Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Using an innovative new imaging technique, researchers from UCLA have found that the brains of retired professional football players who had suffered concussions have a pattern of abnormal protein deposits similar to those found in patients with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a condition that affects athletes in contact sports who experience repetitive brain injuries, the researchers explained, and it is believed to cause memory loss, confusion, personality changes, tremor and even suicidal behavior in former players.
Unique brain-deposit patterns found after concussions
Building upon previous research at the university, the new UCLA study (which was published in the journal PNAS on Monday) uses a imaging tool called a positron emission tomography or PET scan in combination with a chemical market to look for patters of protein deposits on the brain.
PET had previously been successfully tested on five retired National Football League players in a 2013 study, and the new research found the same characteristic pattern in a greater number of ex-players. Furthermore, the study also showed that the brain imaging patterns of individual who had suffered concussions is different than those of healthy people and Alzheimer’s patients.
Senior author Dr. Jorge Barrio, a professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and his colleagues believe that the findings could help lead to improved identification of CTE in athletes. They are also hopeful the research will lead to the development and testing of treatments to delay the progression of such brain disorders.
Using tau to track the development and progression of CTE
At this time, it is only possible to diagnose CTE following an autopsy. To identify the disorder, doctors look for an accumulation of a specific abnormal protein known as tau in the parts of the brain that regulate mood, cognitive ability and motor function. Tau is also one type of abnormal protein deposit found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, though in a different pattern.
“The distribution pattern of the abnormal brain proteins, primarily tau, observed in these PET scans, presents a ‘fingerprint’ characteristic of CTE,” Dr. Barrio explained. He and his fellow researchers identified four stages of deposits that could signify early to advanced levels of the disease – a finding which may make it easier to track how CTE develops and progresses.
The new study uses the five subjects from the earlier study as well as nine new former players, all of whom had sustained at least one concussion over their careers. They underwent PET and MRI scans, neuropsychological testing and other examinations, and their results were compared with those of 19 men and women with healthy brains, and 24 who had Alzheimer’s disease.
“We found that the imaging pattern in people with suspected CTE differs significantly from healthy volunteers and those with Alzheimer’s dementia,” said co-author Dr. Julian Bailes, the director of the Brain Injury Research Institute and chairman of the neurosurgery department at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois. “These results suggest that this brain scan may also be helpful as a test to differentiate trauma-related cognitive issues from those caused by Alzheimer’s disease.”
—–
Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

A new influenza outbreak has been reported in the Chicago area, but there’s no need for you to run out and get flu shots this time around (unless you’re a dog).

According to CBS News reports, there have been over 1,000 cases of canine infection respiratory disease reported in the Windy City over the past several weeks, and at least five dogs are already dead as the result of what experts are calling it an unprecedented outbreak of the disease.

Feeling sick as a dog

Dr. Jerry Klein, supervising veterinarian at the Chicago Veterinary Emergency Center, told CBS that his hospital handles approximately 15 cases of canine flu each day. He said that the disease was “almost an epidemic,” and called it “the worst type of outbreak [he has] ever experienced.”

Dr. Klein, who has worked at the facility for more than three decades, told the news outlet that he and his colleagues have had a few fatalities due to the spread of the disease. He explained that it can cause pneumonia, and in some cases, dogs have had to be put on oxygen and ventilation.

Jane Lohmar of Family Pet Animal Hospital echoed those sentiments, telling the Chicago Sun-Times, “I have been practicing for 20 years and I have never seen anything this bad, this contagious, this widespread.” She recommended that dog owners isolate their pets from other dogs to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Several dogs at PetSmart boarding facilities have also fallen ill, causing that firm to temporarily close three Chicago-area locations for disinfection. Local reports indicate that other pet groomers and canine care centers were also limiting their operations to limit the spread of the disease.

Dangerous to dogs, but no threat to humans

Canine influenza cannot be transmitted to humans, but is described as “extremely contagious” among canines. Symptoms include a persistent cough, runny nose, and fever, Andy Izquierdo, a PetSmart spokesman said. An annual vaccine against the disease can be obtained for about $100, while treatment can cost thousands of dollars if hospitalization is required.

The number of cases of canine influenza is not tracked on the national level, CBS News said, but since the condition was first discovered 11 years ago, outbreaks have occurred in 40 states. Back in 2011, 17 states reported infections, making it the worst year for the ailment to date – but Chicago officials warn that the ongoing outbreak could last several more weeks.

Dr. Judith Schwartz, staff veterinarian at the Humane Society of New York, told CBS News that the spread of the disease was “very, very… frightening. It’s [a] concern for me not just because of the animals I see, but we could have a dog in the waiting room saying hello to another dog, and they could be incubating – and no one would know it.”

