Shrinking Human Tumors via Programmable Nanomedicine Cancer Treatment

Her's a very interesting article written by Katherine Harmon in The Scientific American:

Chemotherapy treatment for cancer is a nasty process. Doctors must try to give patients just enough of the toxic drugs to kill off cancer cells without doing too much harm to the rest of the body’s healthy tissues, a balancing act that, even if successful, can nevertheless cause horrible side effects.

But what if you could program the harsh medicine to go only to the cancerous cells, sparing the rest of the body? Researchers have been aiming for this goal for more than 100 years and have achieved some success in targeted treatment by using monoclonal antibodies in immunotherapy. Getting chemotherapy to cancer cells, however, has proved difficult. A new nanotechnology might just finally bring it into reach.

Scientists have spent the past few decades tinkering with nanopaticles, and recently they have been able to cover them with cancer-seeking proteins and load them with a tumor-busting drug. But these tiny particles, hundreds of which could fit across the width of a human hair, have so far failed to perform in humans.

A new tumor-targeting, nanoparticle-based compound called BIND-014 is now in clinical trials in people, after showing promise in both mice and monkeys. Although this first trial is small, with only 17 patients, and still ongoing, researchers are reporting some positive results, and no obvious major safety setbacks, according to a paper published online April 4 in Science Translational Medicine.

The researchers could move quickly from animals to human studies because they relied on components that have already been used in humans. Specifically, they loaded the nanoparticles with the chemo drug docetaxel, which used to treat solid tumors in many parts of the body, including breast, head, lung, neck, prostate and stomach. They then outfitted the particles with a well-known tumor-specific antigen that targets newly forming blood vessels that develop to feed tumors and that’s also present in prostate cancer cells.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY ON Programmable Nanomedicine Cancer Treatment Shrinks Human Tumors

Glow-in-the-dark Sushi?

Sushi that glows in the dark has become the latest must try food craze across America.

Inspired by genetically modified fish first bred for scientific research, a video showing how to make the glowing sushi has become a huge hit online.

The recipes use glofish, a brand of genetically modified (GM) fluorescent zebrafish sold by Yorktown Technologies, which are available to buy in pet shops.


CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

Yawning = Brain-Over-heating?

We most associate yawning with boredom or being sleepy, but new research suggests it can be good for your health - by cooling down your brain.

Scientists at Princeton University found a big yawn can regulate the temperature of the brain and prevent over-heating.

During winter in Tuscon, Arizona, Professor Andrew Gallup and his team asked 80 random pedestrians to look at images of people yawning and then recorded whether they yawned in response.
They then performed the same trial in the summer.

The researchers found that half of the participants yawned in winter while only a quarter yawned in summer.
From this they reasoned that yawning cools the brain, which at first seems counter-intuitive. Surely you would want to cool the brain by yawning more in summer?

But according to the theory, yawning cools the brain via a heat exchange with cooler air drawn in during the process.

This system therefore wouldn't work on a scorching summer's day.

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Watch Out For Satellite Junk! No Joke!

If you're reading this story somewhere in North America and wondering where NASA's aging UARS satellite will crash to Earth, the space agency says you can rest easy.

"Re-entry is expected sometime during the afternoon of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time," said NASA in an update this morning. "The satellite will not be passing over North America during that time period."

The Aerospace Corporation, a private firm that is tracking UARS, offered a more specific prediction, saying the satellite would likely come down off the coast of Chile at 6:06 p.m. EST. But William Ailor, who heads the company's center for orbital and re-entry debris studies, said the time and location would almost undoubtedly change as Friday afternoon approaches.

NASA repeated that the risk to people or property is "extremely small."

As of this morning, UARS had an altitude of about 115 miles, skimming the uppermost reaches of the atmosphere at more than 17,000 mph. At some point, a little like a stone skipping over a pond, it will encounter enough resistance that it will no longer be able to keep moving at orbital speeds.

READ MORE HERE.

Space junk to hit Earth this week – but where?

Skywatchers may be craning their necks this Thursday or Friday, trying to catch a glimpse of a dead NASA satellite which is expected to return to earth, creating perhaps a spectacular light show as some of it burns up upon entry in the atmosphere.

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), which measured ozone levels, is supposed to fall out of orbit and into the atmosphere on Friday – give or take a day, according to Beth Dickey, a spokesperson for NASA.

The actual date and time of re-entry is very difficult to predict because it all depends on “solar flux and the spacecraft’s orientation as the orbit decays,” Dickey said in an email to the Star.

Equally difficult to predict is where the debris from the satellite will land, she said. But NASA officials have some clues.


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What a Gem of A Discovery!

Astronomers believe they have found an entire planet made of diamonds.

Scientists at the University of Manchester think they have unearthed a once-massive star in the Milky Way that has been transformed into a small planet made of the precious rock.

The international research team first detected an unusual star, called a pulsar, and followed up their discovery with research using a telescope based in an observatory in Cheshire.

