Ideas, just ideas......

09/30/2014

Bacteria Control your Mind, Ticks make you vegetarian, Batman and The Joker love story and Full of Snakes

Bacteria Control your mind.

Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows

After all, if you are fat, is not your fault, is the bacteria living in your gut that makes your craving that 3,000 calories fat and juicy burger, or that sugar filled donut, this seems to be the perfect explanation for those who just say: fuck it, am hungry. This is what Athena Aktipis seems to be justifying in her research¹ : that bacteria within in our gut– which outnumber our own cells about 100:1 – may very well be affecting both our cravings and moods to get us to eat what they want and thus making us fat. .

Different bacteria require different nutrients, some need sugar, others fat ( 90 % of the american diet ) “ Microbes have the capacity to manipulate behavior and mood through altering the neural signals in the vagus nerve, changing taste receptors, producing toxins to make us feel bad, and releasing chemical rewards to make us feel good “ Mrs Athena Aktipis, PhD, who is co-founder of the Center for Evolution and Cancer with the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF and currently in the Arizona State University Department of Psychology.

In mice, certain strains of bacteria increase anxious behavior. One clinical trial in humans found that drinking a probiotic containing Lactobacillus casei improved mood in those who were feeling the lowest^2.

“Targeting the microbiome could open up possibilities for preventing a variety of disease from obesity and diabetes to cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of the importance of the microbiome for human health,” Aktipis said.

Ticks make you vegetarian.

Seems is bug week at jay’s ideas, there seems to be a connection between the bite of ticks and the suddenly development of red meat allergy, this is what A few years ago, Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, the director of the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s allergy division had in mind while conducted an informal experiment spending five hours hiking and bushwhacking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, near his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Ticks carry the pathogens that cause several diseases: Rocky Mountain spotted fever; Southern tick-associated rash illness, which manifests in Lyme-like symptoms; and ehrlichiosis, a cluster of related bacterial illnesses but Dr Platts-Mills believed that they can create another problem: Meat Allergy and he did develop meat allergy after.

src.adapt.480.low.jpg

Human; behold my greatest power that is your worst nightmare: I can turn you in mother-fucking-vegetarian! hahahahahaha! ( evil laugh)

You can find his very interesting interview and findings right here³.

Batman and The Joker Love Story.

Amazing adaptation from Batman and Joker, made by Gerado Preciado and Daniel Bayliss. Check it out here.

Follow them @moonheadpress and @gerrypreciado.

Music anyone ?

This week check Full of Snakes by Mumblr, they are in bandcamp.

Don't believe everything you read in the web, therefore I present to you the Sources:

1. www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/08/116526/do-gut-bacteria-rule-our-minds/

2. http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Probiotics-may-ease-anxiety-Pilot-study

3. http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/can-ticks-make-you-allergic-to-red-meat/

Sep 30, 2014 12:09:09 PM | bacteria, Body Chemestry, Brain, Current Affairs, Diet, Environment , News, Science, Technology

09/15/2014

Brain to Brain communication, Pot saves people by not overdosing on pills; Too Many Zooz is fantastic and Uzumaki is quite scary.

Brain and Computer Communication.

Human beings are always trying to express ideas by many means from the most basic forms as gesticular to a more complex ways, linguistic to digital, however, there is a need of a medium - word of image- that needs to send the meaning of the message to be delivered, without this: civilization could not occurred, Now there is a study in which a group of international researches was able to send a message from a brain to another brain throughout the internet, these Computer-Brain Interactions ( CBI) or Brain-Computer Interactions (BCI) are non-invasive, means that there is no need to plug a cable directly to your brain a la Matrix.

This opens a fantastic array of possibilities: what if we can “quick learn” Kung Fu? What if there is a chance of quantum communication between brains?. People with serious disabilities can be highly benefit of this study as well a new option of user-computer interaction in which there is no need of a keyboard or a mouse, just the pure thought.

Check the study here. ¹

Amazing.

