Nutritional and Energy Enhancements from Honey

A fact sheet from the National Honey Board titled Honey's Nutrition and Health Facts contains some nuggests about honey's nutritional advantages. Although the main ingredients of honey are water and carbohydrates there are also a large number of vitamins and minerals included. They are calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid.

Honey is also a source of anti-oxidents which comes as news to some. The anti-oxidents come in the form of varieties of flavonoids and phenolic acids. Usually darker honey has higher anti-oxident content

Carboydrate content is divided about equally between fructose and glucose and yields 17 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon. Honey has been used by athletes since antiquity.

Links to Information About Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Chronicles

A blog of Lillie Shockney, administrative director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center, which covers a variety of ground.

http://tinyurl.com/2v57bj

Evidence that BRCA1 mutations knock out tumor suppressor gene PTEN and subsequently lead to cancer.

http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=137395

Evidence that mutations causing loss of function of caveolin gene expression influences the specific upregulation of estrogen receptor.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051202132144.htm

The article title says it: Study Demonstrates Role Of Exercise In Modifying Melatonin Levels; Increase Believed To Offer Breast Cancer Protection


http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=127818

Preventing spread of cancer to the bones.

http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=152598

A molecular explanation of how the estrogen hormone can facilitate breast cancer.

http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=140043

Breast Cancer Genetics And More

Regulating Mitochondrial Energy Output

A new brake on cellular energy production discovered, a EurekAlert article, reveals the discovery of a new mitochondrial factor. It is labeled MTERF3 and is able to slow down cellular energy production by inhibiting the expression of mtDNA.

A New Means of Detecting Prostate Cancer?

Common Molecule Notifies Immune System of Prostate Cancer, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute article, contains the following paragraph (in blue):

Understanding how this protein, known as histone H4, signals the immune system to respond to malignant cells may help researchers refine immunotherapy strategies that harness the body's own immune system to fight tumors. Some types of immunotherapy are already being tested in patients, but many questions remain unanswered. In particular, researchers want to know if tumor cells display molecular signposts that tell the immune system, “I'm a cancer cell, destroy me.”

Since nuclear proteins like histone H4 are not generally located on cell surfaces T cells, which are key immunological weapons against harmful organisms, cancer and molecular evidence of them, would appear unlikely to recognize H4 as a sign of cancer. Recognition for T cells is a surface event; not a place where H4 is expected. Unraveling the mystery of why histone would be found on the surface of tumor cells is the next logical objective.

Mitochondrial DNA

THE ORGANIZATION AND INHERITANCE OF THE MITOCHONDRIAL GENOME is an article that is also a useful source of information about mitochondrial DNA. Not all of our DNA is located within the nucleii of our cells. Not surprisingly, mitochondrial DNA is located in mitochondria. Mitochondria are cellular energy factories and mitochondrial DNA codes for components of energy producing mechanisms.

The article discusses enzymes whose function involves the protection and organization of mtDNA. Mutations of genes, contained in mtDNA, can accelerate the ageing process and also lead to neuromuscular diseases.

Preventing the Spread of Breast Cancer

Small RNAs Can Prevent Spread of Breast Cancer, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute article, reveals that researchers have identified RNA which suppresses the spread of breast cancer to the lungs and bone. The research links the most invasive and aggressive human breast cancer tumors to an absence of three critical microRNA molecules. When these microRNA molecules were placed in mice with human breast cancer tumors, the tumors were no longer able to spread.

The microRNA in question appears to inhibit mestastasis by interfering with the expression of other genes. These other genes enable cancer cells to proliferate and migrate and could become targets of drugs designed to prevent the spread of breast cancer.