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What is a Desert?

Written By: Sam Savage
editor

Hi, I’m Emerald Robinson, and in this “What Is” video we’ll examine earth’s most barren biome: deserts.

Most of us recognize that a desert is an area of land that is very dry. Many deserts receive less than ten inches of rain per year.  The true definition of a desert, though, is a place where more water moves from the land to the atmosphere than falls to the ground as precipitation.

Most deserts don’t have much humidity in the air to serve as insulation. As a result, deserts often undergo extreme temperature changes, sometimes experiencing daylight temperatures of over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, then plunging to subzero temperatures at night.

All desert plants and animals have adaptations that help them survive these harsh conditions. Many desert plants have grey or silver leaves that help to reflect sunlight. These leaves are often covered with a waxy substance that helps keep moisture in, and are dotted with prickles or spines that discourage thirsty animals from eating them. Desert animals often adapt by exhibiting special behaviors such as burrowing deep beneath the ground to stay cool, only emerging at night. But some have physical adaptations, too – features like thick hides to hold water in and large ears to radiate excess body heat away.

Though we usually think of deserts as very hot, and dry, like Africa’s Sahara Desert, this connotation represents only one of the several types.

Deserts can be semiarid, experiencing only slightly more rainfall than is lost by evaporation, like the sagebrush landscapes in Utah.

Deserts can be cold, like the continent of Antarctica. Cold deserts can be covered by snow and ice, but are still considered to be deserts because the water is not available to support life.

Some deserts are even coastal! Chile’s Atacama desert is the earth’s driest, with less than a millimeter of precipitation falling each year.

Uncategorized

What is Irrigation?

Written By: Sam Savage
editor

Hi, I’m Emerald Robinson, and in this “What is” video, we’ll take a look at the agricultural technique known as irrigation.

Irrigation is any means used by humans to bring water to the land. It can be as simple as using a garden hose to water a flowerbed, or as complex as a system of pipes and canals designed to bring moisture to a desert.

Irrigation is used wherever rainfall is either inconsistent, or does not provide enough natural water to grow crops. It’s estimated that about half of the world’s land is irrigated.

Humans have been using irrigation for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians used the Nile’s annual flooding to water their farmland, while the Persians were one of the first civilizations known to use a series of wells and tunnels to move naturally occurring groundwater to specific plots of soil.

There are many modern types of irrigation, but the three most common are:

– Flood or furrow irrigation, when water is pumped or otherwise carried to fields and allowed to flow over the ground;

– Drip irrigation, when water is sent to crops through pipes that have holes in them. This method uses about 25% less water than flood irrigation, since less is lost to evaporation.

– Spray Irrigation, in which water is pumped through pipes at high pressure through a nozzle. Because it requires electricity, and wastes a significant amount of water, spray irrigation is becoming less popular.

Although irrigation is necessary, it also causes problems. Irrigation uses a lot of water; about 39% of the water in the U.S. goes towards irrigating crops, and is a major expense for farmers. The excess water, or “runoff” from irrigation contributes to pollution by carrying dissolved salt and pesticide residues into the local water supply.

Fortunately, computers are becoming more frequently used to sense where water is needed. This technology eliminates waste, lowers cost, and prevents damage to the environment.

Researchers Discover Key Protein In Development Of Parkinson’s Disease

Written By: editor
editor

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

By working with mouse and fruit fly hearts, researchers at Washington University (WUSTL) School of Medicine, St. Louis identified a key protein that has a connection with Parkinson´s disease and heart failure.

According to a new report in the journal Science, a protein known as mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) is the missing link in the chain-reaction that starts with mitochondrial dysfunction and ends with Parkinson´s disease or heart failure, depending on the affected organ.

“If you have Parkinson´s disease, you have a more than two-fold increased risk of developing heart failure and a 50 percent higher risk of dying from heart failure,” senior author Dr. Gerald W. Dorn II, MD, a professor of Medicine at WUSTL, said in a statement. “This suggested they are somehow related, and now we have identified a fundamental mechanism that links the two.”

Mitochondria are known as the power plant of the cell and heart cells rely on large numbers on mitochondria to keep functioning. If cells allow poorly functioning mitochondria to build up, the results can be catastrophic. Healthy cells typically identify bad mitochondria and remove them.

Researchers have been working since 2006 to identify the mysterious middle section of the chain that causes the disruption of sick mitochondria’s ability to communicate to the rest of the cell it needs to be destroyed.

“This was a big question,” Dorn said. “Scientists would draw the middle part of the chain as a black box. How do these self-destruct signals inside the mitochondria communicate with proteins far away in the surrounding cell that orchestrate the actual destruction?

“To my knowledge, no one has connected an Mfn2 mutation to Parkinson´s disease,” he added. “And until recently, I don´t think anybody would have looked. This isn´t what Mfn2 is supposed to do.”

Normally, mitochondria import and then destroy a molecule called PINK. When mitochondria aren´t functioning properly, they can´t destroy PINK and its levels begin to rise.

The WUSTL researchers found once PINK concentration reaches a certain level, the molecule makes a chemical change to Mfn2, which is located on the surface of mitochondria. The altered Mfn2 then binds the mitochondria to a molecule called Parkin within the surrounding cell. After binding to Mfn2, Parkin labels the sick mitochondria for destruction by the cell.

“But if you have a mutation in PINK, you get Parkinson´s disease,” Dorn said. “About 10 percent of Parkinson´s disease is attributed to these or other mutations that have been identified.”

According to the researchers, their discovery could help improve the diagnosis for both Parkinson´s disease and heart failure.

“I think researchers will look closely at inherited Parkinson´s cases that are not explained by known mutations,” Dorn explained. “They will look for loss of function mutations in Mfn2, and I think they are likely to find some.”

The cardiologist said his medical team has already detected mutations in Mfn2 that could explain certain familial forms of heart failure.

“In this case, the heart has informed us about Parkinson´s disease, but we may have also described a Parkinson´s disease analogy in the heart,” he said. “This entire process of mitochondrial quality control is a relatively small field for heart specialists, but interest is growing.”

Humpback Whales Learn Hunting Techniques From Each Other

Written By: editor

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

New research, led by the University of St. Andrews, has found humpback whales are able to pass on hunting techniques to each other, just as humans do.

A new feeding technique has spread to 40 percent of a humpback whale population, the team discovered. Their findings have been published in a recent issue of Science.

After herring stocks — their preferred food — crashed in the 1980s, a community of humpback whales off the cost of New England was forced to find new prey. The whales devised a solution by hitting the water with their tails while hunting a new prey. This behavior has now spread throughout the community by cultural transmission. By 2007, approximately 40 percent have been observed engaging in this behavior.

Dr Luke Rendell, lecturer in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, said, “Our study really shows how vital cultural transmission is in humpback populations — not only do they learn their famous songs from each other, they also learn feeding techniques that allow them to buffer the effects of changing ecology.”

The team included Jenny Allen from the University of St. Andrews, Mason Weinrich of the Whale Center of New England and Will Hoppitt from Anglia Ruskin University.

Using a new technique called network-based diffusion analysis, the team demonstrated the pattern of spread followed the network of social relationships within the population. This revealed the new behavior had spread through cultural transmission, the same process that underlies the diversity of human culture.

Naturalist observers aboard the many whale-watching vessels that patrol the waters of the Gulf of Maine each summer collected the data used in this study.

Dr Hoppitt noted, “We can learn more about the forces that drive the evolution of culture by looking outside our own ancestral lineage and studying the occurrence of similar attributes in groups that have evolved in a radically different environment to ours, like the cetaceans.”

Globally, humpback feeding involves herding shoals of prey by blowing bubbles underwater to create “bubble nets.” The new feeding behavior, called “lobtail feeding,” involves hitting the water with the tail before diving to produce the bubble nets. First observed in 1980, lobtail feeding seems to be specific to sand lance stocks, which soared as the herring stocks crashed. Scientists believe lobtail feeding is prey specific because its use is concentrated around the Stellwagen Bank spawning grounds where the sand lance can reach high abundance.

The researchers were able track the spread of the behavior through the whales’ social network using a unique database spanning thirty years of observations gathered by Dr. Weinrich.

“The study was only made possible because of Mason’s dedication in collecting the whale observations over decades, and it shows the central importance of long-term studies in understanding the processes affecting whale populations,” Allen said in a statement.

The team believes their results strengthen the theory that cetaceans — whales and dolphins — have evolved sophisticated cultural capacities.

Abnormal Placenta Could Be Used To Make Early Autism Diagnosis

Written By: editor
editor

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine and the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis claim to have discovered a new method of determining a child´s potential risk of becoming autistic.

According to CBS News reporter Ryan Jaslow, the researchers report doctors may be able to detect clues about a child´s risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by examining the placenta at the time of birth.

The study, which was published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Biological Psychiatry, looked at placentas from over 200 recent births. The investigators discovered these organs, which are used to transmit nutrients from a mother to her child, are more likely to have “abnormal folds and creases” in families with a high genetic risk of having an autistic child, added Pam Belluck of the New York Times.

Senior author Harvey Kliman, a research scientist in the Yale School of Medicine´s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, and colleagues reviewed 117 placentas from infants of at-risk families (i.e. those with at least one previous autistic child) and compared them to 100 control placentas.

They found placentas from at-risk children had as many as 15 trophoblast inclusions (abnormal placental folds and abnormal cell growths). Conversely, none of the control placentas had any more than two trophoblast inclusions. According to Kliman, a placenta with four or more of these folds and cell growths can conservatively predict an infant´s risk for autism with a 96.7 percent probability.

Kliman told FoxNews.com´s Loren Grush he accidentally discovered this potential autism test while examining the tissue of lost pregnancies to determine why the infant wound up dying.

One of the primary components he studied was chorionic villi, which are small finger-like structures located in the placenta that help transport blood from mother to fetus. These chorionic villi are covered and protected by trophoblasts, which are typically smooth but can form inclusions when the cells grow abnormally.

“At birth we have a tool now that can tell us who’s at risk and who isn’t at risk for autism,” Kilman told Jaslow.

“I hope that diagnosing the risk of developing autism by examining the placenta at birth will become routine, and that the children who are shown to have increased numbers of trophoblast inclusions will have early interventions and an improved quality of life as a result of this test,” he added in a statement.

An estimated one out of every fifty American children are diagnosed with autism each year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, while intervention is most effective during the first year of life, most children aren´t diagnosed with the disorder until at least age three or four, Grush explained.

Health

Periodic Bursts Of Genetic Mutations Drive Prostate Cancer

Written By: editor

Sequencing of 57 prostate cancer genomes shows cancer gains powerful advantage with abrupt intervals of complex, large scale DNA reshuffling

Cancer is typically thought to develop after genes gradually mutate over time, finally overwhelming the ability of a cell to control growth. But a new closer look at genomes in prostate cancer by an international team of researchers reveals that, in fact, genetic mutations occur in abrupt, periodic bursts, causing complex, large scale reshuffling of DNA driving the development of prostate cancer.

In the April 25 issue of Cell, the scientists, led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College, the Broad Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of Trento in Italy, dub this process “punctuated cancer evolution,” akin to the theory of human evolution that states changes in a species occur in abrupt intervals. After discovering how DNA abnormalities arise in a highly interdependent manner, the researchers named these periodic disruptions in cancer cells that lead to complex genome restructuring “chromoplexy.”

“We believe chromoplexy occurs in the majority of prostate cancers, and these DNA shuffling events appear to simultaneously inactivate genes that could help protect against cancer,” says the study’s co-lead investigator Dr. Mark Rubin, who is director of the recently-established Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

“Knowing what actually happens over time to the genome in cancer may lead to more accurate diagnosis of disease and, hopefully, more effective treatment in the future,” says Dr. Rubin, also the Homer T. Hirst III Professor of Oncology, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and professor of pathology in urology at Weill Cornell and a pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. “Our findings represent a new way to think about cancer genomics as well as treatment in prostate and, potentially, other cancers.”

The discovery of “chromoplexy” came after the research team worked collaboratively to sequence the entire genomes of 57 prostate tumors and compare those findings to sequences in matched normal tissue.

Co-lead investigator Dr. Levi Garraway, of the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and his collaborators then tracked how genetic alterations accumulated during cancer development and progression. They used advanced computer techniques to identify periodic bursts of genetic derangements.

“We have, for the first time, mapped the genetic landscape of prostate cancer as it changes over time,” says Dr. Garraway, a senior associate member of the Broad Institute and associate professor at the Dana—Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. “The complex genomic restructuring we discovered, which occurs at discrete times during tumor development, is a unique and important model of carcinogenesis which likely has relevance for other tumor types.”

Co-senior author Dr. Francesca Demichelis, assistant professor at the Centre for Integrative Biology at the University of Trento who also serves as adjunct assistant professor of computational biomedicine at Weill Cornell, worked with her collaborators to understand how widespread the DNA mutations and alterations seen in the tumors were across the cancer samples, and what that might mean in terms of cancer progression and, potentially, treatment. “Information about what alterations are common, and which aren’t, will most likely help guide us in terms of cancer drug use and patient response,” says Dr. Demichelis.

The researchers also report that future targeted cancer therapy may depend on identifying complex sets of genetic mutations and rearrangements in each patient.

“Every cancer patient may have individual patterns of genetic dysfunction that will need to be understood in order to provide precise treatment. Multiple drugs may be needed to shut down these genetic derangements,” says Dr. Rubin. “Providing those tests now on every patient isn’t possible, but our study suggests that punctuated cancer evolution may occur to provide a subset of genes that offer a selective advantage for tumor growth. If that is true, we may be able to zero in on a limited number of genetic drivers responsible for an individual’s prostate cancer.”

Astonishing Degree of Genetic Alterations

The collaborators have been working together for a number of years exploring and mapping the prostate cancer genome. They believe that structural genomic alterations are key to prostate cancer development and progression, and their approach has been to model those changes and tease apart the significance of those alterations.

This study sequenced 57 prostate cancer genomes as well as the entire genomes of matched normal tissue. Researchers revealed an astonishing number of genetic alterations in the prostate cancer cells – 356,136 base-pair mutations and 5,596 rearrangements that were absent from normal DNA. Of those rearrangements, 113 were validated by re-sequencing and other methods.

“We saw wholesale rearrangements of chromosomes – the cutting up and retying of chromosomes – mutations we have never seen on that scale,” Dr. Garraway says. “Our research teams then charted a path of oncogenic events that appeared to drive prostate cancer.”

Using advanced computer techniques that modeled the genomic rearrangements and copy number alterations, the scientists at the Broad Institute inferred that the chromosomal disarray in a typical tumor might accumulate over a handful of discrete events during tumor development.

“The rearrangement of chromosomes can coordinately affect specific genes, which provides a selective advantage for cancer growth,” according to Dr. Garraway.

“Chromoplexy is a common process by which geographically-distant genomic regions may be disrupted at once, in a coordinated fashion,” says Dr. Rubin. “The unifying feature is that these alterations seem to occur in a sequential, punctuated pattern which is designed to eliminate cancer-fighting genes. This suggests that genes that are active at the end of these events may drive progression of the cancer.”

“This study represents a wonderful example of a team science that embraces multidisciplinary competencies,” says Dr. Demichelis.

The study required the development of special computational tools to go beyond the pure detection – presence or absence – of any particular aberration, and to quantify the dosage of the mutation; meaning, how many tumor cells have that specific mutation in the patient’s tumor.

