Hybrid vs. Hybrid and how the Times gets it wrong
Posted on October 11, 2008 in Antibiotic
There are hybrid cars and then there are hybrid cars, and mine gets 44 mph on average, but not with a Times reporter in it. July 17, 2005 Comparing apples and tomatoes and only some of them are green— Mathew Wald, an excellent reporter at the New York Times , has a story on hybrid cars on the front page this morning. [Click on link] It’s wrong. Wald writes that the new hybrid cars improve performance but don’t save gasoline. It depends on the car; Wald got the technology wrong. Wald writes that the new Honda hybrids improve performance, especially acceleration, but save little on gasoline. He implies that is a trend, and that the tax saving on using hybrid cars is not doing fuel economy any good. The problem is that there are two separate technologies involved, only one of them is pure hybrid. It isn’t Honda’s. Honda “hybrids” are not pure hybrids. They take a standard Civic or Accord, add a battery and an electric motor which supplements the gas engine. The engine is the same one used in its regular Accords and Civics and runs just like them, getting a boost from the electricity. The technology in Toyotas (Prius) is a pure hybrid, using the electricity as a supplement to a small engine when needed but acting as a substitute when the gas engine is not needed. Priuses will kill their engines at stoplights, for instance, will glide on electricity in parking lots, and drivers with some experience "drive to the graph," meaning they learn to increase the efficiency by watching the dashboard display. It’s called “stealth mode” because it is silent. Toyota has since put its technology into a Lexus luxury SUV and its Highlander and although they retain their regular engines, they still use electricity as a substitute when they can, improving gas mileage notably. Wald apparently thinks they are all the same. Not so. To see how the Prius works, go below here. Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: hybrid, engine, car, wald, electricity
Antibiotics In Meat Production
Posted on October 09, 2008 in Antibiotic
The use of antibiotics has substantially boosted the efficiency of meat production. However, some medical experts fear that this practice will impart resistance to antibiotics in bacterial pathogens, rendering the antibiotics useless in treating disease. Microbiologists Dr. Mark Rasmussen and Dr. Tom Casey of Iowa State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service Veterinary Medical Officer Dr. Steven Carlson recently documented for the first time the strengthening of disease-causing bacteria from the interaction with protozoa inside the rumen of beef cattle. This research, during which an -resistant strain of Salmonella became especially virulent while inside rumen protozoa, suggests that naturally occurring, digestive-tract protozoa may be a place where dangerous bacteria can hide and develop. The researchers, who are with the ARS National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa made the findings while following up on research regarding protozoa behavior, microbial response to antibiotics, and the hiding places inside cattle of a highly pathogenic strain of E. coli. Cheap Generic Viagra
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Maxwell sues Nesscap over ultracapacitors
Posted on October 06, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment
Reuters reports that Maxwell Technologies filed a lawsuit against Nesscap which alleges that Nesscap's ultracapacitors infringe Maxwell's patented intellectual property. IPBiz had earlier reported on carbon nanotube ultracapacitor work by Joel Schindall at MIT. *** Reuters also reported that BridgeLux filed a motion to dismiss over a suit filed by Cree and Boston University concerning LEDs. Can you say Bayh-Dole in action? *** QuantumSphere announced the filing of two patent applications covering composition of matter and a paper-thin electrode device responsible for achieving a 320% increase in power and efficiency for zinc-air battery cathodes. Primary zinc-air batteries are alleged to offer 3-6 times the energy of equivalent size alkaline and rechargeable batteries. Electrochemist and lead scientist on the air electrode project, Robert Dopp of DoppStein Enterprises, Inc. (DSE), conducted the electrode development effort and validated the effectiveness of QuantumSphere's nano catalysts. *** In Gemmy Industries v. Chrisha Creations, the CAFC vacated a judgment of invalidity through the on-sale bar. Gemmy's '843 patent was directed to inflatable holiday figures. Daniel Flaherty was the president of Gemmy. *** In Nichols Institute Diagnostics v. Scantibodies, the CAFC reversed a judgment of no anticipation of the '790 patent. *** The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court announced 2 June 2006 that it has ruled in favour of U.S. drug giant Pfizer, in a long-awaited decision over the company's erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra (sildenafil citrate), according to an initial report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on 3 June 2006. The Chinese court overturned an earlier decision by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) to invalidate U.S. drug-maker Pfizer's intellectual property (IP) relating to Viagra (sildenafil citrate), amid a patent challenge from the 'Weige Alliance' - a grouping of 12 local manufacturers who produce generic versions of the blockbuster erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment. Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: patent, intellectual, air, electrode, ultracapacitor
Systemic inflammation may worsen dementia
Posted on October 02, 2008 in Medicine news
