Green is good. ( Verde es Vida!)

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-22736364-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); There is a saying that " Everything in green is life, and life is good"  and I cannot agreed more than that. 

Lets start with a very gracious and delectable vegetable. Broccoli. 

This mother nature product has been studied in so many different researches and has been probed to help in preventing cancer and a new study, may also help the immune system  to clean harmful bacteria  from the lungs. The compound now has been isolated and is under further research.

Interested? ( you should) you can click right here.

For the people that want to have a little more of technical detail: The compound is sulphoraphane, that stimulates the macrophage activation by the chemical pathway known as NRF2, which is defective with people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ( COPD)

 

Algae genes allow blind mice to see.

 

BLIND people could one day have their sight restored thanks to a treatment that borrows a gene from an unlikely source - algae - and inserts it into the retina. The technique has succeeded in restoring the ability to sense light and dark to blind mice, and clinical trials in humans could begin in as little as two years.

"The idea is to develop a treatment for blindness," says Alan Horsager, a neuroscientist at the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who leads the research. "We introduce a gene that encodes a light-sensitive protein, and we target the expression of that gene to a subset of retinal cells."

Some 15 million people worldwide have some form of blindness, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In people with these conditions the photoreceptors, which transform light hitting the eye into electrical impulses, are damaged, preventing the brain from receiving image information.

As the global population ages, it is thought that the number of people affected will increase. There are experimental attempts to develop electronic implants and to use stem cells to grow new retinal tissues to restore sight, but there is currently no commercial treatment available.

From  NewScientist.com

 

Marijuana to promote brain cells growth, helps to relieve anxiety and depression. ( so far probed in rats) 

Marijuana, such a misunderstood plant, used since the beginning of times for medical uses and as well for recreation purposes. Here in America, in order to do a research involving you, the scientist has to do so much paperwork in order to have access to you. Because, some people say, you can be so dangerous like cocaine or heroine. But no in Canada, that polite, seal free frozen sea, is impulsing the research, use and why not?, maybe the marketing of this promising plant. Or this is at least the results on the study and the co-author says Dr. Xia Zhang, of the neuropsychiatry research unit in the department of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.

Looks like this plant helps to promote the growth of the brain cells, in mice, and in theory can help in humans too. 

If you are interested in this article, please click here. 

 

Have a great day.