The findings led the scientists to discover the gravitational pull of a small companion planet orbiting the pulsar.

Pulsars are small spinning stars more than ten miles in diameter – the size of a small city – that emit a beam of radio waves.


Read more HERE.

The Magic Ingredient

No time to make a packed lunch before work? Soon you could make it a year in advance.
Scientists have discovered a natural preservative which could spell the end of rotting food.

They have pinpointed the substance which destroys the bacteria that make meat, fish, eggs and dairy products decompose.


Read more at THIS LINK.

How Organic?

Your shampoo says organic on the label, which means what’s in the bottle is organic, right? Well, if you’re lucky. In the U.S., an environmental group has filed a lawsuit against 26 cosmetic companies over claims that products were falsely labelled as organic.
The brands include major names such as Jason and Boots, which are accused of violating a California law that requires at least 70 per cent of the ingredients in organic products to be grown without pesticides or chemicals.
In Britain, you might be surprised to learn the laws governing the labelling on organic foods do not extend to beauty products — so a company can describe a product as organic even if it contains only tiny amounts of organic ingredients.


Read more here.

My Memory and Google

According to this article, research finds people are adapting ability to remember because of power of search engines to remember for them.

First it was a search engine. Then it became almost synonymous with the internet. Now Google is a replacement for the ancient human faculty of memory.

Research by scientists at Columbia University has found that people are adapting their ability to remember because of the formidable power of search engines such as Google to remember things for them. In short, people no longer always need to know stuff; they just need to know where it can be found.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE ENTRY.

Shocking - Death from bed bug pesticide poisoning

A British couple were among seven tourists whose deaths in Thailand have been linked to a toxic bed bug pesticide.

Pensioners George Everitt, 78, and his wife Eileen, 73, from Boston, Lincolnshire, were found dead in their room at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai.

An undercover investigation revealed shocking evidence linking the deaths between January and March after all seven stayed at or used facilities at the hotel.


Read more AT THIS LINK.

Melons Exploding?

Check out this article:

Exploding Melons Sow New China Food Fears


This is the price than mankind has to pay when some have no qualms about making $$ at the expense of others!

CHECK THIS OUT

I came across this article in one of my favorite blogs:

Radioactive Iodine In Phoenix AZ Milk 1600% Above EPA Drinking Water Limits 


Do check it out if you have time. Thanks!! Take care and keep safe.

Nuclear Crisis is WORSENING + Another Earthquake 6.1

According to CTV:

Responding to Japan's struggle to contain a possible nuclear catastrophe, the French nuclear safety authority has upgraded the severity of the ongoing accident to level six out of seven on the international scale.

Level seven on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale has been invoked only once, following the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

The head of France's Nuclear Safety Authority, Andre-Claude Lacoste told reporters on Tuesday that the situation in Japan is less severe than the core explosion at Chernobyl, but worse than the 1979 partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.

"We are now in a situation that is different from yesterday's. It is very clear that we are at a level six, which is an intermediate level between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," the ASN president said at a news conference in Paris.

The incident at Three Mile Island was rated a level 5, which corresponds to "an accident with wider consequences," while level 6 is reserved for a "serious accident." Japanese officials had rated the situation at the plant in Fukushima prefecture as a 4 on the seven-point scale, meaning it's an accident with "local consequences."

But, pointing to the explosions that continued to wrack the Dai-ichi nuclear plant despite days of frantic efforts to cool them, Lacoste said the outlook is worsening.

"We are clearly in a catastrophe," he said.

Radiation levels spike, drop

Lacoste's announcement came as a Japanese nuclear safety official said water inside a waste storage pool at the crippled Dai-ichi plant may be boiling, just hours after radiation levels spiked then dropped after a fire erupted at its No. 4 reactor.

Japanese Economy Ministry spokesperson Hidehiko Nishiyama told reporters that "we cannot deny the possibility of water boiling" in the Dai-ichi nuclear power plant's spent fuel storage pool.

READ MORE HERE.

At the point of writing, another earthquake at the depth of 10km just struck the area of Tokyo (Tokai region) at 9.31pm. (Malaysian time).

Details OVER HERE.

Check HERE.

There IS Reason to be AFRAID!

According to BBC News HERE:

Radiation from Japan's quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reached harmful levels, the government says.

The warning comes after the plant was rocked by a third blast which appears to have damaged one of the reactors' containment vessels for the first time.

If it is breached, there are fears of more serious radioactive leaks.

Officials have extended the danger zone, warning residents within 30km (18 miles) to evacuate or stay indoors.

The crisis was sparked by a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on Friday.
'Don't go outside'

On Tuesday morning, reactor 2 became the third to explode in four days at the Fukushima Daiichi plant - 250km (155 miles) north-east of Tokyo.

A fire also briefly broke out at the plant's reactor 4 on Tuesday and is believed to have led to radioactive leaks.

