November Earnings
December 30th, 2012Total earnings in November came to $1027.15.
Thanks to everyone who sent contributions and conducted business via Cryptogon’s affiliate links.
An Opportunistic Pathogen Isolated from the Gut of an Obese Human Causes Obesity in Germfree Mice
December 30th, 2012If you’re like me, you’ll go looking for what the WTP diet is, maybe even read the supplementary information to this study.
The specifics about what was given to the test subject aren’t included anywhere, I was guessing because it was a sample size of one. I still wanted to know.
I emailed Dr. Liping Zhao, one of the authors of the study. They had been inundated with emails about this. The response is below:
Hello,
I was reading the Supplementary Information to, “An opportunistic pathogen isolated from the gut of an obese human causes obesity in germfree mice” and I was trying to determine what this statement actually means:
“This volunteer was given a diet composed of whole grains, traditional Chinese medicine and prebiotics (WTP diet) for intervention.”
Which Chinese medicine and which prebiotics?
Thank you for your time,
Kevin Flaherty
—
Dear Kevin,
Thank you for your interest in our recent research discoveries. Since the publication of our paper, I have received hundreds of emails from across the globe, hence my apologies for not able to reply to your email earlier.
Through personal experience, I have come to understand the immense physical and mental burden associated with obesity and ill health. Thus I completely understand your earnest interest in the WTP diet described in our papers. However, the idea that one food item or one combination of food items could solve anyone’s health problem is simply not in line with the scientific spirit. We do not believe in a “one-size fits all” solution for the universal obesity challenge. When volunteers participate in our gut microbiota-targeted dietary intervention, each of their diet is tailored according to the DNA-based analysis of their gut bacteria population, and is administered with great care and regular health check-ups under the supervision of a team of trained doctors, dietitians and researchers. Thus it would be very irresponsible of me to attempt to give you any blanket statement advice without knowing your specific health condition and your gut bacteria composition and activity.
As a scientist, I am first and foremost interested in the welfare of the general public. Thus, I never hesitate to share any findings that could be beneficial to the public. In my interview with Science early this year, I have already shared the food items that have proven to be helpful in promoting the growth of beneficial gut bacteria and reducing the detrimental ones (June 7th 2012 issue of Science). While inclusion of a certain dose of prebiotic foods such as Chinese yam and Chinese bitter melon in the diet has worked for most of our study volunteers, the specific dose used is decided on an individual basis. I would recommend you to try these food items with care and caution, and also try to increase the amount of fiber intake in your everyday diet by taking more natural whole grains.
If possible, I would also recommend a closer read of our recent paper published in the ISME journal. It is an open assess article, free to download at the following link:
http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ismej2012153a.html
While the many news articles provide an interesting highlight of our research, the paper itself provides a more scientific account of our findings. Our study followed the Koch’s postulate in demonstrating the causative role a gut bacterium plays in human obesity. Our work is the first for demonstrating the obesity-causing capacity of a human gut bacterium, thus, proving that its overgrowth in the gut of its severely obese human host should be the reason not result of obesity. Our work in germfree mice also showed that both bad diet and bad bacteria are required for the animals to become obese and insulin resistant.
Our research doesn’t stop here. B29 is not the only bacterium that has such causative effect on human obesity. Rather our paper established a protocol to discover more of such bacteria. We foresee that many such bacteria would be identified in the near future. With a deeper understanding of all the relevant gut bacteria populations and their relationship to human health, we would be able to offer better advise of how certain diet patterns could promote helpful bacteria growth and in turn benefit human health.
From my own experience of working with many severely obese and diabetic children and adults, I know that the battle against this metabolic disease requires tremendous willpower, dedicated effort and scientifically validated technology. The good news is that it can now be done with the introduction of gut microbiota technology as demonstrated by the human case in our ISMEJ paper.
We look forward to sharing subsequent findings with all who are interested. Again, thank you very much for your inquiry.
Happy New Year,
Dr. Liping Zhao
PhD, Professor in Microbiology,
Director of Laboratory of Molecular Microbial Ecology and Ecogenomics
Associate Dean of School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology
Director of Laboratory of Nutritional Systems Biology
Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
—
Via: Nature:
Lipopolysaccharide endotoxin is the only known bacterial product which, when subcutaneously infused into mice in its purified form, can induce obesity and insulin resistance via an inflammation-mediated pathway. Here we show that one endotoxin-producing bacterium isolated from a morbidly obese human’s gut induced obesity and insulin resistance in germfree mice. The endotoxin-producing Enterobacter decreased in relative abundance from 35% of the volunteer’s gut bacteria to non-detectable, during which time the volunteer lost 51.4kg of 174.8kg initial weight and recovered from hyperglycemia and hypertension after 23 weeks on a diet of whole grains, traditional Chinese medicinal foods and prebiotics. A decreased abundance of endotoxin biosynthetic genes in the gut of the volunteer was correlated with a decreased circulating endotoxin load and alleviated inflammation.
Related: Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride
Facebook Paid £2.9 Million Tax on £840 Million Profits Made Outside U.S.
December 29th, 2012Via: Guardian:
Facebook has become the latest multinational to come under the spotlight for its tax affairs after figures revealed it paid just £2.9m in tax on profits of more than more than £800m.
