NEWS

[towhom]

Jun 8, 2009 13:04:23 GMT 4 @kiek said:

Dear Sally Anne,

'Chicago Chicago That Toddlin' Town' ......
That's a song we used to sing at home here in NL because my Dad used to bring records home with these songs on it, 'Sing Along With Mitch Miller' etc!
I've been to Chicago many times for my work, love it!! The state must be beautiful too!

;-))

Hi Christa!

Yes, Chicago is a great place. I know it well. It's only 4 hours from Detroit via I94 to the Chicago Skyway. My two most favorite places are is the Field Museum of Natural History and my beloved Frank Lloyd Wright Museum / home in Oak Park (Chicago suburb). I spend hours in both places when I'm in the "Windy City". And yes, all of Illinois is quite beautiful...home of Abraham Lincoln.



Peace and Joy
Always

Sally Anne

[towhom]

New Lead For Autoimmune Disease From Chinese Medicine
ScienceDaily
June 8, 2009
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604144328.htm

A drug derived from the hydrangea root, used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine, shows promise in treating autoimmune disorders, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston (PCMM/IDI), along with the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In the June 5 edition of Science, they show that a small-molecule compound known as halofuginone inhibits the development of Th17 cells, immune cells recently recognized as important players in autoimmune disease, without altering other kinds of T cells involved in normal immune function. They further demonstrate that halofuginone reduces disease pathology in a mouse model of autoimmunity.

Currently there is no good treatment for autoimmune disorders; the challenge has been suppressing inflammatory attacks by the immune system on body tissues without generally suppressing immune function (thereby increasing risk of infections). The main treatment is antibodies that neutralize cytokines, chemical messengers produced by T cells that regulate immune function and inflammatory responses. However, antibodies are expensive, must be given intravenously and don't address the root cause of disease, simply sopping up cytokines rather than stopping their production; patients must therefore receive frequent intravenous infusions to keep inflammation in check. Powerful immune-suppressing drugs are sometimes used as a last resort, but patients are left at risk for life-threatening infections and other serious side effects.

Through a series of experiments, the researchers show that halofuginone prevents the development of Th17 cells in both mice and humans, halts the disease process they trigger, and is selective in its effects. It also has the potential to be taken orally. "This is really the first description of a small molecule that interferes with autoimmune pathology but is not a general immune suppressant," says Mark Sundrud, PhD, of the PCMM/IDI, the study's first author.

Recognized only since 2006, Th17 cells have been implicated in a variety of autoimmune disorders including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, eczema and psoriasis. They are genetically distinct from the other major categories of T-cells (Th1, Th2 and T-regulatory cells).

Th17 cells normally differentiate from "naïve" CD4+ T cells, but when Sundrud and colleagues cultured mouse CD4+ T-cells along with cytokines that normally induce Th17 development, there was a pronounced decrease in Th17 cells – but not in Th1, Th2 or T regulatory cells – when halofuginone was added. Similarly, in cultured human CD4+ T-cells, halofuginone selectively suppressed production of IL-17, the principal cytokine made by Th17 cells.

And in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), an artificially-induced immune disease resembling multiple sclerosis in humans, and marked by infiltration of Th17 cells into the central nervous system, low-dose halofuginone treatment significantly reduced both the development of EAE and its severity. (In mice with another form of EAE that doesn't involve Th17 cells, halofuginone had no effect.)

Wondering how halofuginone works, the researchers did microarray studies of the halofuginone-treated cells to examine patterns of gene expression in response to the drug. Unexpectedly, many genes involved in stress responses were turned on. Eventually, they found that halofuginone acts by activating a biochemical pathway known as the "amino acid starvation response," or AAR, which typically protects cells when amino acids, essential building blocks of proteins, are in short supply. When excess amino acids were added to cultured T-cells exposed to halofuginone, the AAR didn't switch on, and Th17 cells were able to develop. Conversely, the researchers were able to inhibit Th17 differentiation simply by depleting amino acids, thereby inducing the AAR.

Why would the AAR prevent Th17 cells from forming? The researchers propose that the AAR has an energy-saving function, slowing down a cell's building activities to conserve amino acids. "When a cell senses amino acid deprivation, it tries to conserve amino acids by preventing specific types of responses that are energetically expensive," says Sundrud. "In inflamed tissues, a lot of cells are producing a lot of protein, so it would make sense that a cell with amino acid deprivation would want to block signals that promote inflammation."