“Our clients are getting very scared,” David Gonsky, medical director at West Loop Veterinary Care, told the Sun Times. While pet owners should exercise caution, they shouldn’t panic, he said. “There have been hundreds of these infected dogs seen at area veterinary hospitals and the number who have gotten pneumonia is small. The number who have died is very small.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

In an attempt to discourage anorexia, a condition which reportedly affects up to 40,000 people (mostly women) in the country, the French Parliament has approved a measure that would ban the use of dangerously-thin female fashion models throughout the nation.

The measure was officially approved on Friday as part of a larger public health bill, explained the Associated Press, and while it would only apply in France, it is being viewed as a symbolic move designed to help wipe-out the eating disorder in the global fashion industry.

Violators would face fines and possible prison time

The measure, which goes to a full vote this week and would go to the Senate if approved, would prohibit anyone under a certain body mass index level from earning money as a model. It would fine any person or modeling agency that fell below that level (which is to be determined at a later date) up to $80,000 (75,000 euros), and they could also face six months in prison.

“It’s not just about protecting the models but also teenagers, because this body-image pressure also affects them and contributes to the emergence of eating disorders and tendencies to eat less and less,” neurologist and legislator Olivier Veran, who championed the bill, told the AP.

“The idea behind this law is not to send people to prison or fine them. The law will be dissuasive enough to make sure that the health of people working in the modeling industry is protected,” she added. A similar anti-anorexia law failed to pass the French legislature in 2008, but Israel and Spain have passed similar laws since then, according to the wire service report.

Debate over the bill and the definition of “underweight”

Supporters of the proposal said that the law will targeting modeling agencies, and is designed to keep women in the industry from feeling increased pressure to lose weight. The proposal does have some detractors, though, including some healthcare professionals who are concerned that it might make it more difficult to diagnose and treat younger women with anorexia.

The AP said that attempts to contact the French Fashion Federation for comments on the bill were unsuccessful, and that modeling agencies declined to comment until the proposed law is finalized. One unidentified agency rep said that there has been pressure from fashion designers to hire thin models, but insisted that his agency did not employ anyone with the disease.

According to the World Health Organization, a body mass index of under 18.5 is considered to be “underweight,” while the UK’s National Health Service said that anorexic adults tend to have a body mass index of less than 17.5, equivalent to a 5-foot-7, 112-pound woman. The minimum BMI for models would be determined at a later date if the law is officially approved.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Europeans didn’t always have the pale white skin that we commonly associate with them – in fact, the trait evolved fairly recently, according to new research presented last week at the 84th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

In fact, according to Science, the research team behind the new study found that characteristics such as pale skin, height, and the ability to digest milk as adults arrived in the continent recently, and that European peoples have drastically changed over the last 8,000 years or so.

Taking a closer look at Europe’s genetic history

The new study is just the latest in a long line of recent research that has probed the genetic roots of Europeans, the website explained. For instance, by comparing key parts of the DNA across the genomes of 83 ancient individuals from archaeological sites all over Europe, scientists found that the continent’s current residents are a mix of at least three different ancient populations.

The team responsible for that study is also behind the new one, and they took a closer look at the ancient European genome in comparison to more recent DNA from the region. They located five genes associated with changes and diet and skin pigmentation that had undergone strong natural selection, confirming earlier research that early European hunter-gatherers could not digest milk sugars.

In terms of skin color, they found different evolutionary patterns in different areas, including a trio of different genes responsible for producing lighter-colored skin. Their research discovered that as of about 8,500 years ago, early-hunter gatherers in Spain, Luxembourg, and Hungary still had darker skin and lacked versions of the two genes (SLC24A5 and SLC45A2) that caused the depigmentation process to occur and the color of European skin to become white.

A more detailed picture of how natural selection works

Furthermore, it was found that in the far northern regions (where pale skin would be beneficial due to the low levels of light), hunter-gatherers from a nearly 8,000-year-old site in southern Sweden were found to have both light skin gene variants, as well as HERC2/OCA2, a gene that is involved in the development of blue eyes, blonde hair, and lighter skin.

“Thus ancient hunter-gatherers of the far north were already pale and blue-eyed, but those of central and southern Europe had darker skin,” Ann Gibbons of Science explained. “Then, the first farmers from the Near East arrived in Europe; they carried both genes for light skin.”

As those farmers interbred with the indigenous hunter-gatherers, one of their light-skin genes started to sweep across Europe. The other gene variant remained at low levels until roughly 5,800 years ago, when it too started to become increasingly frequent in Europeans.

