Japanese drones lift off to track livestock

Japanese drones lift off to track livestock: A drone designed to make life easier for livestock farmers has been launched in Japan, with developers eyeing global sales in the future.

Traditional rainmaking ceremonies resurge in parched Zimbabwe.

Rainmaking makes a comeback in parts of parched Zimbabwe, scientists warn that such traditions may prove a distraction from more effective ways to deal with drought. Those include switching from the country's thirsty staple, maize, to more drought-hardy crops like millet and sorghum, capturing and storing more rainwater, and changing farming practices to preserve moisture in the soil. "We need to educate and train these village elders on the importance of... climate change adaptation measures like conservation agriculture and water harvesting," said Lawrence Nyagwande, who heads Environment Africa, a non-governmental organisation in Manicaland Province. Renewed attention on rainmaking ceremonies as the way to solve the growing problem is deterring some farmers from making those changes they have learnt to work. Even the backers of the rainmaking revival say the weather is nothing like they have seen before, with punishingly hot temperatures over much of the last decade and far more erratic rainfall.continue

NSAIDs prevent colon cancer.

Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) protect against colorectal cancer by inducing cell suicide pathways in intestinal stem cells that carry a certain mutated and dysfunctional gene. A study at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the School of Medicine has shown the potency of NSAID to prevent colorectal cancer. Scientists from animal studies and clinical trials have established the use of NSAIDs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, lowers the risk of developing intestinal polyps, which can transform into colon cancer. A new study compares the effectiveness of aspirin and ibuprofen to prevent cancer.Mayo Clinic researchers and a team of collaborating scientists have determined the comparative effectiveness of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin and several supplements in preventing the recurrence of advanced neoplasia (polyps that are the precursor of colorectal cancer) after polyp removal. The study published in British medical journal the team showed that, for most patients, nonaspirin NSAIDs like ibuprofen work better than aspirin or a host of nutritional supplements to prevent the growth of advanced adenomas. Approximately 85 percent of all colorectal cancers are thought to result from untreated adenomatous polyps thus if the growth is stopped, prevention is possible in majority of these cases. Aspirin and other NSAIDs have a protective effect, and also other nutritional supplements have been studied for their effectiveness in preventing cancer. The team conducted a meta-analysis a statistical research method that involves combining data from multiple studies to obtain a single consolidated observation of clinical trial data from 15 randomized control trials, reviewing information from 12,234 patients. These studies included low- and high-dose aspirin therapy, calcium, vitamin D and folic acid, and compared them each alone or in various combinations. The study showed that nonaspirin NSAIDs are better than all the other compared therapies for preventing recurrence of adenomatous polyps within three to five years following initial polyp removal. However, because of some of the other health risks of nonaspirin NSAIDs, they may not be the best choice for everyone.

How fasting stops cancer progression in children.

Fasting is a spiritual and physical cleanser as toxins have been flushed from system in a bid to ensure healthy living. Fasting or food restrictions are off various types depending on the purpose or intent. Fasting is also a weight control mechanism where certain individuals are placed on specific food restrictions to optimize health.The types of fast include but are not limited to fruit-fast,where individual takes only fruits or vegetable-fast .where only vegetables are allowed and the water-fast ,where individuals live off water for specified period to rest the digestive tract completely. Scientists have explored the fasting angle to treat life-threatening conditions such as leukemia, according to a new study not eating every alternate day can actually halt the progression of the most common diseases in children as excess fat is known to promote the circulation of leptin, a hormone that aid tumor growth. Leukaemia is cancer of the white blood cells; while the acute leukaemia progresses rapidly and aggressively the Lymphoblastic leukaemia is cancer of the lymphocytes,the white blood cells that fight viral infections thus making people vulnerable to infections. Data shows that one in every 2,000 children will develop it and about 85 per cent of cases occur in children under the age of 15. The signs of lymphoblastic leukamia include Symptoms pale skin, tiredness, breathlessness and repeated infections and the treatment protocols involve a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and a sometimes a stem cell transplant is indicated. A study by Researchers from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, United States, on mice using various dietary restriction plans and published by Nature Medicine used rodents with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia which is the most common type found in children. The researchers marked the cancer cells so they could trace them and determine if their levels rose or fell in response to the fasting treatment, at the end of seven weeks, the fasted mice had almost no detectable cancer cells. Fasting known to reduce the level of leptin, the researchers discovered decreased levels of leptin in the bloodstream as well as in the bone marrow of fasted mice. The effects became more pronounced with repeated cycles of fasting. They also observed that mice that ate normally died within 59 days, while 75 per cent of the fasted mice survived more than four months without signs of leukaemia.

