I watched Joe Biden tonight and I am sad to say my own father died and uncle died of aneurysms. He does not look healthy at all. If anyone should he carefully monitored in this campaign it should be Joe Biden. Interestingly enough, my father also was from the Scranton, PA area. Maybe it is the alcohol, gambling or mountains or hard life
or something in the water.
I am sad for Joe Biden, if anything he should not have accepted the nomination
Sarah Palin is young and smart and healthy. She is not a scholar but actually.. looking at W. it doesn't appear that one needs to have a high IQ and I am speaking as a Republican
OH well, I hope Joe Biden a stress test and have everything relooked at.. his eyes were puffy and he didn't look well.
see for yourself.
PS Pennsylvania people are NOT rednecks nor racists... they are coal minors and Italian and Irish and the back bone of society who immigrated here in the 1900s and the ones who made here to Ellis Island, like my dad's side of the family, who came here speaking Italian,, and then learned English, and worked coal mines and built bridges, and supported themselves by cooking, pizza restaurants, growing their own food, making Dandilion wine and living on tomatoes and invented Pizza crust,, now known as Foccocia, are tough SOBs and my father is a four star Bronze and Purple Heart,, after serving the WW2 and Korea, so I think I have a right to talk about it,, even though he didn't ,, I didn't know until after his death and I found his military papers. A real VETERAN. and I resent the implication as the daughter of an Army Hero, 100 per cent disabled upon retirement that PA people are racist.. never had I had a racist word in my life from him. I am glad he is not here to hear this nonsense.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
German, 2 French researchers share Nobel Prize in medicine
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Germany's Harald zur Hausen and French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for discovering the AIDS virus and viruses causing cervical cancer.
French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV; while Germany's Harald zur Hausen was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.
The German medical doctor and scientist received half of the $1.4 million prize, while the two French researchers shared the other half.
"I'm not prepared for this," zur Hausen, 72, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We're drinking a little glass of bubbly right now."
In its citation, the Nobel Assembly said Barre-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery was one prerequisite for understanding the biology of AIDS and its treatment with antiviral drugs. The pair's work in the early 1980s made it possible to study the virus closely.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Germany France Paris Sweden Stockholm Cambodia Oslo Nobel Prize Heidelberg anti-HIV Oliver Smithies Mario Capecchi Briton Martin Evans Nobel Assembly Luc Montagnier
That in turn let scientists identify important details in how HIV replicates and how it interacts with the cells it infects, the citation said. It also led to ways to diagnose infected people and to screen blood for HIV, which has limited spread of the epidemic, and helped scientists develop anti-HIV drugs, the citation said.
"The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease and dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients," the citation said.
The Nobel assembly said zur Hausen "went against current dogma" when he found that some kinds of human papilloma virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer. He realized that DNA of HPV could be detected in tumors, and uncovered a family of HPV types, only some of which cause cancer.
The discovery led to an understanding of how HPV causes cancer and the development of vaccines against HPV infection, the citation said.
Barre-Sinoussi is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Union at the Intsitut Pasteur in France, while Montagnier is the director for the World Foundation for Aids Research in Prevention, also in the French capital.
Barre-Sinoussi's father, Roger Sinoussi, told the AP that his daughter is visiting Cambodia this week.
"I am happy for her," he said, reached at her home in the Paris suburbs.
Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.
The awards include the money, a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.
Last year's medicine award went to U.S. researchers Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Briton Martin Evans for work that led to a powerful and widely used technique to manipulate genes in mice, which has helped scientists study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV; while Germany's Harald zur Hausen was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.
The German medical doctor and scientist received half of the $1.4 million prize, while the two French researchers shared the other half.
"I'm not prepared for this," zur Hausen, 72, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We're drinking a little glass of bubbly right now."
In its citation, the Nobel Assembly said Barre-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery was one prerequisite for understanding the biology of AIDS and its treatment with antiviral drugs. The pair's work in the early 1980s made it possible to study the virus closely.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Germany France Paris Sweden Stockholm Cambodia Oslo Nobel Prize Heidelberg anti-HIV Oliver Smithies Mario Capecchi Briton Martin Evans Nobel Assembly Luc Montagnier
That in turn let scientists identify important details in how HIV replicates and how it interacts with the cells it infects, the citation said. It also led to ways to diagnose infected people and to screen blood for HIV, which has limited spread of the epidemic, and helped scientists develop anti-HIV drugs, the citation said.
"The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease and dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients," the citation said.
