Nick+G.

Wikipost #1
Scientists at the Scripps research institute have discovered a process where specialized immune cells in the skin help heal wounds. These skin-resident immune cells function as 'first responders' to injuries on the skin by producing a molecule known as interleukin-17A which is made to ward off infection and promote wound healing.  [|http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/] [|images/havran_wendy/havran_wendy.jpg]

"This appears to be a critical and unique component of mammals’ defense against skin wounds, and we hope that it will point the way towards better therapies for people with difficulties in healing wounds,” said TSRI Professor Wendy L. Havran.

Professor Wendy L. Havran had that to say on the research they've done. Wendy's hoping that with this new found information she can help cure people with slow healing skin conditions like Cushing's syndrome, problems with the Adrenal gland or Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome.

Havran and other researchers seen in recent years that special immune cells known as dendritic epidermal T cells (DETC's) were the only resident T cell population in the outer skin layer. These cells are now thought to be the immune systems primary sentinels in the skin, when they detect damage on the skin they call in non-skin-resident immune cells to the site of the wound. So our skin cells call in other cells for back up.

 [] In a final series of tests, scientists observed that the DETCs started pumping out IL-17A the second they detected damage signals from the keratinocytes. The IL-17A didn't just bring in immune cells to the area of injury, even before the other cells could arrive and let inflammation set in the IL-17A induced local keratinocytes to start making special proteins that areknown to combat bacteria, viruses and other microbes and are also known to promote crucial skin regrowth and remodeling that are necessary for healin g an injury. []; []

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Wikipost #2
In October, the WWF published a list of 441 new species that have been discovered in the last four years. The list included 258 plant, 84 fish, 58 amphibians, 22 reptiles,18 birds and one mammal. A WWF press release read "that's an average of two new species identified every week for the past four years and this doesn't even include the countless discoveries of insects and other invertebrates." []

This month researchers described what is likely to be this year's biggest new species, the kobomani tapir. This animal roams the open grasslands and forests of brazil and colombia. Though it is the smallest of the tapirs, its one of the largest animals in south america. A publish in the //[|Journal of Mammology] // said the discovery of the tapir makes the first new Perissodactyla species, which includes rhinos and horses.

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The olinguito was declared to be a distinct species from its close relative, the onlingo, a member of the raccoon family. This new species was found for the first time in a drawer, at Chicago’s Field Museum. Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, discovered a collection of skin, skulls, and bones that “stopped me in my tracks,” he told [|//BBC News//]. “The skins were a rich red color and when I looked at the skulls I didn’t recognize the anatomy. . . right away I thought it could be a species new to science.”

on a hint from a video of an olinguito-like animal in the Andes, Helgen and his colleagues went to Colombia and Ecuador to find this mammal in the trees of cloud forests. The discovered a furry, orange, mammal that weighed less than a kilogram, the olinguito is solitary and nocturnal. It is smaller than its close relative the olingo, and the two species have differences in their teeth and tails.

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This year there was a new shark discovered named// Hemiscyllium halmahera //, a shark that “walks” along the sandy bottoms surrounding a remote Indonesian island. The animals can grow up to 70 centimeters (27 inches) in length, and as with other walking—or epaulette—sharks, females lay their eggs under reef ledges.

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Wikipost #3
On the website [|http://www.medicalnewstoday.com] I found an article on how chemical compounds found in marijuana can help treat multiple sclerosis-like diseases in mice by preventing inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. According to a study reported in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.

"Inflammation is part of the body's natural immune response, but in cases like MS, it gets out of hand," says Dr. Ewa Kozela of Tel Aviv University, Israel. "Our study looks at how compounds isolated from marijuana can be used to regulate inflammation to protect the nervous system and its functions."

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With either THC or CBD, the researchers treated immune cells that specifically target and harm the brain and spinal cord. In response to both chemicals, the immune cells of isolated paralyzed mice, produced fewer inflammatory molecules, particularly interleukin 17 (IL-17).

Cannabidiol is the most plentiful and potent cannabinoid in marijuana, the Tel Aviv University researchers say. They are interested in CBD "because it offers medicinal benefits without the controversial mind-altering effects of THC." A study in 2011 showed that CBD helps treat MS-like symptoms in mice by preventing immune cells attacking nerve cells in the spinal cord. For this previous work, the researchers injected mice that had an MS-like condition and partially paralyzed limbs, with CBD. The animals regained movement, "first twitching their tails and then beginning to walk without a limp."

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The researchers noted that the mice treated with CBD had much less inflammation in the spinal cord.

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