#Creating accountable anonymity online: Systems that currently allow users complete anonymity are being abusedthe World wide web is in many ways still the Wild west.
Though a large portion of internet traffic is monitored and traceable systems like the Tor Project allow users to post
and share anything anonymously. Anonymous systems provide enormous public benefits by helping journalists activists and others communicate in private away from the prying eyes of the Internet at-large.
These systems however have been degraded by criminals who use them to support unlawful activities. Tor reportedly has been used to aid in the selling of illegal drugs and in the proliferation of child pornography among other crimes.
With complete anonymity criminals are often free to do whatever they like with little or no repercussions Researchers at Iowa State university are working to solve this problem with an approach they call accountable anonymity.
Yong Guan an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and his students have devised a system that offers anonymity for honest users and accountability for dishonest users.
The lack of accountability on these anonymous services is easy to exploit Guan says. Criminals use anonymous systems to commit crimes against innocent people online and in the real world.
I thought there was a real need for accountability within these systems to protect honest users that just wish to exchange lawful information anonymously.
Tor works by sending information through a series of nodes and using layers of encryption at each stop.
and the wild places where they live said Dr. Alexine Keuroghlian researcher with WCS's Brazil Program.
and Pantanal ecosystems both for their cultural and natural heritage said Dr. Julie Kunen Director of WCS's Latin america and the Caribbean Program and an expert on Mayan archeology.
#Plan to address hypoxia in Gulf of mexico urged by expertsdespite a 12-year action plan calling for reducing the hypoxia zone in the Gulf of mexico little progress has been made
#Tobacco myths persist 50 years after US Surgeon general warned Americans of smoking dangerstobacco misconceptions prevail in the United states
despite the dramatic drop in smoking rates since the release of the first Surgeon general's Report on smoking and health in January 1964.
Experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center dispel common myths and share new educational resources to address this persistent challenge.
as a result of successful education legislative and smoking cessation efforts said Lewis Foxhall M d. vice president for health policy at MD Anderson.
Still lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer and the leading preventable cause of death in the United states. With the approaching 50th anniversary of the Surgeon general's Report Foxhall and other MD Anderson experts urge the public to take a proactive stance against this pervasive health
issue by gaining insight on current tobacco issues including information that disproves the following myths.
and even a few cigarettes here and there can maintain addiction said David Wetter Ph d. chair of health disparities research at MD Anderson.
Even brief secondhand smoke exposure can cause harm. Exposure to secondhand smoke at home or work increases a person's risk of heart disease by 25 to 30%and lung cancer by 20 to 30%.
%That's because the amount of cancer-causing chemicals is higher in secondhand smoke than in the smoke inhaled by smokers.
Families that prohibit smoking in and around the home are on the right path said Wetter.
and sharing this knowledge with others are ways to action said Ernest Hawk M d. vice president of cancer prevention and population sciences at MD Anderson.
and reap health benefits. As part of MD Anderson's Moon shot program to end cancer Hawk and other experts have developed a comprehensive plan that addresses the burden of tobacco use in institutions communities states and nations.
The End Tobacco plan recommends more than 100 actions in the areas of policy education and community-based services that MD Anderson can lead to end tobacco at the institutional local regional state national and international levels Hawk said.
More than 200000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year in the United states and about 150000 people die as a result of this disease.
Smoking contributes to almost 90%of lung cancer deaths and 30%of all cancer deaths. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Texas M d. Anderson Cancer Center. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Clotting protein hardens aging heartsheart valves calcify over time and Rice university scientists are beginning to understand why.
The new work detailed in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology opens up a huge line of investigation Grande-Allen said.
and other valve diseases Grande-Allen said. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Rice university.
#Collaborative efforts help mental health patients quit smokingpersons with mental illness account for more than one-third of adult smokers in the United states
and despite a decline in tobacco use during the past five decades there has been no change in the smoking rate for patients with poor mental health.
To combat reliance on tobacco in mental health populations experts agree that mental health services and government-sponsored tobacco control programs must work together to improve education and access to smoking cessation programs.
Historically mental health care has operated separately from general medical practices where collaborations exist to strongly encourage smoking cessation in typical patient populations said Jill M. Williams MD professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical school.