The Nobel assembly said zur Hausen "went against current dogma" when he found that some kinds of human papilloma virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer. He realized that DNA of HPV could be detected in tumors, and uncovered a family of HPV types, only some of which cause cancer.
The discovery led to an understanding of how HPV causes cancer and the development of vaccines against HPV infection, the citation said.
Barre-Sinoussi is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Union at the Intsitut Pasteur in France, while Montagnier is the director for the World Foundation for Aids Research in Prevention, also in the French capital.
Barre-Sinoussi's father, Roger Sinoussi, told the AP that his daughter is visiting Cambodia this week.
"I am happy for her," he said, reached at her home in the Paris suburbs.
Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.
The awards include the money, a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.
Last year's medicine award went to U.S. researchers Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Briton Martin Evans for work that led to a powerful and widely used technique to manipulate genes in mice, which has helped scientists study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Thursday, October 2, 2008
'Fossil' HIV reveals virus history
'Fossil' HIV reveals virus history
Thursday, 2 October 2008 Bianca NogradyABC
The researchers found that the HIV viral sequences from two samples, which are almost 50 years old, differ significantly in their genetic makeup (Source: iStockphoto)
Related Stories
Audio: African discovery prompts major rethink on origin of AIDS (AM)
Malaria resistance gene ups HIV risk, Science Online, 17 Jul 2008
Microbicides could lead to tougher HIV, Science Online, 08 Jul 2008
Semen protein ushers HIV into cells, Science Online, 14 Dec 2007
A preserved specimen of lymph node nearly half a century old has revealed how rapidly the HIV virus has diversified, according to international research.
A team of researchers from around the world has been trawling through decades-old tissue samples from African hospital archives in the hope of finding samples containing the HIV virus.
They struck it lucky with a sample that was collected back in 1960, from a woman living in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the second-oldest sample of the HIV virus ever found - the oldest is from 1959.
The researchers found that the HIV viral sequences these two samples differ significantly in their genetic makeup.
Their finding appears in the latest issue of Nature.
Using a technique called molecular clock analysis, they were able to plot the two viral sequences' evolutionary path back in time to determine when they diverged.
They concluded the strains evolved from a common ancestor that emerged in Africa near the beginning of the twentieth century around 80 years before the disease appeared in western populations.
Fossil virus
Co-researcher and molecular palaeontologist Dr Michael Bunce, head of the Ancient DNA Laboratory at Murdoch University, Perth, says these early viral sequences tell scientists a lot about how the virus evolves.
"The more information we can find out about the evolutionary history of pathogens, [the] more we can understand how they've changed over time to adapt to humans," says Bunce.
"We can get a really good picture of those parts of the virus that are rapidly mutating and those that stay more constant."
While a 50-year-old sample seems relatively young compared to the fossil materials Bunce is used to working with, for a virus like HIV, it's ancient.
"HIV mutates so quickly that 40 to 50 years old is really akin to looking at fossil bone that's millions of years old," he says.
Extracting the viral genetic material from the samples was no easy task. The samples had been preserved in formalin, which can cause considerable damage to DNA sequences.
"What we have got is actually quite good considering the preservation status," Bunce says, but it required a lot of technological 'tweaking' to isolate the tiny snippets of DNA from the sample.
The international research team is continuing to analyse hundreds of samples in the hope of finding further HIV-positive tissue that could add more pieces to the puzzle.
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Who's MONEY is it anyway? Federal Bail Out
Since I do keep track and watch CNBC obsessively and have a small stock portfolio.. vested in ETF's, made that move this summer after watching the Yahoo versus Microsoft debacle and then the Bear Stearns failure, figure it was safer to buy the Lipper ETF's that move inversely,, lol with the market. Ok so much for the economic jargon
My humble opinion is that we need to keep the facts and figures straight here and not react with a knee jerk reaction and instead remain calm, cool and collected and do some serious technical analysis.
I watched George W. Bush last night and he really didn't say much except acknowledge that the FEDs need to so something or the entire economy was going to collapse.. OOPS, btw, Paulson should be fired now.. he doesn't need the job, so replace him with someone who does give a damn! oops now that is being emotional.
Bill Clinton actually presented an excellent analysis of what should and could be done.
and before he was on with Larry King, I said what he said,, and BTW, Bill and Hillary as he suggested,, had to have seen this coming because they are financially vested people.. to use an economic term.
More to the point, this so called Bail Out of Wall street is not a bail out and it is certainly not bailing out Wall Street, which will go on with or without the "Federal bail out or is that buy out?"
