misunderestimation

Very exciting news today regarding a new source for Stem cells:

Stem cell researchers reacted with enthusiasm and reservations to a report that scientists have found stem cells in amniotic fluid, a discovery that would allow them to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.

Researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported Sunday that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells.

They reported they were able to extract the stem cells from the fluid, which cushions babies in the womb, without harm to mother or fetus and turn their discovery into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone.

Basically, Stem cells can be used to generate other types of cells and may have a tremendous impact on the way we treat injuries and even disease. Until now, the primary source of Stem cells has been human fetuses and “harvesting” those cells is not without moral and ethical peril.

So, we have a new source that is not politically-charged. Will it be the answer? They are not sure yet:

However, it is not known how many different cell types can be made from the stem cells found in amniotic fluid, as opposed to stem cells taken from embryonic stem cells, which can turn into any of the more than 220 cell types that make up the human body.

Scientists are working to develop treatments using the cells to repair damaged organs in need of healthy cells, but many people, including President George W. Bush, oppose the destruction of embryos.

If this new source lives up to the billing, an entire new field is about to be created in the medical community, replacement parts.

Instapundit: If this pans out, it will be bad news for politicians, but good news for the rest of us.

Iowa Voice: This kind of research, I’m sure, would satisfy a number of people. It would satisfy the left, because research could then continue and be federally funded. It would satisfy the right, because our concern over the destruction of life is solved.

World Views: The jury’s still out on whether these newly discovered stem cells can generate as many tissue types as embryonic ones. Still, it makes my head spin to see how quickly the emphasis shifted (with this scientist anyway) from curing incurable and chronic diseases, to answering “questions about early human development,” when a new discovery raised the possibility of stopping research that destroys human potential.

Stem Cell Research Blog: The finding points to a promising avenue of research that sidesteps the hurdles facing embryonic stem cell research, which has been stymied by moral objections to the destruction of embryos that occurs when cells are harvested.

Lifelike Pundits: It’s funny. When science supports the conclusion that it is not necessary to destroy human organisms in the embryonic stage, it can only be interpreted as a loss for the Democrats. Why? Because the abortionists want to not only make abortion legal, but virtuous. This is some cold water:

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Bad news for Barry Bonds and Major League Baseball on Wednesday:

With Barry Bonds still in their sights, federal investigators probing steroids in sports can now use the names and urine samples of about 100 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, following a ruling Wednesday from a federal appeals court.

The 2-1 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned three lower court decisions and could help authorities pinpoint the source of steroids in baseball. It could also bolster the perjury case against the star outfielder, who is under investigation for telling a grand jury he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

The timing of this decision could be huge for baseball. The primary target appears to be Bonds and his chase of the all-time home run record as he drags his ever-deteriorating body onto the field for a final season. Funny how age has suddenly noticed Bonds again. I wonder why the dramatic changes. Perhaps something in his diet has changed..

This is also the first year that Mark McGwire is eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Eight-time batting champion Tony Gwynn, four-time home run leader Mark McGwire and two-time Most Valuable Player Cal Ripken, Jr., are among 17 first-year candidates on the 2007 Hall of Fame ballot that will be mailed out later this week to approximately 575 voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Get ready baseball fans for the most intensive round of steroid talk yet. This is just the opening shot in what will undoubtedly be an ugly war that could seriously hurt baseball.

Baseball Musings: Along with the leaking of the BALCO grand jury testimony, it is going to become extremely difficult for federal officials to get cooperation from athletes in the future. Twice now players have been promised anonymity or privacy in exchange for their cooperation, and twice that’s been violated. Law enforcement just keeps making their own job more difficult.

Say Anything: This baseball fan is literally giddy at the idea of Bonds going down with a perjury charge. I’m not sure there’s anyone on this planet that I loathe more than Barry Bonds.

Jeff Kaplan: That grey pall on Barry Bonds’ name is one step closer to becoming a black mark, if his name is among those 100 samples that tested positive in 2003. Not that anybody seriously doubts his steroid use.

WBRS Sports Blog: This could be catastrophic for baseball. Selig & co have to be hoping that a majority of players tested have since retired or are fringe players at best. If a star gets taken down, this will have huge ramifications. If these names get out, the effect on baseball could be close to the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

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Some new information is coming out today about the role bacteria may have on obesity:

The guts of obese people are teeming with a distinctive mix of bacteria that seem to make them prone to gaining weight, a startling discovery that could lead to new ways to fight the obesity epidemic, researchers reported today.

