A study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center showed in animal studies that new cancer drug compounds they developed shrank tumors, with few side effects.
The study, done in two mouse models of human cancer, looked at two compounds designed to activate a protein that kills cancer cells. The protein, p53, is inactivated in a significant number of human cancers. In some cases, it is because another protein, MDM2, binds to p53 and blocks its tumor suppressor function. This allows the tumor to grow unchecked. The new compounds block MDM2 from binding to p53, consequently activating p53.
"For the first time, we showed that activation of p53 by our highly potent and optimized MDM2 inhibitors can achieve complete tumor regression in a mouse model of human cancer," says lead study author Shaomeng Wang, Ph.D., Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor in Medicine and director of the Cancer Drug Discovery Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Wang presented the study at the American Association for Cancer Research 102nd annual meeting.
Many traditional cancer drugs also activate p53 but they do so by causing DNA damage in both tumor cells and normal cells, causing side effects. These new MDM2 inhibitors activate p53 while avoiding the DNA damage common with other drugs. In this study, which was done in collaboration with Ascenta Therapeutics and sanonfi-aventis, researchers showed that these new drugs shrank tumors without significant side effects.
Because p53 is involved in all types of human cancer, the new drug has potential to be used in multiple types of cancer. Further, the researchers also identified certain markers in tumors that predict which ones will be particularly sensitive to the MDM2 inhibitor, which would allow physicians to target the drug only to patients most likely to benefit.
via New drug shrinks cancer in animals, U-M study shows.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
New drug achieves complete tumor regression in animals
Livermore researchers develop battery-less chemical detector
Unlike many conventional chemical detectors that require an external power source, Lawrence Livermore researchers have developed a nanosensor that relies on semiconductor nanowires, rather than traditional batteries.
The device overcomes the power requirement of traditional sensors and is simple, highly sensitive and can detect various molecules quickly. Its development could be the first step in making an easily deployable chemical sensor for the battlefield.
The Lab's Yinmin "Morris" Wang and colleagues Daniel Aberg, Paul Erhart, Nipun Misra, Aleksandr Noy and Alex Hamza, along with collaborators from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, have fabricated the first-generation battery-less detectors that use one-dimensional semiconductor nanowires.
The nanosensors take advantage of a unique interaction between chemical species and semiconductor nanowire surfaces that stimulate an electrical charge between the two ends of nanowires or between the exposed and unexposed nanowires.
The group tested the battery-less sensors with different types of platforms - zinc-oxide and silicon -- using ethanol solvent as a testing agent.
In the zinc-oxide sensor the team found there was a change in the electric voltage between the two ends of nanowires when a small amount of ethanol was placed on the detector.
"The rise of the electric signal is almost instantaneous and decays slowly as the ethanol evaporates," Wang said.
However, when the team placed a small amount of a hexane solvent on the device, little electric voltage was seen, "indicating that the nanosensor selectively responds to different types of solvent molecules," Wang said.
The team used more than 15 different types of organic solvents and saw different voltages for each solvent. "This trait makes it possible for our nanosensors to detect different types of chemical species and their concentration levels," Wang said. ...
via Livermore researchers develop battery-less chemical detector.
Two dying stars reborn as one
White dwarfs are dead stars that pack a Sun's-worth of matter into an Earth-sized ball. Astronomers have just discovered an amazing pair of white dwarfs whirling around each other once every 39 minutes. This is the shortest-period pair of white dwarfs now known. Moreover, in a few million years they will collide and merge to create a single star.
"These stars have already lived a full life. When they merge, they'll essentially be 'reborn' and enjoy a second life," said Smithsonian astronomer Mukremin Kilic (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), lead author on the paper announcing the discovery.
Out of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, only a handful of merging white dwarf systems are known to exist. Most were found by Kilic and his colleagues. The latest discovery will be the first of the group to merge and be reborn.
