/////////////BAM DREAM AND NIGHTMARE
///////////
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Saturday, 26 July 2008
CDS 2708071855
///////////IND WOUNDED AGAIN
////////////FMLY OVER CNTRY?
////////////Be a More Efficient Driver
# Brakes are your enemy. When you step on them, you have spent gas to go nowhere. Think ahead to limit the amount of brakes that you need to use. Trust me, it becomes a habit very quickly and you no longer have to think.
# Coast to red lights. Why use gas when you are going to have to stop?
# Coast down hills. I see a lot of people gunning it just to have to brake when they reach person in front of them.
# Coast to green lights far ahead of you. If it has been green for a LONG time, you might not make that light by the time you get there. That will force you to brake (see #1).
# Don’t tailgate… …In fact do the opposite. Leave plenty of room between you and the person behind you. If the person needs to slow down a little, you can coast to catch up a little instead of using your breaks.
# Take three rights instead of a left. UPS drivers do this in metro areas like NYC and found that they save fuel that would have been spent idling. Only look to do this at those really difficult left turns.
# Use Cruise Control. A constant speed is the most fuel efficient.
# Drive between 40-60 miles per hour. If you have a lighter car, you can aim for the 60 MPH number. If you have a heavier car, you’ll want to go 40 MPH. Go here for more information why.
# Avoid Traffic. Don’t drive during times of high traffic if you can avoid it.
# Use a GPS tracker. Time spent lost is gas wasted.
# Avoid air conditioning (if you stand it). Some tests seem to show that it’s not a big factor, so if it really impacts your comfort level, you might want to consider using air conditioning.
/////////////////WHAT TYPE OF A TOM R U? PLSING XHITE PPL
///////////////////Carnegie Mellon Mourns Passing Of Randy Pausch
A walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch
Reporting
Mary Robb Jackson
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The Carnegie Mellon University campus is mourning the death of Randy Pausch, the professor whose inspirational "Last Lecture" became an Internet sensation.
Pausch, who has been battling pancreatic cancer since September of 2006, died at his home in Virginia this morning.
Word of his death has quickly spread and calls have been coming in from all over the world from those touched by his message.
Pausch shared his lifelong adventure and the world took note last September when he gave what has come to be known as the "Last Lecture."
Over the past months on the CMU campus, Pausch has kept students, colleagues and friends up to date on the progress of his terminal cancer on a special webpage.
His last posting described how the chemotherapy was making him so sick and weak that it wasn't clear if it was the right tradeoff.
Since he wasn't strong enough to post any more messages, a friend updated the website yesterday explaining: "A biopsy last week revealed that the cancer has progressed further than we had thought from recent PETscans. Since last week, Randy has also taken a step down and is much sicker than he had been. He's now enrolled in hospice."
In an obituary released by the school, Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said, "Randy was a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher. Carnegie Mellon and the world are better places for having Randy Pausch in them."
On campus, people who knew him tried to find words to describe the loss.
"It is very difficult," Pausch's friend, Cleah Schlueter, told KDKA.
Schlueter spoke with Pausch's wife this morning by phone about his final hours.
"He was in pain and I think they knew that he was deteriorating," Schlueter added, "but they didn't thing that he was going to pass so soon. It was kind of unexpected, too."
Pausch, 47, is survived by his wife, Jai, and three young children, Chloe, Dylan and Logan.
When asked about them, Schlueter said "they're going to survive. I mean that's what you have to do. That's what life is all about."
According to a posting on the CMU website, the Pausch family requests that any donations be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or to Carnegie Mellon's Randy Pausch Memorial Fund.
Meanwhile, a walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch. "Pick Up The Pace" for pancreatic cancer will be held on Sunday, August 17th at the North Park Boathouse.
//////////////////10 MO ON DTH
//////////////////FMLY DRAMA BANDH KAR
////////////////////CONTRACT-2008
////////////////THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR-1973
///////////////HAPPY ENDING
////////////////Ben Franklin Effect
Explanations > Theories > Ben Franklin Effect
Description | Research | So What? | See also | References
Description
When we do a person a favor, we tend to like them more as a result. This is because we justify our actions to ourselves that we did them a favor because we liked them.
Benjamin Franklin himself said, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged."
The reverse effect is also true, and we come to hate our victims, which helps to explain wartime atrocities. We de-humanize the enemy, which decrease the dissonance of killing and other things in which we would never normally indulge.
///////////////////
////////////FMLY OVER CNTRY?
////////////Be a More Efficient Driver
# Brakes are your enemy. When you step on them, you have spent gas to go nowhere. Think ahead to limit the amount of brakes that you need to use. Trust me, it becomes a habit very quickly and you no longer have to think.
# Coast to red lights. Why use gas when you are going to have to stop?
# Coast down hills. I see a lot of people gunning it just to have to brake when they reach person in front of them.
# Coast to green lights far ahead of you. If it has been green for a LONG time, you might not make that light by the time you get there. That will force you to brake (see #1).
# Don’t tailgate… …In fact do the opposite. Leave plenty of room between you and the person behind you. If the person needs to slow down a little, you can coast to catch up a little instead of using your breaks.
# Take three rights instead of a left. UPS drivers do this in metro areas like NYC and found that they save fuel that would have been spent idling. Only look to do this at those really difficult left turns.
# Use Cruise Control. A constant speed is the most fuel efficient.
# Drive between 40-60 miles per hour. If you have a lighter car, you can aim for the 60 MPH number. If you have a heavier car, you’ll want to go 40 MPH. Go here for more information why.
# Avoid Traffic. Don’t drive during times of high traffic if you can avoid it.
# Use a GPS tracker. Time spent lost is gas wasted.
# Avoid air conditioning (if you stand it). Some tests seem to show that it’s not a big factor, so if it really impacts your comfort level, you might want to consider using air conditioning.
/////////////////WHAT TYPE OF A TOM R U? PLSING XHITE PPL
///////////////////Carnegie Mellon Mourns Passing Of Randy Pausch
A walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch
Reporting
Mary Robb Jackson
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The Carnegie Mellon University campus is mourning the death of Randy Pausch, the professor whose inspirational "Last Lecture" became an Internet sensation.
Pausch, who has been battling pancreatic cancer since September of 2006, died at his home in Virginia this morning.
Word of his death has quickly spread and calls have been coming in from all over the world from those touched by his message.
Pausch shared his lifelong adventure and the world took note last September when he gave what has come to be known as the "Last Lecture."
Over the past months on the CMU campus, Pausch has kept students, colleagues and friends up to date on the progress of his terminal cancer on a special webpage.
His last posting described how the chemotherapy was making him so sick and weak that it wasn't clear if it was the right tradeoff.
Since he wasn't strong enough to post any more messages, a friend updated the website yesterday explaining: "A biopsy last week revealed that the cancer has progressed further than we had thought from recent PETscans. Since last week, Randy has also taken a step down and is much sicker than he had been. He's now enrolled in hospice."
In an obituary released by the school, Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said, "Randy was a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher. Carnegie Mellon and the world are better places for having Randy Pausch in them."
On campus, people who knew him tried to find words to describe the loss.
"It is very difficult," Pausch's friend, Cleah Schlueter, told KDKA.
Schlueter spoke with Pausch's wife this morning by phone about his final hours.
"He was in pain and I think they knew that he was deteriorating," Schlueter added, "but they didn't thing that he was going to pass so soon. It was kind of unexpected, too."
Pausch, 47, is survived by his wife, Jai, and three young children, Chloe, Dylan and Logan.
When asked about them, Schlueter said "they're going to survive. I mean that's what you have to do. That's what life is all about."
According to a posting on the CMU website, the Pausch family requests that any donations be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or to Carnegie Mellon's Randy Pausch Memorial Fund.
Meanwhile, a walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch. "Pick Up The Pace" for pancreatic cancer will be held on Sunday, August 17th at the North Park Boathouse.
//////////////////10 MO ON DTH
//////////////////FMLY DRAMA BANDH KAR
////////////////////CONTRACT-2008
////////////////THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR-1973
///////////////HAPPY ENDING
////////////////Ben Franklin Effect
Explanations > Theories > Ben Franklin Effect
Description | Research | So What? | See also | References
Description
When we do a person a favor, we tend to like them more as a result. This is because we justify our actions to ourselves that we did them a favor because we liked them.
Benjamin Franklin himself said, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged."
The reverse effect is also true, and we come to hate our victims, which helps to explain wartime atrocities. We de-humanize the enemy, which decrease the dissonance of killing and other things in which we would never normally indulge.
///////////////////
CDS 2708071855
///////////IND WOUNDED AGAIN
////////////FMLY OVER CNTRY?
////////////Be a More Efficient Driver
# Brakes are your enemy. When you step on them, you have spent gas to go nowhere. Think ahead to limit the amount of brakes that you need to use. Trust me, it becomes a habit very quickly and you no longer have to think.
# Coast to red lights. Why use gas when you are going to have to stop?
# Coast down hills. I see a lot of people gunning it just to have to brake when they reach person in front of them.
# Coast to green lights far ahead of you. If it has been green for a LONG time, you might not make that light by the time you get there. That will force you to brake (see #1).
# Don’t tailgate… …In fact do the opposite. Leave plenty of room between you and the person behind you. If the person needs to slow down a little, you can coast to catch up a little instead of using your breaks.
# Take three rights instead of a left. UPS drivers do this in metro areas like NYC and found that they save fuel that would have been spent idling. Only look to do this at those really difficult left turns.
# Use Cruise Control. A constant speed is the most fuel efficient.
# Drive between 40-60 miles per hour. If you have a lighter car, you can aim for the 60 MPH number. If you have a heavier car, you’ll want to go 40 MPH. Go here for more information why.
# Avoid Traffic. Don’t drive during times of high traffic if you can avoid it.
# Use a GPS tracker. Time spent lost is gas wasted.
# Avoid air conditioning (if you stand it). Some tests seem to show that it’s not a big factor, so if it really impacts your comfort level, you might want to consider using air conditioning.
/////////////////WHAT TYPE OF A TOM R U? PLSING XHITE PPL
///////////////////Carnegie Mellon Mourns Passing Of Randy Pausch
A walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch
Reporting
Mary Robb Jackson
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The Carnegie Mellon University campus is mourning the death of Randy Pausch, the professor whose inspirational "Last Lecture" became an Internet sensation.
Pausch, who has been battling pancreatic cancer since September of 2006, died at his home in Virginia this morning.
Word of his death has quickly spread and calls have been coming in from all over the world from those touched by his message.
Pausch shared his lifelong adventure and the world took note last September when he gave what has come to be known as the "Last Lecture."
Over the past months on the CMU campus, Pausch has kept students, colleagues and friends up to date on the progress of his terminal cancer on a special webpage.
His last posting described how the chemotherapy was making him so sick and weak that it wasn't clear if it was the right tradeoff.
Since he wasn't strong enough to post any more messages, a friend updated the website yesterday explaining: "A biopsy last week revealed that the cancer has progressed further than we had thought from recent PETscans. Since last week, Randy has also taken a step down and is much sicker than he had been. He's now enrolled in hospice."
In an obituary released by the school, Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said, "Randy was a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher. Carnegie Mellon and the world are better places for having Randy Pausch in them."
On campus, people who knew him tried to find words to describe the loss.
"It is very difficult," Pausch's friend, Cleah Schlueter, told KDKA.
Schlueter spoke with Pausch's wife this morning by phone about his final hours.
"He was in pain and I think they knew that he was deteriorating," Schlueter added, "but they didn't thing that he was going to pass so soon. It was kind of unexpected, too."
Pausch, 47, is survived by his wife, Jai, and three young children, Chloe, Dylan and Logan.
When asked about them, Schlueter said "they're going to survive. I mean that's what you have to do. That's what life is all about."
According to a posting on the CMU website, the Pausch family requests that any donations be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or to Carnegie Mellon's Randy Pausch Memorial Fund.
Meanwhile, a walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch. "Pick Up The Pace" for pancreatic cancer will be held on Sunday, August 17th at the North Park Boathouse.
