Where we go, we don't know!!!Q. Are we playing God in attempting to clone humans?
No, but we sure are playing God in trying to decide what God wants, in trying to ban cloning. Last I checked God hasn’t delegated anyone the responsibility to be his mouthpiece!
If God doesn’t wan’t cloning, being omnipotent as he is, he will not make it happen. In trying to support God, we are assuming he needs our help!! what an audacity! So all those proponents banning cloning who think it is like playing God, you are really insulting your God. You are assuming he is an weakling and needs your help. Have you ever considered in your little brains that it may be his wish to reveal the secret to life, him guiding us in little ways in helping us to
understand the mysteries of life.
Repeatedly in history have men tried to throttle the progress of science as it went against his prized superstitions, and everytime they failed. Yes, several people were persecuted in the process, but in the end truth prevailed. So my advice to those in favor of banning cloning - grow up guys!
This is based on the hypothesis that God is omnipotent, all powerful being, which by definition means he can do what he wants to. So if God cannot do as often advertised and needs puny humans to do his work for him then he is not omnipotent.
If that is so why do you care about such a God? He is like us, only stronger, probably just a bully and/or an autocrat!
If he doesn’t need you and you think you are just trying to please him by conjecturing what he wants and doing accordingly, then my advise is:
- Stop being a kiss-ass
- First wait to hear from him clearly what he wants before you go about rampaging after conjecturing what he wants. Your brain may not be capable to understand what he means.
- If he really wants something from you he is at least intelligent enough to let you know exactly what it is
- If you are hearing in dreams to go about doing weird things, including fighting to stop the progress of science, killing/burning/maiming people because they do not believe in your religion or god or are not doing as you think he weants etc. then first see a gastro-enterologist & then definitely a psychiatrist.
“Satyameba Jayate Nanritam, Sateyeno Pantha Bitoto Debojano” - a Sanskrit sloka which roughly translated means: Truth is always victorious, it is the way of the God.
via [stemcell]
For most, alcohol and drug rehab is the start to beginning the 12-steps toward recovery. The 12-step program is still the primarily used treatment approach to alcohol and drug addiction. Overcoming addiction is a process. Even with treatment, the impulses to use and to drink remain. The 12-steps provide a guideline for continuing sobriety. Involvement in the many anonymous recovery programs also provides all the needed assistance to stay sober. Cirque Lodge is founded on the 12-step program. A stay in drug rehab isn’t a long enough time in recovery for most. We strive to help our alcohol and drug rehab clients to have a solid foundation of the initial steps towards recovery.
When residents leave any addiction treatment program, they are once again exposed to many of the temptations they previously had succumbed to. 12-step meetings and support groups take on the role of assisting continued sobriety. Prior to leaving drug rehab at the Cirque Lodge, each client is given a number of options when it comes to continuing the 12-step process. These options are constructed into a continuing care plan for recovering success. Clients also get accustomed to the atmosphere 12-step meetings and working with addiction sponsors while still in treatment. They are educated and aware of the need and importance for continuing to work with such programs.
Throughout working the 12-steps of recovery, one needs to maintain that solid connection to a higher power. This is one of the steps covered in drug rehab at Cirque Lodge. One must establish this connection and be willing to turn over their addiction problems to that power. At the Cirque Lodge, we strive to provide vital spiritual experiences. Such experiences can create a solid connection to that power greater than our own. In the difficult times, when things just seem to be working against, that connection can be the strength to staying sober.
from [cirquelodge]
Mesothelioma Treatment
Most forms of chemotherapy involve the intravenous administration of drugs such as Alimta and Cisplatin. Chemotherapeutic drugs are targeted to kill cells that are rapidly dividing by interfering with processes that occur during cell division.
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| Chemotherapy is an effective treatment option but comes with unpleasant side effects. |
A relatively new form of chemotherapy called heated chemotherapy is an option for patients with peritoneal mesothelioma.
This treatment is carried out following surgery, and involves the perfusion of heated chemotherapeutic medications into the peritoneum.
from [asbestos]
Causes of Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a highly aggressive cancer that is difficult to both diagnose and treat. Between two and three thousand cases of malignant mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in America, and these figures are projected to increase throughout the next decade.