They also found that natural selection favored genetic variants for tallness among those living in parts of Europe starting 8,000 years ago. The research, Penn State anthropological geneticist George Perry told Science, gives “a much more detailed picture now of how selection works.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

John Hopton for redOrbit.com – @Johnfinitum

Autism is an affliction that worries all parents-to-be, and an increasingly large number of children are developing the disorder (currently one in every 68 American newborns). But a high profile doctor believes that we can have a massive impact on the problem simply by making sure that mothers and young children get enough vitamin D.

Doctor John J Cannell MD is about to release a book entitled Autism Causes, Prevention and Treatment: Vitamin D Deficiency and the Explosive Rise of Autism Spectrum Disorder in which he uses decades of research to demonstrate a link between vitamin D deficiency and autism. He spoke to redOrbit about how pregnant women can obtain safe levels of vitamin D through supplementation and sunlight, and how sun exposure is not the evil it is currently portrayed to be.

“Just within the last several weeks there was a ground-breaking study published in which they tested about a hundred families who had one child with autism and at least one child without,” Dr. Cannell told us. “They went back and got blood from when they were born, and found that the child with autism had much lower vitamin D levels than did the typically developing child.”

“Vitamin D levels have strong genetic components,” he continued. “You can overcome that genetic component by taking supplements or exposing yourself to the sun,” avoiding the lottery of inherited vitamin D levels. A family’s chances of experiencing autism can be greatly reduced by “making sure the mothers have plenty of vitamin D and giving vitamin D to the infants.”

“Increasingly it’s becoming clear that all mothers around the world should be at least tested for vitamin D deficiency,” Dr. Cannell says. But he adds that “about 75 or 80 percent of mothers would need vitamin D supplements or sun exposure. Instead of blood testing millions and millions of women, it’s probably wise to just give pregnant women the appropriate levels (5000 units per day in his view) of vitamin D supplementation.”

We have forgotten that the sun’s rays are healthy

As for that sun exposure, Dr. Cannell says that there is no need go out and get sunburnt, but it is important for pregnant women to get a little sun exposure often. He points out that the current Surgeon General is a dermatologist, who gives “terrible advice” in telling people to avoid the sun altogether. He says that for most of human history: “We were semi-naked in the summertime, hunting and working, and stored up vitamin D to use in the winter.” Even “in the 60s and 70s, before the autism epidemic was with us, there were no sunblocks on the market.”

Cannell says that: “We recommend using sunblock on your face and your hands. The rest of your body should be free of sunblock, and you should only sunbathe for five or ten minutes at first, then you can extend the time a little bit more. People who burn easily can just go out for a minute or two. It’s also important to note that you can’t make much vitamin D if your shadow is longer than you are (i.e. in the evening).” Remember the shadow rule! He advises.

Some people may quite reasonably prefer a natural diet to get their vitamins over supplements, but Dr. Cannell says that “regular food does not contain any vitamin D in any appreciable quantities.” Only obscure foods such as wild oily fish and reindeer meat contain decent amounts, and plenty of sun and supplements are by far the best methods of getting enough. “I would think that at least half of the cases of autism cases could be prevented with sufficient supplementation, probably more than half,” he suggests. “That’s a lot of children.”

Taking action during infancy and toddlerhood (and in some cases reversing autism)

So what about after a child is born? In Dr. Cannell’s opinion, there is a strong case for giving toddlers vitamin D supplements in the case of deficiency, as well as encouraging their use in mothers.

It is in toddlerhood that autism first manifests itself. The first problem is that children are taken from breastfeeding too early and put onto formula. We should also not assume that moderate exposure to the entity that sustains all life on earth, the sun, is going to kill our children and therefore smother them with sunblock every time they go outside. New mothers should also continue their pregnancy habits (supplements and sun exposure) after birth, so that the breast milk is healthy. It is not breastfeeding in itself that helps to protect against autism, but the vitamin D that it can provide if the mother has the right habits.

Dr. Cannell says that he started an online clinic for parents of children with autism, advising them on how to supplement properly. He saw astonishing results. “My experience in doing that is that about 25 percent of children responded dramatically to the point where the children no longer appeared to have autism,” he told us.

A further large percentage had some positive response, and around a quarter did not respond at all. “It’s possible that some of the cases have such vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy that the brain is injured to a point where it cannot be repaired.”

The state of the healthcare union

Where is the general medical community on this? “The resistance is lessening,” says Dr. Cannell. “Now, I’m not going to them, they’re coming to me.” The standard recommendation is still nowhere near his recommendation of 5000 units of vitamin D per day, but he anticipates that it will continue to increase.

