>Failed autoimmune suppression mechanism new clue to lupus

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Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Cambridge, Mass., in collaboration with Jackson Laboratory scientists, have identified a regulatory defect that drives lupus.

Correcting the defect “may represent an effective therapeutic approach to systemic lupus erythematosus-like autoimmune disease,” the researchers state in their research paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research team was led by Harvey Cantor, M.D., chair of the department of cancer immunology and AIDS at Dana-Farber, in collaboration with the laboratory of Jackson Professor Derry Roopenian, Ph.D.

Autoimmune diseases develop when the immune system, which is supposed to identify and vanquish potentially dangerous infectious agents, instead attacks the individual’s own body. Most autoimmune diseases strike specific organs, such as the pancreas in type 1 diabetes. Lupus, however, is a systemic disease in which abnormal antibodies are produced throughout the body, inflaming a variety of tissues and organs, including the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys and brain.

Follicular T helper (TFH) cells fuel B cells to produce antibodies, which can be useful in fighting infections. But in lupus, TFH fuel B cells that produce dangerous antibodies that attack normal tissues (autoantibodies). CD8+ T cells (“killer T cells”), on the other hand, normally attack and destroy only infected cells. Cantor and colleagues discovered that a small, but critically important, population of CD8+ T cells (less than 5 percent), plays a specialized role in protecting from lupus. These so-called CD8+ T regulatory, or Treg, cells are specially equipped to destoy TFH cells, and by doing so, prevent lupus from developing.

Using a mouse model for systemic lupus erythematosus in humans that was originally discovered at 30 years ago by Edwin Murphy at The Jackson Laboratory, the Dana-Farber researchers, working with Roopenian’s laboratory, found defects in CD8+ Treg activity.

The new paper, Roopenian explains, is the first to demonstrate the potential breakdown of this suppression mechanism in lupus. “Overcoming this defect,” he says, “offers a potential approach prevent lupus.” …

via Failed autoimmune suppression mechanism new clue to lupus – The Jackson Laboratory.

>Former MUFON Director Reveals Reasons For Resignation

>Carrion hints that MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, is infiltrated and controlled by government interests.  He writes:

Remember when it was just a conspiracy theory that the CIA wanted the Mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro? That was until the conspiracy became reality after the CIA released its own lurid documentation on the Mafia recruitment effort.

One day, maybe not too far in the future, we will look back at the conspiracies surrounding UFOs and find out that they too are revealed as realities. …

* When I uncovered some very damaging information about the Skinwalker Ranch (also owned by Mr. Bigelow) and provided that information to the MUFON Board along with my doubts about the true agenda of the BAASS-MUFON relationship, the MUFON Board unethically bypassed me and communicated in secret with BAASS in an attempt to continue the project. When I found out about this unethical behavior, initiated by my former friend and current International Director Clifford Clift and MUFON Board member Jan Harzan (probably the next International Director after Cliff retires), I resigned immediately from the MUFON Board and the International Director position.

* Rather than reveal the truth of why I resigned to the MUFON membership, Cliff decided to whitewash the unfortunate events while he swept his broom around MUFON, portraying me as an inept leader who brought MUFON to financial ruin and presenting himself as the savior of the organization. …

via UFO NEWS | Former MUFON Director, James Carrion Fires Back at Critics and Reveals Reasons For His Resignation!.

>Coffee boosts women’s brainpower, but scrambles men’s thinking

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Next time you have a high-pressure meeting at work, keep an eye on what goes into your colleagues’ cups.

Drinking coffee improves women’s brainpower in stressful situations – but sends men into meltdown, according to a study.

While sipping a cappuccino or downing an espresso boosts women’s performance when working with others, the same drinks impair men’s memories and slow their decision-making.

And given that Britons get through some 70million cups of coffee a day, the implications are significant, say the researchers.

Psychologist Dr Lindsay St Claire said: ‘Many meetings, including those at which military and other decisions are made, are likely to be male-dominated.

‘Because caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world, the global implications are potentially staggering.’

The researchers, from Bristol University, wanted to examine what coffee does to the body when it is already under stress, such as during a tense meeting.

They recruited 64 men and women and put them in same-sex pairs. Each pair was given a range of tasks to complete, including carrying out negotiations, completing puzzles and tackling memory challenges, and told they would have to give a public presentation relating to their tasks afterwards.

Half of the pairs were given decaffeinated coffee, while the others were handed a cup containing a large shot of caffeine.

The researchers found that men’s performance in memory tests was ‘greatly impaired’ if they drank the caffeinated coffee.  …

They also took an average of 20 seconds longer to complete the puzzles than those on the decaffeinated coffee.

But women completed the puzzles 100 seconds faster if they had been given caffeine, the Journal of Applied Social Psychology reports.

via Coffee boosts women’s brainpower, but scrambles men’s thinking | Mail Online.

>Coffee boosts women’s brainpower, but scrambles men’s thinking

>

Next time you have a high-pressure meeting at work, keep an eye on what goes into your colleagues’ cups.

Drinking coffee improves women’s brainpower in stressful situations – but sends men into meltdown, according to a study.

