DR. MARILYN BRUNO VOLUME 7 ISSUE 5
WWW.GYNOSAPIENS.COM
MAY 2014
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
IN THIS ISSUE: Page 1: Disaster Readiness - Communications
Page 2: Humans Can Identify over 1 Trillion Smells
Page 3: Physical Activity Brings Bone Benefits
Page 5: How Much Fish Can You Eat Before Getting Cancer?
Page 5: Fishy Labels
Page 6: 3-D Home Printer
Page 6: Growing Spare Parts
Page 7: Start Packing
Page 8: Save the Bees
Page 8: Lawn and Garden Care
Page 9: New Diabetes Drug Approved
Page 10: This is Your Brain on Drugs. Any Questions?
Page 11: Drones Extend the Reach of the Internet
Page 12: Medicare Update: One Head Rolled Over Healthcare.gov
Page 12: FDA Warns Against Counterfeit Drugs
Page 13: The Origin of Phrases
Einstein’s great sentiment aside, I am not sure I would include natural disasters in the “beautiful gift” from
Mother Nature category. Earthquakes in my neighborhood, tornadoes in the heartland, hurricane season coming soon to my friends in the Southeast, etc. reminds us that we need to take steps to prepare. In addition to the usual warehousing of food, water, batteries, crank-up and solar radios, etc., here are some tips on
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communications – particularly since the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA now warn not to expect cell phone service.
--Keep your Contact lists updated across all of your channels, including phone, email and social media. This will make it easy to reach out to the right people quickly to get information and supply updates. Consider creating a group list serve of your top contacts.
--Learn how to send updates via text and internet from your mobile phone to your contacts and social channels in case voice communications are not available. Text messages and the internet often have the ability to work in the event of a phone service disruption.
--Keep extra batteries for your phone in a safe place or purchase a solar-powered or hand crank charger.
These chargers are good emergency tools to keep your laptop and other small electronics working in the event of a power outage. If you own a car, purchase a car phone charger for the same.
--Program "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) Contacts into your cell phone so emergency personnel can contact those people for you if you are unable to use your phone. Let your ICE contacts know that they are programmed into your phone and make a copy for them of the contact info of your doctors, prescriptions you are taking, and any other special needs you may have.
--If you have a traditional landline (non-broadband or VOIP) phone, keep at least one non-cordless receiver in your home because it will work even if you lose power.
--If you are evacuated and have call-forwarding on your home phone, forward your home phone number to your cell phone number.
--If you do not have a cell phone, keep a prepaid phone card to use if needed during or after a disaster.
--Prepare a friend/family contact sheet. This should include at least one out-of-town contact that may be better able to reach family members in an emergency.
--Have a battery-powered or hand-cranked radio or television available (with spare batteries).
The following are additional tips when making phone calls and using your smartphone during or after a disaster:
--Keep all phone calls brief. Convey only vital information to emergency personnel and/or family to clear up your line.
--If you are unsuccessful in completing a call using your cell phone, wait ten seconds before redialing to help reduce network congestion.
--Conserve your cell phone battery by reducing the brightness of your screen, placing your phone in airplane mode, and closing apps you are not using that draw power until you need to use the phone.
--If you lose power and have the connector to charge your cell phone in your car, be sure your car is in a wellventilated place (not a closed garage). You can also listen to your car radio for important news alerts.
--If you do not have a hands-free device in your car, stop driving or pull over to the side of the road before making a call. Do not text on a cell phone, talk, or "tweet" without a hands free device while driving.
Immediately following a disaster, resist using your mobile device to watch streaming videos, download music or videos, or play video games, all of which can add to network congestion. Limiting use of these services can help potentially life-saving emergency calls get through to 9-1-1.