What Causes Mesothelioma?
An overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence has proven that malignant mesothelioma is caused by asbestos exposure. Currently, there is no other proven cause for this disease.
Asbestos is a naturally-occurring fibrous mineral that was widely used in industrial, commercial, and domestic products throughout the twentieth century. Asbestos was touted for its durability, fire resistance, and excellent insulating properties, and was used in several thousand different manufactured "asbestos products," including construction materials, household appliances, and brake linings. Because asbestos use was so widespread, millions of Americans have been exposed to the toxic material, which has led to the development of malignant mesothelioma among thousands of Americans.
How Does Asbestos Exposure Cause Mesothelioma?
Internal organs and body cavities are covered by a thin tissue membrane called the mesothelium. This lining covers the thoracic cavity (where it is called the pleura), the heart sac (where it is known as the pericardium), and the abdominal cavity (where it is called the peritoneum). The mesothelium offers both support and protection for organs and body cavities and provides a source of lubrication that helps organ function and health.
Mesothelioma develops in the linings of organs and body cavities, typically in the pleura, pericardium, or peritoneum. In very rare cases, mesothelioma may develop in the lining of the testicles, known as the tunica vaginalis.
The exact method by which asbestos causes mesothelioma is still being researched, but medical professionals offer four different theories:
- Asbestos causes irritation and inflammation of mesothelial cells, which results in irreversible scarring, cellular damage, and eventually cancer.
- Asbestos fibers enter cells and disrupt the function of cellular structures that are essential for normal cell division, causing cellular changes that lead to cancer.
- Asbestos causes the production of free radicals. These molecules damage DNA, and cause cells to mutate and become cancerous.
- The presence of asbestos causes cells to produce oncoproteins. These molecules cause mesothelial cells to ignore normal cellular division restraints, and this can lead to the development of cancer.
The element that ties each theory together is the fact that asbestos results in cellular damage, which causes cells to lose control over their own cycles of normal division and begin dividing uncontrollably. Healthy cells follow cycles of cell division that ensure tissues and organs do not grow beyond normal size - in cancer cells, these restraints are lost.
In cases of mesothelioma, the result is that membranes in the affected location begin to thicken, and fluid builds up in the spaces between membrane layers. As cancer cells continue to divide and pile on top of one another, tumors begin to form. The uncontrolled division of cancer cells results in the impaired function of the body's organs and systems (primarily due to factors such as internal pressure caused by the growth of tumors, and the reduction of essential nutrients for organs).
from [asbestos]
The six recognized asbestos minerals, which are considered silicates (molecules that include silicon and oxygen), include:
- Chrysotile - (Also known as white or green asbestos, from the Greek word meaning "fine, silky hair") Appears as curly, whitish fibers and constitutes 95 percent of the asbestos in use. Chrysotile is mined throughout the world, but most of the United State's chrysotile supply comes from Canada, Africa, and former USSR. Scientists believe this to be the least toxic of all asbestos forms.
- Crocidolite - (Also known as riebeckite or blue asbestos) Composed of straight fibers, most crocidolite comes from southern Africa and Australia. It is believed to be the most toxic form of all asbestos minerals.
- Amosite - (Also known as cummingtonite-grunerite or brown asbestos) The trade name "amosite" is an acronym for Asbestos Mines of South Africa, after the Amosa mines. Amosite is also straight in shape, but brittle in structure and excellent for use in heat insulation.
- Anthophyllite - This form of asbestos is brittle, white, and contains various forms of iron. It has been found to have excellent resistance to chemicals and heat.
- Tremolite - In rough form, tremolite appears white and chalky. Tremolite can also be naturally found in other mineral forms aside from asbestiform. It has been the major ingredient in industrial and commercial talc.
- Actinolite - Typically prismatic, flat in structure, and elongated. Actinolite also comes in forms other than asbestiform and has poor resistance to chemicals.
The last five amphibole (which translates to "ambiguous" in Greek) types have a slightly more complex crystal structure than chrysotile and are not used as extensively in commercial products as chrysotile. Due to their structure, amphiboles tend to stay in the lungs longer than chrysotile and are more likely to cause illness because of this factor. Some hypothesize very small contaminations of amphibole fibers within chrysotile are most to blame for cancer deaths caused by asbestos exposure.
