Feels Like August

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/health/harnessing-the-immune-system-to-fight-cancer.html
Article in the Sunday NYT about checkpoint inhibitors, harnessing the body's immune system against cancer. Checkpoints have to do with the progression of a cell from one stage of cell division to another, aiding in the proliferation of a cancer.Bristol-Myers Squibb markets two checkpoint inhibitors.




https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160730154504.htm  From Science Daily, a report about a collaboration between Duke and the Singapore Genome Institute and the National Neuroscience Institute that has grown human mini midbrains in a dish. This research should help Parkinson's Disease victims.




http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/heel-pain-treatment/?_r=0  Here is a link to Ask Well, the NYT wellness blog about an article in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports describing an exercise that is effective against plantar fasciitis, an irritation of the connective tissue at the bottom of the foot, which, let me tell you, can cause extreme pain upon walking and even standing. (Yes, that is a run-on sentence.) This will keep you off antiinflammatories like ibuprofen or cortisone.



http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46688/title/Mystery-Mechanisms/  An article from the New Scientist, about commonly used drugs for which the mechanism of action is unknown.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46651/title/Humans-Never-Stopped-Evolving/ From the New Scientist, an article about natural selection, the mechanism of evolution, by a paleontologist at the U of Wisconsin-Madison describing recent evolutionary changes. Published research done on blood typing and lactose digestion is cited.



http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/junk-dna-tells-mice-and-snakes-how-grow-backbone From Science magazine an amazing article about how snakes and mice "know" to grow backbones. As published in Developmental Cell, researchers at the Gulbenkian Institute studied the interaction between the gene GDF11 and second gene OCT4 which they theorized was important for animals to grow the proper number of vertebrae. But what they found was that the noncoding or "junk" DNA is different in mice, humans and snakes and that it is what actually regulates the number of vertebrae formed by slowing down OCT4.



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/science/scientists-puzzle-over-a-biological-mystery-the-female-orgasm.html?_r=0  From Carl Zimmer and the NYT, an article about the female orgasm and its evolutionary significance. In the J of Experimental Zoology, the authors posit that the advent of the female orgasm in mammals 150 million years ago served to release eggs to be fertilized after sex. Many hypotheses have been put forward including that the orgasm increases the chance that a woman's eggs are fertilized by an attractive male.



http://www.nature.com/news/women-in-physics-face-big-hurdles-still-1.20349 From Nature News a commentary about the difficulties of women in physics.




http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2016/08/creationists-ev.html  From the blog, "The Panda's Thumb", an article about the "struggles" of creationists to explain genetic diversity. Creationists have to deal with genetic diversity as represented (in their minds) by the ark.I am not familiar with many of the arguments of the creationists but this writer describes their view of the multitude of species as a deck of playing cards that is shuffled and dealt and cut, continually limiting the population to a smaller subset of the original deck. (Some of this is a direct quote.)


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/health/dust-asthma-children.html?_r=0
An article in the NYT about research published in the NE Journal of Medicine about farm dirt as a potential cure for asthma. The Amish and people raised on farms rarely get asthma. The study was small but the result were compelling: a comparison of Amish and Hutterite children showed that the Amish had more neutrophils (part of the innate immune system) than the Hutterites.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/an-enemy-in-our-midst-maryland-tries-to-fight-invasive-plant-species/2016/07/28/ac0f0774-4e8d-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html  An article in the Washington Post about invasive species.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/07/new-antibiotic-found-human-nose  This is an article from Science magazine about a new antibiotic found in the human nose. As reported in the Euroscience Open Forum,  and in Nature magazine, S. lugdunensis bacterium, found in nasal secretions, produces a compound that eliminates MRSA.