The newly identified binary star (designated SDSS J010657.39 – 100003.3) is located about 7,800 light-years away in the constellation Cetus. It consists of two white dwarfs, a visible star and an unseen companion whose presence is betrayed by the visible star's motion around it. The visible white dwarf weighs about 17 percent as much as the Sun, while the second white dwarf weighs 43 per cent as much. Astronomers believe that both are made of helium.
The two white dwarfs orbit each other at a distance of 140,000 miles - less than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. They whirl around at speeds of 270 miles per second (1 million miles per hour), completing one orbit in only 39 minutes.
via CfA Press Room.
Some People's Climate Beliefs Shift With Weather
Social scientists are struggling with a perplexing earth-science question: as the power of evidence showing manmade global warming is rising, why do opinion polls suggest public belief in the findings is wavering? Part of the answer may be that some people are too easily swayed by the easiest, most irrational piece of evidence at hand: their own estimation of the day’s temperature.
In three separate studies, researchers affiliated with Columbia University’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) surveyed about 1,200 people in the United States and Australia, and found that those who thought the current day was warmer than usual were more likely to believe in and feel concern about global warming than those who thought the day was unusually cold. A new paper describing the studies appears in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science.
“Global warming is so complex, it appears some people are ready to be persuaded by whether their own day is warmer or cooler than usual, rather than think about whether the entire world is becoming warmer or cooler,” said lead author Ye Li, a postdoctoral researcher at the Columbia Business School’s Center for Decision Sciences, which is aligned with CRED. “It is striking that society has spent so much money, time and effort educating people about this issue, yet people are still so easily influenced.” The study says that “these results join a growing body of work show that irrelevant environmental information, such as the current weather, can affect judgments. … By way of analogy, when asked about the state of the national economy, someone might look at the amount of money in his or her wallet, a factor with only trivial relevance.”...
via Some People's Climate Beliefs Shift With Weather - The Earth Institute, Columbia University.
Glaciers melting 100 times faster than thought
A new study has found that the world’s glaciers are melting up to 100 times faster than any time in the past 350 years.
The findings, based on the study of Patagonia, South America, have worrying implications for millions of people who rely on the slow moving bodies of ice for fresh water, a newspaper reported.
The amount of ice lost from the 270 Patagonian glaciers is equivalent to filling Windermere in the Lake District more than 1,700 times.
The researchers, led by Prof Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University, analysed the rocky debris left by glaciers on the sides of mountains to work out how big they once were and how much ice has vanished.
Since the Little Ice Age ended in Patagonia in the middle of the 17th century, the 270 glaciers that now cover an area of at least 0.4 square miles have lost 145 cubic miles of ice.
Over the same period temperatures have gone up by around 1.4 C in the region, said the scientists.
“The glaciers have lost a lot less ice up until 30 years ago than had been thought,” said Glasser.
“The real killer is that in the last 30 years the rate of loss has gone up 100 times above the long term average. It’s scary,” he said.
The professor, who carried out the study alongside researchers from the University of Exeter and Stockholm University, said the South American glaciers were at a similar latitude in the southern hemisphere as the Alps are in the northern hemisphere.
The findings are reported in the journal Nature Geoscience. ...
via Glaciers melting 100 times faster than thought | Discovery Online.
Plant lives inside animal: algae invade amphibian cells
Researchers have discovered a unique and rather weird example of a plant living inside an animal.
A team from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, discovered that a green alga invades tiny developing salamander embryos.
This is the first documented case of a plant living in partnership, or symbiosis, with a vertebrate.
Even more strangely, the researchers think the salamanders might inherit the alga from their parents.
The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It was already known that green algae lived inside the eggs of this species - the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), which is very common in North America.
Although these salamanders only emerge from beneath the ground to hunt and breed, they lay their translucent eggs in ponds, where they are suspended near the surface. This makes an ideal, sunny and protected environment for the algae.
"The eggs actually look green because the algae is inside the egg capsules," explained Dr Ryan Kerney of Dalhousie University, who led the research.
"The algae inside the egg capsules provide oxygen to the embryo and the algae gets waste from the embryo [which is rich in the nitrogen the plant needs]."
