Mutant gene linked to skin cancer

SCIENTISTS have identified a gene mutation found exclusively in deadly skin cancers caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

The discovery by Yale University researchers in the US, in collaboration with the Queensland Institute of Medical Research could eventually lead to new drugs to target the mutation found in about nine per cent of melanoma patients.
The finding emerged from the largest melanoma gene study to date, which involved the examination of every gene in 147 skin cancers.
Professor Nick Hayward from the QIMR's Oncogenomics Laboratory said scientists also showed the mutation promoted malignant cell growth, spreading the cancer beyond the skin to critical organs.
Most importantly, the mutation was caused by exposure to sunlight.
"This mutation was exclusively found in melanomas on parts of the body that were exposed to sunlight," Prof Hayward told AAP.
"The actual mutation itself has a chemical or molecular signature that indicates it was likely caused by ultraviolet light," he said.
"This particular defect seems to be one that occurs in melanomas that have had excessive sun exposure."

Read more: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/mutant-gene-linked-to-skin-cancer/story-fncynkc6-1226438198704

New protein could rival antibiotics

AUSTRALIAN scientists have made a breakthrough in finding a powerful alternative to antibiotics - at a time when the World Health Organisation is predicting a bleak future in which bug-killing drugs are so ineffective that ''a child's scratched knee or a strep throat could kill again''.
The threat of the world returning to a pre-antibiotic era has been fretted about for at least a decade because of microbes becoming increasingly resistant to drugs.
But Monash University researchers, in collaboration with Rockefeller University and the University of Maryland, have published a paper revealing the structure and workings of PlyC - a flying saucer-shaped protein that kills bacteria that cause infections from sore throats to pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
PlyC is a viral protein, known as a bacteriophage lysin, that specifically infects and kills bacteria. James Whisstock, Ashley Buckle and Sheena McGowan from the School of Biomedical Sciences have spent the past six years deciphering PlyC's atomic structure - a crucial step in developing the protein into a drug therapy.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/new-protein-could-rival-antibiotics-20120728-232uo.html#ixzz226NSuB3m

100km-wide ocean funnels that suck-up carbon

SCIENTISTS say they have unravelled the mechanism by which Earth-warming carbon is sucked deep into the Southern Ocean to be safely locked away.
Wind, currents and eddies (a current running opposite to the main current) work together to create carbon-sucking funnels, said the research team from Britain and Australia in a discovery that adds to the toolkit of scientists attempting climate warming predictions.
About a quarter of the carbon dioxide on Earth is stored away in its oceans - some 40 per cent of that in the Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica.
At a depth of about 1000 metres, carbon can be locked away for hundreds to thousands of years, yet scientists had never been sure exactly how it gets there after dissolving into surface waters.
They had suspected the wind was the main force at play, pooling up surface water in some areas and forcing it down into the ocean depths.
Using 10 years of data obtained from small, deep-sea robotic probes, the researchers found that in addition to the wind, eddies - big whirlpool-like phenomena about 100km in diameter on average, also played a part.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/carbon-sicking-funnels-in-ocean-revealed/story-fn5fsgyc-1226438204498#ixzz226ND8btc

Gulf of Mexico dead zone is smaller this year because of drought, researcher says

This year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone," an area of low oxygen that develops every spring and summer, is the fourth-smallest since measurements of the zones began in 1985, a new report says. The zone measured 2,889 square miles, said the report released Friday by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. The dead zone forms because fertilizer and other nutrients run into the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf. The nutrients feed huge numbers of microscopic organisms. When they die, their decomposition uses up oxygen. It is a recurring problem affecting sea life off the Louisiana coast, and sometimes the coasts of Mississippi and Texas.
Last year's hypoxic zone was about 6,765 square miles. The record is 8,400.
The consortium said the dead zone is relatively small this year because record drought across the country meant fewer nutrients were washed into the river — not because needed steps have been taken to prevent the runoff.
"The issue of nutrient overload, of both nitrogen and phosphorus, remains a critical issue for the health of water bodies within the Mississippi River Basin and in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Efforts should continue in full force to reduce nutrient loads," the LUMCON report said.
LUMCON Chief Scientist Nancy Rabalais noted that the distribution of low-oxygen waters along Louisiana's continental shelf differed from years past.
"There was a narrow band close to the Mississippi River and large, non-hypoxic area between there and the Atchafalaya River," the report said.

