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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2 women becoming bishops in Australia

MELBOURNE (UPI) -- Barbara Darling, ordained one of Australia's first female priests in 1992, is about to become the second female bishop in the Church of England in Australia.

Darling is scheduled to be consecrated in Melbourne May 31, nine days after Kay Goldsworthy is to be consecrated in Perth, The Age reports. The Melbourne Diocesan Council announced Darling's appointment Thursday night.

She is to be the diocese's fourth assistant bishop with an area of responsibility for diocesan services, including hospital chaplaincy and children's and youth ministries. After the meeting, there was a celebration in a nearby hotel bar. "I wept tears of joy," said Muriel Porter, who filed a legal challenge last year, forcing the church to consider naming women as bishops.

Darling said she is glad she and Goldsworthy are moving up in tandem. "At the moment there are a lot of unknowns," she said. "But all the way along God has sustained and strengthened me, and provided support."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Chastity belts on the rise in Indonesia

JAKARTA (UPI) -- Chastity belts are gaining popularity in Indonesian massage parlors as a way to stop clients and masseuses from getting too close, parlor owners say. A number of massage parlors in Batu, Indonesia, are requiring female masseuses to wear padlocks over their pants zippers to prevent men from bombarding workers for sex, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. "We had a hard time rejecting this kind of client because they try over and over and over again, persuading our workers with their dangerously sweet words," Doghado Massage Parlor owner Franky Setiawan said. Meutia Fardia Hatta Swasono, minister for the empowerment of women, said bringing back the old fashioned chastity belt is offensive to women. "It is not the right way to prevent promiscuity. It insults women as if they are the ones in the wrong," she said. Parlor sex crackdowns come as traditional Islamic values gain popularity in Indonesia, influencing people to cut back on morally questionable activities including the sex trade, alcohol consumption and gambling, the Times reported.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Bees Learn Thievery

Even the pinhead-sized brains of insects can learn new skills from their comrades - including theft.

It seems bumblebees can discover how to "rob" flowers of nectar, scientists now reveal.

Normally bumblebees crawl into flowers to get a nectar. In return for this sweet treat, blossoms coat the insects in pollen, which contains plant sperm. When these bees rendezvous with other flowers, they serve as couriers of this pollen, helping the plants breed.

However, bees can bite through the base of a flower to suck up nectar instead, avoiding the pollen altogether. Since they get something for nothing this way - drinking nectar without helping the flowers mate - such behavior can be seen as theft. The bees may commit such an act to get nectar from blossoms they could not fit into, or just to get more nectar than possible by normal means.

Now it appears that bumblebees can quickly learn how to rob flowers if they visit blossoms that others have already burglarized. The bees could learn how to commit such theft by themselves, but this was rare. But, after one bee learned how to rob nectar by watching its comrades, the skill rapidly spread to other bees.

It was long known that bees could learn simple facts from each other - such as where food is, for instance - but the discovery that insects can learn skills from others is a first.

"It was actually first suggested in one of Darwin's journals. He saw bumblebees robbing flowers in a garden one day, and saw honeybees doing something similar afterward," said researcher Ellouise Leadbeater, a behavioral ecologist at Queen Mary, University of London. "That led us to our work."

The brains of bumblebees are a little larger than 1 cubic millimeter in size, or nearly one-millionth the size of a human brain.

"It's interesting to see what you can do with a small brain," Leadbeater told LiveScience. "But then again, it may be that you just don't need to be very clever to learn a simple technique like this."

In the future, research could see if bumblebees could teach other species of bees how to rob nectar. Other insects that could learn skills from within or outside their species might include ants, Leadbeater speculated.

Leadbeater and her colleague Lars Chittka detailed their findings online April 23 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

news: yahoo.com

Ice Age relic at risk from warmer temps

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- U.S. conservationists said they're studying musk ox to determine how the relics of the Ice Age may be affected by climate change.

The Wildlife Conservation Society -- working with the National Park Service, U. S. Geological Survey and Alaska Fish and Game -- has equipped six musk ox with GPS collars as part of a four-year study to determine the extent to which weather, disease and predation may be driving populations, the WCS said Friday in a release.