“The approach developed in my laboratory takes advantage of the genetic information of each individual and classifies every aberration as homogenous or heterogeneous across the tumor cells,” Dr. Demichelis says. “This classification allows us then to chart the order in which mutations occur and to learn how far the tumor is in its progression. It suggests to us that patients with heterogeneous aberrations may not respond as effectively to a drug as patients with homogenous alterations.”

“The punctuated changes we see occur in a single cycle of cell growth, and we believe this leads to tumor cells that have a growth advantage,” says Dr. Rubin. “This new model of cancer growth tells us that cells gain an advantage mutating multiple genes simultaneously as opposed to gradually.”

“These are exciting findings in a field of prostate cancer genomics that our research team’s collaboration has redefined. We have made a lot of progress, but we have much more work to do,” adds Dr. Rubin.

—

On the Net:

New England Primate Research Center Being Shut Down

Written By: editor

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

After dealing with the controversial deaths of four monkeys between June 2010 and February 2012, the New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC) is being shut down at the direction of Harvard Medical School.

Harvard officials said the closure is funding related and not the result of the primate deaths or the animal welfare violations found by the US Department of Agriculture´s subsequent investigation.

“Deciding how to best assign our limited resources is not unique to HMS,” Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Harvard University, said in a statement, “but this decision was made with a heavy heart.

“I am personally committed to instituting a transition that embodies our tremendous respect and gratitude for the Center´s faculty and staff, and one that guarantees the welfare of all animals in our trust,” he added. “I am also confident that we can achieve our research goals through collaboration with a vibrant national scientific community.”

The medical school used the facility to conduct clinical research on primates, including work on HIV vaccines.

“For us in the virology community, it´s a big loss,” Harvard microbiology professor David Knipe told The Boston Globe, “and it´s going to continue because we´re going to lose that community, that group of colleagues.”

According to a Globe report, news of the closing was announced to a room of shocked staffers at the facility in Southborough, Massachusetts.

“I think people did feel that they´d really turned a corner,” said Kim Van Savage, a human resources worker at the facility. “They´ve been through a lot of change; they´ve been through a lot of scrutiny. But a lot of work has been done at the center . . . so I think at this point, it took every­body by surprise.”

Medical school leaders said they plan on winding down activities at the facility over the next twelve to 24 months while working on a transition plan for the 20 faculty, 32 postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, and 150 staff members.

“Among the plan´s priorities is a staffing strategy that will maintain a high level of care for the animals, ensuring that primates will not be adversely affected by the transition,” a statement from the medical school said.

This year, the primate center said it is scheduled to receive $27 million in federal funding, but universities across the country are bracing for enacted spending cuts that are expected to reduce grant money. The medical school said the primate center would have demanded an ­investment of $20 million to $25 million from the school over the next five years.

“We are extremely proud of the contributions the NEPRC has made to improving human health over the past nearly 50 years,” Flier said. “We believe primate research is critical to the future of biomedical research and the effective development of lifesaving therapies. The Center´s research focus on HIV, infectious disease and vaccines will continue to be effectively pursued through scientific programs throughout HMS.”

Animal rights groups sounded their approval of the facility´s closing.

“I think it is a sign that things are moving in the right direction,” Kathleen ­Conlee, vice president at the Humane Society of the United States, told the Globe. “We´ve seen primate research in the US continue to go up over the years.”

Uncategorized

Noble Pen Shell, Pinna nobilis

Written By: editor

The Noble Pen Shell, Pinna Nobilis, is a species of large saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk belonging to the family Pinnidae.

This bivalve shell can be as large as almost 3 feet in length, and the shape is somewhat variable. Like all pen shells, it is quite fragile. It attaches itself to rocks using a strong byssus made up of many silk like hairs. These are fibers that are secreted by the animal. Brilliant mother of pearl lines the inside of the shell.

This species is native to the Mediterranean Sea, where it resides offshore down to a depth of 20 meters.

It’s the origin of sea silk, which was made from the byssus of the animal. Unfortunately, in recent years, Pinna nobilis has become threatened with extinction, partially because of overfishing, the fact that the soft parts are edible, and also because of the decline in seagrass fields, and the increasing pollution.

Image Caption: Live specimen of Pinna nobilis, in Levanto, Liguria. Credit: Hectonichus/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

European Conference Attendees Agree Action Needed On Space Debris

Written By: editor

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

The findings from the 6th European Conference on Space Debris were released during a press briefing at the ESA’s European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.

The conference included over 350 worldwide participants representing all the major national space agencies, industry, governments, academia and research institutes.

“There is a wide and strong expert consensus on the pressing need to act now to begin debris removal activities,” says Heiner Klinkrad, Head of ESA´s Space Debris Office. “Our understanding of the growing space debris problem can be compared with our understanding of the need to address Earth´s changing climate some 20 years ago.”

Scientists agree that the continuing growth in space debris poses an increasing threat to economically and scientifically vital orbital regions. Today’s satellite infrastructure also has immense financial value, with the replacement cost for the 1,000 active satellites in orbit today being estimated at over $130 billion. The impact of losing these satellites economically would be several orders of magnitude higher.

“While measures against further debris creation and actively deorbiting defunct satellites are technically demanding and potentially costly, there is no alternative to protect space as a valuable resource for our critical satellite infrastructure,” Klinkrad notes. “Their direct costs and the costs of losing them will by far exceed the cost of remedial activities.”

Satellite operators around the globe are working on a plan to try and control space debris to avoid collisions. The ultimate goal is to prevent a cascade of self-sustaining collisions from setting in over the next few years.

ESA said a number of long-standing space debris-related research activities are being reinforced by the agency, including improving the understanding of the debris environment.

The new Clean Space initiative introduced includes maturing technology to approach, capture and deorbit-targets. Clean Space will also develop techniques to mitigate the problem, such as passive and active deorbiting devices.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are always facing a slight risk of getting hit by orbital debris. Last October astronauts had to move the orbiting laboratory higher up in orbit to avoid hitting space debris. Maneuvers like this are carried out when a likelihood of a collision reaches 1 in 10,000. Even a small piece of space debris could be detrimental for astronauts aboard the space station.

Siva Cycle Atom Uses Your Bike To Charge Your Phone

Written By: admin

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

In recent years, cycling has become less of a transportation choice and more of a passionate lifestyle, something people wear as a badge of honor and extoll like a religion. These cyclists already have all the reasons they need to choose a bike over any other mode of transport, and one new Kickstarter campaign is giving them another reason to choose pedal power.

As smartphones and other devices become more integrated into our daily lives, it has become important to keep them fully charged at all times. This is rarely a problem for those who drive instead of ride, but diehard cyclists have had to look for other power options. The idea of transforming a turning wheel into power isn´t new, but Aaron Latzke and David Delcourt have fine tuned this approach with the easy-to-install Siva Cycle Atom, a bicycle-powered generator for the modern city dweller.

Like other generators, the Atom uses a turning wheel to capture energy and hold it for later use. Unlike most others, however, it stores this energy in a removable and waterproof battery pack. As shown off in their Kickstarter video, cyclists ride to their local coffee shop, remove the Atom battery pack and charge their iPhones as they enjoy a morning cup of joe. The Atom can be plugged back into the generator afterwards and gather even more energy from the wheels.

Technically speaking, the Atom´s battery pack holds a 1300mAh battery — the company points out that this isn´t much smaller than the iPhone´s 1440mAh pack. The Atom generator not only delivers power when the battery pack is removed, however, it can also charge iPhones, GPS devices and nearly anything else with a USB port while on the go. Though power is delivered in a nice, steady manner — five volts at up to 500mA — the faster a cyclist pedals, the more energy is produced. At three miles per hour, the Atom delivers 0.75 watts. Ten miles per hour yields three watts, and the atom limits itself to 4.5 watts at 15 miles per hour.

In terms of real-world charging capabilities, the Kickstarter video claims the Atom can “get you from the red to the green in just a matter of minutes.” When removed, the battery pack can take an iPhone from dead flat to 70 percent in a single pass.

The Siva team wants the Atom to be used in more than just hip, urban, bicycle-friendly towns. The bicycle generator is, after all, a source of renewable energy, and there are many areas of the world where this kind of pocket power could come in handy.

“Power is a modern day necessity, and having juice for all of your devices is more than a convenience,” Delcourt told Digital Trends.

“Over 1.5 billion people are without regular, consistent access to power, and many of them rely on bicycles as their primary means of transportation. Bigger picture, we believe the Atom will fundamentally change cycling, as well as the lives of people all over the world.”

To help these millions of people, Siva is donating one Atom for every ten sold to areas where they´re needed. It´s a move they say is meant to demonstrate how responsible business practices can make a difference.

The Kickstarter campaign only went live a few days ago, but Delcourt and Latzke have already managed to raise over $54,000 of their $85,000 goal. In the short time since they started this campaign, Siva has been able to essentially sell 300 Atoms to early backers at $85 a piece, a promising sign for the gadget´s future. The duo says they hope to begin shipping these cycle-powered generators by the end of the year.

Can Facebook Likes Be An Indicator Obesity?

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Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

We give a lot of information to sites like Facebook and Google, even when we don´t realize it. It´s only when we pull back for a moment and see the big picture that we realize just how much information we´ve shared and what can be done with it. For instance, each year Google releases a list of the most searched terms from the previous year, revealing how each search for words like “iPhone” or “Beyonce” can paint a larger picture about what´s going on in the world as a whole.

Now, researchers at a Boston hospital have used information gathered from Facebook to map which areas of the nation are most likely to be affected by obesity.

According to a study by researchers at Boston Children´s Hospital, “liking” television shows and other similar interests is a pretty good indicator of obesity. Alternatively, clicking the “like” button on interests related to a healthy lifestyle, such as cycling, sports or a meat-free diet is a likely sign of a low obesity rate.

The researchers compared geotagged Facebook data with health surveys from New York City and other parts of the nation. Their results have been published in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Lead researchers Rumi Chunara, PhD and John Brownstein, PhD of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Informatics Program (CHIP) say Facebook has made it easier to conduct studies that require such large amounts of data. As seen each year with Google´s top searches, users give Facebook hoards of information each day, much of it about the businesses and hobbies that they frequent and enjoy. Researchers are able to collect this data, put it on a map, and observe various regional trends. This is much easier — and cost efficient — than conducting a large, nationwide poll online or over the phone, says Brownstein.

“Online social networks like Facebook represent a new high-value, low-cost data stream for looking at health at a population level,” Brownstein said in a statement.

“The tight correlation between Facebook users’ interests and obesity data suggest that this kind of social network analysis could help generate real-time estimates of obesity levels in an area, help target public health campaigns that would promote healthy behavior change, and assess the success of those campaigns.”

Conducting the research was easy enough. The Boston team aggregated publicly available data from Facebook users and then compared it with other studies. The Facebook data resulted in a map which closely resembled that drawn by data from other health surveys and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System-Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends (BRFSS-SMART). In each of these studies, obesity is defined by body mass index (BMI).

In the end, the Boston team found that those areas where users more often “liked” television-related interests were also more likely to have a high rate of obesity. Those areas where users liked physical activities and healthier lifestyles had a lower rate of obesity.

For instance, in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, 76% of Facebook profiles featured television related “likes.” People in this area were 3.9 percent more likely to be obese than people in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, the area which had the lowest percentage of television-related likes.

This isn´t the first time a study has been conducted showing how much we can tell about people based on their Facebook likes. Earlier this year, the University of Cambridge developed a computer model that is able to accurately determine the age, gender, race and sexuality of a person based solely on Facebook likes.

Dark Lightning And Its Visible Counterpart May Be Related, Say Researchers

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Watch the video “Scientists Detect Dark Lightning Linked To Visible Lightning“

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Discovered in 1991, dark lightning is an electrical phenomenon that occurs deep within a thunderhead and is responsible for producing a powerful burst of radio waves and gamma rays. Now, new research from an international team of scientists has found that dark lightning and visible lightning may be connected, according to a report in Geophysical Research Letters.

“Our results indicate that both these phenomena, dark and bright lightning, are intrinsic processes in the discharge of lightning,” said lead author Nikolai Østgaard, a space scientist at the University of Bergen in Norway.

Using information collected from a pair of satellites, the researchers found instances of dark lightning´s signature gamma ray flash and radio wave discharge immediately before seeing a bolt of visible lightning. In their report, the team suggested that the burst of dark lightning — also known as a terrestrial gamma flash — was released by a powerful electric field that formed just before the onset of visible lightning.

The observation stems from a unique chance occurrence in 2006 when two independent satellites flew within 186 miles of a Venezuelan storm. Both satellites, one fitted with an optical detector and the other equipped with a gamma ray sensor, were able to collect distinct data on the storm´s electrical activity.

Last year, Østgaard and his colleagues said they found the previously undetected gamma ray burst while reanalyzing the two sets of satellite data.

“We developed a new, improved search algorithm “¦ and identified more than twice as many terrestrial gamma flashes than originally reported,” Østgaard said.  “It was fortuitous that two independent satellites — which are traveling at 7 kilometers per second (4.3 miles per second) — passed right above the same thunderstorm right as the pulse occurred.”

The satellites´ observations along with radio-wave data that was recorded 1800 miles away at Duke University allowed the team to reconstruct the electrical event that led to both lightning flashes.

According to the report, a strong electric field developed immediately before the visible lightning, creating a surge of electrons moving at almost the speed of light. When the electrons collided with surrounding air molecules, the event released a burst of gamma rays and lower energy electrons that are characteristic of dark lightning.

Østgaard believes there could be an intrinsic connection between terrestrial gamma flashes and visible lightning, but he stressed that additional research needs to be done to verify this theory.

Some have noted the dark lightning´s gamma rays can expose airplane passengers to harmful neutrons that have been ℠excited´ away from oxygen in the air or aluminum in an aircraft.

Marco Tavani, an astrophysics researcher at the University of Rome who was not involved in the latest study, said that neutrons can be “pretty nasty,” and flyers are already being exposed to higher levels of neutrons then they would be on the ground.

He added that the bursts of neutrons generated by thunderstorms are not as well understood.

Officials have already made plans to further investigate the dark lightning phenomenon. The European Space Agency´s“¯Atmospheric Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is scheduled to launch within the next three years, and researchers say it will be able to better detect both types of lightning from space.

Health

Teen Years May Be Critical In Later Stroke Risk

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The teenage years may be a key period of vulnerability related to living in the “stroke belt” when it comes to future stroke risk, according to a new study published in the April 24, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

More people have strokes and die of strokes in the southeastern area known as the stroke belt than in the rest of the United States. So far, research has shown that only part of the difference can be explained by traditional risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Previous studies have shown that people who are born in the stroke belt but no longer lived there in adulthood continue to have a higher risk of stroke, along with people who were born outside the stroke belt but lived there in adulthood.

The current study looked at how long people lived in the stroke belt and their ages when they lived there throughout life to see if any age period was most critical in influencing future stroke risk.

Data came from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a national random sample of the general population with more people selected from the stroke belt. The study involved 24,544 people with an average age of 65 who had never had a stroke at the start of the study, with 57 percent currently living in the stroke belt and 43 percent from the rest of the country. The study tracked each person’s moves from birth to present, with some people moving into or out of the stroke belt. The participants were then followed for an average of 5.8 years. During that time, 615 people had a first stroke.

