Staying Real in Israel
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Who would have thought? Researchers in both Israel and the UK have determined that the sudden exposure at night by flicking on a light just to go to the bathroom can cause changes that might well lead to cancer.

Apparently you’d be better off stubbing your toe on the way to the john, or even widdling just a wee bit on your bare toes, rather than turning on the light to avoid such unpleasant mishaps.

You makes your choices and you takes your chances…

Israel/UK Research says Switching off lights can avoid cancer

Switching off lights can avoid cancer

Simply turning on a light at night for a few seconds to go to the toilet can cause changes that might lead to cancer, scientists claim.

Reprinted from The Times of India

Researchers in the UK and Israel found that when a light is turned on at night, it triggers an “over-expression” of cells linked to the formation of cancer.

The tests were carried out on mice at Leicester University by geneticist Professor Charalambos Kyriacou. During the trial, a group of mice were exposed to a light for one hour. When compared with mice, who had been kept in the dark, changes were found in cells in the brain responsible for the circadian clock which controls body function.

“We believe that any turning on of artificial light in the night has an impact on the body clock. It’s a very sensitive mechanism. If you want to get up to go to the toilet, you should avoid reaching for the light switch. There are some plug-in lights that just glow, that are safe and you could use them as an alternative,” Rachel Ben-Shlomo, of the University of Haifa, was quoted as saying.

More fruits of Israeli/Jewish brainpower…Exciting research out of Hadassah University Medical Center, located in Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem. A new technology that allows the production of very large numbers of human embryonic stem cells for use in industry and research. Prior to this Israeli breakthrough, the cells could only be produced in tiny numbers. Now, massive amounts of cells can be made available for repairing human tissues and organs…and who knows what else?

Israeli Stem Cell Research

Israeli advance in stem cell tech

Hadassah breakthrough to produce large number of human embryonic stem cells

Reprinted from Jpost.com JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH AND JPOST.COM STAF

A new technology developed at Hadassah University Medical Center has made it possible to produce large amounts of human embryonic stem cells for industry and research by growing them in suspension.

Until now, hESCs – which have the potential of ripening into any other type of body cells for repair of tissues and organs – have been created in small numbers.

Called a “breakthrough” in hESC technology, the research was just published in the prestigious science journal Nature Biotechnology. The article, titled “Derivation, propagation and controlled differentiation of human embryonic stem cells in suspension,” was written by Dr. Debora Steiner as part of her post-doctoral work under the direction of Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, both of Hadassah’s Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center, with participation by other Hadassah colleagues.

HESC research has been stymied by the fact that it has, until now, been difficult to make large amounts of them. Conventionally, they have been cultured as colonies consisting of one cell layer attached to a flat “bed” of chemicals or nutrients. The involved a great deal of work, and the number of hESCs produced was limited.

It was thought that propagation of hESCs in a suspension (a mixture in which fine particles are suspended in a fluid where they are supported by buoyancy) was impossible because under these conditions, the cells would stop multiplying and instead undergo uncontrolled ripening into various types of cells.

But the Hadassah researchers developed unique conditions that made it possible for the cells to multiply significantly in suspension without differentiating into specific cell types. By changing the conditions of the culture, they showed that they could control the ripening of hESC clusters in suspension into neural spheres. Thus instead of being grown on beds in one layer, the stem cells could be cultivated in large vats with precise, computerized monitoring of growth conditions.

So here we have the obvious paradox…It would seem that you need to be a little on the slow side, I-Q-ishly speaking, to even start smoking today, given all we know about how harmful smoking is to your health. So the slightly duller blades amongst start smoking for whatever reason, and, as a result of their habit…they get even dumber…
It MUST be a conspiracy engaged in by all the tobacco companies…Surely, George Bush was also involved, somehow…
BTW…More great scientific research out of Tel Aviv University right here, in Israel (where, unfortunately, we DO have more than our share of tobacco hounds)…

Smoking Makes You Dumb(er)

Smokers have lower IQs

A cigarette dangling lazily from the mouth was once the telltale sign of an intellectual, but new evidence suggests it may have signalled quite the opposite

Reprinted from Telegraph.co.uk Nick Collins

Smokers have lower IQs than those who abstain, with intelligence decreasing the more one smokes, researchers have found.

A study of 18 to 21-year-old men revealed that the IQs of smokers averaged 94 – seven points lower than non-smokers on 101.

IQ scores in a healthy population of young men fall between 84 and 116, but those who smoked more than a pack of cigarettes a day averaged just 90 between them.

Researchers in Israel took data from more than 20,000 healthy men before, during and after they spent time in the Israeli military.

About 28 per cent of their sample smoked one or more cigarettes a day, three per cent considered themselves ex-smokers, and 68 per cent said they never smoked.

Professor Mark Weiser, of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Psychiatry, said: “In the health profession, we’ve generally thought that smokers are most likely the kind of people to have grown up in difficult neighbourhoods, or who’ve been given less education at good schools.

“But because our study included subjects with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, we’ve been able to rule out socio-economics as a major factor.”

The study also measured effects in twin brothers – and in the case where one twin smoked, the non-smoking twin registered a higher IQ on average.

Prof Weiser said: “People on the lower end of the average IQ tend to display poorer overall decision-making skills when it comes to their health.

“People with lower IQs are not only prone to addictions such as smoking. These same people are more likely to have obesity, nutrition and narcotics issues.

“Our study may help parents and health professionals help at-risk young people make better choices.”

The study was reported in a recent version of the journal Addiction.