"Musk ox are a throwback to our Pleistocene heritage and once shared the landscape with mammoths, wild horses and sabered cats," study leader Joel Berger, a professor at the University of Montana, said in a statement. "They may also help scientists understand how arctic species can or cannot adapt to climate change."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Benedict praises US church as visit ends

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass and American Catholicism in storied Yankee Stadium on Sunday, telling his massive U.S. flock to use its freedoms wisely as he closed out his first papal trip to the United States.

Benedict beamed before a joyous crowd of 57,000, hours after making a solemn stop to pray at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

He called the Mass "a summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope for coming generations."

And he repeated a core message of his six-day pilgrimage — that faith must play a role in public life, citing the need to oppose abortion.

The unwavering truth of the Roman Catholic message, he said, guarantees respect for the dignity of all "including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb." The crowd applauded the line.

Worshippers filled the seats, chanting, clapping and waving white and yellow handkerchiefs in the Vatican's colors as the white popemobile pulled in. At the end of the service the German-born Benedict again processed out slowly, serenaded by the strains of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

Outside the stadium, two dump trucks filled with sand blockaded 161st Street before Mass, an extra level of security along with the heavy police presence. Pilgrims without tickets pushed up against metal police barricades, hoping to get a glimpse of the arriving pope.

Inside, ad-splashed outfield walls were draped in white with purple and yellow bunting. A white altar perched over second base, and the papal seal covered the pitcher's mound, suspended by white and yellow ribbons.

"I have never seen Yankee Stadium so beautiful, and I have season's tickets," said Philip Giordano, 49, a tax attorney from Greenwich, Conn., who won seats in the loge section behind home plate through a parish lottery. "It sure beats sitting in my local church."

Added his wife, Suzanne: "I'm hoping to feel something from (Benedict). Everyone who has seen him says they crumple, their knees buckle. You come away just feeling different."

The New Orleans crooner Harry Connick Jr., on the pre-Mass concert program, remarked that he is often asked if he's a practicing Catholic.

"Practicing?" he said. "I'm playing for the pope today."

Benedict seemed to enjoy his long journey to the altar in the popemobile, waving to people in the stands. From the altar, he stood to acknowledge the crowd's roar when New York Cardinal Edward Egan welcomed him.

He praised the U.S. church, which has 65 million members, in his homily, saying that "in this land of freedom and opportunity, the church has united a widely diverse flock" and contributed greatly to American society.

Earlier, on a chilly, gray morning, the pope blessed the site of the terror attacks and pleaded with God to bring "peace to our violent world."

The visit by Benedict to ground zero was a poignant moment in a trip marked by unexpectedly festive crowds such as the one at Sunday's Mass.

Benedict was driven in the popemobile part-way down a ramp now used mostly by construction trucks to a spot by the north tower's footprint. He walked the final steps, knelt in silent prayer, then rose to light a memorial candle.

Addressing a group that included survivors, clergy and public officials, he acknowledged the many faiths of the victims at the "scene of incredible violence and pain."

The pope also prayed for "those who suffered death, injury and loss" in the attacks at the Pentagon and in the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa. More than 2,900 people were killed in the four crashes of the airliners hijacked by al-Qaida.

"God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world," the pope prayed. "Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred."

Benedict invited 24 people with ties to ground zero to join him: survivors, relatives of victims and four rescue workers. He greeted each member of the group individually as a string quartet played in the background. In his prayer, he also remembered those who, "because of their presence here that day, suffer from injuries and illness."

New York deputy fire chief James Riches, father of a fallen Sept. 11 firefighter, said the pope's visit gave him consolation.

"We said 'Where was God?' on 9/11, but he's come back here today and they've restored our faith," Riches said.

The site where the World Trade Center was destroyed is normally filled with hundreds of workers building a 102-story skyscraper, a memorial and transit hub. It bears little resemblance to the debris-filled pit where crews toiled to remove twisted steel and victims' remains.

The remains of more than 1,100 people have never been identified.

Back at Yankee Stadium, some worshippers filed out of the service slowly, trying to soak up the atmosphere as long as they could.

"It was great for the young, it was great for the old," Judith Halsey, a nurse from Bayonne, N.J., said of Benedict's visit as she left the Mass. "It was an uplifting time for the entire Catholic religion. Everyone needed this."

