Scientists Develop Drug That Reverses Aging in Mice

Update: Here is a better article on the subject

Ageing into a miserably ill life, supported by crutches, healthcare and families, would be a thing of the past if scientists find the right human application for a “forever young” drug that has emerged in a Harvard University laboratory.

According to the findings of a research carried out by Dr Ronald DePinho, recently carried by well-known journal Nature, the drug that offers eternal youth as read about in folklores and mythology, could be experimented on human beings in the near future.

It would allow longer and healthier lives, free from debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, or cancer. Such a drug would give skin and hair their youthful lustre, reported Daily Mail.

The scenario seem to be straight out of the Brad Pitt-starrer The Curious Case of Bejamin Button, in which he ages in reverse by getting younger by the year until he looks youthful.

The breakthrough centres around structures called telemores that are tiny biological clocks that cap ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.

Over time, the telemores get shorter and raise the odds of age-related diseases. At one point, they become so short that the cells die. This enzyme called telomerase is proven to have capacity to rebuild the telomere caps.

According to the report, Dr DePinho succeeded in “shocking” the enzyme back to life.

In the first major experiment with the drug, Dr DePinho reserved ageing on mice. From what looked like brains, skin, guts and other organs that resembled those of a 80-year-old person, the mice got younger after being administered with the experimental drug.

All that needed was just two months of being the enzyme for the mice to grow younger. They had by then re-grown so many degenerated cells.

In what was termed as remarkable, a male mouse transformed from infertility to fathering large litters, the report said.
“By 2025 we are going to have 1.2billion people aged over 60, which is when you start to see cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease. We are on a collision course for a significant amount of burden to society. This is the first time that ageing has been reversed,” Dr DePinho was quoted as saying.

Source: Emirates 24 7 Lifestyle

The Scientific Method

I came across this very simple flow chart which clearly shows the basics of the scientific method. A surprisingly few number of people actually know the components that make up the method that is the source of all that we know.

Tesla Motors - Roadster and Model S

Tesla Motors has developed two fully electric cars that look amazing and perform superbly. The Roadster is an electric sports car that can do 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds, 245 miles per charge and a top speed of over 130 m/ph. Breaking the trend for electric cars, the roadster actually looks like a high powered sports car and can rival top conventional petrol powered sports cars on the track. With 0 emissions and less than 2p per mile it is the greenest production sports car in the world.

For us mere mortals who cannot afford the Roadster, Tesla now have the option of purchasing the Model S which is very impressive also. It does 0 to 60 in just 5.6 seconds and has a range of 300 miles per charge. It is a stylish saloon with all the modern trimmings one would expect with the addition of a 17” touch panel display.

If households switch their electricity suppliers to 100% renewable suppliers and start to purchase these electric cars then we could see a dramatic decline in our impact on the environment without losing any of the fun and freedom that comes with owning and driving cars.

It would be good to see Tesla start to produce commercial vehicles. An electric van that can do say 500 miles per charge at a cost of less than 2 pence a mile would prove too tempting to pass up for many businesses.

Visit www.teslamotors.com and check out the Roadster and Model S

Microsoft XBOX Kinect Hacked

The new XBOX 360 Kinect device has already been ported to Ubuntu. The open source community has developed open source drivers for Linux. It is an impressive piece of hardware that has so much potential. Opening it up to the open source community means that the technology can be put to use in so many new ways.

Latest Solid State Disks

Solid state disks are still coming down in price. The OCZ vertex 2E for example has a max read of 285mb/s and a max write of 275mb/s and is only £99 or less for the 60GB version. This means for under £400 you can have 240GB running at at least 700+ mb/s average throughput if you configure 4 of them in RAID 0.

Using Flexible Aerogel Material For Fire-fighters?

A new form of aerogel that is flexible can be made into clothing. Aerogel is a super-insulating material that can withstand temperatures up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. The material can be made transparent or any solid colour.

This means that theoretically an entire sealed body suit could be made from the material allowing a fire-fighter for example to walk into a fully blazing building and save the lives of those trapped in inaccessible areas without being harmed. As I said before, a full body suit made from this material would withstand temperatures of several thousands of degrees. A small compressed air canister inside the suit would enable a fire-fighter to spend several minutes inside the burning building impervious to any flames and with sufficient head and body protection they would also be protected from falling debris. Aerogels have been around since the 1930's but it is only recently that scientists and engineers have been able to make a flexible version suitable for clothing.

Flexibe Aerogel Clothing

Aerogel - From Aerospace to Apparel

Aerogel represents what technology experts consider the best insulation material ever invented. It weighs virtually nothing. It's flexible. It's translucent. And, it can hold up under temperatures of 3,000 Fahrenheit. Aerogels have unsurpassed thermal insulation values, as well as sound and shock absorption characteristics.

