Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- Great moments in human research
- Shops that cater to the eco-friendly home.
- Weill Cornell Ushers in New Era for Patients, Opening and Naming the…
- Perchance to hibernate: can we tap a dormant capacity to downshift…
- The of life rhythm
- New Worlds: Nanotechnology and organic cows

Great moments in human research
Register - Jan 27, 2007
The Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded to research that is not exactly compelling. Here are some “winners” in human research. A February 1976 article in Nature concluding, among other things, that there is often “scrotal asymmetry” in man and in ancient sculptures. A November 1984 article in the Journal of Trauma concluding, among other things, that serious head injuries can occur as the result of falling coconuts. An August 1988 article in the Annals of Emergency Medicine concluding, among other things, that there can be a “[T]ermination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage”. A February 1990 article in the Journal of Periodontology concluding, among other things, that waxed dental floss is preferred to unwaxed dental floss by dental patients by a ratio of nearly two to one. A May-June 1990 article in the Journal of Emergency Medicine concluding, among other things, that “[a] zipper-entrapped penis is a painful predicament that can be made worse by overzealous intervention”… A February 1976 article in Nature concluding, among other things, that there is often “scrotal asymmetry” in man and in ancient sculptures. A November 1984 article in the Journal of Trauma concluding, among other things, that serious head injuries can occur as the result of falling coconuts. An August 1988 article in the Annals of Emergency Medicine concluding, among other things, that there can be a “[T]ermination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage”. A February 1990 article in the Journal of Periodontology concluding, among other things, that waxed dental floss is preferred to unwaxed dental floss by dental patients by a ratio of nearly two to one. A May-June 1990 article in the Journal of Emergency Medicine concluding, among other things, that “[a] zipper-entrapped penis is a painful predicament that can be made worse by overzealous intervention”. A June 1990 article in the British Journal of Dermatology concluding, among other things, that people who think they have foot odour usually do have foot odour and people who do not think they have food odour usually do not have foot odour. An April 1991 article in the International Journal of Neuroscience concluding, among other things, that “[c]ognitive performance ratios can be influenced by forcibly altering the breathing pattern”.

Shops that cater to the eco-friendly home.
Free with registration - Seattle Times - AccessMyLibrary.com - Jan 27, 2007
“You don’t have to look at labels and wonder,” said Paul Campbell, co-owner of One Earth One Design. “They can feel comfortable everything here is safe and already researched. ” People who live in the Pacific Northwest have a more sustainable approach to their lifestyle, including their home, food and even medicine, said co-owner Sandy Campbell. “We have a consumer who.

Weill Cornell Ushers in New Era for Patients, Opening and Naming the…
Newswise - Newswise (press release) - Jan 27, 2007
Starr Biomedical Information Center, Greenberg Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, and support for the Genetic Medicine Program, the Division of Cardiology, the Division of Geriatrics, faculty recruitments and endowed student scholarships. Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the new Center as "a signature building for the City of New York and a tremendous new health-care resource for our citizens. It will build on the significant contribution that the health-care sector already makes to our City’s economy, providing a source of excellent jobs and serving as an economic stimulus. Thanks to contributions from friends such as Sandy and Hank, this new Center is a huge plus for New York’s health — both physically and economically. It will play an integral role in our efforts to improve the health of all New Yorkers… Thanks to contributions from friends such as Sandy and Hank, this new Center is a huge plus for New York’s health — both physically and economically. It will play an integral role in our efforts to improve the health of all New Yorkers. "In his official Proclamation, the Mayor recognized the historic nature of the occasion by proclaiming "January 26, 2007 in the City of New York as ‘Weill Cornell Medical College Day. ‘" He expressed special gratitude to Maurice Greenberg and Sanford Weill, saluting them for their "extraordinary generosity and dedication to improving the community. ""This new building is the culmination of Phase 2 of Weill Cornell’s Strategic Plan: Advancing the Clinical Mission, and it is also a powerful symbol of our momentum as we move forward with our current Phase 3 research-oriented campaign," observed Robert Appel, chair of Weill Cornell’s $1. 3 billion Discoveries That Make a Difference capital campaign launched in October 2006. "It is fitting that this extraordinary clinical building is located adjacent to the site of the planned Biomedical Research Building that is the centerpiece of our Phase 3 campaign.

