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Southeast Alaska: Lab tests: Small, deep-water Alaska sponge has molecules that selectively target and kill pancreatic tumor cells; Accessible and large population found in Southeast Alaska By KATIE DOPTIS - Compared to its dazzling deep-sea coral neighbors, the green Latrunculia austini sponge is pretty drab. Dotted with craters and pitted by deep holes the golf-ball sized sponge is curious-looking rather than beautiful. But green Latrunculia’s unique chemical composition holds a promise much greater than mere beauty.

It was first discovered at the bottom of Alaska’s frigid North Pacific Ocean during a NOAA Fisheries research mission in 2005. The mission was straightforward: study bottom-dwelling sea life and habitats supporting Alaska’s $1.8 billion fishing industry. However, in the years since, the small sponge has attracted the attention of multidisciplinary scientists from around the globe. In lab tests, several of Latrunculia austini’s molecules selectively target and kill pancreatic tumor cells, according to biomedical researchers at the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute in Detroit.  

“You’d never look at this sponge and think this is a miracle sponge, but it could be,” said Bob Stone, a researcher at NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center. He was the first to discover the sponge in Alaska while operating from a submersible on the North Pacific’s seafloor. His work soon had further reach because of a special collaboration.

Discovery sparks global collaboration

By the time Stone found the sponge, his groundbreaking research in Alaska had already intrigued leading biomedical researcher Mark Hamann, the  Charles and Carol Cooper SmartState Endowed Chair at the Medical University of South Carolina. Hamann has studied marine life to develop drug leads for more than 20 years. While Hamann explores the ocean in search of rare natural compounds, he also constantly monitors publications for other scientists’ discoveries, which led him to Stone.

After the green sponge was discovered, it quickly became a focal point of this global collaboration. Stone and Hamann worked with Michelle Kelly, to name and identify Latrunculia austini. Kelly is a world expert on sponges and works at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Hamann and his team determined that the sponge “covers unique and unprecedented chemical space. The structures of the molecules are not related to anything you would find on land or even in tropical shallow-water marine environments.”

Hamann sent samples of the molecules to researcher Fred Valeriote, senior researcher with the Henry Ford Cancer Institute. Scientists there are doing cutting-edge cancer research and grow tumor cells, allowing them to study the cells and test new drug leads in a controlled environment. 

Valeriote exposed the pancreatic cancer cell line to a sample from the green sponge extract. The lab test revealed that the green sponge extract had anti-cancer activity, or the ability to kill pancreatic cancer cells.

“On average, less than one in 100 sponge extracts will present the anti-cancer activity that we observed with the green sponge in our lab. It’s a promising initial step forward in developing new treatments for pancreatic cancer,” said Valeriote. “Given the lack of current effective drug treatments available for pancreatic cancer, this study finding offers hope for the future of cancer care.” - More...
Thursday PM - July 27, 2017

Southeast Alaska: Klawock Couple Charged With Willful Failure to Pay Over $400,000 in Income Taxes on Income Earned For 13 Years - Acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced that a Southeast Alaskan couple was charged in federal court in Juneau yesterday with four counts of willful failure to pay their individual income taxes.

According to information provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Archie W. Demmert III and Roseann L. Demmert, of Klawock, Alaska, earned income from commercial fishing. The Information alleges that Archie Demmert owned Vetta Bay LLC, which owned the Demmerts’ fishing vessel, the Emerald Beauty.

The information further charges that the Demmerts have a long history of not paying their taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It alleges that the Demmerts did not pay their taxes for 13 separate tax years, for which they owed over $400,000, excluding penalties and interest.

The Demmerts face a statutory maximum sentence of one year in prison on each separate count, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. - More...
Thursday PM - July 27, 2017

Alaska: 36 U.S. Senators Send Letter to Secretary Zinke  in Support of New OCS Five-Year Leasing Program - A robust group of 36 Republican Senators sent a letter yesterday to Secretary Ryan Zinke in support of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s new Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Five-Year Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024. The plan promises to increase offshore access and development, which will in turn boost our economy, keep energy affordable, and reinforce the United States’ position as an energy dominant superpower.

“Pursuing a new Five-Year Program will provide a meaningful review to guarantee that the offshore leasing program contributes to U.S. energy dominance and to ensure some of the most prolific regions of the United States have not been arbitrarily excluded from competitive leasing,” the Senators wrote. “We encourage you to carefully review those areas that were not included in the 2017-2022 Five-Year Program to ensure that opportunities are not missed.”

A total of 94 percent of the federal OCS is currently unavailable for leasing. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the nation’s OCS contains 89.9 billion barrels of oil and 327.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

“Offshore development has undergone rapid technological innovation ensuring it is cheaper, safer, and provides access to previously out-of-reach areas,” the group wrote. “Offshore leasing benefits the economies of all of the states, helps reduce the federal deficit, provides affordable energy to families and businesses, and strengthens our national security.” - More...
Thursday PM - July 27, 2017

DANNY TYREE: Who Knew Dogs Could Keep You So Healthy? - Alas, we haven't been a "dog family" since we had to euthanize poor old Turpy; but a time.com article titled "More Evidence That Owning A Dog Is Really Good For You" certainly grabbed my attention.

Not only can having a dog around the house lead to lower stress levels, decrease the risk of asthma in children and contribute to lower blood pressure, but the responsibility of caring for a canine can jolt older people out of a life-shortening sedentary lifestyle. 

(Younger people? Owning a family dog USED to mean lots of romping and frolicking in the Great Outdoors. Now caring for a dog just jolts young couch potatoes into ordering a drone to walk the critter. But I digress.)

A recent study shows that older people who take their dogs for a walk take 2,760 steps more per day on average compared to non-owners. That's an extra 23 minutes a day of moderate exercise!

(Granted, this is very close to the amount of time that we cat owners spend letting the cat in and out ---- and looking at the feline's smug expression that says, "They thought Lincoln freed ALL the slaves? Puh-leeze.")

The findings of that study were strengthened by even more recent research by the University of East Anglia and the Center for Diet and Activity Research at the University of Cambridge. - More...
Thursday PM _ July 27, 2017

ARTHUR MARTIN: Who Am I To Judge? Why it’s Okay to Judge People and Cultures. - I was in church for the first time in a long time and the pastor said something that bothered me immediately after he said it but I didn’t realize why. He said, “Who are we to judge? We should not judge.” I didn’t realize why it bothered me so much until I came back home and thought about the message.

A few days later, after I jumped in the shower the answer finally hit me.

If we take that question to the ultimate conclusion one has to ask, “Why?” “Why are we not to judge?” The immediate answer is because “morals and ethics are subjective.” We see this everywhere in Western Society. “Let people do what they will. Let them be who they are. Live and let live.” This infectious ideology has spread like a parasite into every segment of Western Society including religion, which is supposed to be the pillar of ethics and morality.

Virture Signalling: The very public act of showing how humanitarian you are at the expense of common sense, personal safety and national security.

“Who am I to judge?”

On the face of it, that question feels nice doesn’t it? “As long as people don’t bother me, what does it matter to me what others do or do not do?” “People simply have different values and morals, who am I to judge?” We hear it everywhere in media, on television and even…from pastors at church.

Of course, if you take just 10 seconds to think about that question and the idea of moral relativism it is the epitome of virtue signaling. - More...
Thursday PM - July 27, 2017