Christian Rapper Razzie Transformed His Life And His Lyrics

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November 22, 2021

Researchers explore the connection between the brain’s perception of illness and the real thing. (Nitzan Zohar/Technion Spokesperson's Office)

By Brian Blum

Your phone pings. It’s a message from a friend you met for drinks last night, who just tested positive for Covid-19.

Your throat starts feeling scratchy. A short cough sputters out. Is your body temperature rising? You run to take a PCR Covid-19 test. When the results come back negative, you realize it was all in your head — a psychosomatic response.

Researchers from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa wanted to explore the connection between the brain’s perception of illness and the real thing.

They induced inflammation in mice, and after the inflammation subsided, the researchers triggered the neurons in the mice’s brains that were active during the initial inflammation.

The result was dramatic: The inflammation re-emerged in the same area as before. Simply “remembering” the inflammation was enough to reactivate it.

The researchers then wondered: If the brain can generate disease, can the brain also turn it off?

The answer was a resounding yes. In mice with active inflammation, suppressing the neurons that remembered it produced an immediate reduction in the inflammation.

**MD-PhD student Tamar Koren, left, and Prof. Asya Rolls. (Nitzan Zohar/Technion Spokesperson’s Office)**

There’s no guarantee this experiment would work in human beings. But it raises the possibility of a new therapeutic avenue for treating chronic inflammatory conditions such as Crohn’s disease and psoriasis.

The brain’s ability to bring on illness psychosomatically is more a feature than a bug, explained Prof. Asya Rolls, of the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine.

“The body needs to respond to infection as quickly as possible before the attacking bacteria or viruses can multiply,” she said.

“If certain activity – for example consuming particular foods – has exposed the body to infection and inflammation once, there is an advantage to gearing up for battle when one is about to engage in the same activity again. A shorter response time would allow the body to defeat the infection faster and with less effort.”

The research was led by Tamar Koren, an MD-PhD student in Rolls’ lab. Other participants included Dr. Kobi Rosenblum of the University of Haifa and Dr. Fahed Hakim of EMMS Hospital in Nazareth.

The study was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, the Allen and Jewel Prince Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders of the Brain, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Wellcome Trust.

For more information, read the full article in Cell.

Produced in association with Israel21C.

The post Mental Health: How Your Brain Really Can Cure Your Body appeared first on Zenger News.

Claims Arise That U.S. Government Fosters Leftist Revolution In Central America

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November 22, 2021

Guatemalan military officers rest in El Florido, Guatemala. The nations' violent history included episodes with government, military, religious, and political forces, often linked to ideological power struggles derived from the Cold War and its aftermath. (Photo by Josue Decavele/Getty Images)

While the U.S. funnels some $310 million to Central American lands, officials and experts are divided about whether those tax dollars are being diverted to fuel a “leftist revolution” or drive much-needed reforms in corrupt local legal systems.

The State Department says the funds are meant to promote democracy and border security.

The administration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is using foreign aid and a “leftist agenda” to subsidize “instability and economic misery” in Guatemala, said Guatemalan analyst Luis Figueroa and ex-pat American businessman Steve Hecht.

They cite an anti-corruption forum in Washington, D.C., last month in which former Guatemalan officials Thelma Aldana and Juan Francisco Sandoval participated. State Department officials praised Sandoval for prosecuting corruption cases. Yet, both Aldana and Sandoval had been indicted by Guatemala’s Attorney General María Consuelo Porras.

Both former officials have escaped prosecution at home by extending their stay in the United States, which has made no effort to detain them or turn them over to Guatemalan officials for trial.

Responding to Porras’s indictment of Aldana and Sandoval, the State Department denied a U.S. visa to Porras, who has not been charged with any crime in either Guatemala or the U.S. What’s more, some U.S. officials had praised Porras. The U.S. Embassy congratulated her, and the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency thanked Porras for extraditing criminals to the U.S.