While sipping a cappuccino or downing an espresso boosts women’s performance when working with others, the same drinks impair men’s memories and slow their decision-making.

And given that Britons get through some 70million cups of coffee a day, the implications are significant, say the researchers.

Psychologist Dr Lindsay St Claire said: ‘Many meetings, including those at which military and other decisions are made, are likely to be male-dominated.

‘Because caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world, the global implications are potentially staggering.’

The researchers, from Bristol University, wanted to examine what coffee does to the body when it is already under stress, such as during a tense meeting.

They recruited 64 men and women and put them in same-sex pairs. Each pair was given a range of tasks to complete, including carrying out negotiations, completing puzzles and tackling memory challenges, and told they would have to give a public presentation relating to their tasks afterwards.

Half of the pairs were given decaffeinated coffee, while the others were handed a cup containing a large shot of caffeine.

The researchers found that men’s performance in memory tests was ‘greatly impaired’ if they drank the caffeinated coffee.  …

They also took an average of 20 seconds longer to complete the puzzles than those on the decaffeinated coffee.

But women completed the puzzles 100 seconds faster if they had been given caffeine, the Journal of Applied Social Psychology reports.

via Coffee boosts women’s brainpower, but scrambles men’s thinking | Mail Online.

>100,000 sharks mass off Florida’s beaches

>

Pilot Steve Irwin was astonished after spotting a mass of more than 100,000 sharks swimming just 100 yards off Florida’s sandy beaches.

The long-time fisherman and marine technology expert was cruising 300ft above the clear waters in his helicopter on Sunday when he came across the astonishing scene.

The 50-year-old – who shares his name with the late Australian ‘Crocodile Hunter’ – whipped out his smartphone to capture the masses of deadly predators, which spanned a 20-mile stretch of water.

The sharks – believed to be Spinners, between 3ft and 7ft long – were heading north and swimming parallel to the east coast’s idyllic white beaches between Fort Lauderdale and exclusive Jupiter Island.

Small groups of strays were even spotted milling around swimmers who appeared to be blissfully unaware of the danger, although no injuries were reported.

Experts say this is the time of year when sharks migrate and head for warmer waters, typically swimming close to the shore while chasing after bait-fish.

But Mr Irwin, who runs Island Marine Services in Fort Pierce, was baffled as to the staggering number of sharks gathered in the shallow waters.

‘It was an truly amazing sight,’ he said.

‘I’ve been a fisherman for 20 years and I also kayak out there and it’s common to see them twist and turn and shoot through the air. …

via 100,000 sharks mass off Florida’s beaches | Mail Online.

>100,000 sharks mass off Florida’s beaches

>

Pilot Steve Irwin was astonished after spotting a mass of more than 100,000 sharks swimming just 100 yards off Florida’s sandy beaches.

The long-time fisherman and marine technology expert was cruising 300ft above the clear waters in his helicopter on Sunday when he came across the astonishing scene.

The 50-year-old – who shares his name with the late Australian ‘Crocodile Hunter’ – whipped out his smartphone to capture the masses of deadly predators, which spanned a 20-mile stretch of water.

The sharks – believed to be Spinners, between 3ft and 7ft long – were heading north and swimming parallel to the east coast’s idyllic white beaches between Fort Lauderdale and exclusive Jupiter Island.

Small groups of strays were even spotted milling around swimmers who appeared to be blissfully unaware of the danger, although no injuries were reported.

Experts say this is the time of year when sharks migrate and head for warmer waters, typically swimming close to the shore while chasing after bait-fish.

But Mr Irwin, who runs Island Marine Services in Fort Pierce, was baffled as to the staggering number of sharks gathered in the shallow waters.

‘It was an truly amazing sight,’ he said.

‘I’ve been a fisherman for 20 years and I also kayak out there and it’s common to see them twist and turn and shoot through the air. …

via 100,000 sharks mass off Florida’s beaches | Mail Online.

>Brazil – Thousands of dead fish in the Pantanal

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At Aquidauana, pantanal region of the Mato Grosso do Sul state, shoals of painteds, pacus, golden fishes, cacharas – and even stingrays, are floating dead in Rio Negro, one of the largest in the Amazon River basin.

The estimated Environmental Policy is of that several tons of fishes died, adding that the authorities and experts, they still do not have the scale of the ecological disaster.

Biologist of the State Institute of the Environment, Robert Gill Machado, noted the phenomenon, considered of great proportion, after flying over the region of sub-basin of Rio Negro. At this place fishing is banned. The area is considered one of the nurseries of fish breeding of the Pantanal.

According to the technicians of the Institute the symptoms that occur in this case are the same symptoms of other instances of the genre. The fish are dying putting their heads out of water trying to obtain air, due to lack of oxygen in the water. This deficiency is due to the large volume of ash produced by burned, which is carried by runoff along riverbeds of the wetland.

However, the idea of blaming the ashes of forest burn has no rationale. The residents of the region, they don’t believe in this theory. More probaly the poisoning of water by gases would be generated by decomposing organic matter, a process that, in fact, removes oxygen from water. All very natural to some extent. What is not natural in the region is the volume of fish that died from deadly agent. …

via Brazil Weird News: Brazil – Thousands of dead fish in the Pantanal.