After adjusting for stroke risk factors, only living in the stroke belt during the teenage years was associated with a higher risk of stroke. People who spent their teenage years in the stroke belt were 17 percent more likely to have a stroke in later years than people who did not spend their teenage years in the stroke belt. Across all age periods, 0Tliving in the stroke belt increased the risk about two-fold for African-Americans compared to Caucasians.

“This study suggests that strategies to prevent stroke need to start early in life,” said study author Virginia J. Howard, PhD, of the School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “Many social and behavioral risk factors, such as smoking, are set in place during the teenage years, and teens are more exposed to external influences and gain the knowledge to challenge or reaffirm their childhood habits and lifestyle.”

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Economists Question Bitcoin Stability Despite Meteoric Rise In Value

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Watch the video “Bitcoin Risk: An Empirical Study“

Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

The bank failures that resulted from the 1929 stock market crash took many people´s life savings with it, and some say the same thing could happen — a albeit on a much smaller scale at least — to those who invest heavily in Bitcoins.

According to a new study from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the virtual cyber currency known as Bitcoin could have as much as a 45 percent chance of failing. This could occur if an exchange center that held the currency — much as a bank holds real money — closed, losing customers their Bitcoins and any hard money paid for them.

Bitcoin received a boost in interest this week when PayPal president David Marcus noted that the online payment center would consider making Bitcoin a funding instrument. Many still believe that the sophisticated cyber currency still holds promise for becoming a major international medium of exchange.

Moreover the SMU-CMU study also found that currency exchanges that buy and sell a higher volume of Bitcoins are less likely to shut down. That´s the good news. The bad news is that these transactions are more likely to suffer a security breach.

The encrypted digital currency has been in the spotlight this week, as 87 percent of the nation´s top economists think that the Bitcoin only has “limited usefulness,” reported TechCrunch. This is according to a recent University of Chicago Initiative on Global Markets (IGM) poll of the 38 of the world´s top economists.

“A bitcoin’s value derives solely from the belief that others will want to use it for trade, which implies that its purchasing power is likely to fluctuate over time to a degree that will limit its usefulness,” the IGM findings noted — a general statement that, though intended to downplay the stability of Bitcoin, is actually true of all forms of currency.

Bitcoin exchanges work two ways. In the first, purchasers can go through an online exchange and pay for the virtual currency with hard currency, typically with a credit card. The exchange then transfers the purchased Bitcoins to the buyer´s account. The second way is for Bitcoins to be purchased from local dealers, where the parties meet in person and the buyer pays in cash.

As of now, the Bitcoin´s market capitalization has reached more than $1 billion — which is one reason why it has become a frequent target of fraudsters and traditional economists. Part of the reason is that it is encrypted virtual money created by computer programmers and not actually backed by any country or government — a feature that many Bitcoin users actually believe to be an advantage as it tends to make the currency immune to the inflationary tendencies of central banks and politicians.

The SMU/CMU study, which was led by Tyler W. Moore of the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU and Nicolas Christin of the Information Networking Institute and Carnegie Mellon CyLab at CMU, identified 40 Bitcoin exchanges worldwide that convert the cyber money into hard currency. Of those, 18 have already gone out of business, with nine of the 40 having experienced security breaches from hackers or other criminal activity. Of those nine, five were forced to close shop, while another 13 closed for other reasons besides a security breach. Of the exchanges that closed five did not reimburse their customers.

“The risk of losing funds stored at exchanges is real but uncertain,” Moore and Christian noted in the study, titled “Beware the Middleman: Empirical Analysis of Bitcoin-Exchange Risk.” The study was presented at the 17th Annual International Financial Cryptography and Data Security Conference held in Okinawa, Japan, April 1-5.

Customers might believe that Bitcoins could be secure, and instead of ℠cashing out´ and exchanging the money back into a hard currency, customers may see this as an alternative savings account. According to the study´s authors, however, this could be a risky proposition.

“Customers are at risk of losing their Bitcoins if the exchange suddenly closes,” Moore said. “Believe it or not, many people — if not most — choose to leave the Bitcoins in the exchange account, thinking that their Bitcoins are better protected there and with faster access to convert back to hard currencies.”

One reason for Bitcoin´s success has been its meteoric rise this year despite early startup problems and hosts of naysaying critics.

Bitcoin´s trading value at the start of 2013 was around $10 per Bitcoin, but it rose to as high as $260 earlier this month before plunging back down to $68. That´s still an increase of 680 percent so far this year.

“Much of that can be attributed to the Mt. Gox exchange temporarily shutting down because of heavy trading that overwhelmed the exchange,” Moore said. “Studying why these exchanges fail helps us better understand the risks of Bitcoin.”

Mouse Tests Show Deep Brain Stimulation Curbs Binge Eating

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
Using deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a specific area of the brain appears to reduce caloric intake and lead to weight loss in obese mice prone to binge eating, according to new research published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the official Journal of the Society of Neuroscience.
Senior author Tracy L. Bale, an associate professor of neuroscience at the University Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Animal Biology and the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, and colleagues demonstrated that dopamine deficits play a role in increasing behaviors such as binge eating.
Their work also shows that DBS — which is currently used to reduce tremors in Parkinson´s disease patients and is also being investigated as a potential treatment for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) — can reverse the response by activating the dopamine type-2 receptor.
Based on their findings, Bale said, DBS “may provide therapeutic relief to binge eating, a behavior commonly seen in obese humans, and frequently unresponsive to other approaches.” Nearly half of all obese men and women binge eat, meaning that they uncontrollably consume large quantities of high-calorie food in a short amount of time.
For their research, Bale and her colleagues targeted the nucleus accumbens, a small structure located in the brain´s reward center that has previously been linked to addictive behaviors. The test subjects that received DBS consumed “significantly less” of the high-fat food than those mice that did not receive stimulation. Furthermore, after the stimulation ceased, the mice did not eat more to make up for the lost calories. However, they did resume binge eating on days during which the devices providing the DBS were switched off.
The investigators also tested the long-term effects of DBS on obese mice that had been given unlimited access to fatty foods. Those mice consumed fewer calories during a four-day period of continuous stimulation therapy, and their body weight dropped as well. Furthermore, those mice showed improvement in their glucose sensitivity, suggesting that DBS could potentially be used to reverse Type 2 diabetes.
“These results are our best evidence yet that targeting the nucleus accumbens with DBS may be able to modify specific feeding behaviors linked to body weight changes and obesity,” Bale said.
“Once replicated in human clinical trials, DBS could rapidly become a treatment for people with obesity due to the extensive groundwork already established in other disease areas,” added lead author Casey Halpern, a resident in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and also involved researchers from the University of Buffalo.

Gut Bacteria Vaccine Could Help Control Autism Symptoms

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

A vaccine created to treat a gut bacteria common in children with autism could also help control some symptoms of the neural development disorder, according to new research published in this month´s edition of the journal Vaccine.

Researchers Brittany Pequegnat and Mario Monteiro of the University of Guelph in Ontario reportedly developed a carbohydrate-based vaccine against the bacteria Clostridium bolteae, which has been linked to gastrointestinal disorders and is often present in greater numbers in autistic children than in healthy kids.

“Little is known about the factors that predispose autistic children to C. bolteae,” Monteiro said, adding that most of the infections can be managed by antibiotics but that a vaccine would improve current treatment quality. “This is the first vaccine designed to control constipation and diarrhea caused by C. bolteae and perhaps control autism-related symptoms associated with this microbe.”

According to the researchers, more than 90 percent of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) suffer from chronic severe gastrointestinal symptoms, and three-fourths of those have diarrhea. Cases of autism have increased more than fivefold over the past two decades, and while the exact reason is unclear, some researchers believe the answer could lie in gut bacteria such as C. bolteae.

Using bacteria grown in the laboratory, Guelph microbiology professor Emma Allen-Vercoe, Pequegnat and Monteiro developed a new vaccine that targets specific complex carbohydrates known as polysaccharide on the surface of C. bolteae.

Their vaccine effectively increased C. bolteae-specific antibodies in rabbits, and the researchers believed that vaccine-induced antibodies could also be used to quickly detect the pathogen. While it could take more than a decade for the vaccine to complete preclinical and human trials, and even longer to reach the market, Monteiro called it “a significant first step in the design of a multivalent vaccine against several autism-related gut bacteria.”

In related research conducted earlier this month, investigators from the University of Missouri discovered that kids and teenagers with ASD were more likely to use television and video games and less likely to spend time on social media than their normally-developing counterparts — and that their love of screen time could actually be used to help scientists and medical experts help develop new treatment options.

“Using screen-based technologies, communication and social skills could be taught and reinforced right away,” explained Micah Mazurek, an assistant professor of health psychology and a clinical child psychologist. “However, more research is needed to determine whether the skills children with ASD might learn in virtual reality environments would translate into actual social interactions.”

New LED Technology Could Reduce Light Pollution

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Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Until the advent of the electric light, cities were not exactly welcoming places after nightfall. Today, street lights make it easier to see the way after the sun goes down, but this is one of the major contributors to light pollution that washes out the night sky.

It has gotten so bad the International Dark-Sky Association held weeklong festivities earlier this month, which was designed to promote ways to help put a dent in light pollution.

Beyond that the night sky is washed out, worse still is the fact the typical incandescent light bulb has changed little since it was invented more than 130 years ago, and is notoriously inefficient. However, researchers from Taiwan and Mexico have reportedly developed a new lighting system for street lights that harnesses LEDs and ensuresthe light only shines where needed, sparing the surrounding homes and even the evening sky from unwanted illumination.

The team reported their findings in the latest issue of the Optical Society´s (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express.

LEDs offer advantages not only in the fact the lighting is more efficient, with less energy lost to unwanted heat, but also in the fact they are more adaptable to different street light lamp designs. This makes it ideal for a variety of street and road uses, where they can provide uniform illumination with high energy efficiency.

The new LED lights won´t just be limited to use on street lights either, as NPD DisplaySearch recently noted demand for LED lighting is growing rapidly thanks to significant expansion in manufacturing capacity, falling prices, environmental concerns and government incentives. The research firm´s LED Light Market and Forecast Report predicts LED lighting applications will double the market from 16 million units in 2012 to a forecasted 33 million in 2013, and could triple by 2016.

“LEDs are playing a leading role in the lighting industry, driven primarily by government incentive policies and consumer demand for more efficient light sources with advanced technologies such as wireless and color control,” said Steven Sher, analyst, NPD DisplaySearch. “This increased demand will manifest over the next three years, as consumers look to replace their traditional light bulbs with more efficient LED lighting options.”

New, efficient lighting methods could thus be used to help make roads safer.

The Taiwanese-led study, which was conducted at the National Central University, found a new design that could be used for different illumination requests while maintaining high efficiency. This could involve a three-part lighting fixture, where clusters of LEDS, fitted with a special lens — called a Total Internal Reflection (TIR) lens, focuses the light so the rays are parallel to one another instead of intersecting. This process is called collimation. These lenses are then mounted inside a reflecting cavity, which can “recycle” the light to ensure that as much of it as possible is used to illuminate the ground below. Finally, the light passes through a diffuser or filter to cut down on unwanted glare.

“A general LED street light could reduce power consumption by 40 to 60 percent,” said Ching-Cherng Sun, co-author of the research.

Sun added increased efficiency of the proposed design would likely save an additional ten to 50 percent of the energy, while the module would be simple to fabricate since it comprises just four parts, including a commonly used type of LED bulb.

To date, the team has tested the design´s performance by analyzing how little the beam would spread as it hit its target–a road or sidewalk ten meters or more away from the source of the light, and found in addition to being more efficient, light pollution was also significantly reduced.

Sun´s team will reportedly finish a prototype of the design in the next three to six months. This will be followed by practical installations of the new street lamp as early as next year.

NHS Director Urges Crackdown On UK Cosmetic Surgery Industry

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Brett Smith for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

UK officials are looking to scrutinize cosmetic procedures they say are potentially dangerous and have gone unregulated for too long.

A new review led by Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director at the National Health Service, announced several warnings and recommendations designed to regulate anti-wrinkle treatments and dermal fillers, which are injected into the lips or skin to give a supple appearance.

“A person having a non-surgical cosmetic intervention has no more protection and redress than someone buying a ballpoint pen or a toothbrush,” the report warned. “Dermal fillers are a particular cause for concern as anyone can set themselves up as a practitioner, with no requirement for knowledge, training or previous experience.

“Nor are there sufficient checks in place with regard to product quality — most dermal fillers have no more controls than a bottle of floor cleaner,” the report continued. “It is our view that dermal fillers are a crisis waiting to happen.”

Current UK policy is in sharp contrast to that in the US, where treatments are heavily regulated and can only be administered by a licensed professional.

The review panel also warned about “fly in, fly out” surgeons who are not based in the UK, but come to the country to perform cosmetic procedures.

The report was initiated at the behest of former health secretary Andrew Lansley following the PIP implant scandal in which an estimated 50,000 UK women are said to have received defective breast implants filled with industrial grade silicon.

“If anything good can come of awful episodes like the PIP scandal, it is that the safety of the procedures that people may choose to undergo has been questioned,” current health minister Dan Poulter told The Guardian. “It is clear that it is time for the government to step in to ensure the public are properly protected.”

The report advises the government to increase regulations covering the UK´s multi-billion dollar industry. It said all cosmetic procedures should only be performed by registered medical practitioners who have been specifically trained to perform the procedures.

Non-invasive cosmetic procedures occupy a different space in UK culture compared to the US and the report highlighted “the many TV makeover [programs] where participants have procedures financed by providers.

“Of particular concern are TV reality drama shows in which its young stars [glamorize] cosmetic procedures,” it added. “It is not always made clear that these celebrities have contracts with particular providers.”

The report made a connection between UK celebrity culture and attitudes of young British girls, saying 41 percent of girls between the ages of seven and ten, and 63 percent of girls between eleven and 16 said they felt pressured to look the way celebrities do.

Simon Withey, a plastic surgeon and member of the review panel, singled out one popular show as a major source of the trivialization of cosmetic procedures, The Only Way Is Essex.

“I think shows like this probably do contribute to this trivialization,” he told The Guardian. “There is a failure to inform the public of the risks of these things.”

Coral Bleaching Study Reveals Why Some Survive And Others Die

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Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
When corals become stressed, they expel their symbiotic algae companions in a process known as “bleaching.” Corals can survive the bleaching, but it leaves them highly vulnerable and often results in die-off.
As a changing climate threatens to bleach the corals of the world´s oceans on a massive scale, a team of researchers from Northwestern University has found that some corals facilitate bleaching through the light-scattering properties of their skeletons, according to their report in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
“We have solved a little piece of the puzzle of why coral reefs are bleaching and dying,” said lead author Luisa A. Marcelino. “Our research is the first to show light-scattering properties of the corals are a risk factor.”
Based on a study of almost one hundred different species of corals, the scientists used optical technology designed for early cancer detection to determine that reef-building corals disperse light in different ways compared to the symbiotic algae that live within their coral exoskeletons. The corals that are less efficient at light scattering are more likely to retain their symbiotic algae under stressful conditions — like climate change — compared to those types whose skeletons scatter light most efficiently. However, under normal conditions the opposite was found to be true — with more efficient corals tending to thrive.
“Coral reefs are like the rain forests of the oceans — the consequences will be catastrophic if coral reefs are lost in great numbers,” said co-author Vadim Backman, a physicist and professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern. “Corals are also optical machines. By identifying how much light the skeletons of individual coral species reflect, we have learned which species are more resilient under stress.”
The health of a coral´s symbiotic algae is crucial to its survival, with the algae providing nutrients to the coral and receiving both shelter and light in return.
To calculate the amount of light diffraction and amplification inside the skeletons of 96 different coral species, the team used a low-coherence enhanced backscattering (LEBS) technique devised by Backman. The groundbreaking technique allowed the researchers to determine that light transport at the micro level translates directly into how fast light amplification increases with the loss of algae.
After their analysis was complete, the team constructed a family tree of corals that illustrated how bleaching and light scattering relate to the evolutionary history of corals. As corals whose skeletons scatter light most efficiently thrive under normal conditions, evolution has tended to favor these particular species. More evolved corals tend to grow faster, leading to an exoskeleton that is more conducive to light scattering.
“We found that bleaching and light scattering are associated across the history of reef corals,” said co-author Mark W. Westneat, a coral reef fish biologist and curator of zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago. “This important mechanism occurs repeatedly in all major coral groups, regardless of relationship or evolutionary age.”
The specimens used in the study were taken from the Field Museum, which includes scores retained from both the Chicago Columbian Exposition and World’s Fair of 1893 and the Smithsonian Institution. Scientists believe that living reef corals originated about 220 million years ago, and that contemporary reefs are descendants of these older lineages.

