Free Republic

For at least the last 10 million years every yeast cell of the sort used to make beer or bread has had 16 chromosomes. But now—thanks to CRISPR technology and some DNA tinkerers in China—there are living yeast with just one. Genome organizer: We humans have our genes arranged on 46 chromosomes, yeast use 16, and there’s even a fern plant with 1260 of them. That’s just the way it is. And no one is quite sure why. The big one: Do we really need so many chromosomes? That’s what Zhogjun Qin and colleagues at the Key Laboratory of Synthetic...

What countries have the longest life expectancies? Author: Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY Updated: 3:21 PM EDT July 27, 2018 Okinawa, Japan is often known as "the land of immortals," with hundreds of residents over 100 years old. Last year, the number of people 90 years old and above in Japan hit the two million mark. So when Chiyo Miyako died Sunday as the oldest person in the world at 117 years old, she was certainly not alone at her age in Japan. The new oldest person in the world is Kane Tanaka, a 115-year-old woman living in Fukuoka, Japan, according...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Donald Trump's speech in Kansas City on Tuesday brought praise from many veterans who spoke to 41 Action News following the event. The president spoke in front of around 4,000 people during a speech inside Municipal Auditorium at the 119th VFW National Convention. President Trump touted his administration's plans to improve the VA health system and invest in military equipment. "We have secured $700 billion for defense this year and $716 billion next year approved," he told the crowd. "My administration is committed to ensuring that our warfighters have the tools, the resources, the firepower...

Research Check: Does drinking coffee help you live longer? Like many previous studies, the JAMA Internal Medicine paper found people who drank coffee had a lower risk of dying of any cause – and specifically, of dying from heart disease and cancer – over the course of the study GOOD NEWS. The study contains some good news for people who drink a lot of coffee. StudioByTheSea/Shutterstock There’s only one thing better than a hot cup of coffee in the morning: a new research paper telling you your daily habit is good for your health. Headlines this week presented the good...

The recall of a common drug used to control blood pressure and help prevent heart failure was announced by the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday, a week after 22 other countries recalled it because the drug contains a chemical that poses a potential cancer risk. Valsartan is off patent and is used as a component of other generic medicines, but not all medicines containing the ingredient are involved, according to the FDA. The US recall includes the the versions of valsartan that are made by Major Pharmaceuticals, Solco Healthcare and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. as well as valsartan/hydrochlorothiazide...

CDC links outbreak of salmonella in 33 states to Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal (headline)

FarmerDean, who has no physical right to be alive according to natural law, will be going home under GOD’S law in a few weeks. After over a YEAR fighting for his life from a botched cancer surgery of his intestines and MANY MANY nights where I thought he was going to God, the farmer/man/beast is going home and will once again one day heap 50 pound bails on a truck for hours at 66!! I just got a hernia thinking about it!!! :) God doesn’t always give us what we ask for and we can’t and aren’t supposed to understand...

Summary Background Interest in the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to treat chronic non-cancer pain is increasing, because of their potential to reduce opioid dose requirements. We aimed to investigate cannabis use in people living with chronic non-cancer pain who had been prescribed opioids, including their reasons for use and perceived effectiveness of cannabis; associations between amount of cannabis use and pain, mental health, and opioid use; the effect of cannabis use on pain severity and interference over time; and potential opioid-sparing effects of cannabis. -SNIP- Interpretation Cannabis use was common in people with chronic non-cancer pain who had been...

At least 19 people were hospitalized as of Monday (July 2) after eating food that had been contaminated by exposure to feces at a neighborhood potluck birthday party in Charlotte N.C., the Charlotte Observer reported. More than 40 people were sickened and more could become ill with a "highly contagious" disease called shigella, which causes diarrhea. Someone who prepared food for Saturday's party, which was attended by about 100 people, did not wash their hands well enough...

Time and again we hear politicians from different parts of the country profess the virtues of a soda tax. Their reasoning ranges from wanting to improve the public health, by cutting back consumption of unhealthy drinks, to talking about how much revenue it will bring in. This proclivity of nanny statists to push policies to change people’s behavior hues quite closely to Einstein’s definition of insanity: Trying the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Policy makers of all stripes need to abandon their affinity for soda taxes. Put simply, soda taxes just don’t work. Take Berkeley, California, as...