//////////////////10 MO ON DTH
//////////////////FMLY DRAMA BANDH KAR
////////////////////CONTRACT-2008
////////////////THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR-1973
///////////////HAPPY ENDING
////////////////Ben Franklin Effect
Explanations > Theories > Ben Franklin Effect
Description | Research | So What? | See also | References
Description
When we do a person a favor, we tend to like them more as a result. This is because we justify our actions to ourselves that we did them a favor because we liked them.
Benjamin Franklin himself said, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged."
The reverse effect is also true, and we come to hate our victims, which helps to explain wartime atrocities. We de-humanize the enemy, which decrease the dissonance of killing and other things in which we would never normally indulge.
///////////////////
////////////FMLY OVER CNTRY?
////////////Be a More Efficient Driver
# Brakes are your enemy. When you step on them, you have spent gas to go nowhere. Think ahead to limit the amount of brakes that you need to use. Trust me, it becomes a habit very quickly and you no longer have to think.
# Coast to red lights. Why use gas when you are going to have to stop?
# Coast down hills. I see a lot of people gunning it just to have to brake when they reach person in front of them.
# Coast to green lights far ahead of you. If it has been green for a LONG time, you might not make that light by the time you get there. That will force you to brake (see #1).
# Don’t tailgate… …In fact do the opposite. Leave plenty of room between you and the person behind you. If the person needs to slow down a little, you can coast to catch up a little instead of using your breaks.
# Take three rights instead of a left. UPS drivers do this in metro areas like NYC and found that they save fuel that would have been spent idling. Only look to do this at those really difficult left turns.
# Use Cruise Control. A constant speed is the most fuel efficient.
# Drive between 40-60 miles per hour. If you have a lighter car, you can aim for the 60 MPH number. If you have a heavier car, you’ll want to go 40 MPH. Go here for more information why.
# Avoid Traffic. Don’t drive during times of high traffic if you can avoid it.
# Use a GPS tracker. Time spent lost is gas wasted.
# Avoid air conditioning (if you stand it). Some tests seem to show that it’s not a big factor, so if it really impacts your comfort level, you might want to consider using air conditioning.
/////////////////WHAT TYPE OF A TOM R U? PLSING XHITE PPL
///////////////////Carnegie Mellon Mourns Passing Of Randy Pausch
A walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch
Reporting
Mary Robb Jackson
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The Carnegie Mellon University campus is mourning the death of Randy Pausch, the professor whose inspirational "Last Lecture" became an Internet sensation.
Pausch, who has been battling pancreatic cancer since September of 2006, died at his home in Virginia this morning.
Word of his death has quickly spread and calls have been coming in from all over the world from those touched by his message.
Pausch shared his lifelong adventure and the world took note last September when he gave what has come to be known as the "Last Lecture."
Over the past months on the CMU campus, Pausch has kept students, colleagues and friends up to date on the progress of his terminal cancer on a special webpage.
His last posting described how the chemotherapy was making him so sick and weak that it wasn't clear if it was the right tradeoff.
Since he wasn't strong enough to post any more messages, a friend updated the website yesterday explaining: "A biopsy last week revealed that the cancer has progressed further than we had thought from recent PETscans. Since last week, Randy has also taken a step down and is much sicker than he had been. He's now enrolled in hospice."
In an obituary released by the school, Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said, "Randy was a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher. Carnegie Mellon and the world are better places for having Randy Pausch in them."
On campus, people who knew him tried to find words to describe the loss.
"It is very difficult," Pausch's friend, Cleah Schlueter, told KDKA.
Schlueter spoke with Pausch's wife this morning by phone about his final hours.
"He was in pain and I think they knew that he was deteriorating," Schlueter added, "but they didn't thing that he was going to pass so soon. It was kind of unexpected, too."
Pausch, 47, is survived by his wife, Jai, and three young children, Chloe, Dylan and Logan.
When asked about them, Schlueter said "they're going to survive. I mean that's what you have to do. That's what life is all about."
According to a posting on the CMU website, the Pausch family requests that any donations be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or to Carnegie Mellon's Randy Pausch Memorial Fund.
Meanwhile, a walk to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research in North Park next month will now be held in memory of Randy Pausch. "Pick Up The Pace" for pancreatic cancer will be held on Sunday, August 17th at the North Park Boathouse.
//////////////////10 MO ON DTH
//////////////////FMLY DRAMA BANDH KAR
////////////////////CONTRACT-2008
////////////////THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR-1973
///////////////HAPPY ENDING
////////////////Ben Franklin Effect
Explanations > Theories > Ben Franklin Effect
Description | Research | So What? | See also | References
Description
When we do a person a favor, we tend to like them more as a result. This is because we justify our actions to ourselves that we did them a favor because we liked them.
Benjamin Franklin himself said, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged."
The reverse effect is also true, and we come to hate our victims, which helps to explain wartime atrocities. We de-humanize the enemy, which decrease the dissonance of killing and other things in which we would never normally indulge.
///////////////////
CDS 270807
/////////////HARD SC-OBJECTIVE
SOFT SC-SUBJECTIVE
//////////////////PHILOSOPHICAL DOUBT
/////////////////AJANTRIK-BARKER SYNDROME
/////////////////Overcome your most primal urge!
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so
you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College
of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" video.
///////////////////////Doctors writing in the British Medical Journal have said that families should have no more than two children to help the fight against climate change.
ONE KID PLEASE-SAVE THE EARTH-DEFER DESTRUCN OF EARTH-A/W MCLWP
//////////////////Stop The Victim Mentality
It’s really a waste of time, thinking “why me”. I’ve wasted enough brain bytes, going over this question like a mantra and yet, this questioning has not helped me one bit. So my first suggestion is to stop the victim mentality.
When you ask yourself “why me”, you are intending to say that you do not deserve what life has handed out to you. However, from what we know from the Law of Attraction or metaphysics, you cannot be a true victim because you have attracted a negative outcome into your physical reality somehow.
Fortunately, thoughts can be changed, to effect new changes. As you become more positive in your thoughts, you are sending out energy vibrations that match more desirable outcomes. The Universe responds by delivering what you have intended to you.
“Humans think they are asking with their words, or even with their action, and sometimes you are, but the Universe is not responding to your words or your action. The Universe is responding to your vibrational calling.”— Teachings from Abraham by Esther and Jerry Hicks
////////////////Such a tipping point, for example, would be an ice free Arctic, which could happen within two decades or less (some scientists believe as early as 2013). Already in summer 2007 the Arctic lost in a single week an area of ice almost twice the size of Britain. The vanishing Arctic ice cap means an enormous reduction in the earth’s reflectivity (albedo), thereby sharply increasing global warming (a positive feedback known as the “albedo flip”). At the same time, the rapid disintegration of the ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland points to rising world sea levels, threatening coastal regions and islands.4
The state of the existing “planetary emergency” with respect to climate change was captured this year by James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the leading U.S. climatologist:
Our home planet is dangerously near a tipping point at which human-made greenhouse gases reach a level where major climate changes can proceed mostly under their own momentum. Warming will shift climatic zones by intensifying the hydrologic cycle, affecting freshwater availability and human health. We will see repeated coastal tragedies associated with storms and continuously rising sea levels. The implications are profound, and the only resolution is for humans to move to a fundamentally different energy pathway within a decade. Otherwise, it will be too late for one-third of the world’s animal and plant species and millions of the most vulnerable members of our own species.5
///////////////////CANDLE FOCUS DARK ROOM EXERCISE MEDITATION
////////////////////BEYOND REVENGE-MCCULLOUGH-FORGIVENESS NBC
/////////////////THE DD HEDGEHOG NR HILLCREST RD MVS ME
////////////////AKALER SANDHANE 1980
//////////////////INGROUP MORALITY OF CHIMPANZEES
////////////////////Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? How can we create a future in which revenge is less common and forgiveness is more common? Psychologist Michael McCullough argues that the key to a more forgiving, less vengeful world is to understand the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in human minds today. Drawing on exciting breakthroughs from the social and biological sciences, McCullough dispenses surprising and practical advice for making the world a more forgiving place.
Michael E. McCullough (Miami, Florida), an internationally recognized expert on forgiveness and revenge, is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he directs the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology.
//////////////////1943-BENGAL FAMINE-50,00,000 PPL STARVED TO DTH
///////////////////ODICOLON=EAU DE COLOGNE
///////////////////HUMAN EXCEPTIONALISM
////////////////
SOFT SC-SUBJECTIVE
//////////////////PHILOSOPHICAL DOUBT
/////////////////AJANTRIK-BARKER SYNDROME
/////////////////Overcome your most primal urge!
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so
you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College
of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" video.
///////////////////////Doctors writing in the British Medical Journal have said that families should have no more than two children to help the fight against climate change.
ONE KID PLEASE-SAVE THE EARTH-DEFER DESTRUCN OF EARTH-A/W MCLWP
//////////////////Stop The Victim Mentality
It’s really a waste of time, thinking “why me”. I’ve wasted enough brain bytes, going over this question like a mantra and yet, this questioning has not helped me one bit. So my first suggestion is to stop the victim mentality.
When you ask yourself “why me”, you are intending to say that you do not deserve what life has handed out to you. However, from what we know from the Law of Attraction or metaphysics, you cannot be a true victim because you have attracted a negative outcome into your physical reality somehow.
Fortunately, thoughts can be changed, to effect new changes. As you become more positive in your thoughts, you are sending out energy vibrations that match more desirable outcomes. The Universe responds by delivering what you have intended to you.
“Humans think they are asking with their words, or even with their action, and sometimes you are, but the Universe is not responding to your words or your action. The Universe is responding to your vibrational calling.”— Teachings from Abraham by Esther and Jerry Hicks
////////////////Such a tipping point, for example, would be an ice free Arctic, which could happen within two decades or less (some scientists believe as early as 2013). Already in summer 2007 the Arctic lost in a single week an area of ice almost twice the size of Britain. The vanishing Arctic ice cap means an enormous reduction in the earth’s reflectivity (albedo), thereby sharply increasing global warming (a positive feedback known as the “albedo flip”). At the same time, the rapid disintegration of the ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland points to rising world sea levels, threatening coastal regions and islands.4
The state of the existing “planetary emergency” with respect to climate change was captured this year by James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the leading U.S. climatologist:
Our home planet is dangerously near a tipping point at which human-made greenhouse gases reach a level where major climate changes can proceed mostly under their own momentum. Warming will shift climatic zones by intensifying the hydrologic cycle, affecting freshwater availability and human health. We will see repeated coastal tragedies associated with storms and continuously rising sea levels. The implications are profound, and the only resolution is for humans to move to a fundamentally different energy pathway within a decade. Otherwise, it will be too late for one-third of the world’s animal and plant species and millions of the most vulnerable members of our own species.5
///////////////////CANDLE FOCUS DARK ROOM EXERCISE MEDITATION
////////////////////BEYOND REVENGE-MCCULLOUGH-FORGIVENESS NBC
/////////////////THE DD HEDGEHOG NR HILLCREST RD MVS ME
////////////////AKALER SANDHANE 1980
//////////////////INGROUP MORALITY OF CHIMPANZEES
////////////////////Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? How can we create a future in which revenge is less common and forgiveness is more common? Psychologist Michael McCullough argues that the key to a more forgiving, less vengeful world is to understand the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in human minds today. Drawing on exciting breakthroughs from the social and biological sciences, McCullough dispenses surprising and practical advice for making the world a more forgiving place.
Michael E. McCullough (Miami, Florida), an internationally recognized expert on forgiveness and revenge, is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he directs the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology.
//////////////////1943-BENGAL FAMINE-50,00,000 PPL STARVED TO DTH
///////////////////ODICOLON=EAU DE COLOGNE
///////////////////HUMAN EXCEPTIONALISM
////////////////
Thursday, 17 July 2008
MIRRORING PEOPLE-IACOBONI
WIKI=Mirror neuron · Neuroscience
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A mirror neuron is a neuron which fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another (especially conspecific) animal. Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of another animal, as though the observer were itself acting. These neurons have been directly observed in primates, and are believed to exist in humans and in some birds. In humans, brain activity consistent with mirror neurons has been found in the premotor cortex and the inferior parietal cortex.