Science

Researchers Use Pitcher Plants To Identify Signs Of Trouble Dead Ahead

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National Science Foundation

In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans. — Kahlil Gibran

What do a pond or a lake and a carnivorous pitcher plant have in common?

The water-filled pool within a pitcher plant, it turns out, is a tiny ecosystem whose inner workings are similar to those of a full-scale water body.

Whether small carnivorous plant or huge lake, both are subject to the same ecological “tipping points,” of concern on Earth Day–and every day, say scientists.

The findings are published in this week’s issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the paper, ecologists affiliated with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site in Massachusetts offer new insights about how such tipping points happen.

“Human societies, financial markets and ecosystems all may shift abruptly and unpredictably from one, often favored, state to another less desirable one,” says Saran Twombly, program director in NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

“These researchers have looked at the minute ecosystems that thrive in pitcher plant leaves to determine early warning signals and to find ways of predicting and possibly forestalling such ‘tipping points.'”

Life in lakes and ponds of all sizes can be disrupted when too many nutrients–such as in fertilizers and pollution–overload the system.

When that happens, these aquatic ecosystems can cross “tipping points” and change drastically. Excess nutrients cause algae to bloom. Bacteria eating the algae use up oxygen in the water. The result is a murky green lake.

“The first step to preventing tipping points is understanding what causes them,” says Aaron Ellison, an ecologist at Harvard Forest and co-author of the paper. “For that, you need an experiment where you can demonstrate cause-and-effect.”

Ellison and other scientists demonstrated how to reliably trigger a tipping point.

They continually added a set amount of organic matter–comparable to decomposing algae in a lake–to a small aquatic ecosystem: the tiny confines of a pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant native to eastern North America.

Each pitcher-shaped leaf holds about a quarter of an ounce of rainwater. Inside is a complex, multi-level food web of fly larvae and bacteria.

“The pitcher plant is its own little ecosystem,” says Jennie Sirota, a researcher at North Dakota State University and lead author of the paper.

Similar to lake ecosystems, oxygen levels inside the water of a pitcher plant are controlled by photosynthesis and the behavior of resident organisms–in this case, mostly bacteria.

Ellison says that conducting an experiment with bacteria is like fast-forwarding through a video.

“A bacterial generation is 20 minutes, maybe an hour,” he says. “In contrast, fish in a lake have generation times of a year or more.

“We would need to study a lake for 100 years to get the same information we can get from a pitcher plant in less than a week.”

The same mathematical models, Ellison and colleagues discovered, can be used to describe a pitcher plant or a lake ecosystem.

To approximate an overload of nutrients in pitcher-plant water, the team fed set amounts of ground-up wasps to the plants.

“That’s equivalent to a 200-pound person eating one or two McDonald’s quarter-pounders every day for four days,” says Ellison.

In pitcher plants with enough added wasps, an ecosystem tipping point reliably occurred about 45 hours after the start of feeding.

The scientists now have a way of creating tipping points. Their next step will be to identify the early warning signs.

“Tipping points may be easy to prevent,” says Ellison, “if we know what to look for.”

Other authors of the paper are Benjamin Baiser of Harvard Forest and Nicholas Gotelli of the University of Vermont.

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Study Finds Key Drivers Of Pinterest Popularity

Written By: editor
editor

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Female Pinterest users have more “re-pins,” while male users have more followers on the popular photo-sharing site, according to a new study from Georgia Tech and the University of Minnesota.

The researchers used statistical data to understand why people use Pinterest, and to determine which factors distinguish the site from other popular social networks.

The reason women have fewer followers than men may be because the genders “are at different places along the technology adoption curve, with proportionally more early adopters among men (who disproportionately attract attention)?” the researchers wrote in a paper about their findings.

“Or, in a parallel argument, perhaps the men on the site disproportionately attract followers simply because they are scarce,” they wrote, adding that further research is needed to provide a more conclusive answer.

The study also found that four words — use, look, want and need — set Pinterest apart from Twitter.

“Those four verbs uniquely describe Pinterest and are particularly interesting,” said study leader Eric Gilbert, Assistant Professor of Georgia Tech´s School of Interactive Computing.

“Words encapsulate the intent of people, revealing the motivations behind their actions,” said Gilbert, who runs the Comp.Social Lab at Georgia Tech.

“You can use the word ℠this´ after all of these verbs, reflecting the ℠things´ at the core of Pinterest. Many press articles have focused on Pinterest´s commercial potential, and here we see verbs illustrating that consumption truly lies at the heart of the site.”

Pinterest, which reached its 10-million user milestone faster than any other social network, centers on the metaphor of a pin board, on which users “pin” photos they find on the Internet and organize them into topical collections. Users can then follow one another and “re-pin,” “like” and comment on other pins.

The researchers examined more than 200,000 pins, and were able to compile the first statistical overview of the popular site.

“We wanted to take a closer look at Pinterest because of its differences compared to other social media, including its focus on pictures and products and the large proportion of women users,” said study co-author Professor Loren Terveen from the University of Minnesota´s College of Science and Engineering.

“These findings are an important early snapshot of Pinterest that help us begin to understand people´s activity on this site.”

Recognizing the motivations behind activity on Pinterest is important not only to researchers, but to businesses looking to use the site for marketing purposes. Indeed, a recent survey showed that a higher proportion of Pinterest users click through to e-commerce sites — and spend significantly more money while there — than those who come from other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.

“There are several social networking sites that marketers and advertisers can take advantage of these days,” said Gilbert.

“After conducting this research, if I had to choose where to put my money and marketing, Pinterest would probably be my first choice.”

Gilbert, Terveen and colleagues will present their findings next week at the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris, France.

Health

Pain, Epigenetics And Endometriosis

Written By: editor

Research team wants to know how molecular tweaks affect which women hurt the most

Most of us probably know at least one woman, and maybe quite a few more, with endometriosis. Despite the disease’s prevalence, there is no consensus on the cause of it, the existing treatment options leave a lot to be desired, and there are too few ways for women to, at the very least, effectively numb the pain that the disease provokes.

Scientists — who over the years have suspected hormones, the immune system, environmental toxins, genetics or some combination — still have a long way to go in terms of better understanding the disease’s molecular bases. Researchers at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, in Huntington, W.V., say that a great deal more attention should be paid to the daily pain suffered by endometriosis patients.

“Endometriosis is a not a well understood disease ,” says Nalini Santanam, who is heading up the West Virginia research team looking into the epigenetics of pain in endometriosis. Santanam, who has studied the disease for more than 20 years, expresses disappointment in the lack of notice given to the pain associated with the disease.

“First of all, even though it’s highly prevalent, we don’t really have people talking about the disease. It’s a woman’s disease. It’s pain,” she says. “Women have menstrual pain, and in most countries we don’t even talk about this. It’s taboo. People say, ‘It’s just pain. Get over it. In a few days, it’s gone.’ And they don’t think that there’s actually an underlying disease there.”

About the disease

Endometriosis occurs when cells normally present within the uterus migrate outside the organ and attach to other parts in the pelvis. This outgrowth causes scarring, nodules of bumps on pelvic organs, or ovarian cysts. In some cases, organs can become fused by the scar tissue. The disease affects about one out of every seven women, but, because some don’t exhibit symptoms, the actual number could be larger.

A common cause of infertility, endometriosis usually presents itself during the teen years in the form of pain in the pelvic region and lower back, but it it’s not usually diagnosed till women are in their mid-20s, often because they are having difficulty having babies. Hormones, including birth-control pills, can ease the symptom. Over-the-counter painkillers are often recommended.

“Unfortunately, there are few options for treatment,” says Kristeena Ray, a doctoral student in Santanam’s lab. “More complex treatment can involve surgeries to remove the damaged tissue or, in extreme cases, a complete hysterectomy.” It’s not uncommon for endometriosis to recur after surgery.

Pain can’t be ignored

Much like the tissue does when situated correctly in the uterus, the misplaced endometriosis grows, breaks down and sloughs off; however, because of its location, the detritus cannot exit the body, and it is believed that this misplaced chemical cocktail causes pain.

“It is extremely common for the pain suffered by these women to interfere with their day-to-day activities,” says Ray.

Women often report pain during and after sexual intercourse. Interestingly, the stage of endometriosis is not necessarily indicative of the amount of pain.

When Santanam was working at Emory University a few years ago, her group looked into how nutritional supplementation affects potential endometriosis biomarkers. “One of the projects was a clinical study where we’d given patients vitamin E and C to see if it changes any markers related to endometriosis, and we found that it did,” she explains. “What also was interesting was that it also decreased pain in these women. So in our mind, there must be something else, some other pain-related markers. So over the past few years I’ve been trying to concentrate on that particular aspect: What are the pain-related markers? And then there’s the epigenetics.”

The epigenetics of endometriosis and pain

Though several large gene-expression studies have identified many deregulated genes in endometriosis patients, the specific genetic factors remain elusive. The West Virginia group, meanwhile, is focusing on epigenetic mechanisms, the changes caused to DNA and gene expression by the environment and lifestyle.

Ray is heading up the group’s investigation. Her preliminary findings will be presented Tuesday, April 22, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which is being held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology conference in Boston.

“We’re looking at epigenetic markers in patients with endometriosis,” Ray explains. “We believe that our continuing research in this area will help us better understand what leads to endometriosis in some women and find alternate treatment options for its symptoms.”

Unlike DNA mutations, epigenetic modifications are dynamic, constantly affected by environmental and lifestyle factors, which makes enzymes that affect epigenetic changes sought-after targets for drug development.

Santanam emphasizes that so little is known about the epigenetics of pain. “When you look at pain research, they mostly focus on back pain, fibromyalgia — those types of diseases. There are only now looking at epigenetics of pain,” says Santanam. “If you look at all the other fields, there are already epigenetic-related drugs available in the market.”

But, if epigenetic aberrations are found by her group or others, Santanam says, that could go a long way toward narrowing down biomarkers to be used in diagnostics and perhaps a personalized approach to endometriosis and its associated symptoms such as pain.

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Organ Damage From Metabolic Syndrome Reduced By Grape Consumption

Written By: editor

Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Whether you call it metabolic syndrome X or cardiometabolic syndrome or, as is the case with the nation of Australia, the attention-getting anagram of CHAOS, its effects on the human system are decidedly in the negative column. With the increase in risk for the development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, this pre-cursor condition poses a significant threat to human life expectancy and is responsible for the necessity of tailored healthcare and the exorbitant costs associated with it.

For individuals whose doctors have cautioned them as being in these elevated risk categories, a light appeared at the end of a long tunnel this week. And the solution is both surprising and elegantly elementary. In fact, for anyone who has read of or personally extolled the virtues of a well-timed glass of wine to aid in health, your position has been bolstered by research presented this week at the Experimental Biology conference in Boston.

The study behind the research was led by principal investigator E. Mitchell Seymour, PhD, of the University of Michigan Health System. The team’s findings claim the consumption of grapes could go a long way to protecting your organs from damage typically associated with the progression of metabolic syndrome. The team claims the benefit is derived from polyphenols, a natural component of the fruit.

In the conduct of the study, the team intentionally took note of the American-style diet, unique for its higher fat content. The team explored the effects of this diet both with and without the addition of grapes. They paid special attention to how the heart, liver, kidneys and fat tissue were affected in research rats bred specifically to a disposition toward obesity. For the rat subjects chosen to receive the addition of grapes to their diet, they were provided a combination of red, green and black grapes, presented in the form of a freeze-dried powder. The initial experimental phase was conducted over a 90-day period.

What the team soon realized was after the three-month experiment had concluded, the markers denoting inflammation throughout the body were all significantly reduced. Furthermore, a marked increase was noted in both the liver and abdominal fat tissue. Also interesting was the increase in antioxidant defense in the body, particularly in the liver and kidneys.

“Our study suggests that a grape-enriched diet may play a critical role in protecting against metabolic syndrome and the toll it takes on the body and its organs,” said Seymour.  “Both inflammation and oxidative stress play a role in cardiovascular disease progression and organ dysfunction in Type 2 diabetes. Grape intake impacted both of these components in several tissues which is a very promising finding.”

This is not the first foray into the benefits of the noble grape for Seymour. His previous research demonstrated a grape-enriched diet was able to reduce risk factors associated with heart disease and diabetes in the obesity-prone rats.

The Experimental Biology conference is a multidisciplinary, scientific meeting that aims its focus toward research and life sciences. This broad approach allows them to cover the fields of anatomy, biochemistry, nutrition, pathology, pharmacology and others. This years meeting is expected to be attended by nearly 14,000 scientists and exhibitors.

Reconstructing Europe’s Ancient History With DNA

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Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Researchers wrote in the journal Nature Communications they have reconstructed the genetic history of modern Europe.

The team was composed of scientists from the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD), the University of Mainz in Germany and the National Geographic Society´s Genographic Project. They used DNA extracted from bone and teeth samples from prehistoric human skeletons to sequence a group of maternal genetic lineages that are now carried by up to 45 percent of Europeans.

“This is the first high-resolution genetic record of these lineages through time, and it is fascinating that we can directly observe both human DNA evolving in ‘real-time’, and the dramatic population changes that have taken place in Europe,” says joint lead author Dr. Wolfgang Haak of ACAD. “We can follow over 4000 years of prehistory, from the earliest farmers through the early Bronze Age to modern times.”

Joint lead author Dr. Paul Brotherton, formerly at ACAD and now at the University of Huddersfield, said the record of this group, known as Halpogroup H, shows the first farmers in Central Europe came from a wholesale cultural and genetic input through migration. This group started in Turkey and the Near East, where farming originated and arrived in Germany 7,500 years ago.

“What is intriguing is that the genetic markers of this first pan-European culture, which was clearly very successful, were then suddenly replaced around 4500 years ago, and we don’t know why,” said ACAD Director Professor Alan Cooper. “Something major happened, and the hunt is now on to find out what that was.”

Researchers developed new advances in molecular biology to sequence mitochondrial genomes from the skeletons, creating the first ancient population study using a large number mitochondrial genomes.

“We have established that the genetic foundations for modern Europe were only established in the Mid-Neolithic, after this major genetic transition around 4000 years ago,” says Dr. Haak. “This genetic diversity was then modified further by a series of incoming and expanding cultures from Iberia and Eastern Europe through the Late Neolithic.”

