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[Science]China: After Long March, Scientists Create 'Chinese NIH'

Yupeng — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:54:50 +0000

After Long March, Scientists Create ‘Chinese NIH’

Li Jiao*

BEIJING—Scientists here rang in the New Year with the debut of China’s first biomedical research fund. Last week, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) launched a medical department that expects to disburse about 1 billion renminbi ($150 million) in government grants in 2010.

The department should be a shot in the arm for unraveling disease mechanisms, modernizing traditional Chinese medicine, and moving results from bench to bedside. “It will promote a speedy transition of basic research into clinical application,” says Pei Duanqing, director general of the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

For backers of basic biomedical research, the new department is a decisive victory in a decade-long ideological struggle. In 2001, when NSFC first declared its intention to create a medical department, “some people believed that there was no basic research in medical science,” says NSFC President Chen Yiyu. That unfavorable climate compelled many scientists to work abroad. In the early 1990s, says Ma Yue, a “poor atmosphere” and a shortage of grants made it “hard to do medical research.” Ma left for the United States in 1994 and returned here in 2006 to conduct stem cell research at the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The prevailing winds shifted in 2008, when hematologist Chen Zhu was appointed health minister. He has campaigned vigorously for creation of an agency akin to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (Science, 28 March 2008, p. 1748). Although Chen Zhu has not forsaken that goal, he threw his weight behind NSFC’s effort. The health minister was “instrumental” in helping to get the medical department off the ground, says Chen Yiyu.

Unlike NIH, NSFC’s medical department will not have an intramural research program. Nevertheless, says Stephen Roper, a biophysicist at the University of Miami in Florida, “the target of NSFC and NIH is the same: apply basic research to solving ongoing human disease problems.”

Chen Yiyu has tapped Wang Hong-Yang, an expert on hepatitis-induced liver cancer, as the medical department’s first director. Wang, director of the International Cooperation Laboratory on Signal Transduction at the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai, will spend a third of her time here overseeing the new department. “My job is to clarify the research directions and make sure the best medical scientists get funded,” she says.

That’s music to the ears of Huang Liquan of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The medical department’s initial budget “is an excellent start,” says Huang, who believes the new entity will usher in a much wider range of opportunities for cooperation between Chinese and U.S. scientists on basic biomedical research.

Interesting Things - Reshaped Wings, Forest Birds, Evolution?

Lee — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:14:46 +0000

I came across an interesting article in Science News, September 12, 2009, called, “Rapid evolu

The Magic Mushroom

$_$ — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Well guys, am back in my hometown- Indonesia, we have here a mushroom which the locals call the “Magic Mushroom“. It is consumed by serving it with local instant noodle. The reason it is called the “Magic Mushroom’ is because has a hallucinogenic effect when it is consumed. Lets say that you are feeling happy at the moment and you eat the mushroom, You end up laughing the whole day and feeling happy, whereas if you are feeling down, you will feel low the whole day.

After a bit of research, I found out that this magic mushroom is actually also known as the Psylocybin mushroom. It is a pyschoactive agent that alters our mind’s perception thus making it difficult for us difficult to distinguish between reality and hallucinations. Some countries like the U.S have categorized this as an illegal drug as it has potential to be abused.

A few studies for the medical use of this mushroom has been conducted, and it was suggested that it might possible to use it for treating Obstructive Compulsive Disorder.

source:

http://www.maps.org/research/psilo/azproto.html – Effect of Psylocybin on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs6/6038/index.htm — Psylocybin Fast Facts – National Drug Inteligence Center

NOD2 Cellular Molecule = Defense against Influenza A!

$_$ — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:38:12 +0000

Well.. influenza is very irritating and it always comes at perfect time, exam period! Well.. need not worry as researchers has found out about NOD2 cellular molecule that can detect and protect us against Influenza A and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). This study has been published in journal Nature Immunology on 23rd of August.
Possible clinical use still need to be studied, so let’s hope the study will be successful and we will be flu-free! wohoo!

source:
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (2009, August 24). Microbiologists Find Defense Molecule That Senses Respiratory Viruses. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 24, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/08/090823184355.htm

Astronomical Superresolution Captures Planets From Another Star

opticalflow — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:24:55 +0000

In my last post about superresolution, I took Toshiba to the woodshed for claiming superresolution with their SRT, and cited a few contemporaneous examples of the Real Thing.