Some scientists consider mirror neurons one of the most important findings of neuroscience in the last decade. Among them is V.S. Ramachandran,[1] who believes they might be very important in imitation and language acquisition. However, despite the popularity of this field, to date no plausible neural or computational models have been put forward to describe how mirror neuron activity supports cognitive functions such as imitation.[2]
Furthermore, it is generally accepted that no single neurons can be responsible for the phenomenon. Rather, a whole network of neurons (neuronal assembly) is activated when an action is observed.
The function of the mirror system is a subject of much speculation. These neurons may be important for understanding the actions of other people, and for learning new skills by imitation. Some researchers also speculate that mirror systems may simulate observed actions, and thus contribute to our theory of mind skills,[3][4] while others relate mirror neurons to language abilities.[5] It has also been proposed that problems with the mirror system may underlie cognitive disorders, in particular autism.[6][7] The connection between mirror neuron dysfunction and autism remains speculative and it is unlikely that mirror neurons are related to many of the important characteristics of autism.[2]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Discovery
* 2 In monkeys
* 3 In humans
o 3.1 Development
* 4 Possible functions
o 4.1 Understanding intentions
o 4.2 Empathy
o 4.3 Language
o 4.4 Autism
o 4.5 Theory of mind
o 4.6 Gender differences
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 See also
* 9 External links
[edit] Discovery
In the 1980s and 1990s, Giacomo Rizzolatti was working with Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese at the university in Parma, Italy. These scientists had placed electrodes in the inferior frontal cortex of the macaque monkey to study neurons specialised for the control of hand actions; for example, taking hold of an object and manipulating it. During each experiment, they recorded from a single neuron in the monkey's brain while the monkey was allowed to reach for pieces of food, so the researchers could measure the neuron's response to certain movements.[8] They found that some of the neurons they recorded from would respond when the monkey saw a person pick up a piece of food as well as when the monkey picked up the food. Further experiments confirmed that approximately 10% of neurons in the monkey inferior frontal and inferior parietal cortex have 'mirror' properties and give similar responses to performed hand actions and observed actions.
This work has since been published[9] and confirmed[10] with mirror neurons found in both inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions of the brain. Recently, evidence from fMRI, TMS and EEG and behavioral strongly suggest the presence of similar systems in humans, where brain regions which respond during both action and the observation of action have been identified. Not surprisingly, these brain regions closely match those found in the macaque monkey.[11]
More recently Keysers and colleagues have shown that both in humans and monkeys, the mirror system also responds to the sound of actions.[12][13]
[edit] In monkeys
neonatal (newborn) macaque imitating facial expressions
neonatal (newborn) macaque imitating facial expressions
The only animal in which mirror neurons have been studied individually is the macaque monkey. In these monkeys, mirror neurons are found in the inferior frontal gyrus (region F5) and the inferior parietal lobule.[14]
Mirror neurons are believed to mediate the understanding of other animals' behavior. For example, a mirror neuron which fires when the monkey rips a piece of paper would also fire when the monkey sees a person rip paper, or hears paper ripping (without visual cues). These properties have led researchers to believe that mirror neurons encode abstract concepts of actions like 'ripping paper', whether the action is performed by the monkey or another animal.[15]
The function of mirror neurons in macaques is not known. Adult macaques do not seem to learn by imitation. Recent experiments suggest that infant macaqes can imitate a human's face movements, though only as neonates and during a limited temporal window.[16] However, it is not known if mirror neurons underlie this behaviour.
In adult monkeys, mirror neurons may enable the monkey to understand what another monkey is doing, or to recognise the other monkey's action.[17]
[edit] In humans
Diagram of the brain, showing the locations of the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebrum, viewed from the left. The inferior frontal lobe is the lower part of the blue area, and the superior parietal lobe is the upper part of the yellow area.
Diagram of the brain, showing the locations of the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebrum, viewed from the left. The inferior frontal lobe is the lower part of the blue area, and the superior parietal lobe is the upper part of the yellow area.
It is not normally possible to study single neurons in the human brain, so scientists can not be certain that humans have mirror neurons. However, the results of brain imaging experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that the human inferior frontal cortex and superior parietal lobe is active when the person performs an action and also when the person sees another individual performing an action. Therefore, these brain regions are likely to contain mirror neurons and have been defined as the human mirror neuron system.[18] Several indirect measures have been used to study the mirror neuron system in humans. For example, when a person observes another person's action, their motor cortex becomes more excitable.[19] This excitability can be measured by recording the size of a motor evoked potential (MEP) induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. The changes in MEP size are taken as a measure of mirror neuron system activity, because MEPs come from primary motor cortex which is closely connected to the mirror neuron regions of the brain. Recent data suggests that these changes in MEP size can be strongly influenced by training on different stimulus-response mappings, with the strongest enhancement for well-learnt mappings.[20]
Eye tracking provides another indirect measure that may reflect mirror neuron processing. Upon moving his or her hand, a person's eyes move ahead of the hand to look at the object the person will grasp. Similarly, when watching someone else's action, a person's eyes are also likely to anticipate what the other person will do.[21]
[edit] Development
Human infant data using eye-tracking measures suggest that the mirror neuron system develops before 12 months of age, and that this system may help human infants understand other people's actions.[22] A critical question concerns how mirror neurons acquire mirror properties. One model postulates that mirror neurons are trained through Hebbian learning.[23] However, if premotor neurons need to be trained by action in order to acquire mirror properties, it is unclear how newborn babies are able to mimic the facial gestures of another person (imitation of unseen actions), as suggested by the work of Meltzoff & Moore (unless this is a special type of imitation not supported by mirror neurons).
[edit] Possible functions
[edit] Understanding intentions
Many studies link mirror neurons to understanding goals and intentions. Fogassi et al. (2005)[24] recorded the activity of 41 mirror neurons in the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) of two rhesus macaques. The IPL has long been recognized as an association cortex that integrates sensory information. The monkeys watched an experimenter either grasp an apple and bring it to his mouth or grasp an object and place it in a cup. In total, 15 mirror neurons fired vigorously when the monkey observed the "grasp-to-eat" motion, but registered no activity while exposed to the "grasp-to-place" condition. For four other mirror neurons, the reverse held true: they activated in response to the experimenter eventually placing the apple in the cup but not to eating it. Only the type of action, and not the kinematic force with which models manipulated objects, determined neuron activity. Significantly, neurons fired before the monkey observed the human model starting the second motor act (bringing the object to the mouth or placing it in a cup). Therefore, IPL neurons "code the same act (grasping) in a different way according to the final goal of the action in which the act is embedded".[24] They may furnish a neural basis for predicting another individual’s subsequent actions and inferring intention.[24]
[edit] Empathy
Mirror neurons have been linked to empathy, because certain brain regions (in particular the anterior insula and inferior frontal cortex) are active when a person experiences an emotion (disgust, happiness, pain, etc.) and when they see another person experience an emotion.[25] [26][27] However, these brain regions are not quite the same as the ones which mirror hand actions, and mirror neurons for emotional states or empathy have not yet been described in monkeys. More recently, Keysers and colleagues have shown that people that are more empathic according to self-report questionnaires have stronger activations both in the mirror system for hand actions[28] and the mirror system for emotions[29] providing more direct support to the idea that the mirror system is linked to empathy.
[edit] Language
In humans, mirror neurons have been found in the inferior frontal cortex, close to Broca's area, a language region. This has led to suggestions that human language evolved from a gesture performance/understanding system implemented in mirror neurons. Mirror neurons have been said to have the potential to provide a mechanism for action understanding, imitation learning, and the simulation of other people's behaviour.[30] However, like many theories of language evolution, there is little direct evidence either way.
[edit] Autism
Some researchers claim there is a link between mirror neuron deficiency and autism. In typical children, EEG recordings from motor areas are suppressed when the child watches another person move, and this is believed to be an index of mirror neuron activity. However, this suppression is not seen in children with autism.[31] Also, children with autism have less activity in mirror neuron regions of the brain when imitating.[32] Finally, anatomical differences have been found in the mirror neuron related brain areas in adults with autism spectrum disorders, compared to non-autistic adults. All these cortical areas were thinner and the degree of thinning was correlated with autism symptom severity, a correlation nearly restricted to these brain regions.[33] Based on these results, some researchers claim that autism is caused by a lack of mirror neurons, leading to disabilities in social skills, imitation, empathy and theory of mind. This is just one of many theories of autism and it has not yet been proven.[2]
[edit] Theory of mind
In Philosophy of mind, mirror neurons have become the primary rallying call of simulation theorists concerning our 'theory of mind.' 'Theory of mind' refers to our ability to infer another person's mental state (i.e., beliefs and desires) from their experiences or their behavior. For example, if you see a person reaching into a jar labelled 'cookies,' you might assume that he wants a cookie (even if you know the jar is empty) and that he believes there are cookies in the jar.
There are several competing models which attempt to account for our theory of mind; the most notable in relation to mirror neurons is simulation theory. According to simulation theory, theory of mind is available because we subconsciously put ourselves in the shoes of the person we're observing and, accounting for relevant differences, imagine what we would desire and believe in that scenario.[34][35] Mirror neurons have been interpreted as the mechanism by which we simulate others in order to better understand them, and therefore their discovery has been taken by some as a validation of simulation theory (which appeared a decade before the discovery of mirror neurons).[36]
[edit] Gender differences
One study reports stronger MEG responses related to the mirror neuron system in women compared to men;[37] however, because of the relatively small sample sizes, this may be an area for further research.
////////////////HUMAN ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER
//////////MIRROR NEURONS RECREATE THE EMOTION-EMPATHY
////////////FOUNDN OF EMPATHY AND ?MORALITY
//////////////AUTISM =?DEFICIT PY OF MIRROR NEURONES
////////////MEMES IS THE STUFF OF OUR MIND-WE ARE WHAT OUR MEMES ARE-BLAKEMORE
///////////MRR NRNS HELP US REENACT IN OUR BRAIN THE INTENTNS OF OTHR PPL,GIVING US A PROFOUND UNDERSTANDING OF OTHER PPLS MENTAL STATES
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A mirror neuron is a neuron which fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another (especially conspecific) animal. Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of another animal, as though the observer were itself acting. These neurons have been directly observed in primates, and are believed to exist in humans and in some birds. In humans, brain activity consistent with mirror neurons has been found in the premotor cortex and the inferior parietal cortex.
Some scientists consider mirror neurons one of the most important findings of neuroscience in the last decade. Among them is V.S. Ramachandran,[1] who believes they might be very important in imitation and language acquisition. However, despite the popularity of this field, to date no plausible neural or computational models have been put forward to describe how mirror neuron activity supports cognitive functions such as imitation.[2]
Furthermore, it is generally accepted that no single neurons can be responsible for the phenomenon. Rather, a whole network of neurons (neuronal assembly) is activated when an action is observed.
The function of the mirror system is a subject of much speculation. These neurons may be important for understanding the actions of other people, and for learning new skills by imitation. Some researchers also speculate that mirror systems may simulate observed actions, and thus contribute to our theory of mind skills,[3][4] while others relate mirror neurons to language abilities.[5] It has also been proposed that problems with the mirror system may underlie cognitive disorders, in particular autism.[6][7] The connection between mirror neuron dysfunction and autism remains speculative and it is unlikely that mirror neurons are related to many of the important characteristics of autism.[2]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Discovery
* 2 In monkeys
* 3 In humans
o 3.1 Development
* 4 Possible functions
o 4.1 Understanding intentions
o 4.2 Empathy
o 4.3 Language
o 4.4 Autism
o 4.5 Theory of mind
o 4.6 Gender differences
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 See also
* 9 External links
[edit] Discovery
In the 1980s and 1990s, Giacomo Rizzolatti was working with Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese at the university in Parma, Italy. These scientists had placed electrodes in the inferior frontal cortex of the macaque monkey to study neurons specialised for the control of hand actions; for example, taking hold of an object and manipulating it. During each experiment, they recorded from a single neuron in the monkey's brain while the monkey was allowed to reach for pieces of food, so the researchers could measure the neuron's response to certain movements.[8] They found that some of the neurons they recorded from would respond when the monkey saw a person pick up a piece of food as well as when the monkey picked up the food. Further experiments confirmed that approximately 10% of neurons in the monkey inferior frontal and inferior parietal cortex have 'mirror' properties and give similar responses to performed hand actions and observed actions.
