One dental researcher thinks he's found a way to permanently stave off the cavity-causing bacteria that lead to expensive and costly trips to the dentist.

Wenyuan Shi of the University of California, Los Angeles, has led efforts to develop a mouthwash with technology that kills Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria responsible for cavities.

First, Shi and colleagues had to understand how these bacteria interact in biofilms, or the sticky colonies of microorganisms that build up as plaque on the teeth. Bacteria often latch on to the surfaces of teeth, breaking down food debris and nutrients into acids that can eat away at enamel and form caries (another word for cavities). These harmful plaque build-ups can lead to gum disease and even tooth loss.

NEWS: First Teeth Grew On Outside of Body

The technology, called "Specifically-Targeted Antimicrobial Peptides" (STAMPs), targets cavity-causing bacteria without interfering with other microbes in the mouth. This differs from most antibiotics that kill unwanted bacteria and do away with the good kind as well.

But after being exposed to Shi's technology, the good bacteria develop a type of protection that prevents bad bacteria from forming near them in the future.

In a small clinical trial of 12 participants, using the mouthwash once over a four-day period helped lower levels of S. mutans bacteria, lactic acid and demineralization.

It's not clear how much the mouthwash would cost if approved for use, and more research is needed to test the long-term effects of the rinse. One UCLA press release says Shi has received an investigation grant through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which would support more trials beginning in 2012.

But can the antimicrobial really rid us of the costly and painful experience of tooth decay in our lifetimes?

BLOG: How Mouth Bacteria End Up in the Heart

We'll have to wait until the mouthwash undergoes more trials before ditching our toothbrushes and floss. Since the rinse doesn't affect other bacteria, people who rely on the mouthwash may still feel the need to brush to remove excess plaque. Another general concern may be exerting selective pressures on the bad bacteria, which may have the potential to create bacteria resistant to treatments or antibiotics. It's unclear if cell signaling creates the same pressures as other antibiotics.

The American Dental Association has warned companies for claiming that products prevent gum disease when there's not much evidence to do so.

Time will tell if the technology will hit the medicine cabinet as cavities' No. 1 enemy. It's also worth mentioning that Shi gained financial support from Colgate-Palmolive and a company he helped establish in 2005.

Maine takes pride in medical pot - (Read Full Story)

The first thing that jumps out at a visitor to the Remedy Compassion Center is how neat and clean it is. The walls are an immaculate blue from floor to ceiling, and the freshly carpeted main room is vast and almost empty.

The second thing one notices is the distinctly herby, faint odor of fresh-cut marijuana.

The center is, after all, a medical marijuana dispensary and, given the controversial nature of the treatment — or business — being conducted here, the impression of spotlessness is no accident.

“We wanted it to be a setting where it would be like going to a pharmacy,” said Tim Smale, who opened the facility after struggling for years to obtain marijuana legally as a remedy for his own recurring migraine headaches.

“There’s tens of thousands of people like me who don’t have a place to go for medicine, so it’s all about creating a place for patients to go and find a safe and trusted source.”

Squirrel Goes Nuts, Terrorizes Vt. Neighborhood

Don't laugh, but a vicious squirrel has terrorized a Vermont neighborhood, attacking at least three residents and eluding wildlife control experts for more than a week.

The small gray squirrel in Bennington, Vt., has broken the peace that existed between humans and the small woodland creatures. In separate incidents, the pugnacious rodent has bitten and scratched neighbors without provocation, local station Fox 23 reported.

"[It] just latched on to my shoulder, and I went back and it's a gray squirrel," victim Kevin McDonald told the TV station.

McDonald was shoveling snow outside his home when the sneak attack began. "He was holding on. He wouldn't let go. I was finally able to get him off, and as soon as I got him off, he just jumped right at me again."

Cover Up Of Fukushima Chain Reaction Underway

All the nuclear reactors at the earthquake stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are under threat of melting down and exploding in a chain reaction that will signify the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster and send clouds of radioactive particles hurtling towards the United States – that’s the scale of the crisis facing Japan as officials admit for the first time that three nuclear reactors are already in a meltdown.

While the mainstream media continues to argue over the definition of a “meltdown” while unquestionably regurgitating the dubious claim of Japanese officials that the two massive explosions witnessed at the plant were caused by pressurized hydrogen, radioactive isotopes cesium-137 and iodine-121 have been detected by helicopters flying 160km (100 miles) away from the nuclear plant, which can only mean one thing, according to the Seattle Times: “One or more of the reactor cores is badly damaged and at least partially melted down.”