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For non-emergency communications, use text messaging, e-mail, or social media instead of making voice calls on your cell phone. You can also use social media to post your status to let family and friends know you are okay. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, you can use resources such as the American Red Cross's Safe and
Well program: http://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php
Wow. A trillion smells is a lot. Scientists knew that humans can distinguish several million different colors, whose stimuli vary in wavelength, and almost half a million different tones, which vary frequency and loudness. Smell, however, doesn’t have any known dimensions, so it has been difficult for researchers to pinpoint how many different scents, or olfactory stimuli, we can distinguish. A study from the 1920s suggested that humans could discern about 10,000 smells—a number far below our other senses. Also, odors almost always represent mixtures of many different components in various ratios. As people in the perfume business can tell you, the scent of a rose, for example, is made up of a mix of 275 components, with only a few contributing to the smell we perceive.
New research from the National Institutes of Health indicates that humans can distinguish more than 1 trillion scents. And we thought bloodhounds had won the sniffing prize. The findings show that our sense of smell is far more discriminating than previously thought. The researchers placed 10, 20, or 30 odor components in equal ratios into vials labeled with bar codes. The odors were taken from a collection of 128 odorous molecules with similar intensities (like orange and spearmint (, so that no one odor dominated. 26 participants were given sets of 3 vials. Two of the vials contained the same mixture, while the third contained a different one. Participants sniffed the contents, identified the vial with the different odor, and then scanned that vial’s bar code. The researchers varied the percentage of shared components among the vials from no overlap to more than 90% overlap. Participants completed 264 tests, and were exposed to about 9,000 scents and could discriminate mixture set that overlapped by less than 50% of their components. Based on the test findings, the researchers calculated that humans can discriminate at least 1 trillion scents and probably more.
The study was funded in part by NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Results were published in Science on March 21, 2014.
So, the bottom line, I guess is that we stop more often to use our talents and smell the roses!
A new study of professional baseball players showed that some benefits of building bone during youth can last a lifetime. The research also confirmed that continued physical activity can help maintain bone strength as we age. Since bone is a living tissue, it needs to be stimulated, and responds to physical activity by becoming heavier, bigger, and stronger. Our bone mass typically builds during youth and usually peaks during the third decade of life. After that, we often begin to lose bone – proving once more that it is all downhill after 40…
Anyway, previous work had found that mechanical loading during a period of rapid growth conferred lifelong benefits in bone size and strength in rodent models. To test whether the same holds true for humans, a team
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from Indiana University explored whether any bone benefits of physical activity during youth persist with aging, they recruited more than 100 professional baseball players at different stages of their careers. The ball players had a built-in control: their throwing arms were exposed to repeated mechanical loads, while their non-throwing arms weren’t. Ball players also often retire to less stressful activities. This allowed the scientists to explore the effects of physical activity long after players returned to more typical activity.
The researchers focused on the humerus, the upper arm bone running from shoulder to elbow. They used quantitative CT scans and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to measure bone size and bone mineral density. They found that the loads on humeral bones from repeated pitches led the bones in throwing arms to nearly double in strength. The throwing arms of baseball players had more bone on the outer surface of the humerus (cortical bone), creating a bone with a bigger diameter. Compared to humeral bones in nonthrowing arms, those in throwing arms had about 50% greater mass, size (total cross-sectional area), and thickness. But, the bone mass benefits from throwing were gradually lost after throwing activities ended.
Bone loss during aging occurred mostly on the inside of bones rather than the outside. Because of this pattern of bone loss, only about half the bone size benefits of physical activity during youth and one-third of the bone strength benefits were maintained lifelong. Players who continued throwing during aging experienced less bone loss on the inside of the bone and maintained even more of the strength benefits.
Bottom line: exercise during youth keeps your bones stronger longer and physical activity during aging can continue to help fend off bone decay. For more on this study: The study, which was funded by NIH’s National
Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), appeared online in Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences on March 24, 2014.
Now for my personal anecdote: Despite having been psyched up to faithfully do an exercise regime, I sadly had to return my Treadclimber to the manufacturer, Bowflex. I loved the exercise and sweated a lot, but I also got electric shocks whenever my hands touched the front and side bars!!! Bowflex, admitted that this shocking result happens for 5% of users and that I am a conductor of static electricity! They recommended anti-static sprays, etc. and I said No. I don’t want to fear getting jolted from my exercise machine!!!
