In an article published in Nature Chemical Biology on Monday, the researchers said they isolated the poisonous compound in the mushroom, Russula subnigricans, and confirmed its toxicity by feeding it to mice.
The toxin, cycloprop-2-ene carboxylic acid, has only four carbon atoms.
Apart from the usual symptoms of poisoning, such as nausea, diarrhoea, speech impairment, convulsions, pupil contractions, stiff shoulders and backaches, the human victims in Japan also suffered rhabdomyolysis, which is rarely seen.
Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue due to muscle injury. This leads to the release of the protein myoglobin into the bloodstream which harms the kidney.
Myoglobin was found in the urine of the Japanese victims.
Hashimoto said an adult person would die eating just two or three such mushrooms.
Rhabdomyolysis was also observed in victims in France and Poland after they ate another species of mushroom, the Tricholoma equestre. Hashimoto called for more research in isolating the toxin in that species.
To read full article click Reurers
Monday, May 25, 2009
Iran General Says He Can Stop Israel Forever In 'One Strike'
Iran's former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai warned on Sunday 24, that Israel would not dare threaten the Islamic republic if he is elected president.
"My government... understands missiles and tanks as well as foreign policy and knows exactly where Israel's sensitive spots are. It could stop them forever with one strike," Rezai told a news conference.
"If government falls into our hands...the Israelis and the Americans know us and our friends," said Rezai, who is one of three candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election.
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
"My government... understands missiles and tanks as well as foreign policy and knows exactly where Israel's sensitive spots are. It could stop them forever with one strike," Rezai told a news conference.
"If government falls into our hands...the Israelis and the Americans know us and our friends," said Rezai, who is one of three candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election.
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Japan To Start Arms Exports
The huge engineering and technological might of Japan may be poised for a new lease of life as the country prepares to ditch a self-imposed ban on arms exports that was introduced in the mid-1970s.
The controversial decision, which is likely to encounter bitter opposition from the country's mainly pacifist middle classes, could deliver significant economic benefits to Japan and lead to a realignment in the global defence industry.
To date, the single exception to the ban came as a dispensation in 2005 that allowed Japan to work with US companies on a missile defence system viewed as critical while North Korea continues to flex its military muscles.
Japan sees itself as a logical target for the nuclear-armed Pyongyang regime and has spent about £5 billion on the missile defence shield jointly developed with the United States.
Full article click timesonline
The controversial decision, which is likely to encounter bitter opposition from the country's mainly pacifist middle classes, could deliver significant economic benefits to Japan and lead to a realignment in the global defence industry.
To date, the single exception to the ban came as a dispensation in 2005 that allowed Japan to work with US companies on a missile defence system viewed as critical while North Korea continues to flex its military muscles.
Japan sees itself as a logical target for the nuclear-armed Pyongyang regime and has spent about £5 billion on the missile defence shield jointly developed with the United States.
Full article click timesonline
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Christmas Island Almost Full
Christmas Island shire president Gordon Thompson says the island's ability to house asylum seekers will come under pressure if further boat loads arrive.
The Navy intercepted another boat with more than 70 people on board near Ashmore Reef yesterday.
Mr Gordon says the latest arrivals can be accommodated, but it will bring the total on the island to close to 540 asylum seekers.
He says there is still room for single people but housing for families is more difficult.
In a separate development, seven people on Christmas Island have been granted refugee status and will leave today to settle permanently in Australia.
Immigration says the group includes Afghans, Iraqis and Sri Lankans.
Christmas Island is 135 square kilometres, has aa approximate population of 1,600 and 63% of the island is National park.
The Navy intercepted another boat with more than 70 people on board near Ashmore Reef yesterday.
Mr Gordon says the latest arrivals can be accommodated, but it will bring the total on the island to close to 540 asylum seekers.
He says there is still room for single people but housing for families is more difficult.
In a separate development, seven people on Christmas Island have been granted refugee status and will leave today to settle permanently in Australia.
Immigration says the group includes Afghans, Iraqis and Sri Lankans.
Christmas Island is 135 square kilometres, has aa approximate population of 1,600 and 63% of the island is National park.
British Tourists Arrested For Insulting Catholic Church
SEVENTEEN British tourists have been arrested on the island of Crete today for insulting the Catholic Church after they paraded themselves dressed "in nun attire and naughty lingerie", police said.