In a process starting in 1993 with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Aspen Systems Inc., of Marlborough, Massachusetts, developed an aerogel-manufacturing process that won the company the prestigious SBIR Technology of the Year Award for 1999, in Manufacturing and Materials, from the Technology Utilization Foundation. Since receiving the award, Aspen Systems has launched Aspen Aerogels, Inc. a spinoff company tasked with commercializing aerogels.

Aerogels, invented over 70 years ago, are extremely fragile, hard to handle, and costly to manufacture by traditional means. For these reasons, the commercial industry found it difficult to produce products that incorporated the material. However, Aspen developed a revolutionary manufacturing method that cut production time and costs, and solved the handling problems associated with aerogel-based insulation products. They can now be manufactured into blankets, thin sheets, beads, and molded parts; and may be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Due to their extremely light weight and often translucent appearance, aerogels are often called solid smoke.

Aspen responded to NASA's need for a flexible, durable, easy-to-use aerogel system for cryogenic insulation for Space Shuttle launch applications. For NASA, the final product of this low thermal conductivity system, Cryogel,® was useful in applications such as launch vehicles, Space Shuttle upgrades, interplanetary propulsion, and life support equipment.

Johnson Space Center used the Spaceloft™ material in the construction of these mittens - a precursor to the development of gloves projected for use on a future mission to Mars.



Aerogel is the lightest solid known to man and is sometimes referred to as "solid smoke" or "frozen smoke."



Because of its innovative manufacturing process, Aspen is expanding the commercial applications of aerogel to many industries. For the first time, aerogels can be handled and installed like any other thermal or acoustic insulation. Aspen made the material effective for window and skylight insulation, non-flammable building insulation, and inexpensive firewall insulation that will withstand fires in homes and buildings, and also assist in the prevention of forest fires.

In addition to Cryogel, which has low temperature applications, Aspen is working to further their aerogel product line to include Pyrogel,® and Polar Bear, for use with high temperature applications. Both Pyrogel and Polar Bear are currently in the development stages. Pyrogel products will find purposes in spacecraft, rockets, engines, and high temperature furnaces. Polar Bear covers most medium temperature applications, including insulation for homes and buildings, clothing, appliances, airplanes, and automobiles. The versatile aerogel products will be found in everything from clothing, to building insulation, to space vehicles.

Using aerogel in jackets such as this one will provide wearers with unsurpassed insulation.



Corpo Nove incorporated the Spaceloft™ version of the NASA-developed aerogel material into this jacket, which was tested during an Antarctic expedition.



Another example is Aspen's Spaceloft product; an inexpensive, flexible blanket that incorporates a thin layer of aerogel embedded directly into the fabric. An advanced version of this material originally developed under the SBIR contract with Kennedy Space Center, Spaceloft is relatively inexpensive, flexible, hydrophobic, and breathable. It is also three times more effective than the best commercially available clothing insulation. Incorporated in jackets manufactured by Corpo Nove, and to be sold by Hugo Boss, these jackets are intended for wear in extremely harsh conditions and activities, such as Antarctic expeditions. As the price of Spaceloft comes down with mass production, it is expected to be more widely used in everyday winter clothing. Recently, NASA's Johnson Space Center used Spaceloft to construct mittens as a precursor to space gloves for Mars exploration.

Along with the many advantages and applications of the superior insulation qualities of aerogels, are the environmental implications of this material. Widespread use of aerogel insulation in homes and buildings has the potential to significantly reduce global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As the company ventures further into the future, Aspen Systems will keep advancing the applications of aerogel for existing, as well as new and innovative purposes that will significantly better our lives and improve the global environment.

Spaceloft™ and Polar Bear™ are trademarks of Aspen Systems, Inc. Cryogel® and Pyrogel® are registered trademarks of Aspen Systems, Inc.

Source: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff2001/ch5.html

Solid State Laser - Weapon

(CBS) U.S. scientists are on the verge of creating a laser weapon that could give American forces an awesome advantage on the battlefield, but would also raise tough questions for Pentagon war planners, a newspaper reports.

After 40 years of work, the Pentagon may have a solid-state laser in its arsenal within a decade, reports the Oakland Tribune.

Compared to the chemical lasers now in use by America's military, solid-state lasers would be compact and efficient — perhaps running off the engine of an Army Humvee or an Air Force F-16.

Solid-state lasers would also be deadly. In a recent demonstration at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — one of three sites of research on a solid-state laser — a test-fired laser emitted 400 pulses of light in two seconds, drilling through an inch of steel, the Tribune reported.

Once fully developed, the Tribune reports, solid-state lasers could shoot down mortars and artillery shells, explode ordnance in enemy depots and even wipe out ballistic missiles 500 miles away. They would strike with incredible speed and could be retargeted instantly.