“One of the facts that floored me is that if you sunbathe in the summer time for ten minutes you make between 10 and 20 thousand units of vitamin D. Why would nature devise a system that made that much vitamin D that quickly? Nature probably did it for a good reason. There’s an order of magnitude between what nature recommends and what the government recommends.”

He says that doctors in the mid-twentieth century giving stupidly high doses of vitamin D have led to persistent concerns that vitamin D is dangerous. At the dose he recommends he says it is safe, and may very well prevent or reverse autism.

Vaccines do not cause autism!

Finally, what about the current trend of avoiding toddler vaccinations because of autism fears? Dr. Cannell says that it is understandable that parents might look to things like vaccinations because they don’t understand where autism is coming from. But now we can understand it, and realize that what some people feared was caused by jabs during infancy was actually caused by low vitamin D levels.

“One of the reasons that parents still think vaccinations cause autism is that MMR is given between 12 and 15 months of age, which is when many children with autism first develop signs. They assume that it must have been the vaccine, but it’s purely coincidental.”

The message is that we do not need to fear the vaccines that have launched the health of the human race light-years beyond the pre-vaccination era, and can instead look to a comparatively simple solution to autism: getting enough vitamin D.

Dr. John Cannell is founder of the Vitamin D Council which addresses the issues above and others. He has written many peer-reviewed papers on vitamin D and speaks frequently across the United States on the subject. Dr. Cannell holds an MD and has served the medical field as a general practitioner, emergency physician, and psychiatrist.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

John Hopton for redOrbit.com – @Johnfinitum
A new video from PornHub, one of the leading porn sites in the world, gives an insight into pornography use in North Korea. Based on their own stats, PornHub enlightens us as to the habits of North Koreans in terms of demographic, time per visit and fetishes. What can this tell us about North Korea’s secretive culture?
First off, here’s the video (FYI, it’s just a fully clothed lady talking – aka completely safe for work…except for the word “porn” everywhere).

Censorship of anything and everything in North Korea is famously extreme, and in 2013 the Mirror reported that a number of people had been publically executed for distributing pornography. PornHub says that the average time spent per visit in NK is 1 minute 48 seconds, compared with 9 minutes 16 seconds elsewhere in the world. Given the risks that North Koreans face to get their porn fix, it is hardly surprising that they get “straight to the point”, as it were.
Not particularly surprising
Expert Robert Weiss, author of Always Turned On: Sex Addiction in the Digital Age, told redOrbit that: “none of the statistics reported are all that surprising, particularly given the social repression in North Korea. For instance, according to PornHub fewer women use porn there than elsewhere (2% vs 23% globally), and the average porn user logs off more quickly than elsewhere. Both facts could be driven by social repression.”
PornHub also tells us that North Koreans enter some odd searches, including “advanced warfare” and “destroy bush”. Weiss says that:
“Anywhere there is more repression around sexuality (religious, cultural, political), you will see more hidden sexual acting out – more addiction, more self-hatred/shame around sexuality, more illicit sex, etc. So if this is a culture that has strongly repressed or conservative social/sexual mores, that will end up being acted out. Just as any repressed group or minority or any humans being deeply repressed around a naturally occurring issue (eating, sex, etc.) will tend to act out under the surface.”
Oh, and by the way – the most widely used browsers for NK porn users are Internet Explorer 6 and 7.
A repressed, oppressed and technologically poorly advanced culture behaving as you might expect when it comes to porn, it seems.
But as ever with North Korea things are not that simple. While the habits of people who do use porn may fit in with what we know of life in North Korea, it is perhaps shocking that any stats come out of the country at all. Along with extreme punishments for censorship transgressions (could be an oddball’s porn search in itself), it is well known that most ordinary North Koreans will never go online in their life, and the luxury is the reserve of the ruling elite.
It is therefore difficult to know if ordinary North Koreans are going to ridiculous lengths to access pornography, or if PornHub’s stats are further evidence of a ruling elite that preaches austerity but practices decadence (see former leader Kim Jong Il’s reported million-dollar-a-year cognac habit). According to historian Tim Stanley writing for the Telegraph, former CIA deputy Henry Crumpton once wrote: “I never met a North Korean diplomat who did not want porn, either for personal use or resale.”
Who’s responsible?!
So if it is the elite who are responsible for the stats, can we see in them the same habits that we would expect from people who suffer the kind of repression that they actually administer? Or maybe different members of the elite fear being caught by others?
And the ambiguity grows. Stanley quotes respected NK blogger Moon Sung Hwee as saying that pornography actually became a good thing in the country in the 90s, after Kim Jong Il visited and enjoyed some rocks having sex (it’s never straightforward in North Korea, is it). Moon wrote:
“It is known that talking about sexual stuff became prevalent since Kim Jong Il’s visit to Mt. Chilbo in North Hamkyung Province in 1996. During Kim’s visit, a guide described a legend of the husband-and-wife rock. The rock reminds [visitors of] a husband hugging his wife, or having an intercourse for other observers. Kim Jong-Il enjoyed the story. Afterward, every guide where Kim Jong Il made official visit made stories with sexual content and named the place with sexual terms to satisfy Kim. So it became lenient in North Korean society to talk about sexuality in public.”
He added:
“It costs 2000 North Korean won (roughly $2) to rent a porno CD for an hour in North Korea. Even middle school students collect money to rent one.”
Admittedly his thoughts were offered a few years ago, and of course Kim Jong Un has replaced his father as leader in the meantime; a man who had his uncle and former second-in-command killed.
Conclusions are difficult, then, other than to note that porn is universal, and that the North Korean regime needs to chill the funk out.

