Body Parts

AD-36 Virus Implicated In Childhood Obesity

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, has found adenovrius 36 present in 15 of 19 obese children and in only four non-obese children in a study group of 124 subjects. AD-36 locates in fat cells and causes them to multiply faster than fat cells with AD-36 present. (Jennifer Corbett Dooren, "Virus Is Linked To Obesity," The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, D1.) 

Researchers said more studies are needed to determine if AD-36 contributes to obesity. It's possible that people who are obese are more vulnerable to becoming infected with adenovirus 36. Still, researchers wrote, "If a cause and effect relationship is established it would have considerable imlications for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity."

I have written a series of four articles on obesity. This new research supports a point that I made in the first article, which is that obesity is a disease. Intestinal bacteria have already been implicated in this phenomenon; it should not be surprising that a virus might be an actor, too.

 

Medical Ethical Dilemmas--Your Opinion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Imagine these hypothetical scenarios.

1. Scientists discover that addiction to nicotine is caused by a gene mutation created by a virus that infects the baby in utero. In short order, medical researchers develop a vaccine that, if inoculated into the baby before 5 months term, prevents the gene mutation and enables her offspring to live without nicotine addition.

Should the mother have the vaccine injected into the baby?

2. Scientists discover that alcoholism is caused by a gene mutation created by a virus that infects the baby in utero. Soon, medical researchers develop a vaccine that, if inoculated into the baby before 5 months term, prevents the gene mutation and enables her offspring to live without alcoholism.

Should the mother have the vaccine injected into the baby?

3. Scientists discover, in a controlled, double-blind study of a prison population, that men who have insufficient levels of several vitamins are more violent than the general population of men. When the violent prisoners were given supplemental vitamins, their violent temperaments and behavior dramatically decreased. Shortly thereafter, pharmaceutical companies develop a vitamin pump that can be implanted in utero in male babies at 5 months term to supply those vitamins, thereby decreasing possible violent tendencies of the babies in childhood and later. 

Should the mother have the vitamin pump implanted her male baby?

4. Scientists discover that left-handedness and schizophrenia in men are caused by too much testosterone in the development of the male baby before birth. Medical researchers develop a procedure to recify the expression of testosterone through injections in utero in the fourth month of term.

Should a mother whose male baby tests positive for hyper-testosteronitis have doctors correct the expression of testosterone in the baby?

5. Scientists discover how to change the sex of a baby by genetic manipulation in second month of term.

Should scientists make available to pregnant women openly and freely the opportunity to select their baby's biological sex?

6. Scientists discover that male homosexuality is caused a malfunction in mother's immune system. The mother's antibodies attempt to reject the male baby in the womb. The antibodies damage the baby resulting in indefinite sex determination. Medical researchers develop a therapy which involves temporary suppression of the mother's immune system during the formative months of the baby's sexual development in the womb, allowing male babies to develop as heterosexual males.

Should a woman take the therapy to prevent her male baby being born homosexual?

 

Abbott Laboratories Cuts 3000 Jobs

The contraction of the American pharmaceutical industry continues. Abbott Labs is shuttering the Solvay Company in Georgia. Some research and development is being cut.  

Medical Ethical Dilemmas--Your Opinion: 1, 2, 3, 4

Imagine these hypothetical scenarios.

1. Scientists discover that addiction to nicotine is caused by a gene mutation created by a virus that infects the baby in utero. In short order, medical researchers develop a vaccine that, if inoculated into the baby before 5 months term, prevents the gene mutation and enables her offspring to live without nicotine addition.

Should the mother have the vaccine injected into the baby?

2. Scientists discover that alcoholism is caused by a gene mutation created by a virus that infects the baby in utero. Soon, medical researchers develop a vaccine that, if inoculated into the baby before 5 months term, prevents the gene mutation and enables her offspring to live without alcoholism.

Should the mother have the vaccine injected into the baby?

3. Scientists discover, in a controlled, double-blind study of a prison population, that men who have insufficient levels of several vitamins are more violent than the general population of men. When the violent prisoners were given supplemental vitamins, their violent temperaments and behavior dramatically decreased. Shortly thereafter, pharmaceutical companies develop a vitamin pump that can be implanted in utero in male babies at 5 months term to supply those vitamins, thereby decreasing possible violent tendencies of the babies in childhood and later. 

Should the mother have the vitamin pump implanted her male baby?

4. Scientists discover that left-handedness and schizophrenia in men are caused by too much testosterone in the development of the male baby before birth. Medical researchers develop a procedure to recify the expression of testosterone through injections in utero in the fourth month of term.

Should a mother whose male baby tests positive for hyper-testosteronitis have doctors correct the expression of testosterone in the baby?

Medical Ethical Dilemmas--Your Opinion: 1, 2, 3

Imagine these hypothetical scenarios.

