Barack Obama Answers the Science Questions
Aug 30 at 11:11pm by Aileen
Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has submitted his Answers to the Top 14 Science Questions facing America. Drawing on the expertise of a squadron of science, economic, foreign policy and educational advisors that includes several committed Nobel Laureates, many will be happy to get the religious and political ideology out of the way and really start addressing these issues.
Please go to the ScienceDebate 2008 website, take a hard look at Obama’s answers for our future, and don’t forget to drop the crew a dime (or ten) on your way out. These folks have been hard at it since November of last year, and have gathered some very impressive institutional support. The future is important to all of us - and our children - and the future needs the very best science we can possibly field to meet it head-on.
Resurrecting the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Aug 19 at 4:04pm by Aileen
…and the antibodies for survival
1918 Flu Antibodies Resurrected from Elderly Survivors
Back in 2005 some researchers journeyed to the Alaskan permafrost to dig up some bodies of victims of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50-100 million people worldwide as World War 1 came to a close. They were able to recover the virus from these bodies because they have been frozen since burial.
Now researchers at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt have recovered antibodies against this deadly flu virus from survivors of the pandemic. They collected blood samples from 32 survivors age 91 to 101, and found that all samples reacted to the virus - indicating that immunity has been preserved for 90 years. This represents the longest immune system ‘memory’ thus far observed.
The real test came when researchers at the CDC infected mice with the 1918 influenza and then administered the antibodies. Those receiving the lowest dose of antibodies died, all mice given the highest dose survived. The “extremely rare” B cells that produced the antibodies in all the survivors’ blood are some of “the most potent antibodies ever isolated against a virus,” and may prove invaluable against other viruses or for developing new antibodies against expected future pandemics.
Cancer Researcher Warns Cell Phone Users
Jul 24 at 9:09pm by Aileen
In an unprecedented move, the head of a prominent cancer research institute issued a warning to his faculty and staff on July 23, that cell phone use may pose a cancer risk to users.
There is no consensus in science that electromagnetic radiation in radio frequencies - such as is emitted by cellular phones and is absorbed by the user’s head - causes or increases the risks of brain tumors. Yet Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said he issued the warning because the question is still being researched, and it is better to err on the safe side than to be sorry later on.
Of particular concern to Herberman is the increasing use of cell phones by children, whose brains are still developing. The body of research on the question is ongoing, but so far has demonstrated no firm link between cell phones and cancer. The fact that it takes a relatively long time for cancers from environmental sources to show up in a population leaves risks of cancer from long term exposure to the radiation an unanswered question.
One bit of interesting research on cell phone radiation recently came from Clermont-Ferrand University in France, where it was found that…
…tomatoes, when exposed to the magnetic waves of mobile phones, get stressed within ten minutes. They start secreting a molecule which usually only occurs when they get damaged.
If tomatoes can physiologically go into stress mode when cell phones are present in their vicinity, it’s certainly possible that physiological effects may occur in animals - including humans. I’d like to see some mouse studies. But in the meantime, remote use of the device (so it’s not sitting on your ear) isn’t that bad an idea.
A pretty strong warning can also be made that if you grow tomatoes, don’t take your cell phone when tending them. The world won’t stop turning if you’re out of communications availability for a little while. Honest.
New Hope for Alzheimer’s Patients?
Jul 21 at 6:06pm by Aileen
USPS Alzheimer’s Stamp
Rapid Alzheimer’s Improvement After New Immune-based Treatment
The open access journal BMC Neurology published research this week detailing some amazing results from the use of the anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-alpha] drug to treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease from a novel immune system approach. Researchers documented improvement in language function within minutes of administering the drug, tending to confirm preliminary evidence that disrupted neural communication in Alzheimer’s patients may be reversible.
This is a very hopeful development, as are results from clinical drug trials in recent years slowing the progression of the disease in elderly patients as well as ongoing research into substances that may help clear the beta amyloid placques in the brain tissue, characteristic of the disease. As the Baby Boomer generation ages, it is estimated that up to 10 million of them will get this awful disease.
Some doctors are expressing concern about unduly raising hopes in patients and their families on these very early findings. Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman of the Alzheimer’s Association’s medical and science council, has expressed suspicion due to the private nature of the research because the lead researcher has a financial interest in the drug. It is hoped that other laboratories and scientists will be able to duplicate the results, but that more rigorous clinical work remains to be done.
