How to make natural pesticides to kill ticks.

A traditional treatment prepared from a woody shrub is highly effective at protecting cattle against ticks in southern Africa.The University of Greenwich team in collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe, carried out the research. The team pulped and soaked the Lippia leaves in water to produce an extract which could be sprayed on cattle easily. The Lippia javanica, widely consumed to alleviate symptoms of fever is also used by some farmers to make a pesticide,which is cheap and easy to produce.Cattle are extremely vulnerable to ticks, mites and flies which can transmit blood parasites, cause irritating wounds and then infections. These ticks are a cause of severe economic loss as many infested animals die and those that survive rarely put on weight as they are debilitated thus producing little or no by-products. The use of the perennial plant at the proper concentration and dosage is as effective as the chemicals used and the ease of accessing shrub's leaves makes it an easy alternative. The shrub can easily be harvested from abundant bushes in the wild and can also be easily grown from seed. The farmers only needs to take the time to harvest and prepare the Lippia extract instead of buying expensive commercial synthetic products.

RESEARCH: Cancer medicine from cucumbers.

RESEARCH: Cancer medicine from cucumbers. The bitter flavor in wild cucurbits -- the family that includes cucumber, pumpkin, melon, watermelon and squash -- is due to compounds called cucurbitacins. The bitter taste protects wild plants against predators. The fruit and leaves of wild cucurbits have been used in Indian and Chinese medicine for thousands of years, as emetics and purgatives and to treat liver disease. A recent study have shown that cucurbitacins can kill or suppress growth of cancer cells. RESEARCH: Cancer medicine from cucumbers. The new research by University of California - Davis published in science journal has shown that curbing this bitterness made cucumber, pumpkin and their relatives into popular foods, but the same compounds also have potential to treat cancer and diabetes.Bitterness is known to be controlled by two genetic traits, "Bi" which confers bitterness on the whole plant and "Bt," which leads to bitter fruit. This research used the latest in DNA sequencing technology to identify the exact changes in DNA associated with bitterness.The researchers were able to identify nine genes involved in making cucurbitacin, and show that the trait can be traced to two transcription factors that switch on these nine genes, in either leaves or the fruit, to produce cucurbitacin. The new research sheds more light on how domestication changed cucumber genetics to make the fruit more edible. Understanding this process open up new approaches to developing other food crops based on plants that are naturally either inedible or poor in nutrition. #cross breeding #selective breeding #biotechnology.

How Chinese medicine kills cancer cells.

Researchers have shown how a complex mix of plant compounds derived from ancient clinical practice in China -- a Traditional Chinese Medicine -- works to kill cancer cells. Researchers at the University of Adelaide have shown how a complex mix of plant compounds derived from ancient clinical practice in China ,a Traditional Chinese Medicine works to kill cancer cells.The study, published in the journal Oncotarget, is one of the first to characterize the molecular action of a Traditional Chinese Medicine rather than breaking it down to its constituent parts. Compound kushen injection (CKI) is approved for use in China to treat various cancer tumors, usually as an adjunct to western chemotherapy .but how it works has not been known until recently. Traditional Chinese Medicine are based on hundreds or thousands of years of experience with their use in China, there is often a lot of evidence that these medicines have a therapeutic benefit, but there isn't the understanding of how or why. When the components of many of Traditional Chinese Medicines are broken down and tested independently, it was discovered that individual compounds don't have much activity on their own. This indicate that the combination of various compounds can be effective, and potentially means few side-effects as well. This is one of the first studies to show the molecular mode of action of a complex mixture of plant-based compounds,here extracts from the roots of two medicinal herbs, Kushen and Baituling were analyzed by applying a systems biology approach. This is a way of analyzing complex biological systems that attempts to take into account all measurable aspects of the system rather than focusing on a single variable. The researchers used high-throughput next generation sequencing technologies to identify genes and biological pathways targeted by CKI when applied to breast cancer cells grown in the laboratory.The result showed that the patterns of gene expression triggered by CKI affect the same pathways as western chemotherapy but by acting on different genes in the same pathways.These genes regulate the cell cycle of division and death, and CKI alters the way the cell cycle is regulated to push cancer cells down the cell death pathway, therefore killing the cells. The basic understanding of system biology approach has yielded positive results in the field of medicine, an example is the antimalarial drug, artemisinin, originally derived from traditional Chinese medicine, is now being produced either as a precursor molecule in yeast or through synthetic biology systems.

Drying fish with solar-powered tents in Malawi.

Fish traders in southern Malawi are being encouraged to improve their yields and increase incomes by using solar tents to dry their produce.

The risks posed by family dog to children.

