Changing the theme of the blog is intellectually satisfying, but pols are much easier to write about..Of Mice and Men

I see that Gov. Rick Perry(R-Tekksus) had been indicted on felony charges. Oh how the one-time presidential candidate has fallen.

Enough about pols and their dandy ways.

As my gentle reader knows, I am all about surviving. I am not really keen on passing on my bit of the human genome into an unknown future, so I had better make this life a damned good one. I have written some about antibiotic stockpiling for an unforeseen event. I have also never taken any ABX that were not prescribed to me. Two AB exposures in my life to this point is all. Be prepared, but don't be stupid. If anyone thinks that ABX are like vitamins, the following should give them cause to eat them like "One-A-Days."

Early antibiotic exposure leads to lifelong metabolic disturbances in mice. Another good reason to only use antibiotics(ABX) when they are really needed. Of course mice and humans don't share ALL metabolic processes, but why take unnecessary risks?

This really needs a blockquote.

...The new study by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers reveals that mice given lifelong low doses of penicillin starting in the last week of pregnancy or during nursing were more susceptible to obesity and metabolic abnormalities than mice exposed to the antibiotic later in life.

Most intriguing, in a complementary group of experiments, mice given low doses of penicillin only during late pregnancy through nursing gained just as much weight as mice exposed to the antibiotic throughout their lives.

"We found that when you perturb gut microbes early in life among mice and then stop the antibiotics, the microbes normalize but the effects on host metabolism are permanent," says senior author Martin Blaser, MD, the Muriel G. and George W. Singer Professor of Translational Medicine, director of the NYU Human Microbiome Program, and professor of microbiology at NYU School of Medicine. "This supports the idea of a developmental window in which microbes participate. It's a novel concept, and we're providing direct evidence for it."

The researchers stress that more evidence is needed before it can be determined whether antibiotics lead to obesity in humans, and the present study should not deter doctors from prescribing antibiotics to children when they are necessary. "The antibiotic doses used in this study don't mirror what children get," says Laura M. Cox, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Blaser's laboratory and the lead author of the study. "But it has identified an early window in which microbes can influence metabolism, and so further studies are clearly warranted."...

Fascinating. The gut bacteria return to normal species and quantities post-AB withdrawal, but the metabolic changes seem permanently altered. The bacterial species seems to be the important bit.

The researchers are looking for the mechanistic clues. Here, I will not speculate as my knowledgebase on the topic is not full enough to venture anything like a thoughtful guess.

However, one might wonder if the trace amounts of ABX that are found in meats just might be a contributing factor to obesity in the general populace. Of course our generally sedentary lifestyles are the main component, but it seems to beg the question. Humankind certainly creates the future for humans. Our collective history screams that we do an awful job in this regard.

If I am the only one that makes this admittedly specious link, so be it. I have to speculate something in nearly every entry. It is science after all, and questions need be raised!

Sometimes Home Ownership Is Just Work...and Other Observances.

As the title suggests, home ownership isn't all fun. On days like today, it is simply drudgery. My neighbors do not care about their landscapes. Due to their lack of caring I have to almost continually hack and slash at non-native invasive species of flora. Today's exercise in futility included Japanese Knotweed(Fallopia japonica) treatment; which anyone that knows about this evil thing, knows it is a many year struggle to eradicate. I also did battle with the nearly as nasty Japanese honeysuckle(Lonicera japonica). As much as am loathe to use glyphosate herbicide, both of these species require it for effective control. I also got rid of some Virginia creeper(Parthenocissus quinquefolia), which is a native species here, but there seem no natural controls that hinder its growth.

It all seems a thankless job, but the 0.75 acres that I have staked out for weed control look better every year. I have nine gardens in this area, so I need to protect my precious plants that I have nurtured as well. Enough about that..

I did find a very odd bit about a member of the pant kingdom. Somehow I can usually segue a personal anecdote into something a lot more interesting. This may be unique in the kingdom of flora. There is a parasitic vine that not only performs the more typical 'behaviors' to its host--wrapping round it, and scoring nutrients and water from its host, but Strangleweed(Cuscuta pentagona) tranfers mRNA with its various host species.

Of course my gentle reader knows that no proteins are formed--in eukaryotes at any rate--without messenger RNA(mRNA). Sure genes code for proteins--and perform other neat tricks--but genes do not make proteins. Here is good summary of how one goes from a gene sequence to actually building the protein for which the gene is coded.

I find it fascinating that a parasitic plant has a sort of symbiotic relationship with its host at the sub-cellular level.

Now why has C. pentagona adapted do this?