The Britons were arrested in the coastal town of Malia, a popular resort for young travellers with a long tradition of drunken tourist antics.
They will be taken to a prosecutor to be officially charged and may be fined but are
unlikely to be jailed for the misdemeanour offence, a police source said.
The Britons were arrested in the coastal town of Malia, a popular resort for young travellers with a long tradition of drunken tourist antics.
They will be taken to a prosecutor to be officially charged and may be fined but are
unlikely to be jailed for the misdemeanour offence, a police source said.
Fake Australian Priest Abused Boys In Orphanage In India
The story of a charity worker who conned his benefactors, using his good works to mask his sexual abuse of children across the sub-continent.
"Brother Paul", over three decades, has lied, stolen money and abused children. He scaped Australia with a hundred thousand dollars, the police let his trail go cold and the authorities in India and Australia have done so little to bring this man to justice.
Brother Paul, as he likes to be known, began life like many other young Australians. President of his local surf club, he dabbled in politics becoming a key player in the revival of his local Liberal party branch. But Paul was never quite what he appeared to be.
Fellow surf club members began to question his misuse of club funds. Then he disappeared overseas with a hundred thousand dollars from a travel company he had been involved with. But that was just the start.
Over more than thirty years, using false passports and other documents, this man changed identities and locations, all the time preying on children. First he pretended to be a priest handing out clothes, then a doctor performing operations on lepers and other people too poor to pay for medical care.
While people who knew him describe his kindness and capacity to help people, there is significant evidence that in each location the children he encountered paid a terrible price. To maintain his affection, assistance and the money brother Paul brought, they had to, in effect, become his sexual playthings. For some boys this pressure became too much. At least one boy in his care killed himself. Many others have been scarred for life.
To read full story click abc.net.au
"Brother Paul", over three decades, has lied, stolen money and abused children. He scaped Australia with a hundred thousand dollars, the police let his trail go cold and the authorities in India and Australia have done so little to bring this man to justice.
Brother Paul, as he likes to be known, began life like many other young Australians. President of his local surf club, he dabbled in politics becoming a key player in the revival of his local Liberal party branch. But Paul was never quite what he appeared to be.
Fellow surf club members began to question his misuse of club funds. Then he disappeared overseas with a hundred thousand dollars from a travel company he had been involved with. But that was just the start.
Over more than thirty years, using false passports and other documents, this man changed identities and locations, all the time preying on children. First he pretended to be a priest handing out clothes, then a doctor performing operations on lepers and other people too poor to pay for medical care.
While people who knew him describe his kindness and capacity to help people, there is significant evidence that in each location the children he encountered paid a terrible price. To maintain his affection, assistance and the money brother Paul brought, they had to, in effect, become his sexual playthings. For some boys this pressure became too much. At least one boy in his care killed himself. Many others have been scarred for life.
To read full story click abc.net.au
U.S. Artist Eileen Dreizin Undergoes Liver Transplant.
A noted American painter returned to the United States yesterday after undergoing a successful liver transplant at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital's Kaohsiung Medical Center in southern Taiwan.
It marked the first time that a Taiwanese medical team has performed a liver transplant for an American, according to Chen Chao-long, superintendent of the hospital's Kaohsiung branch who headed the medical team that performed the transplant.
Chen, an eminent liver transplant surgeon, told local news media that the 55-year-old American artist, identified as Eileen Dreizin, had terminal stage cirrhosis when she approached Chang Gung hospital for a liver transplant.
According to Chen, Dreizin's son suggested to his mother to undergo a liver transplant in Taiwan after he discovered through an extensive Internet search that Chen's surgical team has the world's highest survival rate, even higher than counterparts in many advanced countries, including the United States, Japan and major European Union countries.
To read full article click etaiwannews.com
It marked the first time that a Taiwanese medical team has performed a liver transplant for an American, according to Chen Chao-long, superintendent of the hospital's Kaohsiung branch who headed the medical team that performed the transplant.
Chen, an eminent liver transplant surgeon, told local news media that the 55-year-old American artist, identified as Eileen Dreizin, had terminal stage cirrhosis when she approached Chang Gung hospital for a liver transplant.
According to Chen, Dreizin's son suggested to his mother to undergo a liver transplant in Taiwan after he discovered through an extensive Internet search that Chen's surgical team has the world's highest survival rate, even higher than counterparts in many advanced countries, including the United States, Japan and major European Union countries.
To read full article click etaiwannews.com
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