That's nothing.
We blew up over 1000 nukes just outside of Las Vegas.
Posted on 07/19/2009 5:11:19 PM PDT by Michel12
Medication that can protect humans against nuclear radiation has been developed by Jewish-American scientists in cooperation with a researcher and investors from Israel. The full story behind the dramatic discovery will be published in Yedioth Ahronoth's weekend edition.
The ground-breaking medication, developed by Professor Andrei Gudkov – Chief Scientific Officer at Cleveland BioLabs - may have far-reaching implications on the balance of power in the world, as states capable of providing their citizens with protection against radiation will enjoy a significant strategic advantage vis-à-vis their rivals.
For Israel, the discovery marks a particularly dramatic development that could deeply affect the main issue on the defense establishment's agenda: Protection against a nuclear attack by Iran or against "dirty bomb" attacks by terror groups.
Gudkov's discovery may also have immense implications for cancer patients by enabling doctors to better protect patients against radiation. Should the new medication enable cancer patients to be treated with more powerful radiation, our ability to fight the disease could greatly improve.
The process that led up to the medical innovation dates back to 2003, when Professor Gudkov came up with the idea of using protein produced in bacteria found in the intestine to protect cells from radiation.
Gudkov recounted an experiment he held with two groups of mice.
"We exposed both groups to lethal radioactive radiation," he said. "All the mice in the control group died within a short period of time. A few days later, when I approached the cage with the mice that received the protein, I could see that they're ok, that they're alive. They survived. It's hard to describe the joy all of us felt. We realized that finally, after so many years and so many experiments and frustrations, we made a breakthrough that may save the lives of millions."
Prof. Gudkov published the findings of the protein experiment in Science, the world's leading scientific journal; however, the discovery of the medication was kept secret until now, while Gudkov and his associated waited for the results of two series of critical tests examining the medication's effectiveness and safety.
The first series of tests included experiments on more than 650 monkeys. Each test featured two groups of monkeys exposed to radiation, but only one group was given the medication. The radiation dosage was equal to the highest dosage sustained by humans as result of the Chernobyl mishap.
The experiment's results were dramatic: 70% of the monkeys that did not receive the cure died, while the ones that survived suffered from the various maladies associated with lethal nuclear radiation. However, the group that did receive the anti-radiation shot saw almost all monkeys survive, most of them without any side-effects. The tests showed that injecting the medication between 24 hours before the exposure to 72 hours following the exposure achieves similar results.
Another test on humans, who were given the drug without being exposed to radiation, showed that the medication does not have side-effects and is safe. Prof. Gudkov's company now needs to expand the safety tests, a process expected to be completed by mid-2010 via a shortened test track approved for bio-defense drugs. Should experiments continue at the current rate, the medication is estimated to be approved for use by the FDA within a year or two.
The company's subcontractor in Europe is already prepared to embark on mass production. Meanwhile, emergency regulations in Israel allow the government to purchase drugs on short notice, even if they are still in the process of being approved. Notably, the medication in question is not a vaccine, but rather, a preventative drug administered via one or several shots.
The medication works by suppressing the "suicide mechanism" of cells hit by radiation, while enabling them to recover from the radiation-induced damages that prompted them to activate the suicide mechanism in the first place.
Prof. Gudkov heads a group of Jewish-American scientists and has cooperated with an Israeli researcher and Israeli investors. A large part of the revolutionary medication's development process was funded by the US Defense and Health departments, which thus far earmarked $40 million to the project. About two weeks ago, the US Defense Department announced that in light of the successful tests, it will continue to fund the project.
The Israeli scientist involved in the research, Dr. Elena Feinstein, made Aliyah to Israel in 1985 and for many years served as a cancer researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Dr. Feinstein met Prof. Gudkov while they worked together in Moscow and was among the founders of the company, serving as its deputy director for some time.
Today, Feinstein works for an Israel company engaged in cancer research and continues to cooperate with Gudkov. Referring to the innovative medication, she says: "Both its effectiveness and safety had been proven. It is stable, safe, and easy to inject."
Both Feinstein and Gudkov stress that the innovative drug does not provide 100% protection against radioactive damage. However, should the discovery announced by the scientists meet all the required tests and permits, it may change the 21st Century.
My money is on this being overblown hype.
A game changer for mostly politicians, as if they’d hand that out to citizens.
If this unnamed protein suppresses apoptosis, then recipients of the, what, vaccine, who have diagnosed or undiagnosed cancers are going to experience rapid metastasis.
It’s still quite an advancement, so this is should not discredit the discovery. But, it should give certain people pause.
If a nuclear bomb detonates on a city, I was always taught that it would be uninhabitable for hundreds of years. How is it that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are thriving cities today?
That was my first thought.
The drug developed by Professor Andrei Gudkov may affect the future balance of world powers, the paper said, and will offer cancer sufferers better protection as they undergo radiation treatment.
Now that may be a game changer,
in radiation therapy patients
NASA is going to want some for the Mars mission!!!
That's nothing.
We blew up over 1000 nukes just outside of Las Vegas.
I hope this is true for Israel’s sake..... I’ll keep watching
On the other hand, there is a lot of good science that comes from industry. Plus, university researchers have just as many conflicts of interest as those working in industry; probably more so.
This bears indirectly on that promise of God that the Jews would be a blessing to all of mankind.
Hmmm... Maybe it is a varient on this
http://www.pnas.org/content/101/8/2452.abstract
Acute injury to the intestinal mucosa is a major dose-limiting complication of abdominal radiation therapy. We studied the role of the transcription factor NF-κB in protection against radiation-induced apoptosis in the intestinal epithelium in vivo. We use mice in which NF-κB signaling through IκB-kinase (IKK)-β is selectively ablated in intestinal epithelial cells to show that failure to activate epithelial cell NF-κB in vivo results in a significant increase in radiation-induced epithelial cell apoptosis. Furthermore, bacterial lipopolysaccharide, which is normally a radioprotective agent, is radiosensitizing in IKKβ-deficient intestinal epithelial cells. Increased apoptosis in IKKβ-deficient intestinal epithelial cells was accompanied by increased expression and activation of the tumor suppressor p53 and decreased expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins. These results demonstrate the physiological importance of the NF-κB system in protection against radiation-induced death in the intestinal epithelium in vivo and identify IKKβ as a key molecular target for radioprotection in the intestine. Selective preactivation of NF-κB through IKKβ in intestinal epithelial cells could provide a therapeutic modality that allows higher doses of radiation to be tolerated during cancer radiotherapy.
“If a nuclear bomb detonates on a city, I was always taught” that it would be uninhabitable for hundreds of years. How is it that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are thriving cities today?”
We cleaned it up for them.
That was my initial thought as well. The “Cell Suicide Mechanism” is natures way of preventing damaged or abnormal cells from reproducing.
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