The Boston Heraldreports that a pea was discovered sprouting in the windpipe of Ron Sveden, a 75-year-old man from Massachusetts. Physicians first thought Sveden was suffering from a cancerous tumor. Tested samples from a biopsy indicated that the spot seen on an X-ray was a plant and not a tumor. The pea plant was removed with surgery by doctors at Cape Cod Hospital. Take a look:
Study Finds Baby Brain Scans Show Signs of Schizophrenia
Most schizophrenia cases aren't detected until a person starts experiencing symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, as a teenager or an adult. The disease is difficult to treat by the time it has progressed so far that the patient is experiencing symptoms. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University say they have evidence that brain abnormalities associated with schizophrenia risk are detectable in babies only a few weeks old. The research was published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry
The scientists used ultrasound and MRI to examine brain development in 26 babies born to mothers with schizophrenia. A person's risk of developing schizophrenia is significantly higher when a first-degree relative has the disease. Among boys, the high-risk babies had larger brains and larger lateral ventricles than babies of mothers with no psychiatric illness. The team plans to continue to measure these children's brains and track their language skills, motor skills and memory development.
"It allows us to start thinking about how we can identify kids at risk for schizophrenia very early and whether there things that we can do very early on to lessen the risk," said lead study author John H. Gilmore, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the UNC Schizophrenia Research Center.
Larger brain size in infants is also associated with autism. The researchers found no difference in brain size among baby girls in the study. The research say the findings fit the overall pattern of schizophrenia, which is more common, and often more severe, in males. The findings do not necessarily mean the baby boys with larger brains will go on to develop schizophrenia. The researchers say relatives of people with schizophrenia sometimes have subtle brain abnormalities but exhibit few or no symptoms.
Researchers at the Department of Marine Ecology at the University of Gothenburg have been following the invasion of the American comb jellyfish, Mnemiopsis, for several years. They have discovered that the jellyfish contains larvae from a sea anemone that lives on it as a parasite. Researchers believe this parasite causes skin rashes on sea bathers in the United States.
The sea anemone, which the Gothenburg researchers believe to have identified through DNA analysis as Edwardsiella, is common in the comb jellyfish's natural environment in the West Atlantic, but has not previously been found in Swedish waters or anywhere else that the comb jellyfish has spread to. The sea anemone's larvae live as parasites on the jellyfish. The parasites cause skin irritation in humans when they come into contact with human skin. The researchers believe these parasites may become problematic for Swedish sea bathers too.
"The American variety of the sea anemone causes a skin complaint known as sea bather's eruption, which doesn't generally require treatment, but takes the form of quite a nasty rash that lasts for a few days," says researcher Erik Selander. "But the anemone we have found is confusingly similar to a Swedish anemone called Edwardsiella carnea, and we won't know which of the two species it is, or whether there actually are two species involved, until we have carried out further genetic analysis. If it is the American Edwardsiella that has come here, we could see isolated cases of sea bather's eruption here in Sweden too as we move towards autumn."
Bacteria Found in Soil Might Make You Smarter and Happier
Mycobacterium vaccae is a species of the Mycobacteriaceae family of bacteria that lives naturally in soil. The bacteria is related to the tuberculosis bacterium, but it does not cause tuberculosis or tuberculosis symptoms. Researchers found in a new study that mice injected with mycobacterium vaccae can solve mazes twice as quickly and are less stressed when doing so.
Researchers looked at mycobacterium vaccae, a kind of natural bacteria that's found in soil. People ingest or breathe in the germ when they spend time in nature, researcher Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in Troy, N.Y., said in a news release.
Previous research suggested that the germ, when heat-killed and injected into mice, boosted levels of serotonin and lowered anxiety levels. Since serotonin levels are associated with learning, Matthews and her colleague Susan Jenks decided to feed the live bacteria to mice and see if they did a better job of learning a maze than control mice who were not fed the germ.
The mice who ate the bacteria "navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice," Matthews said.