Although this relationship had been known about for more than a century, scientists did not understand how the algae got into the egg.
Viewing the salamanders under a fluorescent microscope, the researchers were able to see the algal pigments "shine" when they were illuminated with light of a certain wavelength.
Prior to this, many scientists did not think that plants could live inside the cells of vertebrates. This group of complex animals, which includes fish, birds, reptiles and mammals (like us humans) have highly specialised immune systems, which should not let these foreign organisms live in our cells.
"We also found algae DNA in the reproductive organs of the adult salamanders," said Dr Kerney, "so it seems possible that it is being inherited.
"We call that vertical transmission, but there is probably a mixture of this and the algae being absorbed from the environment."
Dr Kerney added: "So many new discoveries in biology comes from research in the tropics.
"I think this shows that it's worthwhile to look at our local species. They can still surprise us."
via BBC - Earth News - Plant lives inside animal: algae invade amphibian cells.
Chemical 'makes bone marrow repair skin'
The chemical which summons stem cells from bone marrow to the site of a wound has been discovered by scientists in the UK and Japan.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identified the distress signal - HMGB1.
The authors believe it can be used to put "a megaphone in the system" to improve the treatment of injuries such as burns and leg ulcers.
Another UK expert said the research had potential.
... "It could potentially revolutionise the management of wound healing."
He envisaged treatments in which a drug similar to HMGB1 would be injected near to a wound.
He said: "It would be like putting a megaphone in the system" bringing stem cells to the injury.
Researchers in Osaka are developing a drug to mimic HMGB1. They hope to begin animal testing by the end of the year and human clinical trials shortly afterwards.
via BBC News - Chemical found which 'makes bone marrow repair skin'.
German teen rides a cow, teaches it to jump like a horse
When Regina Mayer's parents dashed her hopes of getting a horse, the 15-year-old didn't go sulk in her room.
Instead, the resourceful teen turned to a cow called Luna to make her dream come true.
Hours of training and tons of treats, cajoling and caresses later, the results are impressive.
Not only do the two regularly go on long rides together through the picturesque southern German countryside, they even do jumps over a homemade hurdle of beer crates and painted logs.
Regina, who lives in Laufen, southern Germany, said: "She thinks she's a horse."
The pals started off with gentle walks after the animal was born on the Mayers' farm two years ago.
The 15-year-old, who rides Luna every day, added: "It's a lot of work, but I enjoy it. When she wants to do something she does it, when she doesn't, she doesn't. And she is often very headstrong but can also be really adorable."
Regina said Luna's stubborn streak meant teaching her pony tricks wasn't always easy.via Horse mad teen has a cow - The West Australian.
School hit by worm rain
Angus Howarth - A PE class had to run for cover as it started raining worms.
Teacher David Crichton was leading a group of pupils playing football at Galashiels Academy when dozens of the invertebrates began plummeting from the sky. The 22 second-year boys had to abandon their lesson
Mr Crichton said the children had just completed their warm-up when they began to hear "soft thudding" on the ground.
The class then looked to the cloudless sky - and saw worms falling on to them.
Mr Chrichton, 26, said he was baffled by the incident, with teachers later finding more worms spread across a tennis court almost 100 yards away.
Mr Crichton said: "We went out to one of our outdoor areas - an all-weather Astroturf pitch.
"We were out playing football and had just done our warm-up and were about to start the next part of the lesson.
"We started hearing this wee thudding noise on the ground.
"There were about 20 worms already on the ground at this point. Then they just kept coming down.
"The kids were laughing but some were covering their heads and others were running for cover for a while.
"The just scattered to get out of the way."
The teacher scooped up handfuls of the worms that had fallen from the sky as proof they had landed on his class.
Mr Crichton said he and his colleagues eventually found about 120 worms after checking the artificial football pitch and tennis courts.
... The incident in Galashiels is believed to have been caused by freak weather over a nearby river lifting water and worms and dumping it over the road.
