com. “There was such a turnaround after or week or so of the Viagra; she just became a new dog. She perked up and was lively, just like any other dog.”‘
‘Dr. Stephen Goldberg, who heads up Jewish Hospital’s weight management program, said the drug is healthy, much more so than many of the diet drugs on the shelves today. But he said dieters must do their part, limiting their fat intake to 15 grams per meal — or else.
“You would experience bloating, you would experience loose stools, the urgency to have a bowel movement. Some people would have accidents. In general, side effects that aren’t very pleasant,” Goldberg said.’
‘Thousands of pensioners will go blind every year after the Government’s rationing watchdog said a sight-saving drug available in Scotland should not be given to NHS patients in England and Wales.
Patients’ groups and doctors condemned “cruel” draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Nice rejected the use of Macugen for patients with the most common form of blindness, wet age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.
It said another drug, Lucentis, could be used but only if patients have gone almost blind in one eye and the disease is far progressed in the other.
It also restricted the use of Lucentis to a specific type of the condition which affects only around 20 per cent of sufferers.’
‘U.S. troops would no longer be asked to reveal previous mental health treatment when applying for security clearances under a proposal being considered by the Pentagon.
The idea stems from the finding that service members avoid needed counseling because they believe that getting it – and acknowledging it – could cost them their clearance as well as do other harm to their careers, The Associated Press has learned. [..]
Currently, the questionnaire asks applicants whether they have consulted a mental health professional in the last seven years. If so, they are asked to list the names, addresses and dates they saw the doctor or therapist.’
Hooray for 40 year old ads. 🙂
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‘A man who spent five years in jail for exposing sexual partners to HIV was sentenced to life in prison for knowingly exposing another woman to the virus.
Sean L. Sykes, 33, was sentenced Tuesday. He was found guilty in May of having unprotected sex with a St. Joseph woman without telling her he was HIV-positive. Testimony at his trial — which was closed to the public to protect witnesses — indicated that he had exposed at least eight women to HIV. At least three have tested positive.
“I think it’s fairly clear he is a very dangerous individual,” Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins said after the sentencing. “If he is not in prison, he would likely continue to spread HIV.”‘
‘Telling apart relatives from strangers is crucial in many animal species, helping them to share precious resources or avoid inbreeding. Now it seems that plants can perform the same trick.
Plants have already been shown to compete with others — of their own kind or of another species — when sharing space. For example, they sometimes choose to invest more energy in sprouting roots when they have nearby competition for water and nutrients.
Now, Susan Dudley and Amanda File of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, have shown that plants grown alongside unrelated neighbours are more competitive than those growing with their siblings — ploughing more energy into growing roots when their neighbours don’t share their genetic stock.’
‘The Government has warned people to throw away two brands of Chinese-made toothpaste after it was found to contain a toxic chemical.
Chris Pearce, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, said today that two brands of toothpaste, Mr Cool and Excel, were being withdrawn from sale after being found to contain diethylene glycol (DEG).
“However, there could well be other brands that have not yet been identified,” he said.
The chemical, diethylene glycol, is used in antifreeze and as a solvent. The chemical is a central nervous system depressant and potent kidney and liver toxin.
Mr Pearce said no Australian-made toothpaste contained DEG.’
Followup to US warns over Chinese toothpaste.
‘A surgeon amputated a 17-year-old boy’s arm on the Palmetto Expressway after a Saturday morning crash involving a cement truck, police said. Police flew the surgeon in by helicopter after the 8 a.m. wreck in the northbound lanes near South River Drive.
Police said the boy was a passenger in his father’s cement truck and the two were headed for work when his father lost control and the truck flipped on its right side.
Rescuers worked to free the boy without success after the crash, finally determining the only solution was field amputation. A surgeon from the Ryder Trauma Center was flown in and about 50 firefighters worked to get him access to the boy.’
‘China said Monday it was investigating the sale of fake blood protein, a potentially dangerous and widespread practice that underscores the country’s problems with product safety.
State media reported one death from use of the counterfeits, but authorities have not said whether anyone has fallen ill.
A shortage of albumin, a blood protein that chronically ill people often lack, triggered a countrywide investigation in March into whether fakes were being sold, China Central Television said.
The report centred on an inquiry in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies were sold more than 2,000 bottles of counterfeit blood protein. It did not say what the products were made of, but said they could “make a patient’s condition worsen and could cause death.”‘
‘Chicago Attorneys for a man who says he was beaten by a Chicago Fire Department paramedic two years ago released a videotape Monday that shows the man cowering as he takes blows to his face.
Other Fire Department personnel allegedly stood and watched throughout the beating, which happened in July 2005 outside Roseland Community Hospital.
The paramedic on the tape was reportedly upset that Robert Cole, 43 — who had called for an ambulance after feeling dizzy — changed his mind on the way to the hospital and decided he didn’t want medical attention.’
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‘New research shows that Australian children are becoming more anxious about themselves and the future of the planet.
The Australian Childhood Foundation survey of 600 children shows that more than half are scared there will not be enough water in the future.
The report also showed that more than a third of children were anxious about terrorism, were worried that one day they will have to fight in a war, and one in four believed the world will end before they reached adulthood.
The head of the foundation, Dr Joe Tucci, says this insecurity could have consequences for society.’
‘Surgery was performed on Sunday to remove a coconut from the body of a man who was sodomised with the fruit during an attack by a gang of men.
Ste Madeleine police are now investigating the case, in which the 27-year-old victim was found at the side of a canefield road at Golconda Village, near San Fernando.
Police were told that the man was seen drinking alcohol in the hours before he was found, and a group of men who picked him up are being sought.’
‘Most people know that nerves work by passing electrical currents from cell to cell. But you might be surprised to learn that no one knows exactly how anesthetics stop nerves from carrying pain signals.
That’s why two scientists believe that we really don’t know how nerves work after all.
According to their controversial theory, electricity is just a side effect of how nerves really operate: by conducting high-density waves of pressure that resemble sound reverberating through a pipe. [..]
The theory has not been well received. [..]’
‘A Sun City West veterinarian was arrested on suspicion of punching a five-pound Chihuahua five times in the head, temporarily blinding one eye of the dog.
Dr. Joshua Winston faces charges of animal cruelty and theft, according to a prepared statement from Maricopa County Sheriff’s office.
Winston allegedly struck the Chihuahua’s head five times and dislodged the dog’s eye on June 4, according to the statement. The dog needed corrective surgery after the incident, according to the statement.’
‘A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.
Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco that military leaders had considered, and then subsequently rejected, building the so-called gay bomb. [..]
As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, “One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior.”
The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.’
‘Scientists working to build a life form from scratch have applied to patent the broad method they plan to use to create their “synthetic organism”.
Dr Craig Venter, the man who led the private sector effort to sequence the human genome, has been working for years to create a man-made organism.
But constructing a primitive microbe from a kit of genes is a daunting task.
Dr Venter says, eventually, these life forms could be designed to make biofuels and absorb greenhouse gases.
The publication of the patent application has angered some environmentalists.’
‘Paris Hilton has not eaten or slept since arriving at the medical ward of a Los Angeles jail and is being given psychotropic drugs, celebrity Web site TMZ.com reported on Saturday, citing law enforcement sources.
Nevertheless, the socialite and hotel heiress said late on Saturday afternoon that she had told her attorneys not to appeal the order that sent her back to jail on Friday after a day of house arrest.
“Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done,” Hilton, 26, said in a written statement issued by her attorney, Richard Hutton. “During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience.”‘