Obese people have more gut microbes that are especially efficient at extracting calories from food, the researchers said, and the proportion of these super-digesting organisms ebbs as they lose weight. Moreover, when the scientists transplanted gut microbes from obese mice into lean mice, the thin animals start getting fat, providing more support for the provocative theory that the bacteria that populate the gut play an important role in regulating weight.

The study was published in today’s issue of Nature and has some interesting findings:

”We are getting more and more evidence to show that obesity isn’t what we thought it used to be,” [Louisiana State University's Nikhil] Dhurandhar said. ”It isn’t just, you’re eating too much and you’re lazy.”

This could be a major step forward in understanding and treating obesity. The question on my mind is, how does one get bacterial in their gut?

People are born germ-free, but within days they have a gut blooming with microbes. The microbes come from first foods _ either breast milk or formula _ the exterior environment, and the way the babies are born, said Stanford University medicine and microbiology professor David Relman, who was not part of the study.

For decades, doctors have treated bacteria in a “warlike” manner, yet recent research shows that “most encounters we have with microbes are very beneficial,” Gordon said.

So, all the sterilizing we do of bottles, formula, pacifiers, baby food, etc. may actually be preventing the proper bacterial from entering the body? That’s irony for you!

FuturePundit: There’s an obvious opening here for yogurt makers? Can bacterial blends for yogurt get formulated to encourage the flourishing of bacteria that keep the weight off?

TexasFred: Well, for crying out loud, get that bacteria isolated and let’s ALL lose that ‘gut’, I guess I’ve had the bacteria all my life, even when I was in TOP physical condition I had a bit of a ‘pot belly’… Some folks just call it ’seniority’…

Innocent Bystanders: We need some more research to find out if a diet of Jack Daniels and Marlboro Lights actually promotes the right kind of bugs.

Irregular Times: I’m not suggesting that people go out and live on a diet of pure candy, or stop exercising. I am suggesting, however, that the diet and exercise evangelists might want to lay off on the moral judgment of those whose bodies don’t measure up to their standards, at least until additional research comes along to refine our ideas of what microbial communities in our guts have to do with the shape of our guts.

More misunderestimation

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into restaurants, a new report is out about diners at an Indiana Olive Garden:

More than 300 people say they became ill, and at least three have been hospitalized, after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant last weekend, health officials said Friday.

The restaurant has been closed while health officials and the company investigate what caused customers to complain of nausea, vomiting, fever and diarrhea, a company spokesman said.

Just yesterday, the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak was said to be over. Could the Olive Garden problem be related to E. coli?

Health officials have found no link to the E. coli outbreak that sickened dozens of people who ate at Taco Bell restaurants in the Northeast recently, Althardt said.

The reports have been isolated to the one restaurant, appearing to indicate the problem is not linked to any products used in the food, Coe said. Food suppliers typically supply the same products to many restaurants.

If it’s not the food, maybe the employees may have a hand in the problem:

Six restaurant workers reported on Monday that they felt ill, said Marion County Health Department spokesman John Althardt.

With this outbreak, that makes three food chains being hit in the past two weeks. I guess it may be time to dust-off a cookbook again…

More misunderestimation

The CDC announced on Thursday that the latest outbreak of E. coli may be over and the total numbers are coming in:

This outbreak was clearly linked to Taco Bell restaurants in the northeastern United States. As of 12 PM (ET) December 14, 2006, Thursday, 71 persons with illness associated with the Taco Bell restaurant outbreak have been reported to CDC from 5 states: New Jersey (33), New York (22), Pennsylvania (13), Delaware (2), and South Carolina (1). States with Taco Bell restaurants where persons confirmed to have the outbreak strain have eaten are New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
[...]
Among these 71 ill persons, 53 (75%) were hospitalized and 8 (11%) developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS).

The latest likely source of the outbreak appears to be lettuce:

“Based on a number of factors, iceberg lettuce is considered overall to be the single most likely source of the outbreak at this time,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.

“FDA investigators continue to expedite review of Taco Bell’s records in order to trace the distribution channels of the iceberg lettuce and identify the farm or farms where the lettuce was grown, as well as all firms and facilities that handled the product.”

I can only imagine how hard it must be to track a bag full of chopped lettuce back to the farm of it origin. Add to that investigating any place that lettuce may have been handled from the farm to the restaurant and you have a daunting task.