Perchance to hibernate: can we tap a dormant capacity to downshift…
Free with registration - Science News - AccessMyLibrary.com - Jan 27, 2007
Many small birds spend nights year-round in torpor. In mammals, hibernation is so widespread that researchers reason that the ancestor of all mammals must have been a hibernator. People maybe physiologically capable of tapping this dram of evolutionary heritage, says molecular biologist Sandra Martin of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. If people could mimic certain aspects of hibernation, they might benefit greatly. For instance, inducing a torporlike state in a wounded soldier or a bleeding-accident victim might give doctors precious extra time to stop and reverse the damage. Other patients would benefit if donated organs could be put in cold storage for prolonged shelf lives. And for astronauts, torpor, which some people call suspended animation, might facilitate travel to distant planets… And for astronauts, torpor, which some people call suspended animation, might facilitate travel to distant planets. Such applications lie far in the future, Martin says. Researchers still don’t understand how natural hibernators put themselves into torpor or how they bring themselves out of it. But new studies are peeling away the outer layers of that mystery. Far from succumbing to hypothermia, it seems, hibernators exploit it. Experiments are also revealing how animal tissues evade the damage that comes from inactivity and low blood flow, and suggesting that relatively few genes are involved in torpor and hibernation. That’s an auspicious sign for researchers who strive to manipulate the process.

The of life rhythm
The Age - Jan 27, 2007
In a sign of how fartechnology has come in this quest, science can now be used toobserve what is going on in the brain while we are listening tomusic. “What we find is that the old idea that music is a language isnow no longer a poetic fiction but a neurological fact,” Robertsonsays. Robertson, visiting professor of music and medicine at thePeninsula Medical School in Truro, Cornwall, has spent 30 yearsstudying the link between what we hear and what we feel. Recent developments in PET and MRI scanning - the technologyused to detect strokes and tumours - have led to compelling newevidence about the overlap between the way the brain processesspeech and the way it interprets music. “Music has syntax and semantics,” says Robertson, whoparticipated in the Wellcome talks. “It has organising principlesthat are deeply implicated with how we communicate meaning. Andhere we touch on the deep mysteries of music - why it is meaningfuland what that meaning is constituted of… So it’s a self-fulfilling model. Similarly basic is the body’s reaction to noise. It is one ofthe intriguing quirks of nature than we cannot shut our ears. Evenin sleep, our brains must process sounds, relegate some to thebackground, examine others minutely for significance. But when wediscern a rhythm, the effect on us is immediate and physical. Ittriggers the release of chemicals into the bloodstream that aredirectly linked to pleasure. “Rhythms make us tap our feet and fingers, make us engage withthem,” Robertson says.

New Worlds: Nanotechnology and organic cows
Jerusalem Post - Jan 27, 2007
This was the conclusion of researchers at the Technion’s faculty of mechanical engineering and the Russell Berrie for Nanotechnology Research, recently published in Nature Nanotechnology. Eyal Zussman and Dr. Oleg Gendelman, materials are drastically more sturdy than those with larger diameters. “For years, researchers around the world have been involved with finding the answer to the question of whether physical properties of nano structures are similar to or different from those of conventional structures… More than a third of the recovered dogs were found by a call or visit to an animal shelter. More than one in four dogs were found because the animal wore a dog license or identification tag. “The animal control system is a key component in the recovery of lost dogs, but owners have to be vigilant about calling and visiting these agencies,” said Linda Lord, an assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine. “Some form of visual identification is also critical to the recovery of a pet. Although Ohio law requires that dogs be licensed, just 41% of the lost dogs in the study wore a license at the time of their disappearance. Less than half had an identification tag or microchip. Microchips implanted under the skin provide permanent identification of a pet.