Grey Wolf Taken Off Endangered List

After a comeback the grey wolf is no longer endangered and can be hunted in most states.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 7:45 pm

Dr Pepper Artifact Points to Original Formula

An old drugstore ledger now up for auction has a recipe for "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters."
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 6:25 pm

BLOG: Larks vs. Owls

A brain study reveals differences between morning and evening types.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 6:05 pm

Oral Delivery System For RNAi Therapeutics

Researchers have developed a novel approach to the delivery of small bits of genetic material in order to silence genes using "RNA interference" -- and in the process, discovered a potent method of suppressing inflammation in mice similar to what occurs in a range of human diseases.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 6:00 pm

New Energy Source? Structure Of Highly Efficient Light-harvesting Molecules In Green Bacteria Determined

Scientists have determined the structure of chlorophyll molecules in green bacteria, which are super-efficient at harvesting light energy. Because the interactions that lead to the assembly of the chlorophyll molecules are rather simple, so they provide good models for designing artificial systems. The research one day could be used to build artificial photosynthetic systems, such as those that convert solar energy to electrical energy.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 6:00 pm

Texting While Driving Can Be Deadly, Study Shows

Sending text messages and similar behavior while driving can be deadly, according to research conducted in teens.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 6:00 pm

Why People Are Better At Lying Online Than Telling A Lie Face-to-face

In the digital world, it's easier to tell a lie and get away with it. That's good news for liars, but not so good for anyone being deceived.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 6:00 pm

Toward Giving Artificial Cells The Ability For Sustained Movement

Scientists in Japan are reporting an advance toward giving artificial cells another hallmark of life — the ability to tap an energy source and use it to undergo sustained movement. Their study describes the first "self-propelled" oil droplets (used as a model for research on artificial cells) that can run on a chemical "fuel."
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 6:00 pm

Injectable Testosterone May Provide Effective Male Contraception

Researchers may have found a method for male contraception that is effective, reversible and without serious short-term adverse effects, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 6:00 pm

Rome's 'Talking Statues' Get Sanitized

Statues that have served as platforms for satirical Romans for centuries get a clean up.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 5:25 pm

Swine Flu-Bound Mexicans Turn to Web

Mexicans start to tire of the virtual world amid a long swine flu-induced isolation.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 3:15 pm

Self-cleaning Objects And Water-striding Robots May Be Possible With Super Hydrophobic Materials

Humans have marveled for millennia at how water beads up and rolls off flowers, caterpillars and some insects, and how insects like water striders are able to walk effortlessly on water. New research into super hydrophobic properties provide hints to researchers to develop these abilities in things like micro-robots, self-cleaning fabrics and other surfaces.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 3:00 pm

Snowboard Landing Pad Inspired By Accident

A student has developed a ski and snowboard landing pad with the hopes of setting a new standard in safety for freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 3:00 pm

Scientists Learn Why The Flu May Turn Deadly: Influenza Virus 'Paralyzes' The Immune System

As the swine flu continues its global spread, researchers have discovered important clues about why influenza is more severe in some people than it is in others. In a new study, the scientists show that the influenza virus can actually paralyze the immune systems of otherwise healthy individuals, leading to severe secondary bacterial infections, such as pneumonia.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 3:00 pm

Excessive Increase In Heart Rate During Mental Stress Before Exercise Doubles Risk Of Dying Suddenly From Heart Attack In Later Life

French researchers have discovered a simple and cheap method of predicting who is at greater risk of dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2009 | 3:00 pm

Supercontinent Set Stage for Worst Extinction

Erosion flowing off Pangea may choked seas and set the stage for mass extinction.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 2:00 pm

Lizards Sunbathe for Vitamin D

Lizards and chameleons bask in the sun to stock up on vitamin D.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 May 2009 | 1:13 pm

EU takes aim at Canada, bans seal products (AP)

AP - The European Parliament voted to ban imports of seal products Tuesday, trying to force Canada to end its annual seal hunt, which animal rights groups have criticized as barbaric.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 May 2009 | 12:00 pm

Yes One Can: Prince Charles Hires Obama's Web Wizards (Time.com)

Time.com - To save the rain forests, the heir to the British throne brings in the guys who helped put Obama in the White House -- and a frog
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 May 2009 | 10:50 am

DNA search for miscarriages of justice

The head of the organisation that investigates alleged miscarriages of justice has ordered an urgent review of cases where DNA evidence is involved to find whether there are long-term prisoners whose innocence could now be scientifically proved.

