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surfnburn

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  3. Posted · Report reply

    I thought this was interesting...

    Scientists: Appendix Protects Good Germs

    By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

    Friday, October 5, 2007

    (10-05) 14:15 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

    Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.

    For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function, surgeons removed them routinely, and people live fine without them.

    And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food.

    But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.

    The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location — just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac — helps support the theory, he said.

    Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said.

    That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy.

    In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said.

    He said the appendix may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system.

    Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly, Parker said. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC.

    Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke theory makes sense and raises interesting questions.

    The idea "seems by far the most likely" explanation for the function of the appendix, said Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. "It makes evolutionary sense."

    The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: "I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils."

  7. Posted · Report reply

    1. Do you dance? Yes...in fact Barb has been my dance partner...

    2. Would you consider yourself religious? No....spiritual sometimes...

    3. Do you talk about politics? I try to avoid it because it's like talking about religion... I know it's there, but I'm not sure there's any proof...lol Seriously, people feel so emotional about it... I rather not go there...

    4. When is the last time you asked for forgiveness?

    I can't remember...

    5. Friday fill-in: I’m holding out for ___. I don't know...I tend to let it all happen...lol

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Woman Told to Ditch Bra to Enter Court

    Thursday, October 4, 2007

    (10-04) 19:47 PDT COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) --

    Security guards refused to allow a woman into a federal courthouse until she removed a bra that triggered a metal detector.

    Lori Plato said she and her husband, Owen Plato, were stunned when U.S. Marshals Service employees asked her to remove her bra after the underwire supports set off the alarm.

    "I asked if I could go into the bathroom because they didn't have a privacy screen and no women security officers were available," Plato said Wednesday. "They said, 'No.'

    "I wasn't carrying a shank in my bra. If it's so dangerous, why did they give it back and let me put it on?"

    Patrick McDonald, the U.S. Marshal in Boise, said appropriate security protocols were followed in the Sept. 20 matter, and guards suggested she simply remove the bra in her car outside, or find a restaurant bathroom.

    "She's inflating it," McDonald said. "All of a sudden she just took it off. It wasn't anything we wanted to happen and it wasn't anything we asked for her to do. She did it so fast."

    Plato, of Bonners Ferry, said she was parked on a busy street and wasn't familiar with downtown Coeur d'Alene businesses. So her husband held up his coat to shield her from the rest of the people in the courthouse lobby while she removed her bra underneath her shirt.

    Generally, McDonald said, undergarments aren't considered a danger to security.

    "I don't think they're considered a weapon, really, the last time I looked," he said.

    He declined to discuss other ways the federal courthouse guards could have screened Plato for weapons.

    Plato wants the Marshals Service to apologize and stop forcing women to disrobe.

    "It was very humiliating," her husband, Owen Plato, said. "They could have handled it with a much more professional attitude."

    http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/04/national/a194103D44.DTL

  11. Posted · Report reply

    New E-Mail Scam: Hit-Man Threat

    By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer

    Thursday, October 4, 2007

    (10-04) 14:01 PDT Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) --

    E-mail scams seek to separate people from their money by promising a share of unclaimed lottery riches, bounty from a dead fugitive, work-at-home schemes and other enticements.

    But an Ocean County man recently got an e-mail with a stereotypical Jersey twist: Gimme your money, and I'll cancel the contract someone put out to kill you.

    Harry E. Whitworth, 72, of the Whiting section of Manchester Township, opened his e-mail Tuesday to find a curious screed from a man named Eddy.

    "I know that this may sound very surprising to you but it's the situation," the e-mail began. "I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer."

    The price to call off the hit: $8,000 — half of which is to be paid up front as a sign of good faith. Sort of.

    The e-mail also warned him not to tell friends or relatives, since they might be part of the plot to kill, too.

    "I kind of knew it was a scam," said Whitworth, a retired accountant who lives with his wife in a senior citizen development. "The prosecutor's office came over to see me and asked if I had been involved in anything in the past that might have caused this to happen."

    Whitworth did some Internet research of his own, and found that someone has been running a similar scam in Arizona, with nearly identical e-mails full of typographical errors and misspellings.

    The e-mailer promises to send the recipient a videotape of "his employer" putting out the contract on the recipient's life.

    But there were no instructions on how to comply with the demand for cash, and no timetable on when it had to be paid in order to avoid sleeping with the fishes.

    Capt. Michael Mohel, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said the case remains under investigation but declined further comment.

    The FBI received 115 complaints of similar e-mails reaching people across the country in less than a month last winter, according to its Web site. The e-mails vary only in the amount of money demanded, ranging as high as $80,000.

    Some even incorporate personal information about the recipient that is widely available from online databases, the FBI said.

    http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/04/national/a140124D34.DTL

  13. Posted · Report reply

    http://neilyoung.shop.musictoday.com/Dept.aspx?cp=735_12093&page=1

    NYCD49.jpg

    Chrome Dreams II - CD/DVD

    $24.98

    Enjoying one of the most prolific periods of his phenomenally prolific career, Neil Young (sans Crazy Horse) delivers Chrome Dreams II. Hard but shiny, acoustic but also electric, Chrome Dreams II continues the new millennium resurgence in popularity for one of the greatest singer-songwriters in rock history.

    The Band:

    Neil Young, vocals, guitar

    Ben Keith, pedal steel

    Rick Rosas, bass

    Ralph Molina, drums

    The DVD includes hi-res audio of the whole album, with a moving video image for the highest quality audio available on DVD.

    Track Listing:

    1. Beautiful Bluebird

    2. Boxcar

    3. Ordinary People

    4. Shining Light

    5. The Believer

    6. Spirit Road

    7. Dirty Old Man

    8. Ever After

    9. No Hidden Path

    10. The Way

  19. Posted · Report reply

    ^I agree

    What did her mammograms look like? I would think they'd do both tests. The contradicting test info would suggest another set of testing was required. I think their system is flawed. We have a really good one here. Even if it's a lab machine error, our providers will reorder tests. So it was a mislabeling? That means someone had a positive result, and she didn't get her treatment. That's even scarier.

  22. Posted · Report reply

    Wow....Thanks SLQ.... I didn't know Cybill Shepherd could play air guitar.. It's cool that she was there to support Peter B. I can't wait to see the movie... I wonder how much of it is artistic expression, artistic license, and band reality...lol It should be interesting. Sadly, I don't think I'll make it to the big screen showing... Almost 9 years ago, my doctor said that my baby had to be delivered by cesarean surgery on October 15th. Her due date was the 20th! lol I was hoping for multiple showings at a local theater so I could make it. No such luck. It's my daughter's birthday that night. Have fun everyone.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    The problem greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, is more famous as the dentists' anaesthetic "laughing gas," and is about 300 times more insulating than the commonest man-made greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
    This is why people don't take it seriously....lol

    Well, the US needs to develop it's own energy source for national/political reasons. So we still need alternative fuels. It's and interesting article. I'm glad they're studying it. I'm sure farmers can adapt to any beneficial crop. It's just a matter of developing cars that will run on the fuel.....and getting people to buy the cars.

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