—–
Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

We’ve all heard the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but researchers from the University of Michigan and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice put the maxim to the test and discovered that it’s not necessarily true.

In research published online this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Matthew Davis of the UM School of Nursing and his colleagues found that on average, frequent apple eaters made just as many trips to the doctor as those who said that they ate less or none of the fruit.

Getting to the, ahem, core of the maxim

According to the Associated Press, Dr. Davis and his fellow researchers reviewed data on roughly 8,400 American adults who participated in government health surveys in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. One of the questions they answered pertained to the foods they had consumed over the past 24 hours, as well as medical care they sought throughout the previous year.

About nine percent of adults ate the equivalent of at least one small apple each day, while nearly one-third said that they had visited the doctor no more than once in the previous 12 months. The analysis revealed that apple eaters had slightly fewer visits than those that shunned the popular produce, but that difference vanished then they accounted for other factors (including the weight, race, education level and insurance status) than can affect frequency of doctor’s visits.

So how did this fascinating study come about? “We were working on a serious project looking at identifying food sources of toxic metals in American’s diet when we realized had the ability to identify apple eaters,” Dr. Davis told redOrbit via e-mail (that paper was published in the journal PLOS One last September). “Our paper is a tongue-in-cheek literal look at the proverb.”

Health and doctor visits are as different as apples and oranges

Dr. Davis told redOrbit that it wasn’t his intention to prove that eating fruit was good for you.

“We did not examine the effect of apple consumption on health. Other papers have done this, and there is a lot of evidence of the beneficial aspects of apple,” he explained. For instance, as the AP notes, the fruit is a good source of vitamin C, provides nearly one-fifth of the recommended daily amount of fiber and contains trace amounts of vitamin A, calcium and iron.

“However, health and healthcare use are two different things,” Dr. Davis added. “In addition to managing illness, people use healthcare to stay well. Thus, apple eating could be associated with more or less healthcare visits as people who eat apples likely seek preventive measures.”

“Frankly, we thought it would be fun to try to examine the proverb literally (even just to see if it could be done),” he went on to tell redOrbit. “Perhaps, our study will encourage others to have a little fun examining such proverbs that are imbedded in our culture.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager whose diary recorded her experiences of hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, died at least one month earlier than previously believed, according to new research released on Tuesday.

The deaths of Anne and her sister Margo in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany were believed to have taken place sometime in March, the Red Cross said at the time, and their official date of death was later set as March 31 by Dutch authorities.

However, as Discovery News explained, new evidence indicates that their death must have taken place in February 1945. That conclusion comes following an investigation that attempted to trace the sisters’ horrific journey, which took them to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, then to Bergen-Belsen in November 1944 as Russian troops closed in from the east.

A case of typhus

The new study uses archived data from the Red Cross, the International Tracing Service and the Bergen-Belsen Memorial, as well as eyewitness testimonies and interviews with survivors. Four of those survivors reported that the Frank sisters had started showing symptoms of typhus by late January 1945. The disease is typically fatal less than two weeks after symptoms arise.

“It is therefore unlikely that they survived until the end of March,” the Anne Frank House said. The exact date when Anne and Margo died is unknown, but the study quotes one of the surviving witnesses, Rachel van Amerongen, as saying that “one day they simply weren’t there anymore.”

Erika Prins, a researcher at the museum, told The Guardian that the study puts to rest the notion that the 15-year-old girl and her sister would have been rescued had they only lived a little a little longer. The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated by Allied troops on April 15, 1945.

“When you say they died at the end of March, it gives you a feeling that they died just before liberation. So maybe if they’d lived two more weeks… Well, that’s not true anymore,” said Prins. However, the discovery changes little about the tragic tale of the Frank sisters, she added.