Thankfully, they agreed to take it back and I await a refund. Lesson for me: before buying anything, try it out for half an hour, work up a good sweat, and touch all the bars and metal supports for shocks ….
So, I am looking to other activities to help control my blood glucose, weight, and blood pressure, raise “good” cholesterol and lower “bad” cholesterol, and reduce my risk of heart disease and nerve damage. What to do?
Here is a recap of the well-known tips:
-- work up to moderate-intensity physical activity for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days of the week. Some examples of moderate-intensity physical activity are walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming, or bicycling. In addition, strength training exercises with hand weights, elastic bands, or weight machines can help you build muscle.
--If you have high blood pressure, eye, or foot problems, you may need to avoid some kinds of exercise.
--When you exercise, wear cotton socks and athletic shoes that fit well and are comfortable. After you exercise, check your feet for sores, blisters, irritation, cuts, or other injuries.
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--Drink plenty of fluids during physical activity, since your blood glucose can be affected by dehydration. For more info, visit cdc.gov
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And, since stretching helps to make you flexible and prevent soreness after other types of exercise, I bought a stretch exercise tape – Classical Stretch by Miranda Esmonde-White. I had seen these exercises on TV and have been impressed because they are a blend of yoga, tai chi and ballet. Unfortunately, Miranda’s half-hour sessions are aired on PBS at 4:30 AM Pacific time – too early for me…. Anyway, I trust that these stretch exercises will keep me thinking of more physical activity while I look around for another sweat machine.
I could not believe my eyes when I read about a political debate going on in Washington State. Governor Jay Inslee is juggling whether to kill business (e.g., Boeing) or people (e.g. Indian tribes that consume large amounts of fish). The Governor needs to set new limits on the amount of waste flushed into waterways and the ocean, but he is basing this calculation on the rate of risk of cancer caused by consumption of fish carrying poisons! It turns out that the State of Washington’s current allowable rates for industrial pollution are directly linked to a 3-day survey conducted in 1973-1974 that showed that Washingtonians consume less than half a pound of fish per month, about one serving. In reality, many eat more in a single meal. Starting in the 1990s, more-rigorous studies of Northwest Indian tribes found fish consumption rates of 30 pounds per month or more. Nobody has good statistics of today’s consumption rates.
Bottom line: Rather than limit the pollution rate, as required under EPA’s Clean Water Act, Washington State is still pegging the pollution rate to fish consumption. If all politicians and policymakers have been doing this, we are surely doomed. For the full article: http://www.invw.org/article/inslee-weighs-tenfold-inc-1425
Speaking of fish, have you ever wondered if that "wild caught" salmon you buy at a premium in your super market actually came from an aqua farm? Or if the "U.S. catfish" in the display case might have been born and raised in Vietnam? Of if the "red snapper" is actually another species? Well, in many cases, consumers are duped by cheap fish being labeled as pricy ones. And mislabeling can also threaten public health. For example, in 2007, a prohibited and highly toxic variety of puffer fish, also known as fugu or blowfish, was smuggled into the U.S. in boxes labeled as "headless monkfish." This deception resulted in illnesses in multiple
States.
Worldwide, about 30,000 species of fish are thought to exist, about 1,500 of which currently are sold commercially in the U.S. As we run out of the most popular wild fish types, the number of species harvested in aquaculture farms is expected to increase. That in turn will likely lead to more confusion about what's being bought and sold. Finally, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started a massive project to create DNA barcodes to identify individual fish species. The barcodes look much like the lines of different thicknesses on Universal Product Code (UPC) labels used to identify and scan manufactured products, but will
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not be attached to the fish. The DNA barcodes will be entered into a public database of commercial fish species that can be accessed by regulators both inside and outside the FDA, by private laboratory scientists on behalf of seafood suppliers, and by academic researchers around the world.
In short, the consumer still will not know what they are eating unless somebody has done a verification. But, it is a start. When encountering a fish or fish product (fillets, fish sticks, sushi, etc.), an inspector will take a small sample of fish tissue, isolate a fragment of DNA (by Polymerase Chain Reaction using a thermocycler instrument), sequence the DNA, create a barcode, and compare it against the database to seek a known match. FDA is training analysts around the country to use that procedure in many of its regional field labs and is beginning to perform the analysis on a regular basis. The technique can be used to identify anything from skinned fish fillets to tiny bits of fish in a cooked soup.