The decision comes as one of the country's leading civil rights lawyers claims that there are now as many miscarriage of justice victims behind bars as there were in the 70s and 80s.

Richard Foster, the chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), told the Guardian that developments in the gathering of scientific evidence have implications for cases dating back many years. He has asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review all such cases.

"Progress in science means you are able to go back and revisit cases – Sean Hodgson [released earlier this year having served 27 years for murder after his innocence was proved through DNA testing] is a very good example of that," said Foster, "But scientific understanding and certainty can actually shift – in cot deaths, for example – and you can also get the issue of the correct understanding of scientific evidence. You need to be sure it's been explained properly to the jury."

Considering whether there are other Sean Hodgsons in the prison system, he said: "We have started a review of our cases to check that out and I have written to Keir Starmer [the director of public prosecutions] asking him to check."

Foster was speaking on the eve of the launch of a new series on the Guardian's website, Justice on Trial, which will look at alleged miscarriages of justice.

He also said he wanted to reach the many prisoners who may be illiterate, inarticulate or with learning difficulties and who may be unaware of how to claim their innocence. "What we know about most people in prison is that they have quite limited education. Many of them can't read or write," he said. Currently, the CCRC requires prisoners to write to them, something many of them may be unable to do. "We also know that the prisons are under considerable pressure," Foster added, "so I want to investigate whether there are ways to make it easier for people who want to approach us to do so."

Foster believes there may be ­others who, like Sean Hodgson, confessed to crimes they did not commit. "We are understanding better that you do get people who, for psychological reasons, confess to things they didn't do. That has just reinforced us in the view that, if you've got a case that turns largely on confession evidence, you've got to look very carefully at it."

The number of applications to the CCRC, which has the power to refer cases back to the court of appeal, remains fairly constant at about 1,000 a year. Of these, only 2.7% were successful last year, the lowest proportion ever. Foster said that was "a blip" and the figure this year is 4.1%.

Campbell Malone, the lawyer whose work largely led to the release of Stefan Kiszko, said he believed there were a large number of innocent people in prison. "I believe we have a government that is positively hostile to the notion of miscarriages of justice," he said. "It would seem to be of the view that it would be better for the odd person to spend their life in prison for a crime they did not commit than to have the inconvenience of it being exposed." He added that there were "just as many" such cases now as in the 70s and 80s.

The cases that first prompted serious concern involved the Birmingham six and the Guildford four, both during a period when the IRA was active in Britain. Foster said there were similar concerns today. "Where there is intense pressure – public, political pressure – in a particular case and around terror, there is always the risk that safeguards that should be in place won't be applied as they should be," he said.

"You have always got to pause if someone continues to say they're innocent, either when they're in prison or, more pointedly, if they're in prison and ruling themselves out of early release because they're not acknowledging their guilt. I think any sensible person is going to pause on that and say – well, why?"

Foster said he did have "3am moments" as to whether one of the 95% of applications that are screened out and not reinvestigated by the CCRC might be a miscarriage of justice. "I worry about that – and anybody who works in criminal justice who doesn't ought to think about whether they made the right choice of career."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 5 May 2009 | 1:06 am

Bullying may make kids psychotic

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People who are bullied as children have twice the risk of having delusions, hallucinations or other psychotic symptoms as pre-teens as those who have not been bullied, British researchers said on Monday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 May 2009 | 11:09 pm

California teams win national science bowl (AP)

AP - An astronomical diagram pointed a Sacramento, Calif., high school team toward victory Monday in the National Science Bowl.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2009 | 11:06 pm

Mexico to begin lifting flu curbs

Mexico City says it will reopen restaurants, amid a drop in new cases of the swine flu that has infected 1,000 worldwide.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2009 | 10:47 pm

Baby Names Quantify the Faddishness of Fads

Baby names change with the winds of fashion and new research suggests the faster they get popular, the faster they get lame.