On the Net:

Official papal visit site: http://www.uspapalvisit.org/
source: yahoo news

Migraines' Frequency Influences Heart Attack, Stroke Risk

I read sometimes news on the net. Any important ones I found, I post it in my blogs..I have sometimes bad migraine attacks. The latest worst attack was in March 23, 2008 and Dec. 18, 2007. Any other attacks are not too bad. This news from yahoo just interest me. therefore, I am also sharing it to my dear friends and reader especially to those who have migraines..This is quite scary but it is so.. here it is..hope you got some infos!! wish everyone in advance a very great weekend!!

Migraines' Frequency Influences Heart Attack, Stoke Risk

THURSDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- Women who have weekly migraines are at an increased risk for stroke compared to those with few or no migraines, a new study finds.

On the other hand, those with less frequent migraines may have an increased risk of heart attack, the same team of researchers report.

The findings, to be presented Thursday at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in Chicago, point to different mechanisms linking migraines to distinct cardiovascular troubles, experts say.

And even though the average migraine sufferer's absolute risk of a heart attack or stroke is still low, the new study should be viewed in the context of other cardiac risk factors, said Dr. Richard Lipton, vice chairman of neurology at Montefiore Headache Center in New York City.

"Someone with migraine should be sure to manage their other risk factors including high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol and body weight," said Lipton. He was not involved in the study, which was conducted by a team from Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Previous research (much of it by the same group) has found an increased risk of vascular problems in both men and women who experience migraines, especially those who experience migraine with visual symptoms known as aura.

One recent study found that women who suffer from migraines with aura are at higher risk of stroke, especially if they smoke and take oral contraceptives.

What's been missing, however, is data on how the frequency of migraines might affect cardiovascular risk.

This study involved almost 28,000 female health professionals in the United States aged 45 and older, none of whom had cardiovascular disease when the trial started.

During about 12 years of follow-up, and compared to women with no migraines, women with less-than-monthly migraines turned out to be 54 percent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease. Those with weekly migraines were almost twice as likely to develop heart troubles.

Those with fewer-than-monthly migraines had a 45 percent increased risk of having an ischemic stroke (one resulting from constricted blood flow) and a 64 percent increased risk for heart attack, compared to women with no migraines, the Boston team found.

Women who suffered migraines at least weekly had a 49 percent increased risk for heart attack and almost triple the increased risk for stroke, they added.

According to Lipton, repeat migraine attacks may have a direct influence on the risk of stroke. "This is plausible because, during the aura, there are profound changes in the brain which diminish blood flow to the brain," he explained. "Stroke is usually caused by diminished blood flow to the brain."

If this were true, preventing migraines should decrease the risk of stroke, although this hypothesis has not yet been tested.

It's also possible that frequent migraines simply point to an increased risk for stroke, rather than actually causing it, Lipton said.

Either way, there's no reason to panic.

"Even if the relative risk of stroke triples in those with frequent migraine, the absolute risk for most people remains low," Lipton said. "If someone who would otherwise have a stroke risk of 20 per 100,000 has that risk triple due to frequent migraine -- to 60/100,000 -- they are [still] very unlikely to have a stroke."

More information

Find out more about migraines at The National Migraine Association.

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter Thu Apr 17, 7:03 PM ET

source: yahoo news

The worst computer viruses of all time

Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:11PM EDT

If you haven't experienced a computer virus yet, just wait -- you probably will.

Fortunately, you missed the real heyday of computer viruses when anti-virus software wasn't very widely used, and virus attacks caused millions of dollars in damages overnight. Today's viruses can still be nightmarish, but for the average user, cleanup is considerably easier than it was just a few years ago, when the only solution in many cases was reformatting your hard drive and starting from scratch (and even that didn't do the trick sometimes).

So join me on a trip down memory lane as we revisit some of the worst viruses of all time and count our blessings that our computers are still up and running despite it all. (Though, please note, "worst" is a matter of considerable debate in the security industry, as the number of infected machines and amount of financial loss is always estimated. If you think another virus was worse than these, please post it in the comments to remind us!)

The worst viruses of all time

Brain, 1986
It all started here: Brain was the first "real" virus ever discovered, back in 1986. Brain didn't really hurt your PC, but it launched the malware industry with a bang and gave bad ideas to over 100,000 virus creators for the next 2 decades.