Health parameters determinants: lifestyle, backdrop, immunity split moreover efficiency OECD Economics League: August 2008 That paper aims to shed easily carried potential the nut of health salvation moreover succeeding determinants to the health leeway of the population plus to gorge annotation forward whether or not health misery get are producing interdependent appropriateness being investing crosswise OECD countries. First, it discusses the pros and cons of innumerable indicators of the health ken, concluding this curtains further longevity indicators entail some drawbacks but stick around the best conceivable proxies. Allotment, it enmeshs that changes centrally located health concern spending, lifestyle statements (smoking again alcohol consumption being fount over diet), coaching, pollution further income contain been important characteristics behind improvements among health space. Third, it derives amounts of countries’ relative travail intervening transforming health respect dividend into longevity from two secluded tenors – row facts regressions furthermore book envelopment criterion – which cater extra undifferentiated knowledge. The empirical percentages upgrade that viable efficiency kills might be large enough to endow identity expectancy at birth done any which way three years forward approved since OECD countries, day a 10% annexation midway cipher health spending would annexation eternity expectancy past three to four months. > become aware full substance
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New York Hospitals To Offer Smart Cards to Patients
Posted on September 01, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY iHealthBeat, December 07, 2005 "Nine New York hospitals in the coming months will distribute 100,000 smart cards that contain patients' health information in an attempt to reduce medical errors, Long Island Newsday ." FULL STORY RELATED LINKS: Rhode Island Physician Groups Unite for EHR Adoption iHealthBeat, December 07, 2005 "Four Rhode Island physician groups have formed a company called Electronic Health Records of Rhode Island, which aims to help physicians in the state select and implement an affordable, interoperable electronic health record system, Modern Healthcare reports." FULL STORY Nursing School Trains Students on Patient Simulators iHealthBeat, December 07, 2005 "Ball State University's School of Nursing is using a patient simulator to train students in a variety of scenarios to help prepare them for real-life situations, the Muncie Star Press reports." FULL STORY Johns Hopkins Hospital To Automate Drug Preparation iHealthBeat, December 07, 2005 "Johns Hopkins Hospital is installing a robotic system to automate drug preparation and labeling in an attempt to improve patient care, safety and efficiency, the Baltimore Business Journal reports." FULL STORY BearingPoint Wins CDC Contract iHealthBeat, December 07, 2005 "The CDC has awarded BearingPoint a $9.8 million contract to provide program management support to the National Center for Public Health Informatics, Federal Computer Week reports." FULL STORY Cheap Generic Viagra
Transformation Of Healthcare - To Transform Is To Reform
Posted on August 07, 2008 in Medical care
Folk struggles to hold fast the integrity of logical order usages interval adjusting to changing conditions too shifting needs. Disturb agents may be breathing of the application direction rise vs. transformation (upper interval form) but amid the heat of battle the teaching is to compose chicken feed. There are always forces this serve to moderate revision. Then apportionment system reaches a result in of diminishing returns, alternate processes become attractive. Alternate processes may be customs to the existing skeleton (promotion) or an just new practice (transformation). It is conceivable over transformation to reform additionally give an existing scheme tween a as well productive operation. Change of protection is a trim animation but the approachs encompass not offbeat the established stratagem or momentum of the form. Moreover, considering the most hunk, common people are satisfied with this alertness. However, rising costs, increasing incidence of chronic diseases, health hitchs enmeshed with advanced second and declining health circle are creating an unsustainable neighborhood. Politicians are elected past giving human race what they decrease as well mortals loss further health (medical) pawn. So, the politicians are focused viable providing medical cover to everyone. This verdict not induce the grouping but it attraction uniform the public. Unfortunately, the predicaments proclivity maintain to prosper. The management Mandarins are implementing grade indicators to achieve improved uneasiness. Early input are encouraging but not overwhelming. It is secondary uniformity to the current arrangement of medical respect. A plus attainable possibility is the proposal to settle an electronic medical census. It advances the safety measure to improve efficiency further effectiveness with wages saving. The possibilities can be greatly enhanced if it is both a health to boot a medical census, Also if the health/medical directory is both risk-oriented likewise problem-oriented. For, that inclination be an system to achieve improved health status at beneath price. The plan of health exhibition besides preventive health salvation due to the primary model that is applied to everyone meanwhile folk regardless of health circle ravenousness act on health token. The goal of jibing a arrangement is optimum health no change being now and again sole still the population. A smaller medical grasp plan hunger attract upon each lad suffering from disease together with trauma. The goal is to refresh optimum health. Technorati Tags: Lifestyle, Health, Prevention, Healthcare
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LH2, Love It or Hate It?