After claiming for three days that the explosions did not damage reactor cores and downplaying the severity of the situation, Japanese officials have now been forced to admit the obvious, that nuclear fuel rods in three reactors are melting. Given the sequence of events, it is entirely probable that all six reactor sites will now go into total meltdown and start spewing radioactive particles into the atmosphere that threaten not only Japanese citizens but also those living on the west coast of the United States.

Countless millions of dead fish found floating in Redondo Beach harbor

In what is perhaps the most startling and disturbing mass animal die-off yet, countless millions of dead anchovies were found this morning floating in King Harbor Marina in Redondo Beach, Calif., according to reports from The Daily Breeze. Officials say they do not know the cause of the event at this time and that investigations are underway.

Like the many other animal die-off events in recent months, experts have been quick to dismiss the situation and provide otherwise reasonable-sounding hypotheses for why the event occurred. One idea put forth by Sgt. Phil Keenan of the Redondo Beach Police Department suggests that there must have been too many anchovies packed into one area and that the oxygen supply in the water became depleted.

Doctors, Nurses and Scientists on Protecting Your Child and Yourself

Click the button below to get the VaccinationCouncil.org Special Report released by NaturalNews. The report contains useful information on the fact vaccinations have never been proven safe or effective, the profit motive behind Big Pharm’s vaccine push, why vaccinated children have far worse health outcomes than unvaccinated children, and more.

Food costs serve up trouble

Get ready for a rocky year. From now on, rising prices, powerful storms, severe droughts and floods, and other unexpected events are likely to play havoc with the fabric of global society, producing chaos and political unrest. Start with a simple fact: the prices of basic food staples are already approaching or exceeding their 2008 peaks, that year when deadly riots erupted in dozens of countries around the world.

Now 300 dead birds fall from the sky in Alabama (how much longer can scientists keep saying this is normal?)

Up to 300 dead birds have been found on the side of an Alabama highway in the latest mass animal death to be reported.

The bodies of the birds, identified as grackles, were found strewn along the I-65 highway.

Grackles have also been found dead in their hundreds recently in Arkansas, Louisiana and Kentucky.

It appears that the birds died of blunt force trauma - possibly from being hit by a truck, wildlife biologist Bill Gates told local news station WAFF.

He drew his conclusion from the feathers scattered across the snow, which was bloody in places.

A collision with a big rig is also believed to be responsible for the deaths of over 100 birds whose bodies were found at the side of a California highway last weekend.

One poor harvest away from chaos

Dr Henry Kissinger, at the height of his powers as US Secretary of State, was speaking to the landmark 1974 World Food Conference. Since then, the number of hungry people worldwide has almost exactly doubled: from 460 million to 925 million.

And this week the airwaves have been full of warnings that the formidable figure could be about to increase further, as a new food crisis takes hold. Some experts warned that the world could be on the verge of a "nightmare scenario" of cut throat competition for the control of shrinking supplies.

The cause of such alarm? On Wednesday, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported that global food prices had hit a record high and were likely to go on rising, entering what Abdolreza Abbassian, its senior grains economist, called "danger territory".

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks

Blue stain believed to be sign of poisoning or hypoxia - lack of oxygen that is precursor to altitude sickness

Cold weather and overbreeding blamed for deaths of two 2million fish in Chesapeake Bay.

Disease behind deaths of 100,000 fish in Arkansas River.

At least nine incidents of mass animal deaths across the globe.

Hundreds of confused birds plummeted to their deaths in multiple locations in the U.S.

Urgent action needed to help stop fluoridation of New York City and San Diego

There's good news on the fluoride front in New York City this week, but your help is needed there (and also in San Diego). Councilor Peter Vallone is introducing a bill to the New York City Council that would end fluoridation in NYC. We need help from all our New York City readers to support this effort to protect the safety of the NYC water supply and remove this toxic chemical from the tap water there.

As you may already know, the fluoride that's dumped into the water supplies in cities like NYC is actually derived from the toxic byproducts of the phosphate mining industry. Twenty-four studies have now been publishing linking fluoride to low IQs in children, including a recent study that showed water fluoridation strongly correlated to a statistically significant reduction in children's IQs (http://www.prisonplanet.com/fluorid...).

The 10 Leading Theories For Dead Birds And Fish

As the mainstream media attempts to downplay the latest die-off event, which has now gone global, it is worthwhile to keep track of the story lines. Feel free to add your own to the comments section, and we will update accordingly.

