How Honey Curbs the MRSA Superbug

Ker Than for National Geographic News

A dark, bitter kind of honey can cripple infection-causing bacteria, including the highly virulent strain known as MRSA, and now researchers think they know how the honey fights the superbug.

Manuka honey is made when honeybees primarily consume the nectar of the manuka bush, a flowering plant native to Australia and New Zealand.

Researchers already knew that manuka honey has antibacterial properties, but why and how it works has been a mystery.

"Manuka honey has an extra [unidentified] component that isn't found in other honey, which gives it an extra kick," said study team member Rowena Jenkins of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

"It may even be several components working together."

Honey Thief

In a new experiment, Jenkins and colleagues grew MRSA in the lab with and without manuka honey for four hours.

MRSA, or meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a type of staph infection that isn't affected by many common antibiotics.

The team also grew batches of MRSA with and without sugar syrup, to check whether the honey's high sugar content was solely responsible for fighting the bacteria.

In general, many bacteria can't grow in high-sugar environments, since the sugars tie up water that the bacteria need to survive. (Get more germ-filled facts with our infectious diseases quiz.)

Jenkins and colleagues found that the MRSA bacteria treated with manuka honey more often lacked a particular protein necessary for synthesizing fatty acids, which are required for building cell walls and internal structures.

The crippled bacteria "don't have the necessary proteins to complete their life cycles," Jenkins said, so they are unable to reproduce and eventually die.

Since the sugar syrup didn't have the same results, the researchers think some other, unidentified component must be disabling the bacteria.

Not Exactly on Store Shelves

Finding out more about manuka's mystery ingredient could lead to new treatments for drug-resistant bacteria strains, the study authors say.

Still, the researchers caution against treating wounds with commercially sold manuka honey.

Unlike medical-grade honey, store-bought honey is not sterilized and could contain microbes and spores that might make an infection worse, Jenkins said.

Findings presented September 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Mediterranean diet reduces depression, study suggests

Jetting to the sunny climes of the Mediterranean couldn't hurt if you feel a bout of depression settling in.

But a new study in the Archives of General Psychiatry finds that if your aim is to minimize your risk of depression in the first place, you might stay right where you are and make your plate look like it's been to the Mediterranean. You should scale back on the meats and dairy fats, eat some nuts, and increase your consumption of fish, vegetables and legumes doused in olive oil.

Oh, and pour yourself a glass of wine. Not half a bottle; one glass, maybe two.

The Mediterranean diet has been linked to reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. it was only a matter of time before researchers would begin to wonder whether a Mediterranean diet could also reduce the risk of depression -- which, like all of the above diseases, is linked to higher levels of inflammation throughout the body. They found tantalizing suggestions of such a link: Compared with Northern Europe, the countries surrounded by the Mediterranean report lower rates of mental illness and suicide.

The study linking adherence to a traditional Mediterranean diet with reduced depression risk is the first to test that link prospectively. It followed a group of subjects over several years, tracked their eating patterns and recorded how many reported several symptoms or a diagnosis of depression. This one tracked 10,094 graduates of the University of Navarra in Spain for roughly 4 1/2 years and found that the more closely subjects stuck to the principal elements of a Mediterranean diet, the lower their likelihood of developing depression.

So what is it -- the sunshine, the hillside towns that keep even octogenarians walking daily on errands? The tradition of far niente? The wine, the fish, the nuts, the legumes, the olive oil? While acknowledging that lifestyle factors or genetics may contribute to the lowered risk of depression, the researchers focused largely on the dietary components, and sought to single out one or two more powerful than the others in warding off depression.

In the end, they noted, "the role of the overall dietary pattern may be more important than the effect of single components." They even suggested that depression may yield in the face of a "synergistic combination" of polyunsaturated fats from olive oil and nuts, antioxidants from fruits and flavenoids, B vitamins and natural folates from vegetables and wine.

-- Melissa Healy

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Woman devotes life to helping community

By Karina Rusk

SANTA CRUZ, CA (KGO) -- There is a group helping the needy in Santa Cruz County that is not worried about cutbacks in government funding because they do not get any to begin with. The organization began with the volunteer efforts of one extraordinary woman.