Brotherton said the expansion of the Bell Beaker culture is a key event, emerging in Iberia about 2800 BC and arriving in Germany several centuries later.

“This is a very interesting group as they have been linked to the expansion of Celtic languages along the Atlantic coast and into central Europe,” Dr. Brotherton added.

Cooper says these sequences help to provide a unique opportunity for scientists to investigate the demographic history of Europe.

“We cannot only estimate population sizes but also accurately determine the evolutionary rate of the sequences, providing a far more accurate timescale of significant events in recent human evolution,” said Cooper.

A study reported last year in the journal Trends in Genetics found many cultural, climatic and demographic events shaped genetic variation among modern-day European populations. The team from this study used newer analytical techniques to help shape the views about the evolutionary history of humans in Europe.

Survey Finds Teenage Drug Abuse Jumped 33 Percent In Five Years

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Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A newly released national survey found that the rate of teens that are abusing prescription drugs has jumped 33 percent over the past five years.

Published at Drugfree.org, the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) found that 25 percent of teens have misused or abused a prescription drug at least once, a one-third increase since 2008. The study also found a troubling rise in the abuse of prescription stimulants. About 13 percent of teens report that they have taken Ritalin or Adderall when it was not prescribed for them.

Researchers also looked into parents attitudes toward prescription drug abuse and found evidence of permissive attitudes that could explain the uptick in teen abuse and misuse.

“These data make it very clear: the problem is real, the threat immediate and the situation is not poised to get better,” said Steve Pasierb, President and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org. “Parents fear drugs like cocaine or heroin and want to protect their kids. But the truth is that when misused and abused, medicines — especially stimulants and opioids — can be every bit as dangerous and harmful as illicit street drugs.”

“Medicine abuse is one of the most significant and preventable adolescent health problems facing our families today. As parents and caring adults, we need to take action to address the risks that intentional medicine abuse poses to the lives and the long-term health of our teens,” he said in a statement.

A deeper look into the survey results finds several concerning trends. Of the teens who said they have abused medications — 20 percent admitted to doing so before the age of 14. Twenty-seven percent of teens said they believe “misusing and abusing prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs,” and one-third said “it’s okay to use prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them to deal with an injury, illness or physical pain.”

The report also noted a significantly permissive attitude among parents toward the misuse of medications. While only 14 percent of teens surveyed said their parents had discussed the dangers of prescription drug abuse, 81 percent said they talked with their parents about the dangers of marijuana use and 80 percent have discussed alcohol abuse issues with their parents.

In the report, The Partnership noted an upcoming opportunity to stem the tide of prescription drug abuse by teens — the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which is sponsored by the DEA, takes place Saturday, April 27, 2013.

“Medicine cabinets are the number one access point for teens who want to misuse and abuse prescription drugs. That’s why we are making a concerted effort to let parents and caregivers know how important it is to safely dispose of their unused, unwanted or expired medicines,” said Marcia Lee Taylor, SVP of Government Affairs at The Partnership at Drugfree.org. “Doing so can literally save a life.”

Event organizers said they plan to collect unused prescription drugs at sites set up around the country, 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. In the five preceding Take-Back events, over 2 million pounds of prescription drugs were safely removed from circulation, according to The Partnership.

Empathizing With Robots

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Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Although some theorize that they could one day take over the world, one group of scientists was curious about whether humans are capable of feeling empathy for our electronic companions. The team will be presenting their findings at the 63rd Annual International Communication Association (ICA) conference in London.

During the study, 40 participants watched videos of a small dinosaur-shaped robot that was treated in either an affectionate or a violent manner while the researchers measured their level of physiological arousal. They also asked the participants about their emotional state directly after the videos. The team reported that participants said they felt more negative watching the robot being abused and showed higher physiological arousal during the negative video.

A second study performed by the team used functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) to look for potential brain correlations of human-robot interaction in contrast to human-human interaction. For this study, 14 participants were shown videos depicting a human, a robot and an inanimate object, all being treated in either an affectionate or violent manner. Their findings were consistent with those of the first study, finding that humans can in fact feel empathy for our robotic counterparts.

“One goal of current robotics research is to develop robotic companions that establish a long-term relationship with a human user, because robot companions can be useful and beneficial tools. They could assist elderly people in daily tasks and enable them to live longer autonomously in their homes, help disabled people in their environments, or keep patients engaged during the rehabilitation process,” said Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten of the University of Duisburg Essen.

“A common problem is that a new technology is exciting at the beginning, but this effect wears off especially when it comes to tasks like boring and repetitive exercise in rehabilitation. The development and implementation of uniquely humanlike abilities in robots like theory of mind, emotion and empathy is considered to have the potential to solve this dilemma.”

Those feelings of sympathy may not help when learning about some research being done at Boston Dynamics. Scientists are building an anthropomorphic humanoid robot to test chemical protection clothing for humans, and even future robots. This robot, Petman, can help test protective gear when it is subjected to various chemical warfare agents, such as nerve gas. It is designed to put natural stresses on a suit’s materials to find its design flaws, which could help determine if rips could form or stresses in seems could endanger a real human from toxic elements.

Night Turns To Day As Spectacular Meteor Explodes Over Argentina

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Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A dazzling display of light appeared over Argentina on Sunday, April 21 and was captured on video by a concert goer filming the band playing on stage. In the video a giant fireball can be seen in the background lighting up the night sky as it exploded high in the atmosphere.
The flash of light only appeared for a few seconds before it was gone; but the incident, which was witnessed by thousands of Argentinians, left most wondering what it could have been. Locals said they felt the ground shake in Santiago del Estero as night turned to day for a fleeting moment.
A meteor expert in Argentina said the fireball was in fact a meteor and may have been traveling at speeds in excess of 80,000 mph when it crashed into Earth´s upper atmosphere.
Jorge Coghlan, director of the Santa Fe Astronomical Observatory in Argentina, said during a radio interview that the space rock likely measured about 18 inches in diameter and exploded about 40 miles over the Earth, according to a translation by HuffPost.
In a later report by 9 News, Coghlan said it was closer to nine inches in diameter.
The fireball was visible in at least eight provinces in Argentina and was widely shared with the world via Twitter and Facebook. Some users posted video footage of the fireball as well. Some traffic cams and other static cameras also caught a glimpse of the night sky being turned to light.
After the meteor exploded, a “halo” appeared in the sky over Santiago del Estero just before sunrise, as was seen in a YouTube video. But Coghlan said the halo and meteor event were unrelated, according to Nuevo Diario newspaper.
Coghlan urged people to be skeptical of several videos posted to YouTube that claim to have caught the explosion on film, but noted that videos taken by local security cameras and concert attendees were reliable.
Although the early morning explosion was startling to many onlookers, it was significantly smaller than the fireball that exploded over Russia on February 14, 2013.
That meteor was some 30 times larger and exploded much closer to the ground (18 miles overhead), causing a shockwave that shattered windows across the region and injured more than a thousand people.
While there has yet to be any reports on the possible origin of the meteor, it may be likely that it was part of the annual April Lyrids meteor shower, which peaked early Monday morning (April 22).
The Lyrid meteor showers typically last from April 16-26 each year with the peak being April 22, which is also Earth Day. The radiant of the shower is located in the constellation Lyra, near the constellation´s brightest star Alpha Lyrae (Vega). The April Lyrids are sometimes referred to as the Alpha Lyrids because of the area of their radiant.
The actual source of the meteor shower comes from particles of dust shed by the tail of the periodic comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The Lyrids have been observed for more than 2,500 years.

Marijuana Pill May Provide Longer Pain Relief Than A Joint

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Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Cannibas (marijuana) has been a commonly used form of medicine throughout the Western world since the late 19th century. It was used as a primary source of pain relief until the invention of aspirin in 1897. While cannibas never really left the medicinal world, more modern medicines through the years took center stage as more potent forms of pain relief.

However, medicinal marijuana began to come out of the woodwork again in the 1970s and 80s and soon people were looking to the drug once again for some relief from the pain. It would not be until the 1990s, however, when several states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) adopted laws allowing for the use of medicinal marijuana.

Despite federal laws prohibiting any use of the natural drug, be it medicinal or recreational, patients throughout these states began showing up at clinics to get their much-needed fix. Today, medical marijuana is available in 18 US states and the District of Columbia.

But new research is looking at a pill form of marijuana that could offer a better form of pain management. Most patients believe that toking up is the only truly effective way to fight their pain when it comes to marijuana. However, researchers from the Substance Abuse Research Center of the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) have taken a closer look at a pill that could work just as well to relieve pain as the smoked form, but without, or with fewer, side effects.

The researchers say the pill form could likely offer longer relief from pain, yet also leave people without the high feeling that comes with smoking a joint. Pain is the most common reason doctors prescribe medical marijuana, according to surveys. Some studies have also shown that marijuana works as well as narcotic pain relievers like codeine, while others have shown that it can actually make pain worse.

For the NYSPI study, researchers offered 30 healthy, pain-free participants either a placebo or the drug (dronabinol), which contains the active marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Dronabinol has been FDA-approved since 1985 as a treatment for nausea and loss of appetite that comes with cancer and AIDS. But little else is known about the drug, especially its effect on pain.

During the experiment, participants were given a capsule and then 45 minutes later allowed to smoke a joint. The capsule was either the placebo, or a 10mg or 20mg dose of dronabinol. The marijuana cigarettes were specially made by the NIH’s US National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the study. The cigarettes contained a low dosage of THC, a higher dosage, or none at all.

The study participants were never told what dosage they were smoking or which pill they ingested. And researchers made sure that none of the participants received a double hit of the drug during the same session.

During the sessions, participants were asked to place their hands in an icy tub of water kept just above freezing, which was used to measure pain. The researchers measured how long it took the subjects to feel pain and then how long they were able to tolerate the pain before removing their hand from the bath. The participants were then asked to answer questions about how intense the pain was during the experiments and also how high they felt.

Upon analysis of the data, the NYSPI team found that the joint form and the pill form of THC were equally effective at controlling pain.

After smoking the strongest cigarette and taking the highest dosage pill the subjects were able to keep their hands in the ice water 12 to 13 seconds longer before feeling pain compared to when they took just the placebos. And both forms of the drug increased pain tolerance significantly. The subjects also reported that their pain was decreased after they smoked either strength of marijuana cigarette and after they took the highest strength of pill.

According to US News Health Day reporter Brenda Goodman, the researchers found the most significant results with how long it took for the drug to work and how high people felt after using it. Pain relief peaked about 15 minutes after people smoked a joint, and then quickly wore off. The pills took almost four times longer to kick in, but pain relief lasted up to 4 hours. Those who also smoked the joint reported they felt much higher than using the pill, and also reported that the high lasted longer than the pain relief.

Ziva Cooper, an assistant professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University, said that the results indicate that someone would have to smoke several times per day to keep the pain away. That´s not feasible for most people. She noted that swallowing a pill could also be much safer than lighting up; as there has been some concern that smoking marijuana could lead to lung cancer.

But with safety aside, taking a pill could be more costly than reaching for a joint. According to ProCon.org, the average dose of two marijuana joints per day costs about $514 per month. The usual dose for dronabinol costs about $678 per month. Dronabinol is the generic form of the drug Marinol, which could cost significantly more. However, dronabinol is often covered by insurance, bringing the average cost for patients down to $15 to $30 per month.

The researchers said more research is needed to confirm their findings, which have been published in the April 22 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology. Because the study only included healthy subjects, it may be necessary to test the efficacy of dronabinol in individuals who suffer from chronic pain to see if they experience the same effect from the pill. Also, the study involved participants who were regular pot smokers on a daily basis, so it isn´t clear if the results would apply to people who do not consume it regularly.

For The Rock Hyrax, A Balanced Triad Is Best Within The Social Group

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April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Humans follow complex social situations to decide who to befriend or abandon. A new study that seeks to advance our understanding of the structure of animal social networks reveals that animals use the same level of sophistication in judging social configurations.
Published this week in Animal Behaviour, this study is the first to apply a long-standing theory of social psychology — called “structural balance,” the theory analyzes human relationships — to an animal population in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying the structure of animal social groups. The scientists analyzed social bonds in behavioral data obtained from a long-term study of the rock hyrax, a small mammal that lives in colonies across Africa and the Middle East.
In structural balance theory, the positive and negative ties between three individuals, or triads, are considered. The theory suggests that “the friend of my enemy is my enemy” triangle configuration is more stable and more common than the “friend of my enemy is my friend” triangle. “The friend of my friend is my friend” is another stable configuration in the social network, while “the enemy of my enemy is my enemy” is an unstable state, according to the theory.
Structural balance theory has the ability to predict patterns in the structure of the whole social network, which is the potential power of the data gleaned. The theory can also predict changes that occur over time, as unstable triads are expected to change to stable ones.
“We all live in social networks of some kind, either online or offline, and we are interested in understanding how these groups form and dissolve and their internal dynamics, but while studying these human dynamics is important, it’s also very difficult and in many cases impractical. So we study how sociality evolved in animals, which might offer us some insights into our own social behavior. And indeed, the structural balance theory that was developed to study human behavior appears to be relevant in animals as well,” said Amiyaal Ilany, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.
The rock hyraxes observed tended to form balanced triads, and change unbalanced triads to balanced ones over time. New individuals in the population, such as new pups or males that migrated into the network, introduced social instability by forming often unbalanced triads. This caused the network as a whole to retain some level of instability. Contrary to classical structural balance theory, the study found that the “enemy of my enemy is my enemy” configuration was actually a stable configuration.
The study findings suggest that structural balance may play a role in the evolution of social structures by selecting against certain specific configurations. It may also serve as a psychological mechanism, allowing specific social structures to exist and preventing cooperation between members of different groups.
“The results indicated that changes in social relationships are dependent not only on two individuals, but significantly on third parties, which underscores the importance of structural balance theory in explaining the evolution of complex natural social systems,” Ilany said, who was a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University when the research was begun.

Get Your Daily Dose Of Vitamin D With A Helping Of Mushrooms

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Brett Smith for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Vitamin D is important for maintaining bone health and muscle strength and a new study from Boston University researchers shows mushrooms can provide the same amount of vitamin D to the body as supplemental tablets.

The study will be presented at a meeting of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Boston this week and published in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology.

To reach their findings, researchers divided 30 healthy adults into three random groups and directed them to take capsules containing 2000 International Units (IU) of either vitamin D2, vitamin D3, or mushroom powder containing vitamin D2 every day for twelve weeks during the winter.

After twelve weeks of supplements, scientists found participants´ average levels of serum 25(OH)D, which was used to determine a person’s vitamin D status, were not notably different among any of the three supplement groups.

“These results provide evidence that ingesting mushrooms that have been exposed to ultraviolet light and contain vitamin D2 are a good source of vitamin D that can improve the vitamin D status of healthy adults,” said study author Dr. Michael F. Holick, a professor of medicine at BU. “Furthermore we found ingesting mushrooms containing vitamin D2 was as effective in raising and maintaining a healthy adult’s vitamin D status as ingesting a supplement that contained either vitamin D2 or vitamin D3.

“These results confirm other studies that have demonstrated that ingesting vitamin D2 either from fortified orange juice, a supplement or a pharmaceutical formulation were all capable of increasing total circulating 25(OH) D concentrations for at least three months and up to six years,” Holick added.