This work has since been published[9] and confirmed[10] with mirror neurons found in both inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions of the brain. Recently, evidence from fMRI, TMS and EEG and behavioral strongly suggest the presence of similar systems in humans, where brain regions which respond during both action and the observation of action have been identified. Not surprisingly, these brain regions closely match those found in the macaque monkey.[11]
More recently Keysers and colleagues have shown that both in humans and monkeys, the mirror system also responds to the sound of actions.[12][13]
[edit] In monkeys
neonatal (newborn) macaque imitating facial expressions
neonatal (newborn) macaque imitating facial expressions
The only animal in which mirror neurons have been studied individually is the macaque monkey. In these monkeys, mirror neurons are found in the inferior frontal gyrus (region F5) and the inferior parietal lobule.[14]
Mirror neurons are believed to mediate the understanding of other animals' behavior. For example, a mirror neuron which fires when the monkey rips a piece of paper would also fire when the monkey sees a person rip paper, or hears paper ripping (without visual cues). These properties have led researchers to believe that mirror neurons encode abstract concepts of actions like 'ripping paper', whether the action is performed by the monkey or another animal.[15]
The function of mirror neurons in macaques is not known. Adult macaques do not seem to learn by imitation. Recent experiments suggest that infant macaqes can imitate a human's face movements, though only as neonates and during a limited temporal window.[16] However, it is not known if mirror neurons underlie this behaviour.
In adult monkeys, mirror neurons may enable the monkey to understand what another monkey is doing, or to recognise the other monkey's action.[17]
[edit] In humans
Diagram of the brain, showing the locations of the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebrum, viewed from the left. The inferior frontal lobe is the lower part of the blue area, and the superior parietal lobe is the upper part of the yellow area.
Diagram of the brain, showing the locations of the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebrum, viewed from the left. The inferior frontal lobe is the lower part of the blue area, and the superior parietal lobe is the upper part of the yellow area.
It is not normally possible to study single neurons in the human brain, so scientists can not be certain that humans have mirror neurons. However, the results of brain imaging experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that the human inferior frontal cortex and superior parietal lobe is active when the person performs an action and also when the person sees another individual performing an action. Therefore, these brain regions are likely to contain mirror neurons and have been defined as the human mirror neuron system.[18] Several indirect measures have been used to study the mirror neuron system in humans. For example, when a person observes another person's action, their motor cortex becomes more excitable.[19] This excitability can be measured by recording the size of a motor evoked potential (MEP) induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. The changes in MEP size are taken as a measure of mirror neuron system activity, because MEPs come from primary motor cortex which is closely connected to the mirror neuron regions of the brain. Recent data suggests that these changes in MEP size can be strongly influenced by training on different stimulus-response mappings, with the strongest enhancement for well-learnt mappings.[20]
Eye tracking provides another indirect measure that may reflect mirror neuron processing. Upon moving his or her hand, a person's eyes move ahead of the hand to look at the object the person will grasp. Similarly, when watching someone else's action, a person's eyes are also likely to anticipate what the other person will do.[21]
[edit] Development
Human infant data using eye-tracking measures suggest that the mirror neuron system develops before 12 months of age, and that this system may help human infants understand other people's actions.[22] A critical question concerns how mirror neurons acquire mirror properties. One model postulates that mirror neurons are trained through Hebbian learning.[23] However, if premotor neurons need to be trained by action in order to acquire mirror properties, it is unclear how newborn babies are able to mimic the facial gestures of another person (imitation of unseen actions), as suggested by the work of Meltzoff & Moore (unless this is a special type of imitation not supported by mirror neurons).
[edit] Possible functions
[edit] Understanding intentions
Many studies link mirror neurons to understanding goals and intentions. Fogassi et al. (2005)[24] recorded the activity of 41 mirror neurons in the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) of two rhesus macaques. The IPL has long been recognized as an association cortex that integrates sensory information. The monkeys watched an experimenter either grasp an apple and bring it to his mouth or grasp an object and place it in a cup. In total, 15 mirror neurons fired vigorously when the monkey observed the "grasp-to-eat" motion, but registered no activity while exposed to the "grasp-to-place" condition. For four other mirror neurons, the reverse held true: they activated in response to the experimenter eventually placing the apple in the cup but not to eating it. Only the type of action, and not the kinematic force with which models manipulated objects, determined neuron activity. Significantly, neurons fired before the monkey observed the human model starting the second motor act (bringing the object to the mouth or placing it in a cup). Therefore, IPL neurons "code the same act (grasping) in a different way according to the final goal of the action in which the act is embedded".[24] They may furnish a neural basis for predicting another individual’s subsequent actions and inferring intention.[24]
[edit] Empathy
Mirror neurons have been linked to empathy, because certain brain regions (in particular the anterior insula and inferior frontal cortex) are active when a person experiences an emotion (disgust, happiness, pain, etc.) and when they see another person experience an emotion.[25] [26][27] However, these brain regions are not quite the same as the ones which mirror hand actions, and mirror neurons for emotional states or empathy have not yet been described in monkeys. More recently, Keysers and colleagues have shown that people that are more empathic according to self-report questionnaires have stronger activations both in the mirror system for hand actions[28] and the mirror system for emotions[29] providing more direct support to the idea that the mirror system is linked to empathy.
[edit] Language
In humans, mirror neurons have been found in the inferior frontal cortex, close to Broca's area, a language region. This has led to suggestions that human language evolved from a gesture performance/understanding system implemented in mirror neurons. Mirror neurons have been said to have the potential to provide a mechanism for action understanding, imitation learning, and the simulation of other people's behaviour.[30] However, like many theories of language evolution, there is little direct evidence either way.
[edit] Autism
Some researchers claim there is a link between mirror neuron deficiency and autism. In typical children, EEG recordings from motor areas are suppressed when the child watches another person move, and this is believed to be an index of mirror neuron activity. However, this suppression is not seen in children with autism.[31] Also, children with autism have less activity in mirror neuron regions of the brain when imitating.[32] Finally, anatomical differences have been found in the mirror neuron related brain areas in adults with autism spectrum disorders, compared to non-autistic adults. All these cortical areas were thinner and the degree of thinning was correlated with autism symptom severity, a correlation nearly restricted to these brain regions.[33] Based on these results, some researchers claim that autism is caused by a lack of mirror neurons, leading to disabilities in social skills, imitation, empathy and theory of mind. This is just one of many theories of autism and it has not yet been proven.[2]
[edit] Theory of mind
In Philosophy of mind, mirror neurons have become the primary rallying call of simulation theorists concerning our 'theory of mind.' 'Theory of mind' refers to our ability to infer another person's mental state (i.e., beliefs and desires) from their experiences or their behavior. For example, if you see a person reaching into a jar labelled 'cookies,' you might assume that he wants a cookie (even if you know the jar is empty) and that he believes there are cookies in the jar.
There are several competing models which attempt to account for our theory of mind; the most notable in relation to mirror neurons is simulation theory. According to simulation theory, theory of mind is available because we subconsciously put ourselves in the shoes of the person we're observing and, accounting for relevant differences, imagine what we would desire and believe in that scenario.[34][35] Mirror neurons have been interpreted as the mechanism by which we simulate others in order to better understand them, and therefore their discovery has been taken by some as a validation of simulation theory (which appeared a decade before the discovery of mirror neurons).[36]
[edit] Gender differences
One study reports stronger MEG responses related to the mirror neuron system in women compared to men;[37] however, because of the relatively small sample sizes, this may be an area for further research.
////////////////HUMAN ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER
//////////MIRROR NEURONS RECREATE THE EMOTION-EMPATHY
////////////FOUNDN OF EMPATHY AND ?MORALITY
//////////////AUTISM =?DEFICIT PY OF MIRROR NEURONES
////////////MEMES IS THE STUFF OF OUR MIND-WE ARE WHAT OUR MEMES ARE-BLAKEMORE
///////////MRR NRNS HELP US REENACT IN OUR BRAIN THE INTENTNS OF OTHR PPL,GIVING US A PROFOUND UNDERSTANDING OF OTHER PPLS MENTAL STATES
CDS 170708-ANTICIPATING 24 WEEKER-Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else.' Ogden Nash
/////////////TOPHATS
//////////////PED RESUS-WETFAGS
//////////////////Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else.'
Ogden Nash
////////////////////Wealth, democratisation and tolerance
Among the 52 countries and territories for which long-term comparative data were available, India, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico and South Korea showed steep upticks in happiness last year, while the happiness quotient in 14 other countries, including nine in Europe, also rose, though less sharply.
Those 14 countries are: Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.
/////////////////Gene makes Africans more susceptible to HIV
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Cosmos Online
Anopheles mosquito
Higher risk: A gene which confers some protection against malaria - carried by this Anopheles mosquito - has been found to increase susceptibility to HIV.
Credit: Wikimedia
Sign up to the Cosmos weekly newsletter
Related articles
* Major role for genes in AIDS progression
* Gene for human height revealed
* 'Warrior gene' more prevalent in New Zealand's Maoris
* Tiny dogs have tiny mutation
* Out of Africa: Human odyssey traced in detail
SYDNEY: A genetic variation, which evolved to protect people of African descent against malaria has, now been shown to increase their susceptibility to HIV infection by up to 40 per cent.
Conversely, according to a new study, the same variation also appears to prolong survival of those infected with HIV by approximately two years.
The discovery marks the first genetic risk factor for HIV found only in people of African descent, and sheds light on the differences in genetic makeup that play a crucial role in susceptibility to HIV and AIDS.
25-year study
The research, published today in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, was the product of an international research project led by Sunil K. Ahuja, from the University of Texas Health Science Centre in San Antonio, USA.
Researchers there, and at University College London (UCL) in the U.K., analysed data from a 25-year study of thousands of Americans of different ethnic backgrounds.
The gene that the research focused on encodes a binding protein found on the surface of cells, called Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC). The variation of this gene, which is common in people of African descent, means that they do not express DARC on red blood cells.
DARC influences the levels of inflammatory and anti-HIV blood factors called chemokines and is not the gene related to the disease sickle cell anaemia, which also confers some malaria resistance.
"In sub-Saharan Africa, the vast majority of people do not express DARC on their red blood cells and previous research has shown that this variation seems to have evolved to protect against a particular form of malaria," said co-author Robin Weiss a virologist at UCL in London. "However, this protective effect actually leaves those [people] with the variation more susceptible to HIV."
"The big message here is that something that protected against malaria in the past is now leaving the host more susceptible to HIV," said Weiss.
"Double-edged sword"
"It turns out that having this variation is a double-edged sword," added lead author Ahuja. "The finding is another valuable piece in the puzzle of HIV-AIDS genetics."
HIV affects 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa today, an HIV burden greater than any other region of the world. Around 90 per cent of people in Africa carry the DARC genetic variation, meaning that it may be responsible for an estimated 11 per cent of the HIV burden there, said the researchers.
They noted that sexual behaviour and other social factors do not fully explain the large discrepancy in HIV prevalence in populations around the world, which is why genetic factors are a vital field of study.
With University College London.
////////////////////Don't forget to bring the good experiences of meditation into your daily
activities. Instead of acting and reacting impulsively and following your
thoughts and feelings here and there, watch your mind carefully, be aware,
and try to deal skillfully with problems as they arise. If you can do this
each day, your meditation will have been successful. (Kathleen McDonald, in
_How to Meditate_)
//////////////If you want to become whole
let yourself be partial
if you want to become straight
let yourself be crooked
if you want to become full
let yourself be empty
if you want to be reborn
let yourself die
if you want to be given everything
give everything up
///////////////////SOP=STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
PROTOCOL
//////////////ns= Patient suffered from 'climate change delusion'
Climate change deniers have been having a field day with a recent report of the first known case of a patient diagnosed with "climate change delusion".
