Nevertheless, the report says that the evidence of health risks, while weak, is still sufficient to warrant concern. It urges the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to review the report s findings and evaluate if current occupational exposure standards are adequate. In the home, many electric utility companies can measure EMFs and identify sources of high fields, often caused by improper wiring. The report also urges manufacturers of household and office appliances to consider low cost measures to reduce magnetic fields from their products. Potential Therapeutic Agent for Prion Diseases Fatal degenerative brain conditions that include mad cow disease , scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and kuru in humans are associated with abnormally folded proteins called prions.
Infected brains look like sponges upon death.
Scientists have had little clue how to combat prions before, but now researchers have honed in on a peptide a piece of the prion itself that inhibits the prion from converting into its more damaging form. Gene Mutations Associated With Increased Risk of Several Cancers People who carry mutations of the BRCA2 gene are known to have higher risks of breast and ovarian cancers. The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are especially important in suppressing the uncontrolled cell multiplication that results in cancer tumors. Mutations in these genes can frustrate their tumor suppressing abilities. Since BRCA2 was identified in 1995, more than 100 distinct disease-causing mutations in the gene have been found.