Tupelo Honey

Holley Bishop wrote an eloquent book about bees and honey titled Robbing the Bees. The nature of honey is a function of the type of flowers attended by the gathering honey bees.

A highly valued form of honey is tupelo honey. Tupelo buds grow on tupelo trees. Tupelo trees grow in Alabama and Georgia but are found in the greatest numbers in the panhandle section of Florida. Tupelo honey is light in color, unique in flavor and does not crystallize like other forms of honey.1



Reference:

1. Robbing the Bees by Holley Bishop; Published by Free Press; a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.; Copyright 2005.

Boron: A Remedy for Arthritis?

As a general rule I comment on and present information stemming from scientific research; results of which have been published in peer reviewed journals. The immediate source may not be such a journal but, the origin of the information presented can be traced to one. This is an exception so take the information provided in the linked article, AWAY WITH ARTHRITIS, with an appropriate degree of skepticism. Nevertheless I find it worth mentioning because the underlying malady discussed- arthritis- afflicts many and there is no identifed cure.

The recommended treatment discussed is taking borax; an extract of boron. Boron facilitates the metabolism of calcium in green plants. Like most things that are ingested too much boron can be toxic, so take precautions if you decide to use it. From the link:


"Rex researched many areas of the world looking at arthritis incidence and soil content. Israel has some of the best soil in the world and a high boron content. An independent survey in 1978-1980 at the Kaplan Hospital showed arthritis for the whole country to be less than 1%.

In New Zealand a number of spas pools are recommended as being good for arthritis. They all have high boron readings. One motel at Ngawha has a collection of wheelchairs and crutches left behind by people no longer needing them when they leave.

The NZ green lipped mussel extract that is claimed to relieve arthritis was originally gathered from White Island, a volcanic island with vents under the sea. The mussels absorbed boron from the sea in this way and this was the secret to their success. Mussels gathered from other areas do not have the same effect as they lack the boron.

There are a number of degenerative diseases that appear to benefit from boron supplementation."

Links to Articles About DNA Repair Functions

Age-related Changes In DNA Repair Illuminate The Connection Between Age And Genetic Damage is the title of a Science Daily article about a very important topic. Genetic damage and DNA repair is important, not only as far as the ageing process is concerned, but has significance for a broad array of diseases and health issues in general.

A PLOS Pathogens paper entitled Viral Oncogene–Induced DNA Damage Response Is Activated in Kaposi Sarcoma Tumorigenesis which is authored by Sonja Koopal, Johanna H. Furuhjelm, Annika Järviluoma, Sari Jäämaa, Pawan Pyakurel, Christel Pussinen, Maria Wirzenius, Peter Biberfeld, Kari Alitalo, Marikki Laiho, and Päivi M. Ojala, contains this introductory paragraph:

Recent findings suggest that DNA damage checkpoints become activated in early stages of human tumorigenesis, leading to growth arrest or apoptosis and thereby hindering tumor progression. Likewise, very recent reports have indicated that oncogene-induced senescence triggered by DNA replication stress also has a role as a tumorigenesis barrier. DNA damage checkpoint markers like phosphorylated ATM and Chk2 kinases and phosphorylated histone H2AX and p53 are activated in precancerous lesions (early stages of tumorigenesis) of several different human cancers, including bladder, breast, colon, and lung cancer [1,2]. These checkpoint responses precede p53 mutations and the appearance of gross chromosomal abnormalities. The tumorigenic events early in the progression of major human cancer types activate the ATR/ATM-regulated checkpoint as a guard against tumor progression and genetic instability. Candidate inducers of the response include oncogenes such as Myc [3,4], Ras [5], Cdc6 [1], Cdc25A, E2F1, or overexpressed cyclin E [6].

This Medical Science News item- Mechanistic model of DNA repair- seeks to shed some light on the question of where DNA damage repair occurs. Is it at the damage site or perhaps also at cellular sites whose function entails hosting DNA repair activity?

A Biocompare article entitled Chromosome Glue Repairs Damaged DNA describes a cellular phenomenon known as cohesion which involves a critical chromosome binding function during cell division. It ensures that daughter cells receive the correct number of chromosomes when properly functioning.

Energy from Honey

The webpage HONEY'S NUTRITION AND HEALTH FACTS contains nutritional information about honey including its carbohydrate content. According to the source honey has a carbohydrate content of 82.4 percent. More meaningful to most though is the caloric measure per tablespoon which is said to be 64 calories. A tablespoon of honey can appreciably sweeten a much larger portion of food.

Most significant are the energy enhancing effects of honey. The linked page refers to a University of Memphis Exercise and Sports Nutrition Laboratory study which cited honey's effectiveness as an energy source when consumed shortly before exercising. The reason may be the one mentioned by Dr. Richard Kreider. According to Kreider when compared to other carbohydrate sources honey seems to have relatively mild effects on blood sugar.

