New Year's Resolution

January is almost done and I haven't even made my list of resolutions for 2014.

Here's the first one: write for this blog.

Recently I was asked by someone I'd just met: "So, you like to write?"

I didn't know what to say. I no longer know if I like to write. Editing has been my bread-and-butter for years now, writing seems unreal.

Do I enjoy writing? I don't even know what to write about. I think I don't have enough of an ego to write. I don't have anything to say. I don't have anyone to say anything to.

These are just some of the thoughts that have come to me in response to the question.

But I remember now, this morning. I used to want to be a writer. I used to know that I had the skill to write. I had the ideas. I had the nerve.

So my first resolution for this no-longer-so-new year is to write right here. Once a week. Preferably on Monday when work hasn't piled up over my head yet. Write for myself. Try to gain back the writing mojo.

Thank you, new friend, for asking me that question. 

Saint Joseph Cathedral, Balanga, Bataan

I was able to visit the St. Joseph Cathedral in Balanga, Bataan, on March 9, 2012.

Posture modifies pain tolerance

Can standing erect and adopting a powerful pose increase a person's pain tolerance?

This is the question Scott Wiltermuth and Vanessa K. Bohns set out to answer in their study "It Hurts When I Do This (or You Do That)" published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
And they found out that it does indeed.
Wiltermuth and Bohns had two hypothesis: The first was that people who were made to pose in positions that express dominance would have increased pain thresholds while those who adopted submissive postures would have decreased pain threshold. The second hypothesis was that when the subjects would be made to interact with dominant or submissive people, they would adopt the postures that would complement the behavior of the person they were interacting with, and their pain thresholds would be affected accordingly.
The research involved 44 female and 45 male participants. To test the first hypothesis, yoga poses were used. For the second, the interaction partners varied their body positions, the volume of their voices, and the space between themselves and the subject to present either a dominant or submissive persona. Pain threshold for both experiments was measured using a blood pressure cuff which was tightened until the subject said “stop.” For the interaction experiment, handgrip strength was also measured.
Results were positive for both hypothesis. That is, as stated in the report's abstract “participants who adopted dominant poses displayed higher pain thresholds than those who adopted submissive or neutral poses,” and “participants who interacted with a submissive confederate displayed higher pain thresholds and greater handgrip strength than participants who interacted with a dominant confederate.”
The results are important because of their implications for pain management. From the first experiment it is clear that the simple act of adopting dominant poses can increase pain tolerance. On the other hand, the second experiment has lessons for interactions between patients with pain and their caregivers, including doctors, nurses and family members. It appears that the people who care for patients in pain must make an effort to become more submissive and let the patient become the dominant person in their interactions.
Scott Wiltermuth is an assistant professor of management organization at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, and Vanessa K. Bohns is a postdoctoral fellow at the J.L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Right lessons learned now wrong

The world of Science is always growing, changing.

Recently, two very basic things I learned as true I found out are false.

1. The main function of sex is to promote genetic diversity. FALSE.
"Rather, it's about keeping the genome context -- an organism's complete collection of genes arranged by chromosome composition and topology -- as unchanged as possible, thereby maintaining a species' identity." Read about that here.

2.  Organisms with identical genes will develop in the same way under identical conditions. Except for identical human twins, that is. FALSE.
Read about that here.

There was another one, but I am getting old and I forgot what it was.

I love ScienceDaily. :)

SHS makes teens addicts

Research shows that exposure to second hand smoke from cigarettes can make children aged 11-15 years old who don't smoke into nicotine addicts if they are exposed to smokers.

Jennifer J. McGrath, senior author of the study, explained the findings of their study in a press release as that "Children exposed to the same amounts of secondhand smoke as adults absorb higher doses of nicotine.” She adds that “Early findings suggest that secondhand smoke exposure could possibly trigger addiction in the brain – before kids actually start smoking themselves."

This should serve as a wake up call to parents and other adults who deal with children.

Aside from the physical addiction, the social aspect also affects the teens' behavior. McGrath's co-author Simon Racicot explained "Preteens who were surrounded by more smokers believed that there are greater advantages to smoking," and they don't see it as unhealthy behavior. He spells it out: “Smoking by parents, siblings, and friends increases risk factors for later smoking."

According to the researchers, it is one of the first studies that clearly shows how teens who don't smoke experience nicotine dependence symptoms, including craving for cigarettes. They studied 327 sixth and seventh graders enrolled in French-language public schools in Montreal.

The researchers suggest that prevention efforts must be undertaken targeting young teenagers that are exposed to secondhand smoke. They also point out the need for the general public to be educated on how smoking around youth can make the dangerous habit appear normal.”

The research, "An Investigation of Social and Pharmacological Exposure to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke as Possible Predictors of Perceived Nicotine Dependence, Smoking Susceptibility, and Smoking Expectancies Among Never-Smoking Youth," was published in the Nicotine & Tobacco Research  journal.

Locking up radioactive iodine

Researchers at the University of Sheffield in England report on a way to trap radioactive iodine and keep it from moving around and wreaking havoc.

After the earthquake and tsunami destroyed Japan's Fukushima nuclear power station, many rumors spread advising people to buy iodine tablets and swab their necks with iodine solution.

Radioactive iodine is dangerous because it spreads quickly, is easily absorbed by the body, and can cause cancer. It is especially dangerous for children, where ingestion of iodine-131 can result in thyroid cancer after 10 years or more.

