Once thought of the reason for low colorectal incidence, fiber is now considered a poser based on new research.

Researchers seeking to resolve one of the most controversial issues in cancer prevention found that colorectal cancers were 16% less common among people consuming the most fiber than among those receiving the least.

But the advantage probably comes from other healthy lifestyle choices made by the fiber eaters, who tend to smoke less, exercise more, avoid red meats and consume more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, calcium and folic acid, the researchers said.

When researchers controlled for these factors, evidence of fiber as a cancer fighter disappeared.

Source

–In a nutshell this research is suggesting that fiber is just for hardening up your dumps. Really, its too gross not to be good for you,

Loud, grating noise is not just annoying, it can increase the risk of a heart attack, researchers report.

This increase in risk appears to be caused by the physiological effects of environmental and work noise, the German research team found.

“Our results demonstrate that chronic noise exposure is associated with a mildly to moderately increased risk of heart attack,” researcher Dr. Stefan Willich, director of the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charite University Medical Centre in Berlin, said in a prepared statement.

“The increase appears more closely associated with actual sound levels rather than with subjective annoyance. However, there were differences between men and women and these need further investigation,” he noted.

Reporting in the Nov. 24 online edition of the European Heart Journal, Willich’s team compared data on 2,000 heart attack patients with data on more than 2,000 patients admitted to trauma and general surgery departments for reasons other than heart attack.

Source

–Who would of known? Not the same, but otherwise hard to diagnose is a little known protein deficiency called Protein-S. I was recently cleared of having Protein-S.

The AIDS virus, HIV, basically magically disappeared from this guy’s body. Must be all those fried Mars bars they eat in Scotland. A fried Mars Bar probably incinerated the disease as well as his intenstines.

A SCOTTISH man is believed to have become the first person in the world to beat HIV.

Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed as HIV-positive in August 2002. However, tests 14 months later showed the virus had completely gone from his body, despite taking no medication to combat it.

His doctors are adamant there were no mix-ups with his tests and have urged him to come forward for medical research to help the quest to find a cure for HIV, which causes AIDS.

• Andrew Stimpson was diagnosed as HIV-positive in August 2002
• 14 months later tests indicated that the virus had gone
• At present Mr Stimpson has declined to undertake further tests

Source

I hate medical tests as much as the next guy, particularly anything having to do with below my waistline, however, this is one test where the weight of millions rest.

HIV, AIDS, Andrew Stimpson, Loch Ness Monster

A parrot in quarantine was found to have Avian Bird Flu which came from South America and died in quarantine.

Cats used to detect Bird Flu

My cat will save me

A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities.

The study, which is reported this week in the journal Science, is the first time that a detailed map has been created to match patents to specific physical locations on the human genome.

Researchers can patent genes because they are potentially valuable research tools, useful in diagnostic tests or to discover and produce new drugs.

“It might come as a surprise to many people that in the U.S. patent system human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products,” said Fiona Murray, a business and science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and a co-author of the study.

“An isolated DNA sequence can be patented in the same manner that a new medicine, purified from a plant, could be patented if an inventor identifies a [new] application.”

Source: National Geographic

Could the open source way be applied to testing human genes?

Required assumptions for this hypothetical:
-Cheap effecient ways of researching and testing (much like using linux to create a webserver on your old 486 back in 1998)
-Abolishment of gene patents
-Highly educated individuals from around the globe interested in researching these genes

Questions:
-Will this happen in the future?
-What other obstacles face open sourcing gene research?
-If this will happen, when?

open source, genes, human genome, biotechnology