Of the selected disease-specific areas targeted for funding by the NIAID in their published annual report, none specifically mentions a neglected infection of poverty [165]. A consequence of this lack of targeted funding for neglected diseases is that the development of critically needed new tools for these conditions has lagged behind those for biodefense. The Global Forum on Health Research has coined the term “the 10/90 gap” to describe how only 10% of resources are devoted to 90% of the global burden of disease, i.e., that represented by disease disproportionately occurring in developing countries [166]. The absence of development of new tools for neglected infections of poverty, such as those outlined above, highlights a unique American 10/90 gap for poor people and people of color in the US.

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases: Neglected Infections of Poverty in the United States of America.

YOu probably haven’t heard of these diseases. They’re neglected. And they mostly affect poor people in specific areas. With climate change probably leading to more poverty-level population migrations, we can expect these diseases and parasites to affect increasing numbers of people…..

In the current issue of the journal Science, they describe a material with twice the efficiency of anything currently on the market.

The same technology could work in power generators and heat pumps, said project leader Joseph Heremans, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Nanotechnology at Ohio State University.

Material May Help Autos Turn Heat Into Electricity.

Hmm - could this be applied to the exterior of solar troughs, for recatpture? Or, say used on the inside of kilns?

Nine out of ten regular food items aimed specifically at children have a poor nutritional content – because of high levels of sugar, fat or sodium - according to a detailed study of 367 products published in the July issue of the UK-based journal Obesity Reviews.

Just under 70 per cent of the products studied - which specifically excluded confectionery, soft drinks and bakery items - derived a high proportion of calories from sugar. Approximately one in five (23 per cent) had high fat levels and 17 per cent had high sodium levels. Despite this, 62 per cent of the foods with poor nutritional quality (PNQ) made positive claims about their nutritional value on the front of the packet.

89 percent of children’s food products provide poor nutritional quality.

are we surprised? this is the nature of what we’re up against.

The research suggests that goals can be triggered without consciousness. In other words, passing a discount store on the way to the sporting good store might affect an eventual purchase….. In the authors’ final study, participants viewed numbers on a computer screen while U.S. retail brand names flashed on the edge of their field of vision. Those brand names were associated with prestige (Tiffany, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom) or thrift (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Dollar Store). Those 60-millisecond flashes influenced the participants’ choices of socks or microwaves.

Chicago Journals - News.

YOu can cite this the next time someone tells you that “subliminal advertising is a myth and wouldn’t work”.

German expert Wolfgang Junk says the impact of climate change on wetlands is small so far compared to the damage caused by poor management at the local level.

“Lessening the stress on wetlands caused by pollution and other human assaults will improve their resiliency and represents an important climate change adaptation strategy,” he says. “Wetland rehabilitation, meanwhile, represents a viable alternative to artificial flood control and dredging efforts that may be needed to cope with the larger, more frequent floods predicted in a hotter world.”

Prof. Junk, of the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, notes that maintenance of wetlands is much cheaper than rehabilitation and that poorer countries will have fewer means to rehabilitate their wetlands to cope with climate change. Wetland-friendly development alternatives must be elaborated in developing countries, therefore, to minimize losses of their many benefits, he says.

Massive greenhouse gases may be released as destruction, drying of world wetlands worsens: UN.

Note that climate change isn’t the big culprit here - yet. Pollution is. Wetlands remediation could be a major growth industry, yet absent a clear economic incentive in the private sector, it will be a while before this takes off

Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science Mark Changizi has begun to develop a technique to turn our eyes and visual system into a programmable computer. His findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal Perception.

Harnessing the computing power of our visual system, according to Changizi, requires visually representing a computer program in such a way that when an individual views the representation, the visual system naturally carries out the computation and generates a perception.

Study suggests human visual system could make powerful computer.

A bit strange, and highly theoretical at this point… Noted.

The journal paper, ‘Cow Power: The Energy and Emissions Benefits of Converting Manure to Biogas’, has implications for all countries with livestock as it is the first attempt to outline a procedure for quantifying the national amount of renewable energy that herds of cattle and other livestock can generate and the concomitant GHG emission reductions.

Livestock manure, left to decompose naturally, emits two particularly potent GHGs – nitrous oxide and methane. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, nitrous oxide warms the atmosphere 310 times more than carbon dioxide, methane does so 21 times more.

Cow power could generate electricity for millions.

One would also have to quantify the costs and environmental effects of producing the cattle feed, etc. While they point to a potential 3% of demand replacable, this ignores the demand associated with raising cattle in the first place.

They contend that the most dramatic reduction in energy used for food processing would come about if consumers reduced their demand for highly processed foods. This would also help cut down food miles and its related fuel cost as US food travels an average of 2,400 km before it is consumed.

This study argues strongly that the consumer is in the strongest position to contribute to a reduction in energy use.

http://www.springer-sbm.com/index.php?id=291&backPID=132&L=0&tx_tnc_news=4671&cHash=037d2b4a56

Hmm. A clear example of looking at the abstract possibilities rather than reality. While this is theoretically true, it fails to address the issue of manufactured demand, which is the driving force of a great deal of our economy.

Demand reduction by consumers hasn’t worked all that well over the last 40 - yes, 40 - years. One would think that kind of history would be addressed when discussing the “best position” for impacting climate change. In fact, governmental policies and subsidies impact production, and which demand is manufactured.

“We hope our finding is ultimately beneficial for people who suffer from non-healing wounds, such as foot ulcers and diabetic ulcers, as well as for treatment of trauma-induced wounds like burns,” said Menno Oudhoff, first author of the report.

Specifically, scientists found that histatin, a small protein in saliva previously only believed to kill bacteria was responsible for the healing.

Licking your wounds: Scientists isolate compound in human saliva that speeds wound healing.

ok, this just has all kinds of humor potential - as well as healing and health aspects.

Scientists say they have found a workable way of reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere by adding lime to seawater. And they think it has the potential to dramatically reverse CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere, reports Cath O’Driscoll in SCI’s Chemistry & Industry magazine published today.

A dash of lime — a new twist that may cut CO2 levels back to pre-industrial levels.

Interesting thought. One wonders at how effective it would actually be, and has to raise an eyebrow at Shell’s involvement, but… hey, you probably won’t see this in the mainstream.