Michelangelo, 1991
The worst MS-DOS virus ever, Michelangelo attacked the boot sector of your hard drive and any floppy drive inserted into the computer, which caused the virus to spread rapidly. After spreading quietly for months, the virus "activated" on March 6, and promptly started destroying data on tens of thousands of computers.

Melissa, 1999
Technically a worm, Melissa (named after a stripper) collapsed entire email systems by causing computers to send mountains of messages to each other. The author of the virus was eventually caught and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

ILOVEYOU, 2000
This was notable for being one of the first viruses to trick users into opening a file, which in this case claimed to be a love letter sent to the recipient. In reality, the file was a VBS script that sent mountains of junk mail and deleted thousands of files. The results were terribly devastating- one estimate holds that 10 percent of all computers were affected, to a cost of $5.5 billion. It remains perhaps the worst worm of all time.

Code Red, 2001
An early "blended threat" attack, Code Red targeted Web servers instead of user machines, defacing websites and later launching denial-of-service attacks on a host of IP addresses, including those of the White House.

Nimda, 2001
Built on Code Red's attack system of finding multiple avenues into machines (email, websites, network connections, and others), Nimda infected both Web servers and user machines. It found paths into computers so effectively that, 22 minutes after it was released, it became the Internet's most widespread virus at the time.

Klez, 2001
An email virus, Klez pioneered spoofing the "From" field in email messages it sent, making it impossible to tell if Bill Gates did or did not really send you that information about getting free money.

Slammer, 2003
Another fast spreader, this worm infected about 75,000 systems in just 10 minutes, slowing the Internet to a crawl (much like Code Red) and shutting down thousands of websites.

MyDoom, 2004
Notable as the fastest-spreading email virus of all time, MyDoom infected computers so they would, in turn, send even more junk mail. In a strange twist, MyDoom was also used to attack the website of SCO Group, a very unpopular company that was suing other companies over its code being used in Linux distributions.

Storm, 2007
The worst recent virus, Storm spread via email spam with a fake attachment and ultimately infected up to 10 million computers, causing them to join its zombie botnet.

Thanks to Symantec for helping to compile this list.

source: yahoo tech news

Windows XP going off market in June

I just happened to read this today in yahoo tech news. I just want to share it with you especially to those who use Windows XP..well that's what I am also using now until I will buy a new PC next time. here is the news!!

Windows XP going off market in June: What it means

Mon Apr 14, 2008 5:28PM EDT

Microsoft originally announced over a year ago that Windows XP would be going off the market in January 2008. XP was later given a brief stay of execution, to June 30, 2008. That deadline is fast approaching, which has led to much panicking from people who aren't quite sure what XP's "going off market" means, exactly.
People are still as confused as ever. So let's take a stab at clarifying, once again, what's going to happen by answering some frequently asked questions about XP's imminent disappearance.
Will Windows XP really no longer be on sale after June 30? Sorry for the double negative, but no. All this means is that Microsoft will stop selling the OS. Finding a computer with XP preinstalled will likely be very difficult, as well. However, you'll still be able to find copies for the foreseeable future, and likely the unforeseeable one, too. See for yourself: You can find copies of just about any Microsoft product, including ancient versions of Windows and even MS-DOS, by simply searching online. But hang on to your current copy of Windows XP. You may need it down the road if you don't want to move to Vista.
Will I be forced to upgrade to Vista soon? No. But it will get harder and harder not to, especially since new software and peripherals are likely to stop working with XP. That could take years.
Will my XP machine stop working in June? No, but Microsoft will stop releasing non-security software updates to the masses on April 14, 2009. But let's be clear: XP will continue to "work" even after this point.
Will Microsoft shut off product activation for XP after June? No, that would be crazy. While no one has said this will happen, it's conceivable that Windows could shut down product activation for XP at some point. But that would only happen after XP reaches its end-of-support term (when all support plans expire). The good news for you: That happens on April 8, 2014, which should be plenty of time to get the kinks worked out of Vista-or switch to a Mac, Linux, or anything else. Bottom line: Your copy of XP will work, totally legally, for at least six more years.
What about after 2014? Well, that's unclear. But it's possible XP will stop being installable at that point. Microsoft's official policy is that these dates have "no affect [sic] on how long you can use a product," which may imply product activation will work forever. However, two things come to mind:
1) Even the most die-hard XP enthusiast will probably be ready to upgrade at that point (as XP will be nearly 15 years old, and your PC will be dead by then, I'm sure).
2) Even if Microsoft shuts off product activation, the hacker community will certainly make dozens of tools to let you continue using XP with abandon. Fret not.
Can I install XP on a PC that has Vista already on it? Yes. You can delete any partition with any OS on it (and reformat it) during the installation of XP. If you're feeling brave, you can even run both OSes at the same time by setting up a dual-boot machine.
Whew! Does that clear everything up? Feel free to continue sending your queries and adding your comments below.
Note: This post was originally created in April 2007 and updated with new and changed information in April 2008.
Source: yahoo tech news

