Monthly Archive for April, 2007

blow your nose

Published
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Gogga
on April 30, 2007
in General blabber
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BusinessWire posts a press release from Medtronic on effects of pressurized nasal irrigation with special solution(s) on bacterial content in chronic sinus and ear infections.

Actually, this is good news. I was talking to a person a few weeks ago who has had a 3-year joyful ride-along with chronic infection in hear ear. According to her there is no greater joy in life than dealing with that… I suppose that could be quite a serious problem… Today the just rinse your ear with antibiotics. So, what’s new in this offer from Medtronic? I think not much, but read on and see for yourself.

don’t eat that mouse!!!

Published
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Gogga
on April 30, 2007
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Coolest-gadgets.com publishes a story on IOGear’s new antibacterial mouse. This thing actually sterilizes! :) Haha. Cute.

IOGear presents a bunch of new USB products and the coolest one is the wireless laser mouse that comes with an antibacterial nano coating technology.

The coating is composed of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) and Silver (Ag) nano-particle, and uses two mechanisms that deactivate the enzymes and proteins of the bacteria, making it impossible for them to survive on the surface of the mouse.
On its site, IOGear informs us that the mouse is not to be used as an antibiotic and that the user should not ingest the surface material under any circumstances. Thanks a lot for this warning, IOGear, if it wasn’t for that, I’d probably swallow my mouse in the event of a mild fever.

The mouse costs US$ 39.95, find out more at IOGear’s website.

Check out these other new cool products by IOGear.

how clean are the cleaning products??

Published
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Gogga
on April 30, 2007
in General blabber
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Ha ha!

NewsNet5.com publishes a short article titled “How Sanitizer Tests Are Conducted“. I love the outcome of the finding, just love it:

  • Lucky Hand Sanitizer — showed little to no reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Sani-Doo Hand Sanitizer — showed little to no reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • April Bath & Shower Hand Sanitizer –- showed little to no reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • American Red Cross -– showed significant reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Purell — showed significant reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • “Pure” Generic Hand Sanitizer — showed little to no reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Family Dollar Generic Hand Sanitizer -– showed little to no reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Target Generic Hand Sanitizer — showed significant reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • CVS Generic Hand Sanitizer — showed significant reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Walgreens Generic Hand Sanitizer — showed significant reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Rite Aid Generic Hand Sanitizer — showed some reduction of bacteria count after use.
  • Personal Care Hand Sanitizer — showed little to no reduction of bacteria count after use.

LOL! So, there’s only a few that actually work, huh? Wow… who allows these products on the market??? I thought FDA is supposed to be keeping a watchful eye on this kind of stuff, no? Anybody?? We’re not talking about Acinetobacter here!! Just about dirty hands… well, hands washed with cleaning products…

Hmm… strange… Oh well…

Interesting. I would like to know the response of those vendors whose products failed. Actually, this article gives me a good idea for setting up my own test of my own technology. Head-on comparison with alcohol, cleaning products, soap, etc.

stinky mouth == crappy health

Published
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Gogga
on April 30, 2007
in General blabber
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Don’t you think? Bacteria get in through openings, and the least protected seems to me the mouth, offering great temperature, moisture, and gas levels for bacteria to thrive.

CHICAGO Two new studies in the Journal of Periodontology explore the possible link between periodontal bacteria and coronary artery disease as well as periodontal bacteria and preeclampsia. These studies found that periodontal bacteria, which are often invisible to the naked eye, may account for big effects on general health conditions.

Ok, so DiabetesHealth talks about novel findings in links of moth-living bacteria and various internal diseases. This, to me, is an obvious finding long overdue.

Well, food sanitation is a much-needed addon as well as, well, overall oral hygiene. Yes yes. Listen to your mother! :)

Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich dies

Published
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Gogga
on April 27, 2007
in General blabber
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It is a pity, really. This month is not being too nice on the great. My co-worker’s grandfather had passed away, Yeltsin, and now Rostropovich.

Not good news at all.

Alas, this is a part of life, methinks.

Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich

There is a nice article on him that I found in Yahoo news. Actually, Kara found it, but no matter.

Rostropovich stirred souls with playing that was both intense and seemingly effortless. He fought for the rights of Soviet-era dissidents and later triumphantly played Bach suites below the crumbling Berlin Wall.

In his last public appearance, at his birthday celebration in the Kremlin on March 27, Rostropovich was frail but still able to show his capacity for joy and generosity.

Wow. !!!!!! Think about it… He was 80. As in eight zero… as in one more than seventy nine… and STILL playing. Strength like this, both physical and more importantly mental is a thing to envy.

Lately I find myself talking to people and forgetting what the fuck we’re talking about 1/2 way through the conversation. I mean it’s a worthless conversation anyway, about the weather and someone’s kids, but no matter. 80… Still playing his cello… kicking ass!!

Dude, wherever you are now, me salutes you.

Cheers!

on herbal medicine

Published
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Gogga
on April 23, 2007
in General blabber
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http://herbalmedicine.tribe.net/

Take a look into this if you’re interested in alternative medicine(s). I, personally, used to have my doubts about chiropractors and grandmas curing you with herbs and chanting.

