Guest guest Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 > For these working dogs, mold is gold > Meet the pups that lead inspectors to the source of trouble > > http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/23/mold.dogs/index.html > > (CNN) -- Forget batteries, microchips and expensive air quality > tests. Some experts simply reach for a bag of doggie treats when > searching for pesky hidden house molds. > > Animal trainer Bill Whitstine claims his Labradors, border collies, > Jack terriers and even mutts rescued from the pound have a > better track record of detecting the tiny spores that sometimes > linger inside walls, crawl spaces and attics. Traditional mold > inspections require drilling in exactly the right place to find the > root of the problem, a time-consuming and expensive process that can > leave walls looking like Swiss cheese. > > " We don't have X-ray eyes, but [the dogs] have X-ray noses, " > Whitstine said. > > Since 1998, his Florida Canine Academy has prepared dozens of pooches > for sniffing out mold. > > The dogs are given between 800 to 1,000 hours of intense training, > learning to respond only to scents produced by mold spores. > > " There isn't anything technically advanced enough to pinpoint where > the mold is except for the dogs, " Rasmussen, an Anoka, > Minnesota, mold inspector whose smooth-coated fox terrier, , > was trained by Whitstine. > > " Technology has not caught up. The sensitivity isn't nearly as great > as what the dogs have. " > > Research at Alabama's Auburn University seems to back up her claim. > Scientists at the university's Canine and Detection Research > Institute found that dogs can detect a scent that is only present in > one part per every two billion air parts. > > Battery-operated mold detection meters need thousands of times that > level of concentration for detection. > > " Mold dogs " complement the infrared cameras, fiber-optic scopes and > lab tests used by traditional mold inspectors. By pointing out the > places where they smell mold, the dogs allow the inspectors to > collect better samples for testing. > > This ability to locate and follow scents to their highest > concentration sets the dogs apart from their digital counterparts and > lowers the risk of unguided drilling that could spread mold to walls > that are not infected. > > " It's been good for business, " Rasmussen said. " People trust the > dog's opinion over the human's because they know the dog won't lie. " > > Another bonus with the dogs, Rasmussen said, is speed. > > " It can take weeks to get test results back from a lab, " she > said. " We can go in a house and tell them that day if they have mold > or not. " > > Whitstine follows similar guidelines and standards for training his > mold dogs as he does for pups trained to detect arson or drugs. > > Every year, the dogs and their trainers are urged to come back for > refresher courses. It's important for the owners to be trained too > because the biggest risk for an errant diagnosis, Whitstine said, is > human handlers misreading their pets. > > Whitstine said his dogs have been ordered from as far away as > Finland. But his services don't come cheap. He charges $12,500 for > his mold-sniffing canines, and he will train a dog brought to him for > the same price. > > " We have over 50 [mold dogs] in the country right now, " Whitstine > said. " I think within the next three to five years you'll see upwards > of a thousand. " I wonder what happens to a dog when they become allergic to the mold? My cat can let me know where there is mold because she will stay away. A few clues and I get it. Lori and Meow Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 > For these working dogs, mold is gold > Meet the pups that lead inspectors to the source of trouble > > http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/23/mold.dogs/index.html > > (CNN) -- Forget batteries, microchips and expensive air quality > tests. Some experts simply reach for a bag of doggie treats when > searching for pesky hidden house molds. > > Animal trainer Bill Whitstine claims his Labradors, border collies, > Jack terriers and even mutts rescued from the pound have a > better track record of detecting the tiny spores that sometimes > linger inside walls, crawl spaces and attics. Traditional mold > inspections require drilling in exactly the right place to find the > root of the problem, a time-consuming and expensive process that can > leave walls looking like Swiss cheese. > > " We don't have X-ray eyes, but [the dogs] have X-ray noses, " > Whitstine said. > > Since 1998, his Florida Canine Academy has prepared dozens of pooches > for sniffing out mold. > > The dogs are given between 800 to 1,000 hours of intense training, > learning to respond only to scents produced by mold spores. > > " There isn't anything technically advanced enough to pinpoint where > the mold is except for the dogs, " Rasmussen, an Anoka, > Minnesota, mold inspector whose smooth-coated fox terrier, , > was trained by Whitstine. > > " Technology has not caught up. The sensitivity isn't nearly as great > as what the dogs have. " > > Research at Alabama's Auburn University seems to back up her claim. > Scientists at the university's