Another clue to how the naked mole rat stays cancer free - Cancer ...

Could this ?chipolata with teeth? hold the key to stopping cancer?

Kilometres of winding tunnels under the tropical grasslands of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia could harbour vital clues to preventing cancer and living longer.

The architect of these tunnels ? a curious creature called the naked mole rat ? might not be the prettiest of animals, but it?s evolved several unique qualities that have piqued the interest of scientists from around the world:

But this diminutive rodent has an even more impressive biological trick up its (hairless) sleeve ? it has an exceptionally long life span. While many of its rodent contemporaries are lucky to live beyond four years, the naked mole rat can live for more than 30 years.

One of the secrets to its longevity is that it doesn?t get cancer.

Scientists are understandably keen to work out why these creatures are so resistant to cancer. And a fascinating study published today has uncovered a potentially crucial mechanism behind the naked mole rat?s cancer-free life.

Hypersensitive anticancer process

The study, published in the journal Nature, was led by scientists from the University of Rochester in New York. The team has been studying the naked mole rat (and its close cousin the blind mole rat) for several years.

In 2009 they discovered that naked mole rats activate a sort of ?claustrophobia-induced gene? called p16 that stops their cells from growing if they become too tightly packed.

This process ? called contact inhibition ? happens in other animals too (including us), and is a key anticancer mechanism that stops our cells growing out of control.

But in naked mole rats, p16 seems to be hypersensitive to contact inhibition, and this gives them an extra layer of protection against developing cancer.

But why are mole rats? cells so senstitive? The team set about finding out.

The plot thickens

Their new paper reveals the answer, in the form of a sugar secreted by the mole rat?s cells called hyaluronan.

The researchers? interest in hyaluronan started accidently, when they noticed something odd whenever they grew naked mole rat cells in the lab. After growing for a few days, their lab equipment started getting clogged up with a thick, gooey substance.

They discovered it was hyaluronan ? normally sort of a molecular Polyfilla between the cells of our bodies ? and wondered if this gluey substance could somehow be involved in the rats? hypersensitivity to contact inhibition.

To work this out, they grew naked mole rat cells in the presence of the hyaluronan-munching enzyme called hyaluronidase.

Sure enough, the cells grew into large, dense masses, uninhibited by their neighbours. And when they removed the enzyme the cells stopped growing.

This was compelling evidence that hyaluronan was the signal that switched on the p16 gene to cause contact inhibition.

Heavy weight

But a big question was what made rat?s hyaluronan different to our own? And how did this help prevent cancer?

Hyaluronan molecules are made of long strings of sugar molecules, attached end-to-end, like beads on a string ? these can be of varying lengths, depending on the species.

When the researchers purified and analysed mole rat hyaluronan, it turned out to be massive ? five times larger than human or mouse hyaluronan.

Could this whopper be why the rats are resistant to cancer? It certainly makes sense ? previous research has shown that larger hyaluronans dampen down processes like cell division and inflammation, whereas smaller hyaluronans actually encourage them. Both of these processes are hallmarks of cancer.

Major production, minimal destruction

But the researchers also found that naked mole rats not only produce an unusually large hyaluronan, they produce lots of it ? vastly more than us surface-dwellers do.

The team showed why ? in naked mole rats, the enzyme that produces hyaluronan is highly overactive, whereas the enzymes that break it down are sluggish and ineffective.

The net effect: lots of hyaluronan.

All fascinating stuff, but circumstantial so far ? not enough to hail hyaluronan as an anticancer hero. The next question was whether cutting down levels of hyaluronan could affect the mole rat cells? susceptibility to cancer.

To answer this, they engineered the rats? cells to be particularly vulnerable to cancer, by simultaneously switching off a key gene called p53 and switching on one called Ras. Cells with hyaluronan continued to resist cancer.

But when they also took hyaluronan out of the picture (either by over-stimulating the enzyme that breaks it down, or cutting off the enzyme that makes it), the cells became susceptible to forming tumours.

So hyaluronan?s hero status looks justified. This research is persuasive evidence that the molecule plays a key role in helping the naked mole rat stay cancer free.

Elastic fantastic

How did this cancer-resistance mechanism come about? The researchers speculate that it?s a happy accident. They think naked mole rats evolved extremely high levels of whopping great hyaluronan molecules to provide the elastic skin needed for life squeezing in and out of underground tunnels.

It would seem that this has a fantastic side-effect ? an in-built tumour resistance mechanism.

Of course, while fascinating research, the usual caveats about such early-stage work apply. Hyaluronon?s role in cancer in humans is a bit of a mystery, and there?s a long way to go before we fully understand it.

And it may even be something tumours can, on occasion, subvert to their own advantage. For example, it seems that the high levels produced by pancreatic tumours protect it from chemotherapy.

