Photographer Mathieu Young took these intimate pictures of a small pot farm at harvest time. We see the whole process, from the harvest in hidden greenhouses to the trimming, sorting, drying, and packaging for shipment. I keep imagining that they are growing lettuce and fruit to share with a small, underground collective of organic farmers who don't want to pay a licensing fee to farm. Or maybe I've just been reading too much Margaret Atwood.

See the whole amazing sequence of photos in this gallery by Mathieu Young [via Dose Nation]

A group of Spanish researchers reported today in Science that they may have stumbled upon a substance that could become the ultimate memory-enhancer. The group was studying a poorly-understood region of the visual cortex. They found that if they boosted production of a protein called RGS-14 (pictured) in that area of the visual cortex in mice, it dramatically affected the animals' ability to remember objects they had seen.

Mice with the RGS-14 boost could remember objects they had seen for up to two months. Ordinarily the same mice would only be able to remember these objects for about an hour.

The researchers concluded that this region of the visual cortex, known as layer six of region V2, is responsible for creating visual memories. When the region is removed, mice can no longer remember any object they see.

If this protein boosts visual memory in humans, the implications are staggering. In their paper, the researchers say that it could be used as a memory-enhancer – which seems like an understatement. What's particularly intriguing is the fact that this protein works on visual memory only. So as I mentioned earlier, it would be perfect for mapping. It would also be useful for engineers and architects who need to hold a lot of visual images in their minds at once. And it would also be a great drug for detectives and spies.

Could it also be a way to gain photographic memory? For example, if I look at a page of text will I remember the words perfectly? Or will I simply remember how the page looked?

I can't see much of a downside for this potential drug, unless the act of not forgetting what you see causes problems or trauma.

via Science

A group of European researchers discovered a ligand, or a chemical that binds with molecules, can soothe even the most anxious of creatures. As they write in an article published today in Science, they induced anxiety attacks in mice and men, administered the ligand XBD173, and found that their fear subsided immediately. The best part is that this treatment isn't addictive, doesn't take weeks to be effective, and doesn't make you feel dopey or drowsy.

According to a release from the authors of the study:

This finding suggests that the ligand, XBD173, might be a good candidate for use as a safe and fast-acting anti-anxiety agent. Current treatments like benzodiazepines often have unwanted side effects like sedation, tolerance, or symptoms of withdrawal after chronic use. Anti-depressant drugs are also sometimes administered to treat anxiety, but their beneficial effects only occur after several weeks of treatment. Looking for something new, Rainer Rupprecht and colleagues administered XBD173 to laboratory rats and observed that it prevented panic behavior almost immediately – without the rats building tolerance or any other unwanted side effects. They then performed a study among 70 healthy human men, involving a placebo group, and found that XBD173 initiated a fast anti-anxiety response without any withdrawal symptoms after prolonged use. The authors say that XBD173 promotes these calming effects through its modulation of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA, and they suggest the ligand be considered for use in future clinical applications.

There are few things I would want to know before gulping down this drug. First of all, is anxiety the same thing as fear? The reason I ask is that it sounds like this could be an anti-fear agent, which might prevent risk aversion. That's right: a super soldier drug. What I'm saying is that I would like to know exactly which of my emotions are being muted by this substance. Is it just that I feel more mellow at a party, or am I likely to walk into the street in front of a car because I'm fearless?

The hopeful part of this drug is that there are no side effects known so far. It would be great to have a drug that reduced anxiety without making you feel like your entire consciousness had been reduced. However, until that whole super soldier drug thing is resolved, I'm still little bit suspicious.

via Science

A Massachusetts company called GTC Therapeutics manufactures ATryn, which is designed to help people with blood-clotting disorders. Though ATryn is unlikely to become a blockbuster drug, since it aids only a small part of the population, its approval opens the door for more pharmed drugs to hit the market. But why genetically engineer a herd of goats instead of just making drugs the old-fashioned way?

According to the New York Times:

Proponents say such "pharm animals" could become a means of producing biotechnology drugs at lower cost or in greater quantities than the existing methods - which include extracting proteins from donated human blood or growing them in large steel vats of genetically engineered cells.

The protein in the goat milk, antithrombin, is sometimes in short supply or unavailable for pharmaceutical use because of a shortage of human plasma donations. GTC Biotherapeutics said one of its goats can produce as much antithrombin in a year as can be derived from 90,000 blood donations. And if more drug is needed, the herd can be expanded.

More pharmed drugs are already in production, including a cure for hereditary angioedema (a disorder that causes tissue swelling) produced in the milk of GMO rabbits.

SOURCES:

The Great Beyond [blog for Nature journal]

New York Times

A release from the University of Illinois explains:

Erythromycin and newer macrolide antibiotics azithromycin and clarithromycin are often used to treat respiratory tract infections, as well as outbreaks of syphilis, acne and gonorrhea. The drugs can be used by patients allergic to penicillin.

Macrolide antibiotics act upon the ribosomes, the protein-synthesizing factories of the cell. A newly-made protein exits the ribosome through a tunnel that spans the ribosome body. Antibiotics can ward off an infection by attaching to the ribosome and preventing proteins the bacterium needs from moving through the tunnel.

Some bacteria have learned how to sense the presence of the antibiotic in the ribosomal tunnel, and in response, switch on genes that make them resistant to the drug, Mankin said. The phenomenon of inducible antibiotic expression was known decades ago, but the molecular mechanism was unknown.