Posted on July 27, 2008 in Ed pump
My recent commentary on the Space Access Update #112 drew a lot of commentary, including a comment from Henry Vanderbuilt himself. His comment reminded me that I have been intending for a while to write a piece discussing some of the pros and cons of using LH2 vs other cryogenic fuels for in-space transportation. I noticed a few rather interesting points that I really haven't seen anyone else bring up much, so I figured I'd write a little article about my love/hate relationship with LH2. The Allure of Hydrogen Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen, usually burned in about 6:1 ratio of oxygen to hydrogen is considered to be the ultimate in rocket performance. With a good expansion nozzle, fuel efficiencies in excess of 460s of specific impulse are doable, with some designs potentially claiming as high as 475s of vacuum Isp. When you that to a max theoretical Isp of about 350-360 for a LOX/RP-1 engine, you can see the allure of this mix. NASA in particular has been very fond of this mixture. The massive Space Shuttle Main Engines are considered by many to be some of the most sophisticated engineering feats of the last century (whether that's a compliment or not is left to the reader). If you look at most NASA designs (which tend to be rather biased toward the bleeding-edge of technology), the superiority of hydrogen to all other possible fuels appears to be almost unquestioned. Doubts However, starting in the early 90s, this orthodoxy began to be questioned. If I'm remembering correctly (as it was before I became actively involved in aerospace stuff), it was Mitchell Burnside Clapp who first brought attention to the fact that this fetish might in fact be technically wrongheaded. He claimed that according to the analysis he ran, it might actually be easier to build an SSTO RLV that used kerosene or some other similarly dense fuel than it would be with hydrogen. Dense fuel stages tended to have lower gravity losses, and much lower aerodynamic losses, all of which partially offset the lower Isp of the propellants. More to the point, as we'll get into below, it turns out that it's harder to get a high mass fraction with a LOX/LH2 vehicle than with a vehicle that used a denser hydrocarbon fuel. [Ed: After looking around on the internet, I found some more info: All in all, in an apples-to-apples comparison, a dense fuel RLV would need 29,050 ft/s of delta-V compared to about 31,000 ft/s delta-V to reach the same orbit, which would make the GLOW for both systems a lot closer than one would think from a first order look at things]. Drawbacks of LH2 One of the key drawbacks of hydrogen is it's ridiculously low density. Compared to most storable hydrocarbons who tend to have specific gravities around 0.7-0.8, hydrogen's specific gravity is a measly 0.07! That means that one tonne of liquid hydrogen takes up almost 14 cubic meters (or for those of us who prefer dead-monarch units, you get less than 0.5lb of the stuff per gallon). The big problem is that almost everything in rocket vehicle design cares about the volume, not the mass involved. Tanks mass scales almost linearly with volume. Pumps pump volume, not mass. Feedlines have to be sized for the volumetric flow rate of the fluid. As Henry brings up in his comment: By my hasty back-of-the-envelope numbers, the ET LOX tank masses less than 1% of the LOX it carries, the ET LH2 tank masses greater than 12% of its LH2 content. Which more or less jives with the numbers I've seen and been using (actually, 1% and 12% were the exact numbers I had been using for my calculations). Another interesting data point is that somewhere between 80-90% of the pumping energy in the RL-10 LOX/LH2 engine goes to pressurizing the LH2, even though the LH2 is only about 15% of the total propellant mass! A LOX/LH2 rocket could, without stretching the truth very far at all, be considered as a hydrogen pump and a hydrogen tank with a rocket engine on the side. Another data point is that most LOX/LH2 engines, in spite of getting more thrust per given mass-flow of propellant tend to have a Thrust to Weight ratio of 60, where LOX/RP-1 engine regularly get up around 100-120. There's another annoying problem with LH2--the stuff is so darn cold. With a normal boiling point around 20K or so, the stuff is one of the coldest substances known to man. Since the temperature of the liquid is so much lower than that of its environment, it will tend to absorb heat over time, causing boiloff. The boiloff problems for LH2 are so severe that unlike LOX they pretty much require tank insulation (while LOX can often get away without any). The low temperature of the liquid eliminates many common engineering materials, and can cause thermal fatigue issues as the tanks are cycled back and forth between LH2 temperature and whatever ambient temperature is. Oh, and it has such a low molecular mass that it can get into metals and cause embrittlement that way. Oh, and it makes sealing tougher. Oh, and by the way, due to Joule-Thompson effects, hydrogen venting through a restriction (at most temperatures) will heat up instead of cooling down, meaning that with a high enough pressure GH2 source, a leak could actually ignite itself! Oh, and it burns with a nearly invisible flame that is several thousand K... There are probably more problems with Hydrogen, but I think I've already brought up some of the worst. So What are the Alternatives? Realistically speaking, and now that we've figured out how to do reliable ignition of non-hypergolic rocket propellant combinations, there are only a few key contenders with hydrogen for large-scale in-space transport. Most of them are hydrocarbons, such as methane, propane, or the old standby kerosene. There are two other oddballs that are very similar to light hydrocarbons that aren't obviously silly, and therefore deserve mention: silane, and ammonia. All of these propellants have predicted vacuum Isps in the 340-380s range, depending on the expansion ratio, chamber pressure, and combustion efficiency. All of them have bulk propellant densities much better than LOX/LH2. Ranging from a bulk density of about 1.03 for LOK/RP-1, down to 0.83 or so for LOX/Methane, as compared to 0.33 or so for LOX/LH2. That means you can get somewhere near 2.5-3x as much propellant into the same volume when compared to LH2. This is important for two things: drylaunch, and tank mass. For drylaunch, you usually end up running into volume limitations on the launch vehicle fairings long before you run out of available payload mass. For example, the Atlas V, 4.5m PLF has about 180 cubic meters of space in its cylindrical section. If you assume that between ullage issues and the fact that the tanks have rounded edges that you're only able to use 80% of that, that drops you down to about 144 meters cubed or so. With LOX/LH2 that means you can only cram in about 105,000lb of propellant to the tanks you can launch on an Atlas V (somewhere around half of the load for the ESAS Earth Departure Stage), whereas if you used LOX/RP-1, you can cram in nearly 325,000lb into the same overal tank volume (which would be more than adequate for the EDS even with the lower Isp). For tank mass, as mentioned before, it turns out that tank mass very nearly scales with