Asbestiform minerals are found in serpentine and ultramafic rock. These rocks are located throughout the United States, especially near mountainous regions. California is exceptionally bountiful in asbestos, where the mineral can be found in at least 44 of the state's 58 counties (some geologists report asbestos is found in 50 of the 58 counties). Asbestos fibers especially form near fault zones, where temperature, pressure, and time have transformed the molecules into the asbestiform crystals.
from [asbestos]
The term "asbestos" has been given to six naturally occurring mineral fibers that have been used for commercial purposes. It can be found in hundreds of countries on just about every continent. These fibers belong to two separate mineral groups, known as serpentine and amphibole.
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| A Detailed Diagram of Where Asbestos Can Be Found in the Home |
The U.S. Bureau of Mines has listed more than 100 mineral fibers as "asbestos-like" fibers, but the United States government only regulates the six aforementioned forms (primarily due to effective lobbying on behalf of the asbestos and stone industries).
These very fine fibers are separable, hundreds of times thinner than human hairs, and too small to be seen with the naked eye. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines fibers of concern as at least five micrometers long and at least three times as long as their diameters. For a frame of reference, mineralogists work with fibers as much as a thousand times as long as their diameters.
from [asbestos]
Over the course of the past century, millions of innocent people have been exposed to asbestos, a class of fibrous minerals known to cause a variety of cancers.
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| Once asbestos is inhaled it can lodge itself within the body's organs causing cells to mutate and become cancerous. |
For many decades asbestos was considered an acceptable source of insulation, and thousands of materials made from asbestos were widely applied in industrial and domestic settings.
Asbestos was found in countless products on the commercial market, in many factories, homes and public structures, and in a myriad of industries, such as railway production, shipbuilding, and energy production.
For information about at-risk workplaces and products, please see Occupations at Risk for Asbestos Exposure and Products Containing Asbestos.
Of the millions of people who have been exposed to asbestos in the United States alone, thousands have developed life-threatening illnesses, many of which are aggressive cancers. Each year, approximately 10,000 Americans die from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos.
from [asbestos]
Once asbestos is inhaled it can effect many of the bodys different organs including the throat, lungs, stomach, heart and testicles.There are five known types of mesothelioma. Four of these are malignant cancers, and one is a benign condition.
Pleural Mesothelioma: This type of mesothelioma develops in the lining of the lungs, known as the pleura. It is the most common form of malignant mesothelioma, with around 70 percent of cases being pleural in origin.
Peritoneal Mesothelioma: This form of mesothelioma develops in the lining of the abdominal cavity, known as the peritoneal membrane. Approximately 25 percent of mesotheliomas are of this type.
Pericardial Mesothelioma: This form of mesothelioma develops in the lining of the heart, known as the pericardium. About 5 percent of all mesothelioma cases are pericardial.
Testicular Mesothelioma: This is the rarest type of malignant mesothelioma; to date, there have been less than 100 recorded cases. Testicular mesothelioma develops in the tunica vaginalis of the testicles.
Benign Mesothelioma: The benign form of mesothelioma most commonly develops in the pleura. This is the only form of mesothelioma for which full cure and recovery is a probable outcome, though it may be a precursor of future asbestos-related problems.
via [asbestos]
Scanning electron microscope image of 
"Tetherin represents a new class of cellular factors that possess a very different means of inhibiting viral replication," says study author Paul Bates, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Tetherin is the first example of a protein that affects the virus replication cycle after the virus is fully made and prevents the virus from being able to go off and infect the next cell." These findings appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
When a cell is infected with a virus like Ebola, which is deadly to 90 percent of people infected, the cell is pirated by the virus and turned into a production factory that makes massive quantities on new virions. These virions are then released from that cell to infect other cells and promote the spreading infection.
Tetherin is one of the immune system's responses to a viral infection. If working properly, tetherin stops the infected cell from releasing the newly made virus, thus shutting down spread to other cells. However, this study shows that the Ebola virus has developed a way to disable tetherin, thus blocking the body's response and allowing the virus to spread.