Nevertheless, Secretary of State Antony Binken later named her a “corrupt actor.” Porras had “obstructed investigations into acts of corruption by interfering with criminal investigations,” said Blinken’s statement.

In support of the democratic aspirations of the Salvadoran and Guatemalan people, we are naming five Salvadoran Supreme Court Magistrates, Guatemalan Attorney General Porras, and Secretary General Pineda to the Section 353 Undemocratic and Corrupt Actors list.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 20, 2021

“Everybody knows she was put on the bad actors list because she fired Sandoval,” Hecht said.

State department officials point to remarks by U.S. Agency for International Development (known as USAID) Administrator Samantha Power, who said at an Inter-American Dialogue ceremony in September that Porras was denied a visa for “obstructing corruption investigations” and for firing Sandoval, who has a long left-wing pedigree and was accused of corruption.

**Samantha Power is Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)**

This leads some observers to believe that the U.S. is taking sides in an internal right–left fight in Guatemala. But State Department officials insist they are only trying to aid “anti-corruption efforts” and promote “the rule of law.”

Porras was named to her current position during former President Jimmy Morales’ term in 2018. Morales’ National Convergence Front was founded by a group of former military officers.

Sandoval served as a prosecutor since 2015. During his tenure, he and Aldana filed corruption charges against ex-president Otto Perez Molina, while civic organizations such as Semilla demanded his ouster in tumultuous protests.

After being replaced by Porras, Aldana made a presidential bid with Semilla, but a court disqualified it. Semilla is aware of “the hateful inequalities generated by an uncontrolled capitalism centered in accumulating wealth,” says its website.

Porras has said her agency continues to face “pressure” from the State Department that she says are to the detriment of rooting out corruption.

**María Consuelo Porras has been accused of corruption, but neither the U.S. nor Guatemala have charged her with any crimes. (Public Domain)**

“Sandoval was their criminal. They knew he committed crimes, but that’s part of their agenda. They think those crimes are justified because of the purity of their agenda and the evil-ness their opponents,” Hecht said.

“Guatemala has never had rule of law,” Hecht said, “But what the U.S. is doing is not helping.”

This political battle was triggered when U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Administrator Power visited Guatemala in June. While U.S. media covered Harris’ words telling Guatemalans “Don’t come” to the United States without a valid visa, Guatemalan officials noticed her connection to Sandoval.

Soon after, Porras dismissed Sandoval, who left the country and is now facing charges of exceeding his authority. The U.S. sanctions on Porras soon followed.

“I believe that USAID and what I call the human-rights oligarchy have been preparing for the last 10 years for revolutionary change in government without the need for elections,” said Guatemalan political analyst Luis Figueroa. “By removing a president and vice-president on corruption charges, Congress would then choose replacements acceptable to the pressure groups pushing for the change, but not elected by voters.”

The anti-USAID rhetoric “is absurd and disingenuous,” said Justin Wolfe of Tulane University’s Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies. “The CICIG [an independent anti-corruption commission] has done profoundly important work and faced considerable efforts to derail its efforts. Guatemala has and continues to suffer from terrible corruption, and the administration of Jimmy Morales was one of the worst in recent memory, certainly since the return of electoral democracy in Guatemala.”

“The United States long supported grotesque human rights violations and corruption in Guatemala under the guise of keeping communism at bay,” said Wolfe. He cited the case of General Efraín Ríos Montt’s “genocidal actions” as Guatemala’s president in 1982–83 after taking power through a military coup.

Wolfe says those who now speak against the U.N.-sanctioned International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known almost universally by its Spanish-language initials, the CICIG, and USAID supported that regime, without supplying evidence for that assertion.

Concerns about policy

Another speaker at the Washington conference was Iván Velásquez, a Colombian jurist who headed the CICIG. He, too, is a controversial figure in Guatemala.