UCLA associate professor of neurology John Ringman and colleagues have reported in the journal Neurology that there may be a way to detect Alzheimer’s even before symptoms appear by measuring the level of certain proteins in the blood and spinal fluid. These proteins are potentially useful biomarkers to identify and track progression of the disease before the patient shows any signs of deteriorating mental acuity.
The amount of suffering for the families of those 10 million people could be reduced drastically if there were effective treatments, so there is a good deal of public and private research ongoing. Hopefully when the Boomers reach an age where they have ready access to medical care via Medicare, diagnosis and treatment will be available to them.
Addicted To Your Baby’s Smile
Jul 8 at 3:03pm by Aileen
Most parents know very well how heart-warming their baby’s smile can be, to the point where just doing something silly to get that smile-fix becomes a regular way of life. I’ve heard all sorts of weird philosophies about baby smiles - “it’s just gas,” “they’ve got the intelligence of rats,” etc., etc., things that only non-parents would ever think of.
So it’s cool that researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine have finally demonstrated the addictive quality of baby smiles, as reported recently in the journal Pediatrics. Turns out that baby smiles actually ‘light up’ the reward centers of the human brain, particularly in Moms - it’s what they call a “Natural High.”
Baby’s Smile Is A Natural High
The researchers hope their work will help scientists understand the unique mother-infant bonding so critical for proper child development (and mothers’ mental health).
No doubt this is fine research, and it’s gratifying to know that science is actually looking at phenomena they could have known all along if they’d just asked a Mom. Oh, well. That famous scientific skepticism needs physical ‘proof’ of physical phenomena before it will believe anything most regular people know from direct empirical experience. Maybe they’ll now come up with a pill that mimics this high, which will no doubt be a big item on the black market for pharmaceuticals…
The ‘08 Farm Bill and Improving America’s Diet
Jun 2 at 4:04pm by Aileen
The 2007 Farm Bill - now the 2008 Farm Bill, was passed by both chambers of Congress, vetoed by President Bush, then the veto was overridden by both houses and is now the ‘Law of the Land’. Politically, the bill isn’t perfect, there is still too much pork and payments to rich agribusiness concerns for their poor farming practices, and not enough clarifying guidelines for biofuels production and organic farming.
But it’s a lot better than no bill at all, which would have kept the last support bill in place for the foreseeable future. The new bill has incentives to clean up residue discharges in important watersheds, and supports for best practices in crop rotations, cover crops and low-chemical input farming. It’s still strong on commodity production (corn, wheat, rice), but does put some real support into farmer’s market promotions and expansion of organic markets. It does somewhat limit subsidies to near-millionaire commodity farmers, requires more fresh fruit and vegetables to be available in schools, increases food stamp benefits as tied to the price of food, allots priority funding to research into the bee die-off situation, and supports rural enterprise and microenterprise investments.
Research into the “typical American diet” and its relationship to serious health issues and obesity informs us that Americans eat way too much junk and not nearly enough healthy food. Which, in a country that rations health care by income level and allows insurance companies to exclude people who actually need health care, would seem to be an important issue to address with education and real food availability in public institutions such as schools.
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Ebola Vaccines Successful in Primates
Mar 31 at 8:08pm by Aileen
Soon to enter human trials
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting this week that researchers from the US and Canada have successfully tested several vaccines for Ebola in primates, and are now seeking to modify them for human use.
This is a significant development not because Ebola in its natural habitat is such a grave danger to humanity, but because it’s got a 90% fatality rate and thus represents a threat to humanity as a bioweapon. While Ebola is not easily spread (direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or animal is required), officials have long been concerned that it could be “weaponized” - as has been done with anthrax, for instance - into a form that will be easily infective. There have been just over 1500 documented cases of Ebola in humans, and so far it does not seem to have been used as a bioweapon.
The Federation of American Scientists maintains an Ebola Fact Sheet indicating that the Soviet Union probably investigated weaponizing Ebola. There have been three reported incidents of researchers being infected after being stuck with contaminated syringes. Those in England and the U.S. recovered, one in Russia died. There is no effective treatment for the disease, and while the current research is hopeful, there is no vaccine to prevent it.
The biosafety threat level for Ebola is 4, a rating it shares with the 18 other hemorrhagic fevers it is akin to. Because the dead virus does not produce an effective immune response, researchers have been trying several different recombinant DNA techniques. The latest, most effective candidates are soon to be tested on humans. It is hoped that if the testing proves successful, the techniques will be as useful in developing vaccines for other hemorrhagic fever viruses, HIV and avian influenza.
Links:
Vaccine for Ebola Virus Successful in Primates
Ebola Fact Sheet
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