Contrary to science fiction, the lasers will not be visible streams of light. Instead, targets will simply explode. Troops will not point and shoot lasers, because they will most likely have to react to dangers and targets moving too fast for a human response. Nor will lasers be holster-sized — the smallest to date is the size of a commercial jetliner.

Making lasers smaller is one reason for moving from chemical lasers — which require a larger mass of chemicals to generate more power — to solid-state lasers, which use electricity to generate a beam. According to the Tribune, Northrup Grumman is trying to reduce the size of one laser to fit in a single C-130 cargo plane.

But once the technical problems are solved, strategic issues will loom large, posing questions that, so far, the Pentagon has not answered.

For example, it is unclear if the U.S. would use the laser to target people or restrict its use to hitting inanimate targets. It is not known whether lasers would be employed to defend or attack satellites.

How will U.S. doctrine accommodate a weapon that can strike without detection possibly hundreds of miles away at relatively little cost? Since no other country is anywhere near developing a militarized solid-state laser, under what circumstances would the U.S. use it in a war?

In most cases, the "law of war" requires discrimination and proportionality. While a laser could do a better job of discriminating between troops and civilians, it is unclear that its use could be proportional to any enemy threat.

The military already uses several types of lasers. Some guide bombs and missiles. An experimental system, the Tactical High Energy Laser, has been used to shoot down missiles in demonstrations.

The national missile defense system includes work on an Airborne Laser that would be mounted on a freighter aircraft and used to shoot down ballistic missiles in flight.

Source: unknown



The Solid-state laser
A solid-state laser is a laser that uses a gain medium that is a solid, rather than a liquid such as in dye lasers or a gas as in gas lasers. Semiconductor-based lasers are also in the solid state, but are generally considered as a separate class from solid-state lasers (see Semiconductor laser).

Solid-state media
Generally, the active medium of a solid-state laser consists of a glass or crystalline host material to which is added a dopant such as neodymium, chromium, erbium, or other ions. Many of the common dopants are rare earth elements, because the excited states of such ions are not strongly coupled with thermal vibrations of the crystalline lattice (phonons), and the lasing threshold can be reached at relatively low brightness of pump.

There are many hundreds of solid-state media in which laser action has been achieved, but relatively few types are in widespread use. Of these, probably the most common type is neodymium-doped YAG. Neodymium-doped glass (Nd:glass) and ytterbium-doped glasses and ceramics are used in solid-state lasers at extremely high power (terawatt scale), high energy (megajoules) multiple beam systems for inertial confinement fusion. Titanium-doped sapphire is also widely used for its broad tunability.

The first material used for lasing was ruby. Ruby lasers are still used for some applications, but are not common due to their low efficiency. Er:YAG lasers lase in the mid-infrared.

Pumping
Solid state lasing media are typically optically pumped, using either a flashlamp or arc lamp, or by laser diodes. Diode-pumped solid-state lasers tend to be much more efficient, and have become much more common as the cost of high power semiconductor lasers has decreased.

Applications
Solid-state lasers are being developed as optional weapons for the F-35 Lightning II, and are reaching near-operational status.

Source: wikipedia

The dangers of sugar and a few alternatives

The Dangers of Sugar - And Some Alternatives

Sweet tooth
In a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) survey it was revealed that the average American consumes the equivalent of 160 pounds of sugar a year - a 30% increase since the early 1980s. That's the approximate equivalent of 53 heaped teaspoons of sugar per person per day!

Early growth industry
Sugar is relatively new to the western world, being first introduced by the Crusaders returning from their journeys, in the 11th Century. The first record of sugar in England was in 1099, when it was a very expensive luxury. To give you an idea, 320 years later when sugar was much cheaper, it was selling in London at 2 shillings per pound (today's equivalent of $100 per kilo).

When Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1493 it is recorded that he took sugar cane plants with him to grow in the New World. The plants thrived in the climate and the sugar cane industry grew.

British governments could see the huge profits that could be made from sugar, and they taxed it heavily. In 1781 sugar tax totalled £326,000. By 1815 the total was £3,000,000. The abolition of this tax in 1874 by Prime Minister Gladstone, meant that sugar suddenly became more affordable to the general public.

Bitter sweet
Some of the dangers of consuming refined sugar are well known - tooth decay and obesity - but sugar can also suppress the immune system, and upset the body's mineral balance. It can reduce helpful high-density cholesterol (HDLs) and promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs). Sugar can cause hypoglycaemia, hormonal imbalance, varicose veins, food allergies, hypertension and depression. Sugar is also addictive; it can cause cravings for more food, particularly sweet food, leading to over-eating.

The Alternative?
Most slimmers will be aware of aspartame - an artificial sweetener found in nearly all 'diet' drinks, yogurts, low calorie puddings... In fact, any sweet food or drink product that claims it is 'sugar-free' or 'low calorie' is likely to contain aspartame.

The demand for such foods is huge. To dieters (and to the companies who manufacture these products) aspartame must seem like a godsend.