Here’s a more recent example:

Hubble_HR8799

http://lanl.arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0902/0902.3247v1.pdf

And for the “executive summary”:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41302/title/Planet_hidden_in_Hubble_archives

They managed to tease these pictures out of long-since taken Hubble photos (11 years ago!), using just “math”:

A great deal of achieving real superresolution has to do with modeling the optical properties of the system that captures the images. If you’re not utilizing a model of the capture/transmission system, “image superresolution” becomes “image bandwidth synthesis”. The results might look pretty, but they’re not necessarily accurate. If you’re doing forensics, or scientific discovery, or proving a hypothesis, REALITY MATTERS.

I’m not knocking SRT, I’d rather watch a DVD played with Toshiba SRT, than anything else (except BluRay!).

But we must distinguish a picture that looks pretty, between one that is scientifically, measurably, provably, accurate. A pretty, enhanced, but inaccurate picture should not be used as evidence to convict a criminal — or to make any other scientific assertion.

In this case, their model includes a blur/point-spread-function that accommodates multiple sources for the images — while accommodating the subtraction of glare from the guide star (the one that the three planets orbit) in a way that increases the sensitivity by 10x. It assumes a Poisson distribution for the noise, which typical for astronomical images — and this is incorporated into the model.

THAT’S superresolution.

It makes you wonder what other details will be teased out from historical photos and videos…

ScienceNews 28/08

piratenblog — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:02:23 +0000

Wie gerade schon geschrieben kommen hier die 2. ScienceNews von DocGrey für diesen Tag. Viel Spass!

ScienceNews 27/08

piratenblog — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:58:04 +0000

Ich habe es wieder hängen lassen und habe einen ziemlichen Rückstand was die ScienceNews von DocGrey angeht, deswegen kommen jetzt gleich 2 hintereinander. Viel Spass beim Stöbern.

ScienceNews 26/08

piratenblog — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:32:18 +0000

DocGrey präsentiert wieder seine ScienceNews

ScienceNews 25/08

piratenblog — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:03:46 +0000

Mal wieder die Welt der Wissenschaft zusammengetragen von DocGrey

ScienceNews 24/08

piratenblog — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:38:36 +0000

Und die nächsten ScienceNews von DocGrey

ScienceNews 23/08

piratenblog — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:15:54 +0000

Und wieder eine neue Lieferung von DocGreys ScienceNews (von mir mal wieder um Ewigkeiten verschleppt)

ScienceNews 21/08

piratenblog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:52:23 +0000

ScienceNews 20/08

piratenblog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:45:38 +0000

ScienceNews 19/08

piratenblog — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:47:33 +0000

Einwurf

Und wieder ist es Zeit für einige ScienceNews von DocGrey

Einwurf Ende

ScienceNews 18/08

piratenblog — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:29:33 +0000

ScienceNews 17/08

piratenblog — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:58:07 +0000

Einwurf

Und wieder einmal Neuigkeiten aus der Welt der Wissenschaft von DocGrey.

Einwurf Ende

ScienceNews 16/08

piratenblog — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:20:14 +0000

Einwurf

Ich habe mich die letzte Woche etwas zurückgehalten mit Blogeinträgen, aber nun kommen die ScienceNews von DocGrey und ab heute Abend werde ich auch wieder etwas mehr schreiben können.

ScienceNews 15/08

piratenblog — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:39:17 +0000

Einwurf

Und wieder Wirde es Wissenschaftlich dank DocGrey

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ScienceNews 13/08

piratenblog — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:19:38 +0000

Einwurf

Zur Ausnahme mal Pünktlich von mir verschickt.

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ScienceNews 13/08

piratenblog — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:36:54 +0000

Einwurf

Und hier die ScienceNews von DocGrey

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ScienceNews 12/08

piratenblog — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:34:07 +0000

Einwurf

Die ScienceNews von Doc Grey (von letzter Woche, bin mal wieder schuld an der Verzögerung)

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