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TO THOSE WHO DON'T WANT THEIR WORK PROMOTED

Hey guys and gals! We FIND and PROMOTE people's work, we never take credit for things we haven't written, we just love sharing the things that are interesting, but if you don't want your work or pictures shown, please let me know and I'll take it off, we're not trying to harm any one here or infringe on anyone's copyrights, just late night entertainment for my friends and I after a long days of work.

We're not making money off the site, nor are we publishing anything to other places through feedburner claiming that it's our work, just a hobby of finding cool things around the internet, that's all. Sometimes we copy and paste too quickly and a link giving you credit doesn't appear, if that's the case and you DO want your work promoted, we will add in the backlink, we would love to give credit where credit is due!

Please contact me or drop a comment on any posts you guys don't want up and I'll take it off within 24 hours, thanks!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Cells Laboratory

Cells Laboratory

Bacteria Types

Bacillus (rod-shaped) bacteria

Coccus (sphere-shaped) bacteria

Spirillus (spiral-shaped) bacteria

Animal-Like Protists

Amoeba

Paramecium

Plant-Like Protists

Spyrgyra - note the spiral-shaped chloroplasts Volvox - note the daughter colonies

Living Cells

Human Cheek Cells Red Onion - note that the red coloration is contained within the central vacuole
Fresh Elodea - note the fully expanded central vacuole and the chloroplasts pushed to the edge of the cell wall Plasmolyzed Elodea - water has left the cell via osmosis and the plasma membrane has shrunk away from the cell wall

Human Histology

Human Nerve Smear Human Skeletal Muscle
Human Blood Human Bone

Human Cartilage

Connective Tissue - A tissue composed of living cells suspended in a non-living matrix.  In cartilage, the matrix is composed of stretchy chondrin fibers.  In bone, the matrix is the mineral hydroxyapatite, which is what gives the bone its rigidity.  In blood, the matrix is the liquid plasma

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Nutrition Research Center Health Update » Blog Archive » Peppermint is Good For You

Peppermint is good for you, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to start eating candy canes and breath mints untill your blood sugar skyrockets and your teeth come loose. Peppermint candies are notoriously sugar-laden. Instead, we’re talking about peppermint the plant food. If you’re a gardener, you may want to start growing peppermint after reading this article. The Farmer’s Almanac states, “Peppermint is generally easy to grow. In addition to a emitting a pleasant scent, growing peppermint leaves can provide a natural herbal insect repellent, helping to discourage ants, flies, and mosquitoes from lingering near your home and garden.”

Other than candy, peppermint is available in the form of tea, peppermint oil and of course the peppermint leaf itself.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School report:

Peppermint has fared a bit better than many herbal medicines in clinical trials. Several studies have shown that peppermint oil seems to be fairly effective at relieving irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a collection of symptoms that includes abdominal cramping and pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. In 2007, Italian investigators reported that 75% of the patients in their study who took peppermint oil capsules for four weeks had a major reduction in their IBS symptoms, compared with just 38% of those who took a placebo pill.

The oil that’s extracted from the peppermint plant contains lots of compounds. Menthol is the most abundant and pharmacologically important.

Menthol is an ingredient in many conventional over-the-counter products, including cough lozenges and muscle pain ointments like Bengay. Menthol creates that familiar cooling sensation by stimulating nerves that sense cold (your mouth has some of these nerves, which is the reason products containing menthol “taste” cool); it also inhibits those that react to painful stimuli. The effect doesn’t last long, but sometimes a brief reprieve or distraction from a cough or a muscle ache does wonders.

Peppermint oil also relaxes the sphincter that keeps the contents of the stomach from backing up into your esophagus. That’s why people troubled by heartburn (gastroesophageal reflux) are advised to avoid peppermint. It’s also the reason peppermint oil is often sold these days in enteric-coated capsules designed to bypass the stomach and dissolve in the small intestine.

