Finnish university develops water droplet based computing

Researchers from Aalto University in Finland believe water droplets could be used as bits of digital information in a new computing approach. The team has based its discovery upon the fact that, when two water droplets collide on a highly water repellent surface, they rebound like billiard balls.

In the study, a copper surface was coated with silver and chemically modified with a fluorinated compound. This allowed the surface to be so water repellent that water droplets rolled off when the surface was tilted slightly. Superhydrophobic tracks, developed during a previous study, were used to guide droplets along designed paths.

Using the tracks, the researchers demonstrated that water droplets could be used to create ‘superhydrophobic droplet logic’. A memory device has been built in which water droplets act as bits of digital information, as have devices for performing elementary Boolean logic operations.

Meanwhile, when the water droplets are loaded with reactive chemical cargo, the onset of a chemical reaction could be controlled by droplet collisions. Combination of the collision controlled chemical reactions with droplet logic operations potentially enables programmable chemical reactions, in which single droplets serve simultaneously as miniature reactors and bits for computing.

The researchers believe the approach may have application in autonomous simple logic devices that do not require electricity and in programmable biochemical analysis devices.

via Finnish university develops water droplet based computing.

Mayo-led study: Cancer-causing gene alone doesn’t trigger pancreatic cancer

More than a cancer-causing gene is needed to trigger pancreatic cancer, a study led by Mayo Clinic has found. A second factor creates a “perfect storm” that allows tumors to form, the researchers say. The study, published in the Sept. 10 issue of Cancer Cell, overturns the current belief that a mutation in the KRAS oncogene is enough to initiate pancreatic cancer and unrestrained cell growth. …

“The bottom line is, without EGFR, tumors don’t form — and that was never known before this study,” he says. “We also think that inflammation in the pancreas has a big impact on turning on EGFR.”

The researchers discovered that when they blocked EGFR activity, the mice studied were protected against developing chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

They further found that in mice that had lost expression of the TP53 tumor suppressor — a situation that mirrors up to 60 percent of human pancreatic cancer cases — tumors escape the dependency on EGFR for initiation and continued growth of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Crawford says.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease; no drug has been able to target the mutant KRAS protein. The study suggests some patients, such as those with chronic pancreatitis, may be good candidates for treatment with EGFR inhibitors to fight or prevent pancreatic cancer, Dr. Crawford says.

“The clinical implications of this study are exciting. It suggests that pancreatic cancer patients with normal p53 activity, as well as patients with chronic pancreatitis, may be good candidates for treatment with EGFR inhibitors,” Dr. Crawford says.

The EGFR inhibitor erlotinib is part of the standard therapy for pancreatic cancer patients, but has minimal effects in the patient population as a whole, he adds. “But that may be because many of the patients likely had a mutation in the TRP53 tumor suppressor, so erlotinib would not help them, since EGFR was no longer necessary for tumor growth.

“Perhaps erlotinib or other EGFR inhibitors would work much better in patients who do not have a TRP53 mutation,” he says. “We also believe this kind of drug could prevent pancreatic cancer formation in patients with chronic pancreatitis, which is a significant risk factor for development of pancreatic tumors.” …

via Cancer-causing gene alone doesn’t trigger pancreatic cancer, Mayo-led study finds.

Found in fake cigarettes in Britain: Human excrement, asbestos and dead flies

Almost identical to the real thing: A pile of counterfeit cigarettes confiscated by French officials in 2010. Organised smuggling gangs operate in many countries

Fake cigarettes made from human excrement, asbestos, mould and dead flies are being smoked regularly in Britain, undercover detectives have found.

Investigators working for the tobacco industry have spent weeks rummaging through litter bins for fag packets to assess the scale of the black market.

They were astonished by the sheer volume of the illicit trade, with about one third of packets found to have contained fakes or cigarettes brought in by smugglers.

The survey in Birmingham by MS Intelligence, a Swiss-based brand protection company, found that 30.9 per cent of packets were either bogus or purchased abroad.

A similar study conducted last year found the proportion was only 14.1 per cent – indicating that the number of illicit cigarettes smoked in Britain’s second-largest city has more than doubled in 12 months.

Customers who smoke counterfeit cigarettes have been warned they are taking huge health risks. The UK Border Agency has intercepted items containing asbestos, mould and human excrement.