Minimally invasive surgery reduces risks

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say a new study shows laparoscopic surgery reduces the risk of nosocomial infections by 52 percent when compared with open surgery.

Ethicon End-Surgery Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, conducted a retrospective study of more than 11,000 patients undergoing one of three surgical procedures: hysterectomy, cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) and appendectomy. The researchers said they found laparoscopic surgery was associated with reduction of the risk of nosocomial (hospital acquired) infections during gallbladder removal by 66 percent, and during hysterectomy by 52 percent compared with open surgery.

The study showed the reduction rates of nosocomial infections during laparoscopic appendectomy were not statistically significant.

"This study gives more definitive evidence that laparoscopic surgery reduces the risk of nosocomial infection compared to open surgery, which may lead to improved patient care and potential reductions in costs to the healthcare system, " said Dr. Andrew Brill, director of minimally invasive gynecology at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, one of the lead investigators of the study.

The research appears in the journal Surgical Endoscopy.

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Copyright 2008 by United Press International

Australia suffers massive shorebird loss

SYDNEY (UPI) -- Australia has suffered a "truly alarming" decline in its number of migratory and resident shorebirds, a long-term study revealed.

An aerial survey conducted by the University of New South Wales in the eastern third of the continent determined migratory shorebird populations plunged by 73 percent and 15 species of resident shorebirds declined by 81 percent between 1983 and 2006.

"This is a truly alarming result: in effect, three-quarters of eastern Australia's millions of resident and migratory shorebirds have disappeared in just one generation," said Professor Richard Kingsford, an author of the study. "The wetlands and resting places that they rely on for food and recuperation are shrinking virtually all the way along their migration path, from Australia through Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and up through Asia into China and Russia."

The study that included John Porter and Silke Nebel appears in the journal Biological Conservation.

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Copyright 2008 by United Press International

Smaller asteroid may have killed dinosaurs

HONOLULU (UPI) -- A scientist in Hawaii says the asteroid implicated in the extinction of dinosaurs was much smaller than previously suggested.

Francois Paquay of the University of Hawaii Manoa has developed a new tool using variations of osmium isotope composition in the marine sediment record to estimate the size of asteroid impacts, the university said Thursday in a release.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

Paquay said sediment shows the asteroid that created Chicxulub crater off the coast of Mexico was about 2.5 miles wide -- less than half the size that researchers had previously suggested, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The researchers estimate the size of the asteroid that created the 63-mile-wide Popigai crater in Siberia at about 1.7 miles across. Previous estimates had put that asteroid at about 2.5 miles across.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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New system makes hydrogen from plant sugar

BLACKSBURG, Va. (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist says he has developed a technology that can convert plant sugars into hydrogen to be used in hydrogen-fueled cars.

Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Percival Zhang says the process involves combining plant sugars, water and a cocktail of powerful enzymes to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide under mild reaction conditions.

"This is revolutionary work," said Zhang. "This has opened up a whole new direction in hydrogen research. With technology improvement, sugar-powered vehicles could come true eventually."

Zhang and colleagues said they believe they can produce hydrogen from cellulose, which has a similar chemical formula to starch, but is far more difficult to break down.

In laboratory studies, the scientists collected 13 different, well-known enzymes and combined them with water and starches inside a specially designed reactor. The resulting broth reacted to produce only carbon dioxide and hydrogen, with no leftover pollutants. However, they said the amount of hydrogen produced was too low for commercial use and the speed of the reactions wasn't optimal.

