Adventure Ausrama Blog

When things get tough people will try anything. Antibiotics are no longer working, so researchers are asking for newly mixed compounds by chemists to be sent along to them. This a new project set up by the University of Queensland. The belief is that scientists are working on the same middle of the road compounds. It is in new compounds where hope lies. Every day new compounds are made and just discarded. They are never screened to see what they can do against pathogens. Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD researchers located at UQ are ready to test the compounds against fungi and bacteria, especially superbugs. This will work because rights remain with the chemists who provide the samples. Funding has been been gained from sources in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., France and India. The project began in February and will be ongoing. Prevalent diseases like malaria an dengue fever will be included in the target list. The database will be open

A group investigating Biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) genetic modification of sheep finds the pay-off for investment is poor.  It gives only benefit of $1.5 million for the period 2010 to 2013.  The return of only $0.45 for each dollar invested does pay for operating costs, it says. The Australian Wool Innovation body which carried out the research disputes this.  It says the consultancy has not done its job.  Indeed, the money paid to them was wasted.  The report said that MERINOSELECT did make a profit, but  overall the project ran at a loss to woolgrowers.  How can one sector be okay while the rest is rubbish? Professor Julius van der Werf of the Sheep CRC program said that the estimates were wrong.  The total gross genetic gain needs to be valued at ten times what the BDA group determined.  Tremendous gains lay in the future because genetic improvement is cumulative.  Net present value should be $6.4 M not $0.7M.  This is what you get when investigators do not fully under

It is not only humans that are becoming resistant to drugs developed to fight disease, chemicals used by farmers to combat crop destroyers are also not working so well. The world's supply of grain is at risk. The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) in Australia is signing a deal with Bayer CropScience. This Herbicide Innovation Partnership aims to find more effective weed-fighting chemicals. More than 40 Australian researchers will be taken on board at the Bayer’s global centre of excellence in Germany. Australian is a major grain producer and Bayer will target agriculture in this country.  Benefits will spread to other countries. Australian farmers spend $3.25 billion on weed control every year. This is the largest input cost, greater than fertilizer. Resistance to herbicides is pushing the cost higher as growers spray more to defeat weeds. ✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.bl

Light affects us in many ways. Nordic countries have light treatment for citizens who suffer from a depressive outlook due to lack of sunshine during winter. Their circadian rhythms are disrupted. Recently evidence points to the fact that color is important as well. A study on mice indicates that color signals reaching the eyes are "stored" in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain. It was thought only sunlight was responsible for setting the body clock. This has been brought into question, however. The research controlled the brightness of artificial sky and also added color blended into the level of brightness. With only dawn sunlight in the test room mice seemed confused and their body temperatures lagged behind the norm by 30 minutes. When orange and blue was added to the dawn light the mice were perfectly normal in behavior and temperature. It seems the light/color information is stored in suprachiasmic neurons in a special way. Biopsies show a ti

Are you sweet enough? Maybe you are if you use saccharin. But wait! Are there other uses that this comforter can be used for? Scientists believe that it could treat cancer. The saccharin molecule deactivates carbonic anhydrase IX, a protein in aggressive cancers. Carbonic anhydrase IX regulates PH so that cancer can more easily spread through the body. It is hoped that saccharin can change the PH level. If it is not at an optimum level the cancer can be successfully treated with radiation and chemo therapy. Healthy tissues, except for the gastrointestinal tract, have no carbonydrase anydrose IX. Other carbonic anydrase proteins are there though. Molecules tested before blocked similar carbonic anydrase proteins which are present to make the body work. By tweaking the saccharin molecule it was discovered that it does not affect helpful anhydrase proteins. Tests have begun on liver and breast cancer. These are currently on animals. If the research is successful w

Ebola is still a world crisis. Though the overall rate of infected people has slowed, some pockets in Africa have increased infections. It could still spread to Europe, Asia and the US.  If it does spread this wide, control will be virtually impossible. Some form of effective treatment has to be found - fast. The blood of survivors has been seen has the most probable source of a vaccine. However, any form of treatment should be examined for its usefulness. In Australia a vaccine tested on monkeys holds out great hope. The Kunjin treatment has been created from engineering the Ebola virus protein. Monkeys were given the vaccine and they showed significant protection from the disease. Seventy five per cent of the monkeys kept their resistance. Much research was based on tests on rodents. Success on them did not mean that vaccines would work on humans, so tests on primates is beginning. Scientists must get a move on to create a successful vaccine. Ninety per cen

There seems to be a scientific breakthrough every minute. You go onto the Internet and a new claim appears. Some of course is recycled old news. However, new discoveries are made all the time. Despite spending cutbacks in some countries, science seems to be leaping ahead. You would think that just about everything is known about the body. Nevertheless, a new stem has been found. A four continent research enterprise called Project Grandiose has identified the new cell which has been put into the "F-class": the cell has a fuzzy body when viewed on a microscope. It is hoped that the cell can be used in the treatment of injuries and illnesses. The days of using stem cells from afterbirth material are long gone. Adult cells can now be modified for treating various health problems, but this is early research. The only successful treatment to date is for macular degeneration. Targeting modified stem cells is the main problem. They are like tumours and in the wrong plac

Scientists are jumping up and down welcoming the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) saying it will breed market culture in science. The odd thing is this isn't the market in operation. It is managed interference in free scientific operations. Why should scientific research be managed at all? Another thing is, it will be chaired by the Prime Minister Tony Abbott. What does the PM know about science? The truth is he knows no more than the average person. He is not trained in science. The body will give advice. And you know what they say about advice - it is best ignored. The CSC will not improve the chasm between universities and industry. Academia has a good bond with industry in the US. Just why we cannot do the same in Australia is a mystery. A new referee in the ring like the CSC will not improve the boxing match. Industry and academia remain at odds. The blame really lies on the university side. They still live in their ivory towers being paid huge sums

A lot of work is going into stem cells research. Anything we can learn about them is important for future human transplants. There have been some claims that have been proved wrong. However, we are moving forward in understanding how organs can be created from them. A significant breakthrough has been made in Australia while investigating zebrafish. Scientists have found out how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) important in bone marrow and blood are made. The stem cells replenish immune cells in the blood. At present hematopoietic stem cells are used to treat leukemia and myeloma. It will probably be possible to treat other cancers in blood vessels, muscle and bone. Furthermore, diabetes, spinal problems and degenerative disorders cold also be treated. The discovery is important. "Buddy" cells were observed while the hematopoietic stem cell were being created. Ironically, the scientists were investigating muscle development when they noticed the "hel

There has been differences in views on sleep for decades. Some say a good nights sleep is absolutely necessary to function well in the world. Others believe that sleeping is a waste of valuable time when one could be creating new things. More time could be made available if sleep was postponed indefinitely. However, there is a question as to whether performance is impaired. Then creativity could be replaced by nuisance behavior - someone who is just a pest to well functioning individuals around him or her. Research points to sleep being required for efficient functioning. We have evolved with roughly 12 hours of darkness each day. A century or so ago people went to bed early, before electricity grids changed all our lives. Most animals still head for cover when the sun goes down. Particular animals evolved to be active at night, hunting for food. Even these though sleep in daylight hours. An Oregon study has shown that the elderly function better if they get a m