Hecht and Figueroa told Zenger that Velásquez and his now-shuttered CICIG remain divisive in Guatemalan politics.

**Iván Velázquez, a Colombian jurist who headed the CICIG, has aroused controversy in Guatemala for alleged abuses by the commission. (Public Domain)**

Hecht said the State Department and USAID, especially during the Bush and Obama years, and again under President Biden, have pursued policies in Guatemala and broadly in Latin America that “create chaos and favor leftist goals.”

Hecht testified in June before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives, “[Ambassador Todd] Robinson used the CICIG as a battering ram to try to change Guatemala’s constitution and to make an electoral law in 2016. This was possible because the CICIG’s extraordinary power derived from its diplomatic immunity and international support, especially from the United States. It could do anything illegally to anyone and did.”

In 2019, a Guatemalan congressional commission heard testimony from citizens alleging abuse by CICIG. Prosecutor Velásquez denounced the commission, claiming that it violates constitutional separation of powers and is “an illegal interference by the legislative branch” into the independent entity. “The ultimate goal of the commission … is to disrupt the (legal) cases that are under way,” Velásquez said.

Hecht told Zenger, “Many Guatemalans fear CICIG because it appears to prosecute people who disagree with it.”

Edited by Melanie Slone and Kristen Butler

The post Claims Arise That U.S. Government Fosters Leftist Revolution In Central America appeared first on Zenger News.

Testing Female Fluids To Detect Signs Of Early Disease

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November 22, 2021

Dr. Inbal Zafir-Lavie, left, and Dr. Shlomit Yehudai-Reshef of Gina Life. They’re creating a revolutionary product to facilitate the early detection of many diseases affecting women, (Courtesy of Rambam Health Care Campus)

By Abigail Klein Leichman

Diagnosing disease through analysis of bodily fluids, like blood or saliva, is nothing new. Vaginal fluids, too, contain much clinical and biological information, but until now have not been the subject of much research.

“Many male researchers don’t even know what they are,” said Dr. Shlomit Yehudai-Reshef, deputy director of the Clinical Research Institute at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.

“These fluids contain thousands of biomarkers [proteins] at levels that rise and fall in response to an array of physiological conditions ranging from cancerous ovarian and cervical tumors to ovulation problems and endometriosis. Every pathology has a characteristic biomarker profile.”

Yehudai-Reshef and molecular biologist Inbal Zafir-Lavie formed a biotech company, Gina Life, in 2015 and have been identifying precise biomarkers profiles for each type of pathology using vaginal fluids.

Now, using newly available tools to analyze very small samples, they’re creating a revolutionary product to facilitate the early detection of many diseases affecting women — from endometriosis to ovarian and other cancers.

The Gina Life System uses a “smart pad” attached to a woman’s underwear. Discharges are absorbed through tiny channels onto adhesive strips. The strips are photographed using a smartphone and uploaded to an application that provides test results within minutes.

Scheduled to be sold off the shelf in pharmacies in 2025, pending results of clinical trials, this product could save women from invasive testing, surgeries, and years of searching for a diagnosis.

The system was developed using hundreds of vaginal discharge samples collected since 2019 and stored in Rambam’s BioBank.

“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first BioBank of its kind in the world,” said Yehudai-Reshef.

Rambam Health Care Campus is an academic hospital in northern Israel.

“At first, we collected samples from women with ovarian cancer and healthy women. During the last year-and-a-half we have also collected samples from women with endometriosis. Together with Dr. Yuri Paz, director of the Gynecological Endoscopy Unit, and Dr. Ido Mik, a senior OB/GYN, we are working on identifying the unique biomarkers of these pathologies.”

In 2020, Gina Life was accepted into digital health incubator MindUp — a joint venture of Rambam, Medtronic, IBM, and venture capital firm Pitango — just as the worldwide coronavirus pandemic erupted.

But the pandemic actually helped their efforts.