Canine and Detection Research > Institute found that dogs can detect a scent that is only present in > one part per every two billion air parts. > > Battery-operated mold detection meters need thousands of times that > level of concentration for detection. > > " Mold dogs " complement the infrared cameras, fiber-optic scopes and > lab tests used by traditional mold inspectors. By pointing out the > places where they smell mold, the dogs allow the inspectors to > collect better samples for testing. > > This ability to locate and follow scents to their highest > concentration sets the dogs apart from their digital counterparts and > lowers the risk of unguided drilling that could spread mold to walls > that are not infected. > > " It's been good for business, " Rasmussen said. " People trust the > dog's opinion over the human's because they know the dog won't lie. " > > Another bonus with the dogs, Rasmussen said, is speed. > > " It can take weeks to get test results back from a lab, " she > said. " We can go in a house and tell them that day if they have mold > or not. " > > Whitstine follows similar guidelines and standards for training his > mold dogs as he does for pups trained to detect arson or drugs. > > Every year, the dogs and their trainers are urged to come back for > refresher courses. It's important for the owners to be trained too > because the biggest risk for an errant diagnosis, Whitstine said, is > human handlers misreading their pets. > > Whitstine said his dogs have been ordered from as far away as > Finland. But his services don't come cheap. He charges $12,500 for > his mold-sniffing canines, and he will train a dog brought to him for > the same price. > > " We have over 50 [mold dogs] in the country right now, " Whitstine > said. " I think within the next three to five years you'll see upwards > of a thousand. " I wonder what happens to a dog when they become allergic to the mold? My cat can let me know where there is mold because she will stay away. A few clues and I get it. Lori and Meow Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 ----- Original Message ----- From: Bayuk A Home away from Home a MS Support Board ; mscured ; MS-Christians ; MSersLife ; MSfriends ; MSViews_Multiple_Sclerosis ; low dose naltrexone Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 8:33 AM Subject: Article CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE THE MSRC PUBLISHED IN NEW PATHWAYS MAGAZINE FOR MARCH/APRIL ISSUE - EXCELLENT READ !!!! CLICK HERE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 ----- Original Message ----- From: Bayuk A Home away from Home a MS Support Board ; mscured ; MS-Christians ; MSersLife ; MSfriends ; MSViews_Multiple_Sclerosis ; low dose naltrexone Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 8:29 AM Subject: Article Opinion Coping With an Unprofitable Cure By Joe Undergrad May 01, 2004I am a Columbia undergrad with Multiple Sclerosis. You wouldn't recognize me as someone with MS, because I look just like you. I don't have a wheelchair or a cane, and I keep my diagnosis a secret (and am writing this article anonymously) in order to improve my chances of being employed after I finish school. In fact, you and I were probably similar in a lot of ways up until nine months ago, when I was diagnosed and put on a $10,000 per year designer drug that I inject every other day with the hope of slowing the progress of my condition. I know it's not pleasant to think about what your life would be like if what happened to me had happened to you. Probably, like me, you would be very angry. Some of this anger is irrational and useless, focused on people who are just plain luckier than me. But some of it is very justified, and it has to do with research and support institutions that are not doing everything they can to find a cure. MS is a chronic illness--that means you have it all your life--which affects the nervous system. The illness is poorly understood, but we do know that scars develop on the brain and/or spine of MS sufferers, and that the insulating material that surrounds their neurons deteriorates, making it much harder for the nervous system to move information around. Symptoms range from numbness, dizziness, and trouble concentrating to memory loss, blindness, and paralysis. About 400,000 Americans have MS; about 100,000 of them are in wheelchairs. Being an enterprising Ivy Leaguer, I've spent a lot of time since my diagnosis familiarizing myself with the disease and the efforts to cure it. Just like you would, I want to both find the best immediate treatment for myself and make sure that real efforts are being made to cure the disease in the long-term future. However, in the course of my research, I came across a lot of defeatism among people with MS. In fact, I found a large Web community of people who had given up on the designer drugs altogether. Whether because they couldn't afford them, because they couldn't tolerate the devastating side effects, or because their symptoms just weren't affected by the drugs, these people have turned to less conventional therapies. The most common and fastest growing of these is Low Dose Naltrexone, a drug with a ton of anecdotal evidence but no scientific studies proving