Crawling with lice

Frank’s famous diary tells the story of how the girl, her family and other members of the Jewish community hid from the Nazis behind a bookcase in her house, USA Today explained. After two years of hiding, they were turned over to Nazi occupiers and Anne and Margot, along with their mother, were first sent by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau in early September 1944.

A former classmate of Anne’s found her in early December after she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen, and said that it was a miracle that they two girls recognized each other. The classmate, a woman named Nanaette Blitz, said that Anne “was no more than a skeleton by then.”

“She was wrapped in a blanket; she couldn’t bear to wear her clothes anymore because they were crawling with lice,” which are the primary carriers of typhus, Blitz recalled. By the last time she saw Anne in January 1945, Blitz said that the epidemic was spreading through the camp. Anne “was clearly already gravely ill,” she said, and Margot was in “even worse condition.”

Other inmates reported similar observations of the sisters’ health before they were transferred to the Raghun slave labor camp on February 7. There is no further information available, but based on the eyewitness accounts of Anne and Margot’s failing health, the study concluded that “it is unlikely that they survived until the end of March. In view of this, the date of their death is more likely to be sometime in February.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett

Prevailing theories suggest that human language evolved slowly from a series of simple grunts and noises, to a complex spoken language between 75,000 and 100,000 years ago.

But now, according to a new study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers believe the rise of complex language took place relatively rapidly, not as a series of gradual changes as has been described previously.

The Big Bang of language

Some scholars have argued that we first started using a kind of “proto-language” before developing a language that included syntax, or rules that organized word and sentence structures. In the new study, researchers said some words show signs that they descended from a syntax-laden system, not just a collection of simple grunts and sounds.

Study author Shigeru Miyagawa, a linguistics professor at MIT, told redOrbit via email that cognitive developments in the brain allowed for the quick rise of complex language.

[STORY: Fossil jaw pushes human origins back 400,00 years]

“One way to think about this is that the brain, which had been growing ever larger for over a million years, at some point 75,000 to 100,000 years ago, hit a critical point, and all the resources that nature had provided came together in a Big Bang and language emerged pretty much as we know it today,” Miyagawa wrote. “It looks counterintuitive given how enormously complex language is, but when one considers that the brain was getting ready for it for more than million years, it isn’t too far-fetched.”

“This is also around the time that you see other higher-cognitive achievements, such as painted and carved art, refined tools, and sophisticated weapons,” he noted.

Strange apes

In support of their hypothesis, the researchers wrote in their study that even a single word can be “as complex as an entire phrase.”

For example, Miyagawa said, the word “nationalization” starts with “nation,” a noun; adds “-al” to form an adjective; adds “-iz(a)” to create a verb; and ends with “-tion,” to make yet another noun with a completely new meaning. The study authors noted that these same syntax rules can be found in Romance languages that have been previously described as coming from formless proto-language.

[STORY: Spanish is the happiest language; Chinese could be happier]

In writing to redOrbit, Miyagawa emphasized that something must have ‘clicked’ in the expanding brains of humans that allowed us to start putting together the complex language were speak, hear and read today.

“Alfred Russel Wallace, cofounder with Darwin of the idea of evolution through natural selection, noted that by natural evolution, we ought have a brain that’s just a bit better than that of the apes,” he wrote. “Yet, what we ended up with is a brain that is way more powerful than it should be if it were just part of natural selection.”

“There are many disagreements about language, but one thing that virtually everyone agrees on is that humans are the sole owners of such a complex and rich system,” Miyagawa added. “There has never been anything like it before and nothing since, except in our species.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

If you’re a working mom or dad who feels guilty about not spending enough time with your children, sociologists from the University of Toronto have some advice for you: don’t.

In fact, in a new study currently available online and scheduled to be published in the April edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family, they explain that the amount of time that parents spend with their sons and daughters when they are children has virtually no impact on how they will turn out, and only a minimal impact on their lives when they are adolescents.

According to the Washington Post, the groundbreaking study (which is said to be the first large-scale longitudinal analysis of parent time) flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and looked at all aspects of a youngster’s life, including their academic achievement, their behavior and their overall well-being. Largely, they found no relationship between the amount of time that a parent spent with their children and better outcomes for those young men and women.

The study did find one situation in which parental engagement had an impact on their kids, but it wasn’t a positive one, the newspaper noted. When parents, especially moms, feel sleep-deprived, stressed, guilty or anxious, they could actually harm their kids by spending time with them.

“Mothers’ stress, especially when mothers are stressed because of the juggling with work and trying to find time with kids, that may actually be affecting their kids poorly,” said co-author Kei Nomaguchi, a sociologist at Bowling Green State University, told the Post.