This is not the first time the bacteria has been linked to improving moods. There were several articles about mycobacterium vaccae and mood published in 2007 and 2008 - see here, here and here. There was also a recent study that found exercise in a green place for just a brief period of time can make people feel better, but Mycobacterium vaccae was not mentioned in the study.
Some Scientists Believe Naked Mole Rats Hold Longevity Secrets
Some scientists believe naked mole rats hold the secrets to solving many human health problems, including cancer and aging. Naked mole rats live nearly 30 years - ten times as long as most other rats - and they do not get cancer. They live in communities that are similar to insect societies. Rochelle Buffenstein takes care of the largest naked mole rat colony in the United States. She oversees 1,600 naked mole rats living in tanks at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Rochelle Buffenstein describes the naked mole rats as "little saber-toothed sausages." Take a look:
A serious outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in underway in the DR Congo. The BBC reports that the outbreak has killed 166 people and there are said to be at least 372 other cases. There is no cure for ebola.
At least 166 people have died and WHO says it is aware of 372 other cases.
Specialist laboratories in Gabon and Atlanta in the US confirmed Ebola from blood samples, saying they also showed the presence of Shigella dysentery.
Ebola is highly contagious. People contracting the disease suffer severe stomach pain and internal bleeding.
The fatality rate for Ebola, which has no known cure, is as high as 90%.
WHO and Medecins sans Frontieres have despatched medical personnel to help the Congolese contain the outbreak.
Several villages have been quarantined according to the news report. The horrors of ebola were made better known to most people through Richard Preston's book, The Hot Zone. Fruit bats have been speculated to be hosts of the ebola virus. Outbreaks often occur when locals eat bush meat. The ebola virus has a very high death rate but it also tends to burn itself out quickly -- especially when help from experts at the WHO and CDC arrive on the scene and quarantine the area.
WHO's fact page on Ebola can be found here. They also have a table of ebola outbreaks. The largest outbreak death-wise listed on the table was an outbreak in Zaire in 1976 that killed 280 people.
Reuters is reporting that Reuters is having trouble with Yamabiru, or land leeches. There are lots of stories in the Japanese papers. You can see some images with a yamabiru search on Google.
Yamabiru, or land leeches, have become a problem in 29 of Japan's 47 prefectures, according to the Institute for Environmental Culture, a private research facility in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo.
The little suckers are riding into towns and villages, hitching lifts on deer and boar whose numbers have grown due to re-forestation and dwindling rural populations.
Once there, the leeches, which measure in at about 1.5 cms before a meal, take to feasting on warm human flesh.
"Yamabiru will climb into people's socks and stay for about an hour, growing five to 10 times in size. Unlike with water leeches, people don't immediately realise they've been bitten. Only later when they see their blood-soaked feet, do they realise what has happened," said Shigekazu Tani, the institute's director.
"The real problem is that the bleeding won't stop and the affected area swells up and really itches," he added.
It sounds like the leeches are disturbing and irritating. At least they don't appear to also be spreading any diseases.
There's a new radiation symbol in town and it shows a person running away from dangerous radioactive waves. The red and black symbol also includes a skull and crossbones. The IAEA reported on their own launch of the symbol.
With radiating waves, a skull and crossbones and a running person, a new ionizing radiation warning symbol is being introduced to supplement the traditional international symbol for radiation, the three cornered trefoil.
The new symbol is being launched today by the IAEA and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to help reduce needless deaths and serious injuries from accidental exposure to large radioactive sources. It will serve as a supplementary warning to the trefoil, which has no intuitive meaning and little recognition beyond those educated in its significance.
"I believe the international recognition of the specific expertise of both organizations will ensure that the new standard will be accepted and applied by governments and industry to improve the safety of nuclear applications, protection of people and the environment," said Ms. Eliana Amaral, Director, Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety, IAEA.
The new symbol is aimed at alerting anyone, anywhere to the potential dangers of being close to a large source of ionizing radiation, the result of a five-year project conducted in 11 countries around the world. The symbol was tested with different population groups - mixed ages, varying educational backgrounds, male and female - to ensure that its message of "danger - stay away" was crystal clear and understood by all.