Zhang and colleagues described the system -- called the world's most efficient method for producing hydrogen -- this week in New Orleans during the American Chemical Society's 235th national meeting.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Potential diabetes drug target identified

TORONTO (UPI) -- Canadian scientists announced the discovery of a novel signaling pathway to the gut, brain and liver that lowers blood sugar when it is activated.

The scientists at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, led by Dr. Tony Lam, used a rat model to discover that fats can activate a subset of nerves in the intestine, which then send a signal to the brain and subsequently to the liver to lower glucose production.

"This is a new approach in developing more effective methods to lower glucose or blood sugar levels in those who are obese or have diabetes," said Lam.

"We already knew that the brain and liver can regulate blood glucose levels," he said, "but the question has been, how do you therapeutically target either of these two organs without incurring side effects? We may have found a way around this problem by suggesting that the gut can be the initial target instead.

"If new medicines can be developed that stimulate this sensing mechanism in the gut, we may have an effective way of slowing down the body's production of sugar, thereby lowering blood sugar levels in diabetes," said Lam.

The research appears in the online issue of the journal Science in advance of print publication.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Genetic variants linked with hypertension

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (UPI) -- Yale University scientists in Connecticut said rare genetic variants can be associated with a dramatically lower risk of high blood pressure.

The researchers say their finding that rare mutations might collectively play a large part in the development of common, yet complex, diseases such as hypertension also has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases as diabetes and schizophrenia.

"Collectively, common variants have explained a small fraction of the risk of most diseases in the population, as we would expect from the effects of natural selection,'' said Yale Professor Richard Lifton, who led the study with Daniel Levy, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes's Framingham Heart Study. "The question this leaves open is whether many rare variations in genes will collectively account for a large influence on common disease.''

Lifton said the new study underscores the importance of sequencing the genome of many individuals in order to discover disease-causing mutations.

The research is reported in the journal Nature Genetics.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Chemists work on bamboo fabric development

I just want to share this subscribe mail with you guys before I delete it!! It is quite interesting!!

Wish everyone a very great day!!

Chemists work on bamboo fabric development

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (UPI) -- U.S. chemists said they've solved two problems that have slowed marketplace adoption of bamboo garments and other consumer products.

Colorado State University graduate student Subhash Appidi and Associate Professor Ajoy Sarkar have discovered now to make bamboo fabric that's resistant to the sun's ultraviolet radiation and also has anti-bacterial properties.

"Bamboo is environmentally friendly," said Appidi. "Pesticides and other agents are necessary to grow most other natural fibers -- (but) there is nothing like that in bamboo production."

Despite bamboo's promise as an environmentally friendly fiber, Appidi said raw bamboo fabric allows UV radiation to reach the skin. And Appidi found untreated bamboo fabric did not live up to antimicrobial expectations.

"All cellulose fibers allow more moisture to leak in and provide more food for bacteria to eat," he said. "That's why bacteria grow more on natural fibers rather than synthetic fibers."

The researchers increased the UV-protecting abilities of the fabric by coloring bamboo cloth in a dye laced with UV absorbing chemicals.

To improve bamboo's antibacterial properties Appidi treated fabric with Tinosan -- an antibacterial agent.

The details of the research were reported Monday in New Orleans during the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Study: Bdelloid rotifers resist radiation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've found a common class of freshwater invertebrates called bdelloid rotifers is extraordinarily resistant to ionizing radiation.

Harvard University researchers said the animals survive and continue to reproduce after being exposed to doses of gamma radiation much greater than can be tolerated by any other animal species studied.

Because free radicals such as those generated by radiation have been implicated in inflammation, cancer and aging in higher organisms, Harvard Professor Matthew Meselson and graduate student Eugene Gladyshev said their findings could stimulate new lines of research into these medically important problems.

The researchers found bdelloid rotifers Adineta vaga and Philodina roseola -- about a half-millimeter in size and commonly observed under microscopes -- remained reproductively viable after doses of radiation roughly five times greater than other classes of rotifers and other animals could endure.

The research, supported by the National Science Foundation's Eukaryotic Genetics Program, is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

source: www.arcamax.com
Copyright 2008 by United Press International

There's Something Crooked About 'Change'

The word "change" clings like ChapStick to the lips of presidential candidates these days. But if Hillary and the chaps knew the origin of the word "change," they might not stick with it.