The 17-year-old man believed that, due to climate change, his own consumption of water could run supplies dry, leading to the deaths of millions of people. He became suicidal, tried to stop drinking, and had been obsessively checking for leaking taps at home to prevent this happening. The case was reported in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
Andrew Bolt, a columnist at the Herald Sun here in Australia, got the ball rolling. He claimed that the "17-year-old [was] tipped over the edge by global warming fearmongers."
Ultra-conservative US commentator Rush Limbaugh ran with the ball, reading from Bolt's article on his radio show. (Incidentally, in his show that day Limbaugh also expressed his concerns about children being encouraged to ride bikes to school rather than be driven because of environmental concerns. Mr Limbaugh: we are talking about riding bikes, not switching off dialysis machines.)
Both Bolt and Limbaugh would, in all probability, be aware that both clinical depression and psychosis - components of the young man's condition - are relatively common. The causes are still unclear, although genes, brain chemical imbalances, drug abuse and environmental stresses - things like domestic violence, not concerns about climate change - may all play a role.
Bolt also used the case as a hook to call policy makers who purport to take seriously climate change, such as Australian prime minster Kevin Rudd, deluded. Which makes me wonder how Bolt comes to terms with the drought that currently hangs over many Australians. In Melbourne, my hometown, it is the wettest time of year but the dams are only 30% full and we await summer with trepidation.
Or a report from CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology released on July 4th projecting that droughts are going to occur more frequently in Australia due to climate change.
Interestingly, the original journal article points out that it is well known that delusions are culturally determined. So in Memphis, a man might believe that he is Elvis; in Washington DC, that he is the President. Twenty years ago, apocalyptic delusions might have revolved around nuclear war. Today, it is climate change.
Of course, this case might just illustrate something that climate change deniers may be anxious to deny: in many parts of the world, concerns about climate change are no longer limited to a small group of professionals, but are a societal concern that is widespread enough to become part of 17-year-old's delusions.
And as the article notes, a 2007 poll found that 85% of Australians are "very" or "fairly" concerned about climate change, significantly more than those concerned about terrorism.
Rachel Nowak, Australasian editor
////////////////////////////
//////////////PED RESUS-WETFAGS
//////////////////Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else.'
Ogden Nash
////////////////////Wealth, democratisation and tolerance
Among the 52 countries and territories for which long-term comparative data were available, India, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico and South Korea showed steep upticks in happiness last year, while the happiness quotient in 14 other countries, including nine in Europe, also rose, though less sharply.
Those 14 countries are: Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.
/////////////////Gene makes Africans more susceptible to HIV
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Cosmos Online
Anopheles mosquito
Higher risk: A gene which confers some protection against malaria - carried by this Anopheles mosquito - has been found to increase susceptibility to HIV.
Credit: Wikimedia
Sign up to the Cosmos weekly newsletter
Related articles
* Major role for genes in AIDS progression
* Gene for human height revealed
* 'Warrior gene' more prevalent in New Zealand's Maoris
* Tiny dogs have tiny mutation
* Out of Africa: Human odyssey traced in detail
SYDNEY: A genetic variation, which evolved to protect people of African descent against malaria has, now been shown to increase their susceptibility to HIV infection by up to 40 per cent.
Conversely, according to a new study, the same variation also appears to prolong survival of those infected with HIV by approximately two years.
The discovery marks the first genetic risk factor for HIV found only in people of African descent, and sheds light on the differences in genetic makeup that play a crucial role in susceptibility to HIV and AIDS.
25-year study
The research, published today in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, was the product of an international research project led by Sunil K. Ahuja, from the University of Texas Health Science Centre in San Antonio, USA.
Researchers there, and at University College London (UCL) in the U.K., analysed data from a 25-year study of thousands of Americans of different ethnic backgrounds.
The gene that the research focused on encodes a binding protein found on the surface of cells, called Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC). The variation of this gene, which is common in people of African descent, means that they do not express DARC on red blood cells.
DARC influences the levels of inflammatory and anti-HIV blood factors called chemokines and is not the gene related to the disease sickle cell anaemia, which also confers some malaria resistance.
"In sub-Saharan Africa, the vast majority of people do not express DARC on their red blood cells and previous research has shown that this variation seems to have evolved to protect against a particular form of malaria," said co-author Robin Weiss a virologist at UCL in London. "However, this protective effect actually leaves those [people] with the variation more susceptible to HIV."
"The big message here is that something that protected against malaria in the past is now leaving the host more susceptible to HIV," said Weiss.
"Double-edged sword"
"It turns out that having this variation is a double-edged sword," added lead author Ahuja. "The finding is another valuable piece in the puzzle of HIV-AIDS genetics."
HIV affects 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa today, an HIV burden greater than any other region of the world. Around 90 per cent of people in Africa carry the DARC genetic variation, meaning that it may be responsible for an estimated 11 per cent of the HIV burden there, said the researchers.
They noted that sexual behaviour and other social factors do not fully explain the large discrepancy in HIV prevalence in populations around the world, which is why genetic factors are a vital field of study.
With University College London.
////////////////////Don't forget to bring the good experiences of meditation into your daily
activities. Instead of acting and reacting impulsively and following your
thoughts and feelings here and there, watch your mind carefully, be aware,
and try to deal skillfully with problems as they arise. If you can do this
each day, your meditation will have been successful. (Kathleen McDonald, in
_How to Meditate_)
//////////////If you want to become whole
let yourself be partial
if you want to become straight
let yourself be crooked
if you want to become full
let yourself be empty
if you want to be reborn
let yourself die
if you want to be given everything
give everything up
///////////////////SOP=STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
PROTOCOL
//////////////ns= Patient suffered from 'climate change delusion'
Climate change deniers have been having a field day with a recent report of the first known case of a patient diagnosed with "climate change delusion".
The 17-year-old man believed that, due to climate change, his own consumption of water could run supplies dry, leading to the deaths of millions of people. He became suicidal, tried to stop drinking, and had been obsessively checking for leaking taps at home to prevent this happening. The case was reported in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
Andrew Bolt, a columnist at the Herald Sun here in Australia, got the ball rolling. He claimed that the "17-year-old [was] tipped over the edge by global warming fearmongers."
Ultra-conservative US commentator Rush Limbaugh ran with the ball, reading from Bolt's article on his radio show. (Incidentally, in his show that day Limbaugh also expressed his concerns about children being encouraged to ride bikes to school rather than be driven because of environmental concerns. Mr Limbaugh: we are talking about riding bikes, not switching off dialysis machines.)
Both Bolt and Limbaugh would, in all probability, be aware that both clinical depression and psychosis - components of the young man's condition - are relatively common. The causes are still unclear, although genes, brain chemical imbalances, drug abuse and environmental stresses - things like domestic violence, not concerns about climate change - may all play a role.
Bolt also used the case as a hook to call policy makers who purport to take seriously climate change, such as Australian prime minster Kevin Rudd, deluded. Which makes me wonder how Bolt comes to terms with the drought that currently hangs over many Australians. In Melbourne, my hometown, it is the wettest time of year but the dams are only 30% full and we await summer with trepidation.
Or a report from CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology released on July 4th projecting that droughts are going to occur more frequently in Australia due to climate change.
Interestingly, the original journal article points out that it is well known that delusions are culturally determined. So in Memphis, a man might believe that he is Elvis; in Washington DC, that he is the President. Twenty years ago, apocalyptic delusions might have revolved around nuclear war. Today, it is climate change.
Of course, this case might just illustrate something that climate change deniers may be anxious to deny: in many parts of the world, concerns about climate change are no longer limited to a small group of professionals, but are a societal concern that is widespread enough to become part of 17-year-old's delusions.
And as the article notes, a 2007 poll found that 85% of Australians are "very" or "fairly" concerned about climate change, significantly more than those concerned about terrorism.
Rachel Nowak, Australasian editor
////////////////////////////
Monday, 14 July 2008
CDS 140708-IND DRS LVNG VK -Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue. -- La Rochefoucauld
////////////SMH LOCM
///////////Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.
-- La Rochefoucauld
/////////////////
Learning is not compulsory, neither is survival.
Peter Zwack
Business executive
///////////////////Truth has its own justification for being established, regardless of expediency. Two: Language, like religion, can divide people.
///////////////////DESH BADLA-VESH BADLO
////////////////I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries.
— Jules Renard
////////////////A good night's sleep really does
improve the brain
Telegraph July 14, 2008
*************************
Sleep improves performance in skill
tasks, University of Geneva
scientists have found, based on fMRI
measurements. The results revealed
that a period of sleep following a
new experience can consolidate and
improve subsequent effects of
learning from the experience, they
suggest....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9035&m=33138
//////////////////////When Human Rights Extend to
Nonhumans
New York Times July 13, 2008
*************************
The environment committee of the
Spanish Parliament last month voted
to grant limited rights to our
closest biological relatives, the
great apes --chimpanzees, bonobos,
gorillas and orangutans. The
committee would bind Spain to the
principles of the Great Ape Project,
which points to apes' human
qualities, including the ability to
feel fear and...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=9031&m=33138
THEN TO ANIMAL AND PLANT RIGHTS
//////////////////I am on-call today and did my ward rounds this morning and came
across a mum, young and bright, smiling and full of fun. This lady
has two children who are severely handicapped and she just adores
them, loves them and looks after them with so much love and
dedication. Children are 8 and 10 years old. She has to clean them
daily, feed them daily and her whole life revolves round them and she
does so well.
When I met her this morning and saw the way she cares for her
children made me wonder - Would I be able to cope and the answer was
No!. She made me humble and I realised 'After all life is about
perception, we human beings are not good at appreciating what we have
and what we got and worry about what we don't have.
If only we learn to enjoy what we have, what the God has given to us
and learn to be happy - How simple the life would be. May be that is
why she is so happy.
I was very proud of her and she taught me the meaning of life.
It is we make our life unhappy, it is we who are miserable, Life is
nothing but full of challenge and it is how we look at it is what
matters.
I wish I could be like her!
Regards
Dr P
//////////////////////////////Chapter I: The Yoga of Arjuna's Despondancy
I.28,29. Arjuna said(to Krishna):
Seeing these, my kinsmen, O Krishna, arrayed eager to fight, my
limbs fail and my mouth is parched, my body quivers and my hair
stands on end.
I.30. The (bow) Gandiva slips from my hand, and also my skin burns
all over; I am unable even to stand and my mind is reeling, as it
were.
///////////////
Friday, 11 July 2008
CDS 110708-2 CALLS TO A/E FOR NEONATAL FLOPPY/APNEIC
////////////////Low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, small LDL particles: the most common triad of abnormalities today behind heart disease.
Along with this pattern comes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, diabetes and pre-diabetes, increased inflammation, increasingly blood clot-prone blood. This common collection that now afflicts over 50 million Americans goes by a number of names, including metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance syndrome, and syndrome X.
But I call it “wheat belly.” Let me explain.
You've heard of "beer bellies," the protuberant, sagging abdomen of someone who drinks excessive quantities of beer.
Wheat belly is the same protuberant, sagging abdomen that develops when you overindulge in processed carbohydrates. It represents visceral fat that laces the intestines.
///////////////////////////////// Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.
— David Starr Jordan
///////////////////////////////////
Along with this pattern comes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, diabetes and pre-diabetes, increased inflammation, increasingly blood clot-prone blood. This common collection that now afflicts over 50 million Americans goes by a number of names, including metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance syndrome, and syndrome X.
But I call it “wheat belly.” Let me explain.
You've heard of "beer bellies," the protuberant, sagging abdomen of someone who drinks excessive quantities of beer.
Wheat belly is the same protuberant, sagging abdomen that develops when you overindulge in processed carbohydrates. It represents visceral fat that laces the intestines.
///////////////////////////////// Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.
