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TOPIC: 10 ft marihuana trees aid afghan rebels to dodge Canadian troops... well, not that the marihuana trees meant to, but... read for yourself!
In one of life's little ironies for baby boomers, new research suggests that marijuana may contain compounds that slow memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers at Ohio State University report that treating older rats that had symptoms akin to Alzheimer's with a synthetic compound similar to marijuana significantly reduced inflammation in the animals' brains and improved their memory.
"Inflammation in the brain is part of aging," said Gary Wenk, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Ohio State and co-author of the study. "It happens to almost all of us as we age. But in some cases, this inflammation gets out of hand and causes serious damage."
Marijuana has strong anti-inflammatory, as well as psychoactive, effects, and many researchers believe there is a solid link between chronic inflammation in the brain and the progression of Alzheimer's, Wenk said.
Other evidence from population studies suggests that people who regularly smoked marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s are less prone to develop Alzheimer's than people of the same age who did not. Yet many other studies show that long-term regular marijuana use -- 10 years or more -- has a negative effect on a person's ability to pay attention to more than one thing at a time and to learn and remember new information.
In a presentation Wednesday during the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in Atlanta, Wenk described how he and colleagues treated young and old rats with a synthetic drug similar to marijuana, then ran them through a series of maze tests designed to measure their spatial memory.
"The compound substantially improved the memories of the older rats," he said. "These animals were able to hold onto key details of a specific task. Untreated older rats, on the other hand, were not.
"Old rats tend to be pretty bad at navigating the maze," Wenk explained.
"It's kind of like an elderly person trying to find his way around a house that he's not familiar with." Wenk said.
advertising Less-pronounced improvement was noted among the young rodents.
The research drug, called WIN, is not a candidate for human use because it still contains substances that could trigger a high, Wenk said.
"But using synthetic compounds may eventually help us separate (ingredients) that have beneficial effects from the psychoactive effects."
It's not clear yet whether marijuana components can be effectively separated to eliminate negative effects on the brain.
The Ohio State researchers are among many investigating the effects of marijuana ingredients on Alzheimer's, which progressively damages areas of the brain involved in memory, judgment, language and behavior. Reports from various investigators indicate there might be more than one therapeutic component of marijuana against Alzheimer's.
Spanish scientists reported similar results to those reported by Wenk's team last year after using active marijuana ingredients on human-brain-tissue samples and in live rats.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.
General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.
"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.
"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.
Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.
"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.
One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."
This is not from "that" news report, but it will give you an idea of the danger canadian troops are facing.
-- Edited by LAB_ at 10:21, 2006-10-13
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Roses are red violets are korny, when I think of you Ohh baby I get horny...