“I could literally show you 20 charts, and 19 of them would show no relationship between the amount of parents’ time and children’s outcomes. . . . Nada. Zippo,” added Melissa Milkie from the University of Toronto. “In an ideal world, this study would alleviate parents’ guilt about the amount of time they spend, and show instead what’s really important for kids.”

What is important, she explains, is quality, not quantity. It is important for parents to spend time with their kids, and there is plenty of research showing a correlation between quality parent time (reading to a child, eating family meals together, talking to them, etc.) and positive outcomes for their kids. However, the quantity of time spend doing those things is apparently irrelevant.

However, the study does not explain how much of that quality time is enough to generate those positive outcomes. Matthew Biel, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Georgetown University Medical Center, told the Post that he was unaware of “any rich and telling literature on whether there’s a ‘sweet spot’ of the right amount of time to spend with kids.”

He added that researchers have shown that in stressful urban environments, kids who have parents that are highly involved and even strict is linked to a reduction in delinquent behavior. Milkie’s study and others have found that a family’s income and the educational level of the mother are more closely associated with a child’s future success than the amount or quality of time spent with a child or adolescent.

“If we’re really wanting to think about the bigger picture and ask, how would we support kids, our study suggests through social resources that help the parents in terms of supporting their mental health and socio-economic status,” she told the newspaper. “The sheer amount of time that we’ve been so focused on them doesn’t do much.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett

Extensive research has been conducted about the 300 different kinds of neurons in the brain and their function, but this information has been spread across tens of thousands of research papers.

Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used data mining techniques to create a “one stop shop” for information about neurons in the brain in a format similar to the one used by Wikipedia, according a new report in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

“If we want to think about building a brain or re-engineering the brain, we need to know what parts we’re working with,” said Nathan Urban, director of Carnegie Mellon’s BrainHubSM neuroscience initiative. “We know a lot about neurons in some areas of the brain, but very little about neurons in others. To accelerate our understanding of neurons and their functions, we need to be able to easily determine whether what we already know about some neurons can be applied to others we know less about.”

A dynamic environment

To create the online resource, the team picked over 10,000 published papers that included physiological information describing how neurons responded to various inputs. Text mining algorithms were then used to “read” each of the papers and find the portions of each paper that recognized the kind of neuron studied. The team then separated the electrophysiological information associated with the properties of that neuronal type. The team also recovered data on how each of the tests in the literature was performed and corrected the information to account for any inconsistencies that might be due to the format of the experiment. All around, the researchers were able to gather and standardize information for around 100 different kinds of neurons.

[STORY: Wikipedia suing NSA over spying program]

Since current text algorithms are not perfect when it comes to mining data, the new online resource – called NeuroElectro – allows users to flag information they believe is incorrect. Site users can also submit new data – a la Wikipedia.

“It’s a dynamic environment in which people can collect, refine and add data,” Urban said. “It will be a useful resource to people doing neuroscience research all over the world.”

Guiding research

The same Carnegie Mellon scientists are now contrasting the information on NeuroElectro with other types of information, including information on neurons’ patterns of gene expression. In one instance, Urban’s group is using a different freely available resource, the Allen Brain Atlas, to find if groups of neurons with very similar electrical function have comparable gene expression.

[STORY: New neurons help adults adapt to environments]

“It would take a lot of time, effort and money to determine both the physiological properties of a neuron and its gene expression,” Urban said. “Our website will help guide this research, making it much more efficient.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

John Hopton for redOrbit.com – @Johnfinitum

You know how we used to just have bandages? Well soon we could have bandages containing “nanoneedles” which transmit genetic information to damaged parts of the body.

Oh, and these nanoneedles help the body to heal at its most fundamental genetic level, apparently with no side-effects. We’ve come a long way from head-drilling and leeches.

Weekly staff meetings at redOrbit.com.

Harnessing the power of nucleic acids

According to a statement from Imperial College London, whose researchers were involved in testing the method, the nanoneedles work by delivering nucleic acids to an area that requires treatment. Nucleic acids are the building blocks of all living organisms and they encode, transmit and express genetic information. DNA is one type of nucleic acid.

Tests on mice and human cells have proved very positive, and there is optimism that the method could enable transplanted organs to take successfully and help heal severe burns, as well as repairing damaged organs.

[STORY: New materials offer ‘smart’ bandages, super body armor]

Researchers from Imperial College and Houston Methodist Research Institute in the US developed nanoneedles made from biodegradable silicon, meaning that they can be left in the body without leaving any toxins behind. The silicon degrades in about two days, leaving only a negligible amount of a harmless substance called orthosilicic acid.

