World’s youngest mother: 5 years old?
Lina Medina, at five and a half years of age, seven and a half months into pregnancy. Lina is the world’s youngest mother in recorded medical history.
‘Tipsy’ alcohol gene
Experts say they have found a “tipsy” gene that explains why some people feel alcohol’s effects quicker than others.
The US researchers believe 10% to 20% of people have a version of the gene that may offer some protection against alcoholism.
That is because people who react strongly to alcohol are less likely to become addicted, studies show.
The University of North Carolina said the study aims to help fight addiction, not pave the way for a cheap night out.
Ultimately, people could be given CYP2E1-like drugs to make them more sensitive to alcohol - not to get them drunk more quickly, but to put them off drinking to inebriation, the Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research journal reported.
Straight to the head
Lead researcher Professor Kirk Wilhelmsen said: “Obviously we are a long way off having a treatment, but the gene we have found tells us a lot about how alcohol affects the brain.”
Most of the alcohol people consume is broken down in the liver, but some is metabolised in the brain by an enzyme which the CYP2E1 gene provides coded instructions for.
People who have the “tipsy” version of CYP2E1 break down alcohol more readily, which explains why they feel the effects of alcohol much quicker than others.
The researchers made their discovery by studying more than 200 pairs of students who were siblings and who had one alcohol-dependent parent but who did not have a drink problem themselves.
They gave the students a mixture of grain alcohol and soda that was equivalent to about three average alcoholic drinks. At regular intervals the students were then asked whether they felt drunk, sober, sleepy or awake.
The researchers then compared the findings with gene test results from the students.
This revealed that CYP2E1 on chromosome 10 appears to dictate whether a person can hold their drink better than others.
Professor Wilhelmsen says more research is now needed to see if the findings could be used to make new treatments to tackle alcohol addiction.
“Alcoholism is a very complex disease, and there are lots of complicated reasons why people drink. This may be just one of the reasons,” he added.
Don Shenker, of the charity Alcohol Concern, said that, in most cases, alcohol abuse stemmed from social problems, with alcohol used as a prop.
Professor Colin Drummond, an expert in addiction at London’s Institute of Psychiatry, said it was likely to be combination of genes and environment.
“It is well recognised that alcohol dependence runs in families,” he said.
He said research suggests having an alcoholic parent quadruples a person’s risk of developing a drinking problem.
So, thoughts?
(Source: BBC)
Man grows pea plant inside lung
A Massachusetts man who was rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung came home with an unusual diagnosis: a pea plant was growing in his lung.
Ron Sveden had been battling emphysema for months when his condition deteriorated.
He was steeling himself for a cancer diagnosis when X-rays revealed the growth in his lung.
Doctors believe that Mr Sveden ate the pea at some point, but it “went down the wrong way” and sprouted.
“One of the first meals I had in the hospital after the surgery had peas for the vegetable. I laughed to myself and ate them,” Mr Sveden told a local Boston TV reporter.
Mr Sveden said the plant was about half an inch (1.25cm) in size.
“Whether this would have gone full-term and I’d be working for the Jolly Green Giant, I don’t know. I think the thing that finally dawned on me is that it wasn’t the cancer,” Mr Sveden said.
He is currently recovering at home with his wife Nancy, who joked that God must have a sense of humour.
This is disgusting. I hope it’s not real.
Reblog if you think this is sick.
THESE are the first shocking pictures of smoking toddler Ardi Rizal - who throws tantrums if he can’t puff 40 cigs a day.
The Sun told on Saturday how the two-year-old got hooked after dad Mohammed gave him a fag at 18 months.
Now he weighs 4st and trundles round on a toy truck blowing smoke rings - too unfit to run with other kids.
Posted May 31, 2010 at 12:14am in News
House Party, everyone invited?
A house party that ended up with close to 50,000 “attending” guests.
I got an actually event invite to this on Facebook, I feel quite privileged. :)
Did anyone else?
Poor Kate, although that’s what you get for leaving it as “open invite” and stating your apartment isn’t very big.
Read the full story below.
I hope Kate has a good birthday anyway, and can see the funny side of her birthday making headlines.
Organ donors could get rewards?
I’m still not sure where my personal views lie with organ donation. I’m rather attached to my body parts, and I guess I believe in some sort of afterlife. And that my body needs to be kept in one piece if that’s going to happen without any mishaps.
To be honest though, rewards will not encourage me to donate my organs. Only when I’ve sorted out my own ethical beliefs. Maybe I’m being selfish.
What are your views on it?
Ethics consultation will test opinion on possible incentives for organ donation.
Organ donors should have their funeral expenses paid or jump the queue if they need a transplant themselves, medical experts suggested yesterday.
The radical ideas for new incentives are being considered as part of a public consultation into strategies for tackling the shortage of organs and other tissues that are available for transplant operations, including kidneys, hearts and skin.
People who donate blood, eggs and sperm, might be paid or rewarded with souvenir mugs and T-shirts, while ethicists will examine whether laws prohibiting the collection of eggs and organs from dead people should be eased.
The consultation, run by the independent body, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, aims to canvass opinion from the public and professionals on different incentives. It will also look at the consequences of opening a free market on organs, which could be openly sold and traded.
“There’s a real demand for bodily material that’s simply not being met. Demand significantly exceeds supply,” said Dame Marilyn Strathern, professor of social anthropology at Cambridge University, who is leading the consultation working party. The shortage exists even though 16.5m Britons are on the donor register.
Last year, 8,000 people in the UK were on waiting lists for organ transplants, but only 3,500 operations were performed.
The consultation will cover all kinds of donations, from both living and dead donors, including whole organs, blood, skin, corneas, bone, sperm, eggs and embryos. Incentives for healthy people taking part in clinical trials of new medicines are also under consideration.
Health services are close to meeting demand for blood, bone, skin and some other tissues, but some organs are in growing demand. Requests for sperm and egg donation have risen in line with improved fertility medicine, while more kidneys are needed to meet the demands of an ageing population, Strathern said.
Financial incentives are controversial but are already offered at fertility clinics where a woman can donate some of her eggs in return for free IVF treatment. Healthy volunteers for clinical trials are also paid compensation for the inconvenience.
“We could try to increase the number of donors by providing stronger incentives, such as cash, paying funeral costs or priority for an organ in the future, but would this be ethical?” Strathern said. “Offering incentives may encourage people to take risks or go against their beliefs in a way they would not have otherwise done.”
The consultation will last until 13 July with a report containing recommendations due in autumn next year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/20/organ-donors-cash-incentives-shortage
Volcano erupting
“And if you look to your left you’ll see a volcano erupting”
This is the incredible sight holidaymakers witnessed out of their plane’s windows - a huge volcano erupting.
A plume of ash was hurled 40,000ft into the sky by the explosion.
The pilot of the Boeing 737 announced over the intercom: “Ladies and gentlemen, if you look to the left of the plane, you’ll see a volcano erupting.”
Passengers rushed to the side of the jet to snap the cloud from the Soufriere Hills volcano, on Caribbean island Montserrat.
Mary Jo Penkala, 49, flying to St Lucia from Toronto, Canada, with partner Barry Steinfeld, took the pic. She said: “We saw the volcano in all its glory.”
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2906111/And-if-you-look-to-your-left-youll-see-a-volcano-erupting.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News#ixzz0jC4HFmvJ
