Glucose Oxidase, Honey, Mites and a Possible Linkage

Biology News Net features an archived article titled Bee mites suppress bee immunity, open door for viruses and bacteria, which provides some clues about the problem known as colony collapse disorder afflicting honey bees in the United States. Penn State researchers published their related report in PNAS.

The mite parasite Varroa destructor was implicated in the phenomenon. It is suspected that the mite adversely affects bee immune systems. A combination of mites, bacteria and viruses may lead to the collapse of hives. Of particular interest was the finding that bees with mites produce less of an enzyme known as glucose oxidase, (GOX), which worker bees place in honey to prevent bacterial infection. Bees eat honey they make and if the level of bacteria is elevated this might facilitate the collapse of a hive.

Recovering Money?

Money for Nothing is an article that may be of use to some. It cites the website MissingMoney.com as the go to place to find money that might be owed to you even though you are unaware of it. It's probably worth a try.

Java Variables

Declaring Variables is a short tutorial instructing Java programmers on how to use variables. When introduced into a program variables must be declared with one of eight primitive data types. The data type preceeds the name of the variable. For example:

float pi

Pi could then be assigned a value:

pi = 3.14

The assignment of a value is known as initializing a variable. The name of the variable is known as the identifier. Variables must be declared i.e. identified and initialized prior to being used.

Life's Choices; Life's Habits

David-Ending Well is the title of a powerful devotional at Crosswalk. Life's purpose is a central theme. What caught my attention were the comments about cultivating godly habits and the fact that life entails a series of choices among varied options. The two are linked for godly habits tends to induce good choices which further reinforce the godliness of one's life. This is a snowball effect but this snowball is a benevelent one leading one to a purposeful life pleasing to God. Quoting from the text at the linked devotional:

Jesus gave all of us something to look forward to. He told us what He would like to say to each of us when we arrive safely home to dwell with Him forever--"Well done good and faithful servant”!

Christ's well done is what any of us would call, ending well.

As you open to the 71st Psalm, you are opening to the words of someone who ended well. God's prompts them to pause and look back over their life. They are old, have already lived through so much pain—and now are facing the weaknesses of old age, its challenges, blessings and curses.

But the key to finishing life, or ending well is the long term cultivation of godly habits.

Life is a constant stream of choices. Each choice we make has a consequence. The consequences of godly habits are good, the consequences of ungodly habits are bad. Life is really that simple and David in our Psalm this morning knows that.

Reading Psalm 71 is listening to the voice of God pointing out David’s resolves for life.

This Psalm is a powerful testimony to the God we can trust in all seasons of life. And even at our weakest times, when age, infirmity and incapacity are mounting—even then our great God is faithful and will not fail us even when we fail Him.

But there is even more than just a strong comfort for the years ahead in this Psalm, Psalm 71 is also the distillation and crystallization of some underlying resolves or purposes that David had learned to live by in his long and eventful life.

Much like the books written by the titans of business and finance that give the leadership “secrets” and principles that drove these men and women to great successes in their careers—Psalm 71 is David’s testimony guided by the Mighty Hand of God, through the Infinite Spirit of God of what in life is worth repeating.

David distills the purposes of his life. David confesses those underlying truths that guided him well and keep him strong no matter what else he faces to the end of life.

So even if you are young and the weaknesses of old age are far away—this Psalm has something for you too. It is the call to live life intentionally, to live each day purposefully so that when the days speed by and life is getting short you and I can say that we are ending well because we have lived purposefully.

Please take a moment and read Psalm 71.

We live in an aimless culture driven by the latest fads and events. We also can see trends in the church by the fads and events that we as believers reflect. One trend that I watch is what books make big splashes. If you step back, best selling books among Christians are indicators of needs and desires that permeate the personal lives of believers. That is why some mega-selling Christian books point to deeper needs being expressed.

Just for example let me point out five of the biggest selling books, written by believers, of the last thirty years. No matter what you may think about the authors or their books—they do reveal where believers are in their spiritual pilgrimages.

In 1971, Ken Taylor’s Living Bible selling over 40 million copies, was a big statement that many people really wanted to understand the Bible.

The same year, Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth that sold 28 million copies was an indicator that many believers also wanted to understand the future as God had laid it out in His Word.

In 1995, Tim La Haye’s Left Behind Series was a renewed statement of a new generation of people wanting to know what God's Word says about the future, selling over 62 million copies and counting.

Likewise the surprise of the year 2000 was Bruce Wilkinson’s book The Prayer of Jabez that overnight sold over 13 million copies; those sales were a cry from many believers that they really wanted to experience prayer.

And finally, in recent years Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life released in 2002 and selling an astonishing 24 million copies is a statement that many people are really interested in finding out how to live life for what matters to God.

And the best selling book in all the history of the world, God's Word the Bible gives us the truth we need to answer these and any other of the deepest cries of our hearts.