531669_peppermint.jpgOne more word from the Farmer’s Almanac:

Peppermint acts as a regulator and has a relaxing or invigorating effect, depending on the circumstances under which it is used. Here are just a few of the everyday health benefits peppermint oil can offer you and your family:

  • Rubbing peppermint oil on the temples can provide relief from migraine headaches.
  • Chewing on peppermint candy can soothe a nagging cough or irritated throat. Menthol, a substance present in peppermint, is an effective decongestant.
  • For a therapeutic bath, put some drops of the diluted peppermint oil into tepid water to relieve stomach problems, nasal congestion, headaches, or cramps.
  • For insomnia or anxiety, drinking a cup of peppermint tea, or placing a tissue treated with a few drops each of peppermint oil and lavender oil, will provide a calming effect.
  • Drinking peppermint tea or sucking on real peppermint candy can also relieve an upset stomach and/or gas.
  • To soothe tired, sore, aching feet, try soaking in a tub of warm water containing few drops of peppermint oil. The essential oils can also help to heal dry, cracked skin.
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Ant Guts Could Pave The Way For Better Drugs

ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2008) — Scientists have discovered two key proteins that guide one of the two groups of pathogenic bacteria to make ant's hardy outer shells -- their defense against the world.

The work, they said, could allow researchers to create new antibiotics against gram-negative bacteria, like E. coli and salmonella, that would destroy these bacteria by disabling the mechanism that produces their protective coating.

"A long-term goal is to find inhibitors of these proteins we have discovered," said Natividad Ruiz, a research molecular biologist at Princeton University and the lead author on the paper describing the work. "Small molecule inhibitors could become antibiotics that subvert the outer membrane."

The research, conducted by Ruiz, Thomas Silhavy, Princeton's Warner-Lambert Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology, and others from Harvard University, is described in the online edition of the April 8 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team discovered the proteins through an extended process of elimination. The scientists looked at microbes in the guts of carpenter ants. The bacteria, which have lived there for millions of years -- passed on over many generations -- have lost many of the traits necessary for survival in the outer world. As a result, their collection of genes, known as a genome, is far smaller and simpler than the genome of E. coli.

Scientists sequenced the genome of the model bacterium E. coli 11 years ago, yet they still do not understand the functions of about 40 percent of the thousands of proteins produced by those genes, according to Ruiz. Proteins are the workhorses of cells, directing and producing the creation of many key cell structures and functions.

In contrast, the genome of the bacteria found in the ant gut, Blochmannia floridanus, contains the instructions for only 583 proteins. Since the bacteria are closely related, nearly all of Blochmannia's genes -- 564 -- are found in E. coli. The scientists reasoned that they could find the protein containing the instructions for building the germ's outer casing.

"We designed a computer-based search that filtered out proteins that lacked the characteristics essential for outer membrane construction," Ruiz said. "In the end, only two of the 564 proteins remained."

They found the two missing proteins of a pathway that ferries one of the key components of the outer shell, called LPS, to the cell surface.

Members of Silhavy's laboratory use E. coli as a model system to better understand the workings of the cell, such as how it senses changes in its environment. Silhavy is a bacterial geneticist who has made fundamental contributions to the field of cell biology.

imination. The scientists looked at microbes in the guts of carpenter ants. The bacteria, which have lived there for millions of years -- passed on over many generations -- have lost many of the traits necessary for survival in the outer world. As a result, their collection of genes, known as a genome, is far smaller and simpler than the genome of E. coli.Scientists sequenced the genome of the model bacterium E. coli 11 years ago, yet they still do not understand the functions of about 40 percent of the thousands of proteins produced by those genes, according to Ruiz. Proteins are the workhorses of cells, directing and producing the creation of many key cell structures and functions.In contrast, the genome of the bacteria found in the ant gut, Blochmannia floridanus, contains the instructions for only 583 proteins. Since the bacteria are closely related, nearly all of Blochmannia's genes -- 564 -- are found in E. coli. The scientists reasoned that they could find the protein containing the instructions for building the germ's outer casing."We designed a computer-based search that filtered out proteins that lacked the characteristics essential for outer membrane construction," Ruiz said. "In the end, only two of the 564 proteins remained."They found the two missing proteins of a pathway that ferries one of the key components of the outer shell, called LPS, to the cell surface.Members of Silhavy's laboratory use E. coli as a model system to better understand the workings of the cell, such as how it senses changes in its environment. Silhavy is a bacterial geneticist who has made fundamental contributions to the field of cell biology.
Ant Guts Could Pave The Way For Better Drugs
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lj_my_milkshake_bringeth.jpg (JPEG Image, 225x750 pixels)

lj_my_milkshake_bringeth.jpg (JPEG Image, 225x750 pixels)
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