Much like in the tunnels of the naked mole rat, there will be many twists and turns to navigate before we know for sure if this peculiar molecule, or the rodent that makes such interesting use of it, could help in the fight against cancer.

Reference

Tian X. et al. (2013). High-molecular-mass hyaluronan mediates the cancer resistance of the naked mole rat, Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature12234

Source: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/06/20/another-clue-to-how-the-naked-mole-rat-stays-cancer-free/

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Tons of Hackers Are Hanging Out in Old Soviet Cyberspace

The Internet is a huge place. Some parts of it are awesome, but others are...less so. And falling squarely in that latter category is the ancient .su domain, once the cyberhome of the Soviet Union. It's not exactly well maintained, or well policed, which is why more and more online criminals are using it as a hideout.

Assigned to the soon-to-be non-existent Soviet Union 23 years ago, the .su TLD has been an orphan for longer than it had a country to call home. But unlike the TLDs for Yugoslavia or East Germany, it didn't disappear with its nation-state namesake thanks to stubborn resistance by its owners of the time.

Until recently, the .su domain has been the home of weird, but legitimate sites. But when the administrators for Russia's .ru got a little more strict about what they would and wouldn't allow, scammers and hackers alike began to migrate to the out-dated .su, which saw its population of sites double in 2011, and again in 2012.

From the Associated Press:

The most notorious site was Exposed.su, which purportedly published credit records belonging to President Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, Republican presidential challengers Mitt Romney and Donald Trump, and celebrities including Britney Spears, Jay Z, Beyonce and Tiger Woods. The site is now defunct.

Other Soviet sites are used to control botnets?the name given to the networks of hijacked computers used by criminals to empty bank accounts, crank out spam, or launch attacks against rival websites.

The domain is currently controlled by the Moscow-based nonprofit Foundation for Internet Development, who've been regulating it since 2007. And with the recent boom of sketchy sites, the plan is to tighten things down a bit, starting with a new policy rolling out this summer.

.su is home to some 120,000 sites?a number of which are actually legitimate?so shutting it down entirely would be super difficult. Hopefully the registration lock-down can make it less of a weirdly anachronistic cyberspace haven for evil. But hey, we could probably get at least one more "James Bond vs. the Soviets" movie out of this, right? [PhysOrg]

Image by Shutterstock / Andersphoto

Source: http://gizmodo.com/tons-of-hackers-are-hanging-out-in-old-soviet-cyberspac-510829003

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Pawsitively Pets: Social Pet Saturday: Graduation, Dog Tips ...

Happy Saturday everyone! It's the start of summer over here at my house - yesterday was my daughter's last day of 2nd grade. Woohoo! Now she's graduating on to the 3rd grade. Speaking of her graduation, I've got something fun to share with you today.

Special Graduation Day Present

Our pal, Speedy, has a crafty mum. She just opened a shop where she sells handmade cards and other things. I decided to order a card from Speedy's Gift Shop for Lily's graduation. Rachel, that's Speedy's mum's name, was very nice and let me customize my card. Here's a picture of the design I choose -
Rachel sent me this picture before she actually made the card to make sure I was happy with it. Sadly, we had some rain here and there last weekend and my actual card got a little wet. Regardless, Speedy also added an autographed photo of himself as well as a but of his very own luxurious fur for Lily! She put his autographed photo on the fridge. I decided to record a video of Lily opening her card.
You can see Speedy's fur and photo in the video. You also might notice that some of our ink got smudged a bit from the rain. Thank you Speedy and Rachel!

Thank You for Your Votes!

I also want to take just a minute to thank everyone who voted and/or shared or even just sent good luck wishes for Shiner in the May Day Play Day video contest. We had some tough competition, including a super adorable blind kitten named Odilia from Tails from the Foster Kittens. I can't wait to find out the results from the contest, which won't be announced for another 2 weeks.?

Good Dog Tips

Super Cute Cats?

So that wraps it up for this week's edition of Social Pet Saturday. Hope everyone enjoyed! Oh - I do have one reminder that I have a giveaway going on right now if you're interested. It's an 8 oz bottle of Skin Tonic Spray from Wondercide that contains Neem Oil. It can be used on dogs and people. You can read more about the product and enter the giveaway here. Good luck and take care!

Source: http://www.mypawsitivelypets.com/2013/06/social-pet-saturday-graduation-dog-tips.html

Catholic Church's Influence On Gay Marriage Waning

PROVIDENCE, R.I. ? Frank Ferri made peace with God years ago. Last month, Ferri defeated the Roman Catholic Church.

The openly gay state representative led the fight to legalize same-sex marriage in what may be the most Catholic state in the nation's most Catholic region.

