for life and liberty

Texas cops raid farm commune when mistaking tomato plants for marijuana

"Police in Arlington, Texas are being criticized for their tactics during a drug raid on a local farm that came up empty while allegedly damaging both the property and the crops. Several residents at the 'Garden of Eden' sustainability garden were handcuffed at gunpoint by officers during the Aug. 2 raid, which also involved a SWAT team, after an undercover officer and helicopter surveillance allegedly gave authorities probable cause to believe there was marijuana being grown on the premises. 'They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation,' owner Shellie Smith told WFAA-TV. 'They destroyed everything.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas cops raid farm commune when mistaking tomato plants for marijuana

Wyoming weed laws leave patients with difficult choice: suffer or risk imprisonment

"For a law-abiding Casper resident with impaired vision and glaucoma, it proved a tough decision: Take expensive legal medicine, with the side effects, or use marijuana and risk imprisonment. 'It’s a real frustrating thing – do you want to risk your freedom or do you want to lose your vision?' He said. 'It’s not a choice you should have to make.' He’s not the only one to make that choice. After a motorcycle accident in 1997 shattered his pelvis and crushed his left leg from the knee down, Charlie Lake underwent 13 surgeries that left him in chronic pain. Lake said [opiate addiction] caused 'mental anguish' and other health problems until he began using marijuana." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWyoming weed laws leave patients with difficult choice: suffer or risk imprisonment

CFR Reports on Deadly Viruses That Become the Property of Sovereign Nations

"CFR Senior Fellow for Global Health Laurie Garrett writes, 'Like the SARS virus, MERS ravages the lungs of infected people, causing pneumonia and acute respiratory distress. …But unlike SARS, it also attacks the kidneys, causing renal failure.' 'There is no cure, rapid diagnostic test, or vaccine for MERS-CoV,' Garrett adds. But the ability to develop a treatment for the epidemic is being impeded by a concept known as 'viral sovereignty' – the idea that deadly viruses are the property of sovereign nations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR Reports on Deadly Viruses That Become the Property of Sovereign Nations

Scientists use new ‘computational cell biology’ to kill cancer cells by making them sick

"One doesn’t often think of cancer cells themselves being vulnerable to infections, but a team of scientists in Ottawa, Ontario is using advanced mathematical modeling to engineer viruses that will infect and destroy cancer cells. The team uses predictive modeling to investigate how treatment techniques and genetic modification might allow cancer-killing (oncolytic) viruses to overcome cancer cells’ anti-infection defenses and kill them. Kaern and Bell constructed a mathematical model of the process of infection of a cancer cell with an oncolytic virus, including how the virus would replicate, spread itself and override the cancer’s biological defenses." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScientists use new ‘computational cell biology’ to kill cancer cells by making them sick

Questions and Answers About Cannabis – National Cancer Institute

"The use of Cannabis for medicinal purposes dates back at least 3,000 years. It came into use in Western medicine in the 19th century and was said to relieve pain, inflammation, spasms, and convulsions. Studies in mice and rats have shown that cannabinoids may inhibit tumor growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth, and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumors to grow. Laboratory and animal studies have shown that cannabinoids may be able to kill cancer cells while protecting normal cells." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingQuestions and Answers About Cannabis – National Cancer Institute

New Study Finds THC Kills Stomach Cancer Cells

"A new study conducted by the the Catholic University of Korea, College of Medicine, and published in the journal Anticancer Research, has found promising evidence that THC may be the best medicine available to treat stomach cancer, especially when traditional medicine has been ineffective. During the study researchers used cancer cells that were resistant to chemotherapy, and dosed the cells with a synthetic form of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Researchers noted a drastic reduction in the survival rate of the cells that were exposed to the synthetic THC. Larger doses of THC led to higher rates of cancer cell death." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Study Finds THC Kills Stomach Cancer Cells

Four cancer breakthroughs clear way for drugs that block tumor growth

"Researchers at the University College London announced Sunday in a study published by the journal Nature Cell Biology that they’ve observed for the first time ever how cancer spreads throughout the body and metastasizes, which causes about 90 percent of all cancer deaths. Meanwhile, another major breakthrough in recent days should give hope to breast cancer patients. Scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute announced on Saturday that a drug already on the market in Europe, approved to treat osteoporosis, has the added benefit of stopping late-stage breast cancer growth in its tracks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFour cancer breakthroughs clear way for drugs that block tumor growth

Doctor claims breakthrough in race for spinal cord injury ‘cure’

"After progress in a second round of tests using stem cells to regrow nerve fibres, the China Spinal Cord Injury Network (ChinaSCINet) has applied for regulatory approval in China for a third and final phase, which it hopes to start in the autumn. 15 out of 20 patients in the Chinese city of Kunming, who received umbilical cord blood cell transplants and intensive walking therapy, were on average able to walk with minimal assistance seven years after complete spinal cord injury. The treatment involves injecting umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells into patients’ damaged spines to help regenerate nerves, while lithium is used to promote the growth of the nerve fibres." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDoctor claims breakthrough in race for spinal cord injury ‘cure’

Scientists switch off chromosome that causes Down’s syndrome

"Gene scientists on Wednesday said that in lab-dish cells, they had found a way to switch off the rogue chromosome that causes Down’s syndrome. The breakthrough opens up the tantalising goal of therapy for Down’s, they said, cautioning that years of work lie ahead before this aim is reached — if, in fact, it is attainable. Down’s syndrome is the world’s leading genetically caused mental disease, accounting for around one in 600 live births in the United States. It is the first time that correction has been achieved for an entire chromosome, a coil of DNA that is studded with hundreds of genes, the protein-making codes to build and sustain life." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScientists switch off chromosome that causes Down’s syndrome

Bunnies glow green in the dark, join lots of other glowing animals

"Earlier this week, a litter of bunnies were born in Istanbul. Scientists were pleased. That’s because two of the bunnies have been successfully genetically engineered to glow in the dark, a feat that the team of scientists from the University of Hawaii and a Turkish lab say demonstrates advanced genetic modification. These are not the first glow-in-the-dark rabbits: In 2000, artist Eduardo Kac commissioned a French lab to create for him a luminescent rabbit, Alba, also using borrowed genes from jellyfish. He called that rabbit art. The scientists called it science. A philosophical tussle ensued. And then a legal one. The glowing rabbit died before the matter was settled." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBunnies glow green in the dark, join lots of other glowing animals