Decizia a fost anuntata dupa doua luni de dezbateri intense, dupa ce oficialii SUA au solicitat ca anumite aspecte ale cercetarii sa nu fie publicate, datorita riscului ca acestea sa fie folosite de teroristi. Conform declaratiilor expertilor, boala creata în laborator are potentialul de a ucide miliarde de oameni. Cu toate acestea, creatorul acesteia, dr. Ron Fouchier, a cerut ca studiul sa fie publicat necenzurat, pentru ca va ajuta la prevenirea si la tratarea acestor tulpini gripale în cazul în care acestea vor aparea în urmatorii ani.
Specialistii OMS sustin publicarea cercetarii, decizia fiind anuntata în urma discutiilor purtate de 22 de experti din întreaga lume. Cei mai multi dintre acestia considera ca riscul utilizarii studiului de catre teroristi este mult mai mic decât riscul ca aceste tulpini sau unele similare sa apara în natura. De aceea, recomandarea lor a fost ca studiul sa fie publicat necenzurat, pentru a permite identificarea si studierea detaliilor care ar putea ajuta la descoperirea virusurilor ce au potentialul sa provoace o pandemie înainte ca acest lucru sa se petreaca.
Forma naturala a gripei aviare a infectat milioane de pasari, mai ales în tarile sarace din Asia. Aceasta nu se transmite usor la oameni, însa atunci când se transmite, are o rata a mortalitatii ridicata. Daca virusul ar dezvolta capacitatea de a infecta oamenii mai usor si pe cea de a se transmite de la om la om, ar putea ucide milioane de persoane.
The study published Jan. 9 online in the journal Circulation found the risk of heart attack remained eight times above normal during the first week after the death of a loved one, slowly declining, but remaining elevated for at least a month.
Researchers interviewed approximately 2,000 patients who suffered myocardial infarctions, or heart attacks, over a five-year period. Patients were asked a series of questions about potentially triggering events, including losing someone close to them in the past year.
While there is widespread anecdotal evidence that the death of a loved one can lead to declining health in survivors, few studies have looked at the acute effect of bereavement and grief on myocardial infarction.
"Bereavement and grief are associated with increased feelings of depression, anxiety and anger, and those have been shown to be associated with increases in heart rate and blood pressure, and changes in the blood that make it more likely to clot, all of which can lead to a heart attack," says lead author Elizabeth Mostofsky, MPH, ScD, a post-doctoral fellow in the cardiovascular epidemiological unit at BIDMC.
Cannabis cured my skin cancer. This is my story. It has been proven that concentrated cannabis oil cures cancer.
Duration: 9 minutes and 15 seconds Country: United States Language: English License: CC - Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Genre: Documentary Producer: D. Triplett Director: D. Triplett Views: 1.087.202 (1.012.502 embedded) Posted by: fabulousbb on 30.04.2011
THREE and a half years ago, on my 62nd birthday, doctors discovered a mass on my pancreas. It turned out to be Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I was told I would be dead in four to six months. Today I am in that rare coterie of people who have survived this long with the disease. But I did not foresee that after having dedicated myself for 40 years to a life of the law, including more than two decades as a New York State judge, my quest for ameliorative and palliative care would lead me to marijuana.
My survival has demanded an enormous price, including months of chemotherapy, radiation hell and brutal surgery. For about a year, my cancer disappeared, only to return. About a month ago, I started a new and even more debilitating course of treatment. Every other week, after receiving an IV booster of chemotherapy drugs that takes three hours, I wear a pump that slowly injects more of the drugs over the next 48 hours.
Nausea and pain are constant companions. One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat one problem leads to one or two more drugs to offset its side effects. Pain medication leads to loss of appetite and constipation. Anti-nausea medication raises glucose levels, a serious problem for me with my pancreas so compromised. Sleep, which might bring respite from the miseries of the day, becomes increasingly elusive.
Inhaled marijuana is the only medicine that gives me some relief from nausea, stimulates my appetite, and makes it easier to fall asleep. The oral synthetic substitute, Marinol, prescribed by my doctors, was useless. Rather than watch the agony of my suffering, friends have chosen, at some personal risk, to provide the substance. I find a few puffs of marijuana before dinner gives me ammunition in the battle to eat. A few more puffs at bedtime permits desperately needed sleep.
Servizio Pubblico 24a puntata - titolo La Politica. In questo video l'editoriale di Marco Travaglio "Non si capisce bene se i politici fanno così perché non vogliono cambiare, o non possono cambiare o non vogliono cambiare, ma mi sembrano tre ottimi motivi per mandarli tutti a casa lo stesso".