Take Tricia. Back in the 1950s, almost nobody named their baby girls Tricia. By the 1970s, the name had skyrocketed to the 144th most popular girl’s name and then just as quickly, Tricia fell back into disuse. It’s no longer in the top 1,000 names for girls. Literally hundreds of other names have followed similar trajectories.

It turns out that a name’s sad tumble into obscurity is tightly correlated with the speed of its rise. And that principle — what goes up quickly, must come down quickly — could be applicable to a broader set of memes.

“We don’t think this is just a names thing,” said Jonah Berger, a University of Pennsylvania marketing professor, and author of the study, which appears Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “We think this is a broader phenomenon that happens in all kinds of identity-relevant domains where people care about what something means not just what it does.”

Berger’s paper follows earlier work by Harvard sociologist Stanley Lieberson, who used name databases as a way of analyzing the “pure mechanisms” involved in social and cultural fashion shifts. Lieberson argues that there’s no intrinsic value to the whims of fashion, be they hem lines or names starting with ‘J.’

“These are shifts where a new taste develops and it gradually expands and expands and expands. Because it is a fashion it eventually falls away and gets replaced by something else,” Lieberson told Wired.com. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”

The properties of the system arise just from the internal mechanics of popularity, a phenomenon that Lieberson calls “the ratchet effect.” New fashions rarely change wildly. They build on previous fashions, slowly changing through time. By this incremental process, new names become popular or skirts get shorter (or longer).

Berger’s addition is that the size of the increments matters, too, not just the absolute popularity of a name or fashion. Names that built up slowly through time also experienced greater overall success. The faddishness of fads, in other words, has been quantified.

“Things that catch on really quickly might end up less popular overall because they have a shorter life cycle,” Berger said.

For infinite fun playing with baby names, head to Baby Name Wizard, the data-heavy baby name site developed by Laura Wattenberg. Try the NameVoyager. You won’t be sorry (unless it causes you to miss a deadline).

See Also:

• Name Our New Geological Age: The Contest
• (Re)name NASA’s Next Martian Rover
• Want a Remix Manifesto? Name Your Price, Says RiP Director
• NASA to Name New ISS Treadmill for Colbert
• NASA Wants You to Name Its New Telescope

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter , Google Reader feed, and book site for The History of Our Future; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 May 2009 | 10:31 pm

A scoop of explosives, a short fuse and a gamble with death for Afghan miners

Crude techniques for mining emeralds destroy assets and risk disaster, geologists warn

A cigarette dangling from his mouth, Zubair Amin casually pulls out a plastic carrier bag containing five kilograms of high explosives and scoops out a couple of handfuls, which he warms up on a metal shovel held above a gas lamp.

Heating up a combustible mixture of old Russian ordnance and Pakistani fertilizer would be a dangerous thing to do nearly anywhere. When it's done at the end of a long tunnel in the mountains of Afghanistan, it's near suicidal.

After the mix has been warmed to its correct temperature and stuffed into a hole drilled in the rock face, into which a short, 45-second fuse is inserted, a group of three emerald miners turn tail and run through a tunnel 1.2 metres (4ft) high and more than a hundred metres long in a bid to evacuate the mine before the blast.

The shockwaves from the blast roar past the miners, painfully compressing their ear drums, while still 20 metres or so from the stunning mountain scenery outside. No one seems to mind a bit of tinnitus when mining accidents cause a steady trickle of serious injuries and deaths.

"My brother was killed in the mine when he went back to check on a bomb that hadn't exploded," says Faisal Sherzad. "The fuse was broken."

This entirely improvised approach to mining emeralds second only in quality to those found in Colombia in the high Hindu Kush would not just give a British health and safety officer heart palpitations; it also appals geologists.

After the dust from the explosion has settled and rubble from the blast has been carted out, the crumbling rock face is hacked away with screwdrivers for any signs of the little green stones. Sadly though, it is clear to even an untrained eye that the chipped green fragments are of low quality. The high-powered blasts fill the emeralds with thousands of micro-factures, robbing them of the translucency valued by gem dealers. Using heavy duty pneumatic road drills doesn't help either.