In fact aspartame is seen by many as a dangerous, unstable chemical compound.

Dubious history
Aspartame was discovered by accident in 1965 by a scientist working on a drug for peptic ulcers, for the US pharmaceutical company G D Searle. It was approved as a sweetener by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in July 1974. The approval was revoked in December the same year because of objections - tests showed 'lab' rats being given aspartame developed brain tumours.

In response to the concerns raised the FDA set up a public board of inquiry (PBOI). In October 1980 the PBOI unanimously recommended that aspartame should not be approved until additional studies were performed to establish whether or not a relationship existed between the ingestion of aspartame and brain tumours.

In 1981, however, and before any further tests, the newly appointed FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, overruled the PBOI and approved aspartame for use in dry foods. In 1983 aspartame received approval for use in beverages.

Hayes soon left the FDA to take his place as paid consultant with Searle's public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.

What is aspartame?
Aspartame is made of three compounds:
Phenylalanine. This lowers the seizure threshold in some individuals, and can cause seizures and brain tumours, according to the head of Brain Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Aspartic Acid. Causes lesions in the brains of lab animals as
well as changes their DNA. This means future generations can be affected; in animal lab tests health problems skipped a generation and went on to the third, producing obese and sexually dysfunctional lab animals.
Methanol. Causes depression. In fluid form, Methanol (wood
alcohol) breaks down into formic acid (used in industry to strip epoxy and urethane coatings) and formaldehyde (used for embalming corpses). An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed."

Affects of aspartame
Aspartame consumption has been connected with many symptoms including headaches, joint pain, memory loss, numbness, tinnitus, hearing loss, vision problems, weight gain, rashes, seizures, fatigue, muscle spasms, dizziness, asthma and chest tightness.

Betty Martini - a tireless campaigner against the use of aspartame - says that many people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis have lost all symptoms once they stopped using aspartame.

Check the ingredients labels
To avoid aspartame (also known by the E-number E951) you need to be aware of the widespread use of it in many of our everyday food products. Not just used in diet drinks and sugar-free gum, it can also be found in more than 5000 other food/drug items, even some nutritional supplements!

Is there a natural alternative?
Yes - Stevia.

Stevia is a natural, sweet-tasting, non-toxic plant that has no calories, lowers blood pressure and inhibits fat absorption. It is diabetic-safe as it does not adversely affect blood sugar. It is heat stable to 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) so is safe for use in cooking and can be added to hot drinks. It is said to be 10-40 times sweeter than sugar and can be bought in both powder and liquid form.

Japan has been using stevia to sweeten many food products, such as ice cream, bread, candies, pickles, soft drinks and chewing gum, since the mid 1970s. By the late 1980s, stevia represented approximately 41 percent of the market share of potently sweet products consumed in Japan.

Other countries using Stevia today include Thailand, China, South Korea, Paraguay and Brazil.

In fact, Stevia has been used around the world for at least 1500 years with no reported side-effects, yet it has not been approved as a food additive in the US because "We don't have enough data to conclude that the use [in food] would be safe," (quoted from an agency position paper).

(Aspartame, on the other hand, is a constant source of complaint. A former FDA investigator admits that approximately 75 percent of all the 'adverse reaction' complaints the FDA receives are related to aspartame!)

There will be no race to test Stevia for approval while there is big money to be made from chemical substances such as aspartame because being a natural substance Stevia can't be patented by the huge pharmaceutical corporations.

Though not yet approved in the US as a food additive, Stevia can be sold, and consumed, as a 'dietary supplement'. In what way the FDA can justify how a natural food substance is safe as a supplement but unsafe as an additive is puzzling.

Stevia in the UK?
In the UK it is not possible to buy stevia from shops or other suppliers. The EU have totally banned sales and use of stevia for any purpose. So, in the EU the choice seems to be between the empty calories of sugar and the chemical toxins of aspartame.

Luckily, you can order stevia over the internet from several companies. Ones that will ship to the UK (from the US) include:

www.stevianow.com/steviastore/Default.htm

www.steviva.com
Shipping is charged at cost and delivery is fast.

www.HerbalAdvantage.com
$81 for one pound of 100% pure Stevia extract powder (some companies add Malto-Dextrin - a sugar!). A Special Offer for readers of Alternative HealthZine - Order one pound of Stevia extract powder for $81 and pay no shipping, packaging or insurance!

Life is Sweet
If you are looking for a healthy (and readily available) alternative to refined sugar and chemical sweeteners, one of the best is blackstrap molasses. This contains calcium, iron, and B vitamins, and it has about a quarter of the calories of refined sugar.

But the best source of sweetness must come from fruit. There are so many varieties of sweet fruits - enough to satisfy the sweetest tooth. With fruits and vegetables making up about 80% of your diet (in an ideal world) you should get all the sweetness you need naturally with no additives.