Halofuginine is one of the 50 fundamental herbs of traditional Chinese medicine, and has been used as an antimalarial agent. Decades ago, the U.S. Army tried to improve upon its antimalarial properties, without success. It has been in clinical trials for scleroderma, but because it is now in the public domain, the pharmaceutical industry has not shown interest in further developing it therapeutically.

But halofuginone, or some yet-to-be developed derivative compound, could potentially be used to address any autoimmune or inflammatory disease related to Th17 cells by activating the AAR, the researchers say.

"Remarkably, halofuginone evokes the AAR in all cells but selectively inhibits T-cell inflammatory responses," says Anjana Rao, PhD, of the PCMM/IDI, a senior investigator on the study. "This recalls the actions of cyclosporin A and FK506, two other immunosuppressive drugs that block the activity of calcineurin. Calcineurin is present in all cells, but selectively prevents the rejection of heart, lung, liver and bone marrow transplants when given to patients. These drugs revolutionized transplant medicine when they were introduced over 20 years ago, and halofuginone may herald a revolution in the treatment of certain types of autoimmune/inflammatory diseases."

Malcolm Whitman, PhD and Tracy Keller, PhD, of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Anjana Rao, PhD, of the PCMM/IDI, were the study's senior investigators. The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the Cancer Research Institute.

Adapted from materials provided by Children's Hospital Boston.

There are quite a few "herbal-based" compounds currently undergoing clinical trials as I type. The Mayo Clinic has a number of them centering around the flavonoids found in Green Tea extract.

Now there is a "push" in the media referencing the "dangers" of using "traditional or homeopathic" remedies to help thwart the deadly diseases we face. I won't give the "media" a helping hand here by posting the links. If you want to see them just check out MSN and EurekAlert! for a few "informative" articles. While some pertinent points are made (such as some antioxidants inhibit the functions of other pharmaceuticals prescribed for treatment), I cannot help but feel that this latest barrage of "anti-traditional / alternative medical treatment" articles are due in part to the "Big Clinics" involvement in their usage. And their findings...which are extremely promising...

I will state that self-medicating and/or diagnosing IS NOT GOOD or RECOMMENDED. However, I would look for a reputable physician who has trained in the uses of both main stream medicines and traditional/alternative medicines.

There are choices out there - GOOD choices.

Peace and Joy
Always

Sally Anne

[towhom]

Just a thought...

My husband heard a story on the news (he thinks it was a Boston station; he remembers it was a Boston hospital) referencing a patient undergoing chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer.

An industrious pathologist ran a genetic marker test (on his/her own) and found the genetic marker for breast cancer - which was not indicated on any MRI or PET scans.

On a hunch, the oncologists changed the patient's chemo treatment to the series used for breast cancer...the lung cancer disappeared.

Now, I have yet to see this in main stream national news - what's up with that?

[towhom]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2005 April 25

The Fairy of Eagle Nebula

Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA

Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Pictured above is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire. The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. The above image in scientifically re-assigned colors was released as part of the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

To honor the Eagles...

Much Love,

Sally Anne

[kiek]

Dear Sally Anne!

How good of you to bring all of this to our attention, again! Indeed there are very good remedies and treatments in the so called "Alternative medicines" We should all have the oportunity to have the choice between the two streams, or at best a good combination of both! Here in the Netherlands in the northern province of Groningen there is a congress on how to intergrate alternative and mainstream medicine in treatments for psychiatric patients, which also includes yoga and meditation! This congress is held every 1 1/2 year and very interesting also for other 'streams' in healthcare. Last time we had 2 keynote speakers from the US, Dr. James Lake and Prof. Dr. Kathi Kemper!
Thanks again Sally Anne, for putting this up here!

Much Love,
Christa ;-))

Yeahhhhh!!!!! 1000 posts!!!
Congratulations ;-)))

[kiek]

NASA acknowledge sun responsible for past warming!

08-06-2009 | WWW.NIBURU.NL |

NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming
Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation. Skeptics, though, argue that there's little hard evidence of a solar hand in recent climate changes.

Now, a new research report from a surprising source may help to lay this skepticism to rest. A study from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland looking at climate data over the past century has concluded that solar variation has made a significant impact on the Earth's climate. The report concludes that evidence for climate changes based on solar radiation can be traced back as far as the Industrial Revolution.