Returned from Massachusetts

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/opinion/sunday/evolution-is-happening-faster-than-we-thought.html?_r=0
This is an article from NYT by a writer named  Menno Schilthuizen (wrote Nature's Nether Parts) about evolution in cities. He cites research done at Fordham U, Vienna and Paris.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/science/last-universal-ancestor.html?_r=0
This is a commentary by Nicholas Wade in the NYT about the emergence of all living things and the living ancestor, abbreviated as LUCA. It mentions work done at Heinrich Heine University on bacterial and archaeal domain. Comparing genes in organisms pointed to 355 genes ascribable to this common ancestor. The research is to be published in Nature Microbiology. 
 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/swapping-analogous-genes-no-problem-among-species From  Science News, a report of the swapping of analogous genes between plants, yeasts and bacteria. This work was done at the University of Texas at Austin and reported at the Allied Genetics Conference. In unpublished work, the team was able to exchange 60% of E.coli genes with yeast counterparts.





https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-funds-precision-medicine-research-focus-health-disparities Here is a report of the funding by NIH of the NIMHD, the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to develop new tools using pharmacogenomics to identify health disparities and to translate those disparities into tools for use in clinical practice. There will also be set up TCCs, which are Transdisciplinary Collaborative Centers to  make use of these findings.


http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6298/446.full.pdf+html Article in Science mag about plant extinction. The State of the World's Plants is a publication of the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew and predicts that 50,000 of the world's 390,000 vascular plants are at risk for extinction. It was expected in the 1990s that up to 30,000 would have been extinct by 2015. But there may be undocumented extinctions and there may be a long "extinction lag time."

Returned from Cuba

http://njchamber.com/index.php/nj-chamber-business-news/press-releases/939-bonnie-bassler-pioneer-biologist-to-get-women-s-innovation-award  This is an announcement from the NJ Chamber of Commerce about an award given to Bonnie Bassler for her work in quorem sensing in bacteria, a method of bacterial communication. Bassler is an HHMI investigator and the department head of the Molecular Biology Department at Princeton. Her work will generate a new line of antibiotics.




http://health.heraldtribune.com/2016/07/19/moving-beyond-the-idea-of-a-mindbody-divide/ From the NYT and Herald Tribune an article about a paper in the British Medical Journal and a seminar at the NY Academy of Sciences about the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in getting people to change the way they think.




https://www.nih.gov/news-events/researchers-identify-brain-circuits-help-people-cope-stress
This is a report of an NIH-funded study to identify the brain circuits utilized in coping with stress. The research was done at Yale and is published in PNAS. Repeated and chronic stress damages the brain's pre-frontal cortex. The study has determined that individuals who do not show neuroflexibility are at risk for destructive behaviors or emotional dysfunction problems.

Before Four

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/30/484053435/personality-can-change-over-a-lifetime-and-usually-for-the-better  This is a report from SHOTS, Health NewsBlog from NPR about personality changes during one's lifetime. The writer, a professor at Colby College, cites three studies (but I don't see the references or the publications), supporting the observation that the changes in personality are positive and are accelerated when people are leading meaningful and satisfying lives. (I say, which precedes which? but I am only the messenger.) The vagueness in the article (a real holiday-type article) are contrary to the high standards of Solipsists Soiree, but may not be so of NPR.


Mini Book Review:
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Small-Package-History-Biographies/dp/0801896967 I recommend Death in A Small Package, by Susan D. Jones and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.  The book is more of a "biography of a disease" than a history, as the author explains. She cites the history and the symptomatology and various manifestations of infection by anthrax bacillis. There's cutaneous, enteric, and inhalational anthrax, and the writer doesn't spare the reader much in the description. The book is very well-written but it goes beyond the usual reporting of microbial diseases when it deals with the "weaponizing" of inhalational anthrax, which was known as woolsorter's disease, transmitted by the lighter-than-air spores containing the disease genome borne on an infected animal's fleece.
Jones describes the "shadowy" scientists working at the "junction of basic research and national security", tasked with purifying the spores, and one can't help but think that, in the post 911 era, the Home Security Agency has gotten more desperate and also more deliberate in its search for weaponizable agents, now to be carried by drones.
The difference between anthrax and other microbiological agents is that B. anthracis must kill its host to propagate itself. "Here is where the life cycle of B. anthracis intersects with the capacity to create fear." This is a really great book and I recommend it.