— David Starr Jordan
///////////////////////////////////
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
CDS 080708-ATLS SCNARIO CRSS-SINKOS-NABB
///////////////VF-THUMP-CPR TO CONTINUE-SHOCK-ADR AFTER 2ND DC SHOCK-2 MIN CYCLES
////////////////////IF NR DTH-IVI MRPHN-ODAD IN GNGES
///////////////////EXPECT COME-COVER OF MULTIPLE EVENTS
//////////////////RETR IN KOL-HAVE DAL-BHAT AND DTH
////////////////////As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65)
Philosopher and statesman
Living is more a question of what one spends than what one makes.
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
/////////////////////////////MANAM=ME AM NT A MNSLGHTRR
//////////////////////////////Portion Sizes. Most fast food meals are over 1000 calories. Other restaurants have very large portion sizes. The temptation is there, and they’re not making it easier on us.
////////////////////IF NR DTH-IVI MRPHN-ODAD IN GNGES
///////////////////EXPECT COME-COVER OF MULTIPLE EVENTS
//////////////////RETR IN KOL-HAVE DAL-BHAT AND DTH
////////////////////As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65)
Philosopher and statesman
Living is more a question of what one spends than what one makes.
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
/////////////////////////////MANAM=ME AM NT A MNSLGHTRR
//////////////////////////////Portion Sizes. Most fast food meals are over 1000 calories. Other restaurants have very large portion sizes. The temptation is there, and they’re not making it easier on us.
Saturday, 5 July 2008
ANEIRA THOMAS -FMR NURSE-1ST BABY BRN IN NHS-5/7/1948
///////////////////
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Thought for the day: "Work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching."
////////////////////Minimum Wage Forcing Brits into Poverty
By Daniel Calloway
Published on 2 Jul 2008
AddThis Social Bookmark Button
Working for the national minimum wage is no longer enough to keep your head above water a new study shows.
It is no longer possible to fund an ‘acceptable standard of living’ on the National Minimum Wage, a new study has revealed. Implying that thousands more households than previously estimated are left coping with life below the poverty line.
According to the research, completed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a single person living in Britain needs to take home the pre-tax equivalent of £13,400 a year just to meet everyday costs. A couple with 2 children on the other hand need to find £26,800 a year to be able to provide the basics for their family.
/////////////////////////////VENUS WILLIAMS WINS WIMBLEDON
////////////////////////RMMBR WMBLDN SINCE 1987 BY TELLY
////////////////////DIA BORN 1947
/////////////////A recent study concludes that 86.4% of all statistics are made up.
///////////////////////UIM NCVEIGH-LTHL INJ EXECTN -SEEN LV TV LK TN
/////////////////////////
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Thought for the day: "Work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching."
////////////////////Minimum Wage Forcing Brits into Poverty
By Daniel Calloway
Published on 2 Jul 2008
AddThis Social Bookmark Button
Working for the national minimum wage is no longer enough to keep your head above water a new study shows.
It is no longer possible to fund an ‘acceptable standard of living’ on the National Minimum Wage, a new study has revealed. Implying that thousands more households than previously estimated are left coping with life below the poverty line.
According to the research, completed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a single person living in Britain needs to take home the pre-tax equivalent of £13,400 a year just to meet everyday costs. A couple with 2 children on the other hand need to find £26,800 a year to be able to provide the basics for their family.
/////////////////////////////VENUS WILLIAMS WINS WIMBLEDON
////////////////////////RMMBR WMBLDN SINCE 1987 BY TELLY
////////////////////DIA BORN 1947
/////////////////A recent study concludes that 86.4% of all statistics are made up.
///////////////////////UIM NCVEIGH-LTHL INJ EXECTN -SEEN LV TV LK TN
/////////////////////////
TORONTO BONGO SAMMELAN
Is the material universe the atheist’s God?
A: The atheist is, like any thinking person, in awe of the cosmos – what is known and what is yet to be discovered. But the universe is not his god. He has no god. The universe is innocent of its own existence, let alone of ours. Such acceptance is the basis of atheistic humility and the reason most atheists support scientific and scholarly quest for answers that will enrich humankind.
/////////////////////What about Pascal's Wager?
A: The French philosopher Blaise Pascal is popularly quoted by Christian theists when they argue against atheism. In a nutshell, Pascal said: Believe in God and you stand to gain everything. If you’re wrong in that belief, you lose nothing. Heads you win, tails you don’t lose.
There are two problems with this gambit. Firstly, you cannot with honesty choose to believe. You either do or you don’t. Secondly, which god is Pascal talking about? Who’s to say the theist (insert a religion here) has chosen to believe in the real one?
Think on this: If you are a monotheist (say a Jew, a Christian, a Moslem), you believe in one god. You disbelieve in the hundreds and thousands of other gods worshipped in the world today and in the past. The atheist merely believes in one god less.
Another philosopher, Epicurus, writing 300 years before the alleged birth of the Christian's Jesus Christ, composed what is known as the ‘Epicurean Paradox’. It is more likely to be quoted by atheists than the flawed Pascal’s Wager:
Is God all-powerful but unable to stop evil?
Then God is not omnipotent.
Is God all-powerful but not willing to stop evil?
Then God is malevolent.
Is God all-powerful and all-good?
Then whence enter evil?
Is God weak and unable to stop evil?
Then why call him God?
/////////////////////////////////DIVYA=DIVINE
///////////////////////////////
A: The atheist is, like any thinking person, in awe of the cosmos – what is known and what is yet to be discovered. But the universe is not his god. He has no god. The universe is innocent of its own existence, let alone of ours. Such acceptance is the basis of atheistic humility and the reason most atheists support scientific and scholarly quest for answers that will enrich humankind.
/////////////////////What about Pascal's Wager?
A: The French philosopher Blaise Pascal is popularly quoted by Christian theists when they argue against atheism. In a nutshell, Pascal said: Believe in God and you stand to gain everything. If you’re wrong in that belief, you lose nothing. Heads you win, tails you don’t lose.
There are two problems with this gambit. Firstly, you cannot with honesty choose to believe. You either do or you don’t. Secondly, which god is Pascal talking about? Who’s to say the theist (insert a religion here) has chosen to believe in the real one?
Think on this: If you are a monotheist (say a Jew, a Christian, a Moslem), you believe in one god. You disbelieve in the hundreds and thousands of other gods worshipped in the world today and in the past. The atheist merely believes in one god less.
Another philosopher, Epicurus, writing 300 years before the alleged birth of the Christian's Jesus Christ, composed what is known as the ‘Epicurean Paradox’. It is more likely to be quoted by atheists than the flawed Pascal’s Wager:
Is God all-powerful but unable to stop evil?
Then God is not omnipotent.
Is God all-powerful but not willing to stop evil?
Then God is malevolent.
Is God all-powerful and all-good?
Then whence enter evil?
Is God weak and unable to stop evil?
Then why call him God?
/////////////////////////////////DIVYA=DIVINE
///////////////////////////////
THATS IT-JST A TRGDY-CDS 050708
//////////////////////CRM/TAPCHIDU6
//////////////////////SILENCE OF THE BEES-CCD
///////////////////LINECHYUT-BAHNCHUT
////////////////////
//////////////////////SILENCE OF THE BEES-CCD
///////////////////LINECHYUT-BAHNCHUT
////////////////////
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
SRVVL OF THE SICKEST-MOALEM
/////////////////BAN=Synopsis
Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off?
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.
Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time.
Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth -- and, especially, what that means for us.
////////////////MSSNG NOW MRDRD CRSS-TIMONTINI
////////////////HUMAN BRAINS DEVELOP OUTSIDE THE BIRTH CANAL
////////////////ONLY HUMANS NEED HELP WITH CHILDBIRTH -NO OTHER SPECIES NEEDS IT
//////////////Dan Ariely on Survival of the Sickest
MIT professor Dan Ariely has become one of the leaders in the growing field of behavioral economics, and his bestselling book debut, Predictably Irrational, has brought his ideas--and his ingenious experiments and charming sense of humor--to a much wider audience. With the simplest of tests (often an auction or a quiz given under a few conditions) he shows again and again not only that we are wired to make irrational decisions in many situations, but that we do so in remarkably predictable ways.
I have always been puzzled by the way in which genetic diseases have managed to survive throughout the ages. How could it be that these diseases were able to withstand the evolutionary process, where only the most fit survive, and continue to be transferred from one generation to the next? Survival of the Sickest provides a thought provoking yet entertaining explanation to this puzzle.
In this insightful book Dr. Sharon Moalem demonstrates how conditions that are considered unhealthy (such as hemochromatosis, diabetes, and high cholesterol), or even deadly in extreme cases, might actually put their carriers at an advantage in combating other life-threatening illnesses. For example, he explains that hemochromatosis, a disease that, if left untreated, will kill you, may have actually been a defense against the deadliest pandemic in history--the bubonic plague during the 14th century. It turns out that this genetic mutation, which continues to be passed down through generations, actually helped spare many lives at one point.
Throughout the book, Dr. Moalem draws many connections between seemingly disparate subjects, such as the accidental invention of ice wine and cold diuresis, in order to illustrate the basic mechanisms of genetics and medicine in charming and intuitive ways. He skillfully interweaves his knowledge of history, genetics, and medicine not only as they relate to specific medical conditions but also in a way that addresses important challenges of modern society and our future evolution.
In the most general terms, Dr. Moalem's description of the human body and its complexity left me in awe of how far we have come in our understanding of biology and medicine, while also being reminded that the road to understanding ourselves is still wide open with much more to learn in the decades, and even centuries, to come. It is a fantastic journey on which he leads us and Dr. Moalem is a kind, knowledgeable, humorous, and helpful guide.
///////////////PLIOCINE-2 TO 5MYA-HUMANS ENTERED PLIOCENE AS HAIRY QUADRUPEDS AND EXITED PLIOCENE AS HAIRLESS BIPEDS
///////////////Moalem, a medical student with a Ph.D. in neurogenetics, asks a number of provocative questions, such as why debilitating hereditary diseases persist in humans and why we suffer from the consequences of aging. His approach to these questions is solidly rooted in evolutionary theory, and he capably demonstrates that each disease confers a selective advantage to individuals who carry either one or two alleles for inherited diseases. But very little is new; the principles, if not every particular, that Moalem addresses have been covered in Randolph Nesse and George Williams's Why We Get Sick, among others. Whether he is discussing hemochromatosis (a disorder that causes massive amounts of iron to accumulate in individuals), diabetes or sickle cell anemia, his conclusion is always the same: each condition offers enough positive evolutionary advantages to offset the negative consequences, and this message is repeated over and over. .....RB=
////////////////This book about genetics, evolution and disease is a genuine page turner, that's how deeply interesting it is, and how well it is written. The basic premise runs like this: The environment puts pressure on all living things, including humans, to evolve characteristics that help us survive long enough to reproduce and pass on our genes. Over the millenia, various conditions such as drought, ice ages and other climate changes have sparked genetic mutations that enhance our abilities to survive. These include some biological conditions that are advantageous in the short term, but sometimes detrimental in the long term.
For example, today we consider diabetes mellitus a serious disease because it raises human blood sugars to dangerous levels that can result in loss of limbs and sight, among other problems. However, in an ice age, when temperatures were significantly lower than they are now, having extra sugar in the blood may have enabled our ancestors to survive the cold because sugar lowers the temperature at which we freeze to death. Similarly, Sickle Cell Anemia may have evolved to help people resist malaria.
What's especially interesting is that this theory would explain why ethnic groups that are prone to diabetes -- Scandinavians and people from the British Isles, for instance -- originally came from northern areas that were at one time covered by glaciers. And the ancestors of those groups that tend to carry the genes for Sickle Cell generally originated from climates in which malaria was prevalent.
Another intriguing idea is that some "sicknesses" only become serious problems when an individual is older and past his or her prime reproductive years. So if one of our ancestors had, for instance, a chronic disease like diabetes, it probably wouldn't kill him/her until after the person had children.
There are many such fascinating observations and facts in this relatively short book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wonders how things and people got to be the way they, and we, are today.
//////////SAVANNA HYPOTHESIS OF BIPEDALISM
/////////////////WH=We're used to thinking of disease as the enemy, as a malicious force that makes our lives shorter and more miserable. That may be exactly what "disease" is on an individual basis--but its value to the species as a whole is a different matter.