It is a scarier warning symbol than the old one.
Update 2-19-06: J-Walk has a funny explanation for the change: "My guess is that too many people were interpreting the old symbol to mean 'reel-to-reel tapes nearby.'"
The BBC reports that researchers from the University of Manchester have come up with a formula to calculate the effect of beer goggles on vision.
Researchers at Manchester University say while beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder, the amount of alcohol consumed is not the only factor.
Additional factors include the level of light in the pub or club, the drinker's own eyesight and the room's smokiness.
The distance between two people is also a factor.
They all add up to make the aesthetically-challenged more attractive, according to the formula.
The formula can work out a final score, ranging from less than one - where there is no beer goggle effect - to more than 100.
Here is a breakdown of the formula:
An = number of units of alcohol consumed
S = smokiness of the room (graded from 0-10, where 0 clear air; 10 extremely smoky)
L = luminance of 'person of interest' (candelas per square metre; typically 1 pitch black; 150 as seen in normal room lighting)
Vo = Snellen visual acuity (6/6 normal; 6/12 just meets driving standard)
d = distance from 'person of interest' (metres; 0.5 to 3 metres)
There may be some other subtle factors but we still think it is the alcohol that plays the biggest role.
Major Discovery Finds People Are Less Similar to Each Other
The Independent is reporting on a major breakthrough in the study of the human genome. People are now thought to carry multiple copies of the same gene which could great increase the variation in the genetic makeup from person to person.
Scientists have discovered a dramatic variation in the genetic make-up of humans that could lead to a fundamental reappraisal of what causes incurable diseases and could provide a greater understanding of mankind.
The discovery has astonished scientists studying the human genome - the genetic recipe of man. Until now it was believed the variation between people was due largely to differences in the sequences of the individual " letters" of the genome.
It now appears much of the variation is explained instead by people having multiple copies of some key genes that make up the human genome.
The findings mean people could be much more different than previously thought which probably explains why drugs that do well for some people do not work at all for others or even make them sicker. Scientists still don't know many multiples of a gene a person may carry.
The findings mean that instead of humanity being 99.9 per cent identical, as previously believed, we are at least 10 times more different between one another than once thought - which could explain why some people are prone to serious diseases.
The studies published today have found that instead of having just two copies of each gene - one from each parent - people can carry many copies, but just how many can vary between one person and the next.
The article says it means we are only 96% similar to the chimpanzee instead of 99% as was previously thought. The article also includes a helpful FAQ that includes this information about how we may be only 99% similar to other humans instead of 99.9% as was previously thought. That is a considerable difference.
What have scientists discovered today?
They have found that each of us is more different genetically than we previously believed. Instead of being 99.9 per cent identical, it may turn out to be more like 99 per cent identical - enough of a difference to explain many variations in human traits. Instead of having just two copies of every gene - one from each parent - we have some genes that are multiplied several times. Furthermore these "multiple copy numbers" differ from one person to another, which could explain human physical and even mental variation.
The scientists involved in the amazing discovery are hopeful it will eventually lead to breakthroughs in treating different diseases.
The BBC reports that a biotech firm named Allerca has been selectively breeding cats that have a greatly reduced allergic impact on allergy sufferers.
US biotech firm Allerca says it has managed to selectively breed them by reducing a certain type of protein that triggers allergic reactions.
The company says the animals will not cause the red eyes, sneezing and even asthma triggered by cat allergy, except in the most acute cases.
Despite costing $3,950 (£2,104), there is already a waiting list to get one.
Allerca first started taking orders for hypoallergenic cats back in 2004.
Would it still work if one of these hypoallergenic cats sneezed in your eye?. This is a description of a sneeze from a regular cat.
Within minutes, our left eye was swollen shut, puffy, red and horrifically itchy. It took four days for the swelling to go down, although our opthamologist (after he stopped laughing, the swine) informed us that we had suffered no serious ocular damage.