Far sapere al mondo che lì, in quel momento, si stava compiendo un’impresa epocale, non era così semplice. Agli inizi del Novecento le comunicazioni in quella parte di mondo, nel profondo Sud del pianeta, erano piuttosto problematiche. Così, anche le scoperte degne di nota e traguardi importanti come la conquista del Polo Sud arrivavano in ritardo. Nel caso specifico, quasi tre mesi dopo che la spedizione al seguito di Roald Amundsen(1872-1928)ebbe piantato la bandiera norvegese al centro dell’ Antartide.
Era infatti il 7 marzo 1912 quando lo storico telegramma con l’annuncio della conquista veniva spedito da Hobart, in Tasmania, ma il fatto risaliva al 14 dicembre dell’anno precedente. Anche se l’impresa era grande, Amundsen non fece molto rumore quando mise piede a terra dalla sua Fram, l’imbarcazione che lo aveva portato fin lì. Si racconta infatti che prima di diffondere la notizia, l’esploratore volesse assicurarsi che il re della Norvegia Haakon VII venisse a conoscenza della sua prodezza. E fu così che l’impresa restò in gran segreto, almeno all’inizio. Nello stesso modo in cui era cominciata, visto che Amundsen non rese note le sue mire fino all’ultimo (aveva sperimentato in prima persona cosa volesse dire essere battuto sul tempo nella conquista al Polo Nord, da parte di Frederik Cook e Robert Peary, e non voleva farsi superare di nuovo).
Quel telegramma fu la prova che ce l’aveva fatta, in pieno. Da una parte, infatti, con quelle poche righe Amundsen reclamava il primato di aver conquistato per il primo il Polo Sud; dall’altro questo significava che i suoi diretti concorrenti, quelli della spedizione inglese Terra Nova al seguito di Robert Falcon Scott, avevano mancato l’impresa. Questi infatti avrebbero tagliato il traguardo solo una trentina di giorni dopo il norvegese, e avrebbero avuto un destino decisamente più infausto, visto che i membri della missione esplorativa e il suo capitano sarebbero morti tutti sulla via del ritorno, sconfitti dalla fame, dalla stanchezza e dal freddo.
Noi cercetari demonstreaza ca, de fapt, avem nevoie sa facem mult mai putina miscare decât am crede. Desigur, cu cât mai multe exercitii fizice, cu atât mai bine, însa cercetatorii din Canada au efectuat un studiu pentru a vedea care este minimul de exercitii fizice necesara unui om pentru o viata sanatoasa.
Studiul a fost realizat pe doua grupuri de voluntari: unul alcatuit din persoane cu vârste medii si o conditie fizica deficitara (dar sanatosi) si un alt grup format tot din persoane cu vârste medii, dar care sufereau de boli cardiovasculare. Pentru început, specialistii au calculat, pentru fiecare individ, nivelul de baza al rezistentei la efort.
Pentru exercitiile de rutina, specialistii au propus ca voluntarii sa faca exercitii pe biciclete medicinale, de 2 ori pe saptamâna. Timp de un minut, ei au pedalat cu 90% din maximul de efort (care se masoara luând ca baza frecventa batailor inimii, pâna la 220 pe minut, minus vârsta individului), urmat de un minut de pedalare usoara. Acest proces trebuia repetat de 10 ori, astfel încât individul sa efectueze un total de 20 de minute de exercitii.
Although you may never have seen it happen yourself, it isn't all that uncommon for large objects - including people - to fall onto the tracks at subway or railway platforms. While security personnel viewing CCTV feeds will catch some of these accidents, the cameras' shots are sometimes obscured by people, poor lighting, or even the trains themselves. The results can range from lengthy delays in rail service, to fatalities. Now, however, researchers working on a project for the Université Lille Nord de France have developed a system that uses radar to automatically detect and identify objects that fall onto the tracks. When installed at a platform, the system could then shut off power to the tracks, and notify oncoming trains.
No one has yet made a superlens, also known as a perfect lens, though people are trying. Optical lenses are limited by the nature of light, the so-called diffraction limit, so even the best won't usually let us see objects smaller than 200 nanometers across, about the size of the smallest bacterium. Scanning electron microscopes can capture objects that are much smaller, about a nanometer wide, but they are expensive, heavy, and, at the size of a large desk, not very portable.
To build a superlens, you need metamaterials: artificial materials with properties not seen in nature. Scientists are beginning to fabricate metamaterials in their quest to make real seemingly magical phenomena like invisibility cloaks, quantum levitation—and superlenses.