Dr. Moalem elegantly explains why medical conditions that are deemed to be diseases today often helped our ancestors survive and reproduce in difficult environments. Take hemochromatosis, a hereditary condition that causes iron to accumulate in a person's internal organs, eventually leading to death. Although the gene that causes hemochromatosis was once thought to be rare, research completed in 1996 found that it's actually surprisingly common. Why wouldn't such a terrible disease have been "bred out" of our species long ago? The answer is that hemochromatosis reduces the amount of iron available to iron-loving bacteria, such as the bubonic plague that depopulated Europe in the mid-1300s. A person living in the Middle Ages with the hemochromatosis gene would have eventually died from iron build up, but in the meantime would have have had a smaller chance of dying from the plague and other iron-loving infections--in an age when few people lived past the age of 50, the disease resistance conferred by hemochromatosis far outweighed the disadvantage that would have materialized if the person carrying the gene had lived to old age. People with hemochromatosis reproduced and passed the gene one to their heirs; those without it died of the plague, without children.
"Survival of the Sickest" is filled with similarly surprising observations. Anemia may be the body's way of reducing iron available to bacteria--giving an iron supplement to a malnourished population may be a bad idea and ironically (so to speak) medical bloodletting may not have been such a bad idea. Type II diabetes may have been a condition that conferred an advantage on northern Eurpoeans during the ice age, when an increase in sugar in the bloodstream and frequent urination would have reduced the risk of freezing to death. Similarly, sickle cell anemia offers protection from malaria. In the "good old days," a genetic condition that kept a person from dying before reproducing would have been a boon, even if the condition would have turned killer if the person managed to reach old age.
The book is filled with other "big ideas, briefly discussed." Instead of battling bacteria with antibiotics (which is only making them tougher), perhaps we could manage their evolution so that they thrive by inconveniencing their host (like a cold) instead of by flooring it (like malaria). And, although Dr. Moalem seems to agree that natural selection is the big driver of evolution, he observes that perhaps Lamarck wasn't so far off after all--jumping genes, retroviruses and methylation all suggest that an organism's life experiences can in certain circumstances affect future generations. As for aging--perhaps our bodies are designed by natural selection to limit the number of times a cell can reproduce (thus insuring that we will all die from old age if something else doesn't get us first), the alternative being an excess of cells without such a limit (in other words, cancer).
On the whole, "Survival of the Sickest" is readable, surprising and filled with "ah-ha!" moments. If you enjoyed "The Tipping Point" or "Freakonomics," you'll probably be intrigued by Dr. Maolem's often counter-intuitive observations.
//////////////////Aquatic ape hypothesis · Evolution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The aquatic ape hypothesis (AAH), sometimes referred to as the aquatic ape theory, asserts that wading, swimming and diving for food exerted a strong evolutionary effect on the ancestors of the genus Homo and is in part responsible for the split between the common ancestors of humans and other great apes. The AAH attempts to explain the large number of physical differences between humans and other apes, such as lack of body hair, larger brains and upright posture, in terms of the methods of feeding and types of food of early hominids living in coastal and river regions.
////////////////AQUATIC APE MADE US BIPEDAL AND FURLESS?
////////////////SAVANNA VERSUS SEMIAQUATIC APE HYPOTHESIS
//////////////////////Savannah hypothesis
This proposes that the onset of drier conditions severely reduced the amount of wooded habitats. During this period, when the forests became thin, early hominids adapted to an environment which was now more like the liminal forest-savanna mosaic zones of equatorial Africa. In order to remain effective in gathering food, the hominids had to travel relatively long distances with food or tools, thus making quadrupedalism extremely inefficient. Bipedalism developed both as an adaptation to facilitate movement across the grasslands and as a way to give early hominids use of their hands for food cultivation and tool use since they were no longer needed for locomotion.
//////////////AQUATIC APE -WATERBIRTH EASIER?
///////////////.......Other features of plants and animals, such as the wings of ostriches, may once have been adaptations but are no longer needed for their original purpose. Such "vestigial traits" can persist because they are neutral, because they have taken on another function or because there hasn't been enough evolution to eliminate them even though they have become disadvantageous. Take the appendix. There are plenty of claims that it has this or that function but the evidence is clear: you are more likely to survive without an appendix than with one.
So why hasn't it disappeared? Because evolution is a numbers game. The worldwide human population was tiny until a few thousand years ago, and people have few children with long periods between each generation. That means fewer chances for evolution to throw up mutations that would reduce the size of the appendix or eliminate it altogether – and fewer chances for those mutations to spread through populations by natural selection. Another possibility is that we are stuck in an evolutionary Catch-22 where, as the appendix shrinks, appendicitis becomes more likely, favouring its retention.
Wisdom teeth are another vestigial remnant. A smaller, weaker jaw allowed our ancestors to grow larger brains, but left less room for molars. Yet many of us still grow teeth for which there is no room, with potentially fatal consequences. One possible reason why wisdom teeth persist is that they usually appear after people reach reproductive age, meaning selection against them is weak.
///////////////LWTL=LOSING WILL TO LV
//////////////
Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off?
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.
Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time.
Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth -- and, especially, what that means for us.
////////////////MSSNG NOW MRDRD CRSS-TIMONTINI
////////////////HUMAN BRAINS DEVELOP OUTSIDE THE BIRTH CANAL
////////////////ONLY HUMANS NEED HELP WITH CHILDBIRTH -NO OTHER SPECIES NEEDS IT
//////////////Dan Ariely on Survival of the Sickest
MIT professor Dan Ariely has become one of the leaders in the growing field of behavioral economics, and his bestselling book debut, Predictably Irrational, has brought his ideas--and his ingenious experiments and charming sense of humor--to a much wider audience. With the simplest of tests (often an auction or a quiz given under a few conditions) he shows again and again not only that we are wired to make irrational decisions in many situations, but that we do so in remarkably predictable ways.
I have always been puzzled by the way in which genetic diseases have managed to survive throughout the ages. How could it be that these diseases were able to withstand the evolutionary process, where only the most fit survive, and continue to be transferred from one generation to the next? Survival of the Sickest provides a thought provoking yet entertaining explanation to this puzzle.
In this insightful book Dr. Sharon Moalem demonstrates how conditions that are considered unhealthy (such as hemochromatosis, diabetes, and high cholesterol), or even deadly in extreme cases, might actually put their carriers at an advantage in combating other life-threatening illnesses. For example, he explains that hemochromatosis, a disease that, if left untreated, will kill you, may have actually been a defense against the deadliest pandemic in history--the bubonic plague during the 14th century. It turns out that this genetic mutation, which continues to be passed down through generations, actually helped spare many lives at one point.
Throughout the book, Dr. Moalem draws many connections between seemingly disparate subjects, such as the accidental invention of ice wine and cold diuresis, in order to illustrate the basic mechanisms of genetics and medicine in charming and intuitive ways. He skillfully interweaves his knowledge of history, genetics, and medicine not only as they relate to specific medical conditions but also in a way that addresses important challenges of modern society and our future evolution.
In the most general terms, Dr. Moalem's description of the human body and its complexity left me in awe of how far we have come in our understanding of biology and medicine, while also being reminded that the road to understanding ourselves is still wide open with much more to learn in the decades, and even centuries, to come. It is a fantastic journey on which he leads us and Dr. Moalem is a kind, knowledgeable, humorous, and helpful guide.
///////////////PLIOCINE-2 TO 5MYA-HUMANS ENTERED PLIOCENE AS HAIRY QUADRUPEDS AND EXITED PLIOCENE AS HAIRLESS BIPEDS
///////////////Moalem, a medical student with a Ph.D. in neurogenetics, asks a number of provocative questions, such as why debilitating hereditary diseases persist in humans and why we suffer from the consequences of aging. His approach to these questions is solidly rooted in evolutionary theory, and he capably demonstrates that each disease confers a selective advantage to individuals who carry either one or two alleles for inherited diseases. But very little is new; the principles, if not every particular, that Moalem addresses have been covered in Randolph Nesse and George Williams's Why We Get Sick, among others. Whether he is discussing hemochromatosis (a disorder that causes massive amounts of iron to accumulate in individuals), diabetes or sickle cell anemia, his conclusion is always the same: each condition offers enough positive evolutionary advantages to offset the negative consequences, and this message is repeated over and over. .....RB=
////////////////This book about genetics, evolution and disease is a genuine page turner, that's how deeply interesting it is, and how well it is written. The basic premise runs like this: The environment puts pressure on all living things, including humans, to evolve characteristics that help us survive long enough to reproduce and pass on our genes. Over the millenia, various conditions such as drought, ice ages and other climate changes have sparked genetic mutations that enhance our abilities to survive. These include some biological conditions that are advantageous in the short term, but sometimes detrimental in the long term.
For example, today we consider diabetes mellitus a serious disease because it raises human blood sugars to dangerous levels that can result in loss of limbs and sight, among other problems. However, in an ice age, when temperatures were significantly lower than they are now, having extra sugar in the blood may have enabled our ancestors to survive the cold because sugar lowers the temperature at which we freeze to death. Similarly, Sickle Cell Anemia may have evolved to help people resist malaria.
What's especially interesting is that this theory would explain why ethnic groups that are prone to diabetes -- Scandinavians and people from the British Isles, for instance -- originally came from northern areas that were at one time covered by glaciers. And the ancestors of those groups that tend to carry the genes for Sickle Cell generally originated from climates in which malaria was prevalent.
Another intriguing idea is that some "sicknesses" only become serious problems when an individual is older and past his or her prime reproductive years. So if one of our ancestors had, for instance, a chronic disease like diabetes, it probably wouldn't kill him/her until after the person had children.
There are many such fascinating observations and facts in this relatively short book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wonders how things and people got to be the way they, and we, are today.
//////////SAVANNA HYPOTHESIS OF BIPEDALISM
/////////////////WH=We're used to thinking of disease as the enemy, as a malicious force that makes our lives shorter and more miserable. That may be exactly what "disease" is on an individual basis--but its value to the species as a whole is a different matter.
Dr. Moalem elegantly explains why medical conditions that are deemed to be diseases today often helped our ancestors survive and reproduce in difficult environments. Take hemochromatosis, a hereditary condition that causes iron to accumulate in a person's internal organs, eventually leading to death. Although the gene that causes hemochromatosis was once thought to be rare, research completed in 1996 found that it's actually surprisingly common. Why wouldn't such a terrible disease have been "bred out" of our species long ago? The answer is that hemochromatosis reduces the amount of iron available to iron-loving bacteria, such as the bubonic plague that depopulated Europe in the mid-1300s. A person living in the Middle Ages with the hemochromatosis gene would have eventually died from iron build up, but in the meantime would have have had a smaller chance of dying from the plague and other iron-loving infections--in an age when few people lived past the age of 50, the disease resistance conferred by hemochromatosis far outweighed the disadvantage that would have materialized if the person carrying the gene had lived to old age. People with hemochromatosis reproduced and passed the gene one to their heirs; those without it died of the plague, without children.
"Survival of the Sickest" is filled with similarly surprising observations. Anemia may be the body's way of reducing iron available to bacteria--giving an iron supplement to a malnourished population may be a bad idea and ironically (so to speak) medical bloodletting may not have been such a bad idea. Type II diabetes may have been a condition that conferred an advantage on northern Eurpoeans during the ice age, when an increase in sugar in the bloodstream and frequent urination would have reduced the risk of freezing to death. Similarly, sickle cell anemia offers protection from malaria. In the "good old days," a genetic condition that kept a person from dying before reproducing would have been a boon, even if the condition would have turned killer if the person managed to reach old age.
The book is filled with other "big ideas, briefly discussed." Instead of battling bacteria with antibiotics (which is only making them tougher), perhaps we could manage their evolution so that they thrive by inconveniencing their host (like a cold) instead of by flooring it (like malaria). And, although Dr. Moalem seems to agree that natural selection is the big driver of evolution, he observes that perhaps Lamarck wasn't so far off after all--jumping genes, retroviruses and methylation all suggest that an organism's life experiences can in certain circumstances affect future generations. As for aging--perhaps our bodies are designed by natural selection to limit the number of times a cell can reproduce (thus insuring that we will all die from old age if something else doesn't get us first), the alternative being an excess of cells without such a limit (in other words, cancer).