Similar events were recorded in 1872 in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1877 in Christiana, Norway, and in 1924 in Halmstad, Sweden.
In July 2007 a woman was crossing a road in Louisiana when large clumps of tangled worms dropped from above.
via Never mind cats and dogs - school hit by worm rain - Scotsman.com News.
Dotty the Donkey gets award for saving sheep
A donkey which saved a sheep from being savaged by a dog has been honoured for her bravery.
Dotty came to the aid of her friend Stanley in their shared paddock when a dog launched a frenzied attack on him, according to animal charity the PDSA.
She pinned the dog to the ground until it let go of five-year-old Stanley.
On Tuesday, Dotty was presented with the PDSA Certificate for Animal Bravery at her farm in Throxenby, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
Nearly two years on, the two animals are inseparable - even sharing the same stable at night.
Her owner Ann Rogers, 63, said: "Dotty was so brave that day.
"She saw her friend Stanley in distress and charged down the field to rescue him from the dog's jaws.
"I am so proud of Dotty and so pleased that her bravery is being recognised by PDSA." ...
PDSA senior vet Elaine Pendlebury said: "Donkeys are very stoical and protective animals.
"Often when faced with a threat they will rise up to face their enemy, in this case an aggressive dog. ...
via BBC News - Dotty the Donkey gets PDSA award for saving sheep.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Police await lab results in newspaper bombing case
Investigators are awaiting the results of lab tests in the case of a Northern California man who was injured when an explosive device wrapped inside a newspaper exploded.Vacaville Police Lt. Randy Weaver said Tuesday the tests could help identify the chemistry of the device, the triggering mechanism and other details. It exploded March 27 in a neighborhood in Vacaville, about 30 miles west of Sacramento. Jose Sanchez-Zarco, who is 85, was critically injured when he tried to retrieve a newspaper stuffed inside a plastic bag. It was resting on the lawn between his home and a neighbor's.The blast nearly severed his right little finger and injured his leg, arm and side. He was released last week from a Sacramento hospital, but police say he will require physical therapy.
via Police await lab results in newspaper bombing case.
Following the explosion, about 50 homes were evacuated while members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as well as the Travis Air Force Base bomb squad searched the Browns Valley neighborhood for other possible devices and began collecting evidence, which was then sent for analysis at a Walnut Creek laboratory.
According to Helen Dunkel, public information officer for ATF's San Francisco Field Division, on-scene evidence at such incidents is collected with careful attention to the preservation of any possible fingerprints or DNA that may have been left behind by the bomb maker.
She said investigators who respond to the scene of an explosion grid off the area, walking hundreds of feet back and forth looking for any remaining fragments from the device.
"You look high, you look low, you look everywhere," Dunkel said, adding that the trajectory from some explosions can launch fragments onto the roofs of neighboring houses. ...
Vacaville police Sgt. Jeff King said a week-old recording turned over to police by a Bay Area radio station on Tuesday in which a caller to a talk show complains about his elderly neighbor stealing his paper is not connected to the local investigation.
"It has nothing to do with our case," King said of the tape in which the caller threatens to "throw up" in his paper and leave it out for his neighbor to grab. ...
Anyone with information related to the attack is asked to contact the Vacaville Police Department at 449-5200, or call Crime Stoppers and leave an anonymous tip at 644-STOP. Crime Stoppers may pay up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.
via mercurynews
A guy who makes it to 85 years old shouldn't have to deal with this kind of stupid crap. I hope they find the bomber soon. I'll donate to increase the reward leading to a conviction.
Spiderwebs In Trees: Pakistan Floods Cause Incredible Phenomenon
An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters. Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. As a result, the mosquito population seems to have decreased, a small blessing likely caused by these webs. Aid from the UK government in response to the floods is helping millions of survivors return home and rebuild their lives.
via Spiderwebs In Trees: Pakistan Floods Cause Incredible Phenomenon (PHOTOS).