A sneeze may be rapid enough exposure to numerous allergens that even the hypoallergenic cats would cause at least a slight reaction. It also sounds like it would be an irritating event even if allergies were not involved. The article says about 35% of humans suffer from cat allergies and there is expected to be considerable interest in these special cats.
The AP says Nancy Reagan is supporting Senators that plan to pass legislation supporting federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush has threatened to veto any leglistation that passes.
The House passed the measure nearly a year ago with support from 50 Republicans. Supporters contend government funding of the budding science could someday cure diseases suffered by millions of people. Opponents argue that harvesting such stem cells amounts to abortion because an embryo is destroyed in the process.
President Bush in 2001 ordered sharp restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, allowing it only for stem cells created before Aug. 9 of that year.
His veto threat stands, according to White House spokesman Ken Lisaius. Neither chamber of Congress has demonstrated the two-thirds support required to overcome a veto.
The article says Nancy Reagan urged Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to get the bill passed despite Bush's veto threat. The plan is to have the bill pass before the elections in November.
Mrs. Reagan's letter and a firming up of plans to tackle the issue this summer before the November elections mark a major step forward for the bill in the Senate. All 435 House seats and a third of the 100-member Senate are up for re-election at a time when Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low.
The embryonic stem cell debate is one issue where parting with the president is unlikely to hurt senators. An overwhelming majority of the public supports the bill, including such pro-life constituencies represented by Hatch and Frist, a heart transplant surgeon.
Hopefully this bill will get through and there will be federal funds for stem cell research. It is a shame that we have had to let all these years go by without any federal funding.
Sky News reports on the possibility that pills in the future could replace or reduce the need for sleep. The article says pills that will let people survive on just two hours of sleep are being developed.
Russell Foster, a circadian biologist at Imperial College London, said: "The more we understand about the body's 24-hour clock the more we will be able to override it.
"In 10 to 20 years we'll be able to pharmacologically turn sleep off. Mimicking sleep will take longer, but I can see it happening."
Neil Stanley, head of sleep research at the Human Psychopharmacology Research Unit at the University of Surrey, countered: "I think that would be the most hideous thing to happen to society."
Scientists are hoping to build on the success of the drug Modafinil, a stimulant launched seven years ago which allows people to wake up refreshed after four hours of sleep.
It does sound far-fetched since we have such little understanding of sleep and dreams but anything is possible. If they are invented and they work they would be extremely popular. There are already plenty of people who try and survive on as little as four hours of sleep a night without the help of these future pills.
Did 2003 Iraq Bombings Spread Uranium Radiation Across Europe?
The Guardianreports that radiation detectors in the UK recorded a significant increase in uranium levels shortly after the "shock and awe" bombing campaign in Iraq in March, 2003.
The results from testing stations at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston and four other stations within a 10-mile radius were obtained by Chris Busby, of Liverpool University’s department of human anatomy and cell biology.
Each detector recorded a significant rise in uranium levels during the Gulf war bombing campaign in March 2003. The reading from a park in Reading was high enough for the Environment Agency to be alerted.
Busby, who has advised the government on radiation and is a founder of Green Audit, the environmental consultancy, believes "uranium aerosols" from Iraq were widely dispersed in the atmosphere and blown across Europe.
"This research shows that rather than remaining near the target as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds to thousands of miles away," he said.
The Guardian article cites the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as saying this radiation spread is "unfeasible" and also cites radiation experts who say environmental sources are the more likely reason for the spike. Even if the MoD and the radiation experts are right about radiation not spreading to the UK it does make you wonder just how much radiation was released in Iraq and how much danger it poses to Iraqis and to the coalition troops still fighting in that country.
This is London reports that scientists have made a major breakthrough and have grown brain cells in a lab for the very first time using mast stem cells. Experts say this new technique could potentially help Parkinson's, epilepsy and Alzheimer's patients in the future.
"As far as regenerating parts of the brain that have degenerated, such as in Parkinson's disease, it would have major impact," said Dr. Eric Holland, a brain expert at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
The team also hopes that one day patients could be given a drug that enables their brain to regenerate itself.