Medical Marijuana vs Pain killers overdose.

In august 25, 2014, the Journal of the American Medical Association -JAMA- published a study about the impact of medicinal marijuana and pain killer overdose (opioid) in states where people have access to Medicinal Marijuana and compared to the rest of the nation:

"The rate of death from overdoses of prescription opioid in the United States more than quadrupled between 1999 and 2010 ... far exceeding the combined death toll from cocaine and heroin overdoses. In 2010 alone, prescription opioid were involved in 16,651 overdose deaths, whereas heroin was implicated in 3,036" now jumping to the 2014: “States with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8% lower mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate” therefore medicinal marijuana use may already have saved as many as 1,700 lives.²

There is a very good article by Rich Smith at fool.com that deepens in this issue. Worth the read.

Image by CDC.

Fanimals, too many zoos.

Life cannot be taken too seriously and Too Many Zooz is a perfect example of it, in their new short but very energetic album: Fanimals, shows that great things are accomplished when you do what you love. Highly recommended.

There is great music in the webs, but help your artist and your local music store, download it legally or get the CD, or even better, get the vinyl.

Will help all of our communities

Find a local record store here, and for those who want to know: my favorite store, is Sweat Records.

Uzumaki, by Junji Ito.

One of the most interesting and scary mangas , a series of eerie events are hunting a coast town in japan, a spiral infestation that reeks this quiet place and changes the lives of its inhabitants.

The scary things of the spirals is that once you are caught, you are in the middle of it, surrounded and the speed of the whirlpool does not let you escape, this is exactly what happens when you are reading this book. You cannot escape from its pages.

Great graphic novel, a must for those who love manga and/or horror genre.

Buy local, it will help your community.

Don't believe everything you read in the web, therefore I present to you the Sources:

1. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0105225

2. http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1898878

Sep 15, 2014 1:31:13 PM

09/08/2014

Bad Motherf@cker! eat more garlic, while looking at the map of the bottomless ocean. (How much does the all the money weight?)

Bad Motherfucker.

image from www.thenamesponyboy.com

This lovely grandmother and the indie rock band Biting Elbows share one thing in common: both are from Mother Russia. She is just being herself, remembering the good old days while hunting for her food in the cold and brutal russian winter; the later are a very well know for their music video: Bad MotherFucker. Violence at its finest .

You gotta eat your garlic.

image from 4.bp.blogspot.com

Well, that definitely will be a turn down, however: most likely your blood pressure should be quite good. Recent analysis ¹ shows enough support of garlic use as an effective way to lower high blood pressure and since hypertensive people are four times more likely to die from a stroke and three times more likely to die from heart disease than people with normal pressure, it is a natural remedy to a staggering 1,000 deaths a day in the U.S. and account for $131 billion in yearly health-care costs ². High blood pressure is considered as public health enemy No. 2, second to tobacco.

Related: Zinc helps to alleviate the common cold symptoms ³and Vitamin B3 coronary disease ⁴

Under the sea.

Lakes_and_oceans_large

image from www.stumbleupon.com

This is just to give you an idea of the ocean depth and the infrastructure that needs to be use to get oil and as well the " mysterious door" that James Cameron found at almost 11,000 meters deep inside mother earth. I truly cannot find information about this "door" but there is enough about the travel Mr Cameron did and the upcoming documentary "Deep Sea Challenge 3D" ⁵

Check the image by XKCD in its full size to give you a better idea how deep the oceans are.

How much does all the money in the world weights?

image from fc03.deviantart.net

The amount of cash around the world is only 4 trillion dollars, it would be the same size as the empire state and would be heavier, the weight would be around 300, 000 tons and will have around 150 billion of pennies.⁶

Don't believe everything you read in the web, therefore I present to you the Sources:

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18554422

2.http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/04/too-many-americans-have-out-of-control-high-blood-pressure

3. CD001364

4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20208032

5. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/james-cameron-talks-risks-rewards-deepsea-challenge-journey-article-1.1898158

6. http://what-if.xkcd.com/

Sep 8, 2014 1:02:59 PM

08/22/2014

Cool Science.