For Annette Marcum, the economic recession means slowing down is not an option. The food pantry in Ben Lomond is busier than ever.

"Oh my God, this [the need] is the worst I have ever seen it in my 27 years," she says.

The organization Marcum founded now serves up to 1,800 people every month in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

"She is the most caring and loving person I have ever met in my life," says food recipient Elisha McKeown.

The deep appreciation is not just for the food. Bags of groceries are indeed given out every week. There are also hundreds of new backpacks and supplies for children returning to school and toys at Christmas for families who would otherwise do without.

Still, it is not the stuff so much as the spirit in which it is given.

"When you treat them with dignity when they come, that's the most important thing," says Marcum. "They go away feeling a whole lot better about themselves and they can take better care of their families and that's what makes the difference."

Marcum started volunteering at the age of 15, but it was in 1982 when disaster struck her community that service to others became a passion and profession. It was a devastating storm that flooded Love Creek and left a deadly path of destruction.

Marcum starting taking people into her home and organizing disaster relief. The result was a community-based organization called Valley Churches United Missions; a name that is somewhat misleading.

"We are not a church. We are this group of people coming together to perform humanitarian acts," she says.

Those humanitarian acts take place on a daily basis and during times of crisis like the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Valley Churches United was helping victims long before federal relief every arrived.

"FEMA helped us a lot, but if it weren't for Annette, we would have still sat there numb not having a clue what to do in that situation with everything that we had just lost," says 1989 earthquake victim Jeanne Bell.

Through heartache and triumph, Marcum has logged more than 46,000 volunteer hours.

"Phenomenal. There are no other words for it. She is an amazing woman," says 1982 storm victim Ross Harriman.

Part of the amazing story of Valley Churches United is that less than 5 percent of the budget goes to overhead. There is only one paid staff member and the operation runs on generous donations and dedicated volunteers.

"She helped us, we keep helping and it goes 'round and 'round and that's what communities like this are all about," says a recipient.

It is that community support and all of the volunteers she inspired that give Marcum reason to think the circle of giving will continue long after she is gone.

"That's the whole thing. That's the legacy that I leave is what you see here and I am certain it will be, that this live on forever," says Marcum. "It's not Annette Marcum, it's Valley Churches United."

ABC7 salutes Marcum and all of the volunteers at Valley Churches United Missions.

If you would like to help or donate, visit www.vcum.org

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Three Americans Share Nobel Prize for Medicine

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.

It was the first time two women have been among the winners of the medicine prize.
The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.

The Nobel citation said the laureates found the solution in the ends of the chromosomes -- features called telomeres that are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces from unraveling.

Blackburn and Greider discovered the enzyme that builds telomeres -- telomerase -- and the mechanism by which it adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes to replace genetic material that has eroded away.

The prize-winners' work, done in the late 1970s and 1980s, set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth. Scientists are studying whether drugs that block the enzyme can fight the disease. In addition, scientists believe that the DNA erosion the enzyme repairs might play a role in some illnesses.

''The discoveries by Blackburn, Greider and Szostak have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential new therapies,'' the prize committee said in its citation.

Ten women have won the prestigious medicine award since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901, but it was the first time that two women were honored in the same year.

Nobel judges say women are underrepresented in Nobel statistics because the award-winning research often dates back several decades to a time when science was dominated by men. Still, critics say the judges aren't looking hard enough for deserving women candidates.

''We don't give Nobel Prizes because of gender,'' medicine prize committee member Goran Hansson told The Associated Press. ''We give it for scientific discoveries. As more women participate in research and make scientific discoveries, more women will win Nobel Prizes.''

Blackburn, who holds U.S. and Australian citizenship, is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Greider is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Greider, 48, said she was telephoned just before 5 a.m. her time with the news that she had won.

''It's really very thrilling, it's something you can't expect,'' she told The Associated Press by telephone.

People might make predictions of who might win, but one never expects it, she said, adding that ''It's like the Monty Python sketch, 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!'''

Greider described the research as beginning with experiments aimed at understanding how cells work, not with the idea for certain implications for medicine.

''Funding for that kind of curiosity-driven science is really important,'' she said, adding that disease-oriented research isn't the only way to reach the answer, but ''both together are synergistic,'' she said.