Unfortunately, AIG and Fannie and Freddie regardless of HOW they got there need to be supported by Federal dollars for the stability of the US economy. AIG insures US Property and lives all over the world (whether or not they pay any claims is another matter) and the level of intertwined infrastructure between the USA and the world would be is at this point in time, not to be unwound, therefore, AIG must be included in the buy/bail out. The ramifications of this not happening are more than I could write in this Blog.
Fannie and Freddie hold both GOOD and BAD mortgages directly or via proxy, therefore, in order to make sure the good mortgages, and I mean the regular people who got mortgages based on their credit and income must be protected. There is no way to separate out the good and bad debts in retrospect now, it is too late. A year ago when Jim Cramer and Hillary Clinton suggested to the Government a current review of the sub prime mortgage and over extended credit and lending, a blatant money grab by those institutions, they were ignored totally, which is why Jim Cramer is played over and over again screaming THEY KNOW NOTHING,,, how right he was in that case.
Yes this 700 Billion dollar bail out is needed, but it should be carefully scrutinized by Congress, and all the quid pro quos suggested by Paulson should be totally ignored.
The companies that will get the money should have apply for a specific amount of money and any CEO previously involved should NOT be allowed to be involved in the application nor counsel and they should definitely NOT be given a severance package,,, it is my humble understanding they got that last year as a Christmas bonus. :)
And yes. Senators John McCain and Obama should return to Congress and study this and vote on the biggest economic crises for our country since the New Deal,, no make that the Great Depression. About the suggestion that a debate should be held during this, if John McCain decides he wants to dedicate his mind, (the implication about his multi tasking abilities aside..give me break) and his staff and his time to this, it is his decision.
Frankly, I think Obama should also do the same thing, sometimes things of this import take full effort and time.
A 700 Billion government purchase of private companies should be carefully looked at,, no giant carte blanche handed over to unknown entities, corporations or prior CEOs.
I think that about covers it..
Have a great day :)
Grasshopper izzy
My humble opinion is that we need to keep the facts and figures straight here and not react with a knee jerk reaction and instead remain calm, cool and collected and do some serious technical analysis.
I watched George W. Bush last night and he really didn't say much except acknowledge that the FEDs need to so something or the entire economy was going to collapse.. OOPS, btw, Paulson should be fired now.. he doesn't need the job, so replace him with someone who does give a damn! oops now that is being emotional.
Bill Clinton actually presented an excellent analysis of what should and could be done.
and before he was on with Larry King, I said what he said,, and BTW, Bill and Hillary as he suggested,, had to have seen this coming because they are financially vested people.. to use an economic term.
More to the point, this so called Bail Out of Wall street is not a bail out and it is certainly not bailing out Wall Street, which will go on with or without the "Federal bail out or is that buy out?"
Unfortunately, AIG and Fannie and Freddie regardless of HOW they got there need to be supported by Federal dollars for the stability of the US economy. AIG insures US Property and lives all over the world (whether or not they pay any claims is another matter) and the level of intertwined infrastructure between the USA and the world would be is at this point in time, not to be unwound, therefore, AIG must be included in the buy/bail out. The ramifications of this not happening are more than I could write in this Blog.
Fannie and Freddie hold both GOOD and BAD mortgages directly or via proxy, therefore, in order to make sure the good mortgages, and I mean the regular people who got mortgages based on their credit and income must be protected. There is no way to separate out the good and bad debts in retrospect now, it is too late. A year ago when Jim Cramer and Hillary Clinton suggested to the Government a current review of the sub prime mortgage and over extended credit and lending, a blatant money grab by those institutions, they were ignored totally, which is why Jim Cramer is played over and over again screaming THEY KNOW NOTHING,,, how right he was in that case.
Yes this 700 Billion dollar bail out is needed, but it should be carefully scrutinized by Congress, and all the quid pro quos suggested by Paulson should be totally ignored.
The companies that will get the money should have apply for a specific amount of money and any CEO previously involved should NOT be allowed to be involved in the application nor counsel and they should definitely NOT be given a severance package,,, it is my humble understanding they got that last year as a Christmas bonus. :)
And yes. Senators John McCain and Obama should return to Congress and study this and vote on the biggest economic crises for our country since the New Deal,, no make that the Great Depression. About the suggestion that a debate should be held during this, if John McCain decides he wants to dedicate his mind, (the implication about his multi tasking abilities aside..give me break) and his staff and his time to this, it is his decision.
