The Spectrum of Color Response: Take Your Medicine - The color of your pills matters. So does the color of your editing pen, of your hockey jersey, of your clothes… New research finds that when generic pills don’t share the colors given them by their original makers, patients stop renewing their prescriptions at a higher rate than if they just kept taking the old-style, brand-name medicine. Given that generics are cheaper than OEM pharmaceuticals, and that presumably the patients has gotten in the habit of both taking their medicine and renewing their prescriptions, the change in color (and shape, to a much lesser extent) seems a bit counterintuitive. Green can spark creativity. Color is a less-than-subtle indicator in human interaction and for life in general—think honey bees and coral snakes signaling their cantankerousness. In the pill study, reported in Archives of Internal Medicine, for example, the patients were drawn from more than 60,000 people taking an epilepsy medication.
La Suède et le Québec qu'elle nous inspire - La gouvernance par le savoir La résilience de la social-démocratie en Suède repose sur la façon dont les citoyens prennent leurs décisions. L’élaboration des politiques publiques est délibérative, ce qui suppose de longues périodes d’analyse et d’évaluation par des spécialistes bien formés, ainsi que des consultations publiques rigoureuses. Au cours de ce processus, de grands efforts sont déployés pour acquérir une connaissance aussi complète que possible d’une question donnée, notamment par un examen approfondi des expériences historiques ainsi que des solutions de rechange proposées par les chercheurs, en Suède comme à l’étranger. Toutes les parties intéressées sont mises à contribution. Par exemple, en matière d’acceptabilité sociale d’un projet donné, le gouvernement suédois s’oblige à consulter par écrit une liste d’organismes représentant tous les secteurs de la société civile qui sont appelés à donner leur opinion sur le projet. Un peu comme les conseils québécois, les agences sont indépendantes.
Melanoma crushed by the body’s defence A new method for treating melanoma is showing great promise in a Danish hospital. By treating patients with their own T-cells, researchers can kick-start the patients’ immune system and make it destroy the cancer cells. (Photo: Colourbox) Melanoma is a type of skin cancer and is the leading cause of death from skin disease. So far, the disease has been regarded almost as a death sentence when it has started to spread to other parts of the body. However, a new hospital study using a treatment form known as cell-based immunotherapy may offer hope for melanoma patients. By treating patients with their own T-cells, the defence forces of our immune system, researchers can kick-start the immune system and make it destroy the cancer cells. The new method could potentially offer hope and be an effective treatment against several forms of cancer. “Most types of cancer contain T-cells, so in principle, T-cell therapy could potentially become a form of treatment for many types of cancer.” Melanoma
Des radicaux opposés à l'État ciblent des juges et des policiers du Québec | Vincent Larouche | Affaires criminelles Les «Freemen on the Land» ou «Sovereign Citizens» (Citoyens souverains) sont déjà bien connus des autorités de plusieurs communautés anglophones nord-américaines. Ils rejettent vigoureusement l'État, le système économique, les services publics, les lois, qu'ils assimilent à une vaste conspiration dont ils peuvent prétendument s'extirper grâce à leurs soi-disant connaissances juridiques et constitutionnelles. Ils se rebellent au point de cesser de payer leurs factures, de rouler en voiture sans plaque d'immatriculation et de résister à la police. Ce phénomène est peu connu au Québec et peut paraître étrange à première vue. «Tout s'est produit l'année dernière, raconte-t-il, dans un entretien avec La Presse. «J'ai pris ça au sérieux dès le début, car je parle aux collègues des autres provinces, et on m'a dit que c'est devenu une plaie dans l'Ouest. Hypothèque mobilière Des mesures existent pour filtrer les avis frivoles. Parade en place En chiffres
Researchers restore hearing in mammals by regenerating auditory hair cells There is new hope for those of us who have overindulged in loud bands and dread the prospect of old age spent with an ear trumpet clamped to the sides of our heads. Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have been able to stimulate resident auditory hair cells to become new ones, resulting in partial hearing recovery in mice whose hearing has been damaged by noise trauma. Auditory hair cells are located in the cochlea of the inner ear and are responsible for translating auditory stimuli into electrical signals that are passed to the brain via the auditory nerve. In mammals, (unlike birds and fish), once these cells are damaged, whether by excessive noise exposure, aging, infections, toxins, or certain antibiotics and cancer drugs, they do not regenerate naturally. This causes what is known as sensorineural hearing loss, the most common form of hearing loss.
