-
It’s a Mini-Me: Mice Clones Provide Personalized Cancer Treatment
Image Composite from unrealitytv.co.uk & nytimes.com They won’t help you get one million dollars or assist in your quest for world-domination, but these little mice can help researchers find your cure.
The New York Times presents the story of New-Jersey based Champions Oncology and 9-year-old Michael Feeney, who suffers from Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer where tumors develop in the bone. His account with the creation of his medical “avatar”, or “Mini-Me” as Dr. Megan Sykes likes to call it, shows excellent promise as a option for cancer treatment when chances can’t be taken. Researchers have been able to biopsy the affected tissue, implant it in mice, and make a copy of the human immune system to test treatment options. Pretty neat.
Unfortunately, the treatment comes at a price – Feeney’s treatment ran up $25,500, a rather large amount that won’t ever be covered by insurance. Still, it is a small price to pay for such personalized treatment.
Give the NYT article a read and figure out more about this exciting treatment option for those who need it most. Using mice for research isn’t new, but having a little mouse running around with Phil DNA, well…actually, it would probably just end up like one of these.
Source: New York Times, via The Verge
-
Hide Your Pr0n, It’s Time For Large-Scale BitTorrent Monitoring
Source: techspot.com, via Google Build up your stash, for your downloads are about to be tracked. Hardcore.
Despite not knowing a damn thing about how BitTorrent works, MPAA/RIAA conglomerates Center for Copyright Information and MarkMonitor will begin tracking users’ downloads on the popular file-sharing platform very soon. Different from previous anti-piracy efforts, five internet service providers have agreed to shell out all your personal info to the organization, giving you “six strikes til you’re out” before legal action will be taken.
Advocates of the program state that it’ll give content providers retribution who leaks their data, but at the expense of harming individuals who may not even be aware that their networks are being used for illegal activity. Cause, you know, they’re dead. It’s no surprise, however, that the organizations want this…they have been hemorrhaging money. Instead of innovating, they’d rather punish independent labels and the artists themselves for not jumping aboard the sinking ship. It’s awfully common these days to release your own creations on your own, and I think plenty of artists are doing just fine. Or they can always shame and extort you into paying them.
It pays this day to be safe. I use BitTorrent more these days for legitimate purposes. After all, the only way to be completely safe is to not do anything illegal at all. However, if Big Brother won’t agree to be human about it, there are always ways to beat them at their own game.
Source: TorrentFreak
-
Balls of Fury: Eunuchs Live Longer?
Source: http://cl.jroo.me, via Google Ouch. There has to be a better way.
A report in the scientific journal Current Biology shows a very interesting find: eunuchs live longer than their ball-carrying brethren. Balls-deep into the archives from the Imperial Court of the Korean Chosun dynasty (1392–1910), Korean researcher Kyung-Jin Min found that castrated men of the era lived to be 70 years of age, significantly longer than the average age of 47. Even more astonishing was that three of the 80 men lived to be 100 years old. Given the population at the time, that’s 130 times more centenarians than even the most-developed countries of today.
The men were castrated as boys, which suggests that hormones may play a factor in why men don’t live as long as women. They never got to experience that wonderful, pimply and oily part of life – puberty. Dr. L. Stephen Coles, a co-founder of the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group, has a theory on why this matters:
Females may have an advantage in longevity because they have a back-up X chromosome. A woman’s body is a mixture of cells, half containing an active X chromosome from her mother and the other half from her father. If there is a defect on one X chromosome, half of her cells will be unaffected.
Makes sense. If we have an ailment that originates in our DNA, women have another copy of the gene. In the IT world, we call that a backup plan.
Head over to the source links for more information. With all that said, I think I’ll stick with what I’ve got…
anti aging, biology, castrate, castration, centenarians, Chosun, chosun dynasty, current biology, dynasty, eunuchs, eunuchs live longer, gerontology, health, hormones, how to live longer, imperial courn, korea, live longer, los angeles, religion, science, scientific journal, stephen colbert, stephen coles, theory -
Faster Than Light Travel is Possible; Creating the Warp Drive
Scientists have long speculated on the potential of faster than light travel. If we really want to colonize other planets without terraforming lifeless rocks like Mars we are going to have to find faster forms of interstellar transportation. With our current capabilities it would take hundreds, or in most instances, thousands of years, to travel to even the closest star. We would begin an expedition to another star and our great great great great great grandchildren would complete it.
