Probing the mysteries of probiotics

Here's an interesting article about cutting edge research on probiotics, and how little we actually know about them.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/29/health/lifeswork-mazmanian-bacteria/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13

Procedure Could Help Local Patients Beat Parkinson's Disease

Researchers hope a procedure using patients' own stem cells will cure Parkinson's Disease, or at least eliminate symptoms for decades.

Eight patients have joined the project at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla to take part in the initial trial. Before they are able to proceed, they must get funding and obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

"We're all treading water until the funds can be found and the hoops that the FDA give us can be jumped through," said Cassandra Peters, who was a paralegal at a law firm until 2005, when the symptoms of Parkinson's made it too difficult to work. She was diagnosed at age 44, 13 years ago.

See the rest of the story:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Procedure-Could-Help-Local-Patients-Beat-Parkinsons-Disease-206060501.html#ixzz2SNBYDFN2

Sergey Brin's search for Parkinson's cure (Wired UK)

Very interesting discussion of a new research method that is evolving due to the power of the Internet. It's kind of like crowdsourcing. They begin with a very huge data set or sample set, and then try to weed out the noise and look for correlations. I think this will revolutionize scientific research. This is the guy (cofounder of Google) who started 23andMe after he found out that he has the gene for Parkinson's, LRRK2.

http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/08/features/sergey-brins-search-for-parkinsons-cure/page/4

--Bob