Reactor 4 had been shut down before the quake for maintenance but its nuclear fuel rods are still stored on the site.

Radiation levels in the Japanese capital were reported to be higher than normal, but officials said there were no health dangers.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said: "There is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out."

He added that the last remaining people within the existing 20km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant must leave.

Those living between 20km and 30km were also at risk and should not leave their homes.

"Now we are talking about levels that can impact human health," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

He told residents: "Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight.

"Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors."


READ MORE HERE.

What Makes A Monkey Sexy?

I came across this interesting article from THIS LINK which I thought I'd share with you today. It said:

Capuchin monkeys have what at first glance appears to be an odd habit: they urinate onto their hands then rub their urine over their bodies into their fur.

Now scientists think they know why the monkeys "urine wash" in this way.

A new study shows that the brains of female tufted capuchins become more active when they smell the urine of sexually mature adult males.

That suggests males wash with their urine to signal their availability and attractiveness to females.

READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY HERE.

Nuclear Emergency Declared!!!

According to BBC News:

apanese authorities have declared a state of emergency at two nuclear power plants, after Friday's devastating earthquake caused malfunctions.

Cooling systems inside several reactors at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants have stopped working properly, leading to a build-up of pressure.

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate the area near the plants.

Technicians are starting to release vapour to lower the pressure in some of the reactors.

Some of the released gases could be radioactive, but officials insisted the procedure would pose no risk to the public.

Radioactivity levels in the control room of the Fukushima 1 plant were reportedly running at 1,000 times normal.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE ENTRY.

Nuclear Reactor Overheating!!

I have always been against nuclear energy despite whatever experts may say to defend their rationale for pursuing that avenue of alternative energy. The big question I always ask is - What if there is a nuclear leakage? Would the parties involved in the reactor be able to cope and to control the leakages that it will NOT jeopardize the surrounding areas, lives and ultimately the world?

Take a look at Japan. It is a first world nation and what is happening to their nuclear reactor?

According to ABC News at THIS LINK:

Radiation levels inside a Japanese nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after today's 8.9-magnitude earthquake knocked out power to a cooling system, and tsunami floods have hampered efforts to get it restored.

Meanwhile, heat-induced pressure built up inside the crippled reactor, prompting widespread evacuations within a 10 km radius and stoking fears of a potentially catastrophic radioactive event.

Officials declared a "nuclear emergency" at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, about 200 miles northeast of Tokyo, when its cooling system failed to function properly after the nuclear reactor lost power and automatically shut down.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY.

Earthquake Hits Japan

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan this afternoon has triggered a small tsunami, but with no reports of damage.

The quake hit at 1.54pm about 169 kilometres off the city of Sendai in northern Japan at a depth of 14 kilometres.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning of up to 50 centimetres for the east coast of the main Honshu island.

A 60-centimetre wave was first reported at Ofunato port half an hour after the quake without causing any damage.

"We have confirmed that small tsunami have come up on the shores, but we have no reports of damage at this point," said Shinobu Nagano, an emergency and disaster response official in Iwate prefecture.

"We are still trying to determine the impact of the quake."

Yoshiyuki Sato, an official at Kurihara City in Miyagi prefecture, about 300 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, told Reuters: "First I felt a jolt that pushed from underneath, then a big sideways tremor that lasted for about 20 seconds.

"The tremor was relatively big but things did not fall off the shelves in the city government building."

CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.

Antibodies to Combat AIDS?

Discover carried this article on New HIV Hope? Researchers Find Natural Antibodies That Thwart the Virus at THIS LINK.


Excerpt:


You can’t defeat what you can’t identify. That’s part of the human body’s problem with HIV–a virus that mutates constantly. Most antibodies can identify, latch onto, and neutralize only certain variants of the virus, or none at all. But two new studies published in Science yesterday point to two antibodies that almost always hits their targets--neutralizing some 90 percent of the most common HIV strains.

Scientists hope to eventually use their knowledge of these antibodies to develop a vaccine, but this is not an easy task.

“The path forward isn’t as clear as we’d like it to be, but we are turning a corner, I think,” says David Montefiori, a viral immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who was not involved in the research. [Science News]

But first, how did they find these antibodies?

Step 1: Learning from a Survivor

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases looked at the blood of a 60-year-old African American man who had survived with HIV for 20 years.

The HIV antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally…. Donor 45′s antibodies didn’t protect him from contracting HIV. That is likely because the virus had already taken hold before his body produced the antibodies. He is still alive, and when his blood was drawn, he had been living with HIV for 20 years. [Wall Street Journal]

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY.

The Human Brain

This morning, I have been doing a lot of research on the human brain in an attempt to understand how people think. I came across this excellent video that enthralled me to bits!!

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW CARL SAGAN'S LECTURE ON THE HUMAN BRAIN.

Enjoy!

Have a nice day! Do leave a message to share your thoughts. Thanks!