that it helps MS sufferers. At least 1,000 people in the U.S. alone probably use LDN, which works by stimulating the body to create more endorphins, modifying both pain reception and immune response. This piqued my curiosity. If so many people are using LDN and claiming that it works, then why isn't it being tested for FDA approval in treating MS? The answer should have been obvious: LDN can't make anyone any money. The active ingredient, Naltrexone, was developed so long ago that no one holds a patent. Generic versions of the drug can be created and sold for a few bucks a dose, like ibuprofen. If LDN were certified for MS by the FDA, pharmaceutical companies would lose millions. This means that no pharmaceutical company would ever pay to test LDN. Fine, then, what about research institutions? Well ... no institutions are stepping forward either. Large research interests like Columbia's Medical Center also put a premium on intellectual property, and doctors there are pressured to find drugs from which they and their employers can profit. It is possible that a good-hearted doctor will eventually apply for a grant to do a study on the relationship between LDN and MS, which would probably cost between $600,000 and $3,000,000. Maybe Dr. Ian Zagon, a researcher at Penn State who has already done important work demonstrating the effectiveness of LDN in cancer treatments, will study MS next. Dr. Bernard Bihari, a New York neurologist who has prescribed LDN for both MS and AIDS, is another candidate. As of yet, no one has stepped up. Attempts to cure MS are financially dominated by pharmaceutical companies that have no interest in unprofitable solutions. The National MS Society only funds projects that are initiated by outside researchers, and they spend just 20 percent of their funds on research. There is no large-scale institution dedicated to advocating and developing new trends of research in MS, especially when those trends don't promise to be lucrative. Luckily, the internet now provides a forum for this problem to be recognized and remedied. Through message boards and Web sites built by non-profits like the Boston Cure Project, people with MS are starting to recognize and address the shortcomings of MS research. It's easy to make people with MS care about new approaches to finding a cure regardless of the profit model. It's much harder to convince the people who have the resources to make the cure possible, who usually do not have MS. If you've read this far, maybe by now you have some interest in finding a cure. Maybe you agree that it's not right to allow commercial economics to determine how a disease is researched and treated. Maybe you can help find a way to fix this. After all, I used to be a lot like you. The author is an undergraduate at Columbia University. Editor's Note: Spectator's policy is not to accept anonymous submissions, but an exception was made in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Try this one. Don't know why Globe links don't work... A recipe for longer life? Radical diets help mice. Now, the human frontier By Alice Dembner, Globe Staff | August 17, 2004 So strong is the lure of immortality that hundreds of Americans are nearly starving themselves in the hope of gaining a few extra healthy decades. Amid an era of super-sizing, these extreme dieters are following a blueprint from animal research that shows cutting calories about 40 percent below normal dramatically extends average lifespan. ADVERTISEMENT A drumbeat of studies in yeast, worms, flies and mice are unlocking the secrets behind this fountain of youth, and boosting efforts to find a pill that will mimic the effects of such sharp restrictions. There is no proof yet, however, that ''caloric restriction " will extend life for humans. The first controlled study in people is under way at Tufts University and two other sites, with preliminary results about the diet's safety expected this fall. But the lack of certitude hasn't stopped people from experimenting on themselves. About 2,000 enthusiasts are members of the Calorie Restriction Society, a California-based group that promotes the Spartan diet as offering immediate health benefits and supports those who try it. The group's president, Delaney, a Scituate native who now lives in Stockholm, estimates that about 200 to 300 members have cut their consumption by at least 30 percent while others are restricting food to a lesser degree. The key to success, according to the society, is consuming just enough essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fat, protein and carbohydrates. Lockhart of Dunstable, a grandmother and freelance software-quality engineer who joined the group late last year, said she wants to continue competing in triathlons through age 90. And if she can live in health to 140, all the better. ''I don't want to be sick, " said Lockhart, who doesn't want to disclose her current age. ''I don't want to be feeble. I want to be the mistress of my own destiny. " Already spare at 5 feet 5 inches and 120 pounds, she limits herself to a nutrient-dense mix of vegetables and lean proteins totaling about 1,600 calories a day. Lunch, for example, is typically a heaping plate of roasted vegetables with a side of