Filings for Facebook Ireland, through which all of the social network’s profits outside the US are channelled, show it paid the Irish tax authority €3.2m (£2.9m) last year.
Facebook is structured so that companies buying advertisements on the website in the UK, or anywhere outside of the US, have to pay Facebook Ireland.
This allowed Facebook Ireland to make gross 2011 profits of £840m – or £3.1m per each of its 287 staff. Despite the high gross profit, Facebook Ireland was able to cut its tax bill to just €3.2m by using an accounting technique called the “Double Irish”.
The manoeuvre allows multinationals to move large amounts of money to other subsidiaries in the form of royalty payments. Facebook moved nearly £750m to the Cayman Islands and its Californian parent in licensing and royalty payments.
After the transfers, Facebook Ireland reported a £15m annual loss, despite it accounting for 44% of the social network’s $3.15bn (£1.95bn) revenues.
Like Apple and Google, Facebook uses its Irish subsidiary to reduce its liabilities to HM Revenue & Customs and other European tax regimes. Amazon and Starbucks also cut their British tax bills by using the same technique via other European countries. Last year Facebook paid just £238,000 in UK corporation tax – less than the average pay and bonus of its UK-based staff. Its estimated UK revenues amounted to £175m last year.
Anonymous Drone Photos Lead to Indictment for Texas Polluters
December 29th, 2012Via: Slashdot:
In January of this year, we posted news of a major pollution site in Texas that was the subject of some anonymous amateur sleuths with drones, who used their UAVs to document the release of a “river of blood” (pig blood, that is) into the Trinity River as it flows through Dallas. Now, garymortimer writes, that documentation has resulted in legal action in the form of an indictment from a Dallas grand jury.
Computer Crime Groups Thoroughly Infiltrated by FBI
December 29th, 2012Via: Guardian:
The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established.
Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.
In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as “carders” – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.
So ubiquitous has the FBI informant network become that Eric Corley, who publishes the hacker quarterly, 2600, has estimated that 25% of hackers in the US may have been recruited by the federal authorities to be their eyes and ears. “Owing to the harsh penalties involved and the relative inexperience with the law that many hackers have, they are rather susceptible to intimidation,” Corley told the Guardian.
Research Credit: latitude38
Warrantless Wiretaps? Congress Votes Yes
December 29th, 2012Via: Ars Technica:
US Senators from both parties overwhelmingly approved a bill this morning that will authorize warrantless wiretaps, throughout 2013 and for four years beyond that.
Supporters of the bill, including Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA), insisted it should be passed without amendment, in order to avoid having it sent back to the House of Representatives for approval. The current authorization for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts would have expired on Jan. 1.
U.S. Soldier Suicides Outnumber Combat Deaths In 2012
December 28th, 2012Via: CBS:
American soldier suicides continue to outnumber combat-related deaths in 2012, and the trajectory for soldier suicides continues to get worse.
Statistics released by the Department of the Army show that through November potentially 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers committed suicide. As of Dec. 7, Stars and Stripes reports that 212 soldiers have died in combat-related deaths in Afghanistan.
The Army set a grim new record of 177 potential active-duty cases with 2012 coming to a close on Tuesday – 64 of these cases remain under investigation, 113 have been confirmed.
Facebook Takes Down NaturalNews Page for Posting Quote About Guns
December 28th, 2012Via: Natural News:
The reports are absolutely true. Facebook suspended the Natural News account earlier today after we posted an historical quote from Mohandas Gandhi. The quote reads:
“Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.” – Mohandas Gandhi, an Autobiography, page 446.
This historical quote was apparently too much for Facebook’s censors to bear. They suspended our account and gave us a “final warning” that one more violation of their so-called “community guidelines” would result in our account being permanently deactivated.
They then demanded we send them a color copy of a “government issued identification” in order to reactivate our account.
Chinese Neurosurgeons Remove Sections of Brains of Drug and Alcohol Addicts
December 28th, 2012Via: Time:
How far should doctors go in attempting to cure addiction? In China, some physicians are taking the most extreme measures. By destroying parts of the brain’s “pleasure centers” in heroin addicts and alcoholics, these neurosurgeons hope to stop drug cravings. But damaging the brain region involved in addictive desires risks permanently ending the entire spectrum of natural longings and emotions, including the ability to feel joy.
The Spy State Tightens Its Grip
December 28th, 2012Via: AlterNet:
These are just four examples of an increasing number of efforts among various federal entities, including the Congress and Supreme Court, to expand the power of the U.S. government to spy on American citizens. Recent initiatives by three of the lead agencies engaged in citizen surveillance — National Security Agency (NSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense Department’s research arm, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – outline the tightening grip of the spy state.
The ostensible rationale for the tightening of the digital security grip is to track potential foreign cyber-threats. It is, however, evident that federal agencies are increasingly surveilling the electronic lives of ordinary Americans.
These developments signal the growing erosion of personal electronic privacy. Equally troubling, little information is available as to how these agencies share among themselves the personal information they gather about ordinary citizens. Nor do Americans know how these agencies are incorporating data from 3rd party commercial entities, like websites Google or Facebook and data aggregators like Acxiom or LexisNexis, into their database profiles.
Research Credit: latitude38