The 71st Psalm first of all contains some of the realities that come with life on planet earth. Life has a collection of problems or troubles that are always with us. Either we are just getting through some, just in the middle of some, or just headed into some—troubles! Man is born for troubles as sure as the sparks in a campfire rise up in the smoke and heat, Job told us almost five thousand years ago.

So every day we have a choice to either focus on ourselves--my troubles, my problems, my misfortunes, my woes (and there will always be some); or to focus on God--His plans, His promises, His purposes and His Faithfulness to guide our lives to the end.

Someone has well said that life is not really mountains and valleys where we have all good times (mountains) and all bad times (valleys); rather life is more life a parallel line of railroad tracks. One side is my own personal set of burdens, weakness, problems, and troubles. The other side is all of God’s goodness, His promised faithfulness, His perfect plans and purposes He is working out in my life.

God wants us to look at life with all its struggles, through the lens of His Word. He wants us to see Him and His plans being worked out in our life as we go through each day. That is exactly what David shows us in this Psalm.

So this morning, in Psalm 71 David first surveys the challenges that will face each of us as we get older. He reflects these problems of getting older in a series of verses that blend together God’s Faithfulness and promises with each of those troubles.

Housing Relief?

Dick Morris provides free newsletters to those interested. In a recent one the homeowner mortgage debacle was analyzed. Obama has a plan to provide some homeowners with assistance but as always in politics the details are very telling. The important details lie in who is covered by relief programs and who would be excluded. Those excluded would fall into at least one of three categories.

One group excluded from relief would be those whose mortgages exceed the value of their homes. Another group are homeowners whose mortgage payments are at or in excess of 31 percent of their incomes. The final group would be those whose income is $200,000 per year or more.

So what could be wrong with excluding those in the circumstances described? Plenty. It is probably unwise to continue the bailout mania be it on behalf of large corporations or individuals. It is grounded in a free lunch mentality that would have us believe increasing benefits to working class Americans can come at the expense of the rich. But a family with a $200,000 income living in a large city like New York is hardly wealthy. Moreover according to the newsletter from this income group ($200,000 and over) comes one-third of the spending which drives the American economy. Designating that group as the burden bearers is likely to crimp the real stimulus- consumer spending.

But the relief program would exclude many low income people as well. Those with lower incomes (possibly brought about by job losses) could be impacted by the 31 percent rule. Then there are those who are unable to pay mortgages that should not have been granted in the first place. Many mortgages were approved because during the Clinton administration Fannie and Freedie were told not to insist on mortage down payments. Not a sound business practice and one that backfired on the nation as well as on low income people.

Paraspeckles and ncRNA

RNA is generated within our cells as a consequence of the transcription of DNA. DNA transcription can produce messenger RNA (mRNA). Messenger RNA contains the information stored in DNA, which when translated, yields proteins. Other types of RNA are labled as non-coding because they do not facilitate protein formation. Some non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is known to regulate proteins by reacting with mRNA.

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have found evidence that some ncRNA is packaged into structures called paraspeckles which are located within the nucleus of cells. A related paper was published in the journal Genome Research. The Biology News site has an article providing details.

Paraspeckle function is not well known. It is speculated that paraspeckles may be part of a cellular rapid response function bought on by stress. The linked article notes Professor Spector's belief that paraspeckles might enable "cells to meet challenges such as viral infection more quickly." The structural integrity of paraspeckles is thought to be maintained by ncRNA.

Where is the Politics of Hope?

Officeholders intent on changing destructive and wasteful government spending face an uphill battle. A 410 billion dollar spending bill is before Congress. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and others have attempted to remove earmark spending from the bill and are meeting resistance.

An article in The Washington Post Democrats Stop Effort To Remove Earmarks reveals the seriousness of the problem. Incredibly the article reveals that 10 million in funding, for clients of a disbanded lobbying firm was approved by the Senate. Worse yet the lobbying firm is the object of a federal investigation for fraud connected with contributions to members of Congress. I wonder how the members of Congress, alleged to have accepted money from the lobbying firm, voted on this. The whole seedy mess is merely touched on by the linked article. We need more of this type of reporting. Way to go Paul Kane.

Hydrogen Bonds

Chapter Two of Biochemistry (Mathews, van Holde, and Ahern) has a section devoted to hydrogen bonds. Some of the main points:

* Hydrogen covalently bonds to an atom called the hydrogen bond donor.
* A nonbonded electron pair forms with an atom called the hydrogen bond acceptor.
* Oxygen and nitrogen are electronegative atoms and common hydrogen bond donors.
* Hydrogen bonds explain unique properties of water.
* Hydrogen bonds facilitate solutions of polar compounds in water.
* Hydrogen bonds are biologically significant. Large polymers like DNA and proteins are stabilized by hydrogen bonding.