Skeptic Mocks NASA Researcher With ‘Flying Pig Award’ for Finding Life on Meteorites
David Moye - When NASA astrobiologist Richard Hoover announced, again, last month that he'd found evidence of microscopic life on meteorites, he probably didn't expect to receive the high honor of a Flying Pig Award.
But now, the man who some claim is the scientific equivalent of the boy who cried wolf, is getting honored for an achievement some say is dubious.
Every April 1, the James Randi Educational Foundation hands out Flying Pig Awards to dubiously honor what founder James Randi describes as "the most deserving charlatans, swindlers, psychics, pseudo-scientists and faith healers -- and on their credulous enablers, too."This year, the Flying Pig Awards are going to "lucky" recipients in five categories, including Hoover, who has claimed to find evidence of life in meteorites three times in the last 14 years.
Hoover's theory is that life began before the first stars formed and was spread throughout the early universe on meteors. Although AOL News and others reported on his findings, Randi's foundation points out that the theory is unsupported by scientific evidence -- or by many scientists.
It doesn't take a pseudo-psychic to predict that Hoover, who is based in Huntsville, Ala., is not amused by the honor.
"I've never heard of them, but they might be able to make more intelligent claims if they actually read the paper," Hoover told AOL News. "There are a number of papers in peer-reviewed literature detailing this research. There's nothing that hasn't already been reported by independent research." ...
via Skeptic Mocks NASA Researcher With ‘Flying Pig Award’ for Finding Life on Meteorites.
Fat Man Running: Former Sumo Champ Does Marathon
How can you lose 3.8 pounds in just in 9 hours, 48 minutes and 42 seconds?
Run the L.A. Marathon!
Former sumo wrestler Kelly Gneiting left the starting line weighing exactly 400 pounds... and when he arrived at the finish, he was down to a svelte 396.2 pounds, according to the Daily Mail.
He became the fattest man to finish a marathon -- and even beat his own personal best, set when he was just 275 pounds, by two hours.
"I'd like to see the Kenyan improve his marathon time by two hours," he joked after the race.
And for you men planning to get married, there's a lesson/warning in this for you: Gneiting says he was just 200 pounds when wed.
"Suddenly, jeez, I didn't need to attract anyone," he said. "I just kind of let myself go."
Fortunately, he found his place in the world of amateur sumo -- and even won U.S. titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
And now, he's got a record of his own... if not exactly one most people aspire to.
via Fat Man Running: Former Sumo Champ Does Marathon.
Clogged arteries found in mummy
THE first known case of clogged arteries, or atherosclerosis, has been found in the mummy of an Egyptian princess, a study presented at a major US cardiology conference says.
Researchers have long known that ancient Egyptians suffered from plaque build-up in the arteries that supply the heart, but the latest finding suggests the syndrome may be more prevalent, and mysterious, than previously thought.
''Commonly, we think of coronary artery or heart disease as a consequence of modern lifestyles, mainly because it has increased in developing countries as they become more Westernised,'' said Gregory Thomas of the University of California, Irvine. ''These data point to a missing link in our understanding of heart disease, and we may not be so different from our ancestors.''
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Researchers performed computerised tomography (CT) scans on 52 Egyptian mummies to determine whether they had atherosclerosis. Of the 44 that had detectable arteries or hearts, 45 per cent had calcium build-ups in their vessel walls.
The oldest was an Egyptian princess who is thought to have lived between 1580 and 1550 BC, and probably died when she was in her early 40s, researchers believe.
Even though ancient Egyptians ate a leaner diet and did not smoke cigarettes, they ended up with the same disease as modern humans.
But that does not mean people should disregard modern research, said the co-author of the study, Adel Allam of al-Azhar University in Cairo. ''Recent studies have shown that by not smoking, having a lower blood pressure and a lower cholesterol level, calcification of our arteries is delayed,'' he said.AFP
via Clogged arteries found in mummy.
Chicken feathers suggested as basis for plastics
The millions of tonnes of chicken feathers discarded each year could be used in plastics, researchers say.