The result of this disconnect according to Dr. Williams has left smokers with disparities to become the dominant group of smokers in the United states. This includes smokers with mental illness as well as other addictions and the very poor.
In a Viewpoint piece published Online First on October 30 in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry Williams said partnerships between mental health providers and state or county tobacco control programs benefit patients
For patients smoking cessation improves their health by reducing the impact of smoking-related illnesses.
This in turn lowers costs in treating those illnesses. The paradox is that we still pay for the heart disease
and cancer that these smokers develop so it makes more sense to help them stop smoking explained Williams who recently became chair of New jersey Breathes a coalition working for a tobacco-free New jersey.
We must recognize that smoking has disappeared not but has become a vital issue for New jersey's most vulnerable citizens
In the Viewpoint piece Williams along with Jeffrey G. Willet Phd from Kansas Health Foundation and Gregory Miller MD MBA from the New york state Office of Mental health underscore the benefits to patients noting that collaborative
and wellness services and broaden access through clinical care. Whereas the treatment for tobacco dependence has typically been delivered in primary care settings linking mental health facilities with state and county tobacco control programs allows smoking cessation education to be incorporated into counseling
and encourages mental health providers to promote tobacco quit programs during face-to-face interactions with patients.
Likewise tobacco control programs already leaders in advocacy can emphasize the need for smoking cessation programs
and policies that focus specifically on underserved populations including individuals with mental health illness. For healthcare providers integrated programs could provide strategies for improving Medicaid reimbursement of tobacco treatment services.
Medicaid is the primary health insurer for persons with mental illness in the U s . and mental health providers can utilize their experience with Medicaid to expand tobacco treatment through partnerships with tobacco control programs.
Ultimately coordinated efforts can strengthen and expand treatment programs control healthcare costs and improve the well-being of individuals with mental illness and other disparate populations
which have limited access to smoking cessation options said Williams. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical school.
#Tearless onions could help in fight against cardiovascular disease, weight gainonions a key ingredient in recipes around the globe come in a tearless version that scientists are now reporting could pack health benefits like its close relative garlic which is renowned for protecting against heart disease.
They published their laboratory analysis which suggests a similar heart-friendly role for the tearless onions as well as a possible role in managing weight gain in ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
or take it as a nutritional supplement in pill form to reduce the clumping of platelets in the blood
whether the new onion might also have similar positive effects on health. The scientists found that in lab tests extract from the tearless onion significantly reduced platelet clumping compared to regular onions or even garlic.
Other results showed that the new onion had about the same anti-inflammatory properties as the original.
#New antifungal composition effectively inhibits wide variety of fungiin order to overcome resistance to antifungal variety of pathogenic fungi
and yeast researchers from the University of Alicante have developed a novel and efficient antifungal composition with pharmacological applications in agriculture and food industry among others.
or chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) antifungal agents and additives that synergistically affect the growth of a variety of pathogenic fungi.
and naturally degradable with antibacterial antiviral and antifungal properties obtained from chitin the main constituent of hard body parts of invertebrates such as the shells of shrimp lobsters crabs
Because many fungal pathogens develop resistance to prolonged treatment with antifungal drugs it is desirable to find alternatives for their control in medical agricultural and those applications in which the fungi cause damage.
In clinics pathogenic fungi resistant to antifungal drugs are a major cause of mortality in patients.
Chitosan and the antifungal additives some based on the identification of molecular targets of chitosan contribute to produce a novel alternative to control fungal diseases
and in particular antifungal resistant strains LÃ pez Llorca said. The various experiments carried out by the research group are proof of the significant synergistic effect of the combination of chitosan
(or COS) and other antifungals and ARL1 gene inhibitor in inhibiting the growth of mold and yeast.
Chitosan is nontoxic to mammals making it suitable for use as an antifungal in various applications Luã s Vicente LÃ pez adds.
and transcription in yeast leading to oxidative stress cell death and growth inhibition LÃ pez Llorca indicates.
In this regard the combination may have potential in the treatment of tumors. This novel composition can be used as a medicine for clinical or veterinary use for the treatment and/or prevention of fungal infections by pathogenic yeasts and filamentous fungi such as Candida spp.