BUT! I, myself, the biggest freaking skeptic ever born was re-born after a few visits to a chiropractor. See, I am a born-scientist so-to-speak, so I only believe things that I myself have tested or read from sources that I myself consider reputable. Long time ago I decided to go to a chiropractor. More of a mental exercise, really, that was. But, lo and behold, I was cured! Well… Cured would be a bit much, but I did feel a heck of alot better after the session than before. Think of it as a very very very good massage.

Well, whatever the case, I am somewhat of a fan of looking into herbal-like things. For example, for my cough when I get a cold I not get this syrup from WholeFoods… oh, what’s it called? I can’t remember… But it’s all-herbal and it works great…

Just my two cents. If you haven’t tried, open your mind a little and try new things…. you might actually like :)

on mersa mersa mersa

Published
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Gogga
on April 23, 2007
in General blabber
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MRSA, or “mersa” how we call it is all over the news everywhere.

Common people, there are better things to talk about, methinks.

Yes, it’s a dangerous bug. So? There are other MORE dangerous bugs. Though, some of these articles are right. Mersa escaping the hospital setting would be kinda nasty… yes yes. Nasty would be a good word to describe it.

How come I have now seen too many calls for proposals from NIH and the like to get rid of this? There is plenty of research going on but I fail to notice NIH and DOD SBIR programs asking for novel technologies and ideas to deal with this organism. I mean what if there is a device (for example the device I am working on) which can sterilize surfaces, air, and water from this and most if not all other bugs? Why is NIH so centered on antibiotics? Can’t they see that antibiotics are not the only answer?

Well, anyway, here are some articles on this by ABC, and interesting silver-containing cloth article on pressdispensary, or a story on a new bacteria testing methodology by SeekingAlpha, and a test for Staph infections from Chanel 5 crew… Yes, see, so many stories… just search google news for “mrsa” like I do and find all this and more.

Yes, girl, enjoy that barefoot-walk-in-the-park. Yes, I’m looking at you there :) Can you tell I’m sitting outside again? Very nice here - all mersa infested, but nice :)

what-a-fucking-lunatic

Published
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Gogga
on April 22, 2007
in General blabber
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MSNBC Video

Enough said.

this is in Russian but looks at the photos:
http://www.warnet.ws/news/14229/comments/

Crazy fuck! What a crazy fucking lunatic!!!

Bye

not made in China

Published
by
Gogga
on April 22, 2007
in General blabber
. 1 Comment

I like the title of Lake County’s News-Sun article titled “Not Made in China“. Caught my eye, you know.

China’s manufacturing capability is increasing rapidly, and they are investing heavily into science. In our lab, for example, we have a very talented Chinese student. China is importing tools from US to develop and make new products to sell right back to US.

I think I need to invest some time and energy into learning Chinese… Am I too lazy, perhaps? Am I? Yeah, shit, I think so very much :) However, the new generation should consider that. I think I will encourage my children (if I ever have any) to learn this class of languages. All the Asian countries are on a rise and moving faster than I can think… A great well-oiled machine they are. Russia, too, I need to keep a close eye on, but them I understand. Asians I have little experience with thus am not too keen on. I think we’re not too terribly far off from seeing those countries rise. Rise high. Perhaps higher than US. No surprise there, either.

Anyway, I liked that article and wanted to share it with you, my humble 1,543 daily visitors who do not seem to like to comment… :)Â Common, what do YOU think?

Antibiotic Stress, Genetic Response and Altered Permeability of E. coli

Published
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Gogga
on April 22, 2007
in General blabber
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A very interesting article was published in the online-free-access of PLoS (Public Library of Science).

Read it here:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000365

It’s a big one, so let me sum it up for you. E. Coli apparently were tested and multi-drug-resistance was confirmed through the organism developing an exclusion technique — these bacterium learn to exclude drugs, or push them out of the cell, prior to the drug finding its target. The scary take-home from this is that, again, antibiotics are not the answer. At least, they’re not the only answer.

One should consider investing into science of cellular mechanics and development. By one here I mean you, me, and the president. It is important to understand what’s going on biochemically AND it is important to investigate other techniques of inactivating these cells. Yes, I keep things like electric plasma and the like in the back of my head when reading these articles.

You know, I was at a nail salon a little while ago [yes, I do get my nails done every once-in-a-while] . They had this “towel disinfection” box. It’s a UV lamp, building up concentration of reactive oxygen species and over long periods of time actually having bactericidal effect. However, all the articles I read on this called for over 600 seconds, or 10 minutes, of DIRECT exposure of bacteria to the UV light source. Here the bacteria are on a towel, in a stack of towels, crammed into a small box with a weak UV lamp… Hmm… you’re gonna get far with that, I’m sure. What’s best is that, of course, the towels were placed in the box and removed from it every 2-3 minutes or so. For sure, no sterilization there… only enough UV to perhaps slice-up a few DNA links, increasing the probability of bacteria to mutate… YAY! Go get your nails done and get exposed to deadly mutated bacteria :)

Where was I? Oh, yeah, read that article, and perhaps a small reference to it published on Medical News Today website.

So, when do you think are we all going to die from some super-bug resistant to everything? Or you think science will come up with a magic cure-it-all?

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