I saw this one coming late one night a few decades ago… Flourescent green monkeys. Please, just say no to flourescent green people.
Scientists have created the first genetically modified monkeys that can pass their new genetic attributes to their offspring… The researchers modified a lentivirus to carry a jellyfish gene known as GFP (green fluorescent protein) into the genetic material of the marmosets’ cells… that caused the animals to glow green under an ultraviolet light… Most important, eggs from one of the females and sperm from one of the males had the gene, and the researchers reported that the male’s sperm was used to produce at least one second-generation offspring with the gene — a male named Kouichi whose skin glowed green under the light… because the work marks the first time members of a species so closely related to humans have had their genetic makeup permanently altered, the research set off alarms that it marked a troubling step toward applying such techniques to people… In humans, researchers have tried to correct genetic defects in individual patients, but there has always been a strict prohibition against making changes that would be passed on…
More evidence emerges that restricting caloric intake to the point of malnutrition does prolong life… Articles in Science:
Each [rhesus monkey] in the experimental group was observed for up to six months to find out how much it ate when food was freely available. It then had the calorific value of this baseline diet cut, in three monthly tranches, until it had been reduced by a total of 30%… [Over 20 years,] 14 of the 38 control animals have died of age-related illnesses such as type II (late onset) diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Only five of the experimental animals so succumbed…
and Nature:
Dr Harrison and his colleagues picked a different molecule that has been seen to work on invertebrates: rapamycin. This substance, isolated originally from a strain of bacterium found on Easter Island—or Rapa Nui as it is known to the locals—acts by suppressing a particular signalling mechanism inside cells, called the TOR pathway. The TOR pathway, in turn, promotes protein production and inhibits the active destruction of parts of cells that are no longer needed… [lab mice experienced] a 38% increase in life expectancy for females and 28% for males.
Andy Kessler doesn’t think it is technology that has been holding back digitising records in the medical industry, but rather an unwillingness to be exposed to auditing of health care costs.
The truth is that these folks could have digitized the whole industry ages ago… The reason lies neither with cost nor with inadequate technology. Rather, the health-care industry’s reluctance to digitize its records is rooted in a desire to keep medicine’s lucrative business model hidden… With easy access to this kind of information, wasteful spending could be identified more readily, allowing payers, whether Medicare or private insurers, to stop reimbursing for expensive but unnecessary tests and procedures… With widespread use of electronic health records, it would be easier to expand preventive medicine, not only by educating patients about lifestyle changes but also by conducting mass screenings… As valuable as electronic health records are for streamlining costs, their biggest contribution will lie in moving medicine toward early detection.
Australian researchers claim success with novel tumour treatment.
The EnGeneIC method uses minicells to deliver a variety of agents to tumor cells, including both anticancer toxins and mechanisms for suppressing the genes that make tumors resistant to toxins… The minicells can be coated with an antibody that recognizes this receptor, so they are more likely to attach themselves to tumors than to the normal cells of the body. The tumor cells engulf and destroy the minicells, a standard defense against bacteria, and in doing so are exposed to whatever cargo the minicells carry… Though the minicells can be varied to attack different receptors and to import any gene of interest on elements called plasmids, the method still has several hurdles to jump.
WHO will probably revise its pandemic warning system to consider both extent and severity after the experience of swine flu – which should be the highest level based on its rapid and widespread transmission but is causing relatively few deaths.
Argentina is experiencing an unusual number of swine flu deaths.
With 1,587 confirmed cases and 43 deaths, one in every 37 confirmed swine flu cases – 2.71 per cent – in Argentina has been fatal.
First case of Tamiflu resistant swine flu. Responded to Relenza.
Danish health officials on Monday reported the first case of resistance in a patient treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that is one of the key influenza treatments recommended by the World Health Organization… The patient was given another type of medication, Relenza, made by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Transportation accidents are by far the leading underlying cause of deaths of U.S. service members, and more people die from traffic accidents than from malaria each year in the developing world but the problem of road safety is being ignored by aid groups and international institutions… “Make Roads Safe: A Decade of Action for Road Safety,” concluded that $300 million spent globally on improving roads, campaigns to raise public awareness, and more traffic police could save 5 million lives between 2010 and 2020.