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Jumat, 29 Oktober 2010

Weird Findings About IVF Babies

There has been a weird finding in research done on IVF children - they are taller than average. Work done in New Zealand has found that by six years of age children conceived by IVF are taller. This occurred when fresh embryos were used, but not with frozen embryos. The higher quality of fresh embryos was the apparent reason for this.

No benefits nor disadvantages were seen in children born using frozen embryos than children conceived normally. The real issue is - Are fresh embryos really of higher quality? Donors giving frozen embryos are just as selective.

About one in thirty children are now conceived with IVF. It is girls who are notably taller. Another "weird" outcome is that mainly boys will be conceived if the embryos are left out in a dish for five days before implantation into the uterus.

http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/
http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/
http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia
http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com

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Selasa, 17 Agustus 2010

Cannot Catch the Superbug from New Zealand Apples

It fails me the means people will go to in order to maintain something of benefit. The courts have recently made a decision in favor of New Zealand importing apples into Australia. For decades Australian growers have been crying wolf about the danger of diseases from New Zealand apples. This is despite the fact that all requirements asked of New Zealand growers have been met. Now it is claimed that the new antibiotic resistant infection can be spread this way. Fair shake of the sauce bottle mate! This is a silly supposition.

There isn't much doubt that superbug infection can occur with people having plastic surgery in Asia. But how do you prevent this by toughening quarantine regulations? It is impossible to stop people travelling. The real danger is consumption of meat injected with antibiotics to improve growth rates. Even with this it will take many years of food intake to detrimentally affect a human being. Just a mention to New Zealand to stop spraying antibiotics on apples for blight will result in quick action. Protests by Australian growers are irrational. How many apples do people eat? Not many.

Australian growers know, however, that there is another danger from fruit and vegetable imports from New Zealand. A cool climate produces a far superior product. Allowing apples in will open the flood gates as Australian consumers become "educated" about the availability of better produce. Let's face it, some of the stuff offered for sale in the shops is rubbish. When you are travelling overseas bite into a fresh tomato. They are fleshy, sweet and have thin skin. Cucumber sold for salads are "ridge" cucumbers. They are grown for cattle feed in other countries. It is unfortunate that Australians have been denied quality fruit and vegetables for centuries.

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Minggu, 08 Agustus 2010

Asylum Seeking Is Not a Major Problem for Australia

Asylum seekers aren't the problem, those coming to Australia by air are increasing the population. The Government has put the shutter up on these applicants and net arrivals have fallen from 60,000 to 32,700 in a year. A massive 81,440 have "spit the dummy" and left to live elsewhere. When the door was open for Indians studying here to easily gain residency the future looked bleak. New Indians arriving has slowed by a third. But only 5.45 percent of Indians who study here go home. In the long term, however, they will probably have to leave. Only those doing higher degrees will be in the "required labour" category. This is not a racist view. A loop hole had to be closed.

There seems to be a general downturn not related to the crackdown. Arrivals from New Zealand fell by 40 per cent and from Britain 23.5 per cent. It is notable that permanent migrants fell by 11 per cent. People are "human" if something they want is going to be difficult most give up. Antipodeans are keeping things to themselves: the main category of migrants are from New Zealand.

As time goes by there is not much doubt that Australia will become much more Asian than it is now. Despite India being a major source of permanent migrants, comprising 15,600 of total, immigration from China was 16,600. To put the whole thing into perspective 4,450 new settlers were Sri Lankans. This is the highest ever. Nonetheless, asylum seeking from that country is not a great problem for Australia.

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Jumat, 25 Juni 2010

Japan's Behavior Is Disgraceeful

It's just disgraceful the way Japan is behaving, putting Sea Shephard leader Paul Watson on the Interpol wanted list. Japan flagrantly breaches international law yet it uses the law to manipulate the system to get what it wants - an open door to slaughter whales into extinction. The ironic thing about the whole fiasco is that the Japanese government subsidizes whale hunting, and that is what it is, not scientific research. Japanese whalers haven't made a profit for years.

Recently, whale meat was discovered on the menu in restaurants in the US. It was quickly removed. Japan blatantly admits whale meat is being sold.