Now Guney, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University, has taken a major step toward creating superlens that could use visible light to see objects as small as 100 nanometers across.
This is an illustration of Durdu Guney's theoretical negative-index metamaterial, which would be the heart of a perfect lens. The colors show magnetic fields generated by plasmons. The black arrows show the direction of electrical current in metallic layers, and the numbers indicate current loops that contribute to negative refraction. Credit: Durdu Guney
The secret lies in plasmons, charge oscillations near the surface of thin metal films that combine with special nanostructures. When excited by an electromagnetic field, they gather light waves from an object and refract it in a way not seen in nature called negative refraction. This lets the lens overcomes the diffraction limit. And, in the case of Guney's model, it could allow us to see objects smaller than 1/1,000th the width of a human hair.
Other researchers have also been able to sidestep the diffraction limit, but not throughout the entire spectrum of visible light. Guney's model showed how metamaterials might be "stretched" to refract light waves from the infrared all the way past visible light and into the ultraviolet spectrum.
Milano e Roma sono fra le dieci città europee maggiormente esposte ai rischi legati agli attacchi informatici. Sono rispettivamente settima e ottava in questa classifica guidata da Manchester, Amsterdam e Stoccolma, frutto di una indagine commissionata alla società di ricerca Sperling’s Best Places da Symantec, che ha diffuso oggi i risultati in occasione della presentazione della nuova versione (la sesta) della propria security suite Norton 360. Davanti a Milano e Roma ci sono Parigi, Londra e Dublino, mentre dietro chiudono la top ten Barcellona e Berlino.
Sperling ha determinato le classifiche per comportamenti degli utenti, incidenza di pc e smartphone, utilizzo di social network, accesso a hotspot Wi-Fi potenzialmente non sicuri e ha poi comparato tutto con i dati degli attacchi informatici registrati nelle diverse città. L’elevata presenza di hotspot, insieme agli attacchi con malware, ha portato Manchester in cima alla classifica.
Andando a spulciare le singole graduatorie si nota che Roma è la capitale europea dei bot, con una media di 1.314 computer controllati in remoto da hacker per inviare spam e altri attacchi informatici, contro i 147 di Manchester e i 307 di Milano. Milano che a sua volta è la prima nella classifica dei tentativi di attacchi via Web (555 in media, circa il doppio della seconda, Amsterdam, e di Roma, quarta) e per indirizzi ip di spammer (3.768) seguita in questo caso proprio da Roma (1.246). Le due città italiane sono inoltre seconda e quarta nella classifica dei tentativi di attacco con malware.
Conform datelor, se pare ca toate plantele de pe Terra ar fi avut un singur stramos, din care au evoluat si s-au diversificat toate speciile cunoscute în prezent.
Echipa condusa de bioinformaticianul Dana Price din cadrul Laboratoarelor Bhattacharya de pe lânga Universitatea Rutgers din New Jersey, SUA, a analizat ADN-ul plastidelor algei glaucofite Cyanophora paradoxa, una dintre cele mai primitive alge cunoscute, dupa care a comparat datele cu cele obtinute din analiza plastidelor altor specii de alge (rosii si verzi), precum si ale unor plante terestre.
Rezultatele arata ca, atât la alge, cât si la plantele terestre, plastidele (cloroplastele), organitele celulare în care are loc procesul fotosintezei, ar fi fost, la origine, cianobacterii, organisme primitive unicelulare, fotosintetizatoare, care, în cursul evolutiei, au fost încorporate în celulele altor organisme, rezultând astfel plantele, capabile si ele de fotosinteza.
Add one more data point to the decades-old debate over marijuana legalization: A new study concludes that casual pot smoking - up to one joint per day - does not affect the functioning of your lungs.
The study, published in the Jan. 11, 2012 edition of Journal of the American Medical Association, also offered up a nugget that likely will surprise many: Evidence points to slight increases in lung airflow rates and increases in lung volume from occasional marijuana use.
Air flow is the amount of air someone can blow out of their lungs one second after taking the deepest breath possible. The volume measure is the total amount of air blown out once someone has taken the deepest breath possible.
The study of 5115 men and women took place over two decades between March 26, 1985 and August 19, 2006 in 4 American cities: Birmingham, Chicago, Oakland, Calif., and Minneapolis.
"With marijuana use increasing and large numbers of people who have been and continue to be exposed, knowing whether it causes lasting damage to lung function is important for public-health messaging and medical use of marijuana," according to one of the study's co-authors, Stefan Kertesz. "At levels of marijuana exposure commonly seen in Americans, occasional marijuana use was associated with increases in lung air flow rates and increases in lung capacity."