The second question here is, what effect has this case had on Taco Bell?

“It is too early for us to determine the financial impact,” said Greg Creed, Taco Bell’s president, even as he acknowledged that there had been some sales declines.

Some industry watchers were more forthcoming. “It could be extremely bad,” according to Bob Goldin, executive vice president of consultancy Technomic. “Jack in the Box was almost destroyed when it happened to them,” he said, referring to the 1993 E. coli outbreak at the hamburger chain that poisoned hundreds of customers and killed four.

“It’s a function of media attention,” Goldin continued. “The longer you cover this story, the worse it is going to get. People don’t want to play Russian roulette with their food.”

All I can say is, I worried about their food before this outbreak. I mean really, when you can “get full” for only a couple of bucks, they have to be cutting corners somewhere.

Shakespeare’s Sister: In all seriousness, this makes me fairly nervous. I mean, no one cooks lettuce. If you eat it, you’re eating it raw. I don’t like that consuming anything uncooked seems increasingly to be a dodgy proposition.

The Uncooperative Blogger: I don’t know how you people out there can eat at fast food restaurants anymore. You cannot trust the food supply anymore and I wonder why that is? Who picks the vegetables? Who works in the food processing plants?

Sister Toldja: Usually when you see the word “implicated” in a story or headline, it’s something along the lines of “Man implicated in the death of neighbor” or something like that. Lettuce being implicated, however, is something you don’t read much about as it relates to sinister activity …

TV Week: But other crisis management firms say that’s not enough: That Taco Bell needs to launch a broad, mainstream TV campaign that explains how the restaurant picks suppliers and maintains quality control.

More misunderestimation

We’ve got trouble my friends right here in River City. Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with C that stands for Casinos. According to the Iowa Gaming Association, there are 14 new casinos being built or completed during 2005-2006. Those casinos will add to what is already there:

Iowa has a total of 19 casinos and pari-mutuel facilities available. The city of Council Bluffs has more casinos than any other casino city in Iowa with a total of 3 casinos.

That’s a lot of casinos when you consider the entire state population could fit easily inside the city of Houston.

With all of the new casinos, trouble is brewing. The first concern is scam artists taking advantage of newly or lightly-trainined casino staff:

Joe Diaz, an assistant director of Division of Criminal Investigation who oversees gaming enforcement, says that many of the new casinos “don’t have their act together” early on and can be the target of scams.
[...]
In June, three men who hit casinos in Dubuque and Worth County were caught at Diamond Jo Worth casino in Northwood. About two-thousand-500-dollars was retrieved from the men.

The second issue is a popular one all over the country, smoking bans. Can you really ban smoking from a casino? Smoking and betting go together like drinking and betting or betting and loosing. It would appear that Iowa is throwing caution to the wind, along with smokers, and joining the non-smoking band-wagon:

Representative Pam Jochum of Dubuque has co-sponsored two bills. One would ban smoking in all public places statewide, and another would leave it to local governments to decide. She says the health implications of smoking demand action.

Some casinos have taken to alternative methods hoping to stop legislation and keep the non-smokers happy:

Some casinos, including Dubuque’s Greyhound Park & Casino, have installed air ventilators to appease the anti-smoking advocates. Using a patented process, the “air displacement” system is designed to push bad air out and recirculate good air.

I’m not exactly sure how these “air displacement systems” are supposed to make casino environments better for non-smokers. Last July, I visited the Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino and I can tell you, the money they spent on the “air displacement system” was not worth it.

Air displacement system, talk about your casino scams!

More misunderestimation

The E. coli outbreak has sprung-up at another fast-food taco restaurant, this one in Cedar Falls, Iowa:

Nearly three dozen people fell ill, including 14 who were hospitalized, with symptoms consistent with infection by the
E. coli bacteria after eating at a Taco John’s restaurant, a local health department said. Test results were expected Monday.

This outbreak is really getting out-of-hand:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 61 cases in five states, most in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, plus one in South Carolina.

In the last two weeks, we’ve had a Taco Bell E. coli outbreak and New York taking serious steps to remove trans-fat from their restaurants. If you own fast-food stock, you may want to sell…

Others Blogging:

• Mexican fast food officially deadly
• Good News on Bird Flu, Less So on E. Coli
• Digest: Taco John’s turn, E. coli CSI, transgenes gone wild, biodiesel
• Welcome to Taco Giardia. Have You Heard About Our Chicken Listariadilla Special?
• If It Has ‘Taco’ in the Name, You Might Want to Stay Away For Awhile

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Serious news out of New Jersey today:

An E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 22 people — two of them seriously — was linked by health investigators Monday to three Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey. Investigators also were examining whether an outbreak on Long Island was connected to the fast-food chain.