Whalers also rammed and sank an anti-whaling ship without remorse. The crew wasn't even helped to safety. It looks like New Zealander Peter Bethune will be locked in gaol for two years. He was captured, not rescued, from the sunken ship.

They will do anything just to get their own way, saying it is a cultural thing is absolute rot. Fox hunting was a cultural thing in England but it was stopped.

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Selasa, 09 Maret 2010

Fossilised Eggshells Are Ideal for Extracting DNA

Jurassic Park is getting closer to reality. Australian scientists have managed to get DNA from fossilised eggshells of extinct birds. The Team warns though that bringing ancient creatures back to life is a long way off. Particles of fossilised eggshells from Australia, New Zealand and Madagascar were used in the research.

A target species was the Moa bird which lived in New Zealand into the 18th century. Another was the Elephant Bird extinct in Madascar during the 17th century. Older bird were also worked on: the New Zealand Duck, Australian Owl and an Emu which was 19,000 years old. In work on older fossils, results did not come up with usable DNA.

Techniques used were the usual reduction of sample and polymeras amplification. These were very short pieces of DNA obtained from minute samples. Eggshells were found to be even better than bones and hair for storing DNA.

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Selasa, 02 Maret 2010

European Skull Found In New Zealand Dating before British Arrival

Captain Cook discovered Australia for Britain in 1770. If you believe this you are living in dreamland. The Portuguese took Malacca, a small Malaysian state, in 1511. Spain controlled part of the Philippines from 1521. Indonesia welcomed the Netherlands from 1596 and the Southeast Asian country was later ruled by the Dutch from 1825. France sent emissaries to Siam in 1600.

The question is did any of the sailors from these countries land in Australia before the British arrived in Singapore in 1819: note Britain had been around in India since 1612. It is obvious that Dutch sailors landed on the north coast of Australia because Indonesia is just next door. Why didn't they claim it? Why didn't Portugal claim it? The Portuguese colonized East Timor from 1613 and that is even closer. The truth is they didn't want it because they couldn't find any advanced societies there. No trade was on offer. In those days trade was everything. There was no welfare state in those days. You had to earn or starve. Seeing a few Aboriginals along the beaches and cliffs, they took on water and left.

What is surprising it that no real evidence of Europeans being in the Antipodes has been found - until now. The skull of a European woman has been found in Wellington, New Zealand. Carbon dating shows she was alive there in 1742. Dating is now very accurate. This settles the dispute about Aboriginals having genes for red hair. The gene definitely came from Europeans who landed in Australia, before the red-haired Aboriginals were discovered.

So Europeans had visited New Zealand before Captain Cook "discovered" it in 1769. It was claimed for Britain in 1839, first being ruled from New South Wales. Then the whole country was claimed by Britain in 1840.

Getting back to the skull. When first found police thought they had a murder on their hands when they saw puncture wounds. The woman must have arrived there by "independent' means, probably by a European ship sailing at the captain's whim. Abel Tasman saw the shore of New Zealand in 1642 but had no women aboard his ship. Why did it take Europeans another century to search for the great southern land again?

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Kamis, 21 Januari 2010

Claims in New Zealand That Car Windows Do Not Offer Protection From UV Are Suspect

Calls from New Zealand to cover up one's hand by wearing gloves when driving a car is silly to say the least. This may be something to think about if one is a delivery driver or a trucky but ordinary people don't drive enough to warrant it. They say the belief that glass provides protection from ultraviolet radiation is a myth.

Sunscreen maker "Oasis Beauty" has suggested putting sunscreen on hands before driving. This is sound advice, coming from a producer of sunscreen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer says drivers should wear gloves, long sleeved shirts and sun glasses. Unless one is a professional driver this is a bit much.

Car producers state that laminated windscreens do block UV radiation: 80 percent of UV-a. It is side windows that are dangerous, though 37 percent of UV-a and 97 percent of UV-b are blocked. From these data obviously the New Zealand Cancer Society and Oasis Beauty are wrong and car glass does offer protection. Furthermore, most countries do allow side windows to be tinted which helps.

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