Source: Alternative Healthzine

Stevia - Zero calories, sweeter than sugar and good for you!

Stevia is a genus of about 150 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical South America and Central America. The species Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sugar substitute, stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or liquorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.

With its extracts having up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, stevia has garnered attention with the rise in demand for low-carbohydrate, low-sugar food alternatives. Stevia also has shown promise in medical research for treating such conditions as obesity and high blood pressure. Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose, even enhancing glucose tolerance; therefore, it is attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and others on carbohydrate-controlled diets. However, health and political controversies have limited stevia's availability in many countries; for example, the United States banned it in the early 1990s unless labeled as a supplement. Stevia is widely used as a sweetener in Japan, and it is now available in the US and Canada as a dietary supplement, although not as a food additive. Rebiana is the trade name for a stevia-derived sweetener being developed jointly by The Coca-Cola Company and Cargill with the intent of marketing in several countries and gaining regulatory approval in the US and EU.

History and use
For centuries, the Guaraní tribes of Paraguay and Brazil used Stevia species, primarily S. rebaudiana which they called ka'a he'ê ("sweet herb"), as a sweetener in yerba mate and medicinal teas for treating heartburn and other ailments.

In 1931, two French chemists isolated the glycosides that give stevia its sweet taste. These compounds were named stevioside and rebaudioside, and are 250–300 times sweeter than sucrose (ordinary table sugar), heat stable, pH stable, and non-fermentable.

In the early 1970s, Japan began cultivating stevia as an alternative to artificial sweeteners such as cyclamate and saccharin, suspected carcinogens. The plant's leaves, the aqueous extract of the leaves, and purified steviosides are used as sweeteners. Since the Japanese firm Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. produced the first commercial stevia sweetener in Japan in 1971, the Japanese have been using stevia in food products, soft drinks (including Coca Cola), and for table use. Japan currently consumes more stevia than any other country; it accounts for 40% of the sweetener market.

Today, stevia is cultivated and used in food elsewhere in east Asia, including in China (since 1984), Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia. It can also be found in Saint Kitts and Nevis, in parts of South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and in Israel. China is the world's largest exporter of stevioside.

Stevia species are found in the wild in semi-arid habitats ranging from grassland to mountain terrain. Stevia does produce seeds, but only a small percentage of them germinate. Planting cloned stevia is a more effective method of reproduction.

Availability
Stevia has been grown on an experimental basis in Ontario, Canada since 1987 for the purpose of determining the feasibility of growing the crop commercially. In the United States, it is legal to import, grow, sell, and consume stevia products if contained within or labeled for use as a dietary supplement, but not as a food additive. Stevia has also been approved as a dietary supplement in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In Japan and South American countries, stevia may also be used as a food additive. Stevia is currently banned for use in food in the European Union. It is also banned in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Rebiana is the tradename for a patent-pending, calorie-free, food and beverage sweetener derived from stevia and developed jointly by The Coca-Cola Company and Cargill. In May 2007, Coca-Cola announced plans to obtain approval for its use as a food additive within the United States by 2009. Coca-Cola has also announced plans to market rebiana-sweetened products in 12 countries that allow stevia's use as a food additive. The two companies are conducting their own studies in an effort to gain regulatory approval in the United States and the European Union.

Controversies
Steviol is the basic building block of stevia's sweet glycosides: Stevioside and rebaudioside A are constructed by replacing the bottom hydrogen atom with glucose and the top hydrogen atom with two or three linked glucose groups, respectively.

Health controversy
A 1985 study reported that steviol, a breakdown product from stevioside and rebaudioside (two of the sweet steviol glycosides in the stevia leaf) is a mutagen in the presence of a liver extract of pre-treated rats — but this finding has been criticized on procedural grounds that the data were mishandled in such a way that even distilled water would appear mutagenic. More recent animal tests have shown mixed results in terms of toxicology and adverse effects of stevia extract, with some tests finding steviol to be a weak mutagen while newer studies find no safety issues.

Other studies have shown stevia improves insulin sensitivity in rats and may even promote additional insulin production, helping to reverse diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Preliminary human studies show stevia can help reduce hypertension although another study has shown it has no effect on hypertension. Despite these more recent studies establishing the safety of stevia, government agencies have expressed concerns over toxicity, citing a lack of sufficient conclusive research.

Whole foods proponents draw a distinction between consuming (and safety testing) only parts, such as stevia extracts and isolated compounds like stevioside, versus the whole herb. In his book Healing With Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford cautions, "Obtain only the green or brown [whole] stevia extracts or powders; avoid the clear extracts and white powders, which, highly refined and lacking essential phyto-nutrients, cause imbalance". However, Pitchford does not support this statement with scientific evidence other than general findings about refined foods being less beneficial.