The FDA is expanding its database and collecting fish samples that would make Darwin proud. The agency is leading expeditions to Asian markets and attending fishing tournaments and seafood conventions to ask for donations of fish to take back to FDA headquarters in Maryland for testing. FDA does the DNA work and contracted with the Smithsonian Institution's Division of Fisheries, and Laboratories of Analytical Biology for authentication and taxonomy—the naming of species.
Reading this brought me back to my days as a volunteer docent at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
(1998-2000) in Washington D.C, where I learned that the building houses the largest fish collection in the world. The collection, started in the 1800s, is stored five stories below the Museum in rooms with row upon row of shelving holding an uncountable number of bottles large and small containing fish species in formaldehyde. The samples come from around the world. It was there that I saw (and smelled….) the thought-to-be-extinct Coelacanth that was caught in 1974 off the coast of South Africa. The new research is considered a great advancement since modern genetic tests cannot be performed on fish stored in formaldehyde. The Smithsonian’s collection work serves the FDA purpose of preventing mislabeling and updates its mission of building the largest international fish collection in the world.
For more info: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm376473.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium= email&utm_source=govdelivery
If you’re on the edge about deciding whether to get a 3D printer, the new Micro may convince you. It is billed as the “first truly consumer 3D printer,” and is getting funding from you! For a pre-payment of $299, you get the pre-assembled printer that will ship next summer with software, instruction manual, and one filament spool.
It comes in five colors, promises the lowest power consumption of any available 3D printer, and supports various printing materials. The following site shows how this simple contraption can create physical objects, toys, spare parts, etc. Even a child is shown doing it: http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-most-affordable-simplestto-use-3d-printer-yet?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae6b1773f2-UA-946742-
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Maybe someday we will be able to print spare parts for us! In the meantime, scientists are growing working organs and tissues from stem cells in petri dishes:
--I was so happy to read that scientists successfully grew a working esophagus from stem cells and transplanted it into mice. This advance did not come in time to save my brother Johnny, who died of an esophageal tumor in 1998, but is great news for those who suffer from this cruel cancer. But, he would have been thrilled by the technology that the scientists used. They stripped a rodent’s esophagus of its cellular material, leaving behind a scaffold of proteins. They then tested it for strength and function before reseeding it with cellular material (allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells) from the subject. Within three weeks, the cells started to show organ-specific characteristics, and the tissue was then used to replace segments of the esophagus, eventually growing nerves, muscle cells, epithelium and blood vessels. For more on this breakthrough, see Nature Communications. MedicalDaily.com (4/15), LiveScience.com (4/15).
--Not to go into the details, a research team at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Institute for Regenerative
Medicine, has reported the first human recipients of laboratory-grown vaginal organs, which were engineered with their own cells. This is a boon for patients born with genetic defects or who had suffered injuries: http://www.kurzweilai.net/laboratory-grown-vaginas-implanted-inpatients?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae6b1773f2-UA-946742-
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--Scientists at King’s College London and the San Francisco Veteran Medical Center announced on Thursday that they were able to grow an epidermis (skin cells) that had the same permeability as normally-grown human skin, by using pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are cultured from adult cells and can develop into any type of cell or tissue. This breakthrough can be used to study how the skin barrier develops normally, how the barrier is impaired in different diseases and how repair and recovery can be stimulated. It also can be used to replace animal testing in the cosmetic and topical drug industries. Since the 1920s, animals have been used to test the safety and effectiveness of various drugs, vaccines and cosmetics. In the cosmetic industry, nonhuman test subjects, including rabbits, monkeys, rats and dogs, undergo skin and eye irritation tests in which chemicals are rubbed onto sections of shaved skin or dripped into the eyes of restrained test subjects. Some are even forced to swallow large amounts of certain chemicals to determine what constitutes a lethal dose. According to the Humane Society , in China alone, an estimated 300,000 animal die each year in cosmetic tests. For more on the research: http://www.ibtimes.com/first-human-skin-samplegrown-lab-could-artificial-epidermis-end-animal-testing-1576882
Astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the “habitable zone:” Kepler-186f, which is orbiting within the range of distance from a star where liquid water might exist. The discovery confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our Sun. The size, mass, and composition of Kepler-186f are similar to Earth’s, but more rocky. It is the last of 5 planets orbiting an M dwarf star half the and mass of our Sun about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
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Kepler-186f orbits its star once every 130 days and receives one-third the energy from its star that Earth gets from the Sun. On the surface of Kepler-186f, the brightness of its star at high noon is only as bright as our sun appears to us about an hour before sunset. Further research will determine the temperature on the planet and composition of its atmosphere. The four companion planets, Kepler-186b, Kepler-186c, Kepler-186d and
Kepler-186e, whiz around their sun every 4, 7, 13 and 22 days, respectively, making them too hot for life as we know it. These four inner planets all measure less than 1.5 times the size of Earth.
