milk

Given intravenously, a molecule found in breast milk can improve mental function in people with dementia and in victims of stroke and traumatic brain injury.

Researchers at the University of Palermo in Italy tested the molecule, called glycerophosphocholine (GPC), for its effect on neurological functioning in 2,044 stroke victims. GPC improved the patients' performance by 27 percent compared with patients not given the treatment, the scientists reported in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. http://www.bebo.com/LouisS205

In 12 separate trials by different research groups, GPC also significantly improved memory, attention, and orientation in people with various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. http://www.bebo.com/LouisS205 And mice given GPC recovered from induced brain injuries more quickly than untreated mice, says Parris M. Kidd, a biologist at Crayhon Research, a Reno, Nev., company that sells brain nutritional supplements.

GPC works by increasing the number of receptors on brain cells for nerve growth factor, a signaling protein that spurs production and survival of nerves. GPC can readily cross the blood-brain barrier, a layer of cells that surrounds blood vessels in the brain and controls which proteins and other large molecules can pass from the blood to nerve cells. These cells can also convert GPC into choline, which they then use to make acetylcholine, a chemical messenger that carries signals between nerves.

weeks

We’ve all heard the plastic bag horror stories—the billions of bags discarded every year that wind up polluting oceans, killing wildlife and getting dumped in landfills where they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Researchers have been wracking their brains for years to figure out a solution. http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com But leave it to a Canadian high school student to leave them all in the dust. Daniel Burd, an 11th grader at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, has discovered a way to make plastic bags degrade in as little as three months—a finding that won him first prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, a $20,000 scholarship, and a chance to revolutionize a major environmental issue. http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com

Burd’s strategy was simple: Since plastic does eventually degrade, it must be eaten by microorganisms. If those microorganisms, as well as the optimal conditions for their growth, could be identified, we could put them to work eating the plastic much faster than under normal conditions.

With this goal in mind, he ground plastic bags into a powder and concocted a solution of household chemicals, yeast and tap water to encourage microbe growth. Then he added the plastic powder and let the microbes work their magic for three months. Finally, he tested the resulting bacterial culture on plastic bags, exposing one plastic sample to dead bacteria as a control.

Sure enough, the plastic exposed to the live bacteria was 17 percent lighter than the control after six weeks. Once Burd examined the most effective strains of bacteria, he was able to isolate two types—Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas—as the plastic munchers. At 37 degrees and optimal bacterial concentration, the microbes had consumed 43 percent of a plastic sample within six weeks.

Next up, maybe it’s time to put him to work on this whole carbon emissions thing.

q

MAY 19TH—Sunshine and showers, the former predominating. Gen. Lee sends a dispatch saying the enemy’s attack yesterday was repulsed easily—our loss very light. http://louis-j-sheehan.com

It is said, however, that the enemy have Guinea’s Station, 12 miles this side of Fredericksburg.

Gen. Beauregard intends shelling Butler in his fortifications to-morrow.

From the West, in Georgia, and beyond the Mississippi, all seem bright enough.

Congress has passed a resolution to adjourn on the 31st inst., in obedience to the wish of the President. http://louis-j-sheehan.com He has a majority in both Houses, it seems; and even the bills they pass are generally dictated by the Executive, and written in the departments. Judge Campbell is much used for this purpose.

Gen. Bragg sent in a manuscript, derived from a deserter, stating that of Gen. Butler’s two corps, one, the 10th, is from the Southern coast, no negroes in it, leaving only negroes in the Southern garrisons. We learned Butler was in command, and dismissed all apprehensions—and one day we had but 5000 opposed to his 40,000!