Golden Elephant
#Veg: #vanillacake with #passionfruit #creamcheeseicing & passion fruit #whitechocolateganache.
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#elephants are the largest mammal on earth, common throughout #Africa & #Asia. Asian elephants are smaller than African ones, and only some male Asian elephants have tusks. Meanwhile all African elephants, including the females, grow tusks. On both continents, a matriarch leads herds of females & calves organized into complex social structures. Male elephants, on the other hand, often tend to live in isolation.
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Elephants are majestic creatures, & we have a lot that we can learn from their #biology. The increase in #cancer occurrences in humans are often credited to our long life spans, but the oldest living mammals, elephants, have no documented cases of cancer!
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A crucial & natural #tumour suppressor in the body is the protein #p53. The best-characterized functions of p53 are its response to cellular stress; playing critical roles in cell growth arrest, #apoptosis (cell death), #DNA damage repair, #oncogene activation, #telomere shortening (aging of cells), & metabolic disruptions. With 35 yrs of research on the protein, we yet to understand how p53 fights cancer, despite it being the single most frequently mutated gene in cancer.
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Elephants, on the other hand, have long cancer-free life spans; in fact, they have 20 copies of p53 in their genomes! Though not all these genes are translated into functional proteins, they contribute to the enhanced sensitivity of elephant cells to DNA damage & inducing cell death. The study on elephants suggests that we have yet to tap into the full extent of p53 and its #tumoursuppressive capacity.
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Elephants are magnificent; not only in their cellular function, but also in the important role they play in maintaining the balance in our ecosystem. Both, African & Asian elephants roam vast stretches of land; require massive amounts of food, water and space. This often makes them compete with humans for resources, both for space to live on and for farming. Habitat destruction and poaching for ivory has continued to threaten the species.
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#scicomm #goldelephants