A haul in Derbyshire found cigarettes made from the remains of crushed flies.

Experts believe that MS Intelligence’s findings may be merely the tip of the iceberg. …

via Human excrement, asbestos and dead flies: The ingredients found in fake cigarettes in Britain | Mail Online.

Malibu Homeless Man Jailed For Strangling Pelican

A California homeless man has been convicted of strangling a brown pelican to death near the Malibu Pier.

Police say that Sergio Alvarez, 30, initially said he found the bird already dead, Daily News Los Angeles reports. Later, he allegedly admitted that he had killed the pelican because he was hungry and hadn’t been able to catch any fish.

A passerby approached a sheriff’s deputy on the evening of August 22, saying that he had spotted a man choking a pelican. Witnesses said Alvarez had his hands around the bird’s throat, and that the animal was flapping its wings in distress before going completely limp, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Alvarez was arrested and booked into jail on $20,000 bail, the Daily Mail reported.

On Friday, Alvarez pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of of animal cruelty to a bird, and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and one year’s probation, according to the Associated Press.

While brown pelicans are no longer considered an endangered, they are a fully protected species in California.

via Sergio Alvarez, Malibu Homeless Man, Jailed For Strangling Pelican.

Mother gives Chinese quadruplets numbered haircuts

The six-year-old boys received the extreme haircut ahead of their first day of school in Shenzhen, located in south China’s Guangdong province.

Their parents decided to mark them with 1, 2, 3, 4 on their heads to make it easier for teachers and classmates to tell them apart.

The boys, named Jiang Yunlong, Jiang Yunxiao, Jiang Yunhan and Jiang Yunlin, are so alike that their parents even struggle to tell the difference.

‘My sons are identical, even to me,’ the boys’ mother Tan Chaoyun told local media.

She added: ‘Even now, their father can’t tell which one is which.

‘Sometimes, he punishes the second one for something the third one has done.’

The boys won’t be able to get away with shifting the blame for much longer  however with their new easily identifiable haircuts.

‘Teachers and classmates can’t get confused with the big marks on their head,’ their mother added.

With their strong head for figures, maths class is likely to be a breeze for these boys.

Mother gives Chinese quadruplets numbered haircuts | Metro.co.uk.

Boy’s 4 and 3 could impersonate boy 1 with some scissors, but 2 is out of luck.

Dead hubby’s face appears on wife’s bedroom wall

SHOCKED Andrea Samuels saw a stain suddenly appearing on her bedroom wall — and realised it was her late husband Brian’s FACE.

The 41-year-old, who lost her hubby four years ago, told yesterday how she went on to spot another in the bathroom — which was her dead DOG.

Spooked Andrea decided against calling a damp specialist to her home — and got an exorcist round instead.

Catholic priest Father Paul Dadson chanted prayers and sprinkled holy water at the house in Carlisle, Cumbria.

He said: “There was some kind of image on the wall that appeared from a distance like the figure of a man.”

Andrea, who has lived in the house for ten years, was transfixed when she spotted her hubby watching over her. She said: “I looked at the image for three hours.”

But after the appearance of her dead pet boxer Hoob, the house started being dogged by problems, such as furniture breaking and pictures not hanging. Andrea said: “I used to have a beautiful house and it just went.”

via Dead hubby’s face appears on wife’s bedroom wall | The Sun |News.

Fossil records ‘crab’ death march

The behaviour of an ancient horseshoe crab in its final moments before death has been captured in the fossil record.

…The fossil trackway of the animal’s last moments – known as a mortichnia, or death march – was discovered in the lithographic limestone of Bavaria in Germany in 2002, where spectacular fossils of the famous feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx have also been found.

Since then, the fossil trackway had remained an exhibit in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in the US until Dean Lomax of the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery and Christopher Racay began working on a project to describe it

“It’s not particularly rare to find these horseshoe crabs at the end of short traces, but nothing quite as substantially large and scientifically important as this,” he said.

The fossil records an entire walk, and the researchers believe that the abrupt beginning of the trace can be explained by the animal being “flung” into the lagoon during a storm, although they cannot be certain of this interpretation.