“Today, everyone is familiar with PCR tests and swabs, and it is much easier to explain the advantages of early detection of a disease,” the women explain.

Produced in association with Israel21C.

The post Testing Female Fluids To Detect Signs Of Early Disease appeared first on Zenger News.

Photo exhibit shines light on Birmingham as city celebrates 150 years

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November 22, 2021

Photo 1a — "Rev. Majadi Baruti." (Dawson Martin)

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

Continue

Sprout Of The Past: Real-Life ‘Jurassic Park’ Doc Finds Rare Sprouting Pine Cone Preserved In Amber

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November 21, 2021

Found in a piece of Baltic amber is the first fossil evidence of a rare botanical condition known as precocious germination in which seeds sprout before leaving their fruit. (George Poinar, Jr.)

The researcher who inspired the book and movie franchise “Jurassic Park” has found the first fossil evidence of rare precocious germination, which is when a seed sprouts before leaving the fruit.

The newly discovered pine cone, encased in Baltic amber during the Eocene Age some 40 million years ago, has several embryonic stems emerging from its seeds.

“Crucial to the development of all plants, seed germination typically occurs in the ground after a seed has fallen,” said George Poinar Jr. of Oregon State University.

Biologist and entomologist George Poinar Jr. is seen in his lab with pieces of Baltic amber. His research inspired Michael Crichton, the author of the book “Jurassic Park” on which the movies were based. (Courtesy of Oregon State University)

Embryonic development, or viviparity, while still within the parent is typically associated with animals, but according to Poinar, it “does sometimes occur in plants,” typically appearing in angiosperms. Angiosperms are flowering plants that produce seeds within fruit and provide most of the food people eat.

“Seed germination in fruits is fairly common in plants that lack seed dormancy, like tomatoes, peppers and grapefruit, and it happens for a variety of reasons,” said Poinar. However, it is rare in gymnosperms and even rarer in pine cones.

Gymnosperm plants, such as ferns and pines, produce unencased seeds on scales, leaves or cones. According to Poinar, only one naturally occurring case of precocious germination in a modern pine has ever been recorded.

“That’s part of what makes this discovery so intriguing, even beyond that it’s the first fossil record of plant viviparity involving seed germination,” he said. “I find it fascinating that the seeds in this small pine cone could start to germinate inside the cone and the sprouts could grow out so far before they perished in the resin.”

**Trapped in Baltic amber, seeds from this pine cone have precociously germinated. Here, pine needles can be seen emerging from the tip of a hypocotyl. (George Poinar, Jr.)**

Poinar’s findings have been published in the journal Historical Biology. His previous work inspired Michael Crichton, the author of the novel “Jurassic Park,” which was adapted into a major movie franchise, in which ancient DNA was injected into living organisms to recreate dinosaurs.

In his paper, Poinar pointed out that the seeds of the pine cone had produced embryonic stems. “Whether those stems, known as hypocotyls, appeared before the cone became encased in amber is unclear. However, based on their position, it appears that some growth, if not most, occurred after the pinecone fell into the resin,” he said, making a comparison to ancient insects ejecting their eggs upon being smothered in amber.

The fossilized cone may belong to the extinct pine species Pinus cembrifolia. Pine cones encased in Baltic amber are not common, Poinar said. Because the cones’ scales are hard, they are usually well-preserved and prized by collectors.

Because pine cones are so hardy, they typically preserve very well in amber and are prized by collectors. This extremely rare pine cone trapped in amber shows a rare botanical condition known as precocious germination. (George Poinar, Jr.)

According to Poinar, plants show viviparity in two ways. Of the two, precocious germination is most common. The other is vegetative viviparity, such as when a bulbil, sometimes known as a “pup,” emerges directly from the flower head or stem of a parent plant.

