Startup Life
Technology. Startups. Venture Capital. My Life.
Health
Eat Your Berries!
Apr 23rd
Cyanidin-3-rutinoside, or C-3-R which is found in fruits and vegetables has been found to have extremely high chemopreventive properties. When extracted from black raspberries, it was found to cause apoptosis (programmed cell death) in leukemia and lymphoma cell lines. It is thought that this compound can prevent other cancers from developing as well. One of the most interesting aspects of the research discusses how C-3-R, an antioxidant, that usually stabilizes reactive oxygen species (free radicals), actually increases the amount of peroxides (reactive oxygen species) within leukemia cells through an activated mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway. See full story for more details.
Play in the Mud. Fight Depression.
Apr 10th
Maybe its not that simple, but exposure to probiotic bacteria commonly found in soil have been linked to the brain chemical, serotonin.
- Cancer patients increased their qualities of life with exposure to Mycobacterium vaccae
- M. vaccae activated a group of neurons to produce more serotonin mitigating depression
Full article at Getting Dirty May Lift Your Mood.
probiotic, 
bacteria, 
brain, 
chemical, 
serotonin, 
cancer, 
neurons, 
depression
Chicken McNuggets
Mar 23rd
Okay, this may not have to do with biotech, but since there was mention of mutations, mutagens and tumorigenic additives, I figured it “could fit”. In any case, I loved McD’s Chicken McNuggets (notice the past tense there…) until I read this article, that got its founding from the book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
Apparently McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets are composed of 38 ingredients, and are 56% corn! The book goes into each in detail, but I want to concentrate on the genetics aspect of this. Here is a list of chemical additives that are harmful to your DNA:
dimethylpolysiloxene: suspected carcinogen, established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector. It is also flammable.
tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ): antioxidant derived from petroleum. TBHQ is a form of butane (lighter fluid). FDA limits addition of TBHQ to less than 0.02% percent of the oil per nugget [Suggestion: choose hotdogs over chicken mcnuggets in a spur of the moment eating contest.]
So, what are you eating next time you go out to McDonald’s?
antioxidant, 
carcinogen, 
chicken, 
DNA, 
mcdonalds, 
mutagen, 
mutation, 
tumorigenic
US Masks Global Warming Consequences
Mar 20th
The US administration is being accused with editing out the significance from the scientific proposals made by lead scientists, notably James Hansen who is the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and a pioneer who first started warning us all about the threats of climate change.
There was a great article that talks about all the hype – from NewScientist, I have highlighted some of the interesting points:
In a 10-year policy plan, Cooney and Brian Hannegan, also at CEQ, made at least 181 edits to emphasize scientific uncertainty regarding the effects of climate change and 113 changes to minimise the importance of human contributions to global warming, according to the committee’s memo.
For example, Cooney replaced “will” with “may” in the sentence: Warming temperatures will also affect Arctic land areas.” He also deleted this sentence: “Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment.”
Hansen had previously accused political appointees of trying to silence scientists (see US agencies accused of muzzling climate experts). His case came to prominence in 2006 after he had called for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (see Top climatologist accuses US of trying to gag him).
See full article at: US fudging of climate science – details revealed
global warming
climate change
health
environment