However, the quality of preservation allowed the researchers to reconstruct very small details of the animal’s end minutes.

via BBC News – Fossil records ‘crab’ death march.

Suspected gas leak was fermented herring

On Saturday, two fire trucks, two police cars and an emergency gas leak team all rushed towards the Stockholm neighbourhood Södermalm, having been alerted by concerned neighbours who smelled gas in the stairwell, but the unpleasant smell turned out to come from something less dangerous. “The person who called the police had spoken to several neighbours in the house who also thought it smelled like gas, and were worried,” said Stockholm fire fighter Björn Hörnsten to the national radio station SR.

On the scene, however, emergency services were quickly able to classify the unpleasant smell as harmless, since it didn’t come from anything more dramatic than a traditional Swedish autumn party.

“I guess somebody didn’t know what surströmming smells like,” said Sven-Erik Olsson from the police’s command centre to the TT news agency.

Surströmming, or fermented herring, is a traditional Swedish delicacy, but its odour is notoriously foul. In the beginning of fall, it’s not uncommon for Swedes to gather some friends and spend an evening together enjoying the smelly fish at what is called a surströmmingsskiva (fermented herring party).

But on this occasion, the smell spread from the apartment out to the stairwell, scaring the neighbours.

“They’ve got gas in the building, so I find it a bit strange that they called us. They ought to know what it smells like when you turn on a gas stove. It doesn’t smell like surströmming at all,” said Hörnsten.

via Suspected gas leak was fermented herring – The Local.

Searching for a life-saving kidney — and finding the kindness of strangers

A couple in South Carolina has been desperately seeking an organ donor. They haven’t found one yet. But they did find something else: a whole lot of friends they never knew they had, as we learned “On the Road.”

Larry Swilling and his wife Jimmie Sue have been happily married 56 years. So happily, in fact, that Larry has now come to realize the downside of loving someone so much you can’t live without them. You can’t live without them.

“She’s my heart,” he said.

Heart has never been an issue for these two. What’s always been lacking is a kidney. Jimmie Sue was born with only one, and now that one is shot. She needs a transplant — but neither her husband, nor anyone tested in her family, is a suitable match.

If you are interested in learning more about being an organ donor for Mrs. Swilling or for the nearly 100,000 other people who are waiting for a new kidney, please contact the Medical University of South Carolina Transplant Center: 1-800-277-8687.

Jimmie Sue is trying to get on a donor list, but the wait is about two or three years long and that’s for a kidney from a deceased donor. Transplant patients who get their kidneys from living donors tend to live longer. Which is why Larry decided to try a completely radical approach to securing a kidney: Asking for it, from total strangers.

“I don’t care what people think,” Larry said. He tells his wife, “I’m going to get you a kidney.”

And on out on the street, wearing a signboard — “Need kidney 4 wife” — he’s not shy in asking passersby: “I sure could use your kidney.”

Never mind that most people won’t give panhandlers their pocket change, let alone their vital organs. For the last couple weeks Larry, at 77, has been walking all over his hometown of Anderson, S.C. — and the surrounding towns — basically begging for a kidney.

He didn’t really think it would work. But, he said, “I’m trying. I had to do something.”

It was really just a way to not feel helpless, which is why he was a surprised as anyone when the phone rang. Repeatedly.

“I’m willing to donate a kidney for your wife,” one caller said on voicemail.

“I’d like nothing more than to help you out,” said another.

Believe it or not, over the last few days the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Hundreds of people who either saw his sign — or heard about it — have volunteered. As one volunteer put it, “I’ve got two, and I only need one.”

It’s too early to tell if Larry has found a match for his wife, but at this point he’s almost certainly recruited enough volunteers — and raised enough awareness — to save someone. That’s fine by Jimmie Sue.

“If I get a kidney, fine. If I don’t, I hope someone else does,” she said. But it’s not good enough for Larry. And that’s why Larry is still out there, appealing to the kindness of strangers — for the love of his life.

via Searching for a life-saving kidney — and finding the kindness of strangers – CBS News.