Mainstream Explanations: Lightning, hail, mid-air collision, power lines, and New Year fireworks for the birds . . . but disease for the fish. This is even rolling eyes in the mainstream media. Birds are incredibly sensitive to their environment (think canary in the coal mine), and the thought that they were caught by surprise, or that they “fowled” up their flight pattern is patently ridiculous. And where are the roasted birds from this lightning strike? And what about fish dying in the same region? Just a “disease” coincidence. One mainstream headline has to be enshrined as the saddest attempt at sensationalism, while revealing an obvious natural conclusion Falling Birds Likely Died From Massive Trauma. Really?

Meteor showers: We are in a period of intense seasonal meteor showers, and several perennial YouTubers reported hearing sonic booms in the area that could have indicated a local shock wave. This would be one non-conspiratorial, natural cause that actually makes sense, but it is hard to connect to both birds and fish, unless it produced a disabling frequency. There were indeed other sound anomalies according to the report highlighted above.

World Food Prices Jump to Record on Sugar, Oilseeds

World food prices rose to a record in December on higher sugar, grain and oilseed costs, the United Nations said, exceeding levels reached in 2008 that sparked deadly riots from Haiti to Egypt.

An index of 55 food commodities tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization gained for a sixth month to 214.7 points, above the previous all-time high of 213.5 in June 2008, the Rome-based UN agency said in a monthly report. The gauges for sugar and meat prices advanced to records.

With food safety bill, U.S. government will spend nearly $1 million per person to prevent food-borne illness deaths

The recently-passed Food Safety Modernization Act, which was passed in order to prevent food-borne illness deaths in the USA, will cost $1.4 billion over the first five years. But nobody thinks about the economics of the issue. How many people are we going to save by spending this $1.4 billion, even assuming it works?

To answer that question, let's look at the food illness fatality figures offered by the CDC:

Out of the 5,000 food-borne illness deaths each year in the United States, only 1,809 are "attributable to foodborne transmission" according to the CDC

Congress sticks it to U.S. farmers with passage of food safety bill

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2751 yesterday with a 216 to 144 vote (yes, many members of the House did not even vote). The so-called Food Safety Modernization Act now heads to the President to be signed into law.

When witnessing such a moment in history when the federal government greatly expands its power over an entire industry, it's important to understand the Law of Unintended Consequences. Virtually everything bad that happens after a bill gets passed is due to this Law of Unintended Consequences.

US water has large amounts of likely carcinogen: study

A US environmental group has found that drinking water in 35 American cities contains hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

The study by the Environmental Working Group -- the first nationwide analysis measuring the presence of the chemical in US water systems -- is to be made public on Monday, the daily reported.

The group found hexavalent chromium in the tap water of 31 out of 35 cities sampled. Of those, 25 had levels that exceeded the goal proposed in California, which has been trying aggressively to reduce the chemical in its water supply.

Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Virginia's Central Challenge to Health Care Law

Casting an unmistakable and perhaps permanent pockmark on the face of the Obama administration, a federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday that a major component of the new health care reform law is unconstitutional.

Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled Monday for the state's claim that the requirement for people to purchase health care exceeds the power of Congress under the Constitution's Commerce Clause or under the General Welfare Clause.

H1N1 vaccine linked to 700 percent increase in miscarriages

Recent data presented to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Children's Vaccines has revealed some shocking information about the effects of the H1N1 / swine flu vaccine on pregnant women. According to the report, the rate of miscarriage among pregnant women during the 2009 H1N1 / swine flu pandemic soared by over 700 percent compared to previous years, pointing directly to the vaccine as the culprit -- but the CDC denies the truth and continues to insist nobody has been harmed.

According to the CDC, nearly 50 percent of all pregnant women were vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine during the 2009 / 2010 influenza season. Those whose physicians instructed them to get a seasonal flu shot were three times more likely to get it, while those instructed specifically to get the H1N1 shot were ten times more likely to get it. And the numbers clearly show that along with the rise in vaccinations due to the H1N1 scare came the sharp increase in miscarriages, including a slew of actual reported adverse events.

Scientists attach barcodes to mouse embryos – human ones coming soon

Fans of the film Blade Runner may remember a scene in which the maker of an artificial snake is identified by a microscopic serial number on one of its scales. Well, in a rare case of present-day technology actually surpassing that predicted in a movie, we’ve now gone one better – bar codes on embryos. Scientists from Spain’s Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), along with colleagues from the Spanish National Research Council, have successfully developed an identification system in which mouse embryos and oocytes (egg cells) are physically tagged with microscopic silicon bar code labels. They expect to try it out on human embryos and oocytes soon.