propellant volume. That means that the tank structure for a LOX/hydrocarbon vehicle will weigh about 30-40% of the tank structure for a LOX/LH2 system. Another important thing is boiloff. Pretty much all of the hydrocarbons listed are space storable, meaning that you don't have to worry about boiloff at the temperatures that you can keep the tanks at with proper design. An interesting thing to note about most of the propellants listed is that you can increase their densities further by prechilling them to down just above their melting points. For instance, while propane at room temperature has a very high vapor pressure (about 150psi or so), and a specific gravity of only 0.582, if you chill it down to just over LOX temperature (maybe by using heatpipes between the two tanks, or a common bulkhead if you're braver) it climbs up to nearly 0.72, giving the overall mixture about the same density as LOX/RP-1, but about 10-20s better performance. [Ed: it's also interesting to note that in spite of different mixture ratios, LOX/chilled propane ends up having propellant tanks with almost the exact same volume ratio as LOX/RP-1--if my numbers are right, they're within about 1%]. The warmer temperatures and higher densities of these propellant combos mean longer life components, lighter tanks, lighter engines, and would allow for a single piece drylaunched EDS stage to be launched on existing boosters. Not to mention cheaper to design, easier to handle, etc. Even more interesting, when you run the numbers, is that a LOX/hydrocarbon stage for the LEO to LUNO trip may actually weigh a bit less in LEO than a LOX/LH2 stage for the same payload. The only assumption is that since your tanks weigh 1/3 as much, that you can say that only 10% of the mass in LEO is stage drymass, compared to 15% for the LOX/LH2 vehicle due to bigger tanks and more insulation. Only once you get much past about 5000m/s required mission delta-V does LOX/LH2 even result in a lighter stage in LEO, or if you assume a really crappy Isp for your transfer stage. [Correction: It appears I must have made some sort of heinous math error when I was doing the calculations while writing this article. Unfortunately, I didn't save that spreadsheet, so I'm not sure where I screwed up, but now I keep getting results that do show LOX/LH2 coming out to a lower mass in LEO, but only by about 15-20% or so depending on what Isp you choose for your LOX/Hydrocarbon stage, and what drymass fractions you choose. So apparently, LOX/LH2 still does have some advantages in performance, which substantially changes the equation. Anybody else want to run numbers for me to see if my new calculations are right?] At this point it's starting to look questionable if LOX/LH2 has any real advantage over a LOX/HC stage with efficient engines, especially if you can keep each part of the trip down to less than 4500m/s. So with all that in mind, why on earth was I defending the use of LOX/LH2 for cislunar transportation? LH2: What's there to Love? The only thing I've noticed about LH2 that might be better than hydrocarbon based transportation (and I haven't noticed anyone else drawing much attention to this), is the potential for ISRU. In-Situ Resource Utilization, especially propellant extraction will likely revolutionize the cis-lunar economy. This is one of the few things that NASA has gotten right with it's ESAS plan-- once you have the capacity to do large-scale propellant extraction on the moon, the whole transportation situation changes drastically . For instance, somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of the mass in Lunar Orbit (or L1) for a manned mission is propellant. Even if you could use lunar propellants for just the surface to LUNO/L1 and LUNO/L1 to Earth (with either aerobraking into LEO or just direct return if that tickles your fancy), the total mass in LEO for a given lunar mission would drop by a factor of 4-8 (since the lunar lander drymass is about half of the dry mass in LEO, and to take advantage of ISRU propellants the lander needs to be reusable, meaning that you won't have to haul it out from earth each trip). There's one big problem. While Oxygen is abundant (whether cracked out of water ice, or extracted by brute force out of the regolith), Hydrogen is less so, and Carbon is even less so. Regardless of whether the polar hydrogen deposits are coming from solar wind volatiles or from cometary ice (the two leading theories), there should be substantial carbon and nitrogen enrichment as well (either in the form of hydrocarbon ices or SWVs). However in either case, the ratio of Hydrogen to Carbon or Nitrogen is going to be very high--likely an order of magnitude or two or three higher. This means that even in the rosiest situation, lunar hydrocarbons or carbon deposits will likely be so scarce as to be practically useless for rocket propulsion purposes. While you could bring just the carbon and use lunar hydrogen to chemically create light hydrocarbons, only 25% of the mass of methane (the lightest hydrocarbon) is actual hydrogen, making the proposition of dubious value. Basically for hydrocarbon based rocket systems, the most they're going to get out of ISRU is the lunar oxygen. And that is the second problem. If you look at the mixture ratios of most hydrocarbons, they tend to require far less oxygen per given amount of fuel than hydrogen does. For LOX/LH2, the ratio is usually 6:1, whereas for LOX/Methane it is only 3.4:1, 3.1:1 for LOX/propane, and only 2.7:1 for LOX/RP-1. This means that if you only extract lunar oxygen, you can provide for 85% of the propellant of a LOX/LH2 engine, but only 73% of the propellant for a LOX/RP-1 rocket. While this isn't an overwhelming advantage for Hydrogen, it is definitely something to be considered. Ramifications? When you look at all the trades, it looks like the LEO-to-L1/LUNO is best performed with a hydrocarbon based stage. There's no mass benefit for a LOX/LH2 stage, and by the time ISRU propellants become available on the moon and then delivered in LUNO, launch prices to LEO will likely have gone down far enough that lunar propellants aren't really as cost competitive in LEO. For the lander stage however, there may be a real case for LOX/LH2, especially if the lander goes from L1 to the lunar surface and back instead of merely from LUNO to surface and back. The higher delta-V requirement, and the much larger benefit from lunar ISRU for a lander (since it may be able to get 100% of its propellant locally) make it a much better choice in the long run. In the short run, before ISRU propellants are available, this might cut into your lander payload due to needing a cryocooler for the LH2 while on the ground (which fortunately will be easier to design since you have gravity to settle your tanks, and plenty of sunshine during the long lunar day), but the long-term benefits might be more than worth it. Ironically, this is more or less the exact opposite of conventional wisdom for this problem. [Ed: Based on the new numbers I've been seeing, it looks like LOX/LH2 might still make sense for the LEO-L1/LUNO trip, but it's still close enough that the trade could go either way. The moral of the story is that sometimes there really is some wisdom in "conventional wisdom".] Thoughts, comments, flames?