"Change" first appeared as both a verb and noun in Middle English during the 1200s. In 1300, for instance, a piece of writing dubbed "Cursor M." (which would make a really cool screen name) included this sentence: "He chaunges crun or wede." After rummaging around in a Middle English dictionary, I discovered this means something like, "He changes gully and weed," a skill that might have come in handy during the Dust Bowl era.

In 1340, someone named Hampole wrote that "he ofte chaunged to and fra," which pretty much describes the shifting policies of today's presidential candidates. (Could "fra" be a prescient reference to Rudy Giuliani, who has changed his frau twice? Hmm ... ) The word "chaunge" was imported into Middle English from the Old French "changier," which, in turn, had been derived from the Latin "cambiare," meaning "to exchange."

But here's the game-changer: There's strong evidence that "cambiare" came from the Old Irish "camm," which meant -- get ready to wince, politicians -- "crooked."

So, over the course of 1,200 years, a humble Irish word meaning "crooked" went through a few changes itself, migrating from Old Irish to Latin to French and then back again to the British Isles, where it entered Middle English meaning "change." Perhaps the presidential administration of the change-loving candidate who wins should be dubbed "Camm-elot."

The candidates, of course, can choose among any number of synonyms for "change," but the trendiest terms related to mutability seem to be the adjectives "transformational" and "transformative."

Writing in the Atlantic Monthly, for instance, Andrew Sullivan described Barack Obama's candidacy as "potentially transformational." Last Thursday, Washington Post columnist George Will described the interval between the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as "six transformative days."

And BBC reporter Justin Webb recently wrote, "The buzzword here on the subject of the 2008 presidential election is that it will be 'transformative.' ... I am at a disadvantage though: I am not sure what 'transformative' really means."

Maybe we should just stick with "change."


story by Rob Kyff

What Happened on my Birthdate? Part II

Other Notable Events, August 4

In 1735, freedom of the media was established in the American colonies when John Peter Zenger, publisher of a New York City newspaper, was acquitted of libel charges.

In 1914, Britain declared war on Germany, touching off World War I. The United States initially declared itself neutral.

In 1944, acting on a tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captured 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse.

In 1949, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake leveled 50 towns in Ecuador.

In 1958, Billboard magazine introduced its "Hot 100" chart, covering the 100 most popular pop singles in the country. The first No. 1 was Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool."

In 1964, the remains of three slain civil rights workers whose disappearance on June 21 garnered national attention were found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss.

In 1972, Arthur Bremer was found guilty of shooting and severely wounding Alabama Gov. George Wallace who was campaigning for president. Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison.

In 1984, the African Republic of Upper Volta changed its named to Burkina Faso, which means "the land of upright men."

In 1991, the PLO agreed to attend a regional peace conference and offered to compromise with Israel on the make-up of the Palestinian delegation.

Also in 1991, the Greek liner Oceanos sank off the South Africa coast in heavy seas. All 571 on board were rescued but the captain and crew were reported to have abandoned ship.

In 2003, The Los Angeles Times reported it had evidence that Iran was close to possessing a nuclear bomb.

In 2004, opponents of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., launched a lengthy attack on his war record with a TV ad blitz that Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called "dishonest and dishonorable."

In 2004, three former detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison claimed they were beaten until they finally gave false confessions.

In 2005, in a videotape broadcast, al-Qaida threatened Britain and the United States with attacks if their armies did not quit "the land of Islam," in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also in 2005, a news report says some of the most sophisticated roadside bombs being used against coalition forces in Iraq were supplied by Iran.


adapted from Arcamax

What happened on my birthdate? Part I

Notable Birthdays for August 4

Those born on this date include:
- English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1792
- Scottish comedian Harry Lauder in 1870
- Queen Elizabeth, mother of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, in 1900
- Legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong in 1901
- Swedish architect Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving 100,000 Jews from the Nazis during World War II, in 1912
- Former UPI White House reporter Helen Thomas, in 1920 (age 86)
- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1929
- And actors Richard Belzer in 1944 (age 62) and Billy Bob Thornton in 1955 (age 51).

adapted from Arcamax