In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) performed a thorough evaluation of recent experimental studies of stevioside and steviols conducted on animals and humans, and concluded that "stevioside and rebaudioside A are not genotoxic in vitro or in vivo and that the genotoxicity of steviol and some of its oxidative derivatives in vitro is not expressed in vivo." The report also found no evidence of carcinogenic activity. Furthermore, the report noted that "stevioside has shown some evidence of pharmacological effects in patients with hypertension or with type-2 diabetes" but concluded that further study was required to determine proper dosage.

Indeed, millions of Japanese people have been using stevia for over thirty years with no reported or known harmful effects. Similarly, stevia leaves have been used for centuries in South America spanning multiple generations in ethnomedical tradition as a treatment of type II diabetes.

Political controversy
The stevia plant may be grown legally in most countries, although some countries restrict or ban its use as a sweetener.In 1991, at the request of an anonymous complaint, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeled stevia as an "unsafe food additive" and restricted its import. The FDA's stated reason was "toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety." This ruling was controversial, as stevia proponents pointed out that this designation violated the FDA's own guidelines under which any natural substance used prior to 1958 with no reported adverse effects should be generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

Stevia occurs naturally, requiring no patent to produce it. As a consequence, since the import ban in 1991, marketers and consumers of stevia have shared a belief that the FDA acted in response to industry pressure. Arizona congressman Jon Kyl, for example, called the FDA action against stevia "a restraint of trade to benefit the artificial sweetener industry." Citing privacy issues, the FDA has not revealed the source of the original complaint in its responses to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The FDA requires proof of safety before recognizing a food additive as safe. A similar burden of proof is required for the FDA to ban a substance or label it unsafe. Nevertheless, stevia remained banned until after the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act forced the FDA in 1995 to revise its stance to permit stevia to be used as a dietary supplement, although not as a food additive — a position that stevia proponents regard as contradictory because it simultaneously labels stevia as safe and unsafe, depending on how it is sold.

Although unresolved questions remain concerning whether metabolic processes can produce a mutagen from stevia in animals, let alone in humans, the early studies nevertheless prompted the European Commission to ban stevia's use in food in the European Union pending further research. Singapore and Hong Kong have banned it also. However, more recent data compiled in the safety evaluation released by the World Health Organization in 2006 suggest that these policies may be obsolete.

Stevia is processed from the “Stevia Rebaudiana” plant. When refined into a white powder extract (stevioside), it is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia has garnered attention with the rise in demand for low-carbohydrate , low-sugar food alternatives. Stevia also has shown promise in medical research for treating such conditions as obesity and high blood pressure. In the US, it is also banned for use in foods but can legally be used in supplements. This is NOT the case in the uk where, the sale of stevia as a food product is banned and it can only be sold for pharmaceutical use. Anyone claiming otherwise really should do their homework before selling a product they don't understand.

Natural therapists have been using stevia for many years to regulate blood sugar levels. According to a June 28, 2002, report on Australia's national broadcaster ABC (http://www.abc.net.au), the herb can be taken in droplet form with meals, bringing blood glucose levels to "near normal".

Users of stevia have also reported lower incidence of colds and flu. The herb can aid in weight loss by reducing appetite and can be used to suppress tobacco and alcohol cravings. This is because stevia leaf contains various vitamins and minerals including vitamins A and C, zinc, rutin, magnesium and iron. Stevia can also be used for skin care as it can be applied to enhance the skin's appearance or to heal acne, blemishes and skin disorders including dermatitis, eczema and seborrhoea. It can also be used to heal cuts and scratches quickly and without scarring and it is for these reasons we are able to sell stevia legally in the UK. This product Therefore, should not be used as a sweetener and is for pharmaceutical use only

Stevia however, is used in Japan to sweeten soy sauce, pickles and soft drinks and is being used by companies such as coca cola for their products in these countries. Brazil, and other south american countries. Korea and China also allow the use of stevia for its soft drinks market.

Source: www.wikipedia.org



Stevia: morita kagaku kogyo
Should you 'accidentally' ingest our stevia, you'll be pleased to know that it contains no carbs, calories, artificial ingredients or fillers but does contain a Minimum 95% Steviosides 60% Rebaudioside A (the active ingredients that make stevia taste so sweet)

Stevia is safe for diabetics as well as persons who suffer from hypoglycemia.

Unlike the green stevia leaf powder, stevia blend has virtually no aftertaste and does not leave any residue. Some people dislike the taste of stevia leaf powder and those who do will love this stevia blend. Now you can use a completely natural product extracted from the plant in a completely natural way.

Stevia blend is granulated like sugar and dissolves quickly and has a 1:1 sweetness ratio to sugar, so it is very easy to measure, although we obviously don't recommend it to be used internally. Stevia blend would if allowed, be ideal for baking and cooking with, unlike the stevia extract which does not provide the bulk. Stevia blend has less than 1 Calorie and less than 1 Carbohydrate per serving making it safe for diabetics and it is often used in hot or cold liquids, sprinkled on cereals and fruit, or in any way that you wish to use.