He also noted treating mushrooms with ultraviolet light could result in the production of additional benefits.

“The observation that some mushrooms when exposed to UVB light also produce vitamin D3 and vitamin D4 can also provide the consumer with at least two additional vitamin Ds,” Holick said.

The scientist is also expected to present another study in Boston this week on how the mushrooms are able to generate vitamin D in a process similar to what occurs in human skin when exposed to the sun.

“Although it has been previously reported that mushrooms have the ability to produce both vitamin D2 and vitamin D4, through our own research we were able to detect several types of vitamin Ds and provitamin Ds in mushroom samples, including vitamin D3, which is also made in human skin,” Holick said.

Previous research has shown that the vitamin D producing process in the skin can be affected by the season, skin pigmentation, and sunscreen use, among other factors.

In a report on his other research efforts, Holick noted previous studies have shown vitamin D deficiency in those living at higher latitudes — translating into an increased risk for many chronic diseases including autoimmune diseases, some cancers and type 2 diabetes.

He recommends a “three-part strategy of increasing food fortification programs with vitamin D, sensible sun exposure recommendations and encouraging ingestion of a vitamin D supplements when needed,” which “should be implemented to prevent Global vitamin D deficiency and its negative health consequences.”

ESA’s SMOS And NASA’s Aquarius Missions Monitoring Ocean Salinity

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ESA

[ Watch The Video Freshwater Plume From SMOS And Aquarius ]

The saltiness of the oceans is being closely monitored from space by both ESA´s SMOS and NASA´s Aquarius missions, but in slightly different ways. By joining forces, researchers are exploiting these complementary missions to benefit climate science even further.

Everyone knows that seawater is salty, but it isn´t that obvious that the concentration of salt — the salinity — of the surface waters of the world´s oceans varies considerably with location and season.

Salinity is controlled largely by the balance between evaporation and precipitation, so it is an important component of Earth´s water cycle and closely coupled to weather and climate. It is also an important driver in ocean circulation, which in turn, is crucial in moderating the climate.

In fact, ocean salinity is an ‘essential climate variable’ — a key parameter of climate change.

Until the launch of SMOS in 2009 and Aquarius in 2011, global data on this important variable were simply not available. Scientists need this information to feed into the mathematical models they use to understand the complexities of the exchange processes between Earth´s surfaces and the atmosphere.

Thanks to both missions, these much-needed data are leading to a better understanding of the water cycle, how the ocean works and how salinity is linked to weather and climate.

ESA´s SMOS satellite and NASA´s Aquarius sensor, carried on Argentina´s SAC-D satellite, both use an L-band radiometer to map ocean salinity but offer different resolutions and revisit times.

For example, Aquarius provides better ℠pixel´ accuracy than SMOS, whereas SMOS provides higher revisit times and spatial resolution.

While it has been shown clearly that their datasets agree and provide similar information, the differences in the data can be exploited to yield even more detail about variations in the salinity of our oceans.

For instance, the animation above shows the freshwater plume in the Pacific Ocean west of Panama as seen from both missions. This fresh pool is a consequence of heavy summer rains over Central America. Wind is also an important factor in the salinity of the water in this region.

To discuss the benefits and complementarity of both missions, scientists from around the world recently gathered in Brest, France.

Nicolas Reul from the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea, said,“This is the first time that scientists involved in these two satellite missions have met at an international workshop to compare ocean salinity data.

“SMOS and Aquarius are complementary by way of their spatial and temporal coverage and their viewing angles. By combining their data, maps of ocean salinity will be even more accurate and robust.”

Gary Lagerloef, the Principal Investigator of the Aquarius mission, added, “It is a great example of cooperation between Europe and the USA — a mutually beneficial exchange of information about scientific issues related to both projects.

“Our long-standing collaboration began during the development of both missions and is now deriving great benefit.”

SMOS has also been providing vital information about soil moisture, another important component of Earth´s water cycle. It is expected that the similar dataset from Aquarius will be available soon and will also complement that of SMOS.

In 2014, or soon after, NASA plans to launch its Soil Moisture Active Passive, SMAP, mission that will continue these observations.

ESA´s and NASA´s collaborative efforts therefore have future relevance for the exploitation of this next satellite.

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Climate Study Finds Earth Is Warmer Than At Any Time In Past 1,400 Years

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Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Another study is backing up climate change claims, saying Earth is at the warmest it has been in at least 1,400 years. The study shows that the planet has warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval during the model period.

“This paper tells us what we already knew, except in a better, more comprehensive fashion,” study co-author Edward Cook, a tree-ring scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) at Columbia University, said in a statement.

The scientists, reporting their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience, also found that Europe’s 2003 heat wave and drought happened during its hottest summer of the last 2,000 years.

“Summer temperatures were intense that year and accompanied by a lack of rain and very dry soil conditions over much of Europe,” said study co-author Jason Smerdon, a climate scientist at LDEO and one of the lead contributors to the Europe reconstruction. Smerdon said that although 2003 sets a record for Europe, global warming was only one of the factors that contributed to the temperature conditions that summer.

The study says that the Medieval Warm Period from about 950 to 1250 AD may have not been a global heat wave. It said that while parts of Europe and North America were warm during this period, South America stayed relatively cool.

Some argue that the natural warming that occurred during the medieval ages is reoccurring today, and that humans are not responsible for the modern day global warming trend.

However, Cook said if we went into another Medieval Warm Period again it would just add to the global warming trend we are already experiencing.

“Distinctive periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age stand out, but do not show a globally uniform pattern,” said co-author Heinz Wanner, a scientist at the University of Bern.

The scientists said the most consistent trend across all regions in the past 2,000 years was a long-term cooling, caused by a rise in volcanic activity, decrease in solar irradiance, changes in land-surface vegetation, and solar variations in Earth’s orbit.

Scientists announced in January that 2012 was the ninth warmest year on record since 1880. However, NASA´s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) climatologist Gavin Schmidt said that one more year of having high numbers isn’t itself significant.

“What matters is this decade is warmer than the last decade, and that decade was warmer than the decade before,” Schmidt said. “The planet is warming. The reason it´s warming is because we are pumping increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”

GISS director James E. Hansen said last year’s temperature is just an example of a new trend of outlying seasonal extremes that are warmer than the hottest seasonal temperature of the mid-20th century.

“The climate dice are now loaded. Some seasons still will be cooler than the long-term average, but the perceptive person should notice that the frequency of unusually warm extremes is increasing. It is the extremes that have the most impact on people and other life on the planet,” Hansen said.

Brain-Related Mechanism Could Be Responsible For Depression-Heart Disease Comorbidity

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Inflammation of the brain could hold the key to understanding the underlying mechanisms responsible for the link between depression and heart disease, according to new research conducted at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Susan K. Wood, a research associate at the Pennsylvania-based medical center, investigated brain-related biomarkers for depression-heart disease comorbidity, as each condition increased the risk that an individual will develop the other ailment. She presented her findings Sunday at the Experimental Biology 2013 conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Wood used a rodent model of social stress similar in nature to the bullying faced by humans. She previously established that the behavior in question produces depressive-like behaviors and dysfunctional cardiovascular changes in a susceptible subset of rodents.

Her previous work led to the discovery that corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) — a hormone and neurotransmitter associated with stress response — plays an essential role in rendering an individual vulnerable to stress-related depression and heart disease.

Wood´s latest research is the first study to identify gene and protein expression differences in the brains of rodents is based on vulnerability or resiliency to stress-induced depressive-style behaviors and cardiovascular dysfunction.

She compared the expression of 88 genes involved in transmitting brain signals between both socially stressed and non-stressed rats. Wood and her colleagues located more than 35 genes in stressed rats which had altered expressions compared to their more relaxed counterparts.

Several of the identified genes were related to inflammation, the researchers explained. Furthermore, follow-up research measuring protein levels discovered that Interleukin-1β and Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 —  inflammatory markers associated with both depression and heart disease — were suppressed in the brains of the resilient rats, and the Interleukin-1β levels were elevated in the socially stressed group.

“The identification of factors in the brain that distinguish susceptibility and resiliency to depression and heart disease comorbidity would be a major advance in predicting, preventing and treating these disorders,” the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), a non-profit biological and medical research organization, said in a statement.

Genetic Research Proves Autoimmune Liver Disease Is A Unique Condition

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Using DNA genotyping technology, researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have determined that primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare autoimmune disease affecting the liver, is a unique condition and not a complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

“Before our study, it was never quite clear whether PSC was a complication of IBD or a distinct disease in its own right. We have proven it to be a unique disease, and hope that our results will inform the development of more effective treatments, designed to target the biological pathways involved in causing the disease,” lead author Dr. Carl Anderson said in a statement.

The study, an advanced copy of which was published on the Nature Genetics website Sunday, involved an international team of scientists who recruited patients from 13 countries throughout Europe and North America. Dr. Anderson and his colleagues reported discovering nine new genetic regions linked with PSC, which they describe as a chronic and progressive disease which funnels bile from the liver into the intestines. That brings the total number of genetic regions associated with the disease to 16, they said.

“The team used DNA genotyping technology to survey more thoroughly regions of the genome known to underlie other immune-related diseases to discover if they also play a role in PSC susceptibility,” the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute explained. “In addition to the nine genetic regions newly associated, they also saw strong signals at three regions of the genome previously associated with the disease. Of these twelve genetic regions, six are also associated with IBD, while the six other regions showed little to no association in a recent large study of IBD.”

While PSC is genetically related to IBD, the new research proves that it is, in fact, a unique disease, the researchers said. Only half of the newly discovered genetic regions were shared with IBD, which also impacts roughly 70 percent of those who suffer from PSC. The condition itself can cause inflammation of the bile ducts and liver scarring which can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure. There are no effective treatments for PSC, and even though it affects just one out of every 10,000 people, it is one of the leading causes of liver transplant surgery.

“Using the Immunochip genotyping chip, we can pull apart the genetic relationships between these autoimmune diseases and begin to see not only their genetic similarities, but also the differences,” said first author Jimmy Liu, a PhD student at the UK-based research center. “As PSC is a rare disorder, sample collection is more difficult than for other, more common, autoimmune diseases. We hope that with more samples from patients, we’ll be able to link more genetic regions to the disease, and it will become easier to identify underlying pathways that could act as therapeutic targets.”

According to Dr. Anderson´s team, three of the genetic regions associated with PSC fall within a single biological system which underlies variation in the immune system response cells known as T cells. One of them, HDAC7, has been proven to be a key factor in immune tolerance, and the new research suggests that exploring drugs which affect this genetic region could one day be used to treat the condition. The researchers now plan to continue their work by conducting a high-powered search throughout the entire genomes of PSC patients, looking for specific regions associated with the condition beyond those areas included on the Immunochip genotyping chip.

IMRT Reduces Side Effects Of Breast Cancer Treatments

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
Treating early breast cancer patients with an advanced form of radiotherapy known as IMRT could reduce the side effects those women experience, according to the results of a randomized trial presented Sunday during the 2nd Forum of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
IMRT (intensity modulated radiotherapy) is a high-precision form of treatment that delivers an even dose of radiation, the researchers said. Thus, when compared to standard two-dimensional radiotherapy (2DRT), IMRT can reduce the cosmetic issues that often occur following breast radiotherapy.
A team of UK researchers analyzed the radiotherapy treatment plans of more than 1,100 patients with early breast cancer. Each of those patients had previously undergone breast-conserving surgery, and their plans were screened to see if they would have received an uneven dose of radiation with standard 2DRT treatment.
“We believe that this study, the largest prospective trial in the world to test breast IMRT against standard two-dimensional radiotherapy, will be practice-changing at an international level,” Dr. Charlottes Coles, a consultant clinical oncologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital Oncology Centre, Cambridge, UK, said in a statement. “Analyzing the results five years after treatment, we saw significant benefits in patients who had received IMRT.”
Seventy-one percent of the treatment plans fell into that category, according to the researchers, and those patients were then randomly assigned to receive either 2DRT or IMRT. The remaining 29 percent of the patients were treated using the traditional radiotherapy method, but were still contacted for follow-up during the trial.
They also emphasized the importance of treating the target using correct and evenly-distributed doses with external radiotherapy. According to the researchers, the goal is to treat the entire breast with between 95 percent and 107 percent of the prescribed dose, as too low a dose could lead to a recurrence of the tumor and too much radiation can lead to side-effects such as skin changes.
“The problem with 2D breast radiotherapy is that the dose distribution is only recorded across the central part of the breast,” explained Dr. Coles. “Usually it meets the 95-107percent constraints, but the shape of the breast changes, so if the same plan is looked at in 3D, then there may well be areas with overly high doses. By modulating the intensity of the radiation beam, IMRT can be used to correct for this and smooth out the dose.”
She and her colleagues set out to determine whether or not the patients that would have received a dose of more than 107 percent to parts of their breast with 2DRT would receive clinical benefit from using IMRT.
Planning for the advanced procedure uses scan results to determine what dose intensity will best treat the tumor, making it more complex and time-consuming than 2DRT planning and thus underscoring the need to demonstrate a patient will clearly benefit from the procedure versus traditional radiotherapy.
“We saw that fewer patients in the IMRT group developed skin telangiectasia (dilated blood vessels near the surface of the skin), and the overall cosmetic effect in the breast was better,” Dr. Coles reported.
Additionally, there was said to be no significant difference between the 2DRT and IMRT groups in terms of breast shrinkage, breast edema, breast hardening, or pigmentation changes. The researchers plan to follow up by reviewing patient questionnaires to determine if the advanced form of radiotherapy improves their overall quality of life.
“Although IMRT is employed increasingly in breast cancer, its use is far from universal throughout the world. We hope that the evidence of benefit shown in our trial will encourage its greater use, resulting in improved patient access and, ultimately, improved outcomes for breast cancer patients,” said Dr Coles.
“This study not only shows a better outcome for the women treated with IMRT, but has an additional value in defining the selection criteria for providing treatment to those patients who will benefit from new frontline technologies,” said ESTRO President Vincenzo Valentini.
“In the study design, the patients who could be treated satisfactorily by standard technology were not referred for IMRT, avoiding the use of a complex technique where it was not necessary. At a time when resources are limited, individualized medicine can help us offer new technology only to those patients who will have a tangible benefit from it,” he added.

Durex Unveils Underwear That Allows Long-Distance Lovers To Have Fun

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Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Durex, arguably the biggest name in condoms, is taking foreplay to a whole new level. Just this week the company has unveiled a new line of electric clothing called Fundawear. The items are comprised of a bra and ‘his and hers’ electric pants. These articles of clothing also come with a specially designed app that can control certain aspects of the undergarments.

The creation actually comes from Durex Australia, a subsidiary of Durex and Reckitt Benckiser, a British multinational consumer goods company. The makers claim these sensual undies could be the “future of foreplay,” as they can enable long-distance lovers to “touch and tease” one another using a smartphone that has the app installed.

The technology was first shown off on Wednesday with the debut of a new commercial posted on the company´s YouTube page. The ad shows a young couple giggling as the man uses an app to feel his lover´s breast — to which the girlfriend says: “It feels like you’re touching me.”

The borderline erotic YouTube ad has been viewed more than 1.3 million times as of Saturday afternoon (Apr 20). A second video, also on Durex´s YouTube page, details how the naughty nighties came into being.