A study reported at the American Chemical Society meeting in the US suggests feathers could lead to more environment-friendly, lighter plastics.
The chemical recipe requires significantly less petroleum-derived material.
However, tests on a grander scale will be necessary to establish the idea's industrial feasibility.
Such "biowaste" materials have been proposed as components of plastic formulations before.
Feathers, like hair and fingernails, are made up principally of the tough and chemically stable protein keratin, and can lend strength while reducing weight in the mixtures of plastics chemicals known as composites.
Researchers at the US agricultural authority have even published research into the possibility of incorporating chicken feathers into plastics, as an additive in composites that are made largely of a chemical polymer.
But the work presented by Yiqi Yang, from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, takes this idea further and uses the chicken feather fibres themselves as a principal ingredient - making up 50% of the mass of the composite.
As a result, the plastics require less of the materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene that are derived from petroleum products.
via BBC News - Chicken feathers suggested as basis for plastics.
Swedish flamingoes massacred in frenzied anteater attack
A flock of ten flamingoes have met a brutal end at a zoo in Eskilstuna in eastern Sweden after a curious anteater broke into their compound and clawed them to death, leaving a further five birds nursing injuries."It is not as dramatic as it sounds. The anteater panicked when the birds cackled and flapped their wings and it struck back," Helena Olsson at the Parken Zoo told The Local on Tuesday.
"The anteater is not a meat-eater, unless you consider ants meat, but when it feels threatened, it will defend itself," she said.
Olsson said that the South American animal, whose claws she said are strong enough to damage concrete, became curious and managed to pull apart the fence separating their pens and enter the enclosure holding the long-legged birds.
"The birds are very frail and the anteater is very strong," she said.
Zoo wardens reacted swiftly to the commotion to put a halt to the one-sided slaughter, Helena Olsson said, furthermore confirming that the fence has been repaired in a bid to avert a repeat.
Aside from the ten fatalities a further five birds were injured in the incident but they are expected to make a full recovery.
Parken Zoo keeps a pair of anteaters, described on the zoo's homepage as "like no other" with its "60 centimetre long tongue, big claws, shaggy coat and bushy tail".
via Swedish flamingoes massacred in frenzied anteater attack - The Local.
Mars is red due to a planet wide nuclear reaction?
Mars has not always been red.
At least that is the theory proposed by a scientist who has discovered a reason as to how the red planet got its rosy colour.
According to Dr John Brandednberg, about 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet naturally occurring nuclear reaction may have wiped out everything on Mars, sending a shockwave that turned the planet into dry sand.
He told Fox News: 'The Martian surface is covered with a thin layer of radioactive substances including uranium, thorium and radioactive potassium - and this pattern radiates from a hot spot on Mars.
'A nuclear explosion could have sent debris all around the planet.
'Maps of gamma rays on Mars show a big red spot that seems like a radiating debris pattern ... on the opposite side of the planet there is another red spot.'
Dr Brandenburg, who is a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp, said the natural explosion - the equivalent of one million one-megaton hydrogen bombs - occurred in the northern Mare Acidalium region of Mars where there is a heavy concentration of radioactivity.
This explosion also filled the Martian atmosphere with radio-isotopes, which are seen in recent gamma ray spectrometry data taken by NASA, he said.
The radioactivity also explains why the planet looks red. ...Theory: Dr Brandednberg believes that about 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet naturally occurring nuclear reaction wiped out everything on Mars
Dr Brandenburg believes that a natural nuclear reaction could have occurred on our own planet - and could happen again.
Dr David Beaty, Mars programme science manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told FoxNews.com that he finds the idea intriguing and fascinating.
But he said to prove the science, the agency would need to plan a mission to explore Mare Acidalium on Mars. ...
via Ever wondered why Mars is red? One scientists thinks he knows | Mail Online.
I've seen a conspiracy theory that says Mars is not really red. False color is added by filters. Why would they fake the color of Mars? Now we know... to get funding for the Mare Acialium trip. ;-)
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