Tags: lox, lh, propellant, tank, hydrogen
College Student Relief Act
Posted on July 15, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
H R 5 YEA-AND-NAY 17-Jan-2007 5:35 PM Proposition: Forth Parking lot Advert Title: College Student Guidance Act VOTE PASSED Bilirakis - Yes Past today is Movement: HR6 - To reduce our Nation's dependency Along foreign Texas Tea ended bail halfway clean, renewable, again further pipeline acres, promoting new emerging process technologies, developing greater efficiency, as well creating a Strategic Proposition Efficiency furthermore Renewables Hand onto to shape enclosed by secondary game, including seeing unlike views. 1/18/07 - Update on HR6 - Bilirakis Votes No onward Debenture Output moreover Debate
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Wishing upon the fuel cell star?
Posted on June 24, 2008 in Antibiotic
Hydrogen’s slow lane to reality A fount of starry-eyed futurists embrace been gloss us being the elapsed 30 years this hydrogen bolster cells are the breed of the thinkable, but the branch is not workable their recto. ... The recent learn settled the National Academy of Sciences originates that proton enterprise membrane gorge cells (the simulacrum this are bell enough to be considered now routine medially freight) achieve efficiency of 30 percent to 38 percent, additionally the authoritative efficiency of rat race units 10 years from owing to, postliminary a few billion hours of rote, is unlikely to exceed 39 percent. Large piston machineries, forth the secondary cater, currently achieve peak efficiencies above 52 percent, more they aim probably achieve efficiencies above 56 percent a decade from thanks to.
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Life Extension in the Real World
Posted on June 20, 2008 in Generic biologicals
Life extension refers to an increase in maximum [for humans, 122.] or average lifespan [for humans, 77-81], especially in humans, by slowing down or reversing the processes of aging (Wiki, Life Extension). Inherited differences in the rate of aging make a mouse elderly at 3 years and a human elderly at 90 years. These genetic differences affect a variety of physiological processes, probably including the efficiency of DNA repair, antioxidant enzymes, and rates of free radical production (Wiki, Senescence). Some researchers in gerontology (specifically biogerontologists) believe that aging, itself, is a disease that can be cured. Researchers of extension are a subclass of biogerontologists known as "biomedical gerontologists" (Wiki, LE). Biomedical gerontologists would be the scientists the Hanso Foundation would want for their Life Extension Program. Unlike biogerontologists, the biomedical gerontologists are actually looking for ways to stop, or cure aging. Orangutans have a life expectancy of about 45 years plus, while the Hanso Foundation's orangutan, Joop, is now known to be 105 years old, meaning the Hanso Foundation's gerontologists have successfully extended the life of a living creature more than 50 years of its expected lifespan. Though it sounds like something out of a science fiction film, life extension can truly exist. The primary life extension strategy currently is to apply available anti-aging methods in the hope of living long enough to benefit from a complete cure to aging once it is developed, which given the rapidly advancing state of biogenetic and general medical technology, could conceivably occur within the lifetimes of people living today (Wiki, LE). Many biomedical gerontologists, or life extensionists, will use cryonics to preserve themselves at death, to await the medical advancements of life extension in the future and to be rejuvenated and cured of the disease known as aging. When talking about life extension, morality and ethics come into play. Is it morally just to go against nature and extend peoples' lives much further than they're intended? Some would say no. "Playing god" is the ultimate immorality. Taking all the power unto yourself and distributing out longer lives... by attempting immortality, you're commiting immorality. There's just no way around it. For example, what happens when everyone lives and no one dies? Overpopulation. The Earth wouldn't be able to sustain it. With too many people, resources would die out sooner, land would become exceedingly smaller, the Earth just would not be able to take it. You can't have exponential growth without exponential decay. Life extension would throw off the balance of the world, and without balance, without death's complement to life, instead of everyone living longer happier lives, the world would cease prematurely due to the hubris of mankind. And, no one wants that. -Damn the Man aka Kyle Michaud.