Iodine 131 has been emitted by the Fukushima power plant as a gas since March 11. Although officials report that radioactive iodine levels that are constantly being monitored are well beyond the allowable limts, it is still a matter of concern that on May 28 there were reports that fish in Hong Kong were found to have the radioactive isotope. Some grey mullet from a wholesale market in Hong Kong had 7.7 becquerels per kilogram. The government guideline was is 100 becquerels per kilogram. Now it has been raised to 250 becquerels per kilogram. Officials were quoted by the report as saying "Based on risk assessment, normal consumption of grey mullets at this low radiation level will not pose any health risk to the consumer."

But for workers involved in rehabilitation work at the plant, the news is not as good. Already two workers have been found to have 10 times more radioactive iodine levels in their thyroid glands than their fellow workers, according to news reports. The two workers are not sick but have been stopped from working, according to reports. They will be monitored with more checkups.

<b>Microwave iodine</B>

Now researchers have found a new way to handle the radioactive iodine: radioactive forms of iodine can be immobilised by microwaves.

The idea is to make a solid that will contain the radioactive iodine, that can be disposed of in a proper manner. Professor Neil Hyatt and colleagues found that lead iodovanadinite(Pb5(VO4)3I) can work this way.

They heated a mixture of lead iodide, lead oxide and vanadium oxide with a microwave set at the frequency used in typical household microwave ovens to produce the Pb5(VO4)3I. This traps the iodine and keeps it from getting back into the air.

The material and process are being developed further, and it is hoped to develop a cheap and simple way to trap iodine that can easily be used in another nuclear accident.

Professor Neil Hyatt explained in a press release: "In spent nuclear fuel, the iodine is not immobilised, so once the containment is breached it simply gets dispersed.” He added "Our new method offers a way of safely and rapidly containing this radionuclide, reducing the potential long term impact on human health from discharge to the environment."

Monsanto v. small farmers

Organic farmers go to great lengths to make sure that their produce are free of synthetics chemicals, pesticides and fertilizer. It turns out that hovering over them is a threat that their crops will be contaminated by genetically modified strains, and, on top of that should that nightmare happen, it would be possible for agriculture giant Monsanto to sue them for patent infringement.

Surely a world that would allow this to happen must be some kind of nightmarish Wonderland or Twilight Zone.

But it is happening here, now, in our world.

On June 1, Wednesday, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT http://pubpat.org/ ), on behalf of family farmers, seed businesses, and organic agricultural organizations, amended their complaint against Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed, and added more plaintiffs for a total of 83 complainants representing hundreds of thousands of farmers and organizations, according to a report from the Center for Food Safety (http://truefoodnow.org/2011/06/01/family-farmers-amplify-complaint-against-monsanto%e2%80%99s-gmos-reinforcing-their-arguments-with-two-dozen-additional-plaintiffs/#more-1650)

Daniel B. Ravicher, PUBPAT executive director, explained that they are just asking Monsanto to reassure the farmers and organizations involved that Monsanto will not accuse them of patent infringement if their crops are contaminated with Monsanto's seed.

The original suit was filed in March, and after that Monsanto said then that they would not assert their patents against farmers who suffer "trace" amounts of transgenic contamination.

Heartened by this statement and hoping to resolve the case PUBPAT wrote to Monsanto to ask them make this promise legally binding. Sadly, in response, Monsanto's lawyer rejected the request and then stated that Monsanto may claim patent infringement against organic farmers whose plants get contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed.

Jim Gerritsen, a farmer from Maine and the president of lead plaintiff the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association (OSGATA http://www.osgata.org/) noted that Monsanto’s failure to address the farmers' concerns reaffirmed the importance of the lawsuit.

Francis Thicke, an organic dairy farmer from Iowa, summed up the problem: "It is bad enough that we face the threat of contamination of our organic and non-transgenic crops. The least Monsanto can do is give us assurance that they won’t sue us for their own genetic trespass."

Ruth Chantry of Nebraska expressed the anger of the group: "It is outrageous that our entire farm, family business, and livelihood could be at risk because of Monsanto’s backward and oppressive response and enforcement towards farmers in regards to transgenic pollen drift, unasked for and unwanted—and the subsequent results in fields and farms." She added, "Any transgenic pollen drift that would ever come onto our farm is of great detriment to us, and as such, it is an invasion upon and a contamination of our crops, the multi-species habitat we are assisting and creating here—and to the integrity of how we are farming organically and Biodynamically."

Monsanto has, in the past, sued a family farmer in Canada over seed that had contaminated the farmer's fields. Monsanto demanded that Percy Schmeiser (http://www.percyschmeiser.com/conflict.htm) pay the $15/acre technology fee that Monsanto charges its customers because he "grew" their genetically modified canola plants. Schmeiser did not want to grow Monsanto's canola because he had his own canola plants that he had developed.

Monsanto won at the federal court level, but the Canadian Supreme Court said that Schmeiser did not have to pay Monsanto the technology fee. However, Schmeiser's other concerns were not properly addressed.

The present suit against Monsanto raises many other important issues, most important of which is the safety of the food we eat, as the issue of the safety of GMOs has not yet been properly addressed.

Kansas wheat farmer Bryce Stephens, who is vice president of OSGATA and spokesman for the Organic Crop Improvement Association-International explained that when GMO crops were first allowed by the U.S. Government, they were labelled as Generally Recognized As Safe based on internal studies and company-funded research. He noted: "With the long-term health consequences of GMO food yet to be understood and in the absence of objective studies, we have all been involuntarily co-opted into a giant biotech industry experiment … Our citizens and the people of the world deserve better than that."