"This information gives us a new way to study how tetherin works," says Bates. "Binding of a protein produced by Ebola to tetherin apparently inactivates this cellular factor. Understanding how the Ebola protein blocks the activity of tetherin may facilitate the design of therapeutics to inhibit this interaction, allowing the cell's natural defense systems to slow down viral replication and give the animal or person a chance to mount an effective antiviral response and recover."
Previous research had found that tetherin plays a role in the immune system's response to HIV-1, a retrovirus, and that tetherin is also disabled by HIV. These new studies reveal that human cells also use this defense against other types of viruses, such as Ebola, that are not closely related to HIV-1. "Because we see such broad classes of viruses that are affected by tetherin, it's possible that all enveloped viruses are targets of this antiviral system," says Bates. "If so, then understanding how tetherin works and how viruses escape from the effect of tetherin will be very important."
from technotake
A baby with disease called 'bubble boy disease'Bubble boy disease is formally called severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. This genetic disorder is diagnosed in about 40 to 100 babies each year in the United States. Recent studies found that gene therapy produced impressive results for that form of the disease, but also carried a risk of
The new study involved a different, less common form of SCID - and one that holds a key position in medical history. In 1990 it became the first illness to be treated by gene therapy, according to the U.S. government. Two Ohio girls improved but continued to take medication.
This form of SCID arises in babies with a genetic defect that leaves them deficient of an enzyme called adenosine deaminase. Patients can be treated with twice-weekly shots of the enzyme or a bone marrow transplant, but the medicine is expensive and marrow transplants don't always work.
Gene therapy for the new study was performed in Italy and Israel. Researchers removed marrow cells from the patients, equipped the cells with working copies of the gene for the enzyme, and injected the cells back into the patients. In most cases, that was done before age 2.
The journal article reports the outcome two to eight years later, with an average of four years. All 10 patients were still alive, but two needed further treatment. None showed signs of leukemia or other health problems from the therapy, the researchers said.
Dr. Donald Kohn, a SCID expert at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, said scientists are trying to understand why gene therapy produces a leukemia risk with the most common form of SCID but not the enzyme-related form.
The new findings are good news for the idea of using gene therapy to treat some other blood cell disorders, including sickle cell disease, said Kohn, who didn't participate in the new study.
from technotake
The findings are important because although cure rates for ALL exceed 80 percent, patient responses vary significantly to the same drugs. Much of this variance has been unexplained. The newly discovered genetic variations, however, will likely give scientists a clearer understanding of why treatments fail in some patients with ALL, and how to predict early in treatment which children could be successfully treated with less aggressive treatment.
"This study differs from most previous investigations of gene variations linked to
In their research, St. Jude scientists collaborated with a team from COG, a worldwide group of medical institutions that cooperate in laboratory research studies and clinical trials of cancer treatments for children. Instead of studying genetic variations acquired by
The researchers then determined which of those small, inherited variations, called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were associated with minimal residual disease (MRD). MRD is the small number of leukemic cells that survive after remission induction therapy—the initial treatment. This measurement helps clinicians identify patients whose disease is highly responsive to chemotherapy and therefore might be cured with milder and less-toxic treatment; and also shows if remission induction therapy will likely fail.
The researchers performed a search of 476,796 inherited SNPs from two independent groups of children with newly diagnosed ALL: 318 patients on clinical trials at St. Jude and 169 patients on COG clinical trials.
DARPA’s been running a blood pharming program for quite awhile now, but it’s gotten a real kick start this week with the announcement of a partnership with Cleveland-based biotech company Arteriocyte. Arteriocyte, it seems, has developed a Nanofiber Based System, or NANEX, a technology that enables the production of red blood cells without a donor. The two companies hope research will eventually lead to an “in theatre” blood-making machine for the military. So, if there’s no donor, where do the progenitor cells come from? Well, that’s a little hazy at this point, though Arteriocyte developed the NANEX using “blood of the umbilical cord” (stem cells), but we don’t know what will fuel the final product. Personally, we hope they can squeak out a way to do it using the less controversial “blood of the dragon.”
How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed?
How is Mesothelioma Treated?
via [technotake]