Breast milk contains more than 700 species of bacteria

Jan. 4, 2013 ? Spanish researchers have traced the bacterial microbiota map in breast milk, which is often the main source of nourishment for newborns. The study has revealed a larger microbial diversity than originally thought: more than 700 species.

The breast milk received from the mother is one of the factors determining how the bacterial flora will develop in the newborn baby. However, the composition and the biological role of these bacteria in infants remain unknown.

A group of Spanish scientists have now used a technique based on massive DNA sequencing to identify the set of bacteria contained within breast milk called microbiome. Thanks to their study, pre- and postnatal variables influencing the micriobial richness of milk can now be determined.

Colostrum is the first secretion of the mammary glands after giving birth. In some of the samples taken of this liquid, more than 700 species of these microorganisms were found, which is more than originally expected by experts. The results have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"This is one of the first studies to document such diversity using the pyrosequencing technique (a large scale DNA sequencing determination technique) on colostrum samples on the one hand, and breast milk on the other, the latter being collected after one and six months of breastfeeding," explain the coauthors, Mar?a Carmen Collado, researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) and Alex Mira, researcher at the Higher Public Health Research Centre (CSISP-GVA).

The most common bacterial genera in the colostrum samples were Weissella, Leuconostoc, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and Lactococcus. In the fluid developed between the first and sixth month of breastfeeding, bacteria typical of the oral cavity were observed, such as Veillonella, Leptotrichia and Prevotella.

"We are not yet able to determine if these bacteria colonise the mouth of the baby or whether oral bacteria of the breast-fed baby enter the breast milk and thus change its composition," outline the authors.

The heavier the mother, the fewer the bacteria

The study also reveals that the milk of overweight mothers or those who put on more weight than recommended during pregnancy contains a lesser diversity of species.

The type of labour also affects the microbiome within the breast milk: that of mothers who underwent a planned caesarean is different and not as rich in microorganisms as that of mothers who had a vaginal birth. However, when the caesarean is unplanned (intrapartum), milk composition is very similar to that of mothers who have a vaginal birth.

These results suggest that the hormonal state of the mother at the time of labour also plays a role: "The lack of signals of physiological stress, as well as hormonal signals specific to labour, could influence the microbial composition and diversity of breast milk," state the authors.

Help for the food industry

Given that the bacteria present in breast milk constitute one of initial instances of contact with microorganisms that colonise the infant's digestive system, the researchers are now working to determine if their role is metabolic (it helps the breast-fed baby to digest the milk) or immune (it helps to distinguish beneficial or foreign organisms).

For the authors, the results have opened up new doors for the design of child nutrition strategies that improve health. "If the breast milk bacteria discovered in this study were important for the development of the immune system, its addition to infant formula could decrease the risk of allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases," conclude the authors.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

1. R. Cabrera-Rubio, M. C. Collado, K. Laitinen, S. Salminen, E. Isolauri, A. Mira. The human milk microbiome changes over lactation and is shaped by maternal weight and mode of delivery. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012; 96 (3): 544 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.112.037382

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/KfZFuI4HuTE/130104083103.htm

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Steroids that only nature could make on a large scale -- Until now

Friday, January 4, 2013

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have achieved a feat in synthetic chemistry by inventing a scalable method to make complex natural compounds known as "polyhydroxylated steroids." These compounds, used in heart-failure medications and other drugs, have been notoriously problematic to synthesize in the laboratory.

The researchers demonstrated the new strategy by synthesizing ouabagenin [wa-bah-jenn-in], a close chemical cousin of ouabain, which Somali tribes once used as a potent poison on the tips of their arrows but was later developed as a treatment for congestive heart failure. This achievement, reported in the January 4, 2012 issue of Science, points the way to a scalable formation and modification of a variety of useful compounds that had been obtainable in significant quantities only from plants or animals.

"Previous synthetic routes to these compounds required so many steps as to be impractical on a large scale," said Phil S. Baran, a professor and a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI, "but we were able to come up with a completely new strategy."

Looking for Answers

The Baran laboratory has a longstanding interest in the practical and scalable synthesis of complex natural products. The group's latest achievement was stimulated by a request from a Denmark-based drug company, LEO Pharma, whose chemists sought an efficient way to make complex, bioactive steroids. "We decided to go for the most complex member of the family, ouabagenin, which is probably the most polyhydroxylated steroid known on planet Earth," said Baran.

Polyhydroxylated steroids have four carbon-based rings and are adorned with several hydroxyl groups, giving these molecules a high oxidation level and making them very difficult to synthesize and modify using simple methods. "Ouabagenin has six of these hydroxyl groups, which also exist in a lopsided orientation," said Hans Renata, a graduate student in the Baran laboratory who was first author of the study. "This confers a strong directionality on ouabagenin molecules, so that they tend to stick even to inorganic material such as laboratory glassware, especially on small scale."