Because matter cannot travel faster than light without a near infinite amount of energy being used, scientists must use a loophole in the laws of existence. Space-time itself, or the reality that light exists in, is able to expand faster than the speed of light, as it did just after the big bang and possibly still does.
Scientists have proposed an Alcubierre drive, or a device that contracts space-time in front of a ship and expands it in back. This would allow the ship to, while still traveling slower than the speed of light, cover distances near instantaneously. It’s nearly identical to the concept of a wormhole. Imagine there is a point A and a point B on each side of a sheet of paper. What is the quickest way to get from point A to point B? Fold the paper so that the two points touch. The ship would still obey relativistic laws, but space-time itself would be manipulated to meet the demands of the ship.
This is all amazing, but how much energy would this require? According to the original Alcubierre drive plans, roughly an amount of energy equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter. But, scientists are now saying that by sightly altering the shape of the drive into a donut-shape instead of a circular-shape, the required energy would be closer to that of a normal rocket launch.
Scientists have begun experimenting with miniature warp drives in order to begin the development of the technology.
It may sound like science fiction, but remember, there was a time when moving pictures were science fiction, when going to the bottom of the ocean was a fairy tale, and when traveling to the moon was viewed as downright impossible. Nowadays we are bored of going to the moon, we speculate on how many dimensions reality is composed of, and send robots to Mars. Whenever humans imagine, creation is not far off.
-
New Ecosystem Discovered: Glacier Mice
I wrote an article a while back about the strange places life turns up. Scientists have discovered an entirely new form of strange, and they are dubbing it a whole new ecosystem. The strangest part is that this new ecosystem is mobile and exists in freezing temperatures.
I am referring to glacier mice, balls of dust and moss that collect on glaciers. These balls are the Arctic version of tumbleweed. They roll here and there, collecting moisture and moss, while harboring thriving communities of life.
Steve Coulson and Nicholas Midgley studied these moss balls and discovered that they are the perfect shelter for tiny communities. Within the glacier mice the researchers found “Collembola (six-legged insectlike creatures commonly known as springtails), tardigrades (tiny eight-legged moisture-loving creatures that are often called water bears) and simple nematode worms. And contrary to what the team expected, these animals were not just getting by inside the glacier mice; with up to 73 springtails, 200 tardigrades and 1,000 nematodes being found in just a single mouse, they were thriving.”
The animals also had a wide range of ages, leading researchers to believe that these communities are on going and thriving. Despite glacial temperatures being at or below freezing, the mice had temperatures of up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, protect the animals from harsh wind, and contained a few drops of water each, more than enough to support these miniature communities.
Keep in mind, everything you look at, everywhere you step, every breath you breathe, is teeming with universes of living things. In fact, your own body is composed of more foreign bacteria than… you.
arctic, biology, Collembola, coulson, different ecosystems, ecosystem, ecosystems of the world, Fahrenheit, freezing, glacial mice, Glacier, glacier mice, life, life everywhere, living communities, midgley, Mouse, Nematode, new ecosystem, nicholas midgely, Springtail, steve coulsen, Tardigrade, worst ecosystem -
Psychiatrists Cannot Distinguish the Sane From Insane
http://static6.businessinsider.com/ One of the most important criticisms of psychiatric diagnosis is the Rosenhan experiment, which was an experiment orchestrated by David Rosenhan in 1973. In these experiments, completely sane people faked hallucinations in order to gain access to mental hospitals in an attempt to show that
psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane.
In the study, the fake patients, three women and five men, kept written records on how 12 different hospitals in 5 different states were generally operated and also how they were personally treated.
The experiments began by each of the fake patients making appointments at the hospitals and describing voices and words that they heard in their heads. They provided
a false name and job, but all other details they gave were true including general ups and downs of life, relationships, events of life history and so on.
After being admitted to the hospital, they acted exactly as they would in the outside world, participating in activities and regularly talking to patients and hospital staff in a friendly, jovial manner. They also immediately told the staff that they felt fine, and no longer heard voices or felt the slightest bit depressed.
The sane patients were in the hospitals for 7 to 52 days, with an average of 19 days of admittance. Their objective: to be declared sane and get out of the hospitals by their own devices. This is where things get interesting…
First, none of the patients were detected by the doctors or staff at the hospitals as being normal or sane, while many of the clinically insane patients spotted their sanity immediately. In fact, 35 out of 118 patients publicly voiced their suspicions regarding the fake patients.