The next steps in the search for distant life include looking for true Earth-twins — Earth-size planets orbiting within the habitable zone of a sun-like star — and measuring their chemical compositions. The Kepler Space
Telescope, which simultaneously and continuously measured the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, is
NASA’s first mission capable of detecting Earth-size planets around stars like our Sun. For more info: Elisa V.
Quintana et al., An Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Cool Star, Science, 2014, DOI:
10.1126/science.1249403
I am very allergic to bee bites and try to avoid them. I even ripped out all the flowering plants and hedges from the front of my house, where very aggressive bees repeatedly swarmed my head as I entered my front door.
But bees are crucial for our agricultural economies, and I was sad to read that a widely used neonicotinoid insecticide has played a role in the disappearance of bee populations across the country. Applied to seed or soil, neonicotinoid insecticides become part of the plant and kill pests that attack the plant. That's attractive for growers because it reduces pesticide applications, but the insecticide also gets into the pollen and nectar of flowering plants and can injure or kill bees.
Nurseries are beginning to grow neonicotinoidfree plants, but Home Depot reportedly can’t find sufficient suppliers.
Naturally, environmentalists want legislation to require companies to label plants so consumers know what insecticide has been used. AmericanHort, the national nurseries, garden centers and landscapers association, supports more research before they can take a position. In the meantime, the economic impact of the decline in pollinator populations will affect us all sooner or later.
For more info: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/04/17/bee-safe-plants
The State of California is experiencing a significant drought and more and more homes are showing rock gardens, succulents, and even artificial turf! I actually met a woman who described how she has to vacuum her turf regularly to keep it looking spiffy! I am not a fan of a patch of grass in front of my house because it is so expensive to water and mow, but I haven’t decided what to do yet.
In the meantime, here are some tips for caring for your lawn and garden if you have them:
LAWN:
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--Remove leaves, sticks and other seasonal debris to give your lawn a chance to breathe. Raking with a metal rake helps to dethatch the lawn and removes dead roots and grasses. Raking also clears the way for mowing, watering and planting seed.
--Before seeding, smooth and level the surface. Add new topsoil and starter fertilizer and work them into the soil. Follow by rolling with a weighted roller. Then spread the seed by sowing half in one direction and the other half at a right angle. Rake and roll again.
--Mulch for moisture after seeding. Applying mulch around the bases of trees, shrubs and in flowerbeds helps keep plants moist and warm. Mulching with a weed-free straw, like wheat straw, helps to keep the seed from blowing or washing away.
--Water only when your lawn needs it. Then, really drench it. According to the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), watering deeply as needed encourages the grass roots to dig deeper into the soil and promotes healthy growth.
--Raise the cutting height of your lawnmower to keep grass roots shaded and cooler. Keep the grass on the longer side so it will grow thicker and healthier. For most turf grasses, try keeping the length at 2 ½- to 3 ½inches.