Eating cancer bacteria.

Cancer is a very complex disease and from a biological point of view, is very complicated event to happen - basically the cancer cells rearrange part of the vascular system to grow, a very difficult thing to do - and since cancer cells can be found everywhere in the body , this disease can be quite hard to cure.

There are many treatments that can save the person facing cancer, many of them are successful -chemotherapy, radiotherapy among others- but as well have side effects that can be as harsh as the ailment itself and reach the tag price of 134,000 USA dollars.

However in the 1890’s, William Coley, full time surgeon in New York, and seen here as a part time mustache model, had a crazy idea: to inject cancer patients with live Streptococcus bacteria to combat their tumors. After two recipients died from infections, he switched to administering dead bacteria and ended up treating more than 1000 patients with his so-called Coley toxins. The good doctor injected the bacteria into tumors and sometimes into the bloodstream and many of his patients survived; later on, treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery pushed Coley’s approach into the history books. Still, a 1999 reanalysis of some of his cases suggested his success rate was about the same as for modern cancer therapies.

Now, back to present days, the cancer geneticist Bert Vogelstein of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and colleagues are investigating the microbe Clostridium novyi; an anaerobic bacteria - no oxygen is needed for its survival- to destroy tumors, making this treatment target specific. The researchers hypothesize that the bacteria release enzymes that destroy the tumor cells, and then they feast on the debris, as well stimulating the immune cells to attack the cancer. More trials are expected on the near future.

This treatment was experimented first in dogs with cancer and used as last resort, the good news is many of them survived

Check the link here.

Tractor Beam.

Imagine yourself that you are in the beach, enjoying the amazing weather, the sun, the breeze, then you decide to go for a swim.

The cold water is a welcome to your senses, feels great and energizes you, then you are trying to reach the shore and for some reason it feels like you are being pulled over towards the ocean but you cannot reach the shore.

You are trapped in a riptide.

This is a dangerous situation, the best solution is to swim parallel to the shore and reach a spot where you cannot feel the tide but many people do not know this ( did you?)

However, Physicists at The Australian National University (ANU) have created a tractor beam on water, that can help saving people in this situation, helping oil spills, retrieve floating debris or even explain rips at the beach.

This new technology is quite promising and by-prodcut free ( the beam can be created by a wave generator or even whit an acoustic device)

If you want to read more of this, check it out here.

Ebola.

The recent deadly virus Ebola outbreak has killed around one thousand, three hundred and fifty, people in western Africa; with Symptoms that start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches, vomiting, diarrhea and rash; along with decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys. Around this time, affected people may begin to bleed both within the body and externally and with a fatality rate up to 90%. This is a world health crisis.

Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, two missionaries working in Liberia for the faith based charity Samaritan’s Purse, were infected with the deadly virus and given the experimental drug zmapp and after barely two weeks of have used the serum, they are now discharged from the hospital and offer no health threat.

This is quite remarkable.

For those who believe the devil is in the details:

There were some reports that a canadian drug was used to treat the missionaries; zmapp is composed by two different serums, one made in San diego and the other in Canada.

Have a great Weekend.

Aug 22, 2014 5:53:55 PM

07/08/2014

Medicinal Marijuana 2.

The support for the use of Medicinal Marijuana is getting momentum by the everyday american, here in Miami the support is more than eighty percent.¹

Colorado² and Washington³ now allow its residents to use Marijuana for recreational purposes, getting the attention of the nation and the world for this social experiment.

In the second instalment of Dr Sanjay Gupta's⁴ : WEED 2 Cannabis Madness; deepens in the therapeutic use of Medicinal Marijuana, its social and legal implications and the ordeals that many families go through just to have access to the medication, that in many cases, is their last resort.