In 2009, the Baran laboratory reported in Nature a holistic approach to synthesizing a class of natural products called terpenes (for an article describing that discovery, see http://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20090518/baran.html). This approach includes a laboratory "oxidase phase" that relies on the direct incorporation of functional groups (such as hydroxyl groups) into carbon?hydrogen bonds to reach highly oxidized terpene targets. Since steroids form a sub-category within the terpene family, the scientists hypothesized that these guidelines for terpene construction should apply to the synthesis of steroids, and in particular, to ouabagenin. Organic chemists have traditionally propagated functional groups from one carbon atom in the molecule to an adjacent carbon atom, which could result in lengthy syntheses; a previous synthesis of ouabagenin had been completed by another research group in 2008, but in 41 steps. The Baran group sought to incorporate the logic of carbon?hydrogen functionalization and long-range functional group transformations for a completely new strategy toward ouabagenin.

Only 21 Steps

Putting this idea into practice, Baran and Renata devised a series of reactions to convert a common, cheaply available steroid, cortisone acetate, into ouabagenin. The process uniquely combines two broad strategies?redox relay and oxidative stereochemical relay?which essentially propagate functional groups to desired locations within the molecule to enable rapid modifications from the starting material to the final target. "From cortisone acetate to ouabagenin took us only 21 steps," said Renata.

Although the scalable synthesis of such a difficult compound is itself a major achievement, the new approach also enables a versatile modification of hydroxylated steroids. "With our strategy, we can make even small changes at any part of the molecule," said Baran. That could help pharmaceutical chemists, for example, to tweak the chemical structures of natural toxins such as ouabain to make them less dangerous and more therapeutic at high doses.

"LEO Pharma's collaboration with Professor Baran and his team has the potential to unlock the door to an array of new opportunities in our product discovery and research," said Michael Sierra, the company's director of external discovery.

###

Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126131/Steroids_that_only_nature_could_make_on_a_large_scale____Until_now

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DOD says it?s banning gay blogs for national security reasons ? doesn?t ban FRC?s blog, Red State (Americablog)

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United Tech's Sikorsky sole bidder in U.S. helicopter contest

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Friday declined to confirm that it had received only one bid for a $6.8 billion helicopter competition that closed on Thursday, saying that information was "source selection sensitive."

All but one of the contractors expected to bid to build a new combat search and rescue helicopters for the Air Force announced last month that they would not compete, raising the prospect that the Air Force would have to adopt a different approach to the acquisition program.

Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp , did submit a bid for the competition, based on its H-60 helicopter, according to a company spokesman. Other potential competitors confirmed that they had decided to skip the bidding, and at least one of the companies said it was exploring a possible legal challenge to the terms of the competition.

Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick declined to say how many companies had submitted bids by the January 3 deadline or whether the Air Force had already initiated steps to reflect that the procurement would now come from a sole source.

"We cannot release as the information is source selection sensitive," he told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Gulick said the Air Force remained "committed to a fair, open and transparent process" to pick a new, affordable Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) that met the military's requirements.

"To ensure this occurs, we are prohibited from releasing information while in the request for proposal and selection processes. Once we select and announce the final contractor we will be able to openly discuss the details of the CRH program," he said in an emailed statement.

Lieutenant General Charles Davis, the top military official in charge of Air Force acquisition, told Reuters in an interview last month that the helicopter competition was structured to tell potential bidders exactly what capabilities the Air Force wanted and what it could afford.

He denied that the terms of the competition had been written to favor the Black Hawk helicopter built by Sikorsky, and said Sikorsky would be asked to submit certified cost and pricing data if it turned out to be the sole bidder for the program.

A Sikorsky spokesman said the company was aware that it could be asked to provide such data if no other bids came in. Lockheed Martin Corp is a key subcontractor on the Sikorsky bid.

Boeing, Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc , EADS and Northrop Grumman Corp teamed with AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA , announced last month that they would not bid for the work.

At the time, industry executives said the bidding rules were so narrowly framed that they effectively excluded all but Sikorsky's Black Hawk helicopter from the competition, and would not reward extra capability offered by other aircraft.

Davis last month said that the Air Force had already drawn up plans for how to handle the procurement if only one company submitted a bid, although he said the service would have preferred to have a competitive process with more bidders.

He said the Air Force's move away from more "nebulous" and "open-ended" procurements was a positive thing for industry, allowing companies to make more informed decisions about whether to spend money preparing a bid for a given competition.

He said the change toward more narrowly-defined requirements for military equipment was a result of multiple protests filed by companies in recent years that challenged the more open and subjective way procurements were structured in the past.

Boeing won the Air Force's last rescue helicopter competition with its H-47 helicopter, only to see the $15 billion contract after several protests by losing bidders.

"This is clearly a result of all of the issues that have accumulated over the years of all of these high visibility protests," he said. As a result, the Air Force was now being more diligent in how it structured its acquisition programs.

