Underwater agriculture and the future of food production.

Metres under the ocean in picturesque Noli Bay, Italy, hydroponics and solar technology are being used 

to grow dozens of plants. Gamberini's father Sergio, who runs a diving company that operates in Italy and California, founded Nemo's Garden five years ago. He came up with the idea of growing plants underwater as a way of making diving more interactive. There, metres under the surface, divers attend to basil, garlic and other plants grown in large domes, known as biospheres. 

'We had this crazy idea and our first experiments were these flexible balloons ... which we anchored on the seabed,' Luca says.'We found a way to put a vase inside and we tried first with a plant that was already born and successfully continued to grow it—it didn't die, it actually thrived. 'Then we tried with the seeds and they sprouted in less than 36 hours, it was incredible.' Since then they've successfully grown 26 different kinds of plants, including beans and radishes.

They have seven biospheres, each about the size of a large room, which can hold up to three divers. Each biosphere houses at least 60 plants, which are grown using hydroponics and gravity-fed watering systems. 'The sea is an ... auto-sustainable and free charger and warmer,' Gamberini says.'We have a constant temp here in the Mediterranean but in many places around the world the water gives out warmth a lot slower than air.

 'Light actually gets to more than 10 metres underwater so it's perfect for us, plus the seawater acts like a filter so all the useless and not beneficial frequencies of light that would get to the plants are actually cut off, so you get all the good stuff. 'It's a place where no parasite can get ... so we don't need to use pesticide or any other system and we have also a natural evaporation of the seawater ... which becomes fresh water and just naturally irrigates the plants.' Gamberini hopes that through Nemo's Garden they can develop an alternative to traditional agriculture that could be used in the future if land starts to run out.We tested the plants—we ate the basil we grew underwater—it has more taste to it, the essential oils are higher which means [it has a] more intense perfume,' Gamberini says. Contributed by abc.net.au

16-year-old teen devises way to treat deadly breast cancer .

A 16-year-old boy from Epsom, Surrey, believes he may have the answer to treat deadly breast cancer. Krtin Nithiyandam thinks he has devised a way to turn the most deadly form of triple negative breast cancer into a kind which responds to drugs. 7,500 women each year are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a type of disease which does not respond to today's most effective drugs. Many breast cancers are driven by oestrogen, progesterone or growth chemicals so drugs that can block those fuels, such as tamoxifen, make effective treatments. However triple negative breast cancer does not have receptors and it can only be treated with a gruelling combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy which lowers the chance of survival. Scientists have known for some time that some women with triple negative cancer respond very well to treatment while others quickly decline. The problem lies in whether the cancer cells are ‘differentiated’ or not. Differentiated means they look more like healthy cells and they tend to grow and multiply quite slowly, and are less aggressive. However when cancer cells are ‘undifferentiated’ they get stuck in a dangerous primitive form, never turning into recognizable breast tissue, and spreading quickly, leading to high grade tumors. Krtin believes he has found a way to coax these more deadly cells into their differentiated form by blocking a protein called ID4. Most cancers have receptors on their surface which bind to drugs like Tamoxifen but triple negative don’t have receptors so the drugs don’t work.“The prognosis for women with undifferentiated cancer isn’t very good so the goal is to turn the cancer back to a state where it can be treated.“The ID4 protein actually stops undifferentiated stem cell cancers from differentiating so you have to block ID4 to allow the cancer to differentiate. He has also discovered that upping the activity of a tumour suppressor gene called PTEN allows chemotherapy to work more effectively, so the dual treatment could prove far more effective than traditional drugs. The therapy idea, which saw him shortlisted for the final of The Big Bang Fair competition, would most likely be delivered in a nanoparticle containing RNA – the messenger molecule which carries instructions from the DNA. The RNA nanoparticle would be encoded to silence or boost gene activity. continue

Home treatment of diarrhoea in dogs.

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VETERINARY MEDICINE: How to use laser therapy in dogs.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: How to use laser therapy in dogs Benefits are 1) painless 2)non-invasive 3) drug-free management of pain an inflammation. The cold laser therapy also referred to as low-level lasers can be used for topical conditions as well as deeper conditions such as in bones,ligaments and tendons.The laser promote faster healing when used as they energize the cells in the affected areas by giving it more oxygen to accelerate healing. VETERINARY MEDICINE: How to use laser therapy in dogs Veterinarians often resort to use of therapy to ease pain of pets and also because of rapid healing conditions and most especially because its noninvasive. continue

VETERINARY MEDICINE : Laser therapy in veterinary practice.

VETERINARY MEDICINE : Laser therapy in veterinary practice. . The term "laser" describes the process, where light amplification of stimulated emission of radiation is used to treat . The laser therapy lessens pain, relaxes muscles, and improves circulation. It accomplishes this by altering the physiology of cells and tissue by means of light (photons) . VETERINARY MEDICINE : Laser therapy in veterinary practice. The effectiveness of treatment and the nature of responses depend heavily on if and how light enters living tissue.For tissue to absorb light and alter its physiology, a photochemical or photobiologic event must occur. Ideally, this event would take place within the tissue, whether it is skin, muscle, fascia, nerves, vessels, bones, and/or joints. continue

Turning the promise of stem cell therapy into a reality.

Stem cell therapy. Sounds complicated. Is it possible in everyday veterinary practice? Yes! Sherman Canapp, DVM, MS, DACVS, DACVSMR, CCRT, lays it out simply on how it can help alleviate pain in patients with osteoarthritis and even heal patients with tendon or ligament injury. It’s not complicated. You can do this! courtesy dvm360.