British Journal of Cancer

Cancer cell proliferation is inhibited by specific modulation frequencies

There is clinical evidence that very low and safe levels of amplitude-modulated electromagnetic fields administered via an intrabuccal spoon-shaped probe may elicit therapeutic responses in patients with cancer. However, there is no known mechanism explaining the anti-proliferative effect of very low intensity electromagnetic fields.

The growth of HCC and breast cancer cells was significantly decreased by HCC-specific and breast cancer-specific modulation frequencies, respectively. However, the same frequencies did not affect proliferation of nonmalignant hepatocytes or breast epithelial cells. Inhibition of HCC cell proliferation was associated with downregulation of XCL2 and PLP2. Furthermore, HCC-specific modulation frequencies disrupted the mitotic spindle.

conclusion:

  

These findings uncover a novel mechanism controlling the growth of cancer cells at specific modulation frequencies without affecting normal tissues, which may have broad implications in oncology.

5-Story Marijuana Farm Is Raided in Bronx

The pale five-story brick building, on a drab residential block, looks like many others in the Bronx. But every floor, the police said, was devoted to a single purpose: growing marijuana.

Investigators discovered 593 marijuana plants on Tuesday in a raid of the building, at 610 Morris Park Avenue, in the Van Nest neighborhood, the police said. Three men were arrested, they said, in connection with the so-called grow house
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China Says It Curbed Spill of Toxic Metal in River

Officials in southern China appear to have averted environmental calamity by halting the spread of a toxic metal that had threatened to foul drinking water for tens of millions of people, the state media reported Monday.

Officials said they had successfully diluted the concentration of cadmium, a poisonous component of batteries, that has been coursing down the Longjiang River in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The spill, which first occurred two weeks ago, prompted a rush on bottled water in several downstream cities and prompted worries that the contamination could reach as far as Hong Kong and Macao
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Blindness eased by historic stem cell treatment

For the first time since they were discovered 13 years ago, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have shown medical promise.

Two people with eye degeneration both say their vision improved in the four months after they received implants of retinal pigment epithelial cells made from hESCs. The treatments were also safe, with no sign that the cells triggered aggressive tumours called teratomas, no sign of immune rejection of the cells, and no inflammation.

Discovered in 1998, hESCs had previously failed to deliver on their medical promise. The new procedures, performed by Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology of Marlborough, Massachusetts, and colleagues, could represent a turning point for hESC therapies.

 op-ed

Ritalin Gone Wrong

Attention-deficit drugs increase concentration in the short term, which is why they work so well for college students cramming for exams. But when given to children over long periods of time, they neither improve school achievement nor reduce behavior problems. The drugs can also have serious side effects, including stunting growth.

Sadly, few physicians and parents seem to be aware of what we have been learning about the lack of effectiveness of these drugs.

What gets publicized are short-term results and studies on brain differences among children. Indeed, there are a number of incontrovertible facts that seem at first glance to support medication. It is because of this partial foundation in reality that the problem with the current approach to treating children has been so difficult to see.

Scientists call for 60-day suspension of mutant flu research

Delay will allow time for debate on regulating potentially dangerous research.

As controversy rages around the scientists who created mutant strains of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, leading flu researchers have called for a 60-day voluntary pause on such work. The call comes in a statement jointly published today in Nature (R. A. M. Fouchier et al. Nature 481, 443; 2012) and Science.

On 20 December, the United States government — acting on advice from the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) — asked both journals to publish only the main conclusions of two flu studies, but not to reveal details "that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/us/a-ballot-push-to-legalize-marijuana-with-alcohol-as-the-role-model.html?_r=1&hp

TMZ

DEMI MOOREHealth Crisis ...Inhaling Nitrous Oxide

Demi Moore's friend called paramedics Monday night after the actress inhaled a dangerous amount of nitrous oxide ... TMZ has learned.
 
Sources tell TMZ ... one of Demi's friends who was at her home told emergency workers Demi was doing whip-its. A whip-it is a street name for a type of nitrous oxide inhalant.

The friend said she became upset when Demi had a reaction to a whip-it and lapsed into semi-consciousness.

Fighting science with politics

Emergency contraceptive pills have long been a hot button issue in US politics due to their mischaracterization as inducing abortion and promoting promiscuity, leading to delayed approvals and restricted access. A recent decision on the Plan B One-Step pill suggests that, once again, science has taken a back seat to politics.

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On 7 December, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) blocked the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve over-the-counter (OTC) sales of the emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step to women aged 16 and younger (seepage 8). Sebelius's action marks the first instance in which the HHS has overruled a verdict by the FDA, and it sets a disturbing precedent for the ability of the FDA to act independently of outside interests in assessing the safety and efficacy of drugs and medical devices.

Mexico’s Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought Safe

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican drug war that has largely been defined by violence along the border is intensifying in interior and southern areas once thought clear of the carnage, broadening a conflict that has already overwhelmed the authorities and dispirited the public, according to analysts and new government data.

Last week, two headless bodies were found in a smoldering minivan near the entrance to one of the largest and most expensive malls in Mexico City, generally considered a refuge from the grisly atrocities that have gripped other cities throughout the drug war.

Two other cities considered safe just six months ago — Guadalajara and Veracruz — have experienced their own episodes of brutality: 26 bodies were left in the heart of Guadalajara late last year, on the eve of Latin America’s most prestigious book fair, and last month the entire police force in Veracruz was dismissed after state officials determined that it was too corrupt to patrol a city where 35 bodies were dumped on a road in September.