Well, it is certainly not via process of thought. It is my blog so I will speculate. (Here's where I spill out some bullshit)

My opinion is that the exchange process turns off the host's defenses. Since most plants aren't really mobile, the defenses are typically chemical weapons. Yes, yes, I know that some plants have insect protectors as well, but these are unusual examples. By co-opting, and transferring mRNA with the host, it seems likely that the host would not recognize the parasite as an alternate form of life. The host reads the mRNA being transferred and there is no state of emergency declared as it 'believes' it to be its very own. I know that my speculation is at odds with what researcher James Westwood(study co-author) told Live Science, but message interception to gather data about the "host plant's growth and development" seems too anthropomorphic to me. Of course we could both be right, and/or wrong.

This really seems like a case of evolutionary convergence, as bacteria swap genetic genetic material across species, and viruses are dormant until they enter a host's cell. Curiouser and curiouser.

That's all I have that is both new and unusual. Plus, it has brevity in its favor :)

It's summer, so wear sunblock!

This entry isn't about tanning. Well, it is and it isn't. I should note that tans are the body's way to attempt to halt further damage to the dermis due to UV-A, and UV-B exposure. Tanning itself--which involves changes in melanin production--is really the body's flaregun signaling dermal distress. Beautiful? Maybe, but too much can age a person in many, many different ways. Don't tan is always good advice.

Now onto today's UV stuff..

Record surface UV-B levels found in Andes. Some people might think that one of the various ozone holes would would certainly claim top honors on surface UV irradiance, but Sol doesn't provide the arctic zones with much energy compared to equatorial regions.

Add in less atmosphere due to elevation, clear skies due to lack of suspended aerosols, and naturally mountainous equatorial regions would seem likely places to find UV records.

In this part of the world, we might see a UV Index of 8 or 9 on a midsummer day. I try and stay indoors on those days. The research team at SETI/NASA recorded a UV Index of 43.3! For reference, a UV Index of 11 is considered extreme. Things may get worse before they get better. Current models predict further ozone thinning in the near-intermediate term(scale of a human lifetime) time scale. While this event resulted in perhaps an almost perfect confluence of several events, the events themselves are anything but rare. No doubt teams of number crunchers are scouring data looking for even higher UV spikes.

I have thought quite a lot about the worldwide collapse of amphibian populations, and while the jury is still out as to the 'whys,' excessive UV radiation does harm the eggs of amphibians. Among other detrimental effects of UV radiation are DNA damage, altering of the photosynthetic process, and changes to larvae...particularly those of an aquatic nature. The outlook is really quite grim.

Weed OD?

Unlike most marijuana evangelists, I make no claim that smoking and/or ingesting delta-9-THC is harmless. There are a couple of interesting studies that illustrate some commonalities between the brains of young, frequent pot smokers and schizophrenics. It's a memory issue. I must have missed having memory and/or cognitive issues from smoking MJ, due only to lack of frequency of use.

Enough about that. This is about the lawsuit against the a pot dispensary over a marijuana/THC overdose.

The plaintiff claims hat he was repeatedly told that there was no MJ/THC in the chocolate he consumed. I have no reason to doubt his claim. He claims he was "projectile vomiting" and "hallucinating" among other things. Being 'slipped a mickey' like that could have had far more dire consequences.

I know this from a single experience of marijuana intake via the oral route. I once ate roughly 7 gm of moderately good quality pot. In roughly 90 mins. I was blitzed, and just getting higher. The really heavy effects lasted perhaps 2 hours. The whole experience lasted perhaps 6 hours. If I did not know that I was likely in for a pretty rough ride, I would have been pretty freaked out.

Dosing someone with any intoxicant is plainly irresponsible, and potentially very dangerous. At this early stage I am inclined to side firmly with the plaintiff, as unknown "free theater tickets" are a recipe for disaster. It will happen at some point. Unsecured edible marijuana products are going to result in deaths by negligence. I strongly suspect that these deaths will be due to 'accidents,' and that makes it all seem worse. Potent pot unknowingly given to the uninitiated can be pretty scary indeed.
I hope that Coloradans get better control on what could be a real crisis. Stoned people aren't generally the most responsible with their stash; and that was before it was legal. One can easily see heads getting very loose with their weed. Someone will pay. No drug is without consequences. Cannabis is likely the most likely to cause harm when used responsibly. Colorado and Coloradans need a good dose of responsibility. Then they should be able to better dispense cannabis products.

When it comes to what you or me wish to put into our own bodies, I am very liberally minded. The WoD(War on drugs) continues to be an abject failure. However, if even cannabis users cannot abide by simple rules, that doesn't peak well of the larger sphere of intoxicant users. You alcohol and tobacco users know what I am talking about.