Source: Melayu Kini

“It is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planets escalating extinction crisis,” amphibian scientists Robin Moore of the Virginia-based group said.

“Amphibians are at the forefront of this tragedy, so I hope that these unique species serve as flagships for conservation, inspiring pride and hope by Malaysians and people everywhere,” he was quoted in the release.

Malaysian researcher Indraneil Das set out with his team to rediscover the Sambas Stream Toad last August, searching after dark along the rugged ridges of a mountain range in western Sarawak state.

The toad was listed as one of the “World’s Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs” as part of a campaign by CI and another group to encourage scientists around the world to seek out amphibians that had not been seen in a decade or longer.

After months of combing through the jungle, the Sarawak team eventually discovered a small toad up a tree, which turned out to be the missing Sambas Stream Toad. In total, they found three individuals up three different trees.

“Thrilling discoveries like this beautiful toad, and the critical importance of amphibians to healthy ecosystems, are what fuel us to keep searching for lost species,” Das was quoted in the release.

“They remind us that nature still holds precious secrets that we are still uncovering, which is why targeted protection and conservation is so important,” he said.

Das already made headlines last year after he discovered Asia’s tiniest frog, which is the size of a pea, in a national park in Sarawak state.

Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah states make up Malaysia’s half of Borneo island, which is shared with Indonesia.

Source: MSN

Turmeric is a basic ingredient in most curries

The cells eventually digest themselves and die. The results of the study were published in the British Journal of Cancer on Wednesday. Curcumin gives turmeric (curcuma zangais) its orangy-yellow colour. The rhizome, a close relative of the ginger, is commonly used in Asian cooking as well as in traditional medicine.

Chinese and Ayurvedic medical practioners use turmeric as a treatment for many ailments as it has anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal properties and believed to lower cholestrol. The results of the Cork Cancer Research Centre study were published in the British Journal of Cancer on Wednesday.

Turmeric, a close relative of the ginger, is commonly used in Asian cooking as well as in traditional medicine

“These exciting results suggest that scientists can develop curcumin as a potential anti-cancer drug to treat oesophageal cancer,” said Dr Sharon McKenna who led the study.

She said scientists had known hat natural compounds had the potential to treat faulty cells that become cancerous, adding they also suspected curcumin’s possible therapeutic value.

She said medical researcher Dr Geraldine O’Sullivan-Coyne who had been looking for new ways of killing resistant oesophageal cancer cells tested curcumin on resistant cells.

“She found that they started to die using an unexpected system of cell messages.”

“Normally, faulty cells die by committing programmed suicide – or apoptosis – which occurs when proteins called caspases are ‘switched on’ in cells.”

“But these cells showed no evidence of suicide and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this ‘switch being flicked’, made no difference to the number of cells which died.”

“This suggested that curcumin attacked cancer cells using an alternative cell signalling system,” she added.

Oesophagus cancer kill more than half a million people in the world each year. The cancers are exceptionally deadly, with five-year survival rates of between 12 and 31 per cent.

The number of oesophageal cancer cases have gone up tremendously since the 70s and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease.

Source: Cancer Research UK | Published Oct 29 2009 via Dailychili

French drugs group Sanofi said on Friday that its vaccine against dengue, a mosquito-borne infection that kills thousands of people around the world each year, could be launched in about four years. — PHOTO: AP

BANGKOK – FRENCH drugs group Sanofi said on Friday that its vaccine against dengue, a mosquito-borne infection that kills thousands of people around the world each year, could be launched in about four years. ‘The vaccine could be available… around 2015,’ Jean Lang, head of vaccine development at the group’s subsidiary Sanofi-Pasteur, told reporters in Bangkok.

The launch date is dependent on regulatory approval in each country based on the results of trials. The vaccine is the first for dengue to undergo advanced ‘Phase III’ clinical trials – the final stage before the results are submitted for regulatory approval.

About 4,000 children in the central Thai province of Ratchaburi, one of the worst affected areas in the country, are participating in a study that aims to establish the efficacy of the vaccine. Dengue causes severe, flu-like symptoms in about 50 million people every year, mainly in developing countries. There are four strains, one of which is a potentially lethal type. — AFP

Source: Straits Times

Unsurprisingly, Westerners often react to the plant by pointing out it looks like the hand of Freddy Krueger, not knowing that it was named after a hand millennia before. This weird citron grows on small shrubs and trees and has a thick peel. There is hardly any flesh within the fruit – sometimes none at all. Furthermore it has no juice and often has no seeds either. So what on earth is the use of this fruit?

Smell. It has a lovely smell – and you might be forgiven for thinking that this would be akin to the aroma of lemons. However, it has a delicious fragrance more like violets than anything else and is used to perfume rooms. It is also used to keep clothing smelling lovely and fresh. You might have to look twice, when it is displayed in the markeplaces of Asia – you could think it was a display of bananas (albeit strange ones) out of the corner of your eye.

The peel is often candied. This is a rather involved process but worth it as the resulting succade is delicious. The fruit is sliced and depulped. Then it is placed in to salt water to ferment for forty days with the brine replaced a few times during the process. After that it is put in to an even more formidable brine solution for storage. After it has been de-salted and boiled to soften up the peel it is then placed in to a sugar solution. The result – candied Hand! The above picture, however, shows the Buddha’s hand being infused in vodka.

The candying process might put you off, so instead it can also be used simply, just for its zest, produced by scraping or peeling its outer skin. With the Buddha’s Hand, you can cut off its fingers, slice it length ways and use it in salad or on fish dishes. The plant is thought to come from China or the North East of India and it does grow best in temperate conditions. As it is sensitive to extremes such as heat and frost, inland valleys are the best place for propagation and, indeed, the tree can be found as far afield as the US.

As the name suggests, the fruit is also popular as an offering in Buddhism. Traditionally, it is said that Buddha prefers the fingers to resemble a praying hand. When you look at traditional Buddhist dance you can also see the similarity between that and the fruit. From the sublime, however, to the – well, you make up your mind. As parents the world over have said for millennia, there always has to be one…

Source: Kuriositas

Their Logo

Located right next to Denkigai(Electric Town) entrance of Akihabara Station.

Gundam Official Website: (http://g-cafe.jp/)

The innocent boy was lying on the python with a very relaxing manner without once thinking about the future danger he might engage. How peaceful…

His other friend chose the head python over the Ultraman puppet in his right hand.

The family members were really underestimating the python’s animal instinct. They played the python cheerfully without feeling any fear. Thinking safe? Forget it. It is a big solute to them!

Images Source: Keralites Net