Timing of soy intake may help or hinder cancer therapy: Rat study

Timing of soy intake may help or hinder cancer therapy: Rat study: Soy consumption has been shown to have both a positive and negative effect on cancer treatment as the legume appears to exhibit specific effects according to when it is consumed.

Baker Perkins ServoForm Mini makes 3D lollipops

Baker Perkins ServoForm Mini makes 3D lollipops: Baker Perkins is targeting niche manufacturers and start-up companies with its ServoForm Mini starchless small-batch depositor for confectionery.

RESEARCH : How to kill cancer cells with high doses of vitamin C.

RESEARCH : How to kill cancer cells with high doses of vitamin C. Researchers at the University of Iowa(UI) explains that most vitamin C therapies involve taking the substance orally,but this route will not provide the dose to kill the cancer cells. The UI scientists have shown that giving vitamin C intravenously—and bypassing normal gut metabolism and excretion pathways—creates blood levels that are 100 - 500 times higher than levels seen with oral ingestion. It is this super-high concentration in the blood that is crucial to vitamin C's ability to attack cancer cells. RESEARCH : How to kill cancer cells with high doses of vitamin C. In a new study, published recently in issue of the journal Redox Biology, Buettner and his colleagues have homed in on the biological details of how high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cells.The study shows that vitamin C breaks down easily, generating hydrogen peroxide, a so-called reactive oxygen species that can damage tissue and DNA. The study also shows that tumor cells are much less capable of removing the damaging hydrogen peroxide than normal cells. Normal cells have several ways to remove hydrogen peroxide, keeping it at very low levels so it does not cause damage. The new study shows that an enzyme called catalase is the central route for removing hydrogen peroxide generated by decomposing vitamin C. The researchers discovered that cells with lower amounts of catalase activity were more susceptible to damage and death when they were exposed to high amounts of vitamin C.

Social media and suicide trap..

Social media has encouraged and in fact created a platform for many depressed people to end their lives. In a world where majority are self centered,lack empathy and have no emotional intelligence,hatred seems to sell and increase follower ship . People reach out on social media for different reasons and when expectation is cut short,they have no guts to live. This is a sad story of a youth told to commit suicide on social media;A grief-stricken mother from a northern Ontario First Nation is sharing the hate-filled social media messages her 12-year-old daughter received on the day of her death by suicide, in hopes of saving the lives of other girls in her community. "If I'd seen those earlier, if she showed them to me, I think I could have done something, tried to talk to her, not to believe those words," Sandra Fox told CBC News. Fox's daughter, Chantel, died by suicide early in January in Wapekeka First Nation, a few days after her friend, Jolynn Winter, also 12, died by suicide. Several other girls from the community, about 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont., remain on suicide watch and at least one of them has also received messages encouraging her to kill herself. continue

Ferret fitted with pacemaker.

A ferret named Zelda is recovering at home after being fitted with a pacemaker during a rare surgery at Kansas State University. Surgeons say it’s the first time they’ve performed this type of procedure on a ferret, which required the use of special wires, given her small size, to bring energy from the pacemaker to the heart. The ferret named Zelda had a third-degree block in her heart, which caused a low heart beat and a lack of energy – but, thanks to the ground-breaking surgery, she’s expected to live out a full ferret lifespan of around ten years. The university ran a series of tests, which determined that Zelda was a good candidate for a pacemaker, although it had to be specially ordered because of the small size of her veins.As with a human patient, this condition called for the implantation of a pacemaker to help increase Zelda’s heartbeat and provide her a good quality of life. According to Emily Klocke, clinical associate professor of small animal surgery, the pacemaker is the same that would be used for a human but with special leads – the wires that bring energy from the machine to the heart muscle.source

VETERINARY MEDICINE : Dogs 'prefer reggae and soft rock' to other music genres.

VETERINARY MEDICINE : Dogs 'prefer reggae and soft rock' to other music genres. A new research has shown that dogs 'prefer reggae and soft rock' to other music genres. The Scottish SPCA and the University of Glasgow have published a paper which suggests music affects dogs' behavior. Researchers played a variety of music to dogs at a rehoming centre in Dumbarton and assessed physiological and behavioral changes. Prof Neil Evans said the most positive behavior changes were seen when the dogs were played reggae and soft rock. VETERINARY MEDICINE : Dogs 'prefer reggae and soft rock' to other music genres. All though these genres stood out, he said the study suggested each dog had its own music tastes. Prof Evans said: "Overall, the response to different genres was mixed highlighting the possibility that like humans, our canine friends have their own individual music preferences." The dogs were played five different genres of music: soft rock, Motown, pop, reggae and classical.The study suggested that dogs spent "significantly more time lying and significantly less time standing" when music was played, regardless of genre. By measuring the dogs' heart rate, researchers said they showed a decrease in stress levels when played music - particularly when it was soft rock or reggae. PhD student Amy Bowman said: "We were keen to explore the effect playing different genres of music had. VETERINARY MEDICINE : Dogs 'prefer reggae and soft rock' to other music genres. "It was clear that the physiological and behavioral changes observed were maintained during the trial when the dogs were exposed to a variety of music." The Scottish SPCA said it would now be investing in sound systems for all its kennels. The Scottish SPCA said it would now be investing in sound systems for all its kennels. Gilly Mendes Ferreira, of the SSPCA said "At present both our Glasgow and Edinburgh centres are able to pipe music into their kennels. "In the future every centre will be able to offer our four-footed friends a canine-approved playlist, with the view to extending this research to other species in our care." source

Proliferation of bird flu outbreaks raises risk of human pandemic.

The global spread of bird flu and the number of viral strains currently circulating and causing infections have reached unprecedented levels, raising the risk of a potential human outbreak, according to disease experts. Multiple outbreaks have been reported in poultry farms and wild flocks across Europe, Africa and Asia in the past three months. While most involve strains that are currently low risk for human health, the sheer number of different types, and their presence in so many parts of the world at the same time, increases the risk of viruses mixing and mutating - and possibly jumping to people. "This is a fundamental change in the natural history of influenza viruses," Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease specialist at University of Minnesota, said of the proliferation of bird flu in terms of geography and strains - a situation he described as "unprecedented". Global health officials are worried another strain could make a jump into humans, like H5N1 did in the late 1990s. It has since caused hundreds of human infections and deaths, but has not acquired the ability to transmit easily from person to person. The greatest fear is that a deadly strain of avian flu could then mutate into a pandemic form that can be passed easily between people - something that has not yet been seen. While avian flu has been a prominent public health issue since the 1990s, ongoing outbreaks have never been so widely spread around the world - something infectious disease experts put down to greater resilience of strains currently circulating, rather than improved detection or reporting. While there would normally be around two or three bird flu strains recorded in birds at any one time, now there are at least half a dozen, including H5N1, H5N2, H5N8 and H7N8. The Organization for Animal Health (OIE) says the concurrent outbreaks in birds in recent months are "a global public health concern", and the World Health Organization's director-general warned this week the world "cannot afford to miss the early signals" of a possible human flu pandemic. continue