On the whole, "Survival of the Sickest" is readable, surprising and filled with "ah-ha!" moments. If you enjoyed "The Tipping Point" or "Freakonomics," you'll probably be intrigued by Dr. Maolem's often counter-intuitive observations.
//////////////////Aquatic ape hypothesis · Evolution
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The aquatic ape hypothesis (AAH), sometimes referred to as the aquatic ape theory, asserts that wading, swimming and diving for food exerted a strong evolutionary effect on the ancestors of the genus Homo and is in part responsible for the split between the common ancestors of humans and other great apes. The AAH attempts to explain the large number of physical differences between humans and other apes, such as lack of body hair, larger brains and upright posture, in terms of the methods of feeding and types of food of early hominids living in coastal and river regions.
////////////////AQUATIC APE MADE US BIPEDAL AND FURLESS?
////////////////SAVANNA VERSUS SEMIAQUATIC APE HYPOTHESIS
//////////////////////Savannah hypothesis
This proposes that the onset of drier conditions severely reduced the amount of wooded habitats. During this period, when the forests became thin, early hominids adapted to an environment which was now more like the liminal forest-savanna mosaic zones of equatorial Africa. In order to remain effective in gathering food, the hominids had to travel relatively long distances with food or tools, thus making quadrupedalism extremely inefficient. Bipedalism developed both as an adaptation to facilitate movement across the grasslands and as a way to give early hominids use of their hands for food cultivation and tool use since they were no longer needed for locomotion.
//////////////AQUATIC APE -WATERBIRTH EASIER?
///////////////.......Other features of plants and animals, such as the wings of ostriches, may once have been adaptations but are no longer needed for their original purpose. Such "vestigial traits" can persist because they are neutral, because they have taken on another function or because there hasn't been enough evolution to eliminate them even though they have become disadvantageous. Take the appendix. There are plenty of claims that it has this or that function but the evidence is clear: you are more likely to survive without an appendix than with one.
So why hasn't it disappeared? Because evolution is a numbers game. The worldwide human population was tiny until a few thousand years ago, and people have few children with long periods between each generation. That means fewer chances for evolution to throw up mutations that would reduce the size of the appendix or eliminate it altogether – and fewer chances for those mutations to spread through populations by natural selection. Another possibility is that we are stuck in an evolutionary Catch-22 where, as the appendix shrinks, appendicitis becomes more likely, favouring its retention.
Wisdom teeth are another vestigial remnant. A smaller, weaker jaw allowed our ancestors to grow larger brains, but left less room for molars. Yet many of us still grow teeth for which there is no room, with potentially fatal consequences. One possible reason why wisdom teeth persist is that they usually appear after people reach reproductive age, meaning selection against them is weak.
///////////////LWTL=LOSING WILL TO LV
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Ooguay: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.So called present-CDS 020708-FOID-DTR FRCTR CRSS ETC NRT HNDOVR CRSS
//////////////MISSING CRSS-TAC/TAPCHIDU-RxPLC DRY-LK FR YOURSLF
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Daily Mail -
By Daily Mail Reporter Broccoli may combat prostate cancer by altering the genes involved in tumour growth, a study has shown. Scientists made the discovery after adding either peas or broccoli to the diets of two groups of men for a year.
//////////////////////////The Statin Showdown
Matthew Herper 06.30.08, 3:56 PM ET
When the blockbuster cholesterol pill Vytorin failed to best the less potent generic in a clinical trial earlier this year, many cardiologists were shocked. Prescriptions for Vytorin sunk by a third, and the stock prices of makers Merck and Schering-Plough plummeted.
But James K. Liao, the head of vascular medicine at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, wasn’t surprised. He says he never thought it made sense that Vytorin would do better than the generic, Zocor, at the main measure used in the study: preventing the artery thickening that can lead to heart attacks.
That's because Liao believes drugs like Zocor, Lipitor and Crestor, known collectively as statins, work not just by cutting levels of cholesterol in the blood but by reducing levels of inflammation in the arteries, another cause of heart attacks and strokes. Vytorin gets extra cholesterol-lowering oomph by combining Zocor with a newer drug, Zetia. But Liao argues that Zetia might actually make this inflammation worse and therefore may have less benefit at preventing heart attacks or even, theoretically, cause some harm.
"The burden of proof is on the company," says Liao. "Drugs are expensive, and drugs can have side effects. They have to show us that what they have is better than what we have. We never know for sure what the mechanism for some of these drugs are. What we know for sure is if people with heart disease take a statin, they do better."
Vytorin’s bad result added new urgency to a highly technical debate about how, exactly, statins save lives. With no hard data about whether adding Zetia to Zocor prevents heart attacks or strokes, doctors and patients are left balancing two scientific arguments: the mainstream idea that cholesterol drugs work just by lowering cholesterol; and the case made by a handful of rebels who say that their benefit is more complex. Muddying matters further, scientists have battling theories of how Zetia works, and a few critics argue that it might have its own unexpected effects--and that these may in fact increase cardiovascular risk, diluting or overriding Zetia’s benefits.
The stakes are huge. Zetia and Vytorin brought in $5.2 billion in sales last year. If Liao and his comrades are right, Zetia doesn’t prevent heart attacks and Vytorin adds nothing to Zocor. Millions of patients have swallowed $3-a-day pills only to be shortchanged. If they are wrong, the scare over Vytorin caused patients and doctors to flee a potentially lifesaving drug. Heart attacks and strokes kill 900,000 Americans a year. Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) and Schering have stood resolutely behind the safety and effectiveness of Zetia and Vytorin.
Just the fact that researchers are arguing over how and whether one of the drug industry's top-sellers works is evidence of how difficult the drug business is getting. Only giant clinical trials measuring hard outcomes like heart attacks, strokes and deaths can tell doctors whether a heart drug's benefits outweigh its risks. "Until you put a drug in 10,000 people, you don't know what result you're going to get," says Robert Vogel, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland.
Cholesterol's importance emerged from a government study of 5,000 people from Framingham, Mass., who agreed to be followed for their entire lives to figure out what causes heart attacks. In 1961, the Framingham study pointed to blood levels of cholesterol, a fat molecule used for making hormones and cell membranes, as an important risk factor for heart disease.
Plaques of cholesterol build up inside the walls of arteries, where they become inflamed and can rupture, creating clots that block blood flow and cause heart attacks. But how does cholesterol get into the arteries? Cholesterol, an oily fat, doesn't dissolve in blood, which is mostly water. A spherical protein called low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which can carry more than 1,000 cholesterol molecules within it but also dissolves in water, ferries cholesterol throughout the body. In 1977, Framingham had proved LDL as a risk factor.
Early studies of LDL-lowering drugs were promising, but not definitive. In a 1984 study, lowering LDL 12% with the Bristol-Myers Squibb (nyse: BMY - news - people ) drug Questran showed a benefit only after seven years. Through the early nineties, cardiology journals were filled with debates about how useful lowering cholesterol was and whether lowering it too much might even be dangerous.
Those debates were blown away when a 1994 study showed Merck's Zocor substantially lowered the death rate of heart patients in Scandinavia. A study of Bristol's Pravachol in Scotland followed. With drug after drug, in population after population, statins reduced the rates of heart attacks and strokes. U.S. treatment guidelines now advocate getting LDL levels down to 100 milligrams per deciliter, 20% below levels that would be considered normal. For heart patients, there's an optional target of 70 mg/dL.
But when he saw that Scandanavian study, James Liao wasn't immediately convinced about the benefits of LDL. He was surprised, because Zocor not only prevented heart attacks but also strokes. The Framingham study hadn't uncovered a link between strokes and cholesterol levels. Might Zocor be doing more than just cutting cholesterol levels?
In 1997, Liao published one of the first papers showing that statins like Zocor might have extra, unknown benefits, which he called "plieotropic effects." The idea was so novel Harvard patented it.
Statins work to stop the production of cholesterol in the liver by blocking an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase. This enzyme helps break down chemicals already present in the liver into which in a whole class of molecules called isoprenoids. Since cholesterol is made from these molecules, blood levels of LDL plummet 30% or more when a patient takes a statin.
But Liao showed first in cell cultures and then in animal models that this isn't all the isoprenoids do. He found they also activate an enzyme called Rho kinase, which negatively affects the way that arteries expand and contract and increasing the inflammation within cholesterol plaques in the artery wall. Blocking HMG CoA reductase not only prevents the formation of cholesterol, but also the creation of Rho kinase.
Zetia lowers LDL 15% by preventing cholesterol from being absorbed from food in the intestine. But Liao says the body ups production of cholesterol to compensate, turning on the HMG CoA pathway. That could mean more inflammation in the artery wall. "I don't think it's ethical to give [Zetia] by itself," Liao says. He would make an exception for patients who can't take other drugs because of side effects.
When combined with Zocor in Vytorin, Zetia does lower C-reactive protein (CRP), which doctors use to try and measure artery inflammation. But Liao says that he worries this change is only "cosmetic." Without more data, it's difficult to say for sure, he says. "You may shortchange your patients," Liao says.
Complicating matters further: nobody knows exactly how Zetia works at the cellular level. In 2004, two years after it was approved, Schering-Plough (nyse: SGP - news - people ) scientists published a paper in Science arguing that the drug blocks a newly discovered protein that seemed to be involved mostly in absorbing cholesterol out of the intestines. But more recently outside researchers have argued that it may block a second protein that is pivotal to the way cholesterol is moved in and out of cells. "That could offset any benefit of LDL lowering," argues Allen Taylor of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, one of Zetia's most outspoken critics.
Zetia and Vytorin remain big sellers, and they also have their defenders. Roger Blumenthal, director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Preventative Cardiology Center, says that statins should always be used before turning to Zetia, but that everyone can't tolerate high doses and Zetia is still one of the best options for these patients.
Daniel Rader of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the world's top experts on the science of cholesterol, says a laser-like focus on LDL-lowering has been one reason deaths from cardiovascular disease are dropping. "I'm firmly in the camp that says lowering LDL more is better," says Rader. "We cannot afford to backtrack from our focus on aggressive LDL lowering. There's no way ENHANCE should cause us to reconsider that position."
Merck and Schering-Plough are funding an 18,000 patient study comparing Vytorin and Zocor that could settle all the debate for good. But results are not expected until 2012.
/////////////////////////Ooguay: “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.”
//////////////////Ooguay: “There are no accidents.”=all ATO-BY PHYSICALISM
///////////////////GOODBYE BATHROOM CLOCK-NOW BRKN
////////////////////Rising gas & food prices have nearly everyone looking for clever ways to save money. Check out some easy suggestions from the EP community:
- When shopping, make a shopping list and STICK to it - otherwise you may end up buying things you don't really need
- Round "up" all purchases when balancing your checkbook & by the end of the year you might have saved over $1000
- Leave lights off & turn down the thermostat while you're out for the day
- Try doing social things that don't require money - go to the park, attend a free art exhibit, or just have coffee at a friend's house.
- Direct deposit a portion of your paycheck straight into a savings account - if you never see it, you don't miss it.
///////////////////KACHHAKACHHI QRIYO-NAMATA
///////////////AGING-BIOLOGIC PROGRAMMED OBSOLESCENCE
NATRS WAY TO UPDATE MODEL VERSIONS
/////////////MATING IS AN EVOLUTIONARY DANCE OF SHUFFLING GENES
//////////////BIG BRAINS AND BIPEDALISM CAUSES HUMAN CHILDBIRTH RISKIER
/////////////
shows "Spiritual" effects of mushrooms last a year
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The "spiritual" effects of psilocybin from so-called sacred mushrooms last for more than a year and may offer a way to help patients with fatal diseases or addictions, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
The researchers also said their findings show there are safe ways to test psychoactive drugs on willing volunteers, if guidelines are followed.
In 2006, Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues gave psilocybin to 36 volunteers and asked them how it felt. Most reported having a "mystical" or "spiritual" experience and rated it positively.
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