Blackburn, 60, said she was awakened at 2 a.m.

''Prizes are always a nice thing,'' she told The AP. ''It doesn't change the research per se, of course, but it's lovely to have the recognition and share it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.

London-born Szostak, 56, has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics. He is also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

''There's always some small chance that something like this might happen, so when the phone rang, I thought maybe this is it, so, sure enough,'' Szostak told the AP.

He said winning the prize was made sweeter because it also included Blackburn and Greider.

''When we started the work, of course, we were really just interested in the very basic question about DNA replication, how the ends of chromosomes are maintained,'' he said. ''At the time we had no idea there would be all these later implications.''

He said that since then it had become apparent that ''this process of maintaining the ends of DNA molecules is very important and plays an important role in cancer and in aging, which are really still being fully worked out.''

Hansson said there is a lot of work yet to do to develop therapies for blood, skin and lung disease based on the winners' breakthroughs.

He said telomerase is very active in many cancer cells, ''and if you turn it off or destroy the cells which have this high activity, you could be able to treat cancer,'' he said.

The award includes a 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) purse split three ways among the winners, a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm on Dec. 10.

The researchers have already won a series of medical honors for their research. In 2006, they shared the Lasker prize for basic medical research, often called ''America's Nobel.''

Some inherited diseases are now known to be caused by telomerase defects, including certain forms of congenital aplastic anemia, in which insufficient cell divisions in the stem cells of the bone marrow lead to severe anemia. Certain inherited diseases of the skin and the lungs are also caused by telomerase defects.

The Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, literature and the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced later this week, while the economics award will be presented on Oct. 12.

Prize founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite, left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.

Nobel established the prizes in his will in 1895. The first awards were handed out six years later.

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Associated Press Writers Sarah Brumfield in Baltimore, Mary Hudetz in Phoenix, Mark Pratt in Boston and Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report.

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Woman finds fulfillment helping others with job searches

By John Sammon

Felton -- Barbara Burkhart is one of those rare people who make a difference in other people's lives. The Felton resident previously ran a nonprofit women's shelter, a safe-house where women and their children could take refuge from husbands perceived to be dangerous.

"We would take a woman into a shelter if the husband was a threat," Burkhart said. "We offered counseling and possibly a restraining order against the abuser."

Partial funding for the program ran out in 2002, forcing Burkhart out of work for the first time in 18 years. A senior citizen collecting unemployment, she knew she got the most enjoyment helping others. So, it's a little bit ironic she would find a new calling as a volunteer helping others attain what she had lost -- a job.

"I discovered a program through the California Economic Development Department called Profile," she said. "I began teaching courses there that help people seeking employment."

Burkhart said the organization gives people the tools to find a job starting with how to write an effective resume.

"The technique of writing a winning resume has changed greatly over the past 20 years," she said.

Burkhart said the old way of simply laundry listing every job you've ever had starting with the most recent at the top, will no longer suffice for employers looking for specific skills.

"The key is to explain your accomplishments and show what you have achieved to a prospective employer," she explained.

Students' resumes are critiqued in class. In addition, students are taught interview skills.

"People used to go into an interview and meet with the employer, and they were not asked in-depth questions like they are today," Burkhart said. "Today, the process is much more formal."

Burkhart commutes three days a week from Felton to the EDD office in Capitola to teach. In addition, she acts as a part-time event coordinator for a firm called Values Technology, a company that helps businesses identify values and objectives. She finds time to serve as president of New Music Works, a program in Santa Cruz that performs new chamber works. She has also volunteered for UC Santa Cruz Affiliates providing scholarships for deserving students.

In addition, she participates on a coordinating committee for the annual Santa Cruz County Job Fair, to be held this year from 4-7 p.m. at the Cocoanut Grove at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

A retired widow with grandchildren, Burkhart is busier today as a volunteer than she was when she had a full-time job. She said helping is the greatest joy.

"I suppose I'm a professional volunteer," she said. "Just this past month, nine people who we helped found jobs. When you can see people succeed, it makes your own life richer."

More information on the Job Fair may be reached at access2employment.org.

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