While the investigation was proceeding, several locations were closed:

Taco Bell on Tuesday boosted to nine the number of fast-food restaurants it had closed in New York and New Jersey after a suspected outbreak of the foodborne E. coli bacteria that may have sickened more than three dozen people.

But the division of Yum Brands Inc. said no new cases had been reported since November 29 and by midday it added that it was reopening the eight New York locations later on Tuesday.

How serious was this outbreak?

The two children are suffering from a serious kidney disorder that can sometimes result from infection by certain strains of the bacterium.

The outbreak of E. coli-related illness is the largest since one reported in mid-September that killed three people and sickened about 200. That outbreak was traced to bagged spinach grown in California.

This is a very serious situation. Considering the size and scope of Taco Bell restaurants, E. coli at the factory could cause problems for a lot of people. Fortunately, this was limited to a relatively small number of locations in New Jersey.

When your brain thinks things like, “I can’t believe how much food you get for $1.49!”, that little voice in your head should be yelling, “Run!”

More misunderestimation

On Monday, an influential pediatricians released some disturbing information for parents:

Inappropriate advertising contributes to many kids’ ills, from obesity to anorexia, to drinking booze and having sex too soon, and Congress should crack down on it, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.

“Young people view more than 40,000 ads per year on television alone and increasingly are being exposed to advertising on the Internet, in magazines, and in schools,” the policy says.

Common sense would tell you that kids who are inundated with constant ads for fast food, male enhancement, and various homicide investigation shows are bound to pick-up some bad habits.

And when did it become OK to for the networks to bombard us with frightening images from their violent shows? CBS is the worst. Try watching a football game on CBS and you will see constant images of violence thanks to incessant promotions for CSI [you city here] shows. At one time, all you had to do was flip channels during commercials to avoid the “rough” images. Now, they put their twisted promos on between downs!

I’m glad that pressure is being applied to clean-up advertising. Of course, the advertising industry has a different view:

“It’s as dangerous for pediatricians to make recommendations about advertising as for me to write a prescription for a child’s ear infection,” said Dick O’Brien of the American Association of Advertising Agencies

This from the people who brought you meeting rooms full of monkeys, geckos who drive, and the smiling Enzyte guy. Clearly, you don’t have to own a brain to be an advertiser.

• Pediatricians blast inappropriate ads
• Pediatricians take aim at advertising to kids …
• Junk Food Ads Spoil Kids’…Minds
• The Kids are Alright
• Kids are exposed to too many erectile dysfunction ads

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Nike has created a tool to help runners monitor their runs, set goals, and become better runners. To facilitate the gathering of their run information, Nike is placing a monitoring device in running shoes that sends information to the runner’s iPod via an encrypted radio signal. On the surface, this looks to be a very cool device for runners.

Of course, once you broadcast any information, you invite others to snoop-in on your life:

“When you walk or run the Nike + iPod sensor in your shoe will transmit messages using a wireless radio,” said the researchers. “These messages contain a unique identifier that can be detected from 60 feet away. This information is potentially private because it can reveal where you are, even when you’d prefer for a bad person to not know your location.”

The information being sent is encrypted, but the presence of a unique Nike+ transponder tells someone where you are or are not from 60 feet away.

Nefarious uses for tracking people included people stalking on others, thieves casing home where Nike+iPod wearing owners live to discover when they had left home, and other bad sounding scenarios.

Interestingly, the system could be mapped to a GoogleMaps system, so people could be tracked in real time, and doubly interesting is the fact that Nike+iPod wearers don’t even need to be carrying their iPods with them as the Nike+iPod transmitter, which fits into the sole of compatible Nike shoes, is the transmission device.

In an effort to make a cool tool for runners, Nike may have created a great tool for savvy thieves and stalkers.

Other Blogging:

• Nike+iPod users could be tracked: new report
• Can Nike+iPod track you? Yes, it seems…
• Briefly: Apple at RSNA; tracking iPods?
• Nike+iPod Scare Mongering
• Nike, iPod Sports Kit Tracks Users?

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