Chromatin Condensation and Apoptosis

Y Hu, Z Liu, S-J Yang and K Ye report in an article titled Acinus-provoked protein kinase C isoform activation is essential for apoptotic chromatin condensation, which is published in Cell Death and Differentiation, (14, 2035–2046; published online 24 August 2007) that there is a close correlation between Histone H2B phosphorylation and chromatin condensation during apoptosis. Chromatin condensation is provoked in the nucleus by caspase-cleaved acinus. Acinus is an acronym for- apoptotic chromatin condensation inducer in the nucleus.

Blood Enables the Growth of Cancer Cells

The Science Daily article Protein SENP1 Could Be New Target For Cancer Therapies, singles out a protein researchers believe is implicated in cancer. The protein is known as SENP1 or Sentrin/SUMO-specific protease 1. University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers published results of their study in the Novermber 2nd issue of Cell.

One of the properties of many cancer cells is their rapid growth. To sustain growth, nourishment is needed and that means a dependable blood supply. Researchers believe they may have discovered a strategy by which cancer cells ensure adaquate blood flow. Regulatory mechanisms are connected with maintaining a flow of blood and the inhibition of SENP1 could short circuit the process. The fact that genetically impaired mice, having just a single copy of the SENP1 gene instead of two, were unable to make enough red blood cells, supports the inhibition concept.

Regulatory mechanisms involve a complex of different proteins which interact to enable function. SENP1 appears to regulate a hormone known as erythropoietin (EPO). EPO facilitates the maturation of red blood cells. The regulation of EPO production by SENP1 involves another protein called HIF1a. HIF1a becomes very unstable in the absence of SENP1.

One can trace a causal chain in the interaction of multiple proteins that cause a specific outcome. Inhibit one in the group and function is compromised. If that function is a continuous supply of blood then the consequences of impaired blood flow can signify lack of growth for affected tissue. The bottom line is that cancer cells need blood to grow. Cut off the blood and the growth will stop.

Links to Health Articles

Mushrooms.

Learn about the health benefits of goats' milk.

Click here for information about healthy bones.

Do fewer calories mean cleaner cells?

Click here for smart eating suggestions.

Getting new brains cells through exercise?

Want a healthier heart? Eat pistachios.

Capsaicin

A New Target article titled Capsaicin from chili peppers may help prevent obesity, weight gain, touts capsaicin, a substance found in chili peppers, as having both fat fighting and anti-carcinogenic qualities. Promoting apoptosis, a preprogrammed cellular death process, has been attributed to capsaicin. Apoptosis is a fail safe measure of eliminating defective cells.

Optimal dietary amounts of capsaicin were said to be between 8 to 25 micromoles of capsaicin per day.

Answering the Question: "Is Belief In Divine Creation Rational?"

David Anderson, a fellow blogger who also posts entries at Intelligently Sequenced (as do I) authored the blog entry Is Belief In Divine Creation Rational? I'm reproducing it here. You can follow the links. David's writing appears in blue:

This should be of interest to anyone involved in the debate over evolution, intelligent design, creationism, atheism, materialism, etcetera. (Apologies if you've already seen it over at BCSE Revealed.)

As most of you will know, in my "day job" I am a Christian minister. I have just put online a major new audio-visual presentation: "Is belief in divine creation rational? (responding to atheist claims)".

http://david.dw-perspective.org.uk/is-belief-in-creation-rational

The talk is 77 minutes long, accompanied by slides (combined courtesy of Google video), and goes over quite a wide field - rationality, morality, laws (or not?) of logic, Richard Dawkins, the scientific method, world views, the definition of the mind, etc. It's meant to be popular level but stimulating for anyone. You can watch the presentation with audio, or download it to your iPod, etcetera. Lots of links and resources provided. Of course it's a lot more heavyweight than the previous Richard Dawkins parable, but much more stimulating and rewarding and hopefully life-changing for it.

If you like it, please link it. Put it on your blogs, websites, mailing lists, etcetera. As with the previous Richard Dawkins parable, the success of this depends on it getting linked.

Triclosan

Articles touting the dangers of triclosan are easy to locate on the web. What is triclosan? The brief article What are triclocarban and triclosan (ingredients in some antiseptic soaps)? answers the question and makes some important points about triclosan. Triclosan has been known to be an ingredient found in soaps, toothpaste and cosmetics. As the linked article notes it is fat soluble and able to cross cell membranes.

Triclosan's biological impact is measured largely by a capacity to disrupt the function of an enzyme found in bacteria and funguses with the long name enoyl-acyl carrier-protein reductase. Fortunately we are able to refer to it simply as ENR. Disruption is accomplished by interfering with the function of a part of the enzyme known as the active site. The active site is a location where binding occurs. Enzymes can bind substances or other proteins. The result of the interaction between triclosan and ENR prevents the synthesis of fatty acids needed to construct cellular membranes. It is important to bear in mind that because EDR is not a human enzyme the disrupted function is confined to targeted bacteria and funguses.

It is always possible that there are unknown harmful effects to humans that will yet be documented. However one could make that argument for many other substances as well. Before campaigning against a substance on health grounds we should be aware of exactly what it does and with what biomolecules it interacts.