Past research has shown that the sun goes through eleven year cycles. At the cycle's peak, solar activity occurring near sunspots is particularly intense, basking the Earth in solar heat. According to Robert Cahalan, a climatologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center, "Right now, we are in between major ice ages, in a period that has been called the Holocene."

Thomas Woods, solar scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder concludes, "The fluctuations in the solar cycle impacts Earth's global temperature by about 0.1 degree Celsius, slightly hotter during solar maximum and cooler during solar minimum. The sun is currently at its minimum, and the next solar maximum is expected in 2012."

According to the study, during periods of solar quiet, 1,361 watts per square meter of solar energy reaches Earth's outermost atmosphere. Periods of more intense activity brought 1.4 watts per square meter (0.1 percent) more energy.

While the NASA study acknowledged the sun's influence on warming and cooling patterns, it then went badly off the tracks. Ignoring its own evidence, it returned to an argument that man had replaced the sun as the cause current warming patterns. Like many studies, this conclusion was based less on hard data and more on questionable correlations and inaccurate modeling techniques.

The inconvertible fact, here is that even NASA's own study acknowledges that solar variation has caused climate change in the past. And even the study's members, mostly ardent supports of AGW theory, acknowledge that the sun may play a significant role in future climate changes.

Source: www.dailytech.com/

[Eagles Disobey]

EDO FORUM POST

Jun 8, 2009 23:45:27 GMT 4 @dan said:

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it was him all along! ;D He kept floating up to the rail near where I was sitting and begged for pizza! ;D

Hello, everyone.

I know...I was supposed to be back in the Amalfi (and other places) last night. Well...I apologize. At about 7pm-8pm right before I was due to logon, I felt a bit sleepy. ...a bit I say. ...so I decided to take a nap.

The "nap" lasted until about 30 minutes ago! ;D I must have been a tiny bit tired! ;D

Stan has passed to me that some of the questions from The Golden Thread have been sent to my private email, and I PROMISE I will be back posting by this evening.

No...I am not headed for another "nap" right at the moment ;D but being this is already Monday, I need to appear at a business meeting due to start in about 17 minutes then check some of the email we have, as we are awaiting a response from someone to set up a schedule for a coming "in person" venue.

Chat soon.

Dan

[locoaz2009]

West Bank Settlements and the Future of U.S.-Israeli Relations

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Israel will do whatever Israel feels necessary to survive.

The thought that a lack of US backing will overcome Israel’s fear of annihilation is to think as a Westerner and politician.

To assume you can make friends with or even simply neutralize fundamental Islam as a non-Muslim is nuts.

One of the long standing flashpoints for 2012 has always been that Israel would make a significant miscalculation.


June 8, 2009 | 1814 GMT
By George Friedman

Amid the rhetoric of U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech June 4 in Cairo, there was one substantial indication of change, not in the U.S. relationship to the Islamic world but in the U.S. relationship to Israel. This shift actually emerged prior to the speech, and the speech merely touched on it. But it is not a minor change and it must not be underestimated. It has every opportunity of growing into a major breach between Israel and the United States.

The immediate issue concerns Israeli settlements on the West Bank. The United States has long expressed opposition to increasing settlements but has not moved much beyond rhetoric. Certainly the continued expansion and development of new settlements on the West Bank did not cause prior administrations to shift their policies toward Israel. And while the Israelis have occasionally modified their policies, they have continued to build settlements. The basic understanding between the two sides has been that the United States would oppose settlements formally but that this would not evolve into a fundamental disagreement.

The United States has clearly decided to change the game. Obama has said that, “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to stop building new settlements, but not to halt what he called the “natural growth” of existing settlements.

[locoaz2009]

Check out the top twelve indicators that the economy is bad:

12. CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
11. I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
10. I went to buy a toaster oven and they gave me a bank.
9. Hotwheels and Matchbox car companies are now trading higher than GM in the stock market.
8. Obama met with small businesses - GE, Pfizer, Chrysler, Citigroup and GM, to discuss the Stimulus Package.
7. McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
6. People in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and are learning their children’s names.
5. The most highly-paid job is now jury duty.
4. People in Africa are donating money to Americans. Mothers in Ethiopia are telling their kids, “finish your plate; do you know how many kids are starving inAmerica?”
3. Motel Six won’t leave the lights on.
2. The Mafia is laying off judges.

