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Agility Radiation Therapy Treatment For Cancer Receives U.S. 510(k) Clearance

Agility Radiation Therapy Treatment For Cancer Receives U.S. 510(k) Clearance

Jun 25 2012 | comment(s)

Using 160 high-resolution tungsten leaves and dramatically faster leaf movement, Elekta’s new Agility multi-leaf collimator (MLC) radiation therapy treatment for cancer patients recently received 510(k) clearance (K121328) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), enabling U.S. medical centers to use it for patients with cancer. 

An MLC is device made up of numerous, individual tungsten “leaves,” which shape beams of therapeutic radiation that are delivered from different angles around the patient. Using twice the number of leaves typical of many standard MLC’s, Agility precisely delivers radiation to the unique contours of the tumor, while reducing the risk of exposure to healthy tissue. 
DNA Studies Show Dangers of Chinese Medicine

DNA Studies Show Dangers of Chinese Medicine

Jun 25 2012 | comment(s)

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is enjoying increasing popularity all over the world - to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year, making it Big Business.

Yet there are concerns. Two molecular genetics studies show that the treatments can be harmful, as well, because not all of their ingredients are listed, or even legal, some can cause cancer and proponents often simply do not know what they are doing when making combinations. 
Ursolic Acid: Apple Peel Compound Reduces Obesity In Mice

Ursolic Acid: Apple Peel Compound Reduces Obesity In Mice

Jun 24 2012 | comment(s)

A new study shows that ursolic acid, a natural substance found in apple peel, can partially protect mice from obesity and some of its harmful effects. 
Asian Women Are Penalized Getting Into College But Their Gametes Are Gold

Asian Women Are Penalized Getting Into College But Their Gametes Are Gold

Jun 24 2012 | comment(s)

Americans are being beat by Asians again.  Asians do better on international standardized tests, their economies are better; heck, they are even robbing us of that last stronghold of American dominance - obesity. The Chinese have gotten a level of fat in one generation that it took Americans 200 years to accomplish.  Typical overachievers.
Alan Turing Was Not A Suicide, Claims Academic

Alan Turing Was Not A Suicide, Claims Academic

Jun 24 2012 | comment(s)

Alan Turing, the computer science legend best known for his part in breaking the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park in World War II, may have died of an accident rather than suicide, according to a new claim.

Accidental cyanide poisoning?  Do go on.

Professor Jack Copeland, director of the The Turing Archive for the History of Computing, claims in a new book that Turing may have died due to inhalation in amateur experiments rather than in a deliberate attempt to kill himself. 
Use Of Pesticides And Organic Farming Vs GM Food

Use Of Pesticides And Organic Farming Vs GM Food

Jun 24 2012 | comment(s)

When Sulphur, Copper and organo metallic pesticides were replaced by systemic fungicides and pesticides it was a great breakthrough. Cash crops like cotton attract maximum use of pesticides.

In a popular TV show in India, advice was given not to use pesticides and go for organic farming. Most of the villagers in earlier times were engaged in organic farming alone as they had no access to pesticides or fertilizers due to remoteness, lack of knowledge or paucity of funds. No doubt the government of India has spread the knowledge about agriculture to villages and now its quite common that villagers use both. However, more so in the case of cash crops like cotton, sugarcane or vegetables.
Ferumoxytol Receives European Authorziation For Treatment Of Iron Deficiency Anemia In Chronic Kidney Disease

Ferumoxytol Receives European Authorziation For Treatment Of Iron Deficiency Anemia In Chronic Kidney Disease

Jun 24 2012 | comment(s)

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the granting of marketing authorization by the European Commission (EC) for ferumoxytol, a new intravenous (IV) iron therapy to treat iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in adult patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The marketing authorization follows a positive opinion issued on April 19, 2012, by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). 

When Countries Succeed, People Get Fat

When Countries Succeed, People Get Fat

Jun 24 2012 | comment(s)

The Utopian vision society has always dreamed about was a world where people could eat so much for so little money, that it wasn't just rich people who could afford to be fat; anyone could.

Well, we have that. America is more self-loathing about its obesity issues than most countries but Italian kids are fat, everyone in Britain is fat, and even the French are closing in on a weight crisis.
Adding (!) Bacteria to Toilets?

Adding (!) Bacteria to Toilets?

Jun 23 2012 | comment(s)

“Kills 99% of all known germs!” is a common advertising slogan for toilet (and other) cleaning products.  So, where would anyone want to add bacteria rather than take them away?

The answer – rural India, in particular the Lakshadweep Islands off the South-West coast (Clean India Journal, 2010).  If one does not have a nice sewage system to remove one’s waste, then the equivalent of millions of tiny dung-beetles might do the job for you.
Positive CHMP Opinion For Teduglutide For Patients With Short Bowel Syndrome

Positive CHMP Opinion For Teduglutide For Patients With Short Bowel Syndrome

Jun 23 2012 | comment(s)

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , jointly announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product teduglutide (Revestive in Europe) as a once-daily treatment for adult patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS). 