Frankly, I think Obama should also do the same thing, sometimes things of this import take full effort and time.
A 700 Billion government purchase of private companies should be carefully looked at,, no giant carte blanche handed over to unknown entities, corporations or prior CEOs.
I think that about covers it..
Have a great day :)
Grasshopper izzy
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Vitamin D-receptor polymorphism may increase melanoma risk, research suggests.
Daily Diagnosis
Vitamin D-receptor polymorphism may increase melanoma risk, research suggests.
HealthDay (9/22, Preidt) reported that a paper appearing in the Nov. 1 issue of Cancer suggests that there is a "possible link between melanoma and a gene involved in vitamin D metabolism," which "has been identified by Italian researchers." Previous studies have shown "that vitamin D has significant protective effects against the development of cancer, because it regulates cells growth, cell differentiation, and cell death." There is "also evidence that sun exposure, which triggers the body to produce vitamin D, can have anti-cancer effects." HealthDay explained that "Vitamin D works by binding to a receptor in cells," and researchers at the University of Padova chose to focus on that process.
They conducted "meta-analyses of existing studies" that examined a "higher risk of developing melanoma (as well as all other cancer types), depending upon gene polymorphisms," Medscape (9/22, Mulcahy) added. Initially, they looked at seven studies that "addressed the issue of" vitamin D-receptor (VDR) gene "polymorphisms and cancer risk," but "dropped one because the data overlapped with data from another study." In the end, the six "studies provided a total of 2,152 cases and 2,410 controls." The investigators discovered that "only Bsml was significantly associated with the risk of developing melanoma," while the "other polymorphisms of the VDR gene that were studied -- FokI, TaqI, EcoRV, and Cdx2 -- were not."
In fact, "individuals with the BsmI polymorphism had a 30 percent increase in the odds ratio for melanoma," MedPage Today (9/22, Bankhead) reported. The researchers also said that "their findings are consistent indirectly with the hypothesis that the BsmI polymorphism alters interaction between 1,25[OH]2D3 and the vitamin D receptor, thereby reducing 1,25[OH]2D3 levels or activity and increasing vulnerability to melanoma." They did concede, however, "that there is no current evidence of a functional effect of the polymorphism on vitamin D metabolism or the vitamin D receptor." Still, the "current evidence is in favor of the association between one [vitamin D receptor] gene polymorphism and the risk of melanoma development, although further work will be necessary to validate the risk identified in the current meta-analysis," the investigators concluded.
Vitamin D-receptor polymorphism may increase melanoma risk, research suggests.
HealthDay (9/22, Preidt) reported that a paper appearing in the Nov. 1 issue of Cancer suggests that there is a "possible link between melanoma and a gene involved in vitamin D metabolism," which "has been identified by Italian researchers." Previous studies have shown "that vitamin D has significant protective effects against the development of cancer, because it regulates cells growth, cell differentiation, and cell death." There is "also evidence that sun exposure, which triggers the body to produce vitamin D, can have anti-cancer effects." HealthDay explained that "Vitamin D works by binding to a receptor in cells," and researchers at the University of Padova chose to focus on that process.
They conducted "meta-analyses of existing studies" that examined a "higher risk of developing melanoma (as well as all other cancer types), depending upon gene polymorphisms," Medscape (9/22, Mulcahy) added. Initially, they looked at seven studies that "addressed the issue of" vitamin D-receptor (VDR) gene "polymorphisms and cancer risk," but "dropped one because the data overlapped with data from another study." In the end, the six "studies provided a total of 2,152 cases and 2,410 controls." The investigators discovered that "only Bsml was significantly associated with the risk of developing melanoma," while the "other polymorphisms of the VDR gene that were studied -- FokI, TaqI, EcoRV, and Cdx2 -- were not."
In fact, "individuals with the BsmI polymorphism had a 30 percent increase in the odds ratio for melanoma," MedPage Today (9/22, Bankhead) reported. The researchers also said that "their findings are consistent indirectly with the hypothesis that the BsmI polymorphism alters interaction between 1,25[OH]2D3 and the vitamin D receptor, thereby reducing 1,25[OH]2D3 levels or activity and increasing vulnerability to melanoma." They did concede, however, "that there is no current evidence of a functional effect of the polymorphism on vitamin D metabolism or the vitamin D receptor." Still, the "current evidence is in favor of the association between one [vitamin D receptor] gene polymorphism and the risk of melanoma development, although further work will be necessary to validate the risk identified in the current meta-analysis," the investigators concluded.
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