Cryptococcus spp. Fusarium spp. and probably also in the control of tumor cells. In agriculture pesticide treatments preferably in the control of diseases caused by pathogenic fungi as Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum.
In the food industry for example for coating foods to prevent microbial contamination and in the textile industry as a detergent for cleaning surfaces.
The research group has led numerous laboratory tests that have successfully proven the effectiveness of this novel composition of fungal growth inhibition of numerous species of pathogenic yeasts and filamentous fungi.
The industrial scale is simple and economically viable compared to the benefits of this invention in the various fields of application.
#Health benefits of wild blueberries aboundwild blueberries are a rich source of phytochemicals called polyphenols
which have been reported by a growing number of studies to exert a wide array of protective health benefits.
or prevent pathologies associated with the metabolic syndrome including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The metabolic syndrome (Mets) is a group of risk factors characterized by obesity hypertension inflammation dyslipidemia glucose intolerance
and insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction explains Dr. Klimis-Zacas a Professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Maine
and a co-author of the study. Mets affects an estimated 37%of adults in the US.
Many substances found in food have the potential to prevent Mets thus reducing the need for medication and medical intervention.
We have documented previously the cardiovascular benefits of a polyphenol-rich wild blueberry in a rat model with impaired vascular health
and high blood pressure says Klimis-Zacas. Our new findings show that these benefits extend to the obese Zucker rat a widely used model resembling human Mets. Endothelial dysfunction is a landmark characteristic of Mets
and improve the balance between relaxing and constricting factors in the vascular wall improving blood flow and blood pressure regulation of obese Zucker rats with metabolic syndrome.
and endothelial function regular long-term wild blueberry diets may also help improve pathologies associated with the Mets. Story Source:
and her colleagues identify a clear-cut case of a stress-strengthened ant-tree mutualism and suggest a possible mechanism underlying it one based on interspecies carbon exchange.
And the type of water-mediated stress response observed in the study may be more common in the future
#Higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke in food desertthere is more to the cost of living in a food desert than higher prices for the few fruits
and vegetables sold nearby according to a study by an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis researcher and the Marion County Public health Department.
The study being discussed at 12:30 p m. Tuesday during the American Public health Association's annual meeting in Boston examined the health impact of developing a grocery store in a low-income urban neighborhood on the east side of Indianapolis.
Researchers found that residents of the community have much higher rates of diabetes hypertension heart disease and stroke than in other areas of Marion County.
and being more physically active said Cynthia Stone clinical associate professor in the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public health at IUPUI.
and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related illness such as diabetes and heart disease.
Researchers gathered data on the current health of the community looking at hospital and emergency room data Stone said.
The study also found that the residents have a higher hospitalization rate and more frequent visits to the emergency room compared to other county residents.
#The prevalence of colds and pneumonia in cows can be controlledrespiratory diseases in cattle are a great threat to animal welfare and lead to financial losses in the cattle industry.
The bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is one of the main causes of respiratory disease in cattle.
A study of the prevalence and infection distribution of the virus shows that it is possible to control the virus
The BRS virus is equivalent to the human RS virus and causes most of the cases of serious pneumonia that lead to fatalities in calves and to epidemics
and infection distribution of the virus between Norwegian cattle herds and found that during the course of one year nearly half of the cattle herds were infected newly
while almost as many herds became free of infection. It therefore appears that the virus does not survive for a long time in one herd
and that it should be possible to reduce the number of infections by preventing the herds becoming reinfected.
The infection dynamics of the BRSV virus was studied in 134 randomly selected Norwegian dairy herds.
Five calves in the herds were tested for antibodies against this virus and then again six months later.
if at least one animal aged between 150-365 days was shown to have antibodies against the virus The young age of the animals tested would indicate that they probably were infected quite recently i e. during the course of the last year.
The frequency of new infections was the same irrespective of the season. 33%of the herds
which had tested originally positive managed to get rid of the infection after six months. The findings of this study indicate that monitoring the prevalence of the virus
and focusing on measures to combat infection in these herds ought to be effective strategies for limiting the prevalence and the consequences of BRSV infection in cattle.
The research group Viral infections in cattle at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science which carried out this study is engaged currently in projects that seek to identify the most effective ways of preventing new infections in herds.