Poisoning as people have died in Russia after drinking bath lotion.

People Have Died in Russia After Drinking Bath Lotion,because the label read ethyl alcohol instead of methanol that the drink contained. The BBC reports that Fifty-eight people in Russia have now died as a result of consuming a bath lotion containing toxic methanol. A further 37 people who became ill after drinking as little as one shot of the hawthorn-scented bath oil are still receiving treatment, with some in serious condition. There are fears the death toll could continue to rise. According to the Siberian Times, Irkutsk region health minister Oleg Yaroshenko said that almost half of the survivors were not expected to live.“They came to [the] doctors too late … Only a miracle can save them,” he told the newspaper, which referred to the mass poisoning as “the worst such case in modern Russian history.” It also said that many of the poisoning victims had died in their homes because the toxin had taken effect too rapidly for them to call emergency services. continue

Scientists Develop Oral Vaccine Against Salmonella Infection.

Salmonella is responsible for one of the most common food-borne illnesses in the world. In the US alone, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are about 1.4 million cases with 15,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths each year. It is thought that for every reported case, there are about 39 undiagnosed infections. Overall, the number of salmonella cases in the US has not changed since 1996. Salmonella infection in people with compromised immune systems and children under the age of three are at increased risk of invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis, which causes systemic infection. There are about one million cases globally per year, with a 25 per cent fatality rate. Scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) in the US have developed an oral vaccine against Salmonella. The researchers explained that Oral vaccination is the simplest and least invasive way to protect people against salmonella infection. The oral vaccine has the added advantage of using the same pathway that salmonella uses to wreak havoc on the digestive system. The current study detailed in an article published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology ,showed that the researchers analysed the immune responses of mice that received the vaccination by mouth as well as how they responded to a lethal dose of salmonella," said Ashok Chopra, professor at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) in the US. They found that the orally administered vaccines produced strong immunity against salmonella, showing their potential for future use in people. There is no vaccine currently available for salmonella poisoning but antibiotics are the first choice for treating salmonella infections, but the fact that some strains of salmonella are quickly developing antibiotic resistance is a serious public health concern. Salmonella can also be used as a biological weapon as seen in Oregon when a religious cult intentionally contaminated restaurant salad bars and sickened 1,000 people.

New discovery has shown the bacteria responsible for ozone-depleting gas.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown a biological mechanism that convert nitrogen-based fertilizer into nitrous oxide, an ozone-depleting greenhouse gas. Agriculture is the steady source of nitrous oxide through nitrogen fertilizers.The increasing population has prompted more agricultural practices with more tilling and ploughing and increase use of nitrogen fertilizers to boost food production. The more nitrogen fertilizers are used,the higher the release of this ozone-depleting gas and global warming. The Nitrous oxide is photochemical and forms free radicals which are ozone-depleting agents that aggravates the issue of covering Earth's atmosphere with more gas and raising the globe's temperature. Cornell University researchers discovered a biological mechanism that convert nitrogen-based fertilizer into nitrous oxide, an ozone-depleting greenhouse gas .Kyle Lancaster, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and senior author on the research explained that to plug a leak you must identify source and then take necessary steps to correct The rise of Nitrous oxide is becoming quite significant in the atmosphere, as there has been a 120 percent increase of nitrous oxide in our atmosphere since pre-industrial times and this has been identified as source of ozone depleting gas. The researchers , showed that an enzyme made by the ammonia oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea, cytochrome P460, produces nitrous oxide after the organism turns ammonia into an intermediate metabolite called hydroxylamine. The N. europaea and similar "ammonia-oxidizing bacteria" use hydroxylamine as their fuel source, but too much hydroxylamine can be harmful and this result in production of nitrous oxide as a chemical coping strategy. Lancaster and his colleagues explained that when ammonia-oxidizing bacteria are exposed to high levels of nitrogen compounds, such as in crop fields or wastewater treatment plants, then nitrous oxide production via cytochrome P460 will increase . Nitrous oxide has 300 times the potency of carbon dioxide hence a potentially harmful gas to be releasing on a global scale.