After years of western neglect, the mines are being seen as a source of jobs and wealth by US officials attempting to implement Barack Obama's strategy of finding non-military solutions to the conflict in Afghanistan. General David McKiernan, the senior US general in Afghanistan, frequently says that jobs and education for Afghanistan's young men will be crucial for undermining the Taliban insurgency.But Sophia Swire, a British development consultant for the US Agency for International Development, warns that unconstrained mining will one day cause the mountain to collapse. "The biggest problem is the use of these high explosives not only causes injury and death but fractures the emeralds and is destabilising the mountain," she says.

With such techniques the returns for individual miners are meagre. Many of those interviewed by the Guardian claimed not to have found anything for years. Others were sustained by their families, or local investors, who hope to hit the jackpot one day – just a few large clear gems can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Nonetheless, mining dominates the otherwise agricultural local economy. In the nearest town – a three hour hike down the mountain – the bazaar is full of shops selling cheap Chinese LED headlamps, fuses, pickaxes and explosives.

The emerald deposits, which locals say were found by a young shepherd in the 1970s, are one part of a rich jigsaw of mineral deposits, including iron, copper, oil, gas and precious gems, strewn across Afghanistan. The collision of the Indian tectonic plate into the Eurasian land mass around 35m years ago not only created the mountainous topography that gives Afghanistan it's fractious politics, but also a huge amount of largely untapped mineral wealth including iron, copper, oil, gas and precious gems.

The emerald belt stretches from Iran into Pakistan, via Afghanistan and Tajikistan. In Pakistan's Swat valley the Taliban has taken over the emerald mines, which they mine around the clock to help fund their insurgencies, threatening both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Gary Bowersox, a US gem hunter who first came scouting for stones in Afghanistan in 1972, estimates that if the emeralds were properly mined they could be worth $200m in three years – a significant sum for a country whose GDP (excluding illegal opium revenues) in 2008 was $10bn. USAID estimates that Afghanistan's rubies, emeralds, sapphires and lapis could be worth $300m a year in total.

During the jihad against Soviet forces in the 1980s, the mines were a vital source of cash for Ahmed Shah Massoud, the famous mujahideen leader who managed to keep most of the Panshir out of Russian hands.

Bowersox, who ran mining courses in the Panshir during the jihad years, says that the Russian bombing campaigns of 1986 helped in some ways.

"We found plenty of crystals in some of the bomb craters so the Russians were actually funding Massoud in some ways."

Unexploded Russian ordnance was, and still is, valued as "gifts from the sky" by the miners who prise the bombs open for their explosives.

But it is not just emeralds which are being poorly mined. Similar techniques do horrendous damage to the lapis lazuli mines of the northern province of Badakshan, thought to be the source of some of the bright blue stones on ­Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.

A British businessman who once toyed with the idea of investing in minerals recalls an Afghan once walking into his office with a satchel filled with "rubies the size of cricket balls". Unfortunately the fractured rubies were nearly worthless, as the slightest knock made them fall apart. "All of these things could be rectified with a bit of training in micro-blasting, proper tunnelling and some geologists to tell them which veins to follow," says Swire.

Bowersox is again training Afghans in improved techniques for mining and gem cutting. His course, in Kabul, includes techniques for assessing the quality of gems in a city that is awash with fakes. He hopes Kabul can become a regional centre for the gem industry – stealing the crown from Peshawar, in Pakistan, to where nearly 90%of Afghan emeralds are illegally exported.

But before the industry can take off, the fiercely autonomous Panshiris will have to come to an understanding with the central government, which says their unlicensed mining is illegal. A ­previous dispute in 1977 about who owned the rights to Panshir's emeralds was partly responsible for sparking a rebellion in the valley.

Abdul Samad Wahaj, a Kabul gem dealer, says sorting out the industry should be a priority. "Afghanistan is sleeping on treasure and yet is begging for handouts from other countries."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 4 May 2009 | 9:45 pm

Deadly fungus shuts bat caves

Thousands of bat caves across America are to be boarded up by the US forest service to try to halt the spread of a mysterious condition which has killed up to half a million of the creatures.

The emergency closure applies to caves and mines across 33 states, and is aimed at containing a fungus that has spread rapidly through hibernating colonies, devastating the US bat population.