The idea behind the latest technology is that two lovers can share some sensual satisfaction while they are apart. The couple puts on their respective undies and buzzes each other over their iPhones. All that is required is the user’s imagination to feel like his/her partner is actually there doing the touching. The app screen has a diagram showing which body parts the Fundawear sensors are touching and by running a finger over those spots, the person on the receiving end gets a stimulating response from that sensor.

The actuators in the garments use the same technology that make smartphones vibrate. There are five actuators in each cup of the bra and six more in the pants of each his/her undies.

While the combination of touch technology, mixed with long-distance control and underwear are possibly a “world first,” The Guardian has reported Durex is not the first to come by the long-distance vibration technology for sensual pleasure.

The news agency reports Vibease, a mini vibrator that comes with its own text picture-messaging app, launched more than 6 months ago on Google Play. Another sexual product, LovePalz, was recently launched claiming to be the “world´s first internet-enabled sex toy.” While this tool doesn´t have an app, it definitely makes up for that with sexual realism.

Durex Australia said their Fundawear product is still in the experimental stages and has no word on when it will hit store shelves. Interested parties can visit the company´s Facebook page for more information on how to get their hands on a free prototype.

Treatment Of Cervical Cancer Outlined With Two New Studies

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Two landmark radiotherapy studies demonstrating cervical cancer tumors can be effectively treated with specifically-adapted high doses will be presented this weekend at the 2nd Forum of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO).

The studies, which will be presented over the next two days at the conference in Geneva, Switzerland, demonstrate image-guided brachytherapy was able to deliver extremely high doses that not only prevent tumors from growing in nine out of 10 patients, but also have fewer serious side-effects, ESTRO explained Saturday in a statement.

Treating cervical cancer with radiotherapy is problematic because the vagina receives a high dose of radiation, which can lead to symptoms such as vaginal dryness, vaginal narrowing and shortening with a loss of flexibility (stenosis), vaginal inflammation (mucositis), bleeding, or a hole in the wall of the vagina (vaginal fistula). The treatment can also adversely affect the bowel and bladder, the organization said.

However, image-guided brachytherapy delivers the radiotherapy to the tumor by placing a radioactive source inside an applicator. That applicator is then placed internally in the same area as the tumor, and then imaging — in the form of CT or MRI scans — is used at the same time as the treatment in order to delineate the tumor itself and the organs that could be adversely affected by the applicator. This allows radiation oncologists to measure and evaluate the tumor´s response to the treatment and adjust the dose accordingly while protecting nearby organs, ESTRO said.

Establishing A Clinical Benchmark For Brachytherapy

The first study, which will be presented on Saturday, investigates the relationship between the dose of radiotherapy and the impact it has on the vagina during brachytherapy for cervical cancer. It is an international, multi-center clinical trial known as EMBRACE and was led by Kathrin Kirchheiner, a PhD student in the Department of Radiotherapy at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria.

According to Kirchheiner, the researchers have thus far followed 523 patients in 19 facilities worldwide for an average of 14 months in the hopes their study will be able “to establish a benchmark for clinical outcome with regard to control of the tumor´s growth, patient survival, adverse effects of treatment and quality of life.”

Cervical cancer patients participating in the study underwent external beam radiotherapy, chemotherapy and MRI-guided brachytherapy, and the impact of the respective treatments and the condition of the vagina were assessed at the beginning of the study, then again every three months during the first year, twice during the second and third years, and once per year thereafter.

“Our results show that severe vaginal side-effects are rare,” Kirchheiner said. “The majority of patients are likely to experience mild to moderate (grade 1 or 2) vaginal morbidity in the first two years after the end of treatment. The most frequently reported symptom is vaginal shortening and narrowing in the upper vagina. We performed a dose response analysis to measure the relationship between the amount of dose delivered to the upper vaginal wall and the probability of vaginal morbidity and found that with increasing dose to this region, the probability for moderate vaginal morbidity increases significantly.

“This is important for patients because studies on their quality of life have shown that mild and moderate vaginal symptoms and associated sexual dysfunction can cause long-term distress in cervical cancer survivors, but until now a clear dose response relationship had not been established,” she added. “With the possibility of dose adaptation and optimization in image guided adaptive brachytherapy, a highly individualized and tailored treatment has become possible, comparable to the targeted, personalized therapies in medical oncology.”

Controlling Cervical Cancer Through MRI-Guided Brachytherapy

The second study is known as retroEMBRACE, which gathered data on nearly 600 patients in a dozen different institutions throughout Europe and Asia. This research was led by Kari Tanderup, an associate professor in the Department of Oncology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, and the results will be reported Sunday at the ESTRO Forum.

“When using radiotherapy to treat cervical cancer there is a certain distribution of absorbed dose within the body and it is essential to know the dose level needed for local control of the tumor,” Tanderup will report during her presentation, according to the radiotherapy and oncology group. “However, there has been a wide range of brachytherapy schedules throughout the world with application of different dose levels for cervical cancer, and there has been limited evidence for a clearly defined dose response relationship.

“One of the reasons is that most cervical cancer brachytherapy experience has been based on planning on radiographs and not 3D imaging. With radiographs it is difficult to assess the dose to the tumor precisely, whereas with MRI or CT guided brachytherapy is it now possible to assess the dose to the tumor with much higher precision,” she added. “With the retroEMBRACE study it has been possible for the first time to assess a dose response relationship in a large number of patients in a multicenter setting. We looked at different dose levels and found a significant increase in local control with higher doses.”

In this study, cervical cancer patients were treated with external beam radiotherapy, chemotherapy and image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT) based on either MRI or CT scans. The amount of residual tumor (also known as high risk clinical tumor volume or HR CTV) was analyzed following external beam radiotherapy in order to guide IGABT treatment and target the residual tumor.

By taking the HR CTV into account, Tanderup explained, doctors and health care workers are able to individualize a brachytherapy treatment based on the patient and the tumor´s response — an approach known as “adaptive radiotherapy.”

“Our study shows very clearly that the higher the dose the better the tumor´s response to the brachytherapy for the entire patient population. It is possible to obtain local control in over 90 percent of patients with application of very high doses of over 90Gy,” she reported. “Brachytherapy is a very appropriate technique to obtain highly focused boost doses, and retroEMBRACE shows that it is actually possible to deliver doses greater than 90Gy for a significant fraction of the patients.

“Furthermore, the study also enables us to analyze results in patients with different risks of their tumors recurring or continuing to grow,” Tanderup said. “The retroEMBRACE study is important for the community because it establishes evidence for a dose response relationship in locally advanced cervical cancer; it shows that local control in over 90 percent of patients can be obtained with the use of MRI-guided brachytherapy; retroEMBRACE makes it possible for institutions to change their dose prescription in order to optimize the balance between local control and adverse side-effects; and it demonstrates that the adaptive target concept which has been developed for MRI-guided brachytherapy is robust in a multicenter setting.”

Google Fiber Acquires Provo Internet Service For A Buck

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
Google has acquired Provo, Utah´s existing fiber-optic network as part of a deal making the home of Brigham Young University the third city to receive the Mountain View, California-based company´s high-speed internet service, various media outlets are reporting.
The announcement that Google Fiber would be coming to the city of over 110,000 people was made earlier this week, but it wasn´t until Friday that financial details of the deal between Google and Provo began to emerge. According to Tom´s Hardware reporter Jane McEntegart, Google has agreed to purchase the city-owned iProvo fiber-optic network for $1, and will offer residents free basic Internet service once they pay a $30 connection fee.
“iProvo and their Fiber network has been around for years, but never fully came to fruition and got moving for the city on a mass scale,” Cory Gunther of Android Community said. He added iProvo is valued at approximately $39 million, but that it was sold to Google for a fraction of that value “for legal reasons.”
Google plans to upgrade the network by replacing existing infrastructure, and Provo Deputy Mayor Corey Norman estimates it will cost the tech giant about $30 million to complete that project, Gunther added. Furthermore, the company plans to expand the Fiber network to other Utah cities by 2015.
However, according to McEntegart, the deal between Google and Provo has not yet been finalized. It still needs to be approved by the Utah city´s council. That vote is currently scheduled for April 23, she said. Despite Google Fiber´s expansion into a third territory, the project itself still is somewhat nebulous, according to Peter Kafka of All Things D.
Investors and many others, Kafka says, “don´t know what to make of Google´s moves.” Specifically, they have two questions, he explained — what is the company attempting to accomplish, and how much of an investment are they willing to make to meet those goals?
“There are multiple theories to answer those questions, which aren´t necessarily mutually exclusive,” Kafka said.
One theory, he said, is Fiber is “a sandbox” for Google and the company is “trying to figure out what goes into offering that kind of speed, and what happens when customers take advantage of it.”
A second theory is they are hoping to encourage other Internet providers to make similar investments in speed in other markets, and a third is simply that Google is just looking to provide high speed Internet to much of the US — “Because, why not? It´s Google. It can afford just about anything,” he added.

Teenage Pregnancy May Result In Obesity Later In Life

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
Contrary to a popularly held theory claiming younger mothers have an easier time regaining and maintaining their pre-birth figure, new research reports teenage pregnancy actually increases the likelihood a woman will become overweight or obese later on in life.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (AJOG), found women who were not pregnant during their teenage years were significantly less likely to become overweight or obese in the future. The nationally representative study is believed to be the first to identify teen pregnancy as a predictor of future weight gain.
“When taking care of teen moms, we often have so many immediate concerns — child care, housing, school, social and financial support — that we don´t often think of the long term health effects of teen pregnancy,” lead author Tammy Chang, a clinical lecturer in the UM Medical School´s department of family medicine, said in a statement.
“For the first time, we´ve identified our youngest moms as a high risk group for obesity, which we know to be one of the most debilitating, long-term health issues we face,” she added.
The research was based on data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationwide study designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children throughout the US. After first controlling for factors such as race, education and socio-economic indicators, Chang and her colleagues discovered women who had given birth for the first time while between 13 and 19 years of age had a 32 percent higher risk of obesity than those who had their first child after the age of 20.
Their results also demonstrated that significantly fewer women with teen births were of normal weight in comparison to those who had not given birth before the age of 20, the researchers added.
“We need further studies to better understand the link between teen birth and obesity, so that physicians and policymakers can provide the best care to teen mothers and women who have given birth as teenagers,” explained Chang, who authored the study along with HwaJung Choi, Caroline R. Richardson and Matthew M. Davis — all of the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based university.
“We know that teen pregnancy is tied to certain immediate risks, such as babies having low birth weight and mothers struggling to complete high school — and now we know that it is also associated with poor long-term health outcomes,” Chang added. “Obesity is a prevalent, expensive health problem with detrimental health consequences and it´s difficult to reverse, which is why it´s incredibly important to identify at risk groups early so that we can intervene.”

Health

Risk Factor For Depression Can Be ‘Contagious’

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A new study with college roommates shows that a particular style of thinking that makes people vulnerable to depression can actually “rub off” on others, increasing their symptoms of depression six months later.

The research, from psychological scientists Gerald Haeffel and Jennifer Hames of the University of Notre Dame, is published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Studies show that people who respond negatively to stressful life events, interpreting the events as the result of factors they can´t change and as a reflection of their own deficiency, are more vulnerable to depression. This “cognitive vulnerability” is such a potent risk factor for depression that it can be used to predict which individuals are likely to experience a depressive episode in the future, even if they´ve never had a depressive episode before.

Individual differences in this cognitive vulnerability seem to solidify in early adolescence and remain stable throughout adulthood, but Haeffel and Hames predicted that it might still be malleable under certain circumstances.

The researchers hypothesized that cognitive vulnerability might be “contagious” during major life transitions, when our social environments are in flux. They tested their hypothesis using data from 103 randomly assigned roommate pairs, all of whom had just started college as freshmen.

Within one month of arriving on campus, the roommates completed an online questionnaire that included measures of cognitive vulnerability and depressive symptoms. They completed the same measures again 3 months and 6 months later; they also completed a measure of stressful life events at the two time points.

The results revealed that freshmen who were randomly assigned to a roommate with high levels of cognitive vulnerability were likely to “catch” their roommate´s cognitive style and develop higher levels of cognitive vulnerability; those assigned to roommates who had low initial levels of cognitive vulnerability experienced decreases in their own levels. The contagion effect was evident at both the 3-month and 6-month assessments.

Most importantly, changes in cognitive vulnerability affected risk for future depressive symptoms: Students who showed an increase in cognitive vulnerability in the first 3 months of college had nearly twice the level of depressive symptoms at 6 months than those who didn´t show such an increase.

The findings provide striking evidence for the contagion effect, confirming the researchers´ initial hypothesis.

Based on these findings, Haeffel and Hames suggest that the contagion effect might be harnessed to help treat symptoms of depression:

“Our findings suggest that it may be possible to use an individual´s social environment as part of the intervention process, either as a supplement to existing cognitive interventions or possibly as a stand-alone intervention,” they write. “Surrounding a person with others who exhibit an adaptive cognitive style should help to facilitate cognitive change in therapy.”

According to the researchers, the results of this study indicate that it may be time to reconsider how we think about cognitive vulnerability.

“Our study demonstrates that cognitive vulnerability has the potential to wax and wane over time depending on the social context,” say Haeffel and Hames. “This means that cognitive vulnerability should be thought of as plastic rather than immutable.”

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Health

Nearly 30 Percent Of Women Fail To Pick Up New Prescriptions For Osteoporosis

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Study offers new insights on patient and physician characteristics that contribute to osteoporosis medication adherence

Nearly 30 percent of women failed to pick up their bisphosphonate prescriptions, a medication that is most commonly used to treat osteoporosis and similar bone diseases, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published this week in the journal Osteoporosis International. The failure to pick up these newly prescribed medications, called primary nonadherence, can lead to an increased risk of fractures for these patients.

The study examined the electronic health records of 8,454 women, ages 55 years or older, who were Kaiser Permanente Southern California members between December 2009 and March 2011 and were prescribed a new bisphosphonate medication. It found that 29.5 percent of these women did not pick up their prescription within 60 days of the order date. In particular, older women and those who utilized the emergency department in the prior year were less likely to pick up their bisphosphonate prescription. However, women taking other prescription medications and those who had been hospitalized in the prior year were more likely to pick up their bisphosphonate prescription, according to the researchers.

“Although bisphosphonates have been proven to reduce the risk of osteoporotic fracture, low adherence to these medications is common, which contributes to serious and costly health problems,” said Kristi Reynolds, PhD, MPH, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente and lead author of the study. “This study simultaneously examined patient and prescribing provider characteristics and helped identify certain factors associated with why patients failed to pick up their new prescriptions.”

Researchers also found that women who received their bisphosphonate prescription from a physician practicing 10 or more years at Kaiser Permanente were more likely to pick up their medication than women who received the prescription from a physician practicing less than 10 years at Kaiser Permanente. In addition, women who received their new bisphosphonate prescription from providers specializing in rheumatology or internal medicine specialties were more likely to pick up the medication than those who received the prescription from providers in other primary care specialties.

Medication nonadherence occurs when a patient does not follow a clinically prescribed medication course, endangering his or her own health and possibly necessitating more aggressive treatment or hospitalizations later. Previous studies estimated that in the United States each year, medication nonadherence contributes to approximately 125,000 deaths and costs the health care system $290 billion. One in three patients prescribed a medication by their health care provider never pick it up from the pharmacy, and, among those who do, nearly 3 in 4 Americans do not take prescription drugs according to providers’ orders.

