You really can't blame her for her choice, especially when you have shown so much interest in investments and the markets etc2.
By the way, there is now hope that less gold will run out of a rathole from people's holdings:-
Bacteria that bite back against tooth decay
Scientists develop tooth-friendly strains of the bacteria that cause tooth decay to wipe out their troublesome cousins
BRUSH your teeth after every meal. Floss regularly. And be sure to keep your teeth nicely coated with a film of genetically-engineered bacteria.
That's the advice dentists might offer if scientists achieve their goal of enlisting custom-designed bacteria in the war against tooth decay.
'Our strain can be just brushed onto the tooth surface or squirted into someone's mouth, and it will elbow out any other strain' of cavity-causing bacteria, said Dr Jeffrey Hillman of the University of Florida's College of Dentistry.
Dr Hillman is one of several researchers to have engineered tooth-friendly versions of the bacteria that cause tooth decay.
Scientists in this field say their work has therapeutic potential beyond dental hygiene.
Chronic low-grade bacterial infections cause or contribute to many ailments, such as ulcers and heart attacks. If those harmful bacteria could be displaced by others engineered to be benign, the need for antibiotics and other drugs might be reduced greatly.
The work is sure to deepen scientists' understanding of biofilms - thin but complex communities of protein, carbohydrates and bacteria.
Research indicates many bacteria that are benign on their own can cause medical problems when they become part of a biofilm, and scientists want to understand how bacteria in these environments interact with each other and with the body.
The human mouth is home to billions of bacteria belonging to more than 300 species, but one species is the major cause of tooth decay.
The culprit is Streptococcus mutans, a spherical bacterium that thrives on the organic film that coats tooth surfaces and makes an enzyme called lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). That enzyme converts food sugars into lactic acid, a corrosive chemical that dissolves the protective enamel coating on teeth gradually.
Microbial gene jockeys are experimenting with at least three methods for blocking this biochemical ticket to the dentist's chair.
In one approach, researchers in England and Sweden have created gene-altered versions of a harmless bacterium called Lactobacillus zeae, a relative of the bacterium found in yogurt.
The team put into those bacteria a new gene that allows the microbes to make monoclonal antibodies - biochemical entities designed specifically to attach themselves to the surface of S. mutans.
The antibodies grabbed free-floating S. mutans bacteria in saliva and gave them 'a kiss of death', said lead researcher Lennart Hammarstrom of the Karolinska Institute's Center for Oral Biology in Huddinge, Sweden.
In another approach, Dr Hillman has created a strain of S. mutans that lacks the LDH gene and is incapable of producing lactic acid.
The strain also secretes a natural antibiotic that kills conventional S. mutans without harming other oral bacteria, ensuring that it will dominate its disease-causing cousins. Experiments showed a significant reduction in cavities in rats whose mouths were colonised with the bacteria.
To gain Food and Drug Administration permission to conduct the first tests in people, he has added a gene that makes his bacteria dependent on a synthetic nutrient that is not normally in the human diet. --Washington Post |