Dr Ben Kim has this to say about kidneys:

Each of your kidneys is about 4 to 5 inches long and about 1 inch thick, weighing in at about 4.5 to 5 ounces. To put it into easy-to-visualize terms, each of your kidneys is a bit larger than a deck of cards. Although your kidneys make up less than 0.5 percent of your total body weight, they receive close to 25 percent of the total amount of blood that your heart pumps while you’re resting. Also, your kidneys use up about 20 to 25 percent of your body’s supply of oxygen…. Why do your kidneys – such small organs – receive so much of your blood and oxygen? Because they are responsible for five critical functions:

1. Your kidneys keep your blood clean by filtering it of waste products and eliminating these waste products from your body as urine.
2. Your kidneys help maintain a proper balance of fluids throughout your body.
3. Your kidneys secrete a hormone called erythropoietin, which is responsible for stimulating the production of red blood cells in your bone marrow.
4. Your kidneys produce an enzyme called renin, which is needed to help maintain your blood pressure.
5. Your kidneys convert vitamin D to its most active form.

 

Here’s how to keep your kidneys healthy when you get older:

Beyond using your sense of thirst to dictate how much water and water-rich foods you ingest, here are two important ways to protect your kidneys from prematurely breaking down:

1. Don’t eat too much protein.

Eating more protein than you need leads to greater workload on your kidneys, which must filter a by-product of protein metabolism called blood urea nitrogen (BUN) out of your blood. This increased workload can contribute to premature breakdown of the glomeruli in your kidneys.

If you have healthy kidneys, you can safely eat up to half of your body weight (in pounds) in grams per day. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds and are in good health, you can safely eat up to 75 grams of protein from minimally processed foods per day. If you have problems with your kidneys, you should decrease this amount to a level that results in a healthy blood urea nitrogen level.

…

2. Don’t take over-the-counter pain pills on a regular basis.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), and aspirin are known to cause kidney damage if taken regularly. Acetaminophen (Tylenol and Excedrin) can also cause kidney damage and failure if used regularly. All of these over-the-counter pain medications probably don’t pose significant danger if your kidneys are relatively healthy and you use them for emergencies only.

As many professional athletes have discovered during the past several years, regular use of prescription anti-inflammatory pain medication like Vioxx, Indocin, and Naprosyn poses even greater danger to kidney health than over-the-counter pain killers.

Calif. man pleads guilty to ripping out friend’s heart, removing tongue

A Northern California mixed-martial artist accused of ripping out his friend’s heart and removing his tongue while the two were on hallucinogenic drugs has pleaded guilty to murder and mayhem charges.

Jarrod Wyatt of Crescent City agreed to a plea deal in which he will serve 50 years to life in prison, Del Norte County prosecutors said. His official sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 4.

Wyatt pleaded guilty to first-degree murder involving mayhem in the March 21, 2010, death of his sparring partner, 21-year-old Taylor Powell, prosecutors said.

“The earliest he’ll be able to see a parole board is 2062,” District Attorney Jon Alexander said. “We saved Taylor’s family the agony from reliving the incident at the trial.”

Wyatt’s attorney, James Fallman, said his 29-year-old client didn’t want to testify at trial and he didn’t want his family to testify.

“We looked for an agreement that would at least give him the opportunity to be paroled someday,” Fallman said. “As bad as 50 years to life sounds, it’s better than life without the possibility of parole.”

The agreement was reached Thursday night, four days before Wyatt’s trial was to begin in Crescent City, the Eureka Times-Standard reported Friday.

When police arrived that day at a home at the mouth of the Klamath River, they found Wyatt naked and covered in blood. He told the officers, “I killed him,” and said he had cut out Powell’s heart and tongue, according to court documents.

The officers found Powell’s body on the couch of the Requa home. His chest was cut open, and his heart, tongue and the skin of his face were gone, court records said. His heart was found charred in a wood-burning stove.

An autopsy determined the organs had been removed while Powell was still alive, the documents said.

Witnesses say the two had ingested hallucinogenic mushrooms before the attack and believed they were involved in a struggle between God and the devil.

Wyatt had entered duel pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, prompting psychiatrists to evaluate his mental competence. In May, a judge ruled Wyatt was competent to stand trial.

via Calif. man pleads guilty to ripping out friend’s heart, removing tongue | KCBY CBS 11 – News, Weather and Sports – Coos Bay – North Bend, OR | – Coos Bay / North Bend, Oregon | National & World News.

Sounds like more than mushrooms.