Updated: 3/27/08; 6:27:42 PM.
A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Blog
Thoughts on biotech, knowledge creation and Web 2.0
        

Saturday, January 24, 2004


Apple builds RSS into iTunes.

You know, Apple really is leading the way with its support of RSS (this time in iTunes).

[The Scobleizer -- Geek Aggregator]

What a great idea. With a news aggregator you can know exactly when a song you might want is on the site.  11:45:51 PM    



Heterologous cell-cell interactions: thromboregulation, cerebroprotection and cardioprotection by CD39 (NTPDase-1)..

J Thromb Haemost. 2003 Dec; 1(12): 2497-509
Marcus AJ, Broekman MJ, Drosopoulos JH, Islam N, Pinsky DJ, Sesti C, Levi R

Blood platelets maintain vascular integrity and promote primary and secondary hemostasis following interruption of vessel continuity. Biochemical or physical damage to the coronary, carotid or peripheral arteries is followed by excessive platelet activation and recruitment culminating in vascular occlusion and tissue ischemia. Currently inadequate therapeutic approaches to stroke and coronary artery disease are a public health issue. Following our demonstration of neutrophil leukotriene production from arachidonate released from activated aspirin-treated platelets, we studied interactions between platelets and other blood cells, leading to concepts of transcellular metabolism and thromboregulation. Thrombosis has a proinflammatory component whereby biologically active substances are synthesized by interactions between different cell types that could not individually synthesize the product(s). Endothelial cells control platelet reactivity via three biochemical systems-autacoids leading to production of prostacyclin and nitric oxide, and endothelial ecto-ADPase/CD39/NTPDase-1. The autacoids are fluid-phase reactants, not produced by tissues in the basal state. They are only synthesized intracellularly and released upon interactions of cells with an agonist. When released, autacoids exert fleeting actions in the immediate milieu, and are rapidly inactivated. CD39 is an integral component of the endothelial cell surface and is substrate-activated. It maintains vascular fluidity in the complete absence of prostacyclin and nitric oxide, indicating that they are ancillary components of hemostasis. Therapeutic implications for the autacoids have not been compelling because of their transient, local and fleeting action, and limited potency. Conversely, CD39, acting solely on the platelet releasate, is efficacious in three different animal models. It metabolically neutralizes a prothrombotic platelet releasate via deletion of ADP-the major recruiting agent responsible for formation of an occlusive thrombus. In addition, solCD39 reduced ATP- and ischemia-induced norepinephrine release in the heart. This reduction can prevent fatal arrhythmia. Moreover, solCD39 ameliorated the sequelae of stroke in CD39 null mice. CD39 represents the next generation of cardioprotective and cerebroprotective molecules. [HubMed - cd39]

I collaborated with these labs while I was at Immunex. My group cloned murine CD39. We worked on CD39 for many years. It seems that Amgen is not collaborating with these labs or at least no one working at Amgen is one the papers. What a shame.  11:35:08 PM    



Brief pause for mental calibration.. Nate Bruinooge of Polytropos makes an observation all political bloggers should probably tape to their computer monitors for the next... [Electrolite]

An excellent oint. These guys do not get to national political office if they can not connect with people. Calling them wooden or an idiot is demonstrably wrong. They got here by charisma. we are just trying to parse who ahs the most.  11:19:36 PM    



Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? Part DXVI. This little note below about the mood at the World Economic Forum confirms what I've been hearing through a bunch of other channels as well. Alan Cowell of the New York Times is not telling it straight. Anti-Bushism is significantly stronger than it was last year, when there were a number of people outside the United States willing to entertain the possibility that the U.S. had accurate intelligence of close links between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and of Saddam's possession of large amounts of terror weapons and of various delivery capabilities. Now nobody takes anything the Bush administration says about anything at all as anything other than a probable manipulative lie. Whiskey Bar: I wanted to see whether this New York Times story was as out of touch with reality as I thought it was when I read it: "Anti-Americanism May Be Fading, but [World Economic] Forum Is No Love Fest: Compared with one year ago, when the forum became a bitter joust between America and opponents of war in Iraq, some ... skeptics and foes have begun to acquiesce in Washington's exercise of power, or at least to acknowledge that this new world order would not simply be... [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]

The key here is that it does not appear to be Anti-Americanism but Anti-Bushism that people are demonstrating at Davos. Bushites, such as Cheny, get chilly receptions. Other Americans who are not associated with this Adminstrations policies got very good receptions.   10:57:55 PM    



So Cute.

Lilliputian Hard Drives. Toshiba showed off (if you got really, REALLY close) a fingertip-size HD at this year's CES. The disk drive measures only 5 x 24 x 32 mm and weighs 10 g. It runs at 3600 rpm. The drive will first be available in 2GB and 4GB sizes and will be targeted at the phone and handheld markets. No word on whether it makes teeny-tiny spin-up/spin-down sounds. [Street Tech]

I wonder how big the iPod that has these suckes in them will be.  10:34:03 PM    



At Least They Are Dumping Trans-fats

Fritos Are Good For You!. FRITOS ARE GOOD FOR YOU!....Somebody left a link to this in comments, and the chutzpah was so magnificent that I felt like I had to share it: Frito-Lay has taken the USDA's famous food pyramid and replaced the "Bread, Cereal,... [Calpundit]

Everyone is being bombarded with messages indicating how EVERY food is good for you at the same time it is bad for you. This confusion works the same way phone companies work. They hope to confuse you so much that you just give up and keep doing what you always do. Here is the trans-fat link.  10:29:16 PM    



A picture named goofyPresidentialCandidate.jpgHere's a social software smart mob concept. People should vote for Howard Dean because he made such a fool of himself on national television. Here's your chance to blow up the media monopoly. Think of all the brain cells that will burn in New York and Washington. Save the smart bits for the Web, when you're on radio or TV you must act like an idiot. It's a meme. Make it viral. We love you Howard. Let's do a logo. Pass it on! [Scripting News]

Shouldn't be too hard a meme to start. Almost everyone on broadcast TV today is an idiot. And they seem to be proud of it. TV finally has produced a vast wasteland.  10:25:08 PM    



My Fear

Thailand convenes bird flu summit. Thailand is inviting officials from all six Asian nations hit by the avian flu crisis to an emergency summit. [BBC News | Health | World Edition]

This is pretty worrisome. Most influenzas that infect humans, that pass from person to person, are intially incubated in birds but pass through pigs before they hit humans. Bird flus are not normally directly transferable to humans. Luckily, there has not been any indication of human to human transfer of the virus but it is a highly mutable one. If it did accomplish this,we would be a real trouble. We normally generate flu vaccines by using fertilized chicken eggs. You might not be able to do this, since the virus comes from birds. It could kill the eggs, preventing any vaccine from being developed. If human to human transfer occurred, it could be another pandemic, overshadowing the worry of SARS from last year. Keep an eye on what is happening in Asia.  10:12:09 PM    



Not a lot of posting this week. I was a real adult, wearing a coat and tie several times this week. I probablydressed up more this week than I had in the previous 2 years. It was exciting to give some presentations about Etubics to some people but it was also exhausting. First time in a while i was looking forward to sleeping late on a Saturday.  9:59:31 PM    


 
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Last update: 3/27/08; 6:27:42 PM.