What Are We Eating?

Genetically Modified corn has been engineered in a laboratory to produce pesticides in its own tissue. GMO Corn is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency as an Insecticide, but is sold unlabeled. Unlike the strict safety evaluations required for the approval of new drugs, the safety of genetically engineered foods for human consumption is not adequately tested. The World Health Organization’s ultra-cautious International Agency for Research on Cancer recently classified 2,4-D as a “possible human carcinogen” and glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” Both herbicides were linked to increases in malignant tumors at multiple sites in animals. Glyphosate was also linked to an increased incidence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans.

Action Alert! 

All GMO foods should be labeled

Ref: Philip J. Landrigan et al. 2015, NEJM

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Diabetic women at 34 percent higher risk of heart attack than men

Diabetic women are at a 34 per cent higher risk of heart attack and other related complications than diabetic men as they age. With respect to acute heart attack (acute myocardial infarction or AMI), diabetic women are more disadvantaged compared to diabetic men, with a gender driven “risk window” for women which mostly opens around menopausal age (45 years onwards). Authors pooled data from all Tuscan hospitals over the period 2005 to 2012 and a dataset containing the registry of all known diabetic patients from Tuscany. The effect of diabetes was separately measured in men and in women across this entire eight year period. After adjustments for several factors, the hazard ratio was found to be significantly higher in women than in men hospitalised for acute heart attack 2.63 times increased risk for women compared to 1.96 times for men giving a relative increased risk of 34 percent in women.

Source: Giuseppe Seghieri, 2015, Regional Health Agency, Florence, Italy.

Researchers turn to develop new antibiotics from seaweeds

British researchers are trying to use the antimicrobial properties of seaweeds from the country's coastline to develop a new generation of antibiotics in a bid to fight the growing threat of resistant superbugs. Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing global problem. A previous World Health Organization (WHO) report stated that it is "now a major threat to public health". As the number of multidrug-resistant bacteria, also known as superbug, rises, there is an urgent need for new drugs that can be used to treat infections when others fail. Natural environments can be a rich source of antibiotics. A research team from the University of Exeter are trying to uncover properties that could form the basis for a new generation of antibiotics that can curb infections caused by superbugs, such as MRSA, Xinhua reported.

Source: Michiel Vos, University of Exeter, 2015.

Short sleepers are four times more likely to catch a cold

This is the first study to use sleep measures to connect people's natural sleep habits and their risk of getting sick. Scientists found that people who sleep six hours a night or less are four times more likely to catch a cold when exposed to the virus, compared to those who sleep more than seven hours a night. Sleep is important for our health, with poor sleep linked to chronic illnesses, disease susceptibility and even premature death. Short sleep was more important than any other factor in predicting subjects likelihood of catching cold, it didn't matter how old people were, their stress levels, their race. It didn't matter if they were a smoker. With all those things taken into account, statistically sleep still carried the day. 

Ref: Aric A. Prather, 2015, SLEEP.

DOI: 10.5665/sleep.4968

Brazilian wasp venom kills cancer cells

The wasp Polybia paulista protects itself against predators by producing venom known to contain a powerful cancer-fighting ingredient. The venom's toxin called MP1 (Polybia-MP1)-selectively kills cancer cells without harming normal cells. MP1 interacts with lipids that are abnormally distributed on the surface of cancer cells, creating gaping holes that allow molecules crucial for cell function to leak out. This could be useful in developing new combination therapies, where multiple drugs are used simultaneously to treat a cancer by attacking different parts of the cancer cells at the same time. MP1 acts against microbial pathogens by disrupting the bacterial cell membrane. Serendipitously, the antimicrobial peptide shows promise for protecting humans from cancer; it can inhibit the growth of prostate and bladder cancer cells, as well as multi-drug resistant leukemic cells. However, until now, it was not clear how MP1 selectively destroys cancer cells without harming normal cells. In healthy cell membranes, phospholipids called phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) are located in the inner membrane leaflet facing the inside of the cell. But in cancer cells, PS and PE are embedded in the outer membrane leaflet facing the cell surroundings. The presence of PS increased the binding of MP1 to the membrane by a factor of 7 to 8. On the other hand, the presence of PE enhanced MP1's ability to quickly disrupt the membrane, increasing the size of holes by a factor of 20 to 30. In future studies, the researchers plan to alter MP1's amino acid sequence to examine how the peptide's structure relates to its function and further improve the peptide's selectivity and potency for clinical purposes. Understanding the mechanism of action of this peptide will help in translational studies to further assess the potential for this peptide to be used in medicine.

Ref: Natália Bueno Leite, 2015, Biophysical Journal

dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2015.07.033 

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Caterpillar deceives corn plant into lowering defenses against it

A caterpillar that feeds on corn leaves induces the plant to turn off its defenses against insect predators, allowing the caterpillar to eat more and grow faster. Plants are under constant threat of attack from herbivorous insects. Nearly 400,000 plant-eating insect species are known to live on 300,000 plant species. When these herbivores feed on plants, they not only cause mechanical damage but often deposit substances that can manipulate the plant's response to herbivory. These substances are analogous to the microbial-associated compounds that affect plant responses to pathogenic fungi or bacteria.

It turns out that the caterpillar frass tricks the plant into sensing that it is being attacked by fungal pathogens and mounting a defense against them, thereby suppressing the plant's defenses against herbivores. Plants cannot defend against both pathogens and insect attackers simultaneously -- they must switch on either their pathway to defend against herbivores or their pathway to defend against pathogens.

To test their hypothesis, researchers applied frass extract to the leaves of corn plants and compared the growth of fall armyworm caterpillars that fed on the leaves to the growth of caterpillars that fed on untreated leaves. They also measured the performance of a fungal pathogen in response to frass treatment of corn leaves. They inoculated the leaves with spores of a fungus that causes leaf blight in corn (Cochliobolus heterostrophus). The plant perceives that it is being attacked by a pathogen and not an insect, so it turns on its defenses against pathogens, leaving the caterpillar free to continue feeding on the plant.

Ref: Swayamjit Ray et al., 2015, J Chem Ecol

DOI 10.1007/s10886-015-0619-1

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Growing up on a farm provides protection against asthma and allergies

Researchers have successfully established a causal relationship between exposure to farm dust and endotoxin give protection against asthma and allergies. the mechanism behind this: farm dust makes the mucous membrane inside the respiratory tracts react less severely to allergens such as house dust mite. This effect is created by the A20 protein, which the body produces upon contact with farm dust. When we inactivate the A20 protein in the mucous membrane of the lungs, farm dust is no longer able to reduce an allergic or asthmatic reaction. The results showed that people suffering from allergies and asthma have a deficiency in the protective protein A20. This breakthrough discovery is a major step forward towards the development of an asthma vaccine.

Source: VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

Ref: M. J. Schuijs et al., 2015, Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.aac6623

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