June 13, 2008 — Two agents used to treat athlete’s foot may also help battle harmful algal blooms, which can be toxic to fish and shellfish, and potentially lethal to humans.
In laboratory experiments, Takuji Nakashima of the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation in Kisarazu, Japan and colleagues found that two antifungal agents were both effective at killing two types of algae that cause harmful algal blooms, commonly called red tides.
These blooms come in many varieties caused by different algae. The two that Nakashima tested are known to kill fish and shellfish.
“Our results suggested that antifungal agents are effective against the growth of red tides by interfering with the ergosterol biosynthetic pathway in the plankton cells,” Nakashima said.
Ergosterol is part of the cell membrane in fungi, and Nakashima’s new findings suggest it also is critical to the algae studied. Read more…
According to Jessica Marshall
Digg this Blog
Share on Facebook
WatchMojo on Twitter
WatchMojo on YouTube
Add to Favorites
WatchMojo Newsletter
Residents of Amagasaki danced to the city’s anti-overweight song, which warned against trouser buttons popping and flying away, “pyun-pyun-pyun,” and urged prompt checkups. (Ko Sasaki for The New York Times)
AMAGASAKI, Japan: Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.
Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.
But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.
Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population. Read more…
According to Norimistu Onishi
(CNN) — Ask doctors if their male patients ignore big and obvious health symptoms, and they’ll respond with laughter — huge peals and guffaws.
Once they regain the ability to speak, these doctors will say things such as “I don’t even know where to start,” and “You don’t have enough room in your story for all the symptoms men blow off.”
Conventional wisdom, they say, is true. Women listen to their bodies and go to the doctor when something isn’t right. Men tend to seek medical attention when they’re at death’s door — or when their wives prod them into going.
“I think it’s a macho thing,” says Dr. Barron Lerner, professor of medicine and public health at Columbia University. “Or maybe it’s denial. Maybe they think if they deny a problem, it doesn’t exist.” Read more…
According to Elizabeth Cohen