1. Scientists discover that addiction to nicotine is caused by a gene mutation created by a virus that infects the baby in utero. In short order, medical researchers develop a vaccine that, if inoculated into the baby before 5 months term, prevents the gene mutation and enables her offspring to live without nicotine addition.

Should the mother have the vaccine injected into the baby?

2. Scientists discover that alcoholism is caused by a gene mutation created by a virus that infects the baby in utero. Soon, medical researchers develop a vaccine that, if inoculated into the baby before 5 months term, prevents the gene mutation and enables her offspring to live without alcoholism.

Should the mother have the vaccine injected into the baby?

3. Scientists discover, in a controlled, double-blind study of a prison population, that men who have insufficient levels of several vitamins are more violent than the general population of men. When the violent prisoners were given supplemental vitamins, their violent temperaments and behavior dramatically decreased. Shortly thereafter, pharmaceutical companies develop a vitamin pump that can be implanted in utero in male babies at 5 months term to supply those vitamins, thereby decreasing possible violent tendencies of the babies in childhood and later. 

Should the mother have the vitamin pump implanted her male baby?

More Jobs Cut In Pharmaceutical Industry

Pharmaceuticals are the US's biggest exporter by dollar value. Pharmaceutical research is the crown of industrial research in chemistry, biology, genetics, and medicine. Pharmaceutical companies are among the big supporters of advanced research by universities and employers of doctorate researchers. The big American pharmaceutical companies are among the great American corporations. But there is a slow leakage somewhere in the pharmaceutical industry. Companies are acquiring and merging. Big pharma are down-sizing. Some big companies are outsourcing some of their pharmaceutical research to Asia and India. More and more of the components of their medicines are manufactured in Asia and India--I recall the statistic (but sorry can't recall the source) that 80% of the ingredients of US pharmaceuticals are made abroad and imported for incorporation in American medicines. Is big pharma on the way to becoming the sick man of American industry? What a blow that would be to American private medical and pharmaceutical research. Why is this malaise happening, if it is?  Here is the latest news of pharmaceutical job losses.

Virus Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Careful research by scientists at NIH and FDA with subjects with CFS and controls without CFS confirm the presence of virus XMRV in 87% of CFS subjects but only 7% of controls. Relationship not clear. Does the virus cause CFS or does CFS create an opportunity for infection by the virus? My wife and I have struggled for a year with chronic flu and accompanying chronic fatigue syndrome and I'm voting for the virus causing the fatigue syndrome. And, hey, what about a therapy to combat XMRV and treat chronic flu and fatigue?

NDM-1 Bacterial Anti-antibiotic Gene Is Now In England

NDM-1, or New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1, bacterial gene was discovered in India. It was initially studied in India and Pakistan in 2003-2009. It has now appeared in the United Kingdom, in patients with antibiotic resistant infections. The gene confers complete resistance upon the bacteria carrying it to penicillin family antibiotics and, ominiously, to carbapenems, a powerful antibiotic withheld from general use as a last-resort antibiotic. One researcher in England said that NDM-1 is "potentially the end" of the antibiotic era of medicine.

If it is, we are, all of us, everywhere, in for a world of hurt.

Jessica Hamzelou, "Does NDM-1 herald the end of the antibiotic era?", NewScientist, 12 August 2010.

Diet Shifts the Bacterial Mix in the Intestine and Influences Health

A study comparing (by examination of feces) a study group of rural, health African children and a study group of healthy Italian children revealed significant differences in microbial composition related to diet and to the health of the children. African children ate diets high in fiber and vegetables and low in fat, Italian children ate diets high in protein and fats and low in fiber and vegetables. African children's guts contained bacterial species that broke down fiber and created short chain fatty acids that protected the intestines against inflammation; by contrast, Italian children lacked this protection and suffered intestinal ailments. (ScienceNow [AAAS])

The CO2 Climate Cycle and Maintenance of the Earth's Global Temperature

NewScientist reviews the hypothesis of a CO₂ climate cycle, the state of the debate over its role in stabilizing the earth's global temperature, status of attempts to model the cycle over the earth's history, and assessment of evidence regarding the cycle and the model. The reviewer takes the approach that anomalies (e.g., glaciers increasing as CO₂ rises, rather than decreasing as the hypothesis predicts) have not invalidated the hypothesis. Anomalies only point to secondary causal agencies, yet undiscovered, at work to counteract the thrust of the main agencies involved in the cycle. Much of the debate over the model concerns the multiplier effect of elevation in CO₂ levels in the cycle. Does doubling the level of CO₂ raise global temperature on average by one, or two, or three degrees? Current consensus seems to be settling on 3 degrees. The review does not address the issue whether increase in CO₂ emissions by human activity have caused the rise in global temperature since the 1960s.