The number of Americans that have registered as organ and tissue donors is rising, but the registry still contains only 38% of licensed drivers, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Donate Life America.

Meanwhile, “the number of people awaiting organ transplants has climbed to more than 100,000, and an average of 18 people die each day waiting for organs,” said Donate Life America Chair Sara Pace Jones.

The online survey of 5,100 U.S. adults revealed several misperceptions about organ donation and the registration process.

For example, only 50% of respondents correctly believe physicians will try as hard to save their lives if the caregivers were to become aware of their wish to be an organ donor.

In addition, 44% mistakenly believe there is a black market in the US where people can buy or sell organs or tissue, and only 43% understand it is not possible for a brain dead person to recover from his or her injuries.

“Those who support donation (need) to legally document those wishes, and registering through the DMV or state donor registries is the (best way) to do that. Anyone can find out how to register in their state by visiting www.donatelife.net ”

“There is a real crisis taking place with regards to organ availability in this country – and dispelling commonly held misperceptions and increasing the public’s trust of the donation and transplant system is paramount when it comes to solving it,” said Pace Jones.

The online survey of adults in all 50 states was carried out by Survey Sampling International. The sample was designed to be representative of the US population as a whole.

Continuing an apocalyptic trend, venture capital investment in Q1, 2009 has dropped 50% from the same quarter a year earlier. 

Young companies raised a paltry $3.9 billion in the first quarter of 2009, as compared with $7.78 billion in Q1 2008, according to VentureSource.

That represented the lowest quarterly investment in 11 years.

Remarkably, it was $2 billion less than the quarterly investment total in Q4, 2008 when the Great Economic Crisis matured into a fire-breathing dragon. 

VentureSource reported that only 477 venture-backed companies closed equity financings in Q1 2009. The number was 706 one year earlier, and 601 in Q4 2008.

Angel and first-round financing fell even more sharply, to $682 million in Q1. That’s just one-third of the spend a year earlier.

Much of the problem is traceable to the enormous drops in the portfolio values of pension funds, foundations and endowments that typically finance VC firms.

These limited partners had started becoming gun-shy regarding VCs even before the Great Economic Crisis due to underperformance for nearly a decade.

“LPs are using this to demand a back-to-basics approach,” said Maria Cirino, a co-founder and managing director of .406 Ventures, an early-stage venture firm in Boston. This means smaller funds and investment strategies with a tighter focus, she said.

IT, a staple for VCs, recorded its worst quarter in 12 years with $1.68 billion invested. That’s off 52% from Q1 2008.

Health care did a bit better, netting investments worth $1.35 billion in Q1 2009, down “only” 34% from a year earlier. The sector saw 118 deals close in the quarter, much lower than the 156 that got done in Q4 2008.

Scientists at the Medical College of Georgia have figured out why a high-fiber diet helps prevent and possibly treat colon cancer.

Apparently, the stuff activates a cellular receptor that triggers a biochemical cascade which leads to apoptosis, or cell death in malignant cells.

In a fiber-poor environment, colon cancer cells deactivate the receptor, which is called GPR109A, by methylating the gene responsible for its production.

DNA methylation inhibitors are being studied as treatments for several cancers right now.

“We know the receptor is silenced in cancer but it’s not like the gene goes away,” Vadivel Ganapathy explained to BurrillReport.  He’s the senior author on the paper, which appears in Cancer Research.

The beneficial events begin when gut bacteria metabolize fiber using a process that releases butyrate. This chemical binds to the receptor and the next thing you know, cancer cells vaporize. 

But that’s not all. Activation of this receptor may also reduce inflammation which can promote cancer formation.

And wait, there’s more. Butyrate seems able to inhibit an enzyme that promotes uncontrolled growth of malignant cells.

Straight butyrate might work even better than fiber, but the stuff has an ungodly taste. And since fiber tastes like, well, fiber, the MCG scientists wonder whether a related compound like niacin, also known as Vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid, could have similar benefits.

Many people take niacin to control hypercholesterolemia.

That’s a lot of biochemistry but in a nutshell, “colon cancer does not want to have anything to do with butyrate,” summarized Ganapathy.