Day: 04/02/2013

Hebrew University Researchers Demonstrate Why DNA Breaks Down In Cancer Cells .

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black-dna-dna-double-helix-dna-helicase-abstractdna-replication-model-145x88Damage to normal DNA is a hallmark of cancer cells. Although it had previously been known that damage to normal cells is caused by stress to their DNA replication when cancerous cells invade, the molecular basis for this remained unclear.

Now, for the first time, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown that in early cancer development, cells suffer from insufficient building blocks to support normal DNA replication. It is possible to halt this by externally supplying the “building blocks,” resulting in reduced DNA damage and significant lower potential of the cells to develop cancerous features. Thus, hopefully, this could one day provide protection against cancer development.

In laboratory work carried out at the Hebrew University, Prof. Batsheva Kerem of the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and her Ph.D. student Assaf C. Bester demonstrated that abnormal activation of cellular proliferation driving many different cancer types leads to insufficient levels of the DNA building blocks (nucleotides) required to support normal DNA replication.

Then, using laboratory cultures in which cancerous cells were introduced, the researchers were able to show that through external supply of those DNA building blocks it is possible to reactivate normal DNA synthesis, thus negating the damage caused by the cancerous cells and the cancerous potential. This is the first time that this has been demonstrated anywhere.

This work, documented in a new article in the journal Cell, raises the possibility, say the Hebrew University researchers, for developing new approaches for protection against precancerous development, even possibly creating a kind of treatment to decrease DNA breakage.

 

 

argin�C tm�>� �:� ne-height:11.25pt;background: white;vertical-align:baseline’>Furthermore, unlike meats, caffeinated beverages, and alcohol, fruits and vegetables do not improve the taste of cigarettes.

 

“Foods like fruit and vegetables may actually worsen the taste of cigarettes,” remarked Haibach in the statement.

The research team states that more research needs to be done to see if the results can be replicated. If the findings are replicated, the investigators will work to determine the mechanisms in fruit and vegetables that help smokers quit the habit. They also want to look into research based on other dietary factors and smoking cessation.

“It’s possible that an improved diet could be an important item to add to the list of measures to
help smokers quit. We certainly need to continue efforts to encourage people to quit and help them succeed, including proven approaches like quitlines, policies such as tobacco tax increases and smoke-free laws, and effective media campaigns,” concluded researchers in the statement.

 

Source:  redOrbit.com

 

 

 

Ways to quit Smoking..

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“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” New research by public health researchers at the University of Buffalo (UB) reports that eating more fruits and vegetables could help people quit smoking and remain tobacco-free for a longer period of time.

The findings, published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, are the first in a longitudinal study to look at the effects of eating fruits and vegetables have on those who are participating in smoking cessation programs. The team of researchers surveyed 1,000 smokers who were 25 years of age and older with random-digit dialing telephone interviews. 14 months later, they followed up with the participants and asked if they had stopped using tobacco during the last month.

“Other studies have taken a snapshot approach, asking smokers and nonsmokers about their diets,” explained Dr. Gary A. Giovino, the chair of the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior at UB, in a prepared statement. “We knew from our previous work that people who were abstinent from cigarettes for less than six months consumed more fruits and vegetables than those who still smoked. What we didn’t know was whether recent quitters increased their fruit and vegetable consumption or if smokers who ate more fruits and vegetables were more likely to quit.”

The study showed that smokers who ate the highest amount of fruits and vegetables were three times more likely to stay tobacco-free for a minimum of 30 days during the follow up, more so than those who consumed the least amount of fruits and vegetables. These findings were found consistently among people of different ages, income statuses, genders, races/ethnicities, education, and sexual orientation. Those smokers who ate the most amount of fruits and vegetables also appeared to smoke fewer cigarettes per day, waited a longer amount of time before smoking the first cigarette of the day, and showed to have less dependence on nicotine.

