Plan of Going Back to School

Good morning everyone! I don't know how many times I did mentioned that I want to go back to school again. It is only a plan but I will be happy if it will be materialized. I guess education knows no age limit. I still don't know what field I will be studying. I am interested in taking IT course or maybe in Medical and health field. Lucky for those who took courses in IT field because it is one of the most sought job nowadays. I believed if you are getting a masters information security, it will also help you advance your career. This is quite a very interesting subject of study because you will be able to gain technological and managerial knowledge on how to protect your businesses or any government agencies about IT risks and threats.

How I wish I can attend Lewis University Online. I also have to check if I am qualified. I will see after my vacation back home this year. I might already decide which course of study I will be taking again. Sad to say my bachelor's degree and work experience at home is not recognized to the country where I live now. That is also one reason why I plan of going back to school. That's all for now. take care guys!

Study: Oregano oil works as an insecticide

ALGIERS, Algeria (UPI) -- Algerian scientists say they've found oregano oil works as well as synthetic insecticides to combat infestation by a common beetle found in stored cereals.

The researchers say not only does oregano oil work well in fighting infestations of the beetle Rhizoppertha dominica, but it has none of the associated side effects of synthetic insecticides on the environment.

Oregano, a member of the Lamiaceae family of plants, has been known to be a natural insecticide by apparently inhibiting egg laying and larval development. But the researchers said their study marks the first time oregano oil has been looked at as a viable alternative to synthetic insecticides.

Chahrazed Boutekedjiret and colleagues from Algeria's National Polytechnic School identified 18 components in oregano oil that combat pests and found the greater the concentration of the oil used, the more effective it was.

"It is feasible that, in the near future, these natural insecticides will replace synthetic insecticides and add considerably to more environmentally friendly insecticides on a large scale," said Boutekedjiret.

The findings are reported in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Compound might stop cancer progression

OKLAHOMA CITY (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have discovered a compound that, in laboratory tests, has shown success in preventing cancer.

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center researchers said the compound, which still faces several rounds of clinical trials, successfully stopped normal cells from turning into cancer cells and inhibited the ability of tumors to grow and form blood vessels.

If successful tests continue, researchers eventually hope to create a daily pill that would be taken as a cancer preventive.

"This compound was effective against the 12 types of cancers that it was tested on," said Doris Benbrook, the study's principle investigator. "Even more promising for health care is that it prevents the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells and is therefore now being developed by the National Cancer Institute as a cancer prevention drug."

The synthetic compound directly targets abnormalities in cancer cell components without damaging normal cells, researchers said. The disruption causes cancer cells to die and keeps tumors from forming.

Benbrook and her team have patented the discovery and hope to start clinical trials for the compound within 5 years.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Mammogram, not biopsy, for breast lesions

SEATTLE (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a woman with benign-looking breast lesions should not get not a biopsy but a follow-up mammogram.

In a study published in American Journal of Roentgenology, researchers said six-month short-interval follow-up diagnostic mammogram had an 83 percent sensitivity rating -- meaning a relatively high proportion of true cancers were being identified, with a low proportion of cases mistakenly deemed benign.

"Because the probability of cancer is so low, we don't want to put the patient through an unnecessary biopsy, which is an invasive procedure that increases both patient anxiety and medical costs," study lead author Erin J. Aiello Bowles of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle said in a statement.

The study included 45,007 initial short-interval follow-up mammograms. In the study, 360 women with "probably benign" lesions were diagnosed with breast cancer within six months, and 506 women were diagnosed with cancer within 12 months.

The approximately one out of a 100 probably benign lesions linked to a cancer diagnosis within the year points to a need to monitor these patients, because "we want to detect the cancers as early as possible," Bowles said. After the six-month diagnostic mammograms, follow-ups should continue for the next two to three years "until long-term stability is demonstrated."


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Possible genetic link to obesity found

LONDON (UPI) -- British and other scientists say they've discovered a gene sequence that is linked with weight gain and a tendency to develop type 2 diabetes. The researchers say their findings also show the gene sequence is significantly more common in those with Asian Indian rather than European ancestry.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, could lead to better ways of treating obesity, researchers said. Scientists from Imperial College London and other international institutions discovered the sequence is associated with a nearly 1-inch expansion in waist circumference, a 4-pound gain in weight, along with a tendency to become resistant to insulin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.