The team used prototype nanoneedles to deliver the nucleic acids DNA and siRNA into human cells. They also delivered nucleic acids into the back muscles of mice, and observed a six-fold increase in the formation of new blood vessels in back muscles over seven days. Blood vessels continued to form over a 14-day period. The researchers say that the technique did not cause inflammation or other harmful side effects.

A “quantum leap” in technology

“This is a quantum leap compared to existing technologies for the delivery of genetic material to cells and tissues,” said Ennio Tasciotti, Co-Chair at the Department of Nanomedicine at Houston Methodist Research Institute and co-corresponding author of the paper. “By gaining direct access to the cytoplasm of the cell we have achieved genetic reprogramming at an incredible high efficiency. This will let us personalize treatments for each patient, giving us endless possibilities in sensing, diagnosis and therapy. And all of this thanks to tiny structures that are up to 1,000 times smaller than a human hair.”

With typically British reserve, Professor Molly Stevens, co-corresponding author from the Departments of Materials and of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, was more cautious. She said: “It is still very early days in our research, but we are pleased that the nanoneedles have been successful in this trial in mice. There are a number of hurdles to overcome and we haven’t yet trialed the nanoneedles in humans, but we think they have enormous potential for helping the body to repair itself.”

[VIDEO: Smart bandages detect bedsores]

Dr. Ciro Chiappini, first author of the study from the Department of Materials, added: “If we can harness the power of nucleic acids and prompt them to carry out specific tasks, it will give us a way to regenerate lost function. Perhaps in the future it may be possible for doctors to apply flexible bandages to severely burnt skin to reprogram the cells to heal that injury with functional tissue instead of forming a scar. Alternatively, we may see surgeons first applying the nanoneedle bandages inside the affected region to promote the healthy integration of these new organs and implants in the body. We are a long way off, but our initial trials seem very promising.”

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Conventional wisdom indicates that larger species live longer than smaller ones, but lemurs are on notable exception to that rule, and researchers from Duke University believe that the secrets of their longevity could lead to new insights into the aging process.

In January, the world’s oldest known dwarf lemur, Jonas, passed away, and inspired Sarah Zehr and Marina Blanco of the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina to analyze over 50 years worth of medical records pertaining to his species and three other types of lemurs.

Suspended animation, suspended life

Dwarf lemurs live two to three times longer than similar-sized animals, they explained, and the duo was searching for clues to help explain their longevity. They found that these hamster-sized creatures are actually capable of placing their bodies in suspended animation to prevent aging.

How long the animals live and how quickly they age directly correlates with the amount of time they spend in this state, which is known as torpor and is comparable to the standby or sleep mode feature found in many modern electronic devices. Lemurs that enter this state and put their body functions on hold can outlive those that don’t by up to 10 years, the data revealed.

[STORY: Lemurs match scent to voice]

Jonas was one of the most extreme examples found in the study, the researchers said. While in the wild, he spent up to half the year in this state of deep hibernation. Most dwarf lemurs go into a semi-hibernation state for no more than three months in captivity, Zehr said, but that was still enough to give them added longevity.

Hibernating dwarf lemurs can reduce their heart rate from 200 to eight beats per minute, she added. Their breathing slows and their internal thermostat shuts down, meaning that instead of maintaining a steady body temperature, they warm and cool along with their environment.

Ahhhh, torpor

In many primates, this could be life threatening, but the researchers found that lemurs use this trait to conserve energy during times when food and water are scarce. In addition to helping them live longer, torpor allows them to remain healthier and able to reproduce for more than twice as long as normal (six years post-maturity for non-hibernators, up to 14 for hibernators).

[STORY: Meditation may slow brain aging, study says]

While the species they examined suffered from cataracts and other age-related eye diseases as they got older, the hibernators were able to fight off symptoms until they were far older. Some experts have suggested that hibernating allows lemurs to live longer and remain healthy because it allows them to avoid predators, but the Duke team believes there is more to it than that.

“The fact that we see the same pattern in captivity, where they’re protected from predators, suggests that other factors are at work,” said Zehr, whose research was supported by the Rufford Foundation, MMBF/Conservation International Primate Action Fund, Primate Conservation, Inc. and the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation.

Blanco noted that torpor could also be increasing longevity by protecting cells against oxidative damage, a regular side-effect of breathing and metabolism. “If your body is not ‘working full time’ metabolically-speaking, you will age more slowly and live longer,” she explained.

Since lemurs are more closely related to humans than mice are, the findings could ultimately help scientists identify genes that can help prevent aging in humans as well. The findings have been published online in the Journal of Zoology.

—–

Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.