Mankin and his team of researchers — Nora Vazquez-Laslop, assistant professor in the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, and undergraduate student Celine Thum — used new biochemical and genetic techniques to work out the details of its operation.

"Combining biochemical data with the knowledge of the structure of the ribosome tunnel, we were able to identify some of the key molecular players involved in the induction mechanism," said Vazquez-Laslop.

"We only researched response to erythromycin-like drugs because the majority of the genetics were already known," she said. "There may be other antibiotics and resistance genes in pathogenic bacteria regulated by this same mechanism. This is just the beginning."

Four-fifths of all respondents in the Nature poll (not just the pill-poppers) thought people should be allowed to take these pills if they wanted to.

It's interesting to compare these results with those from an annual study done by the National Coffee Association, which reports that 1 in 5 people in the U.S. drinks espresso drinks. They also have a fascinating chart, similar to the chart done for the Nature study, showing what percentage of people drank coffee the day before the survey, and breaking down the answers by age. You can see that recreational coffee use is rampant — up to 70 percent of people drank coffee within the last 24 hours in 2007.

And yet coffee is a crappier stimulant than Ritalin or Provigil, with lots of bad side-effects. So the lesson here? Scientists get the good shit, and the rest of us are left clutching a shakes-inducing mug of Starbucks. Charts via Nature and the National Coffee Association.

Poll Results: Look Who's Doping [Nature]

Taking testosterone actually strengthens bones weakened by the natural aging process, a process that is accelerated after women go through menopause. Could testosterone be the new wonder drug women have been looking for? In a release, the researchers said:

Testosterone administration appears to reduce bone turnover, perhaps closing the gap between resorption and formation . . . and the effects of testosterone on long-term bone metabolism are unclear, but are expected to have at least a protective effect on existing bone mass over time by preventing unwanted increases in bone turnover that are frequently associated with osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is often associated with high bone turnover (increases in bone resorption as well as in bone formation) which results in decreased BMD.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy Beneficial [Eurekalert]

In March 2006, researcher Stefan Kruszewski wrote in The American Journal of Psychiatry:

Modanifil is reinforcing, as evidenced by its self-administration in monkeys previously trained to self-administer cocaine.

Modafinil and cocaine dose-dependently increased heart rate and blood pressure. The results of the present study suggest that modafinil has minimal abuse potential, but should be viewed cautiously because of the relatively small sample size. Future studies should further characterize the abuse potential of modafinil using other behavioral arrangements, such as drug discrimination or drug self-administration. A full characterization of the abuse potential of modafinil will become important as the use of this drug increases.

In early trials, several candidate medications—bupropion, modafinil, and, to a lesser extent, baclofen—have shown promise in treating aspects of methamphetamine dependence, including aiding memory function necessary to more effectively participate in and benefit from behavioral therapies.

INTERPOL had been trying to bust the gang for years, and finally brought in a group of scientists who analyze pollen — forensic polynologists. They tested minute samples of pollen in the counterfeit pills, and discovered the pollen was very specific to a certain region in China.

A study released today in PLoS Medicine explains:

The pollen evidence suggested that at least some of the counterfeit [malaria drug] artesunate came from southern China, and this was supported by examination of the mineral calcite, found in some of the samples . . . Armed with these findings by INTERPOL, Chinese authorities arrested a suspect in China's Yunnan Province in 2006. He is alleged to have traded 240,000 blisterpacks of counterfeit artesunate, enough to "treat" almost a quarter of a million adults with a medicine with no activity against a potentially fatal disease. Whilst the Chinese authorities were able to seize 24,000 of these packs, the remainder are alleged to have been sold at crossings on the border of Yunnan and Myanmar (Burma), accounting for almost a half of all blisterpacks of artesunate sold to the region.

A Collaborative Epidemiological Investigation [PLoS Medicine]

For people who aren't in the soldiering life, the study offers a different insight: Being depressed makes you likely to seek out situations that will depress you more. Because you've become less risk-averse, you're more likely to go down a dark alley that people with higher levels of serotonin would avoid. And if you got beaten up in that dark alley, the resulting compounded depression might make you do something even riskier next time.

Taking a serotonin reuptake inhibitor like Prozac, which keeps more serotonin circulating in your brain, actually causes you to avoid bad situations as well as evening out your mood.

Seratonin, Inhibition, and Negative Mood [PLoS Computational Biology]

The researcher claims:

Skin surface irregularity can be improved through the topical application of niacin, while the appearance of fine lines can be diminished through the application of moisturizers containing engineered peptides and over-the-counter retinoids. Skin pigmentation can become more regular with the use of photoprotective ingredients. Furthermore, combining cosmeceutical ingredients in a moisturizing agent can magnify benefits and improve skin appearance.

Cosmeceuticals [Eurekalert]

According to a report by Laurie Garrett and David Fidler in PLoS Medicine, Indonesia is demanding greater access to vaccines derived from samples it has shared with researchers from the World Health Organization. Garrett and Fidler say many developing countries are now asking:

What's in it for us? We share virus samples, and pharmaceutical companies make vaccines from them that primarily benefit rich countries. Without better access to vaccine, why should we share virus samples?

Sharing H5N viruses to stop a global influenza pandemic [PLoS Medicine]