Biotech

Results showed that the mean (±SD) area under the curve for the total serum response to [2H]retinol was 39.9 ± 20.7 µg·d after the Golden Rice dose. Compared with that of the [13C10]retinyl acetate reference dose (84.7 ± 34.6 µg·d), Golden Rice ?-carotene provided 0.24-0.94 mg retinol. Thus, the conversion factor of Golden Rice ?-carotene to retinol is 3.8 ± 1.7 to 1 with a range of 1.9-6.4 to 1 by weight, or 2.0 ± 0.9 to 1 with a range of 1.0-3.4 to by moles. [Tang and Friends, 2009].

Tang’s research conclude that the Golden rice is effectively converted to vitamin A in humans. Golden Rice is a genetically modified plant developed to contain more beta-carotene in the grains, seen as a viable method of alleviating vitamin-A deficiency particularly in developing countries. In its current form, Golden Rice contains 35 micrograms of beta-carotene per gram.

Hmm, i see this golden rice is good and would dive deeper into your pocket. Just like the other goldy thing, huh?

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

Oh yes, readers.

We are from Asia Blogging Network are fully supporting this cause and event. It’s tomorrow when WWF suggests you all to turn off, at least, a lamp during 8:30pm - 9:30pm. At any timezone.

I know you’ve heard often about this cause. But Check this for more details. Don’t you forget, readers. Tomorrow, let’s turn off at least a lamp wherever you are. For the better earth we lived in!

Read full entry »

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

What’s the connection between them, anyway? Is there any?

Let’s see,  Canadian researchers recently said that various proteins interact in tumors can help predict a woman’s chances of surviving breast cancer. It is allowing doctors to better tailor treatment too. Check this,

The researchers analyzed networks of proteins — chemical compounds vital in cellular processes — in breast cancer tissue from about 350 women in the United States and Europe.

They found that women who survived the disease had a different organization of the network of proteins within the cancer cells than those who died.

Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, they said tracking these protein interactions enabled them to accurately predict in 82 percent of patients whether their breast cancer would kill them or not.

The researchers observed 30,000 protein interactions involving about 8,000 proteins, then identified a core group of about 250 proteins most important in forecasting patient survival. Many of them regulate the actions of other proteins.

If a newly diagnosed patient has protein interactions that suggest a bad outcome, a doctor could give more aggressive treatment through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Jeff Wrana of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, who led the study, approached cancer as a problem in how proteins communicate with each other — or how proteins interact with each other in networks. This way could help to direct  the appropriate therapies for each patients.

We hope this new tool would work to reduce death level among women worldwide. Until now, statistic counts about 465,000 dying annually among them. Source: Reuters.

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

There are a lot of information we received every day. But not all of those we should believe 100% per se. We should take a look, where are they came from, who gives the information, and the reason behind them.

In this article, i give you an information from Arthur Agatston, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is the author of “The South Beach Diet Supercharged: Faster Weight Loss and Better Health for Life.” He maintains a cardiology practice and research foundation in Miami Beach, FL.

He explained reasons behind some myths about blood pressure. His writing may help you to understand about blood pressure better. Have a good read ya’ll.

Read full entry »

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

Well readers, this is another advantages for ya’ll who are the coffee lovers. Turned out that new research indicates that drinking coffee lowers the risk of developing cancer of the oral cavity or throat, at least in the general population of Japan.

The consumption of coffee in Japan is relatively high, as is the rate of cancer of the esophagus in men. To look into any protective effect of coffee drinking, Dr. Toru Naganuma of Tohoku University, Sendai, and colleagues, analyzed data from the population-based Miyagi Cohort Study in Japan.

The study included information about diet, including coffee consumption. Among more than 38,000 study participants aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer, 157 cases of cancer of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus occurred during 13 years of follow up.

Compared with people who did not drink coffee, those who drank one or more cups per day had half the risk of developing these cancers, Naganuma’s group reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

They note that the reduction in risk included people who are at high risk for these cancers, namely, those who were current drinkers and/or smokers at the start of the study.

“We had not expected that we could observe such a substantial inverse association with coffee consumption and the risk of these cancers,” Naganuma commented to Reuters Health, “and the inverse association in high-risk groups for these cancers as well.”

My mom always says that consuming a caffeine once in a day is good for health. But only once, not twice or more. I do agree. That’s why she serves us a cup of tea or coffee in the morning. Sweet cup of tea or coffee, i correct. Those cups make us electrized, energized, and awaken. Ah, for me caffeine is such a brilliant invention, isn’t it readers?

Thanks, Reuters.