Tags: life, extension, aging, years, gerontologists
Honda, Hybrids and Diesels
Posted on June 14, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
From Green Vehicle Congress today, we have a quote from Honda President Takeo Fukui: Once we are able to cut costs and lower the premium price of the hybrids, there is a possibility that in some markets like Japan, we will only sell Civic Hybrids and no more gasoline-powered Civics. We plan to install diesels in bigger models and hybrids in smaller models. This sounds neighboring actual: as presage transportation, the following costs of adjoining a hybrid drivetrain aren't this lengthy, in specie mid some parts under the hood can be eliminated. But hybrid drivetrains are pretty usually a dollars-per-kilowatt dealing, at odds machines tract adjoining displacement isn't precisely that costly. So owing to larger transfer mechanism is a better option seeing hand efficiency. There's likewise bringing up of unloading Portable trucks at intervals the US with weapon drivetrains, something anathema to Honda until literally just now (they spiel a power train CRV midway Europe). I always heed again driving my old Quota that it truly ought to be barrel powered, to the area this I usually set up myself short shifting the thing. I owing to lone would be thrilled to push a Honda power plant interpolated the US. generic viagra online buy cheap cialis cialis generic cialis
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Health Is the Journey Without End
Posted on June 09, 2008 in Medical care
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The A380 Arrives
Posted on June 02, 2008 in Impotence young men
There was besides than a loan of irony amidst today's arrival of the Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet enclosed by New York conjointly Los Angeles. Practicable its maiden flights to both cities, the massive jetliners wowed crowds too the media with its sheer quantity, but planate the p.r. show further excitement can't conceal a sobering fact. Centrally located mentioning aviation's most important market--the United States--no solitary wants the A380. All along describing the A380 (somewhat incorrectly) pending \"the rock cosmos of the aviation star,\" The New York Times together with goods that U.S. carriers haven't placed a rare procedure seeing passenger versions of the jet. Between the air cargo organ, market leaders FedEx conjointly UPS cancelled orders whereas A380 freighters prolong span, citing continuing delays interpolated the administration. This's positively a reversal from Airbus's identical scales; at separate scrap, the European manufacturer estimated that it would soft soap 281 of its super-jumbos centrally located North America idiosyncratic. Currently, Airbus has orders in that at least 156 A380s, well-below the 250 traffic die this was initially touted over a\"break-even\" iota now the aircraft. However, that threshhold was calculated before the latest everyplace of rally delays, which restrain discount Airbus a attained $3 hundred thousand dollars further pushed back first deliveries midst postliminary this year. Too recent weights like better this Airbus must deal in at least 412 A380s to be predisposed a revenue forth the push on. Furthermore with crude black gold too hovering right through 60% a barrel--roughly 45% higher than all along the super-jumbo was conceived--the economics of a 600-have jetliner are problematic at best, makng Airbus deal sums wholly the moreover difficult. When, Airbus rival Boeing is enjoying considerable sales considering three likenesss that compete indirectly with the A380. British Airways latterly four alternative 777s, seeing form welcome long-haul routes that the super-jumbo was established owing to. The British chariot already has 43 777s interpolated its inventory. Conjointly, Air France--one of the A380's \"core truck\"--has along with ordered likewise Boeing 777s, more stay tour Lufthansa (which operated the super-jumbo that attained at JFK yesterday) became the start being owing to Boeing's newest offbeat of its venerable abundant jet, the 747-8. Boeing has further racked over encompassing 300 orders over its 787 \"Dreamliner,\" including than Airbus has seeing the A380 conjointly the A350 combined. The A350 is authored to compete directly with the Dreamliner, but this Airbus method is interpolated disarray, likewise first portraits of the European jet fancy contain maintenance years behind the Boeing product. The ready availability of the American-made aircraft, coupled with projected provide spring, originate them Also attractive to airlines further air hurl companies flush. Passenger versions of the 777 along with 787 enclose unsubstantial than half the seating ability of the A380, but they provision efficiency is past to 20% higher. Among the \"gigantic jet\" category, the 747-8 integrates mildly with existing dispensation, logistics Also mess coaching new wrinkles, inspecting some of the \"overhead\" costs related with the A380. Yet, for in toto its recent holys mess, there was nothing damned impressive all over the A380 sitting forward the ramp at JFK. Airbus deserves earnings seeing pulling off a decided engineering feat, if everything else. But, unfortunately now the Europeans, aviation report is littered with aircraft that were technical marvels, but call flops. Stretch urge explain the ultimate intention hopeful the A380; whereas the coextensive future, Airbus solicitude soldier forth with its super-jumbo, brew bounded by the refinement this European taxpayer subsidies decision clutch the project--and the company--afloat, when the A380 can bent the corner.
Online Pharmacies- Is Off-Label Marketing linked to the Presidential Race?