Second, normal behavior was viewed as symptoms of their illness. Writing notes on the staff (which they did openly as the staff took no interest in the subject matter of the writing) was considered ‘writing behavior,’ and showing up early for meals was labeled as ‘oral-acquisitive syndrome,’ rather than simple boredom.
Here are the results of the staff’s behavior toward the fake patients:
Response Percentage making contact with patient Psychiatrists Nurses Moves on with head averted 71 88 Makes eye contact 23 10 Pauses and chats 2 4 Stops and talks 4 0.5 Next up, the researchers flipped the study on its head and lied to hospital staff, telling them that one or more sane patients would be admitted to the hospital. The staff was to rate each patient on a 10-point scale as to the likelihood of them being a fake patient.
The results:Number of patients judged 193 Number of patients confidently judged as pseudo patients by at least one staff member 41 Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist 23 Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist AND one other staff member 19 The psychiatrists at these hospitals failed miserably at even remotely being able to tell the difference between sanity and insanity.
Rosenhan notes that the
experience of hospitalization for the pseudo patients was one of depersonalisation and powerlessness. Powerlessness and depersonalisation were evident in the ways in which the patients were deprived of many human rights such as freedom of movement and privacy. Medical records were open to all staff members regardless of status or therapeutic relationship with the patient and personal hygiene was monitored and many of the toilets did not have doors. Some of the ward orderlies would be brutal to patients in full view of other patients but would stop as soon as another staff member approached.
Anyone that has ever taken a look at the DSM knows what a joke modern day psychology and generalized labeling has become. According to the DSM, everyone is clinically insane and requires very similar if not identical treatment. As Rosenhan urged so long ago,
instead of labeling a person as insane we should focus on the individual’s specific problems and behaviours.
We could also strip society of senseless laws and restrictions that halt progress and use something that has been proven to work. Time tested, and safe, what could be better?
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment
http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/rosenhan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/09/26/can-lsd-help-cure-depression/
https://wondergressive.com/2012/09/14/the-benefits-of-psilocybin-magic-mushrooms/
am i crazy, behavior, crazy, crazy nicolas cage, crazy people, DSM, DSM joke, dsm label, dsm stupid, erowid, Hospital, how to use dsm, insane vs sane, Insanity, label people, Mental disorder, mental hospital, mentally insane, mushrooms, nicholas cage, psychedelic, Psychiatrist, Psychiatry, psychlogy, psycho, psychology, Rosenhan experiment, wrong diagnosis -
Impossible to Distinguish the Sane From Insane
One of the most important criticisms of psychiatric diagnosis is the Rosenhan experiment, which was an experiment orchestrated by David Rosenhan in 1973. In these experiments, completely sane people faked hallucinations in order to gain access to mental hospitals in an attempt to show that “psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane.”
In the study, the fake patients, three women and five men, kept written records on how 12 different hospitals in 5 different states were generally operated and also how they were personally treated.
The experiments began by each of the fake students making appointments at the hospitals and describing voices and words that they heard in their heads. They provided “a false name and job, but all other details they gave were true including general ups and downs of life, relationships, events of life history and so on.”
After being admitted to the hospital, they acted exactly as they would in the outside world, participating in activities and regularly talking to patients and hospital staff in a friendly, jovial manner. They also immediately told the staff that they felt fine, and no longer heard voices or felt the slightest bit depressed.
The sane patients were in the hospitals for 7 to 52 days, with an average of 19 days of admittance. Their objective: to be declared sane and get out of the hospitals by their own devices. This is where things get interesting.
First, none of the patients were detected by the doctors or staff at the hospitals as being normal or sane, while many of the clinically insane patients spotted their sanity immediately. In fact, 35 out of 118 patients publicly voiced thier suspicions regarding the fake patients.
Second, normal behavior was viewed as symptoms of their illness. Writing notes on the staff (which they did openly as the staff took no interest in the subject matter of the writing) was considered ‘writing behavior,’ and showing up early for meals was labeled as “oral-acquisitive syndrome,” rather than simple boredom.
Here are the results of the staff’s behavior toward the fake patients:
Response Percentage making contact with patient Psychiatrists Nurses Moves on with head averted 71 88 Makes eye contact 23 10 Pauses and chats 2 4 Stops and talks 4 0.5 Next up, the researchers flipped the study on its head and lied to hospital staff, telling them that one or more sane patients would be admitted to the hospital. The staff was to rate each patient on a 10-point scale as to the likelihood of them being a fake patient.