The big news in science health news this week was a report
from South Korea that a group of scientists have found a way to
create stem cells that match the genes of the patients.
Because stem cells can be used to grow cells for many different
tissues, organs, bones, etc. this could be an incredible breakthrough
if it turns out to be true. Scientists will try and reproduce the
results found by the South Korean scientists in other labs around the
world. The BBC has an article about the discovery. This raises big questions for medical research here in the United States? With the possibility of enormous health benefits why is the U.S. government not pouring money into stem cell research? The answer is that President Bush and some far-right religious groups claim the procedure is unethical because it uses stem cells from cloned embryos. However, a similar procedure is used with in vitro fertilization and you don't hear these same politicians arguing against this procedure. Unfortunately, President Bush has already announced that he will veto any bill that comes his way that increases
embryonic stem cell funding or lessens current restrictions. The Media
Cynic has more about Bush's veto threat.
Scientist are growing human tissue and organ inside of animals for study and the possibility of creating donor parts that can be harvested from the animals. MSNBC.com reports that just outside of Reno, Nevada a farm contains a "flock of about 50 smelly sheep, many of them possessing partially human livers, hearts, brains and other organs." The research is legal and could have huge health benefits but some are concerned that growing human parts inside mice, pigs, sheep and other animals is gong too far.
But the biological co-mingling of animal and human is now evolving into even more exotic and unsettling mixes of species, evoking the Greek myth of the monstrous chimera, which was part lion, part goat and part serpent.
In the past two years, scientists have created pigs with human blood, fused rabbit eggs with human DNA and injected human stem cells to make paralyzed mice walk.
Particularly worrisome to some scientists are the nightmare scenarios that could arise from the mixing of brain cells: What if a human mind somehow got trapped inside a sheep's head?
One of the problems with the research so far is that the organs grown inside the sheep and other animals tend to mix with the animal's own cells which would cause problems during transplanting such as rejection -- or worse giving the recipient a disease the animal had.
We have seen the new healthy pyramid website released by the government. But how many people actually follow health guidelines and live a healthly lifestyle? Only 3% do. LiveScience.com reports on a recent study that found while some people do good at one or two healthy things or 3% did all four of these:
76 percent didn't smoke
40 percent maintained a healthy weight (these tended to be younger and better educated)
23 percent ate five or more fruits and vegetables a day
22 percent got at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five times a week
Maggots and Leeches Welcomed Back Into Health Care
The use of maggots and leeches to heal wounds and infections is slowly starting to play a bigger role into modern medicine. LiveScience.com reports that last year the FDA classified maggots and leeches as the first live medical devices. The National Institutes of Health says a container of 500-1,000 disinfected maggots costs about $70 (2004 prices). For that price the little creepy crawlies can do amazing things. LiveScience.com tells the story of Pam Mitchell who tried everything to heal her left heel that had a large infected diabetes-related wound. Nothing worked and doctors told her she should amputate the foot. Then she convinced a dermatologist to try maggots after watching a special about their ability to heal wounds on TV. After ten sessions with hundreds of live maggots her foot was healed. Scientists do not know exactly how maggots and leeches heal wounds but they do know a little:
Scientists have not figured out exactly how either critter works, but quite a bit is known. Maggots eat dead and infected tissue and other infectious organisms, which are later killed in maggots' guts. They secrete enzymes that break down dead tissue, turning it into a mush they can then slurp up.
Leech saliva is made up of a potent cocktail of more than 30 different proteins that, among other things, helps to numb pain, reduce swelling and keep blood flowing.
New scientific research by scientists in Palo Alto, California,
has found that the human intestines contain 395 bacteria strains that
had never been discovered before. The research also found that the
intestines are a home for trillions of bacteria. The Kansas City Starreports that there are so many colonies in your intestines that
scientists have even referred to them as "Whovilles." The discovery
could have major implications for the future of medicine as these
bacteria probably play a significant role in an individual's health. Alternative medical experts have long suspected that good bacteria in the gut are important to people's overall health. The Kansas City Star writes:
Taken together, the bacteria in our guts contain 100 times more genes than
our human cells do. The ecosystems they form are the densest known in nature.