YOUR GARDEN
--Plant early Spring vegetables like peas, spinach, lettuces, leeks and potatoes if the soil is free of ice crystals and isn’t too wet. If the soil crumbles easily, it’s ready for planting. If you live in an area where a hard frost is still a possibility, make sure to cover the seedlings with items you have on hand, like overturned buckets or flowerpots.
--Prepare perennial beds. For new perennial flowerbeds, spread a 6-inch deep layer of peat moss, compost or manure and work it into the soil. For existing beds, clear out debris and spread a 2-inch layer of mulch to prevent weeds and to retain moisture. This is also an ideal time to divide and replant overgrown perennials by digging them up and splitting them apart.
--Prune fruit trees. If you want a juicy, tasty piece of fruit in a few months, prune your tree by 1/3 before new buds begin to bloom. Doing so keeps the tree from being stressed, brings sunlight to all of the branches, and helps produce a more plentiful crop. Be sure your tools are clean and sharp to ensure cleaner pruning cuts.
--Prune roses before or just as new growth appears. Cutting your roses back helps produce strong, healthy shoots with more abundant blooms. Of course, your local climate will determine the best time to prune.
--Watch out for persistent pests. Even pests need a place to stay warm over winter, which is why you may find slugs, snails or aphids in your perennials. Make sure to clear last year’s pots of summer plants since certain weevils like to live there and feed on the plant roots.
--Clip ornamental grasses back to about 4-inches tall just as, or before, they show new growth. This is also a good time to divide grasses and move them to other areas of your yard.
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For more gardening tips, see: http://www.ahs.com/home-matters/get-your-lawn-and-garden-ready-forspring?utm_campaign=cust_nl_apr2014_mobile&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ahsemail&utm_content= lawnready_mostpop&full=true#sthash.nddetPuU.dpuf
Farxiga (dapagliflozin), which eliminates excess sugar through the urine, won FDA approval as a new treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes last month. Astra Zeneca and Bristol-Meyers Squibs co-market the medicine.
Farxiga is taken by tablet orally once a day and works by itself or in combination with other diabetes drugs.
Over 24 million Americans are afflicted with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, representing 90% of all diabetes cases.
Untreated or poorly managed diabetes results in high blood sugar levels. Over time, these high or fluctuating blood sugar levels increase the risks for heart disease, nerve damage, and blindness among other serious consequences.
Farxiga is in a new class of drugs, called SGLT2 drugs. It is the second one approved by the FDA, preceded by
Invokana by Johnson & Johnson. Existing diabetes therapies target insulin resistance, delaying digestion, and supplying external sources of insulin. SGLT2 inhibitors work by inhibiting glucose absorption in the renal tubes, eliminating excess sugar via the urine.
Some patients who used Farxiga in the clinical trials experienced side effects that originally caused the FDA to reject the drug. Be sure to consult with your doctor before asking for a prescription. The FDA has stipulated that a post-marketing study be conducted by Astra Zeneca and Bristol-Myers to track bladder cancer rates linked to the use of Farxiga. For more info: http://www.bioresearchonline.com/doc/new-diabetes-drugapproved-by-the-fda-
0001?sectionCode=dept4&templateCode=Departments&user=2562089&source=nl:39149
According to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. with an estimated 15.2 million users. Today, marijuana is being used openly and legally in many parts of the country due to society’s changing beliefs about cannabis use and its legal status.
However, scientists from Northwestern Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical
School used comprehensive brain imaging to show that young adults who use marijuana only recreationally show significant abnormalities in two key brain regions that are important in emotion and motivation. This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes and that the degree of brain abnormalities is directly related to the number of joints a person smokes per week.
The scientists examined the brains of 40 young adults ages 18 to 25 from Boston-area colleges: 20 who smoked marijuana and 20 who didn’t. Each group had nine males and 11 females. The users underwent a psychiatric interview to confirm they were not dependent on marijuana. They did not meet criteria for abuse of any other illegal drugs during their lifetime. Some of the young adults tested only used marijuana
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recreationally once or twice a week. Because the study was retrospective, researchers did not know the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of the marijuana, which can range from 5 to 9% or even higher in the currently available drug. (This high THC content compares to the CDC’s reports that marijuana sold during the
‘60s and ‘70s contained only 1 to 3% TCH.)