Modern gymnosperms, including pines, are known for viviparity linked to winter frosts. In the case of the forest environment that produced Baltic amber, light frosts would have been possible in a humid, warm-temperate environment. The Eocene period, which lasted from about 55 million years ago to 33 million years ago, was noted for variations in climate that allowed even palm trees and reptiles to live at higher latitudes. It ended with colder temperatures and a mass extinction event.

“This is the first fossil record of seed viviparity in plants, but this condition probably occurred quite a bit earlier than this Eocene record,” Poinar said. “There’s no reason why vegetative viviparity couldn’t have occurred hundreds of millions of years ago in ancient spore-bearing plants like ferns and lycopods.”

Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler

The post Sprout Of The Past: Real-Life ‘Jurassic Park’ Doc Finds Rare Sprouting Pine Cone Preserved In Amber appeared first on Zenger News.

Forests Are On The Move To Higher, Wetter Habitats

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November 21, 2021

The Patton Meadow Fire burns an area of the Fremont-Winema National Forest on August 15, 2021, near Lakeview, Oregon. New research shows that wildfires are accelerating the rate at which some tree species are shifting their ranges toward cooler, wetter conditions. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

Trees are on the move, but not like the Ents and Huorns described in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The ranges trees occupy in the western U.S. are indeed shifting amid climate change, especially toward wetter and cooler places, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

Wildfires are accelerating the rate of tree movement, says the study by researchers at Stanford University, which also raised questions about methods used for managing forests.

“Complex, interdependent forces are shaping the future of our forests,” said study co-author Avery Hill, a doctoral student in biology at Stanford. By leveraging ecological data, Hill said that researchers hope to contribute more work directed at “managing these ecosystem transitions.” The administration of U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has promised to spend $5 billion on forest management as part of the recently signed infrastructure bill.

**One year after a forest fire, pines at Stermer Ridge, Arizona, are seen in 2003. (U.S. Forest Service)**

Previous research has shown that plant ranges are moving to more suitable environments at higher, cooler elevations at a rate averaging about five feet per year. These shifts are slower than the rate of climate change, which the researchers believe means that some species will become stranded in less-than-favorable habitats. The discrepancies have remained largely unresolved but are important for understanding how healthy dominant species can be maintained in western forests, the researchers say.

Hill and study co-author Chris Field sought to understand the rate, distance and direction of change by examining how it is affected by wildfire, which is increasingly common in the western U.S.

By examining U.S. Forest Service data from more than 74,000 plots in nine states, they identified tree species that are shifting their ranges toward cooler, wetter sites. The researchers then examined the rate of range shifts, comparing places burned by wildfire and those that were not.

The Dixie Fire burns on a mountain ridge sending embers into the air on August 5, 2021 in Greenville, California. Researchers have found that some tree species are shifting their ranges faster in areas burned by wildfire. (Trevor Bexon/Getty Images)

Eight species were found to have seedlings growing in climates significantly different from mature trees. Of the species studied, Hill and Field found evidence that Douglas fir and canyon live oak had significantly larger range shifts in areas that burned than in areas that did not.

The researchers did not determine how wildfires hasten the shifting ranges for certain species but theorized that the resulting opened canopies and scorched undergrowth meant reduced competition from other plants.

They found that fire not only accelerates range shifting but that some species compete with others, slowing their growth. Low-intensity fires, both prescribed and natural, are increasingly important, the researchers determined.

“This study highlights a natural mechanism that can help forests remain healthy, even in the face of small amounts of climate change,” Field said. “It also illustrates the way that ecosystem processes often have several layers of controls, a feature that emphasizes the value of detailed understanding for effective management.”

Edited by Richard Pretorius and Kristen Butler

The post Forests Are On The Move To Higher, Wetter Habitats appeared first on Zenger News.

Proposed Macrogrid Would Improve Reliability And Resilience Of US Electric Power, Study Says

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November 20, 2021

Researchers have proposed a cost-effective macrogrid that would allow the sharing of power, including renewable wind and solar, across the United States during peak demand times. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)