And my most favorite indicator of all.
1. If the bank returns your check marked as “insufficient funds,” you have to call them and ask if they meant you or them.


LOCOAZ

[stan]

Dan has answered the questions sent to him, via email, posted by me, in the "Dan q's" thread.

UPDATE ON EAGLES FORUM MEMBERSHIPS!

A COMMITTEE OF 3 PUBLIC MEMBERS HAS NOW STEPPED UP TO BE MEMBERSHIP SCREENERS! I HAVE DECIDED THAT I AM NOT GOING TO DECIDE. THIS IS MORE FAIR!

SO, IF YOU WANT TO BE A MEMBER OF THE EAGLES FORUM, REQUEST IT OF THE "EAGLES COMMITTEE" AND TALK WITH THEM AT

[e-mail]

WHEN THE PUBLIC MEMBERS OF THE "EAGLES COMMITTEE" APPROVE YOU, THEY WILL NOTIFY ME AT EDO, AND I WILL ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT.

HAVE A GREAT COMING DAY!

STAN GOLDSTEIN, PSY.D.
DEPADMIN, EAGLES FORUM

[helvetic]

ISTANBUL KUMBURGAZ UFO's ARE BACK MAY 2009

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Vdr1DKPQ0

[towhom]

Jun 9, 2009 5:21:58 GMT 4 @locoaz2009 said:

Check out the top twelve indicators that the economy is bad:

12. CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
11. I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
10. I went to buy a toaster oven and they gave me a bank.
9. Hotwheels and Matchbox car companies are now trading higher than GM in the stock market.
8. Obama met with small businesses - GE, Pfizer, Chrysler, Citigroup and GM, to discuss the Stimulus Package.
7. McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
6. People in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and are learning their children’s names.
5. The most highly-paid job is now jury duty.
4. People in Africa are donating money to Americans. Mothers in Ethiopia are telling their kids, “finish your plate; do you know how many kids are starving inAmerica?”
3. Motel Six won’t leave the lights on.
2. The Mafia is laying off judges.

And my most favorite indicator of all.
1. If the bank returns your check marked as “insufficient funds,” you have to call them and ask if they meant you or them.


LOCOAZ

Hiya LOCOAZ!

That was GREAT!

I had to send the list to everyone I know!

Thanks for the laugh... ;D

Peace and Joy
Always with Love

Sally Anne

[towhom]

Jun 9, 2009 17:59:25 GMT 4 @helvetic said:

ISTANBUL KUMBURGAZ UFO's ARE BACK MAY 2009

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Vdr1DKPQ0

Good morning Helvetic,

I admit, I do not pay attention to UFO videos. While I watch the skies, I look at the wonders of the universe and the interactions of stars at play.

I prefer to remain "grounded" - there is much work to be done on this Earth at this moment. I am quite sure our "visitors" are more than aware of this.

Peace and Joy
Always

Sally Anne

[towhom]

Monster Jellyfish
Discovery News and ABC Science Online
June 8, 2009
dsc.discovery.com/news/slideshows/monster-jellyfish.html

Photo credit: Yomiuri Shibun/AFP/Getty Images

Giant jellyfish like this one are taking over parts of the world's oceans as overfishing and other human activities open windows of opportunity for them to prosper, say researchers.

In this photo, a diver is attaching a sensor to track a monster Echizen jellyfish, which has a body almost 5 feet across, off the coast of northern Japan.

Jellyfish are normally kept in check by fish, which eat small jellyfish and compete for jellyfish food such as zooplankton, researchers said. But, with overfishing, jellyfish numbers are increasing.

These huge creatures can burst through fishing nets, as well as destroy local fisheries with their taste for fish eggs and larvae.

Anthony Richardson of CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research and colleagues reported their findings in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution to coincide with World Oceans Day.

They say climate change could also cause jellyfish populations to grow. The team believes that for the first time, water conditions could lead to what they call a "jellyfish stable state," in which jellyfish rule the oceans.

The combination of overfishing and high levels of nutrients in the water has been linked to jellyfish blooms. Nitrogen and phosphorous in run-off cause red phytoplankton blooms, which create low-oxygen dead zones where jellyfish survive, but fish can't, researchers said.

"(There is) a jellyfish called Nomura, which is the biggest jellyfish in the world. It can weigh 200 kilograms (440 pounds), as big as a sumo wrestler and is 2 meters (6.5 feet) in diameter," Richardson said.