The study shows permanent brain damage after a few months of use – primarily in the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala — key regions for emotion and motivation, and associated with addiction. Both these regions in recreational pot users were abnormally altered for at least two of these structural measures. The degree of those alterations, particularly the abnormally large size, shape and density of the nucleus accumbens, was directly related to how much marijuana the subjects used.
Researchers analyzed three measures: volume, shape and density of gray matter (where most cells are located in brain tissue) to obtain a comprehensive view of how each region was affected since some abnormalities may be more detectable using one type of neuroimaging analysis method than another. The study results match studies that show that rat brains, after they are given THC, rewire and form many new connections that indicate the brain is adapting to the unnatural level of reward and stimulation from marijuana. These connections make other natural rewards less satisfying and lead to lifetime addiction.
The structural brain changes suggest an early result of casual drug use. Further work, including longitudinal studies, will be undertaken to determine if these findings can be linked to animal studies showing marijuana can be a gateway drug for stronger substances.
For more info: Jodi M. Gilman et al., Cannabis Use is Quantitatively Associated with Nucleus Accumbens and
Amygdala Abnormalities in Young Adult Recreational Users, Journal of Neuroscience, 2014, DOI:
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4745-13.2014; http://www.kurzweilai.net/brain-abnormalities-linked-to-casualmarijuana-use?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae6b1773f2-UA-946742-
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Google has acquired Titan Aerospace, a developer of jet-sized drones intended to fly nonstop for years. Titan says it can provide Internet connections in remote areas, or collect images, such as environmental damage like oil spills and deforestation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Titan would work closely with Google’s
Project Loon, which is building large, high-altitude balloons that send Internet signals to areas of the world that are currently not online. Titan also may work with Makani, another early-stage Google project, that is developing an airborne wind turbine that it hopes will generate electricity efficiently.
Facebook has also agreed to buy the U.K.-based Ascenta, which is also focused on bringing Internet connectivity to the world’s developing countries through new technologies like high altitude long endurance vehicles.
Meanwhile, according to Sky News , a fleet of aging RQ-7 Shadow surveillance drones are being turned into wifi hotspots for remote conflict zones, able to transfer one gigabyte per second of data to U.S. troops for remote access to mission data.
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For more: http://www.kurzweilai.net/drones-to-extend-internet-to-remoteareas?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae6b1773f2-UA-946742-
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ONE HEAD ROLLED OVER HEALTHCARE.GOV
It looks like the glitch-fraught debut of the Healthcare.gov website took its toll. On April 11, 2014, Kathleen
Sebelius resigned from her post as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), a leadership position that oversees FDA and generally has ultimate authority over the agency’s actions. President Obama swiftly nominated Sylvia Mathews Burwell, current director of the Office of Management & Budget, to take over the position. Her confirmation hearing should be a lulu.
FDA Warns Against Counterfeit Drugs
On February 26, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy & Commerce's Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee held a hearing on counterfeit pharmaceuticals and ways to combat the illegal supply chains that bring these dangerous drugs into the United States. Members of Congress highlighted Internet drug sales as the most common way that counterfeit drugs reach American patients. According to The National
Association of Boards of Pharmacy and LegitScript, at any one time there are approximately 40,000-50,000 active online drug vendors, nearly 97% of which do not comply with U.S. laws or pharmacy practice standards, putting patients at risk.
The FDA warns that there are no incentives for illegitimate online pharmacies to provide patients with quality medications. Counterfeit drugs can be produced for pennies, and can be sold anonymously on the Internet through affiliate networks. These networks provide sellers with standardized websites and distribution systems for the fake drugs but do not represent manufacturers or legitimate distributors or pharmacists, even if the site claims to be Canadian. One online pharmacy listing an Ontario address, and using Canada in their name and a Canadian maple leaf logo was headquartered in Belize and shipping drugs from India. There was no Canadian pharmacy.
