XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Thursday 6 November 2014

Japan scientists make see-through mice -

Japan scientists make see-through mice - 



Invisibility may still be the stuff of fictional works like Harry Potter, but researchers in Japan have developed a way to make mice almost totally transparent.
Using a method that almost completely removes colour from tissue -- and kills the mouse in the process -- researchers say they can now examine individual organs or even whole bodies without slicing into them, offering a "bigger picture" view of the problems they are working on.
The techniques will give scientists a "new understanding of the 3D structure of organs and how certain genes are expressed in various tissues," said Kazuki Tainaka, the lead author of a research paper published in the US-based Cell magazine.
"We were very surprised that the entire body of infant and adult mice could be made nearly transparent," he said in a statement issued by Japanese research institute RIKEN and its collaborators
The work, which also involved the University of Tokyo and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, focuses on a compound called haem, the constituent that gives blood its red colour and is found in most tissues of the body.
The process involves pumping a saline solution through the mouse's heart, pushing the blood out of its circulatory system and killing the creature.
A reagent is then introduced, which works to divorce the haem from the haemoglobin that remains in the animal's organs.
The dead mouse is skinned and soaked in the reagent for up to two weeks to complete the process.
A sheet of laser light, which can be set to penetrate to a specific level, builds up a complete image of the body, much as a 3D printer creates physical objects in layers.
"Microscopes have so far allowed us to look at things in minute detail, but that has also deprived us of the context of what we are looking at," Tainaka told AFP.
The new method, which cannot be applied to living things, "will give us details while enabling us to grasp the bigger picture," he said.
Hiroki Ueda, who led the research team, said in the statement that the method "could be used to study how embryos develop or how cancer and autoimmune diseases develop at the cellular level.
It was hoped the method would lead "to a deeper understanding of such diseases and perhaps to new therapeutic strategies".
"It could lead to the achievement of one of our great dreams: organism-level systems biology based on whole-body imaging at single-cell resolution."

Read more - 
http://www.centnews.com/Tech/Japan-scientists-make-see-through-mice/S-2014-11-06/102488.html

Iran to punish Dog owners with 74 lashes... -

Iran to punish Dog owners with 74 lashes... - 



For people around the world, owning a dog comes as a rite of passage. However in Iran, lawmakers are trying to pass a new bill that would harshly punish anyone who buys, sells or walks a dog in public with either a fine ranging from 100 to 100 million rials (NIS 142 to NIS 14,177) or 74 lashes, according to a report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

According to an English translation of the bill, proposed by 32 members of Iran's parliament, a law like this would chastise “[a]nyone who takes a pet like a monkey or a dog in public and damages the Islamic culture or the health and tranquility of the people - particularly children and women."

In addition to physical or monetary discipline, the pets would be taken away and put in a zoo or what is described as "a desert," with the owner footing the bill for the animal's transfer. 

The proposed legislation seemed to say that punishment will only be given to those who continue to break the law after receiving a warning from police, though details of what type of warning  police would give was not described. 

In response, the NCRI said “The sporadic and politically motivated campaigns against dog ownership are aimed at further suppressing the youth and women in Iran who have, in past few weeks, held protests against the acid attacks on women that have been carried out by state-sponsored gangs.”

In the past year, Iranians have been punished for "crimes" that go against the conservative Iranian laws. In May, six young men and women were given jail time and lashes for creating a spoof of Pharrell's "Happy" music video and on Sunday, a British-Iranian woman was sentenced to a year in jail for attending a volleyball game.

Read more - 
http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/Own-a-dog-in-Iran-That-will-be-74-lashes-381033

The AP and other press outlets have agreed not to report on any suspected cases of Ebola in the US -

The AP and other press outlets have agreed not to report on any suspected cases of Ebola in the US - 



An eyebrow-raising admission at the end of a Forbes article written by pharmacologist David Kroll reveals that the media has agreed not to report on suspected Ebola cases in the United States.

In a piece entitled Liberian Traveler At Duke Hospital Shows Preliminary Negative Result For Ebola, Kroll describes attending a press conference involving Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos.

After revealing that “an unnamed official abruptly called the press conference to a close” when Wos was asked a difficult question about the suspected Ebola victim, Kroll then drops a bombshell.


“The Associated Press and other press outlets have agreed not to report on suspected cases of Ebola in the United States until a positive viral RNA test is completed,” he writes.

Kroll then felt the need to justify why he was talking about the suspected Ebola case at Duke Hospital, which subsequently turned out to be negative, explaining that he was, “covering tonight’s announcement of a potential Ebola case because it has been reported in my area, and at Duke University Medical Center, an institution where I hold an unpaid adjunct associate professor appointment in their Department of Medicine.”

The agreement between major media outlets and health authorities – presumably the CDC – not to report on potential Ebola cases in the United States was apparently made behind the scenes with no public discussion whatsoever. This is sure to heighten criticism of the CDC’s handling of the Ebola outbreak in the U.S., which is already under close scrutiny.

While the CDC will almost certainly claim that such an arrangement is necessary to prevent hysteria, many will see this as another example of how the mainstream press is more interested in acquiescing to government demands than keeping the American people informed.

In an interview on the Alex Jones Show last month, Doctor James Lawrenzi revealed that health authorities are covering up potential Ebola cases in the United States and disappearing patients in an effort to avoid hysteria.

With flu season fast approaching, experts have warned that the reporting of Ebola-like symptoms which are in fact influenza could overwhelm health authorities. Medical professionals have predicted that the U.S. could see over one hundred Ebola cases by the end of the year.

Last week we reported on how the government had sent 250,000 Hazmat suits to Dallas, while the CDC is also set to purchase over 1.4 million surgical gowns and nearly 10,000 body bags in response to the outbreak.

Read more - 
http://www.infowars.com/media-agrees-not-to-report-on-suspected-ebola-cases-in-u-s/