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

Hello Readers,

Now, I brought you tips to reduce risk of diabetes. It’s simple. Just take a quick sprint 4 X 30 seconds, twice in a week. According to this site, short bursts of intense exercise every few days could dramatically cut the risk of Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease.

James Timmons, Heriot-Watt University professor of exercise biology, in his study, said people could reduce their risk of diabetes and heart disease substantially with short, intense workouts - with such “time-efficient” exercising appealing to busy workers.

In diabetes, glucose is circulating in the blood rather than stored in the muscle where it should be. Through exercise, we take out glycogen from the muscle. So it will draw in that excess glucose from the blood.

From now on, I don’t wanna miss my sprint exams!

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

You don’t like milk? Or have lactose intolerant? Don’t throw your milk away. It could be useful for your car. A research in Japan invents technology for converting milk into bio-fuel.

Nowadays many of schoolchildren throw their milk and prefer sodas. And they were Masayuki Onodera, an associate professor of applied chemistry and biotechnology at Nigata Institute of Technology, with his team, who has been plagued recently by an abundance of discarded milk.

Quoted from this site :

The professor and his colleagues began their two-step conversion process by brewing a batch of sugar-spiked solution mimicking the bacteria-friendly confines of wastewater. Their small bioreactor relied on heat-loving microbes to digest the sludge in the absence of oxygen at a toasty 131 degrees Fahrenheit, approximating the conditions within some landfills and creating methane as well as carbon dioxide (scientists consider the carbon dioxide release “carbon-neutral” because its escape into the atmosphere is balanced by what had been taken in during photosynthesis by the grass or corn that fed the dairy cows).

Onodera’s team added a portion of the digested glop to a second container filled with rancid milk. When the solution was starved of oxygen and kept at a relatively neutral pH, it yielded eight times its own volume in biogas over a one-week period. Half the captured biogas was hydrogen, the other half carbon dioxide. By periodically replacing part of the bacteria-laden sludge with milk and making sure the solution remained at the right pH, Onodera found that the system continuously produced biogas until he stopped it 100 days later. By then, the solution was yielding more than five times its own volume in biogas every two days.

So now, even cars could drink milk.

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

Will you believe if I say that the clothes you wear could cause global warming? Nowadays, they are nylon and polyester made our clothes. Those synthetic materials made from petrochemicals, which are very polluting to the environment. They are also non-biodegradable. In other word, those materials are difficult to dispose. Nylon for examples, BBC writes, in order to manufacture nylon, nitrous oxide is released as part of the process. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is 310 times stronger than carbon dioxide and causes global warming. Read full entry »

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

Good news for you, coffee drinkers. Some studies shows that caffeine in a coffee kill off cells damaged by ultraviolet light. Exposure to ultraviolet light, or may we call it UV light, is one of the important factors in causing nonmelanoma skin cancers, which is the most common form of cancer in humans. Those study told that people who drink coffee seem to have lower incidences of nonmelanoma skin cancers.

The study in University of Washington found, when cells damaged by UV light, some other cells will initiate a kind of cell suicide program (called apoptosis). This keeps them from becoming cancerous. Adding caffeine seems to stimulate more cells run the apoptosis. When exposed to UV 1 out every 500 cells will undergo apoptosis. By the caffeine added, it will become 1 out every 200 cells.

Anyway, this study didn’t mean that you should hardly drink coffee for keeping you from cancers. Just drink normally. Hehe

Have a nice drinks.

Thanks to this site

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon

Founded, three genes that that increase risk of early-onset obesity in children, and morbid obesity in adults. This research involved a genetic study of 1,380 Europeans. Their findings have been published in the Jan. 19 issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

 ”The idea was not just to look at run-of-the-mill obesity, but look for genetic factors that may affect people who have more severe problems with their weight,” said Dr. Sladek, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Genetics and Endocrinology. “This includes children who become obese at a young age, before the age of six. We also studied the genomes of adults who had a familial history of severe obesity, with a body-mass index greater than 40.” People are generally defined as “overweight” if they have a body-mass index greater than 25.

“The family approach being undertaken by our collaboration with our colleagues in France is going to become important for future large-scale genetic studies,” Sladek continued. “Our suspicion is that a lot of the genetic changes that make people obese will turn out to be variants that run in families or in segments of the population, rather than things that are very common across the population. In terms of diabetes, we think that perhaps 90 per cent of the genetic risk could come from these familial or even personal genetic variants.”

Hohoho, i think we should wary the paradigm of cute in our chubby childrens from now on.

Thanks for our neighbor.

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon