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Friday, February 27, 2009
Five Deadly Animals That Might Just Save Your Life
Five Deadly Animals That Might Just Save Your Life1. Poison Dart Frogs: The Heart-Healthy Choice
It could kill you: You know an animal is bad news when its sweat was once considered a state-of-the-art military technology. Meet the poison dart frog, which secretes a highly dangerous neurotoxin called batrachotoxin through its pores. In fact, various Latin American tribes used to collect the stuff (carefully) to poison the tips of their arrows for hunting and warfare. Interestingly, however, the frogs don’t produce their own toxin. They get it from eating insects that most likely pick up the poison from the plants they consume. The same frogs, if raised in a laboratory rather than the rainforest, aren’t poisonous at all.
But it just might cure you: Before batrachotoxin stops your heart, it speeds it up. Consequently, medical experts believe it might be possible to tweak elements of the frog’s toxin to bring patients out of cardiac arrest and potentially save lives. And because it also deadens nerve endings, batrachotoxin has potential as an ingredient in anesthetics. Studies into other uses of the toxin are still in the early stages, but the frog’s medical benefits bolster the argument for preserving the rainforest. Most scientists believe we’ve only just begun to grasp the pharmaceutical possibilities of some of the world’s rarest and deadliest creatures. Photo source: Beige Alert (cc)
2. Scorpions: Leading the Battle Against Brain CancerIt could kill you: For the most part, scorpions use their toxins to capture prey, ward off competitors during mating season, and defend themselves against larger predators. Unfortunately, humans count as larger predators. A sting by some species can leave you with any number of potentially deadly conditions, including heart and lung failure.
But it just might cure you: Medical researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered a new use for scorpion venom—in cancer medication. Each year, some 9,000 Americans are diagnosed with malignant glioma, a form of brain cancer that kills about half its victims within a year of diagnosis.
Glioma cells work a lot like cockroach muscle cells. And while that fact is pretty disgusting, it also got UAB researchers thinking about the giant Israeli scorpion, whose venom is harmless to humans but deadly to its cockroach prey. Doctors found that when they injected a drug derived from the venom of giant Israeli scorpions into cancer-infected human brains, the poison destroyed the glioma cells and left surrounding, healthy cells alone. The treatment is still in the early stages of development, but researchers remain optimistic. Photo source: alex.ch (cc)
3. Cone Shell Snails: Little Creatures Tackling Big PainIt could kill you: Thanks to their unique colors and intricate patterns, cone shells look like they’d make great beach souvenirs. But watch your fingers; they’re actually home to one of the world’s deadliest creatures. Cone shell snails come equipped with an extendable “arm”—complete with a sharp, venomous tooth—that they use to immobilize and kill prey. And while the venom certainly helps the slow-moving hunters from going hungry, it can also paralyze, or even kill, victims. The good news—death by cone shell is completely painless.
But it just might cure you: Cone shell venom, called conotoxin, has incredible potential as a painkiller, with one added bonus: Unlike many current anesthetics, conotoxin isn’t addictive. In 2005, Ireland-based Elan Pharmaceuticals became the first company to market a drug made from the venom. Called Prialt, the drug is pumped into the fluid around a patient’s spine to relieve chronic pain and is believed to be up to 1,000 times more powerful than morphine. Meanwhile, at the University of Melbourne, a research team headed by Professor Bruce Livett is currently developing another conotoxin-based painkiller called ACV1, which was first tested on humans in the summer of 2005. Unlike Prialt, however, ACV1 doesn’t affect a patient’s blood pressure and can be injected under the skin, making it a lot less intimidating. Plus, ACV1 is believed to be as much as 10,000 times stronger than morphine. Photo source: árticotropical (cc)
4. Vipers: Lowering Your Blood Pressure Since 1981
It could kill you: Most vipers are scary enough as is, but jararaca vipers are venomous to boot. But what’s truly fascinating is the unique way their venom works. Unlike a traditional toxin, viper venom functions by preventing the blood from clotting, meaning the snakes actually kill their victims by causing them to bleed to death.