A survey of dog owners shows that people underestimate risky situations involving the family dog.Dog bites suffered by young children are often inflicted by the family dog and such incidents frequently occur despite the presence of an adult. Children love petting dogs, playing with them and crawling after them. They especially love to hug or cuddle the family dog. This unwanted close contact causes most dogs to feel harassed and they respond by snapping at the child. Many cases of dog bites involving small children happen in everyday life as the result of an apparently friendly interaction on the part of the child. When a dog feels harassed by the child or restricted in its freedom, it will communicate through body language. The signs include body tension, growling, frequent licking of the snout and yawning. Small children cannot interpret this behavior,e.g a growling dog or one baring its teeth is often described by children as smiling. Bite incidents often occur despite supervision,dog owners should recognize situations in which their dog may feel harassed and they should intervene in time to prevent accidents.Many dog owners put trust ahead of attentiveness. Dog owners often leave their children with the family dogs unsupervised,they allow the child to play or cuddle with the dog as much as they want without battling an eyelid .This attitude is never observed with an unfamiliar dog, this healthy distrust of unfamiliar dogs does not appear to exist toward the family dog which is a wrong assumption. People trust their own dog and exclude the possibility of a bite incident. This not only reduces attentiveness, but dog owners also assume that the family dog is more tolerant and more patient than other dogs. Dog owners should be aware of the dog's need for rest and space and such should be communicated to children and other members of the household .Dog owners appear not to know that a dog needs undisturbed resting periods away from small children, and that the resting and feeding place for the family dog must be out of the children's reach. The lack of adequate resting areas and resting periods for the dog may create situations in everyday life that could lead to a bite incident. Dog owners must be instructed in proper child-dog supervision. The following habits should be inculcated to prevent bites,attentive observation, guidance of the child's interactions with the dog and separating the dog from the child at rest time of dogs.

Malamute Puppy Gets New Lease on Life with 3D Printed Prosthetic Leg.

When Yogo was born, there was something different about her than all the other puppies in her litter: she suffers from congenital atrophy in her right front leg causing it to be significantly smaller than the others. As the puppy grew, her owner began to look around to see if there were any possibilities for having her fitted for a prosthetic. However, in China, where Yogo and her human companion lived, vets are not accustomed to the practice of fitting prosthetics for handicapped animals. Several weeks later, Yogo’s human was surfing the web when she came across a group of people who were interested in advancing the cause of disabled animals in China through Pet Fair Asia. While Yogo could still get around easily, many pets are put down every year because of injuries or disabilities that prevent them from walking. This new charity was hoping to reduce those numbers by providing help so that those animals could walk again. Intrigued by the possibility, Yogo and her dearest human travelled to Shanghai where the fair was taking place. Yogo’s bipedal guardian contacted the charity and asked if it she would be a good candidate for their program. Once it was determined that there was a good fit, a scan was made of Yogo’s legs by the Hangzhou based additive manufacturing company Shining 3D. After completing the scan, the company worked to develop a customized prosthetic that would fit exactly as needed. It took four iterations, but they were finally able to create the perfect prosthetic. They tried a version that was created from a copy of her fully formed left front leg but that had a shelf and back to allow her leg to be strapped in, in order to provide her with a prosthetic that looked more like the limb should. They also tried a version that was supposed to give her freedom of motion through the creation of a rounded wheel-like design. But the best version was one that looks like a small bar stool with a back that ends with a rounded bottom.contributed by 3dprint.com

3D Printed Turtle Eggs To Help Stop Poaching..

The illegal collection of turtle eggs being removed from the coasts of North and Central America is a great concern not only for animal activist but pet lovers as well Poachers steal the eggs, sometimes while the turtle is laying them, and sell them to be eaten. While turtles such as the Loggerhead and the Olive Ridley sea turtle lay large numbers of eggs at a time, they do so only once a year and many of the young that hatch from the eggs do not survive to adulthood. In addition, the clutches are completely defenseless and already subject to attacks by other natural predators. All in all this means that every egg counts when helping to maintain threatened species’ populations. In an effort to better understand the demand for these eggs, a California conservation group named Paso Pacífico has created a series of faux-eggs using a 3D printer. These decoys have GPS tracking devices inside them, rather than a future baby turtle, and the organization hopes that they will be able to determine who the buyers of these eggs are. The poachers themselves have often been the target of egg protection policy, but in order to address the problem, the root of the demand needs to also be extirpated. There have been concerted efforts to inhibit poaching activities. A California couple that was caught smuggling nearly a thousand Olive Ridley sea turtle eggs across the border from Mexico was sentenced to spend six months in jail and a Georgia man who was a repeat offender ended up with 21 months to serve in jail as a result of stealing Loggerhead turtle eggs. One of the impacts of these protective measures has been a rise in the number of nesting turtles. Unfortunately, this has also meant there are more nests to protect and larger hauls of eggs to poach attracts more attention. In the same way that a few individual poachers can do a significant amount of damage, Paso Pacífico hopes that the information collected from the decoy eggs could lead to the removal of some of the big players in the illegal turtle egg trade. Even if not completely extinguished, the exponential nature of the impacts could be mitigated if a few of the big players were eliminated.culled ( Washington Post)