Patients need to be aware of the health ramifications of buying medication from online pharmacies that are selling unapproved drugs and counterfeit drugs. Children, cancer patients, even just the overweight have all been victimized recently by online pharmacies. In 2010, a counterfeit version of the weight-loss drug Alli purchased online contained a banned active ingredient, instead of the legitimate one, that caused stroke and heart complications in hundreds of victims. In 2012, counterfeit versions of Adderall from an unlicensed online pharmacy contained tramadol and acetaminophen, medicines for acute pain, instead of the legitimate treatment commonly given to children for ADHD. Also in 2012, CanadaDrugs.com sold to U.S. doctors counterfeit cancer drugs sourced from Turkey.
The way to purchase medication online safely is to look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites
(VIPPS) seal of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. These sites comply with state and federal laws
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and regulations. Also there are online services that can help you compare drug prices for free at local brick and mortar pharmacies as well as legitimate online ones. For example, NeedyMeds and the Alliance for Safe
Online Pharmacies (ASOP) are sponsoring information, videos and education tools at: safeonlinerx.com.
For more info: http://www.nabp.net/system/redactor_assets/documents/161/NABP_Internet_Drug_Outlet_Report_Jan2013
.pdf; http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm198557.htm; http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm305932.htm?source=govdelivery
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303879604577410430607090226?mg=reno64- wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303879604577410430607090226.
html; http://vipps.nabp.net/
Turner Classic Movies celebrated its 20 th Anniversary last month. What a great contribution to our culture and history! I love those oldies because I always learn something. For example – the origin of phrases:
HOKUM - I was watching a movie called Summer Stock (1950) where Gene Kelly is, of course, a hoofer trying to win the girl (Judy Garland). One of my favorite scenes is where he dances with a squeaky floor plank and newspaper ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw-qlHuktJs ). Anyway, Gene Kelly’s character told Judy the follow anedocte: The word “hokum” originated in vaudeville in the 19 th Century to describe a type of comedy farse, which goes as follows: Straight man: “How come you left the party with two spoons last night?” Comic:
“Because the doctor told me to take 2 spoons after dinner.” And that is the reason that “How come” jokes gave rise to the word “hokum.”
So, I started wondering about the origin of other phrases, and found the following website: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings
Enjoy! Here are some I enjoyed reading about:
SNUG AS A BUG IN A RUG
Since 1595, “snug” meant “neat; trim; well prepared” and referred specifically to ships. In 1630, John Lane wrote The Continuation of Chaucer's Squire's Tale and used “snug” to mean “comfortable and cozy.” “Bug” originally meant “ghost” or “ghoul” in The Coverdale Bible, 1535. It was not until 1642, that Daniel Rogers published Naaman the Syrian and referred to “insects” as “bugs.” “Rug” is a Tudor word with the same source as “rag” and refers to a thick woolen bed coverlet woven from rags. (It wasn't until the early 19th century that rugs were put on the floor.) The first known print example of the phrase “Snug as a bug in a rug” is found in the account of David Garrick's celebration of Shakespeare Garrick's vagary, or, England run mad; with
particulars of the Stratford Jubilee, 1769: “If she [a rich widow] has the mopus's [coins or money], I'll have her, as snug as a bug in a rug.”
Whether a ghost or an insect, looks like the widow was neatly taken care of under a cozy blanket.
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A BIGGER BANG FOR YOUR BUCK: This expression apparently comes from Dwight D. Eisenhower who, in 1953 wanted to augment Cold War defenses while sticking to the Republican policy of cutting spending. His solution was to increase the armed forces but decrease their budget. The Joint Chiefs of Staff came up with the 'New Look' policy – a plan to use nuclear weapons in any conflict bigger than what they called 'a brush-fire war'. That allowed them to radically reduce the numbers of servicemen and replace them with the comparatively inexpensive atomic bombs. All of the above was described in a story in The Winona Republican
Herald on December 21, 1953. The story also reports that Admiral Arthur Radford described the policy as the
'bigger bang for your buck' theory. This was an adaptation of Pepsi-Cola's 'More Bounce to the Ounce' slogan, which was introduced in 1950:
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