The fungus, known as white nose syndrome, strikes bats in winter as they hibernate, depositing rings on their muzzles and wing membranes.

The organism, which appears to be a deadlier variant than one that emerged recently in northern Europe, was discovered in 2006 when researchers in New York found the shrivelled bodies of hundreds of bats.

Scientists say white nose syndrome poses no risk to humans, but they suspect humans may have inadvertently helped transmit spores from cave to cave, spreading the condition.

The rapid spread of the disease has heightened concerns about upsetting the delicate ecological balance. Bats, in their summer, waking months eat their weight in mosquitos and other insects every night. Biologists said the demise of the bat population could precipitate an increase in the use of pesticides and, eventually, food prices.

Many of the caves to be closed this month are in the Monongahela national forest in West Virginia, although the range of shuttered mines and caves spans Minnesota to Maine.

The sites will probably remain closed for up to a year. Those who breach the order face up to six months in prison or a hefty fine.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 4 May 2009 | 9:34 pm

US supports reducing climate-warming gases (AP)

AP - The Obama administration called hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners "a very significant" threat to climate change Monday, and expressed a preference for drastically reducing HFCs that are promoted under the U.N.'s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2009 | 8:47 pm

Tomatoes, mosquitoes and lasers: cash for bizarre projects

Health research grants are designed to encourage scientists to pursue bold ideas that could lead to breakthroughs

Can tomatoes be taught to make antiviral drugs for people who eat them? Would zapping your skin with a laser make your vaccination work better? Could malaria-carrying mosquitoes be given a teensy head cold that would prevent them from sniffing out a human snack bar?

These are among 81 projects awarded $100,000 grants today by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a bid to support innovative unconventional global health research.

The five-year health research grants are designed to encourage scientists to pursue bold ideas that could lead to breakthroughs, focusing on ways to prevent and treat infectious diseases, such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases.

The foundation said grant recipient Eric Lam at Rutgers University in New Jersey is exploring tomatoes as a antiviral drug delivery system.

Researchers at the University of Exeter in Devon will seek to build an inexpensive instrument to diagnose malaria by using magnets to detect the waste products of the malaria parasite in human blood.

Mei Wu at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School will be getting a grant to see if shooting a laser at a person's skin before administering a vaccine can enhance immune response.

And Thomas Baker at Pennsylvania State University wants to see if malaria-carrying mosquitoes can be infected with a fungus that would act like a cold, suppressing the sense of smell that they use to find people as sources of blood.

The foundation also announced plans today to spend $73m over the next five years to help small farmers in impoverished countries. That programme was outlined by foundation CEO Jeff Raikes at a water conference held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Raikes, a former Microsoft executive, said spending on agriculture in sub-Saharan African countries, where the foundation focuses much of its poverty-fighting efforts, accounts for less than 5% of their total government budgets. And from 1985 to 2005, spending as a percentage of government budgets decreased in donor countries, he said, including the US.

The agriculture grants include $40m to develop drought-tolerant corn, $13m for more efficient irrigation, and $10m to help women develop education and training programmes related to agriculture.

The largest philanthropic foundation in the world, the Gates Foundation gave out $2.8bn last year. It has said payouts this year would grow by about 10%, less than previously planned, because of the troubled economy.

The foundation was started in 1994 by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife and has the international goals of overcoming hunger, poverty and disease. In America, its focus is on education, which receives about a quarter of its grant dollars.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 4 May 2009 | 8:18 pm

Swine flu pandemic warning levels may rise, says WHO chief

The head of the World Health Organisation, Margaret Chan, yesterday suggested the swine flu pandemic alert would eventually move to its highest level.

But the woman in charge of the global fight against the H1N1 outbreak said a move to level six should not be taken as a cause for panic.

"Level six does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make this clear because [otherwise] when we announce level six it will cause unnecessary panic," she told Spain's El País newspaper.

Officials from the United Nations and the WHO later insisted that there were no imminent plans to raise the alert level. But they agreed that going to the highest level could be an eventuality.

Raising the alert level to six would mean that a global pandemic was in full effect. However, the officials emphasised that a pandemic did not necessarily mean the disease was particularly deadly.