He added that those increases, though not large, nonetheless were statistically significant. "And the data showed that even up to moderately high-use levels -- one joint a day for seven years -- there is no evidence of decreased air-flow rates or lung volumes," he said.
The study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham was released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Echo of past findings
The findings echo results in some smaller studies that showed while marijuana contains some of the same toxic chemicals as tobacco, it does not carry the same risks for lung disease. It's not clear why that is so, but it's possible that the main active ingredient in marijuana, a chemical known as THC, makes the difference. THC causes the "high" that users feel. It also helps fight inflammation and may counteract the effects of more irritating chemicals in the drug, said Dr. Donald Tashkin, a marijuana researcher and an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Tashkin was not involved in the new study.
Study co-author Dr. Stefan Kertesz said there are other aspects of marijuana that may help explain the results.
Unlike cigarette smokers, marijuana users tend to breathe in deeply when they inhale a joint, which some researchers think might strengthen lung tissue. But the common lung function tests used in the study require the same kind of deep breathing that marijuana smokers are used to, so their good test results might partly reflect lots of practice, said Kertesz, a drug abuse researcher and preventive medicine specialist at the Alabama university.
Roughly equal numbers of blacks and whites took part, but no other minorities. Participants were periodically asked about recent marijuana or cigarette use and had several lung function tests during the study.
Overall, about 37 percent reported at least occasional marijuana use, and most users also reported having smoked cigarettes; 17 percent of participants said they'd smoked cigarettes but not marijuana. Those results are similar to national estimates.
On average, cigarette users smoked about 9 cigarettes daily, while average marijuana use was only a joint or two a few times a month -- typical for U.S. marijuana users, Kertesz said.
Most research has focused on using batteries, tiny solar cells or piezoelectric generators to harvest kinetic energy from the movement of an insect's wings to power the electronics attached to the insects. Now a group of researchers at Case Western Reserve University have created a power supply that relies just on the insect's normal feeding.
Recognizing that using a real insect is much easier than starting from scratch to create a device that works like an insect, Case Western Reserve chemistry professor teamed up with graduate student Michelle Rasmussen, biology professor Roy E. Ritzmann, chemistry professor Irene Lee and biology research assistant Alan J. Pollack to develop an implantable biofuel cell to provide usable power for the various sensors, recording devices, or electronics used to control an insect cyborg.
To convert chemical energy harvested from the insect and turn it into electricity, the team used two enzymes in series to create the anode. The first enzyme breaks down the sugar trehalose, which a cockroach constantly produces from its food, into two simpler sugars, called monosaccarides, while the second enzyme oxidizes the monosaccarides to release electrons. A current them flows as the electrons are drawn to the cathode, where oxygen from air takes up the electrons and is reduced to water.
After testing the system using trehalose solution, the team inserted prototype electrodes in a blood sinus away from critical organs in the abdomen of a female cockroach. The cockroaches suffered no long-term damage, which the researchers say bodes well for long-term use.
Diciotto miglia all’ora, più o meno 29 chilometri orari. Č questo il nuovo record, robotico, di velocità. Un primato che appartiene a Cheetah (che non a caso significa ghepardo), il robot a quattro zampe della Boston Dynamics finanziato dalla Darpa ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), l’agenzia della difesa statunitense che si occupa di mettere a punto nuove tecnologie da utilizzare in campo militare. E tra questi c’è anche la robotica.
Ei au identificat si cauza: ceasul biologic al fiecaruia controleaza nivelul unei proteine esentiale pentru functionarea corecta a sistemului nostru imunitar.
Studiul efectuat pe soareci de oamenii de stiinta de la Universitatea Yale a aratat ca nivelul proteinei TLR-9 în organism este influentat de ceasul biologic, fluctuând de-a lungul zilei. Atunci când nivelul proteinei în corp era unul ridicat, sistemul imunitar reactiona mai bine la infectii si la vaccinari. Proteina TLR-9 este implicata în detectarea agentilor patogeni.
Principiul descoperit de cercetatorii de la Yale se aplica si oamenilor. De aceea, atunci când ceasul biologic este dereglat, suntem mai predispusi la a ne îmbolnavi.
Profesorul Erol Fikrig a comentat rezultatele studiului: „oamenii stiu intuitiv ca atunci când le este dereglat somnul au sanse mai mari sa se îmbolnaveasca. Acum am înteles de ce se întâmpla acest lucru”. Expertul a adaugat ca este evaluarea evaluarea efectului pe care lumina artificiala din spitale îl are asupra pacientilor.
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