bean chili. That meal plan puts her about 20 percent below what she previously ate, she said, and at least 30 percent below a typical adult woman who gets as much exercise -- 90 minutes to two hours a day. When she goes out to dinner, she orders a normal meal and eats only a third of it. ''It's a little harder when I visit people, " she said. ''I generally request a smaller portion. I will not be rude. " If the pattern in animals holds for people, Lockhart may be able to dodge many diseases of aging, including heart ailments, diabetes and cancer. A survey last year of 18 similar enthusiasts who had restricted their diets for three to 15 years found that many had significantly lowered their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. Lockhart already had a healthy diet, but said she feels even better now. She hasn't had a cold since severely restricting her diet a year ago, she sleeps more soundly and she has more than enough energy for work, triathlons, and a twice-weekly, pick-up basketball game with younger teammates. ADVERTISEMENT ''I used to be one of those people who get up groggy, " she said. ''Now I'm the Energizer bunny. Life is exciting. Why would I not want to be around for as long as possible? " Lockhart said she gets hungry as mealtime approaches, but has no ill effects from the eating restrictions. Others, however, especially those who have cut their calories by 40 percent or more, complain of constant hunger, moodiness and loss of libido. Women may also stop menstruating. Delaney gave up on a 40 percent reduction a few years ago after he dropped to 129 pounds on his 5-foot-11-inch frame. ''I was much healthier, I felt great. I just didn't like being that skinny, " said Delaney, 41, who now weighs 140 and eats about 1,850 calories a day, roughly 25 percent less than normal. ''Most people don't stick with an extreme version of this diet for very long. " Research in animals has found that the biggest life extension -- as much as 50 percent -- comes from starting a strict restriction in young adulthood and continuing it throughout life. But there is evidence that starting in midlife and cutting calories by only 10 to 20 percent yields a benefit, albeit smaller. Likewise, new research in mice shows fasting every other day, while eating normally in between, also increased average lifespan. The promise of the diet, coupled with the sacrifice required to follow it, is spurring scientists to seek a pill that produces a similar effect. In a paper published last month in the online version of Nature, Harvard Medical School molecular geneticist Sinclair and colleagues showed that a substance found in red wine and some vegetables appears to trigger the same mechanisms as caloric restriction in fruit flies and worms, and increases lifespan by about 20 percent without causing lethargy or infertility. Sinclair reported the same effect in yeast last summer. ''We're tricking the animals, " Sinclair said, ''into thinking they're running out of food, " which activates a gene that appears to play a big role in longevity by slowing the death of cells and enhancing the body's ability to repair damaged cells. The gene was discovered by Sinclair's former mentor, Leonard Guarente, an MIT molecular biologist. Scientists, who are still uncovering exactly how the process works, believe the effects of caloric restriction are an evolutionary response to allow creatures to survive during adversity and live long enough to reproduce when conditions improve. The stress caused by mild famine may strengthen the cells and allow them to withstand other stresses better and longer. Guarente recently reported that caloric restriction triggers a release of stored fat, which may tell the body ''it's time to hunker down for survival. " In addition, he suggests caloric restriction may spur the body to become more efficient at using nutrients. Other researchers are studying whether caloric restriction boosts immunity, or reduces the creation of ''free radicals, " molecules formed during food metabolism that can harm the body. Meanwhile, 142 people in Greater Boston, Louisiana and St. Louis are restricting their calorie intake between 10 and 30 percent in a government- funded study designed to determine how much can be safely cut and whether health improves. The one-year pilot phase ends this fall and is likely to be followed by a longer experiment. Hawkins, a 37-year-old real estate developer from Arlington who volunteered for the Tufts-based study, said the 30 percent restricted diet was a lot of work because of all the label-reading and measuring. At 5 feet 7 inches, she was allowed 1,700 calories, down from the 2,400 she had been eating. Initially, she craved chocolate and Boston cream donuts, but that eased over the year. Hawkins said she lost about 15 pounds and saw a reprieve from her hay fever. , a nutrition professor at Tufts University who oversees the study, stated in an e-mail that there are ''no medical issues yet [among the study's participants] and a lot of happy campers. " ''I'm waiting for the results to see that it is safe, " said, ''and then I'll probably join them. " © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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