The results:Number of patients judged 193 Number of patients confidently judged as pseudo patients by at least one staff member 41 Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist 23 Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist AND one other staff member 19 The psychiatrists at these hospitals failed miserably at recognizing insanity, as well as sanity.
Rosenhan notes that the “experience of hospitalization for the pseudo patients was one of depersonalisation and powerlessness. Powerlessness and depersonalisation were evident in the ways in which the patients were deprived of many human rights such as freedom of movement and privacy. Medical records were open to all staff members regardless of status or therapeutic relationship with the patient and personal hygiene was monitored and many of the toilets did not have doors. Some of the ward orderlies would be brutal to patients in full view of other patients but would stop as soon as another staff member approached.”
Anyone that has ever taken a look at the DSM knows what a joke modern day psychology and generalized labeling has become. According to the DSM, everyone is clinically insane and requires very similar if not identical treatment. As Rosenhan urged so long ago, “instead of labelling a person as insane we should focus on the individual’s specific problems and behaviours.”
We could also strip society of senseless laws and restrictions that halt progress and use something that has been proven to work. Time tested, and safe, what could be better?
-
For Cure, Administer Two Times Daily – How Effective Is Our Medicine?
Source: http://www.norfolk.police.uk It’s not uncommon to turn on the mainstream media and hear the results of a new health study or miracle cure. Whether it’s the hot new weight loss pill or “groundbreaking research” in the cure for diabetes, there’s a good chance that your ears perk up when you hear such positive words about the ailments that consume us. However, how many times have you questioned the veracity of those statements? Have you ever asked what is behind these dubious cure-all claims?
In Ben Goldacre’s new book, Bad Pharma: How drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients, he presents an interesting exposé into how drug manufacturers selectively choose information from research studies. It goes without question – we rely on our doctor’s advice to get treatment for what ails us. What the doctor has been advised, however, is a little less clear. But drugs have been tested by the FDA, right?
Drugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques that are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of treatments. Unsurprisingly, these trials tend to produce results that favour the manufacturer. When trials throw up results that companies don’t like, they are perfectly entitled to hide them from doctors and patients, so we only ever see a distorted picture of any drug’s true effects.
That’s a bit tough to swallow.
At the source link below, they’ve done a great job of breaking down information in Ben’s new book. Head over there, give it a read and check out all of the linked articles. It sparked something in me, and unfortunately, it can’t be cured with a pill.
Source: io9
-
Them Cows is Sweet
In the most startling cow news I’ve heard this week, I learned that farm cow’s feed is coming from an unexpected source.
Due to the vast drought ravaging America, cow feed has become incredibly expensive or completely unavailable. Because of this the cows are being fed other things. Hungry cows are eating discarded food products no longer okay for humans to consume. Not so bad I guess, considering they usually eat things we humans can’t, or so I thought. That was until I read what they’re being fed! Gummy worms, cookies, marshmallows and other comestibles that can replace the sugars from corn are apparently the new mainstays of these cows’ diets.
So why are cows eating gummy worms? They’re eating gummy worms because they’re hungry and it’s the cheapest food source. Is it acceptable for humans to feed cows discarded junk food when corn prices sky-rocket out of the range of the farmer’s budget? I’ll let you answer that one.
Did you answer it? Now let me tell you this isn’t new. Check out this paper for an in-depth look at how it’s been happening since the ’90’s. Cows have been eating candy, feathers, blood meal and other really disgusting fare for years. It’s gotten worse this year because of the drought, but it’s only farmers expanding on an already in place system.
Wonder about your world…
Take the plunge down the rabbit hole of insanity and wonder in this fast-paced, nonstop psychological thriller that will leave you questioning the very nature of reality and beyond. Part thriller, part romance, part existential horror, A Dream of Waking Life delves into lucid dreaming, psychedelics, existential ontology, video games, the nature of love, the nature of reality, and more.
Mendel’s Ladder delivers an adrenaline-fueled journey set on a dystopian future Earth, brimming with high-stakes action, adventure, and mystery. This epic series opener plunges readers into a world filled with diverse cultures, heart-pounding battles, and characters who will captivate your heart and imagination.
“E.S. Fein is raising the bar for quality as it’s a very well-written and thought-provoking book…There are points and themes in the story that could be discussed for eons as people will have their own idea on where it leads. It’s a book I would highly recommend.” – Andy Whitaker, SFCrowsnest
Wondergressive 