Our feces are about half bacteria by weight. Yet we know more about the microbes of the soil and the seas than we know about these intimate companions, said Lora Hooper, an immunologist at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. Gordon said the report, published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science, is the first comprehensive inventory of a microbial community so vast that it is "mind-boggling." When the gut microbes are in balance, they help keep us well. Thrown out of balance, they may contribute to disease.
You can refer to these microbes as your intestinal flora. They are
so unique to you as individual that some doctors are calling them a
"second human genome" -- which we need to understand before we can properly
treat people for disease and illness.
While we all think of the inconvenience of removing our shoes
these days before boarding planes how many have considered the
health implications of this mass shoe removal? Dr. Cecil Fox
recently raised the question on the ProMed newsletter.
Dr. Cecil Fox said, "Having spent some time with mycotic
infections, I am startled to see that
the Transportation Security Administration, who supposedly monitors
airports, 'strongly' suggests that passengers remove their shoes while
passing through the lines in American airports. The penalty for not doing
so is an intimidating delay in which a total body scan for such contraband
as glasses frames and wrist watches is conducted, whereupon you still are
required to remove your shoes and to stand around on unkempt airport
carpets while your shoes are X-rayed! If you do as 'suggested,' you must
march 10 to 15 feet either barefoot or in stocking feet to a point where
one's shoes may be reclaimed. This is evidently because a demented
passenger attempted to ignite his shoes with either matches or a cigarette lighter, already prohibited.
Unless I am terribly mistaken, one's flora are being mixed with that of
several hundreds of thousand of passengers who have passed through the same lines. The floors are rarely cleaned (evidently) and never disinfected. Has simple hygiene been forfeited in the US in the name of 'security?' When the
TSA finally answered a query, they told me that OSHA had approved the cross contamination of hundreds of thousands of feet. The CDC, NIH, WHO, or state or local health departments were not consulted. National Security indeed."
If you think Dr. Fox is correct and this sounds like an obvious health
risk -- it is. At a minimum those floors should be disinfected
a few times a day.
ProMED followed up by saying, "the people at highest risk must
obviously be airport security staff. Studies documenting increased risk of
dermatophytes and/or tinea pedis, and increased risk of respiratory tract
symptoms like asthma or allergic alveolitis, is clearly highly needed."
The UN is warning that if HIV/AIDS continues to grow in Africa
at its current rate it could impact 10% of the population within
20 years -- or 90 million people. Those 90 million would be in
addition to the 25 million Africans who already have the
deadly disease. Simon Wright, of ActionAid, told the BBC that,
"All countries must be more ambitious in fighting AIDS, otherwise
generations of Africans will be lost."
Dr. Julie Gerberding, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) said that Avian Flu currently poses the biggest
threat to the world. Bird Flu (H5N1) has been spreading in Southeast Asia over the past couple years beginning with an outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997. The disease has led to culls of chickens, ducks and other birds to try and stop the spread. In humans the disease has killed at least 45 people to date -- according to the latest numbers from the World
Health Organization. Reuters reported that Gerberding also said that 72% of those diagnosed with Avian Flu have perished. What is most worrying is that lately the disease has shown possible signs of spreading from person to person -- although only through close contact. Also, BBC reports that Oxford Scientists found that the Avian Flu can ravage many organs in the body and not just the lungs as previously thought. CDC and WHO officials are concerned that the virus will mutate and spread rapidly from person to person like the flu does during flu season. If this were to happen Bird Flu could potentially kill hundreds of millions worldwide according to some experts -- like the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918 which killed tens of million. Read The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History by
John M. Barry for more information about the deadly influenza outbreak of 1918.
There's a new radiation symbol in town and it shows a person running away from dangerous radioactive waves. The red and black symbol also includes a skull and crossbones. The IAEA 