But it just might cure you: Lucky for us, slow-clotting blood isn’t always a bad thing. Researchers have found that small doses of viper venom can prevent arteries from hardening, thus stopping the kinds of blood clots that commonly occur in cardiac patients. In fact, jararaca viper venom (or at least a synthesized version of it) is a key ingredient in most of today’s ACE inhibitors. Introduced in 1981, ACE inhibitors work by slowing down the body’s angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). When left untreated, the enzyme can produce a peptide that causes muscle constriction around blood vessels. That kind of constriction can set off a chain reaction whereby a person’s blood vessels narrow and his or her blood pressure shoots through the roof, leading to greater risk of heart attack and other ailments. Because the ACE inhibitors can stop this domino effect, they’re frequently used to treat millions of men and women with high blood pressure. Photo source: ashour rehana (cc)
5. Gila Monsters: Attacking Type 2 Diabetes
But it just might cure you: In addition to causing all those nasty side effects, Gila monster venom stimulates insulin production and slows down glucose production, which is great news for diabetics. Byetta, a drug manufactured by Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly & Company to treat Type 2 diabetes, uses a manufactured form of Gila monster venom as its main ingredient. Approved by the FDA in April of 2005, Byetta is injected before meals to help their bodies produce the right amount of insulin at the right time—the best part being that it doesn’t cause the mood swings often associated with traditional insulin regimens.It could kill you: One of only two species of venomous lizards, the Gila monster is native to southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Unlike other deadly critters, Gila monsters don’t inject venom directly into their victims. Instead, poison oozes from the lizard’s teeth into the open wounds of its prey, usually while the Gila monster is chewing. Because of this, human fatalities from Gila monster bites are rare, but a bite can cause intense pain, nausea, swelling, fatigue, dizziness, and chills—none of which is particularly fun.
U.S. to yield marijuana jurisdiction to states
(02-26) 20:00 PST San Francisco -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is sending strong signals that President Obama - who as a candidate said states should be allowed to make their own rules on medical marijuana - will end raids on pot dispensaries in California.
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Asked at a Washington news conference Wednesday about Drug Enforcement Administration raids in California since Obama took office last month, Holder said the administration has changed its policy.
"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."
Bill Piper, national affairs director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group, said the statement is encouraging.
"I think it definitely signals that Obama is moving in a new direction, that it means what he said on the campaign trail that marijuana should be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue," he said.
Piper said Obama has also indicated he will drop the federal government's long-standing opposition to health officials' needle-exchange programs for drug users.
During one campaign appearance, Obama recalled that his mother had died of cancer and said he saw no difference between doctor-prescribed morphine and marijuana as pain relievers. He told an interviewer in March that it was "entirely appropriate" for a state to legalize the medical use of marijuana "with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors."
After the federal Drug Enforcement Agency raided a marijuana dispensary at South Lake Tahoe on Jan. 22, two days after Obama's inauguration, and four others in the Los Angeles area on Feb. 2, White House spokesman Nick Schapiro responded to advocacy groups' protests by noting that Obama had not yet appointed his drug policy team.
"The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws" and expects his appointees to follow that policy, Schapiro said.
The federal government has fought state medicinal pot laws since Californians voted in 1996 to repeal criminal penalties for medical use of marijuana.
President Bill Clinton's administration won a Supreme Court case, originating in Oakland, that allowed federal authorities to shut down nonprofit organizations that supplied medical marijuana to their members. Clinton's Justice Department was thwarted by federal courts in an attempt to punish California doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients.
President George W. Bush's administration went further, raiding medical marijuana growers and clinics, prosecuting suppliers under federal drug laws after winning another Supreme Court case and pressuring commercial property owners to evict marijuana dispensaries by threatening legal action.
The Bush administration also blocked a University of Massachusetts researcher's attempt to grow marijuana for studies of its medical properties. Piper, of the Drug Policy Alliance, said he hopes Obama will reverse that position.
"If you removed the obstacles to research," he said, "in 10 to 15 years, marijuana will be available in pharmacies."
Great Deviant Posters | Abduzeedo - design inspiration and tutorials
Great Deviant Posters | Abduzeedo - design inspiration and tutorialswas going thought deviantart when I realized they have a great selection of poster designs, so why not take a couple of them to share with you guys, they really well worked and very creative on their own way, check it out!
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