“We may have identified a new tool that can help people quit smoking,” noted Jeffrey P. Haibach, first author on the paper as well as graduate research assistant in the UB Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, in the statement. “Granted, this is just an observational study, but improving one’s diet may facilitate quitting.”

Researchers believe that there are a number of explanations for these results, including the possibility that the higher fiber consumption from fruits and vegetables make people feel less hungry.

“It is also possible that fruits and vegetables give people more of a feeling of satiety or fullness so that they feel less of a need to smoke, since smokers sometimes confuse hunger with an urge to smoke,” explained Haibach in the statement.

Furthermore, unlike meats, caffeinated beverages, and alcohol, fruits and vegetables do not improve the taste of cigarettes.

“Foods like fruit and vegetables may actually worsen the taste of cigarettes,” remarked Haibach in the statement.

The research team states that more research needs to be done to see if the results can be replicated. If the findings are replicated, the investigators will work to determine the mechanisms in fruit and vegetables that help smokers quit the habit. They also want to look into research based on other dietary factors and smoking cessation.

“It’s possible that an improved diet could be an important item to add to the list of measures to
help smokers quit. We certainly need to continue efforts to encourage people to quit and help them succeed, including proven approaches like quitlines, policies such as tobacco tax increases and smoke-free laws, and effective media campaigns,” concluded researchers in the statement.

 

Source:  redOrbit.com

 

Topics: Health Medical Pharma, Addiction, Smoking, Tobacco, Ethics, Human behavior, Nicotine replacement therapy, Health effects of tobacco, Cigar, Cigarette, Nicotine, Smoking cessation

 

Web users ‘must disable Java’.

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Department of Homeland Security warns American web users that a flaw in Java software still leaves a serious vulnerability

Java’s makers, Oracle, issued a fix for a ‘serious security flaw’ on Sunday, but the US government said it was not sufficient and asked users to disable Java on all internet browsers.

In an updated alert, the department said “unless it is absolutely necessary to run Java in web browsers, disable it. This will help mitigate other Java vulnerabilities that may be discovered in the future.”

Government intervention in such software issues is rare, but last week the Department for Homeland Security wrote on its website that “[The] Java 7 Update 10 and earlier contain an unspecified vulnerability that can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system. This and previous Java vulnerabilities have been widely targeted by attackers, and new Java vulnerabilities are likely to be discovered.” It has since added that update 11 remains flawed.

Java is installed on more than 3 billion devices worldwide, and has been plagued by security problems. Some reports blame it for more than half of all cyber attacks globally.

In Kaspersky Labs’ latest security bulletin, the firm wrote “While we called 2011 the year of the vulnerability, 2012 can justifiably be described as the year of the Java vulnerability, with half of all detected exploit-based attacks targeting vulnerabilities in Oracle Java”.

The Department describes the potential impact of this latest vulnerability: “By convincing a user to visit a specially crafted HTML document, a remote attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system. Note that applications that use the Internet Explorer web content rendering components, such as Microsoft Office or Windows Desktop Search, may also be used as an attack vector for this vulnerability.”

Java has now taken over from weaknesses in Adobe Flash and Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer as the main loophole exploited by computer hackers. Apple has switched to shipping its computers without Java enabled, but users with Java on Macs, PCs and Linux systems are all vulnerable.

On a Windows machine, Java can be disabled by clicking on the Java icon in the control panel and then unchecking the box for “enable Java content in the browser” on the security panel.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

 

uccess�nmb�:� ��� ill also feature 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.6-megapixel front camera.

 

On the earning calls for its most recent results, Zuckerberg said “We’re not going to build a phone”, but emphasised that it was easy to integrate with Android because of its open architecture.

Although Facebook has a deal with Microsoft to use the Bing search engine, Facebook Home also includes the option to use other search engines such as Google.

Writing on Seeking Alpha, Kyle Spencer applauded Facebook’s “better late than never” move.