The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is intended to give you a complete overview of stevia. We do not sell Stevia for resale, this is illegal in UK and Europe. Our Stevia products are for medicinal use only. It is used for treatment of diabetes, blood sugar irregularities, sugar intolerance, skin diseases such as acne, eczema and other rashes, candida, chronic fatigue syndrom (ME), fibromyalgia (FM), allergies, ulcers, hyperactivity.

How to install and configure Debian Linux (LAMP server) on the Toshiba Portégé 2000 from XP

From windows XP search the internet for debian.exe which is the win32 installer for Debian.

Run the installer and follow the instructions.

When the machine reboots, select the Debian installer option. Debian will boot and the installer will load. Follow the installer instructions and make appropriate choices. Install the base system and select no packages, it’s much easier to install them afterwards.

Once the system is installed login as root.

Check for a network connection by pinging a server, type #ping www.google.com
You should be able to quit the ping by pressing q or by CTRL+C.

You can see your network config by typing #ifconfig which is similar to when you type ipconfig on a windows 2000 or XP machine.

You can list the files and folders in the current directory by using the #ls command. There are many variations to this command like #ls –la or #ls –l for example.

You can change directories with the #cd command. Change to the root folder by typing #cd /

You can see a list of running processes by typing #ps for all processes type #ps -A

Now you can install the mysql database, the apache web server and php5. The following commands should do it with the correct libraries.

#apt-get install mysql-server libapache2-mod-php5 apache2
#apt-get install php5
#apt-get install php5-mysql
#apt-get install php5-gd

Now install samba for sharing files with windows based machines.

#apt-get install samba

Now install your ssh server sshd for secure shell access to your server.

#apt-get install sshd

Now install proftpd for ftp access to your server. Note that you need to select standalone as the server type.

#apt-get install proftpd

Once completed you need to edit the proftpd configuration file ‘proftpd.conf’. To do this simply navigate to /etc/proftpd/ by typing #cd /etc/proftpd and then type #vi proftpd.conf to begin editing the file. Use the cursor keys to navigate to the entry that says ‘UseIPv6 on’ and change it to off. You do this by moving the cursor over the letters and pressing the [x] key. Once deleted press the [i] key to start inserting text, type off and then press the [ESC] key to take you out of insert mode. Now press [SHIFT] and [;] to display the vi command prompt. At the vi command prompt type :w to write the changes to the file then type :quit to exit out of vi.

***also created ftp groups and added the users not sure if that made a dif though**

You can use the following command to see if a package is installed.

#apt-cache policy

If you don’t know the package’s name you can type the following.

#apt-cache search

You can remove packages by the following command.

#aptitude purge

Now create a new user by typing the following command #adduser user1 the user1 can be replaced with any username of your choice. #su user1 will switch to the user1. After switching user account to user1 you can set the password for user1 by typing #passwd

If you want to create a new user with root powers (it is not recommended, only the user root should have full root powers for a secure system) then type #useradd -G root rootuser

If you want to modify a user and give it root powers then type #usermod -G root user1

The ‘–G’ part of the above command represents groups and the ‘root’ part represents the name of the group. By default there is a user called root and a group called root. Any user that is a member of the group ‘root’ will have full root powers over the system.

Type #cat /etc/group for a list of groups on the system.

#id will tell you what user you are logged in as
#id root will tell you what groups the user root is a member of
#id user1 will tell you what group a user is a member of.

Some important locations:
/etc/network/interfaces is the network configuration file and contains network information
/etc/init.d is the directory for scripts which are run at boot. Type #man init for details
/var/www is the apache web server folder. Web documents go here for publishing to the web

Now create and setup your database with the following commands. First you need to create the mysql root user and password by using the command below.

#mysqladmin -u root password

Now login to mysql as root by typing #mysql –u root –p you will be prompted for the password. You should now be at the mysql> prompt.

Mysql>create database ;.

create a mysql database
create a user and username

chmod g+w apache2-default

To delete a db.
drop database [database name];

Making decisions

Method for making important decisions

If you find it hard to make important decissions then you can follow this method to come to the best conclusion. The principle is quite simple and involves making a two column list of all the pros and cons of your decision.

The first step is to translate your decision into a question that has only a yes or no answer. For example if you need to decide whether to sell your house or not then you would phrase your question "should I sell my house?". You then need to get a piece of paper and write that question at the top. Now draw a line down the centre of the paper dividing it into two collumns. At the top of the left collumn write the word pros and at the top of the right collumn write cons.