Levels of CoQ and the presence of insulin resistance were analysed in a range of experimental laboratory settings, mouse models and samples from humans, as part of an ambitious research collaboration conducted with the University of Sydney, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Genentech Inc. and the University of New South Wales. Concentrations of CoQ were found to be lower in insulin resistant body fat and muscle tissue. When the researchers replenished CoQ, insulin resistance or pre-diabetes was reversed. "CoQ is found in mitochondria, the power plants in the cells of...

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has uncovered an entirely novel mechanism by which cells enter a state of dormancy as tissues starved of oxygen become increasingly acidic. The study, led by Chi Van Dang, scientific director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, has potentially significant implications for cancer therapy: Large swaths of solid tumors are often deprived of oxygen, and cells in such patches are thought to be a major source of drug resistance and disease relapses. Baking soda had previously been reported to enhance cancer immunotherapy by one of the co-authors of the new study, though the mechanism...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — How many cups of coffee do you drink each day? If it’s more than one, you may become a healthier you. German researchers say four cups of strong coffee a day could trigger a process that helps prevent heart attacks.

A simple saliva test can identify the one in 100 men with a 50% chance of getting the disease and could be offered on the NHS to all men over 40 in a few years The simple £10 saliva test could save thousands of lives. It can identify the one in 100 men with a 50% chance of getting the disease, and the one in 10 with a 25% risk. The DNA discovery could mean most men not having to undergo invasive prostate examinations. Professor Ros Eeles, of the Institute of Cancer Research, which led the research, said “it could...

WASHINGTON -- Imagine the horror of learning you have a terminal illness for which science has not yet come up with a treatment. Now imagine receiving the same diagnosis, and then learning a promising new treatment exists that could save your life -- but you can't get access to it thanks to governmental obstacles. That is the nightmare that befell Andrea Sloan, an Austin lobbyist who gave up her job at a high-priced law firm to advocate for victims of domestic violence. In 2007, Sloan was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and for more than six years tried every Food and...

Climate change is wreaking havoc across the globe - melting ice caps, causing dangerous weather and decimating animal populations. New research has found that it could also be increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria. A team of epidemiologists from Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital and the University of Toronto have found that higher local temperatures and population densities correspond with a higher degree of antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains. Previously, increase in resistance to common bacteria was thought to come from over-prescribing antibiotics. 'The effects of climate are increasingly being recognized in a variety of infectious diseases, but so...

Pit bulls make headlines when they attack humans because the injuries they inflict are typically severe and sometimes fatal. Two pit bulls attacked a 76-year-old woman in Gulfport on Wednesday when she opened the fence and went into owner Emily Craft's yard. The woman, who many in the neighborhood describe as "the can lady," died from her wounds. That wasn't the first time one authorities were called about Craft's dogs. Craft was arrested Wednesday morning after the mauling on an outstanding warrant on charges of having a dog at large and having a vicious animal after an incident last summer...

All Erika Zak wants to do is play with her daughter on the playground. Take her to the zoo. Walk her to school. She's never been able to be the mother she longs to be. At 38, Erika is dying. Her battle to live began almost as soon as her daughter, Loïe, was born four years ago, when Erika was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colon cancer that had spread to her liver. The cancer was removed from her colon and, her doctors say, she responded well to treatment. But a microwave ablation surgery last year to remove two tumors...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Doctors are criticizing Texas' largest health insurance provider for a controversial new billing process. Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that starting June 4, Texans who go to an out-of-network ER might have to pay all of the costs themselves if the visit isn't not deemed to be necessary. "This will create deaths. This will kill people. People will die because of this. This for sure will cause people to think twice and not go to the emergency room,” said Dr. Lonnie Schwirtlich, an ER doctor and member of the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers. The Texas...

.Mobile phones may be behind a surge in a deadly brain tumor, scientists say. Cases of glioblastoma in England soared from 983 to 2,531 between 1995 and 2015, figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal. The rise was across all age groups and came as cases of lower-grade tumors fell.