Microglia as Regulators of Neural Transmission

This study, freely available here(4.61MB), has some striking implications. These are listed below. The Science Daily news release can read here. Microglia are typically perceived as the immune cells of the CNS but this study builds on former studies all pointing to the possibility that our current understanding about neural transmission and memory is too constrained. This present study indicates:

• Microglia regulate the fate the synapses
• Microglia are constantly on the move and at a rapid pace.
• Microglia may be regulating memory consolidation.
• Our conceptual separation of immune processes and neural transmission is a fundamental error.

The Business of Intelligence

A report from Science Daily highlights the problems of modern intelligence research:

ScienceDaily (2010-10-30) -- General intelligence is not enough. Practical intelligence can mean the difference between entrepreneurial success or failure. Psychologists have identified multiple kinds of intelligence, but a new study has found one -- practical intelligence -- to be an indicator of likely entrepreneurial success.

Charles Spearman created the concept of the "g factor", a general intelligence that underlies the styles of intelligence measured in iq tests. I'll stay away from the whole issue of iq tests, I have two professional friends with a behaviorist orientation and they seem to hate IQ concept with a vengeance. I think I know what they are getting at but I still maintain that IQ as a metric is fine but has a theoretical construct or as data for the same it is useless. The history of the debate about IQ is in itself instructive that when dealing with the question of intelligence we are still very much in the dark. At the end of this post I will reference a research item that demonstrates we may have absolutely no idea about the true basis of intelligence.

The Dark Side of the Fish Oil component, DHA

This news release contains some very worrying information ...

"We found that mice developed deadly, late-stage colon cancer when given high doses of fish oil," she said. "More importantly, with the increased inflammation, it only took four weeks for the tumors to develop."


The results do not surprise me because I have long known that DHA can induce inflammation and in this study inflammation was very present in the gut tissue of the organisms. So for the last few years I have been warning people about the dangers of high fish oil intake, though I suspect most thought I was balmy for making such warnings. But hey, I actually read stuff! 


In relation to fish oil a large Australian study recently found no benefit for babes or mums who were taking DHA during pregnancy. No improvement in babe health and no reduction in post partum depression. What I don't understand is the empahsis on DHA, the emphasis should be on EPA because of its direct modulation of the prostaglandin pathways. 


I realise this is all very frustrating for health conscious people and can offer no easy solutions. The methodology I use to examine biomedical data is time and memory consuming, it takes a lot of work and a lot of memorisation. That is easy for me because I have time on my hands and a bloody good memory. For most people it simply is not possible to read the relevant literature and discern good health advice, especially in a world where there are so many "health experts" offering easy solutions! 

The Unquantified Placebo Effect

Upon viewing the Headline - No Standard for the Placebo? I had hoped for something more in line with my current interests. Alas no, the news item relates to how the placebo pill contents are rarely published and may have important bearing on experimental results. I was off on a completely different tangent, wondering about the variability of the placebo response and the implications this has for interpreting clinical trial results. Turns out it is rather variable.

More Glory For Open Access Scientific Publishing

Open Access Publishing is where researchers can submit their results to an Open Access Journal, such as found on Biomedcentral, and is freely available to everyone. This study highlights how open access publishing is promoting increasing citation of studies. Makes sense, especially in an age where there is so much like research(wasteful duplication?). So why pay exorbitant fees for download a paper when you can go to an open access site to find similiar if not identical findings? It is not uncommon to look for a paper, land on a journal website, only to be advised you can download the paper for $30 USD for 7 days viewing. That is a ripoff.

Open access publishing began about a decade ago and is becoming increasingly popular. That, together with the rise of sites like Scientific Blogging and Science Blogs, allows the average person much greater access to scientific research and scientists. So I imagine the life of the science writer is becoming increasingly difficult.

The major reason open access publishing took off is because journal publishers were charging outrageous fees for publishing the work of scientists, even going so far on occasion as to charge scientists for publishing their research, and then making very fat profits from journal sales. So I imagine there are many publishers who hate these sites Biomedcentral, Highwire Press, and PLOS.

Patrick Lockerby: October Arctic Ice Update

Patrick provides extensive analysis and nice graphics to keep us informed of Arctic Ice movements.

Product Warning - MMS and alkalinity

This product, MMS, touted as a cure of everything from AIDS to cancer, is dangerous. (The product warning can be found here.) It equates to eating bleach. Relates to the idea that alkalinity is the key to killing cancer. Which is odd because I've read abstracts showing how alkalinity definitely helps some cancers survive. But there is no point looking at scientifically derived information because as Deepak Chopra would say, "that is based on Newtonian Mechanics, we're into Quantum Healing now". High school chemistry is sufficient, you don't have to be Quantumy to deal with this.

If your pH ranges are skewing there is something wrong with your diet. If you have to keep taking something to restore your pH values then you are potentially masking a serious illness. It may even be the case that your body is shifting the pH towards more acidic or alkaline for a specific reason. pH values may well vary throughout the day. For example, one study on retina found pH values ranging from 7.0 - 7.8. This circadian dependent shifting of pH values is entirely consistent with circadian dynamics in general. Life abhors stillness, our bodies and cells are typically in constant flux. It is as if it is easier to maintain a dynamic system that it is cycling through various phases rather than static. Perhaps not so surprising when you have feedback loops that directly impinge on other feedback loops. In that scenario perhaps it is impossible to obtain a "steady state". On the other hand, do "steady states" ever exist? Now if you'll excuse me, Bodhidharma is seeking my advice regarding a severed finger ... . 

Dancing at the End of Time

"If you're standing on thin ice you may as well dance."

Steven Cummings, Australian Singer

You have to wonder about the unbounded optimism of our political leaders. At present there is yet another big meeting, this time in Japan, to try and find strategies to prevent the further transformation of the environment. Dreamers, silly little dreamers. Too late, that boat has sailed and was last seen wallowing in the horse latitudes.

Eco transformation is happening now. Even by Greenie logic it must be conceded that we have introduced so much novelty into the "web of life" that we must have irretrievably perturbed the "balance of nature" and so have inexorably set in train processes which will entail a eco-transformation that we will neither be able to predict or control.

A Remarkable Anti-Inflammatory diet

You can download the press release here. This is a startlingly good result, so good I want to see it followed up. It could be too good to be true or wonderful.

The results in brief ...

The results show that the food portfolio significantly reduced inflammation. Furthermore, LDL-cholesterol was reduced by 33%, blood triglycerides by 14%, blood pressure by 8 % and a thrombotic risk factor by 26 %. In addition, the subjects’ cognitive functions were improved after the food portfolio compared with the reference food.

Enjoy Airline Food - Wear Ear Plugs

This news item from Physorg throws some light on the complexity of tasting. We might think it is just about taste buds and smell. Think again, our senses are not as separate as we are inclined to believe.