The next step is to list every pro you can think of in the left collumn. All the reasons why you want to sell your house and all the benefits need to be listed here. You then do the same with the cons collumn on the right. Think of every reason why it might not be a good idea or all the negative elements to your dicision. A good way of helping you to think of all the pros and cons is to ask yourself lots of questions in your mind. For our example you might ask yourself questions like:

What will happen if I do chose this?
What will be different in my life as a result?
How do I think I will feel about this change?
How will it affect other people in my life?
Will it affect the quality of my life?

It doesn't matter if you have more cons than pros or more pros than cons just as long as you have thought of them all. Once you are sure that you have every pro and con that you can think of, you then need to give each point a significance value from 1 to 5. 5 being very significant and 1 being not very significant. Try to do this as honestly as possible. It's all very well having a list of pros and cons but some of them will be far more important than other points. This is why you will need to spend the most time making sure you give each point the correct significance. It helps to compare the cons with the other cons and ask yourself "Is this a more important point than that one?" and so on. Try to compare all of your cons against each other and number them accordingly. Now do the same with the pros and compare each pro against the other pros.

Once you have all of the pros and cons numbered with a significance value, you simply add the values up in the pros collumn and write the total at the bottom of the collumn and then do the same with the cons collumn. If the pros total number is higher than the cons number then the answer to your question is yes, but if your cons total adds up to more than your pros total then the answer to your question is no. If you do this honestly and carefully then your decision should be the right one. At the very least it will be the most logical and mathmatical choice.

OCZ Vertex Solid State Disk's (SSD's) in RAID0

I have used many of the OCZ Vertex series SSD's over the last few months. I have also used the Intel X25-E. Both drives are top of the range in terms of performance however I have found the Vertex series to have a slight edge over the Intel purely due to the price. The OCZ Vertex has a read speed of 200MB/s and a write speed of 160MB/s. The Intel however has a read of 250MB/s and a write speed of 170MB/s.

If anyone questions the benefits of SSD's (and not just any old SSD's - you have to get the right one!) over conventional mechanical disks then just take the plunge and swap your laptop's clunker for an OCZ Vertex, you will not be disappointed!

Once you start using an SSD you will very quickly realise how much of a bottleneck drive access times and transfer rates are to the performance of your system. The real beauty of SSD's really becomes apparent though once you put them into RAID (RAID0 to be precise).

Now conventionally any sensible person wouldn't have put say 4 or 5 mechanical disks into a RAID0 configuration without some serious backup. This is because if even only one drive fails then all your data gets lost. Although this is also true for SSD's, you have to remember that SSD's are so much more reliable than mechanical disks. So for almost instant desktop access performance buy a few Vertex SSD's and put them in RAID0. You should also buy a big 1.5TB+ drive too for all your user data and as a backup drive. While it is unlikely that your RAID will fail, shit can still happen.

I have so far built two desktop PC's both with 4 x 30GB OCZ Vertex Drives in RAID0 and both have a greater than 500MB/s average throughput (that's guaranteed!) what's likely (but not so guaranteed) is that you'll get over 600MB/s average throughput like I have on both occasions.

So what you'll end up with is a single 120GB (RAID0) drive that reads and writes at over 500MB/s on average for a cost of £400. 120GB too small? Not really, this isn't for your movies and music to be stored on, this drive is for your OS and applications (the very data that is being constantly accessed). As long as you don't install any of the OS or applications on your data/backup mechanical disk then performance will be blisteringly fast.

I have tested this in XP Pro SP3 and I hear that it works under Vista too. Can't imagine it not being supported in Linux (PRONOUNCED LIN NUX not LY NUX! - Linus Torvalds created linux which is the combination of his first name and UNIX therefore LINUX! also early versions of slackware had a sound file of Linus saying "I am Linus Torvalds and I pronounce linux LIN NUX!" so get it right noobs!).

Photoshop loads in seconds, I can open 50 x IE windows faster than I can click the quick launch icon and then right click and "close group" instantly. Office apps are pretty much instant too.

Most Ancient Civilization

Does the oldest civilization go as far back as 10,000 years BC? Thats 12,000 years!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_continuously_inhabited_cities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho
http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Nevali:Cori.htm

It seems skills such as agriculture, basic masonry and clay moulding etc were present at least 10,000 years ago.

20,000-year-old tools found by Taiwan team

Quote:

RESEARCHERS in Taiwan have discovered what they believe is the island's oldest civilization, dating back about 20,000 years and belonging to a pygmy-like people that came from China's mainland, Southeast Asia or beyond, the team leader said yesterday.

Taiwan's Academia Sinica, which found more than 200 stone tools at the Ba Hsien Cave Site on the island's east coast, will return next year to seek clues about who was living there, leader Tsang Chen-hua said.

The civilization was probably a dark-skinned people similar to Negritos, a term that covers several ethnic groups of short stature in parts of Southeast Asia, Tsang said. Their exact origin and migration route remain a mystery.

"Where they're from is a good question. We propose saying they're Negritos, but we haven't found a human skull yet," Tsang said.