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A research group led by Olga Malyshevskaya and Yoshihiro Urade of International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS), University of Tsukuba, discovered that seizures, a life-threatening condition, can be induced by natural Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC, main constituent of marijuana) or the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 (main component of synthetic blend "Spice") in mice. This was demonstrated by continuous recording of animals' electric brain activity (electroencephalogram, EEG), video and movement activity tracking. Based on their data they propose potential treatment in case of cannabinoid overdose with the cannabinoid -1-receptor (CB1R) specific antagonist (AM-251), because in their study pretreatment prevented cannabinoid-induced seizures. "Our study is quite important because unaware of the particularly severe effect by those cannabinoids, people see marijuana as a soft drug, without dangerous health effects," Malyshevskaya says. Use ...

"What we are learning is that food is a double-edge sword -- it may promote disease, but it may also help prevent chronic diseases, like colon cancer," said Jairam K.P. Vanamala, associate professor of food sciences, Penn State. "What we don't know is, 'how does this food work on the molecular level?' This study is a step in that direction." In the study, pigs that were served a high calorie diet supplemented with purple-fleshed potatoes had less colonic mucosal interleukin-6 -- IL-6 -- compared to a control group. IL-6 is a protein that is important in inflammation, and elevated IL-6 levels are correlated with proteins, such as Ki-67, that are linked to the spread and growth of cancer cells, said Vanamala, who also is a faculty member at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute. According to the researchers, who reported their findings in a recent issue of the  Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry , eating whole foods that contain macronutrients -- ...