Yanti & Lynn: Manatee Madness Mentor Group CLOSED (Page 49)

Thanks for the "good lucks".  I'm really looking forward to this race.  Unfortunately, we are supposed to get rain tonight.  Hopefully, it will end before the race and won't leave the trail too messed up.  Somehow I think a nice trail is important   There is a pre-race meeting - I've never had one of those for a running event - should prove interesting.  Maybe they'll tell us to carry rocks, so we can practice Kgore's gator distraction technique!

I'm planning my pre-race dinner right now; think it will include pizza and beer.  Today's lunch was a fruit and Nutella smoothy, so I will hit all the important food groups today

Adrienne, good luck in your races.  Hope you have nice weather for the underwear run!

If your pre-race dinner is beer and pizza, you don't need any luck tomorrow. Best pre-race meal EVER! 

We have a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. Guess I'd better not wear white! 

Oh, I don't know, could prove to be a good strategy.

Hahaha! I'm glad you said something ... I was going to ...

Maybe she can bake cakes and cookies with animals (pictures/decorations) on them! Of course, zoos do like to give animals treats and such to keep them mentally stimulated (we call it enrichment)--keepers have been known to make cupcakes and such with ingredients usually found in the animal diets--as far as I know, no one is doing that outside of zoos, yet I'm betting there would be a market for them!

Good luck Adrienne and Anne-Marie! 

btw. Just remember gators don't jump, and are only fast on land for a few moments--keep running, and they'll never get ya!

Huh, we're more alike then I thought

On a completely unrelated to tri note, here is an article about my brother-in-law's (John Yates) and sister's lab and a recent discovery.  Basically, it has to do with why cells age and may have some pretty important implications.  The story isn't too nerdy/scientific, but will probably be enjoyed more by those with nerd tendencies.  Anyway, just thought this was a cool discovery - especially for those of us with a little more age - and thought I'd share.

Discovery of Extremely Long-Lived Proteins May Provide Insight into Cell Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases

One of the big mysteries in biology is why cells age. Now scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report they have discovered a weakness in a component of brain cells that may explain how the aging process occurs in the brain.

The scientists discovered that certain proteins, called extremely long-lived proteins (ELLPs), which are found on the surface of the nucleus of neurons, have a remarkably long lifespan.

While the lifespan of most proteins totals two days or less, the researchers identified ELLPs in the rat brain that were as old as the organism, the team reported recently in Science Express, an advance, online publication of the journal Science.

“For the first time we report an intracellular protein machine with protein components in excess of a year in age in the core of the nuclear pore complex,” said Jeffrey Savas, a research associate in the Scripps Research laboratory of Professor John Yates III and co-first author of the study with Brandon Toyama of Salk Professor Martin Hetzer’s group. “This finding may have important consequences in the aging process since the selectivity of the pores declines with age. Deterioration of these proteins may enable toxins to enter the nucleus, leading to cellular aging.”

ELLPs make up the transport channels on the surface of the nucleus; gates that control what materials enter and exit. Their long lifespan might be an advantage if not for the wear-and-tear that these proteins experience over time. Unlike other proteins in the body, ELLPs are not replaced when they incur aberrant chemical modifications and other damage.

Damage to the ELLPs weakens the ability of the three-dimensional transport channels that are composed of these proteins to safeguard the cell's nucleus from toxins. These toxins may alter the cell's DNA and thereby the activity of genes, resulting in cellular aging.

Savas notes that two of the discovery-enabling technologies for this study—MudPIT  and N15 labeling of mammals—were developed in the Yates laboratory. MudPIT (multidimensional protein identification technology)—a two-dimensional chromatographic separation, coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry—facilitates proteome-wide analysis. Using N15 metabolic labeling, the scientists were able to track protein turnover through restricting animals’ diet to exclusively N15 spirulina.

In addition to Savas, Toyama, Yates, and Hetzer, authors of the study, “Extremely Long-Lived Nuclear Pore Proteins in the Rat Brain,” include Tao Xu of Scripps Research. For more information on the study, see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/02/01/science.1217421.... />
Support for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Hewitt Foundation, Ellison Medical Foundation, and Glenn Foundation.

 

Thanks for the article...I've recently discovered my inner science nerd and am loving it!!

Good luck to you both running. I'm doing a 1/2 marathon on Sunday, too and now there's some rain predicted.  Oh well. I'll think of you running with the gators and the rain and I'll just maybe be in the mist a bit. No gators in So Cal, other than the ones at our zoo.

Thanks, good luck to you too!

Go Racers! Ann-Marie, Salty, and Lynn.  Good luck in your respective racers.

1hr 20min on the "drainer" (as Yanti described it).  Boy that thing just doesn't get any better does it?  Miffed too since today is a nice and sunny day here in NW Florida but the road I usually ride on was closed today! Drat.

Drainer and dreadmill!

Yes, it is quite galling when it's perfectly lovely out and we're chugging away indoors ... my problem is that the roads I usually ride on are horrifyingly OPEN ... waaaay too open ... yeah. But good on you for doing it anyway!

ANN-MARIE put in a brilliant race! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Details are in her log but I am sure she will post here, too.

Congrats - great race!

UNDERROOS!!!

Pics?

With you, Speedypants, no such thing as a "little" PR! HOLY SMOKES BATMAN!!!

Well done!

Carbo loading is a good thing