#Endometriosis risk linked to two pesticidesa Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center-led study has found that two organochlorine pesticides are associated with an increased risk of endometriosis a condition that affects up to 10 percent of reproductive
and mirex had a 30-to 70-percent increase in endometriosis risk. The findings are published online ahead of the print issue of Environmental Health Perspectives a journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences part of the National institutes of health.
Endometriosis is a noncancerous condition that occurs when the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus or womb grows outside of the organ
and attaches to other structures or organs. The condition most often affects the ovaries fallopian tubes and lining of the pelvic cavity.
For many women the symptoms of endometriosis can be chronic and debilitating negatively affecting health-related quality of life personal relationships
and corresponding author Kristen Upson Ph d. who was a predoctoral research fellow in epidemiology at Fred Hutch
Today she is a postdoctoral fellow at the Epidemiology Branch of the NIEHS. Since endometriosis is driven an estrogen condition we were interested in investigating the role of environmental chemicals that have estrogenic properties such as organochlorine pesticides on the risk of the disease she said.
The principal investigator of the study was Victoria Holt Ph d. a joint member of the Epidemiology Research Unit in the Public health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch and professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School
of Public health. This research is important as endometriosis is a serious condition that can adversely affect the quality of a woman's life yet we still do not have a clear understanding of why endometriosis develops in some women
but not in others Holt said. Our study provides another piece of the puzzle. The study was conducted among members of Group Health Cooperative a Seattle-based nonprofit health care system.
The study involved 248 women newly diagnosed with endometriosis and for comparison 538 women without the disease.
We found it interesting that despite organochlorine pesticides being restricted in use or banned in the U s. for the past several decades these chemicals were detectable in the blood samples of women in our study
and were associated with increased endometriosis risk Upson said. The take-home message from our study is that persistent environmental chemicals even those used in the past may affect the health of the current generation of reproductive-age women with regard to a hormonally driven disease.
Organochlorine pesticides have demonstrated generally estrogenic properties in laboratory studies of human tissue and adverse reproductive effects in laboratory studies of other model organisms altering the function of the uterus
and ovaries as well as hormone production Given these actions it's plausible that organochlorine pesticides could increase the risk of an estrogen-driven disease such as endometriosis Upson said.
We hope our findings will help inform current global policymaking to reduce or eliminate their use.
The above story is provided based on materials by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Is it an allergy? Patients with non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS) and other food sensitivities showed clinical laboratory
and histological characteristics suggesting they may be suffering from a non-Ige-mediated food allergy according to the article Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity as an Allergic Condition:
Personal Experience and Narrative Review published online today in The American Journal of Gastroenterology. In this review lead author Antonio Carroccio M d. from the University of Palermo in Palermo Italy examines prior data regarding NCWS
and other relevant medical literature focusing on NCWS patients who may suffer from non-Ige-mediated wheat allergy.
Food allergies are divided typically into two areas: Ige mediated or non-Ige mediated. In Ige mediated food allergies people develop symptoms almost immediately after eating
and when blood and skin tests are carried out there is a positive marker. Non-Ige mediated food allergies including celiac disease primarily affect the GI mucosa (the innermost layer of the gastrointestinal tract)
and have delayed a onset of symptoms which can make it difficult to diagnosis. Dr. Carroccio and his colleagues reviewed data on 276 patients diagnosed with NCWS using a double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge.
The data indicating a possible wheat allergy diagnosis and other data in the literature were examined.
The authors hypothesize that patients with NCWS may be suffering from non-Ige mediated food allergy.
We reviewed the role of serum Immunoglobulin g antibodies and the basophil activation assay in food allergy as well as the histology findings in the food allergy diagnosis said Dr. Carroccio.
We compared patients suffering from NCSW and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to controls with IBS not due to NCWS.
The review also suggests a link in wheat withdrawal and the intestinal microbiota. A change in diet with wheat withdrawal can also cause a change in the intestinal microbiota.
This is now considered a crucial element in IBS pathogenesis. Future studies in NCWS patients should consider the role of diet in the microbiota and in turn on the intestinal immune system Dr. Carroccio added.