And in a video link with the UN, Chan appeared to attempt to allay fears, adding: "We are not there yet."

The Financial Times also reported that Chan, who recently raised the threat of a pandemic to level five, had suggested a move to level six was likely. She warned that the real blow might come if a second wave of cases swept across the globe at the start of the winter flu season.

"If it's going to happen, it would be the biggest of all outbreaks the world has faced in the 21st century," she said.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said: "Let us remember that even if the WHO does declare phase six, a pandemic, that would be a statement about the geographic spread of the virus, not its severity."

Spain remains the European country with the most cases of swine flu. By yesterday there were 54 reported cases, including four people who were infected in the country. The outbreak has raised concerns over its potential impact on tourism.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 4 May 2009 | 7:37 pm

Cancer patients: Beware extreme diets

Cancer survivors who adopt "extreme diets" to try to stop the disease returning are wasting their time and may even be harming their health, experts warn.

Dietary regimes which urge cancer patients to drink only fruit and vegetable juice, avoid meat or dairy products or take large doses of supplements may be popular, but will not work, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.

A significant, but unknown, number of the 2 million Britons who have been diagnosed with some form of the disease turn to alternative diets in a bid to prevent a recurrence once they have been given the medical all-clear, cancer charities say.

Dr Rachel Thompson, science programme manager at the WCRF, which is renowned for its research into preventing the disease, said: "People who have had cancer … often end up following diets that involve doing things like cutting out types of food or having lots of supplements. It is very easy to make bold claims about how different diets can stop cancer returning, but there is no strong evidence these diets do what they say. People are often investing money and hope in something that could be doing more harm than good."

Some websites, doctors, nutritionists and private treatment centres endorse particular, expensive, diets which they claim can help to beat cancer. But research showed that taking high doses of certain supplements could be harmful, said Thompson. "If a cancer survivor is cutting out food groups then it may be that they become underweight, which could mean they are more susceptible to infection."

Macmillan Cancer Support, which gives practical help to cancer patients, said that some diets were so imbalanced they could harm a patient's treatment by affecting the result of a blood test.

It acknowledges how importance diet plans are to cancer patients, but advises caution when adopting an alternative diet, often vegetarian or vegan, which claims to rid the body of toxins. A spokeswoman, Anna Brosnan, said that while healthy eating could reduce the risk of cancer reappearing, such diets did not extend a cancer sufferer's life. "There is no scientific evidence that cutting out key elements of a normal diet will improve the outcome for people once they have cancer."

Macmillan particularly criticises the Gerson therapy, which claims to cleanse the body and boost metabolism. Some people who have followed it have ended up with nausea, a perforated colon, vomiting and infections from the enemas involved.

The warnings come as the WCRF prepares to launch on Wednesday the first evidence-based dietary and lifestyle guide for patients trying to stop cancer returning. Eating Well and Being Active Following Cancer Treatment will be available free from the charity's UK website. It says "dietary and lifestyle approaches to prevent cancer do not have to be extreme. They do not require you to cut out key food groups, consume special foods, take vitamin supplements or spend a lot of money."

Organic food is no more likely to reduce the risk of cancer than non-organic produce, says the WCRF. Some high-dose supplements "can increase the risk of cancer ... and can have unpredictable and harmful effects", the new guide adds.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 4 May 2009 | 7:27 pm

Trial by fire: New antibody method gets big test

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Researchers in two U.S. laboratories are preparing for the arrival of blood samples from Mexican flu victims to make a serum that might offer some protection from a dangerous new flu virus.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 May 2009 | 6:14 pm

Swine Flu Genes Show Virus May Be Weak

Preliminary evidence suggests that swine flu may prove relatively mild, though scientists warn against drawing firm conclusions from on-the-fly early research.

Wired.com has learned that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory computer scientists Jonathan Allen and Tom Slezak did not find similarities between swine flu and historical strains that spread widely, with catastrophic effect.

Their findings are based on just one complete sample and several fragmentary samples of swine flu, but fit with two other early analyses.

Taken together, all these findings fit the notion that more Mexicans are infected than was originally thought, that severe cases represent a fraction of the outbreak, and that mortality rates are lower than originally feared.