http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/13/481586649/a-map-of-where-your-food-originated-may-surprise-you  This, from an NPR blog called The Salt, is an interactive map of where your food originates. It originates (the article) from International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the USDA. The work was done by plant scientists. Interestingly, the original concept that food crops have origins was developed by the Russian "plant explorer" Vavilov. This research used Vavilov's methods. Did you know that Italian tomatoes come from the Andes?


http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-chocolate-electric-beam-20160620-snap-story.html  To make chocolate healthier, put it into an electric field. This is an article from the LATimes on research done at Temple U on a grant from the Mars company. The results, published in PNAS, showed that treated chocolate lost some of its viscosity and fat content. The work generated two patents and may part of my salary. (Full disclosure.)






http://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943 A 2015 review from Nature about the redefinition of sex.  A historic approach is taken and cases like CAIS are mentioned (complete androgen insensitivity syndrome) in which a person has testes but female external genitalia. Cases like these may make it necessary to broaden the definition of sex as more of a spectrum rather than a binary.



https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160630163800.htm  From Science Daily, a report of research from the U of Arkansas and published in Science that analyzed dental anatomy and diet  of two human ancestors from tooth fossils, one was vegetarian and one not. The point was that evolution could result in suboptimal physical traits not matching functional need.






http://www.sciencealert.com/girls-are-going-through-puberty-earlier-than-ever-before-with-long-term-effects  From SciAlert, an article from The Atlantic about earlier puberty in girls causing health problems later in life, such as breast cancer. A 2013 study from the J of Adolescent Health found that girls who had their periods younger than their peers have up to 30% increase in breast cancer risk.




http://www.nature.com/news/the-visualizations-transforming-biology-1.20201  An article in Nature  about how graphic design and visualizations are transforming biology. There is an image of a dragonfly wing which was prepared from a computer's selection and classification of cell size and shape, which allows for automated classification of species. There is a type of software called CellPACK which allows for selecting particular cells which be available in a user friendly or "more streamlined" version next year.




http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2016/07/02/yes-you-are-a-fish/  From one of my favorite blogs, Pharyngula, by PZ Myers, about our relationship taxonomically with fish, and about gnathostomes, and cladistics, a way of grouping organisms with their common ancestors.




http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-would-happen-if-you-didn-t-sleep-claudia-aguirre  A TED-ED talk about the effects of sleep deprivation.

http://www.sciencealert.com/new-regenerative-tooth-fillings-heal-your-teeth-from-the-inside  From SciAlert, a report of research done at the U of Nottingham on new regenerative fillings that heal from the inside out and include stem cells.


https://www.newscientist.com/article/2096001-turtle-herpes-outbreak-hints-at-great-barrier-reef-contamination/  From the New Scientist, a report about herpes virus infection in turtles. From James Cook University in Australia. The virus causes tumors in turtles and may have been brought about by environmental contaminants from human activity weakening the turtles' immune systems.


http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/how-some-salamanders-regrow-their-limbs From PLOS , how salamanders regrow their limbs. This article is a report of how bone, muscle and blood vessels grow from stem cells formed at the wound surface. Ten microRNAs obtained from three species that are capable of regeneration of limbs were the same in all three. This work may someday lead to the repair of serious limb injuries in humans. And they are cute.



http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46007/title/Opinion--Reimagining-the-Paper/ From The Scientist, a commentary about the scientific journal article and the complexity of its format making communication of an idea, the intended purpose of the paper, more elusive. Written by a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.


https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-launches-largest-ever-study-breast-cancer-genetics-black-women This is a"news flash" from the NIH announcing an NIH-funded study of breast cancer in black women. The Breast Cancer Genetic Study in African-Ancestry Populations is a collaboration that will share tissue samples and statistics among different institutions. All told, the $12 million grant will include 20,000 patients.

http://memento.muttermuseum.org/detail/skull-with-transorbital-lobotomy  This is an exhibit at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. It shows the results (anatomical, not behavioral) of a transorbital lobotomy, an operation that was "perfected" by physician Walter Freeman.




http://phys.org/news/2016-07-urinal-electricity-urine.html  From Phys.org, (physics blog) a report of the production of electricity by a public urinal using urine. This work was done in UK and was published in Environmental Sci: Water Res. Technol.