The purpose of the system is to streamline in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer procedures. If egg cells and embryos can be quickly and easily identified, then things should run much smoother, and success rates should be higher.

Aspartame (found in Diet Coke) causes premature births

Regular consumption of artificial sweeteners by pregnant women may increase their risk of premature birth, according to a study funded by the European Union and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers interviewed almost 60,000 pregnant Danish women about their soft-drink consumption, then compared these data with the results of the women's births. They found that drinking one can of diet soda per day increased her risk of giving birth prematurely by 38 percent compared with women who never drank diet soda. Drinking four or more of the beverages per day increased the risk of preterm birth by 78 percent.

Drunken' gene discovered by scientists

Scientists found that 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the population possess a particular version of the gene that causes them to get drunk easily.

The first few drinks during a night out will leave these individuals feeling more inebriated than their friends.

Three Articles For Mass-Distribution: Rockefeller Depopulation Plans Exposed

In the course of the last couple of weeks, Infowars published a three-part series on the Rockefeller Foundation's admitted funding and developing of anti-fertility vaccines intended for "mass-scale distribution." I ask the great Infowars readership to launch a counterstrike against the new world order by, on our part, mass-distributing this information to as many people as possible. The more people aware of the Rockefeller's plans for humanity, the smaller the chance that they will be successful. They may have the vaccines and GM Food, but we have the knowledge to stop them in their tracks.

Across Texas, 60,000 babies of noncitizens get U.S. birthright

As Republican members of Congress press for changes to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, preventing automatic citizenship for babies born to illegal immigrants, opponents insist the debate is not really about babies.

Instead, they say it is about politics and votes – not fixing the immigration system.

Still, the debate could resonate in Texas, where not only 1.5 million illegal immigrants are estimated to reside but at least 60,000 babies are added to their households annually.

No, You Can't Keep Your Health Plan

President Obama guaranteed Americans that after health reform became law they could keep their insurance plans and their doctors. It's clear that this promise cannot be kept. Insurers and physicians are already reshaping their businesses as a result of Mr. Obama's plan.

The health-reform law caps how much insurers can spend on expenses and take for profits. Starting next year, health plans will have a regulated "floor" on their medical-loss ratios, which is the amount of revenue they spend on medical claims. Insurers can only spend 20% of their premiums on running their plans if they offer policies directly to consumers or to small employers. The spending cap is 15% for policies sold to large employers...

Congressional Democrats have begun pushing legislation giving government regulators greater authority to block big increases in health insurance premiums, kicking off what is expected to be a years-long process of revising and expanding their major healthcare overhaul.

"Don't drink the water," that's what Oliver Outerbridge is telling his neighbors.

It's ironic because Outerbridge is a restaurant owner in Portland, Maine-a state which has some of the best tasting drinking water in the country.

"We are literally consuming a toxic substance," Outbridge said, "we are medicating everyone."

Wet kisses from man's best friend could soon be showing us more than love. Researchers have found that the DNA on Fido's tongue could be the key to new treatments for rare cancers in both humans and dogs.

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), developed the Canine Hereditary Cancer Consortium, to understand why people and their pets get sick.

A federal district court in Wisconsin today ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb issued the decision in a case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based atheist and agnostic group that challenged the constitutionality of a 1988 federal law

Twelve states plan to challenge the constitutionality of the health-care overhaul passed yesterday by the U.S. House, according to statements made today...

A group of Hispanic lawmakers on Thursday will tell President Barack Obama that they may not vote for healthcare reform unless changes are made to the bill’s immigration provisions...

President Obama's attempts to ram health- care reform through an increasingly reluctant Congress are starting to resemble a really eventful episode of "The Sopranos."

Whether or not you believe former Rep. Eric Massa's bizarre accusations of locker-room confrontations and conspiracies to drive him from office, there is no doubt that the Obama administration and its congressional allies are willing to use every trick in the book to get this bill passed…

One day after losing their filibuster-proof Senate majority in a Massachusetts special election, exhausted Senate Democrats looked downtrodden as they filed into their weekly lunch in a second-floor room at the Capitol. "People are hysterical right now," said one Senate aide...

In the Battle of the Health Bills, the Senate wins out, bulk-wise – weighing in at 2,074 pages.

“Read the bill!” was a rallying cry of some health reform opponents over the summer. And if Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) gets his way, senators will get a chance to hear every word of it. He’s threatening to the read the legislation from start to finish, which by some estimates could take as long as 48 hours...

Combat fat! Your allies in battling bulge? Foods that do the work for you. These edibles have proven lipid-melting powers that help you slim. That’s a win...