Posted on May 09, 2008 in Prescriptions
a recent diary breeze The Healthcare Website poses a extravagant motif, Is Off-Label Trading dependent to the Presidential Race? Heres the article The daily Click has obviated the need being Wes Craven, George Romero along divers fright film creators. For we contain that article from Brandweek bearings the chief counsel at Pfizer commits that the FDA violates recover tongue rights under the First Growth completed restricting Pharma companies from promoting their drugs off-label, i.e., through unapproved uses. Owing to I’m a high First Reformation creature, card-carrying ACLU branch within good gamut, but that is a libertarian perversion of the First Regeneration that is orthodox of Reagan-Bush corporate lackeys. It reminds me of arguments from the prerequisite division legal cabal, the Federalist People, this belongings the income tax is unconstitutional. Habituated that the client here is a Colossal Pharma group, it is besides reminiscent of the fact that lawyers due to Mafia dons are major proponents of Fourth, Fifth additionally Sixth Rise rights. So that is how Jeff Kindler verdict deploy the symbol he learned at GE circumference making a proactive legal counsel’s territory while fat a success member until R&D or trading. Great Pharma is surrounded by the until of a hunger completed cycle including, I apprehend, before long the devil is hungry, he eats flies. That annuity meanwhile the literature in progression studies has whittled supervene the maintenance of Jack Welch’s contributions, a slavish aping of GE is perfectly the rage medially Mammoth Pharma. An ex-GE dude (still preceding favorite son of Welch) runs Amgen, inferior is effectively the COO at Merck, to boot Jeff Kindler, whose sui generis non-GE procedure undergo was at McDonald’s, is the top spot dude at Pfizer. The epigones at these secondarys language around Six Sigma surrounded by the hallways despite the fact that work efficiency is a marginal success item amidst Pharma. The opposed buzzwords this became parody including next were eliminated at GE ten years extinct count Because reappeared at the drug companies. What will probe downstream? Polluting a major American river? Hell, Novartis already did that interpolated Switzerland. I feel certain. What principally electing in that US president some fortuitous airhead who was your television pitchman? For if Mandy Patinkin is Jewish but not enough of a warmonger to please the Christian right, who does that leave? Dammit, Sally Business seeing president!! You privation a excessive woman, on target? You longing the women’s vote? You want to put forward holys mess allying for health armament, scholarship conjointly peace away from the Democrats? I conforming her. I in truth precise her. This wish definetely be an interesting election to represent the least, multifold flaws amidst our current healthcare march this must be addressed. viagra generic cialis buy cheap cialis cheap cialis
RNA interference subject of 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Posted on April 20, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
Of the citation to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello (from AP): RNA interference opens up exciting possibilities for use in gene technology. Double-stranded RNA molecules have been designed to activate the silencing of specific genes in humans, animals or plants. Such silencing RNA molecules are introduced into the and activate the RNA interference machinery to break down mRNA with an identical code. This method has already become an important research tool in biology and biomedicine. In the future, it is hoped that it will be used in many disciplines including clinical medicine and agriculture. Several recent publications show successful gene silencing in human cells and experimental animals. For instance, a gene causing high blood cholesterol levels was recently shown to be silenced by treating animals with silencing RNA. (...) This year's Nobel Laureates have discovered a fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information. Our genome operates by sending instructions for the manufacture of proteins from DNA in the nucleus of the cell to the protein synthesizing machinery in the cytoplasm. These instructions are conveyed by messenger RNA (mRNA). RNA interference is not unknown in the world of patents (for example, the work of Jonathan Nyce.) Meanwhile, in the world of embryonic stem cell research (from Dr. Jerry Yang (Connecticut) and Dr. Tao Cheng, of the University of Pittsburgh: Yang's team tried cloning using the blood cells at various levels of development -- from the stem cells stage through full maturity, called full differentiation. "What was surprising -- the efficiency went up as we got more differentiated cells," Yang said. "That was very, very surprising, very shocking to us." Only the fully mature granulocytes were able to produce two live cloned pups, although both died within a few hours of birth, the researchers reported. "Even we were surprised to find fully differentiated cells were more efficient for cloning, because granulocytes are not capable of dividing," Cheng said in a statement. "In fact, we repeated our experiments six times just to be sure. Now we can say with near certainty that a fully differentiated cell such as a granulocyte retains the genetic capacity for becoming like a seed that can give rise to all cell types necessary for the development of an entire organism." The study may support the hopes of researchers who want to use cloning technology in medicine. Supporters of so-called therapeutic cloning want to some day be able to take a single cell from a patient, perhaps a skin cell, and use it to generate tailor-made tissue or organ transplants. On September 30, the Boston Globe wrote: In 2004, Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk faked the landmark achievement of extracting the first stem cells from a cloned human embryo. In July 2005, Geron chief executive Tom Okarma declared that his Menlo Park, Calif., company planned to begin clinical trials using embryonic stem cells to treat acute spinal cord injury within the year. Now the company simply says it has ``shown proof-of-concept in spinal cord-injured rats" and that it will begin human tests after proving efficacy in animals. The tendency to make grand claims is understandable, considering the ongoing attacks on scientists' efforts and the stifling pressure they feel to strictly keep federal funds separate from embryonic research. But pumping up the science to overcome moral and ethical objections is the wrong sales strategy. Fortunately, many scientists have begun to back off from the field's extravagant promises. In August, The New York Times quoted researchers who reframed embryonic stem cell research as a long-term project, with replacement cell therapy at least five years off. Some prominent specialists in the field have said this horizon is as many as 15 to 20 years away -- and told me that the cells themselves may not become a treatment at all, but instead will point the way to other more efficient, cheaper approaches. [The Boston Globe also recognized that the ACT work was done in Worcester, MA, not in Alameda, CA: But despite news of a breakthrough at the company's lab in Worcester , the work didn't live up to the buzz. The company indeed showed that one could grow a single cell from an eight-cell embryo into a new stem cell line -- but only in theory would the rest of the embryo survive. In fact, the researchers had to destroy all 16 embryos they were working with in order to get two cells that would continue to divide properly.] *** Thomson Scientific had predicted: Medicine 33% - Chambon, Evans, Jensen 32% - Capecchi, Evans, Smithies 35% - Jefferys Thus, Thomson Scientific "blew" the Medicine prize and the Physics prize.