International Students: The UK Is Losing Out On The 'Best And Brightest'

International Students: The UK Is Losing Out On The 'Best And Brightest'

Jun 23 2012 | comment(s)

It seems European countries are discovering the issue Science 2.0 has discussed about America for many years. Granting student visas and then denying them work ones after their degrees under the guise of job protectionism means educating the best people and then sending them abroad to be competitors.

 The study, "Mobile Talent? The Staying Intentions of International Students in Five EU countries", published by the Research Unit of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR), compared European frameworks for international students and investigated the staying intentions of 6,239 non-EU international students in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. 

Vegans: Even People 7,200 Years Ago Knew Better

Vegans: Even People 7,200 Years Ago Knew Better

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

Two of the great feel-good fallacies promoted by vegetarians and vegans today is that eating less meat will stop climate change and that ancient man did it their way.

In reality, ancient man loved meat, it was just hard to kill.  So ancient scientists domesticated livestock - and then they found more uses for it, like milk, butter and cheese. It wasn't just Europeans, researchers have identified the chemical signature of dairy fats inside the surfaces of pottery from 7,200 years ago in North Africa.
The Quote of the Week

The Quote of the Week

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

"It is pure craziness what Politics is doing in our country (Italy, T.'s n.): that is, investing little and bad in research, letting the brightest minds escape, not rewarding excellence, and failing to attract foreign researchers. Not doing, that is, what is being done in Soccer, where Italy is in the first places, exactly because Soccer clubs deploy the best players, their selection is based on their merits, the best ones are very highly paid to avoid them to leave, and the best players are sought abroad to make the team a winning one. And even the coach, if (s)he does not bring home results, gets fired.

To sum it up, we in Italy occupy ourselves much more in the selection of feet than in the selection of  brains."
Miracle Cure Of The Week: Daffodils May Fix Depression

Miracle Cure Of The Week: Daffodils May Fix Depression

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

Plant compounds from a South African daffodil may be used to treat depression, according to a University of Copenhagen study, where they tested those substance in a laboratory model of the blood-brain barrier.

Substances from the South African plant species Crinum and Cyrtanthus – akin to snowdrops and daffodils, respectively – have characteristics that enable them to negotiate the defensive blood-brain barrier, a key challenge in all new drug development.

Obviously you should not run out and start eating daffodils just yet.  The lab test does not show which compounds can be used in drug development. 
Leader Of Germany's Environmental Movement Loses Faith In The IPCC

Leader Of Germany's Environmental Movement Loses Faith In The IPCC

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

What does it take for Fritz Vahrenholt, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hamburg, a former German environment minister and one of the fathers of the German environmental movement (and, unlike everyone at Desmogblog.com, who simply write character assassinations the moment people deviate from their worldview, has actually devoted a lot of time and money to replacing fossil fuels) to lose faith in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?

It took working with the IPCC.  
Live Blogging On July 4th - Tune In Here !

Live Blogging On July 4th - Tune In Here !

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

CERN announced today (slightly preceded by Physics World) that the LHC experiments will present updates of their searches for the Higgs boson on July 4th. I will be there, blogging from the main auditorium at CERN in real time. By the way, since I just linked Physics World  for this, note that the site also has a piece relevant to the recent discussions on the allegedly detrimental value of rumors...
Why Was Stonehenge Built?

Why Was Stonehenge Built?

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

Stonehenge is interesting, though any mystical (or downright alien) symbolism is lost when you visit much larger sites, like Avebury Henge, that are clearly not mystical at all. Because of its fame, people have long sought answers as to why Stonehenge was built.

A group of archaeologists now contend it was indeed symbolic - but not religious symbolism, it was more political.
Voyager Chases The Final Frontier A Little Farther

Voyager Chases The Final Frontier A Little Farther

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

NASA's Voyager 1, launched in 1977, was propelled into deep space with the help of Jupiter's and Saturn's gravity. Now it is about to leave the solar system. But exactly when is unclear.

Voyager 1 is traveling at a speed of about 3.6 Astronomical Units (AU) per year - one 'AU' equals the distance between the Sun and the Earth, or 93 million miles.
Food Sovereignty Ordinances - A Way To Encourage Locally Grown Food

Food Sovereignty Ordinances - A Way To Encourage Locally Grown Food

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

In an era where social authoritarianism, with more laws, paying to have special stickers, and more regulation of food are all the rage, some towns are going the opposite way and passing ordinances exempting farmers from state and federal regulations - if they sell their products directly to consumers.

Illegal?  You betcha.  The one thing government does not like, and the bigger the government the less they like it, is people defying their laws. That isn't stopping towns in Maine, who seem to know how to encourage "locally grown" in ways that actually will keep small farmers in business. 
Fructose May Not Be As Bad For Us As Claimed

Fructose May Not Be As Bad For Us As Claimed

Jun 22 2012 | comment(s)

A new review of studies suggests that fructose may not be as bad for us as previously thought - it may even provide some benefit. 

Fructose, which is naturally found in fruit, vegetables and honey, is a simple sugar that together with glucose forms sucrose, the basis of table sugar. It is also found in high-fructose corn syrup, the most common sweetener in commercially prepared foods.