"The bottom line is this is a good news story," he told Reuters in December.

(Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/united-techs-sikorsky-sole-bidder-u-helicopter-contest-201245022--finance.html

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Private moon startup hires lander designer

The new moon travel startup Golden Spike has chosen its first contractor to design private lunar lander vehicles: veteran aerospace firm Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman built the very first manned lunar landers back in the 1960s (when the company was called Grumman) for NASA's Apollo program. The firm made the Eagle module that carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the lunar surface for the first manned moon landing in 1969.

Now the company will design a vehicle to help Golden Spike achieve its goal of establishing routine commercial transportation of people to the moon and back by the end of the decade.

"This is a significant step forward in our plans," Gerry Griffin, Golden Spike's board chairman, said in a statement. "Northrop Grumman brings Golden Spike a unique body of knowledge and skills as the only company to ever build a successful human-rated lunar lander, the Apollo Lunar Module."

The founding of Golden Spike (named after the final spike built into the First Transcontinental Railroad), was announced just last month, though the project has been secretly in the works for two and a half years. [ Graphic: How Golden Spike's Moon Landing Plan Works ]

The startup hopes to sell round-trip moon expeditions to foreign countries, research organizations and even some wealthy individuals. Company market studies suggest Golden Spike could sell and carry out 15 to 25 of these trips within 10 years, once it gets going. Each expedition will carry a price tag of roughly $1.5 billion, company officials have said.

To launch these journeys, Golden Spike officials say existing rockets and spacecraft already built or under development can be enlisted. The only major hardware element that must be designed and constructed from the ground up is the lunar lander.

Northrop Grumman will explore a variety of different lunar lander concepts, looking for the best combination of reliability, affordability and operability, officials said.

"We're very proud to be working with Northrop Grumman, which has the most experience and successful performance record for human lunar lander designs in the world," said planetary scientist Alan Stern, Golden Spike's president and chief executive officer.

1. Space news from NBCNews.com

   1. Curiosity rover spots 'flower' on Mars

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: NASA's Curiosity rover captures a 360-degree panorama as well as a close-up picture of a "Martian flower" seemingly sprouting from the surface.

   2. Meteorite may link Mars to watery past
   3. Rover mission marks nine years on Mars
   4. Private moon startup hires lander designer

For now, Northrop Grumman has been hired to design the lunar lander, but whether or not the same firm will construct it remains to be seen.

"This study is one of a number of initial studies we're undertaking to begin creating the design requirements and specs for the lander contract competition we expect to hold to select a Golden Spike lander for flight development," said James R. French, Golden Spike's Lunar Lander Systems Study (LLaSS) engineering chief.

Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook? and??Google+.

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50358413/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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MMA Marketplace: Bid on sports bras from the best female fighters for a good cause

Do you want to own your favorite fighter's sports bra without committing a felony and support a worthy cause? Good news. Some of your favorite female fighters are auctioning off signed sports bras and rash guards to help fight breast cancer.

Ronda Rousey, Felice Herrig, Liz Carmouche and Julie Kedize are among the fighters who have handed over their sports bras for an eBay auction. Rosie Sexton gave her top and shorts. Proceeds will go to Keep A Breast, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating breast cancer for future generations.

As of this writing, UFC women's bantamweight champion Rousey has the highest bid. It's going for $340, plus shipping. The bra that belonged to Bec Hyatt, who will fight for Invicta's straw weight title on Saturday, is up to $330. Check it out, and help a good cause.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/mma-marketplace-bid-sports-bras-best-female-fighters-154443405--mma.html

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Invest in Your Future - Gerken Financial Coaching

?Investing should be?more like watching paint dry or watching? grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas. ~ Paul Samuelson ~

Day 9

Step 4 in your money plan is to start investing 15% of your income for your retirement. You only want to start this after you are out of debt and have your larger emergency fund in place. Trying to get out of debt and saving your emergency fund will take a lot longer if you are also trying to invest at the same time. The wise men must have had investments. They were obviously rich. They were bringing expensive gifts to the baby born in a far away land. They were on an extended road trip that had to cost them a bundle in supplies. I am pretty sure that they did not take?out a loan for the gifts or traveling expenses. They had invested and set aside money for this journey.

One day, the time will come when you will want to retire from your?job. If you invest each year, it will be an easy thing to retire. If you let other distractions take priority over investing in your future, you may end up living with your kids.?In our society, where we live in the now and with instant gratification, it?is hard to?plan long-term. But in order to be pointed in the right direction for?a good retirement, you need to act now and work retirement savings into your life style. We know that you have the discipline it takes. Make your future your priority because no one else will.

Do you have retirement savings? Would you need to raid it if you had an emergency?

Source: http://www.gerkenfinancialcoaching.com/2013/01/invest-in-your-future/

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