Richardson said jellyfish numbers are increasing in Southeast Asia, the Black Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.

[towhom]

Machu Picchu Described as Pilgrimage Site
Discovery News
June 8, 2009
dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/08/machu-picchu-spirit.html

Spiritual Destination: Machu Picchu may have been less of a city, than a spiritual destination for the Inca. New research argues the ceremonial path into the city was conceived as a replica of the path followed by the first Incas in cosmological myth.

Machu Picchu, the "lost city of the Incas," was not a true city but rather a pilgrimage center symbolically connected to the Andean vision of the cosmos, an Italian study has concluded.

According to Giulio Magli, professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan's Polytechnic University, Machu Picchu was the ideal counterpart of the Island of Sun, a rocky islet in the southern part of Lake Titicaca.

"This island had a very important sanctuary which was a destination of pilgrimage. An apparently insignificant rock was believed to be the place of birth of the sun, and therefore of the Inca civilization," Magli told Discovery News.

The Inca, who ruled the largest empire on Earth by the time their last emperor, Atahualpa, was garroted by Spanish conquistadors in 1533, believed that the sun god was their ancestor.

Surrounded on three sides by the gorges of the Urubamba River (also called the Vilcanota River), and tucked between two massive mountain peaks -- the Huayna Picchu and the Machu Picchu -- the Inca city features about 200 stone structures and was probably inhabited by no more than 750 people. It is perched some 8,000 feet in the clouds.

After its abandonment at the time of the Spanish conquest, it was lost to the jungle for nearly 500 years, and was then discovered by Hiram Bingham, an American explorer, in 1911 (although recent studies claim that it was actually discovered 40 years earlier by an obscure German entrepreneur).

Theories about the city's function abound. Machu Picchu has been wrongly identified as the traditional birthplace of the Inca people, their final stronghold, and a sacred center occupied by virgins devoted to the sun god.

Another recent interpretation, based on archival research published in the mid-1980s, and widely supported by scholars, suggests the spectacular site was a private estate of the emperor Pachacuti, who built it around 1460 A.D.

"Any interpretation is doomed to remain speculative. Machu Picchu remains a mystery. We do not know for sure what the Inca called it, we do not know when and why it was constructed, or why it was abandoned," Magli said.

Published on the Cornell University physics Web site arXiv.org, Magli's study examined Machu Picchu's urban layout, its ancient access ways, and the position of the site in relation with the cycles of celestial bodies during the Inca's reign. He then compared these aspects to a well-documented Inca pilgrimage site on Lake Titicaca, located on the border of Bolivia and Peru.

According to Magli, the pilgrimage to Machu Picchu avoided a much easier and faster route along the Urubamba River, instead ascending through the difficult and spectacular Inca trail, which ended at the gate of the town.

"The admitted visitors perhaps left their ritual offerings just near the entrance wall. Indeed, many peculiar stone pebbles, mainly of obsidian, have been recovered there," Magli said.

"The pilgrims were then confronted by the imposing view of the Huayna Picchu mountain. Most likely, this was their final destination. Indeed, the last part of the pilgrimage, oriented north, took place inside the town," Magli said.

The author of "Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy," Magli suggests that the ceremonial path into the city was conceived as a replica of the path followed by the first Incas in cosmological myth.

In their final leg, the pilgrims approached three important places: the so-called quarry, an area possibly connected with Mother Earth and the underground travel of the first Incas, the temple of the three windows (it was believed that the first Incas came out from one of the three windows), and the Intihuatana Pyramid, which resembled the sacred mountain Huayna Picchu, located at the end of the path.

According to Magli, the picture also fits with celestial cycles that appeared in the sky at the times of the Incas. These were dominated by the Milky Way, which was perceived as a "celestial river" having its terrestrial counterpart in the Urubamba River.

"Machu Picchu was located at the ideal, opposite crossroads between the terrestrial and the celestial rivers. It was the other end of the sun's path," Magli concluded.

According to Jean-Pierre Protzen, who teaches architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, the study brings an additional dimension to the site.

"Magli's argument that Machu Picchu was a pilgrimage site and not a royal estate is well worth considering, although it is in need of a much more substantial proof. There is no reason to believe that it could not have been both," Protzen, a leading expert on Inca architecture, told Discovery News.