http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/07/gulf_of_mexico_dead_zone_is_sm.html

Food-borne illnesses not diminishing, CDC finds

Little progress has been made in combating many types of food-borne illnesses in recent years, according to new federal data, an outcome that food safety advocates say underscores the need to put into place the landmark food-safety bill signed by President Obama more than a year ago.
The most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the rates of infections linked to four out of five key pathogens it tracks — salmonella, vibrio, campylobacter and listeria — remained relatively steady or increased from 2007 through 2011. The exception is a strain of E. coli, which has been tied to fewer illnesses in the same time frame.
The statistics also show that the government did not meet the goals it set for reducing illnesses tied to salmonella, the top cause of food-related infections resulting in hospitalizations and death. The goal was seven infections per 100,000 people by 2010. Instead, the state laboratories involved in producing statistics for the CDC confirmed 17 infections that year and about 16 last year.
The results frustrated consumer advocates, who along with industry groups pushed for passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which empowers the Food and Drug Administration to prevent food-borne illnesses instead of simply reacting to them. Obama signed the legislation in January 2011 after a string of food-borne outbreaks shook consumer confidence in the nation’s food supply.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/food-borne-illnesses-not-diminishing-cdc-finds/2012/07/28/gJQAaFGxGX_story.html

US Opens Public Land for Utility Scale Solar Projects

The Whitehouse has released plans to increase access to public land for solar installations with the hope of encouraging more capacity. 285,000 acres in parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah will be made more accessible through easier permit application processes.

Before Obama’s presidency started no solar projects were allowed on public lands in an attempt to preserve their natural state. However, since 2009 the Department of the Interior has approved 17 large scale solar projects on such ground, expected to generate 5,900 MW of power when completed, enough to supply 2 million homes.

It is expected that the new land will enable a further 23,000 MW of solar capacity to be installed, and provide sufficient electricity for nearly 7 million homes.

Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, said that “developing America’s solar energy resources is an important part of President Obama’s commitment to expanding American-made energy, increasing energy security, and creating jobs. This new roadmap builds on that commitment by identifying public lands that are best suited for solar energy projects, improving the permitting process, and creating incentives to deliver more renewable energy to American homes and businesses.”

Environmentalist fears of damage to the precious land have been relatively pacified due to the fact that the plan only includes about 40% of the area considered in the original discussions.

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Opens-Public-Land-for-Utility-Scale-Solar-Projects.html

NY Times Fooled Into Publishing Fake Editorial

The New York Times, which famously insists on the accuracy of its reports, was red faced Sunday after being fooled by a hoax online editorial posted under the name of ex-boss Bill Keller.

The editorial, titled "WikiLeaks, a Post Postscript," was purportedly published over the weekend by the Times and in every way appears to be the real thing from Keller, who until last September was the paper's executive editor.

The article appeared on a web page built to replicate the Times' popular website, right down to perfectly working links to the rest of the site.

It was so realistic that none other than the newspaper's technology editor Nick Bilton posted the link on his Twitter account, calling the apparent defense of Julian Assange's controversial organization an "important piece."

Not so.

"THERE IS A FAKE OP-ED GOING AROUND UNDER MY NAME, ABOUT WIKILEAKS. EMPHASIS ON 'FAKE.' AS IN, NOT MINE," Keller, now a writer on the paper, tweeted to set the record straight.

Bilton followed up, tweeting: "I just deleted a tweet sent late last night that was from a fake NYT Bill Keller account."

Read more on Newsmax.com: NY Times Fooled Into Publishing Fake Editorial