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Thursday
Aug262010

Vitamin D Deficiency Ups Risk of Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, Diabetes, and Cancers

DateAugust 26, 2010 Author Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis

Just about the only time most of us notice vitamin D is when we see it on a milk cartoon and even then we’re oblivious to it, but growing research says that maybe we shouldn’t be. A study published earlier this week in Genome Research has mapped out the points where vitamin D interacts with our DNA. It also looked at how a deficiency of the vitamin in the body can increase the risk of a number of chronic conditions and illnesses.

The researchers found 2,776 sites along a person’s genetic code that are activated by vitamin D and influence what proteins are made. These sites are unusually concentrated near a number of genes associated with the susceptibility to autoimmune conditions, including:

  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Crohn’s disease
  • Lupus
  • Rickets
  • Cancers of the breast, colorectal, pancreatic, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Deficiencies in vitamin D can also contribute to lower insulin production, which can exacerbate type-1 diabetes, sometimes called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. This is a chronic condition where the pancreas produces little or no insulin.

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Tuesday
Aug102010

Threat Realized as Live Capture Shows Asian Carp Have Unimpeded Access To Lake Michigan

DateAugust 10, 2010 Author Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis

Map courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor.

Years of fears that the Asian carp would invade the Great Lakes and start out competing valuable commercial and recreational fish like salmon and perch for food are now beginning to being realized.

Earlier this summer the first live Asian carp - a bighead carp to be exact - was caught between the electric barrier in the Chicago Area Waterway System and Lake Michigan.

This capture proves that live Asian carp have unimpeded access to the lake and validates the accuracy of earlier environmental DNA (from microscopic bits of tissue shed from the fish) that indicated the fish were nearby.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Michigan’s renewed request for a preliminary injunction to close the Chicago-area locks. The renewed motion came in response to the DNA evidence of the carp getting past the O’Brien Lock and into Lake Michigan.

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Tuesday
Jul272010

Experts Reassure Public of Seafood Safety As Gulf of Mexico Partially Reopens to Fishing

DateJuly 27, 2010 Author Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has done monumental damage to the ecosystems of the region, which will likely take years to be fully restored, but in small ways a recovery has already begun.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reopened 26,388 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fishing.

This map is a detailed part of a Map of the World published by Planet Poster Editions in Germany.

At its closet point, the area that has been reopened is about 190 miles southeast of the Deepwater/BP wellhead, and the area where the majority of fishing will occur is about 220 miles from the wellhead, along the west Florida shelf.

NOAA said that its data has “shown no oil in the area, and the United States Coast Guard observers flying over the area in the last 30 days have also not observed any oil.”

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Thursday
Jul082010

Nations Seek to Increase Whale Hunting by Expanding Loopholes in International Ban

DateJuly 8, 2010 Author Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis

Stock photo.

Whaling as a way of life and industry can be traced back to prehistoric times through archeological evidence such as harpoons dating back to 6000 BC, petroglyphs (rock engravings) depicting whale hunts, and whale bones in ancient settlements.

Historically, whales were hunted for uses including: meat, bones for corsets, wax for candles, and oils for industrial lubricants and fuel for lamps and lanterns.

“By the 1920s, whale oil fed increasing demand for animal feed, machine lubricants, glycerin-based explosives, soap, detergents, and margarine; spermaceti from the sperm whale became a staple in cosmetics, and later, even as a lubricant for the (NASA) aerospace programme,” according to Reinventing the Whale, a report published in May 2010 by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the United Kingdom.

Right whale. Graphic courtesy of BBC News.

Reaching up to present times, this excessive international hunting has brought many species to the brink of extinction, such as the right whales, gray whales, and blue whales, just to name a few.

What’s being threatened now is the worldwide commercial whaling moratorium (ban) that was put into effect in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission. Countries are allowed quotas - which can change yearly - on catching and killing whales for scientific research purposes. After the research data is obtained from the animals, their meat and other useful parts can be sold to market.

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Friday
Jul022010

New Smoking Industry Bans and Restrictions Are Now in Effect on the United States Federal Level

DateJuly 2, 2010 Author Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis

Cartoon courtesy of quit guide.com.

As we’ve just hit the one year anniversary of the U.S. Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act on June 22, 2010, several new bans and limits against the industry are now in effect as of that date.

Among the newly effective provisions, the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration - which now has authority to regulate tobacco products - has prohibited the advertising or labeling of tobacco products with the descriptors ‘light, mild, or low,’ without agency approval.

In a speech last month to an audience from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Lawrence Deyton, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, explained that the “FDA has the authority to enforce truth in advertising.

“For example, we know the harm done by the use of the terms ‘light, low, and mild.’ I’ve really got to hand it to the industry, this was a hugely effective marketing strategy. So effective, millions of smokers came to believe that switching to a brand labeled as ‘light, low, or mild’ is the next best thing to quitting.

“Of course, we know that was just a gimmick. There is no demonstrable difference to the public health and population health by the use of those products. That’s why, effective June 22, (2010) we will ban the manufacture of cigarettes labeled as ‘light, low, and mild,’ without FDA approval.”

Philip Morris USA, a division of the international tobacco company, being one of the first to announce compliance with the new regulations, has stated a concurring view to the FDA, saying that, “No aspect of any of our cigarettes should be interpreted as suggesting that any cigarette is less risky or results in less exposure to harmful compounds than any other cigarette.

Graphic courtesy of Edinboro University.

“The amount of tar, nicotine, or other constituents in (the) smoke a smoker inhales from a cigarette can vary based upon how a smoker smokes. The amount a smoker inhales will be higher, for example, if a smoker blocks ventilations holes, inhales more deeply, takes more puffs, or smokes more cigarettes. There is no safe cigarette. If smokers are concerned about the risks of cigarette smoking, the best thing is to quit.”

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