“A vertically integrated, horizontally deployed Facebook ‘mini-ecosystem’ will move the needle on user engagement and therefore advertising revenues more effectively than if Facebook attempted to introduce it’s own proprietary phone/OS into a crowded field against better funded competitors,” he said. “Tactically, it’s a brilliant move.”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

 

Facebook plans mobile phone takeover

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A Facebook homescreen and ‘launcher’ for a range of Android phones is likely to be launched on Thursday.

April 4th

The company’s ‘new home on Android’ will put “Facebook first”, sourcestold the Wall Street Journal. It is widely expected to centre around a new Facebook homescreen that will turn the social network’s Android app into a core smartphone component.

Software leaked to Android Police appears to show that while HTC is expected to unveil a mid-range ‘Facebook phone’ on Thursday night in California, the new features will also be available to Samsung phones as well as to those running standard Android. With Samsung increasingly dominant among Android manufacturers, such an approach would give Facebook access to a far greater market than if it simply limited its new services to a single device.

The world’s largest social network has been attempting to improve its performance on smaller screens, which now make up 23 per cent of its revenues.

Analysts have expressed continued concerns, however, that more users are migrating to mobile phones in particular, and that Facebook will struggle to make money from those people.

Although Facebook has worked with HTC before, on the ChaCha phone, it has not previously met with enormous success. The new device will reportedly feature a dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM with a 4.3-inch screen. This, combined with the fact it will run Android 4.1.2 “Jelly Bean” and HTC Sense 4.5, reinforces suggestions that Facebook does not see hardware as key for its success on mobile. It will also feature 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.6-megapixel front camera.

On the earning calls for its most recent results, Zuckerberg said “We’re not going to build a phone”, but emphasised that it was easy to integrate with Android because of its open architecture.

Although Facebook has a deal with Microsoft to use the Bing search engine, Facebook Home also includes the option to use other search engines such as Google.

Writing on Seeking Alpha, Kyle Spencer applauded Facebook’s “better late than never” move.

“A vertically integrated, horizontally deployed Facebook ‘mini-ecosystem’ will move the needle on user engagement and therefore advertising revenues more effectively than if Facebook attempted to introduce it’s own proprietary phone/OS into a crowded field against better funded competitors,” he said. “Tactically, it’s a brilliant move.”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Eating oily fish ‘can extend life’.

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fish

Eating oily fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids can add years to your life, a study has shown.

Higher blood levels of omega-3 reduce the chances of dying from heart disease by more than a third, according to the research.

They cut the overall risk of dying by as much as 27 per cent.

Scientists found that people with the largest amounts of the fatty acids in their blood lived on average 2.2 years longer than those with lower levels.

“Although eating fish has long been considered part of a healthy diet, few studies have assessed blood omega-3 levels and total deaths in older adults,” said lead researcher Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, from the Harvard School of Public Health in the US.

“Our findings support the importance of adequate blood omega-3 levels for cardiovascular health, and suggest that later in life these benefits could actually extend the years of remaining life.”

The scientists analysed 16 years of data from around 2,700 US adults aged 65 and older taking part in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS).

Participants gave blood samples and were questioned about their health, medical history and lifestyle.

Three key omega-3 fatty acids, both separately and together, were associated with a significantly reduced risk of death.

One, docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA) , was linked to a 40% lower risk of death due to coronary heart disease. This was especially true for deaths caused by heart rhythm disturbances.

Another omega-3 compound, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) was strongly associated with a lower risk of death from stroke.

The third type of omega-3, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was linked to a reduced risk of non-fatal heart attack.

Overall, participants with the highest levels of all three types of fatty acid had a 27 per cent lower risk of death from all causes.

The findings appear in the online edition of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Oily fish, such as mackerel, tuna and sardines, is the most important source of omega-3. The fatty acids can also be found in flaxseed, walnuts and rapeseed oil.

Source: .independent.co.uk

Facebook plans mobile phone takeover.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/9966395/Facebook-plans-mobile-phone-takeover.html

Eating oily fish ‘can extend life’.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/eating-oily-fish-can-extend-life-8556212.html