In early May, Rhode Island became the sixth and final New England state to allow gay couples to marry. The Democratic-dominated Legislature, led by an openly gay House speaker, overcame years of successful lobbying by the Catholic Church.

"They put the fear of God into people," Ferri said, claiming that "the influence of the church" had been the primary stumbling block as every other neighboring state, and many people across the country, started embracing gay marriage.

Ferri's victory marked the Catholic Church's most significant political defeat in an area where more than 40 percent of the population is Catholic.

Perhaps more problematic for the church is that state-by-state setbacks on gay marriage illustrate a widening divide between the church hierarchy and its members that may be undermining Catholic influence in American politics.

The disconnect plays out in polling.

In March, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that a majority of Catholics, 60 percent, felt the church was out of touch with the views of Catholics in America today.

A CBS News/New York Times poll in February found that 78 percent of Catholics said they were more likely to follow their own conscience than the church's teachings on difficult moral questions.

That poll highlighted several areas where most Catholics break with church teachings: 62 percent of American Catholics think same-sex marriages should be legal, 74 percent think abortion ought to be available in at least some instances and 61 percent favor the death penalty.

At Vatican, newly selected Pope Francis, while a bishop in Argentina, angered other church leaders by supporting civil unions for gay couples ahead of that country's vote to legalize gay marriage.

He has taken no such position as pope.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a member of one of the most storied Catholic families in American politics, says she's encouraged by Francis' early leadership. But she says the church's political influence will continue to wane unless it adapts.

"Gay marriage is part of a larger refusal on the part of the church to listen to, and to understand, the people in the pews," said Townsend, who regularly attends church and wrote the book, "Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God With Politics and Losing Their Way."

Church officials in Washington, Boston and Providence declined to be interviewed for this report.

The church for decades has employed aggressive lobbying efforts on a range of political issues, and Catholic leaders have used the power of the pulpit and substantial financial resources to maintain clout. At times they've gone so far as to tell leading Catholic lawmakers they were not welcome to receive Communion if they opposed church teachings on matter such as abortion and gay marriage.

These days, the church remains active in political battles over abortion, President Barack Obama's health care law, poverty and immigration. But the church had little success influencing the gay marriage debate here and elsewhere.

In many statehouses, the church relies on lobbying consortiums made up of lay people, known as Catholic conferences, to influence state policy, aided by donations from dioceses across the country.

In Washington, the church's primary voice is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had an annual budget last year of $26.6 million, according to the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life.

"They've certainly been players at the national level," said Mark Silk, the director of Trinity College's Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life.

He noted that the church has been most successful in recent years by building alliances with other religious lobbies, including evangelicals, to help shape public policy such as the contraception provision in the president's health care law. Religious leaders have successfully pushed to tighten abortion laws in some states.

Thirty states have adopted constitutional provisions limiting marriage to a man and a woman, although that's mostly in the South and West where there are fewer Catholics.

Silk suggested that some Catholic leaders in the United States may be eroding their influence by "jumping up and down" to fight gay marriage despite strong public support.

As American attitudes rapidly shifted in favor of legalized same-sex marriage in recent months, the archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, likened gay marriage to male breastfeeding and denounced Rhode Island's vote as violating "the very design of nature."

In Minnesota, Catholic leaders spent nearly $1 million last year to support a ballot measure banning gay marriage. The year before, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis produced and distributed 400,000 copies of a DVD in which Archbishop John C. Nienstedt called same-sex marriage, at best, "an untested social experiment."

Thousands of Minnesota Catholics returned the DVDs in protest. Last month, the state Legislature voted to legalize gay marriage, making Minnesota the 12th state to do so.

In Providence, the Rev. Bernard Healey led the lobbying effort to counter legalization attempts. The Catholic priest is well-known at the Rhode Island Capitol.

In late April, before the final gay marriage vote, Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin warned Rhode Island lawmakers: "It is only with grave risk to our spiritual well-being and the common good of our society that we dare to redefine what God himself has created."

The Legislature overwhelmingly voted days later to support same-sex marriage.

That led Tobin to condemn "immoral or destructive behavior" and say that Catholics should "examine their consciences very carefully" before deciding whether to attend gay marriage ceremonies, "realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others."

As for Ferri, he said he's at peace with God, regardless of the warnings of the church. A faithful member of his church choir for decades, he recalled sitting alone at the altar while struggling with his homosexuality years ago.

"I got a message from God: `You're going to be OK. Be who you are,'" he said during a recent interview in his small office in the Statehouse.

Noting that a church lobbyist would be pushing abortion-related legislation later that day, Ferri said the Catholic Church will always have some political influence in Rhode Island.

"They just picked the wrong battle this time. And I think it hurt them," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Minnesota and AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/01/catholic-influence-gay-marriage-_n_3371052.html

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