>Was the Model for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa a Man?

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Call her “Manny Lisa”? Italian researchers say the model for the world’s most famous painting may have been a male apprentice and also a lover of the artist, Leonardo da Vinci.

The identity of the Mona Lisa, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris and draws 8.5 million visitors a year, has been an enduring mystery.

But now her (or is it his?) secrets are seemingly being revealed every few years.A group of Italian scientists and art historians announced today that a male apprentice and longtime companion of da Vinci was the main influence and model for the “Mona Lisa” painting, The Associated Press reported.

Two years ago, however, researchers at Germany’s Heidelberg University announced that they had cracked the secret of Mona Lisa’s identity beyond “all doubts,” Reuters reported at the time.

They said the model for the 16th-century portrait was, as long-rumored, Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo.

But the Italian researchers, while not entirely ruling out Lisa Gherardini, believe the bigger influence for the painting was an apprentice named Gian Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salai. He worked with da Vinci for 20 years beginning in 1490. Their relationship has been described as ambiguous.”Salai was a favorite model for Leonardo,” researcher Silvano Vinceti told the AP. “Leonardo certainly inserted characteristics of Salai in the last version of Mona Lisa.”

But Vinceti agreed that the famous portrait may have been inspired by more than one influence.

“The ‘Mona Lisa’ must be read at various levels, not just as a portrait,” Vinceti said. …

via Was the Model for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa a Man?.

>Mushroom Roots, Chicken Feathers Could Be Key to Making Cars More Sustainable

>

Green plastics are a growing part of the car market, and Mielewski says it may be possible to actually grow car parts.

She says scientists at Ford are experimenting by mixing some mushroom roots together with other plant matter, like wheat straw, and putting the mixture into a mold shaped like a car part.

They close the mold, and the mushroom roots grow because they’re feeding on the plant matter.

After about a week, it’s filled the mold, they take it out, and it’s in the shape of a car part.

Just cover it with a little bioplastic and it’s ready to go.

The mushroom car parts are a ways off from being introduced into cars, but Pogue believes they will not only change how parts are manufactured, but also style as well.

“When you make hard plastics out of plants, they tend to resemble nature,” he said. “The mushroom parts have flecks of mushroom in them — you can see the bits. It’s like wood grain. No piece looks the same.” But if the car parts of the future are rooted in mushroom roots, the future of fuel may be riding on chicken feathers.

Pogue says Delaware-based scientist Richard Wool has discovered that when feathers are cooked at just the right temperature, they can turn into high-tech hydrogen storage devices.

Although hydrogen is considered a zero-emission fuel, using it to power cars is difficult because it’s a gas that likes to be free.

“It likes to occupy a lot of space,” Wool told Pogue. “To compress it into a small space like the size of your gas tank — you know, 20 gallons — requires enormous pressure.”

That’s why many hydrogen-powered vehicles have tanks that are almost twice the size of the car.

However, chicken feathers act like sponges to draw the hydrogen gas closer, and that drops the pressure in the tank. That means if the carbonized black chicken fiber is stuffed into an engine, enough hydrogen could fit into a normal-sized gas tank to allow a 300-mile car trip.

….

via Mushroom Roots, Chicken Feathers Could Be Key to Making Cars More Sustainable.

>Mushroom Roots, Chicken Feathers Could Be Key to Making Cars More Sustainable

>

Green plastics are a growing part of the car market, and Mielewski says it may be possible to actually grow car parts.

She says scientists at Ford are experimenting by mixing some mushroom roots together with other plant matter, like wheat straw, and putting the mixture into a mold shaped like a car part.

They close the mold, and the mushroom roots grow because they’re feeding on the plant matter.

After about a week, it’s filled the mold, they take it out, and it’s in the shape of a car part.

Just cover it with a little bioplastic and it’s ready to go.

The mushroom car parts are a ways off from being introduced into cars, but Pogue believes they will not only change how parts are manufactured, but also style as well.

“When you make hard plastics out of plants, they tend to resemble nature,” he said. “The mushroom parts have flecks of mushroom in them — you can see the bits. It’s like wood grain. No piece looks the same.” But if the car parts of the future are rooted in mushroom roots, the future of fuel may be riding on chicken feathers.

Pogue says Delaware-based scientist Richard Wool has discovered that when feathers are cooked at just the right temperature, they can turn into high-tech hydrogen storage devices.

Although hydrogen is considered a zero-emission fuel, using it to power cars is difficult because it’s a gas that likes to be free.

“It likes to occupy a lot of space,” Wool told Pogue. “To compress it into a small space like the size of your gas tank — you know, 20 gallons — requires enormous pressure.”

That’s why many hydrogen-powered vehicles have tanks that are almost twice the size of the car.

However, chicken feathers act like sponges to draw the hydrogen gas closer, and that drops the pressure in the tank. That means if the carbonized black chicken fiber is stuffed into an engine, enough hydrogen could fit into a normal-sized gas tank to allow a 300-mile car trip.

….

via Mushroom Roots, Chicken Feathers Could Be Key to Making Cars More Sustainable.