The Radiation Warnings You Won’t Get from the Mainstream Propaganda Machine The mainstream media and the federal government will soon have the blood of the world on it’s hands. Radiation from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster in Japan is now actively in the ecosystem all along the North American west coast… even the sea weed is now radiated. The Vancouver Sun reported one year ago that the seaweed tested from waters off the coast of British Columbia were 4 times the amount considered safe. The governments of the United States and Canada are not conducting tests for radioactivity – at least not to the knowledge of the public. After the North American governments refused to fund testing, oceanographer Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the non-profit Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass, along with Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and other concerned scientists, managed to secure private funding for a Pacific research voyage. How can we protect ourselves?
MIT developing self-healing materials that act like blood clots Blood clots are one way in which the body heals itself after injuries on even the tiniest level. The process is fast, reliable and goes on every minute of the day without our being aware of it. Now, a team led by MIT assistant professor of materials science and engineering Alfredo Alexander-Katz is studying blood clots as a new model for producing self-healing materials. Blood clotting seems simple. Clotting or coagulation uses a squad of molecules present in the tissues and bloodstream. What they discovered was the opposite of what one would expect. The process that the team studied involves platelets and a biopolymer molecule called Willebrand factor (vWF). When coiled up the vWF just rolls by, but when stretched, the exposed sticky surfaces start to catch hold of the platelets and entangle them. The upshot of all this is a new model for a self-repairing material. These properties make clots very interesting to engineers. In the video below, Alexander-Katz describes the process.
Les parents-rois s'installent à l'école Un nouvel empereur essaie de diriger le quotidien des enseignants. Après l'enfant-roi qui fait la pluie et le beau temps dans la classe, c'est désormais le tour du parent-roi de semer ses exigences et de dicter la conduite du prof, bafouant au passage le cadre scolaire et la gestion de classe. Dérangés par ces parents interventionnistes, des enseignants s'inquiètent du règne du «Moi, mon enfant»... Dans une petite école primaire de la région montréalaise, une enseignante ébahie a un jour reçu un coup de fil d'une maman d'élève qui s'indignait du choix littéraire pour la composition hebdomadaire. Le roman policier imposé comme lecture à l'ensemble de la classe heurtait, semble-t-il, certaines valeurs familiales. «Mon enfant, tonna la mère indignée, ne lira pas ce volume. Un parent a déjà supplié une enseignante de cinquième année de modifier le C de comportement tristement affiché sur le bulletin de sa fille. L'école à la carte? Tensions école-famille Perte de confiance mutuelle
Synthetic supermolecule to fight cancer, arthritis and herpes A dendrimer is an artificially created molecule, which has a structure resembling a tree with a crown and roots. Dendrimers have a wide variety of possible uses and are currently being used in shampoos, cosmetic products, printer ink and flat-screen technology. (Illustration: Department of Chemistry, Copenhagen University) Although you may never have heard of dendrimers, you’re likely to have come across these little molecules in one way or another. They can be found in some types of shampoo, cosmetics, dental fillings, printer cartridges and many other materials that we’re in contact with every day. And it appears that we can expect to encounter even more of these dendrimers. “What’s really clever about detrimers is that we can design the molecules almost entirely as we wish. Christensen has co-authored a new book about the special dendrimer molecules, which has just been published by Cambridge University Press. A miniature tree So what kind of molecule is a dendrimer?
TSA Screeners Continue to Lie to Passengers About Legality of Recording at Checkpoints By now, it is becoming clear that TSA screeners know that recording is allowed at security checkpoints in airports, they just choose to tell passengers that it is not allowed with the hope that the passenger will not know any better. No different than the routine we see from police and security guards on a daily basis. After all, the policy has been in effect since the inception of the Transportation Security Administration in 2002 and numerous videos have surfaced where TSA screeners have been forced to acknowledge that recording at checkpoints is allowed. And you would think that someone would mention it to them in their training considering the TSA has had the information posted on its blog in very easy-to-read language since 2009. We don’t prohibit public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping, or filming at screening locations. The mother starts video recording and the TSA screener tells her it is illegal to record. The screeners eventually back down from harassing her.