Researchers with the Great Britain’s National Institute for Medical Research say swine flu’s proteins suggest that it infects the upper rather than lower respiratory tract, reducing the damage it causes.

And two UK scientists have extrapolated a rough date for swine flu’s emergence, and calculated the rate at which it appears to spread and mutate.

“If the calculations are correct,” said Slezak, “it’s indeed supportive of the other data that seems to agree that this is not going to be a catastrophic outbreak.”

Allen and Slezak studied amino acid markers — subtle variations in the molecular composition of swine flu genes — found in a complete swine flu genome from a person infected in California, as well as several incomplete genomes from other samples.

Little more than a week ago, the pair published a paper in the journal BMC Microbiology describing the general patterns of amino acid markers in past flu strains that became either highly lethal and contagious, or comparatively benign.

The samples appear to fall into the “comparatively benign” category, though the researchers stress that it’s only a preliminary finding, and that their BMC Microbiology findings have yet to be tested with a brand-new flu strain.

“This particular outbreak is going to be yet another data point to test,” said Slezak. “If the hypothesis about the predictive value of these markers is correct, then we would hope that this won’t be an especially severe outbreak.”

Appearing to support their hopes are the findings of the National Institute for Medical Research. As reported Friday by the BBC, they found that swine flu’s H1 gene — the virus is technically known as A(H1N1) — resembles the H1 gene of strains that reach their victims’ upper respiratory tracts, but not their lungs. When flu enters the lungs, chemical fallout from a body’s immune response can cause severe damage.

Another gene in the virus, known as NS1, belongs to a family of genes that seem to modulate immune response. The swine flu version resembles other NS1 variants that trigger a mild reaction.

Those researchers stressed the early nature of their findings, but they fit with Slezak and Allen’s results. “The markers and observations appear consistent with respect to our initial observation that the genetic makeup is not remarkably similar to past pandemic variants,” said Allen.

One more piece of the swine flu puzzle comes from the laboratories of University of Edinburgh viral geneticist Andrew Rambaut and epidemiologist Nicholas Grassly of Imperial College London. By studying subtle changes in the genetic makeup of swine flu samples and correlating them with the date of infection, Rambaut reverse-engineered an approximate starting date for the outbreak.

The date is extremely broad, falling between September of 2008 to the first documented swine flu case in March. “It is far too early to tell,” said Rambaut. “I don’t think we can say anything useful yet.” But if the middle range of Rambaut’s estimates hold, then Grassly calculates that the virus may not be spreading rapidly

But all this is still not certain. Asked whether a visitor to Mexico several months ago might have carried an early, less-virulent version of the virus to the outside world, while the Mexican version evolved in a more dangerous direction, Columbia University epidemiologist Ian Lipkin answered, “Absolutely.”

Lipkin, a member of the World Health Organization’s surveillance network who is now studying the outbreak in New York City, expounded on other possible reasons for flu’s seemingly disparate effects inside and outside Mexico.

“The possible explanations are myriad. One is that  a vaccine used in the past may have induced partial immunity. Or there may be differences in susceptibility, in everything ranging from genetics to environment to nutrition,” he said.

Time will tell if the researchers’ glimpses of swine flu resemble the entire picture. But even if predictions of global catastrophe prove unfounded, the flu may not pass quietly.

“I don’t think this is going to hit us hard in the northern hemisphere,” said Lipkin, noting that influenza spreads less easily in the summer, and vaccines should be ready by the time winter arrives. “But the southern hemisphere is going into the winter right now. They’re at the greatest risk.”

See Also:

• Swine Flu Ancestor Born on U.S. Factory Farms
• Swine Flu Genes From Pigs Only, Not Humans or Birds
• Tracking Internet Chatter Helps Spot Swine Flu Outbreak
• Google Could Have Caught Swine Flu Early

Image: CDC

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 May 2009 | 5:46 pm

Survey Documents Flu Fears (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Americans' reactions to the outbreak of the H1N1 flu, aka the swine flu, may have trended lately toward being annoyed, but nearly half were also concerned five days ago that they or their family might actually get sick.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2009 | 4:31 pm