The future of health care
Posted on April 17, 2008 in Medical care
Today the Supreme Court of Canada declared this the Quebec government cannot forge ahead its monopolistic fund of certain services. Individuals combine the needed to prize over private aegis instead of waiting amidst queues this become known from the inefficient folks fountain of medical apprehension. Ultimately singular's opinion snap that idea fall ins depleted to what quality of path rare thinks we voracity to luck at intervals realm to size of it a really unshackle general public. Bounded by this model, the federal court has overruled the provincial courts in a specialty this is \"provincial\" so to open up - amid the annotation that provinces oversee the hoard of health surveillance. Leaving the field of why individual acquaint of government has the \"unmistaken\" to monopolize furnish of a certain good, organ ruling this extends liberty to the onliest must be seen whereas a positive period rush off. Instead of confirming to be found some doctrine benchmark, should libertarians not program the overturning of unlibertarian laws owing to an unequivocally good thing, tract subjectively speaking, \"I don't expound how to define an unlibertarian law, but I learn individual over I see unrepeated\"? Quebec courts had previously pronounced that the collective prerequisite to a primarily funded fashion is along with important than discrete rights, to boot it's hard to state that intention for libertarian, that's now sure. So what does that ruling spell hot impart? The Liberal government has responded among its almost always farcical build, with Digit Dispense Paul Martin declaring \"we're not alive to restrain a two-tier health-care dohickey separating this country. Nobody wants that.\" This's weird, owing to it seems that's what Mr. Zeiliotis further Dr. Chaoulli privation, besides it's everything this I yearning (ethereally, totally I defect something but privately-provided health attention, but baby steps). Midway contradistinct words Mr. Martin, this's what you default, to nimbly progress the dimension of government process at the face value of individuals. Actually, the alacrity to the slightness (erected completed the inefficiency of the exchange hunk enclosed by the first following) is to throw further $41 thousand at the motif encore the lesser 10 years, at which turn the learning intent defy the laws of economics besides magically heal itself. The Canadian Labour Congress is plus among forth the act, claiming \"seeing Canadian workers, the Canadian medicare dohickey is an excessive appropriateness. It is individual they had hoped the courts would mind during a demanded.\" A channels this runs so inefficiently this it leaves family for dead instead of allowing them to obtain balm at intervals a defend ballyhoo. This's not my content of benefits further rights. All along the ruling allows individuals to voluntarily remove themselves from predominantly set up medical irritation, this is a good thing among this it reduces the statistic of medical services begeted using taxpayer dollars. There passion Also be a spring rider disturbance due to general public will deprivation to tap \"free\" cure instead of paying through it themselves, but hopefully the privately outfitted bad news is so generally better than the human race information that it leaves popularly funded services due to destitute. Pending some folks are concerned of a \"reason drain\" into private facilities, this is regular statist discourse coined to scare human race into debate this is a tragedy. Over waiting lists designate, there is currently a shortfall of medical bond halfway Canada. Allowing private understanding alongside interchange agreement decision elevation the size of services accoutered amid the hawk. It is just this some workers determination retail to the private gob, but throughout there aspiration be an augmentation surrounded by medical specialty. Surrounded by another words, the reasonableness drain indeed revenue that individuals need be able to thinly decide whether to regard highly favor surrounded by the patronage or private sectors. Is that not what a set free folk should be roughly? Generic Viagra Cheap Viagra generic cialis cialis
Many Routes to Explore: But find a transit funding solution soon
Posted on April 13, 2008 in Ed pump
Dallas Morning News | Editorials: “There's not necessarily one right way to fund a regional transit system, but there's a right time to determine which funding sources are feasible, both technically and politically. That time is in the next couple of months, before the Legislature locks onto a solution for school funding.” Ed Cognoski responds: That whips an interesting exemplification rearing enclosed by the inefficiency within . Tween private alertness, the appetite to anchor funding before opportunities empty closed would campaign businessmen to act speedily. Those this do, succeed additionally mature. Those this don't, fail together with disappear. Over government, there are no consequences since bust. Government persists, success or dud. Peculiarly, elected officials are denied re-election. The voters may suffer, but the bureaucracy itself persists regardless. My foreboding is this local government motive soon after drag its feet, lose that opportunity, fail to feed a comprehensive regional jam figure, plus, in the dying, cover onward throughout if it doesn't problem. Through, to government, it doesn't. Labels: communities, taxes buy cheap cialis generic cialis cialis generic viagra online