The sequence is found in 50 percent of the U.K. population. "Until now, we have understood remarkably little about the genetic component of common problems linked with obesity, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes," said Imperial College London Professor Jaspal Kooner, the paper's senior author.

"Finding such a close association between a genetic sequence and significant physical effects is very important, especially when the sequence is found in half the population.? The study is detailed in the journal Nature Genetics.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Viruses may be linked to lung cancer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (UPI) -- U.S. and Israeli researchers suggest viruses may have a role in the development of lung cancer.

The researchers all agree smoking is by far the most important risk factor for lung cancer, but Dr. Arash Resazadeh and colleagues from the University of Louisville, Ky., found five out of 22 non-small-cell lung cancer samples tested positive for human papilloma virus.

"We think HPV has a role as a co-carcinogen which increases the risk of cancer in a smoking population," Resasadeh said in a statement.

In another study, Samuel Ariad from Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel, and colleagues found more than half of the 65 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer had evidence of measles virus in tissue samples taken from their cancer.

In his study, Ariad found the "measles virus is a ubiquitous human virus that may be involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer. Most likely, it acts in modifying the effect of other carcinogens and not as a causative factor by itself."

Both studies have been presented at the First European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Study discovers how cancer cells spread

MONTREAL (UPI) -- Canadian scientists say they've discovered cancer cells spread by releasing protein "bubbles" -- a finding that might alter our concept of how cancer works.

The discovery was made by Dr. Janusz Rak and colleagues at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center in collaboration with Dr. Ab Guha of the University of Toronto.

The researchers found cancer cells are able to communicate with their more healthy counterparts by releasing vesicles -- bubble-like structures containing cancer-causing proteins that can trigger specific mechanisms when they merge into non- or less-malignant cells.

Rak said the finding demonstrates that cancer is a multi-cell process, where the cells "talk" to one another extensively.

"This goes against the traditional view that a single 'mutated' cell will simply multiply uncontrollably to the point of forming a tumor," said Rak. "This discovery opens exciting new research avenues, but we also hope that it will lead to positive outcomes for patients."

The study appears in the online edition of the journal Nature Cell Biology.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Changing jet streams may alter storm paths

STANFORD, Calif. (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say changes in the Earth's jet streams, possibly caused by global warming, might affect storm paths and intensity, including hurricanes.

Jet streams -- high-altitude bands of fast-moving winds -- are shifting, said Carnegie Institution researchers Ken Caldeira and Cristina Archer. They found that from 1979 to 2001, the jet streams in both hemispheres rose in altitude and shifted toward the poles. At the same time, northern hemisphere jet streams weakened.

Since jet streams are the driving factor for weather conditions, said Archer, changes in the jets have the potential to affect large populations and major climate systems.

Caldeira and Archer, from Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif., said hurricanes' development tends to be inhibited by jet streams. Therefore hurricanes might become more powerful and more frequent as the jet streams move away from sub-tropical zones where hurricanes are born.

The scientists said the changes fit the predictions of several global warming models, although theirs is the first study to use observation-based datasets to examine trends in all the jet stream parameters.

The research appears in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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9,500-year-old tree is discovered

UMEA, Sweden (UPI) -- The world's oldest living tree -- a 9,550-year-old spruce -- has been discovered in Sweden's Dalarna province, a university professor said.

Umea University Professor Leif Kullman said the discovery was made under the crown of a spruce on Fulu Mountain in central Sweden where scientists found four "generations" of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from higher ground.

Researchers said the old tree survived cooler summer conditions during the past 10,000 years and, more recently, a gradual warming, by its ability to push out another trunk as older ones die.

Other very old trees, including three 375-, 5,660- and 9,000-years-old were also discovered.

Since spruce trees can multiply with root penetrating braches, they can produce exact copies, or clones, researchers said.

The trees' ages were determined in a process called carbon-14 dating at a U.S. laboratory.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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