Showing posts with label tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tests. Show all posts

Saccharin to Treat Cancer

Are you sweet enough? Maybe you are if you use saccharin. But wait! Are there other uses that this comforter can be used for? Scientists believe that it could treat cancer. The saccharin molecule deactivates carbonic anhydrase IX, a protein in aggressive cancers.
Sweet saccharin to treat aggressive cancers
Carbonic anydrase IX regulates PH so that cancer can more easily spread through the body. It is hoped that saccharin can change the PH level. If it is not at an optimum level the cancer can be successfully treated with radiation and chemo therapy.

Healthy tissues, except for the gastrointestinal tract, have no carbonydrase anydrose IX. Other carbonic anydrase proteins are there though. Molecules tested before blocked similar carbonic anydrase proteins which are present to make the body work. By tweaking the saccharin molecule it was discovered that it does not affect helpful anhydrase proteins.

Tests have begun on liver and breast cancer. These are currently on animals. If the research is successful work on humans will open a new road to treating aggressive cancers.
Chemistry by Ty Buchanan
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Private Health Insurance Fiasco in Australia

The government intends to ruin Australia's private medical insurance system. With privatization Medibank Private Health Insurance will become like all the other funds. The Commonwealth bank was once owned by the government  It is now just another bank.

At the moment Medibank has two "branches". One (Medicare) refunds part of the fee charged by specialists, blood tests and various bills from hospitals. The other is a private health insurance fund. There is a problem here, however. Medibank and Medibank Private are both registered names held by the federal government. How can a public company and a private company use the same business name?

One of these will have to change its name. People are being offered shares in Medibank Private. How long can this be allowed to continue? Isn't it illegal? Future shareholders must be told what will be done about this. A change in name will have a disastrous affect on the value of shares.

There is no doubt that Medibank Private is subsidized by government. Share values will fall as it becomes just another private fund. Surely investors can see this - maybe they are too thick to understand.  Medicare, Medibank:  what's the difference?
Health by Ty Buchanan
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Molecular Cancer Treatment Now Possible

New cancer "curing" medications are announced to the public all the time. Unfortunately, what you are not told is when they will be available. It isn't much use if you have to wait ten years - if you have cancer you could be dead before then.

It is not so much chemicals that attack dangerous "bugs" that are coming to the fore: modified molecules are increasingly being tested. In prostate cancer testosterone attaches to androgen receptors. Activation in this manner allows cancer growth to take place. A helix-mimicking molecule attaches to the particular docking point thus preventing the ideal cancer condition occurring.

In animal and human tests protein supporting cancer growth was not produced when the molecules attached. Moreover, it was not found to be toxic to the body. This research opens up a completely new area of treatment. The future looks bright in the fight against cancer - it we can afford to pay for it.
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Health
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Fish Oil Prevents Premature Birth

Over recent years there has been a host of controversial claims about fish oil, calcium and glucosamine. The questions are do these supplements do any good and do they all have to be taken? Some doctors say take them and other GPs say claims about them are nonsense.
Fish oil stops premature birth
Some tests have been done. It has still not been proven that taking calcium prevents deterioration of bones in old age. And there is no proof that glucosamine gets into joints thus reducing pain. Tests on fish oil offer some hope of benefit.

During research into omega 3 (which is in fish oil) on young children a potential benefit came to light. It seems that premature birth is delayed when fish oil is taken. Omega 3 prolongs pregnancy. Subjects who took the supplement also had larger babies. Their birth date was later than predicted. Of course, this brings up another question: Are heavier babies healthier? As the cause of premature birth is unknown perhaps this benefit overrides the perceived consequences of larger babies.
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Health
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Baboons Can Recognize words

It was thought that monkeys and chimpanzees were unable to use language as humans do because they do not have the required language centers in their brains.  Tests on baboons turned this theory on its head.  Monkeys learned the rules of words, for example consonants and vowels, so they could recognize real words in a bundle of made up nonsense.

Humans must first build up words from letters before they get meaning.  We need to construct words as if they were tables and chairs, from the legs up.

Baboons were tested by encouraging them to "play" with computers.  When they selected a real word they got wheat as a reward.  Each computer had a cross and a circle so the baboons could show words and non-words by pressing either symbol.  The words were only four uppercase letters long, but each baboon did up to 60,000 tests and they were 75 per cent correct.  The best baboon learned 308 words
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Science