Based on his review Dr. Carroccio concluded Non-celiac wheat sensitivity can now be considered the cause of gastrointestinal symptoms which overlap those commonly attributed to functional disorders.
However many doubts remain and it must be underlined that we must utilize the double blind placebo-controlled challenge method to confirm the suspicion of non-celiac wheat sensitivity
and then study the pathogenesis of that specific clinical manifestation. A confident NCWS diagnosis must exclude a placebo effect.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American College of Gastroenterology (ACG. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Elusive bay cat caught on camerathe world's least known cat has been caught on camera in a previously unsurveyed rainforest by scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Imperial College London.
Until now the bay cat (Pardofelis badia) had been recorded on camera traps just a handful of times in its Borneo forest home
and was photographed only in the wild for the first time in 2003. But more images of this animal have been captured than ever before together with evidence of four other wild cat species in a heavily logged area of forest where they were expected not to thrive.
Dr Robert Ewers from the Department of Life sciences at Imperial College London leads the SAFE tropical forest conservation project in Borneo where the bay cats were seen.
but we now know this land can be home for many endangered species. Our study today shows solid evidence that even large carnivores such as these magnificent bay cats can survive in commercially logged forests Dr Ewers added.
Israel Finkelstein and Dr. Meirav Meiri of Tel aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near east Civilizations together with Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen from the same department and Dr
Steve Weiner and Dr. Eilsabetta Boaretto of the Weizmann Institute of Science Prof. Guy Bar-Oz of Haifa University Dr. Greger Larsen of Durham University Prof.
Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University and Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem contributed to the study.
Pillagers and pig loversour DNA analysis proves that the wild boars living in Israel today are the descendants of European pigs brought here starting in the Iron age around 900 BCE says Prof.
If the European pigs mated with the local pigs as we suspect today's modern wild boars should have some Near Eastern DNA says Dr. Meiri who conducted the laboratory work for the study in a special highly sterile lab in TAU's Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute
and around the freshwater pools in the forests that covered the Riversleigh area millions of years ago said Dr. Suzanne Hand of the University of New south wales a co-author of the study.
because prior to this the fossil record suggested that the evolutionary tree of platypuses was relatively linear one said Dr. Michael Archer of the University of New south wales a co-author of the study.
#Gene responsible for hereditary cancer found to disrupt growth-regulating cellular pathwaywhitehead Institute scientists report that the gene mutated in the rare hereditary disorder known as Birt-Hogg-Dub cancer syndrome
This is an unexpected finding as some cancers keep this pathway turned on to fuel their unchecked growth and expansion.
In the case of Birt-Hogg-Dub syndrome the mutated gene prevents mtorc1 pathway activation early in the formation of tumors.
and that's a major contribution says Sabatini who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a professor of biology at MIT.
And in my view that's an important first step to understanding how it might be involved in cancer.
In the early 2000s scientists determined that mutations in the gene coding for FLCN caused the rare cancer Birt-Hogg-Dub syndrome
but the syndrome's symptoms offered little insight into FLCN's molecular function. Birt-Hogg-Dub syndrome causes unsightly but benign hair follicle tumors on the face benign tumors in the lungs that can lead to collapsed lungs and kidney cancer.
The syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder which means that a child inheriting one mutated copy of the FLCN gene will eventually develop the syndrome.
Currently the disease is managed by treating symptoms but no cure exists. FLCN's dual roles--as a cause of a rare cancer in its mutated form
and as a trigger for a growth pathway that is often hijacked in cancer cells--has prompted Tsun
and Sabatini to rethink how a mutation can push cells to become cancerous. Basically the mtorc1 pathway is essential for life explains Tsun.
So when you lose this nutrient switch or if it can't be turned on then the cell seems to freak out
and cause all other growth promoting pathways to be turned on to somehow overcompensate for this loss.
And this is actually what we see in patient tumors. For Birt-Hogg-Dub syndrome patients and their families better understanding of FCLN's function moves the field one step closer to developing a therapy.
Usually diseases are described first then the responsible gene or genes are identified and then that gene's molecular function is figured out says Tsun.
And you need to know the gene's function before you can start working on drugs or therapy.
We've done that third step which is a very important discovery for these patients.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The original article was written by Nicole Giese Rura.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
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