RESEARCH NOTES

This week we shall explore some of the research that is being undertaken for a variety of maladies. Also research that includes further understanding of the human genome and physiology generally.

First is the new research of malaria taking place. With the help of x-ray microscopy at Berkeley's Advanced Light Source lab, one of the world's oldest diseases has a map of how the plasmodium parasite infects the body.  So far medical researchers have been unable to eliminate a scourge that was described by Hippocrates in 4 B.C.

Apparently, the parasite takes thirty minutes after infection from a female anopheles mosquito. The parasite then makes it way to the liver, where it is protected and replicates itself thousands of times before being released into the bloodstream.

Once in the blood stream in force, it invades red blood cells and sets up a shifty defense to guard against the body's immune system. It synthesizes proteins that alter the adhesive properties of the red blood cell. Tiny protrusions are made called knobs and these adhere to the capillary walls, inhibiting travel to the spleen where they would normally be eliminated.

This is fascinating research, and the brilliant detective work being done by these researchers is so remarkable it may finally "tame the ancient beast" of malaria. You can read all about it here:  Malaria Research

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I have a friend who works at Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA.  Its mission is: "Empowering creative scientists to construct new powerful tools for genomic medicine, to make them accessible to the global scientific community, and to apply them to the understanding and treatment of disease." 

Some of the current research taking place here is taking a deeper look at diabetes.  Broad's scientists have discovered the genes linked to height. 

And, in a step towards personalized prevention, Broad has a panel of genetic variants found to predict both cholesterol and heart disease risk.

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Recent multiple reports around the country have indicated that our water supplies are contaminated with drugs. Small concentrations of pharmaceuticals  are present in the public water supplies. One wonders what the long term ingestion of even small concentrations will have on our health.

One article I found to be informative and without a slant or spin is Pharmaceuticals in drinking water.

If this really concerns you, one of the options is to distill your water. This process removes nearly anything unnatural from potable water. If one is paranoid considering consumption of distilled water, I would recommend you look at Myths of distilled water consumption.

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If you are concerned about nutrition and health generally I would recommend reading this interview with Dr. Russell Blaylock.  He is a nationally recognized board-certified neurosurgeon, health practitioner, author, and lecturer. I subscribe to the Blaylock Health Report and find it an invaluable source of information on many health issues.

For cutting edge research I would be remiss if I did not mention Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw.

Durk & Sandy – as they are known to the life extension community – are the founders of the life extension movement.  As independent experts in brain biochemistry, they have been pioneers in anti-aging research since 1968. Among other best sellers, Durk & Sandy are the authors of Freedom of Informed Choice: FDA Versus Nutrient Supplements that discusses constitutional and scientific issues relating to the FDA's regulation of the dissemination of scientific information.

Durk earned a degree in Physics, Biology, and Psychology from MIT, where testing revealed he had an IQ above the measurable limit of 220. Sandy graduated from UCLA with majors in Chemistry and Zoology. For a quarter century, Durk and Sandy have researched and published extensively about the role nutrition plays in longevity, fat control and brain chemistry.

Their nutritional life-extension formulas, with detailed discussions and scientific references, can be found at Life Enhancement.  (And note:  Durk & Sandy are among Jack Wheeler's oldest and dearest friends.)

To the wealth of your soul and health of our amazingly complex bodies.

Marco