Osteoporosis is a disease of the skeletal system characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue, leading to an increased risk of bone fractures, typically in the wrist, hip and spine. Approximately 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, while about 34 million more are at risk for the disease, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Osteoporosis can occur in both men and women and at any age, but it is most common in older women, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“These findings suggest that health care providers must do a better job of identifying barriers and developing interventions that address the individual patient’s needs and concerns at the time the prescription is ordered,” Reynolds said. “The use of electronic health records, like the system in place at Kaiser Permanente, has helped us better understand and address primary nonadherence, which has historically been difficult to identify.”

Kaiser Permanente can deliver transformational health research in part because it has the largest private electronic health system in the world. The organization’s integrated model and electronic health record system, Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, securely connect 9 million people, 533 medical offices and 37 hospitals, linking patients with their health care teams, their personal health information and the latest medical knowledge. It also connects Kaiser Permanente’s epidemiological researchers to one of the most extensive collections of longitudinal medical data available, facilitating studies and important medical discoveries that shape the future of health and care delivery for patients and the medical community.

This study is a part of Kaiser Permanente’s broader efforts to understand and prevent medication nonadherence. Last November, Kaiser Permanente researchers found that patients newly prescribed a cholesterol-lowering medication were more likely to pick it up from the pharmacy if they received automated phone and mail reminders. The study was one of only a few published studies to examine strategies for reducing primary nonadherence. Also last year, a study found that lower copayments and the use of a mail-order pharmacy may reduce racial and ethnic disparities in adherence to hypertension medication.

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Community Gardens Produce More Than Just Veggies – Study Highlights Health Benefits Urban Greenthumbing

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Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Community gardens have long been thought to convey numerous health and social benefits to those who maintain them, but these benefits have never been the subject of scientific study. New research from a team of Utah-based scientists changes that through a study recently published in the“¯American Journal of Public Health.

Led by Cathleen Zick, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, the research team found that people who participate in community gardening have a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) and lower odds of being overweight than their neighbors who are not involved in the garden.

“It has been shown previously that community gardens can provide a variety of social and nutritional benefits to neighborhoods,” Zick said. “But until now, we did not have data to show a measurable health benefit for those who use the gardens.”

The study showed that the body mass index (BMI) for female gardeners was an average of 1.84 points lower than that of their non-gardening neighbors — that´s the equivalent of an 11-pound weight difference for a 5-foot, 5-inch woman. Researchers found that male gardeners had an average BMI 2.36 lower than their non-participating counterparts, which translates to 16 pounds on a man 5 feet 10 inches tall.

The study also showed that gardeners were less likely to be overweight — 46 percent less for women and 62 percent less for men.

To better understand the benefits of a community garden, the research team recorded the BMIs of the community gardeners at Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG), a 20-year-old non-profit organization in Salt Lake City.“¯The team also culled data from three separate control groups. The first group included neighbors who shared similar physical environments and economic statuses. The second group included same-sex siblings in order to account for possible genetic predispositions with respect to weight. The third group was comprised of the spouses of the gardeners, to account for similar lifestyle and food choices.

In addition to revealing the benefits of a community garden when compared to non-gardening neighbors, the study also found a benefit when comparing BMIs between sisters or brothers. Women in the gardening group were found to have an average BMI 1.88 points lower than their sisters. For men, the difference was slightly less stark, averaging 1.33 lower between brothers.

“These data are intriguing, although they were drawn from participants in a single community gardening organization in Salt Lake City and may not apply broadly until more research is done,” Zick said “However, as the percentage of Americans living in urban areas continues to grow, this initial study validates the idea that community gardens are a valuable neighborhood asset that can promote healthier living. That could be of interest to urban planners, public health officials and others focused on designing new neighborhoods and revitalizing old ones.”

“We know obesity is costly,” Zick concluded. “This study begins to shed light on the costs and benefits of the choices families make about eating and physical activity. Future research with controlled, randomized field studies across a range of communities are needed to further advance our understanding of the role gardening can play in healthy lives.”

Wikileaks Releases Secret Chat Between Assange And Google CEO Schmidt

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Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online
Google´s executive chairman Eric Schmidt is about to release a new book entitled “The New Digital Age” with geopolitical advisor and former Secretary of State staffer Jared Cohen. The book is said to offer an in-depth examination of the role technology will play in the coming decades.
Of course one can´t write a book about the coming era without engaging a few leaders and forward thinkers in the ongoing digital revolution. In conducting research, Cohen and Schmidt set up a meeting with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange while he was under house arrest in 2011. In true Google and Wikileaks fashion, the entire interview was transcribed and has now been released online. The conversation spanned five hours and covered topics like the role of technology in today´s society, the distribution of information and where the world is heading in terms of security and the government´s role in providing it.
There´s a lot to read in the five-hour transcript, complete with small talk, lunch orders and even a mishap with a glass of water and a laptop.
Eric Schmidt dives into the conversation early, asking Assange about the technical aspects of Wikileaks and Assange´s reasons for distributing such sensitive information.
“Let me first frame this. I looked at something that I had seen going on with the world. Which is that I thought there were too many unjust acts,” replied Assange. The Wikileaks founder then describes the current state of the distribution of information between those who have first-hand information, those who receive the information, and those stuck in the middle trying to relay said information between both parties.
“These are three separate problems that are all coupled together. I felt that there was a difficulty in taking observations and putting them in an efficient way into a distribution system which could then get this information to people who could act upon it. And so you can argue that companies like Google are involved, for example, in this ℠middle´ business of taking… of moving information from people who have it to people who want it,” explained Assange.
Speaking of troubles keeping the website active in China, Assange tells a story about the Chinese government filtering any domain with “WikiLeaks” attached. In order to skirt these filters, the WikiLeaks team engaged in a game of cat and mouse.
“[T]he Chinese internet filtering system is quite baroque, and they have evolved it… sometimes they do things manually and sometimes they do it in an automated way, in terms of adding IPs to the list based on domain names, and then we did… we had a quite interesting battle where we saw that they were looking up our IPs, and we see that these requests came from a certain DNS block range in China.”
Later in the conversation, Schmidt asked Assange about the technical specifics of running a site like WikiLeaks. Schmidt assumes there´s a staff for keeping WikiLeaks running and asks if Assange communicates with them via email.
“I don´t use email,” replied Assange. “Too dangerous. And encrypted email is possibly even worse, because it is such a flag for end point attacks.”
He then describes the communication flow at Wikileaks, saying he normally speaks with his staff of 20+ employees either via an SMS or a phone call.
Elsewhere in the conversation Assange and Schmidt discuss a potential leak from Google, the legality of such a leak, and the Patriot Act.
“We wouldn’t mind a leak from Google, which would be, I think probably all the PATRIOT Act requests,” Assange told the Google CEO.
When Schmidt replied by whispering that such a leak would be illegal, Assange responded, “There’s higher laws. There’s higher laws. First Amendment and you know.”
Schmidt replied, “I’ve actually spent quite a bit of time on this question. Because I am in great trouble because I have given a series of criticisms about PATRIOT 1 and PATRIOT 2. Because I think they’re… because they’re non transparent. You know, because the judge’s orders are hidden and so on. And the answer… the answer is that the laws are quite clear about Google and the US. We couldn’t do it. It would be illegal.”

Emergence Of Antarctic Ecosystem Triggered Rapid Biological Evolution

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

The development of the sea-ice ecosystem in the circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean may have triggered further adaptation and evolution of larger organisms such as baleen whales and penguins, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The area´s ecosystem can be traced back to the emergence of the Antarctic ice sheets some 33.6 million years ago and plays an important role in global marine food webs and carbon cycling.

The team of international researchers based their conclusions on an analysis of sediment samples from drill cores on the seafloor, which were obtained in 2010 off the coast of Antarctica as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). The cores reach nearly 1,000 meters beneath the seafloor and provide new insights into a long gone past.

A 2012 study demonstrated that subtropical plants covered Antarctica about 53 million years ago, but the global climate cooled continuously during the 20 million years that followed.

The current study focuses on the interval 33.6 million years ago, when within a relatively short period of time an enormous ice sheet spread across Antarctica, dramatically altering the life conditions and the ecosystems on the continent and surrounding ocean.

The plankton during that time mainly consisted of algae, most of which were not preserved in sediment samples from drill cores.  In contrast, single-celled dinoflagellates, a group of algae containing organic fossilizable substance, do preserve in sedimentary sequences over millions of years, making them a valuable tool to reconstruct environmental conditions.

The researchers found that when Antarctica was sub-tropical and ice-free, the surrounding seas were inhabited by a diverse array of single-celled organisms known as dinoflagellates, which are generally characteristic of relatively warm climates.

However, from the moment the ice cap formed, diversity suddenly collapsed. From that moment on, the only species that occurred were adapted to temporary sea-ice cover characteristic of modern sea-ice environments around Antarctica.

These species are present in high numbers only when the sea ice melts in spring and summer, and therefore are available as a food source for higher organisms only during a short period of the year.

The seas around Antarctica play a vital role in the ocean´s food web. Algal blooms, which only occur in summer when the sea ice melts, are a key food source for both small single-cell organisms like dinoflagellates as well as larger organisms.

“The sudden turnover in the dinoflagellate assemblages indicates clearly that the entire plankton ecosystem of the Antarctic waters had changed”, said Professor Jörg Pross, co-author of the study and paleoclimatologist at the Goethe University and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) in Frankfurt, Germany.

“The explosion of dinoflagellates adapted to a temporary sea-ice cover testifies to an in-depth reorganization of the food web in the Southern Ocean.”

Larger animals higher up in the ocean’s food chain likely adapted their diet because the algal growth season became shorter and more intense,” Pross said.

“Our data suggest that this change may have promoted the evolution of modern baleen whales and penguins.”

These results stress that major climate change is often accompanied by particularly rapid biological evolution, he concluded.

One In 10 Children Have Learning Disabilities, UK Study Claims

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
Specific learning disabilities (SLDs) such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism affect up to 10 percent of the population, and many children are affected by one of more of these disorders, researchers from University College London (UCL) and Goldsmiths, University of London claim in a new study.
That translates to two to three children in every classroom, the UK researchers wrote Thursday in the journal Science. The authors said that their work will help to clarify the underlying causes of SLDs, as well as help researchers discover ways to develop individualized instructional programs for affected youngsters and the educational professionals that work with them.
Learning disabilities arise as a result of atypical brain development with complex genetic and environmental causes, the researchers said. These catalysts lead to the development of such conditions as dyslexia, dyscalculia, specific language impairment, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
While each of these conditions alone tends to be problematic for teachers, the researchers discovered that the issue is compounded by the fact that these disorders occur together more often than one might expect. For example, they report that 33 to 45 percent of children with ADHD also have dyslexia, and 11 percent have dyscalculia.
“We now know that there are many disorders of neurological development that can give rise to learning disabilities, even in children of normal or even high intelligence, and that crucially these disabilities can also co-occur far more often that you’d expect based on their prevalence,” lead author Brian Butterworth of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said in a statement.
“We are also finally beginning to find effective ways to help learners with one or more SLDs, and although the majority of learners can usually adapt to the one-size-fits-all approach of whole class teaching, those with SLDs will need specialized support tailored to their unique combination of disabilities,” he added.
During their research, Butterworth and Dr. Yulia Kovas of Goldsmiths compiled existing knowledge of learning disorders´ neural and genetic basis in order to help clarify what caused these conditions to develop. They hope that their work will help improve teaching quality for individual learners, as well as the quality of training for instructors, school psychologists, and clinicians.
“What the team hope is that by developing an understanding of how individual differences in brain development interact with formal education, and also adapting learning pathways to individual needs, those with specific learning disabilities will produce more tailored education for such learners,” the researchers explained.
“Each child has a unique cognitive and genetic profile, and the educational system should be able to monitor and adapt to the learner’s current repertoire of skills and knowledge,” Butterworth added. “A promising approach involves the development of technology-enhanced learning applications — such as games — that are capable of adapting to individual needs for each of the basic disciplines.”

Researchers Track Mountain Lions In California To Reveal Impact Of Human Development

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[ Watch the Video: Mountain Lion Habitat Fragmentation Study ]

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

For three years, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) researchers have been tracking mountain lions through the Santa Cruz Mountains to document how human development affects the predators’ habits.

UCSC associate professor of environmental studies Chris Wilmers and colleagues at the UC Santa Cruz Puma Project reported the findings of their study in the online journal PLOS ONE. They describe three years of tracking 20 lions over 6,600 square miles. The aim of the project is to understand how habitat fragmentation influences the physiology, behavior, ecology, and conservation of pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

“Depending on their behavior, animals respond very differently to human development,” Wilmers said. Lions are “totally willing to brave rural neighborhoods, but when it comes to reproductive behavior and denning they need more seclusion.”

When living relatively close to a metropolitan area, the large predators need a buffer from human development at least four times larger for breeding behaviors than for activities such as feeding or moving.

“In addition, pumas give a wider berth to types of human development that provide a more consistent source of human interface,” such as neighborhoods, the authors write. The cats do not avoid places where the human presence is more intermittent, such as major roads or highways, with nearly the same fervor.

To date, Wilmers’ team and a dog tracking team working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have captured 37 mountain lions. Between 2008 and 2011, twenty of those were closely followed — 12 females and eight males. As each lion was captured and anesthetized, the team determined his or her sex, weighed and measured the animal. The lions were then fit with an ear tag and a collar outfitted with a GPS transmitter, developed in part by an interdisciplinary team at UCSC, including wildlife biologists and engineers. The collars transmit location data back to the team every four hours. This allows the scientists to track the lions’ movements and calculate locations of feeding sites, communication locations, and dens.

Mountain lions communicate with scent markings known as scrapes. Males typically make the scrapes by scraping leaves or duff into a pile and urinating on it to advertising their presence and availability. Females visit these sites when looking for mates. The project team set up remote cameras at 44 scrape sites, documenting males and females, to confirm GPS data from the pumas’ collars.

The team identified 10 den sites belonging to 10 different female lions, and visited 244 “GPS clusters” where activities suggested a feeding site. They also found prey remains at 115 sites.

The collected data is helping to identify corridors where the lions travel between areas of high-quality habitat, including neighborhoods where females often are willing to explore for food for their litters.

Human interaction has resulted in lion casualties from automobile accidents or livestock raiding incidents. One male, 16M, was shown to have crossed Highway 17 between Scotts Valley and Los Gatos 31 times. 16M was hit and badly injured crossing the highway in November 2010. He was recently killed while attacking goats. 18F, a female who may have been 16m’s mate, was killed in 2011 crossing Highway 17.

11 pumas died during the study, including eight that were killed attacking domestic livestock. The team advised livestock owners to consider keeping them in a “fully enclosed mountain lion-proof structure.” They also advised people to be cautious in any known mountain lion roaming grounds. Wilmers said humans do not need to panic, however, about the presence of mountain lions.

The conservation goals of the study are meant to help lions survive in the midst of rapidly growing human development. They seek to fulfill this goal by building awareness of lions’ behavior and providing safe transit opportunities under or over major highways.

Food-borne Illnesses From Poultry, Milk, Seafood On The Rise

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Bacteria commonly linked to uncooked poultry, raw milk and seafood from warm coastal waters is causing a rise in food-borne illnesses, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday.

Food-borne illnesses attributed to the bacterium Campylobacter, which typically originates from raw or undercooked poultry and raw milk products, rose by 14% last year compared with five years ago, accounting for more than one-third of all food poisoning illnesses and 10 percent of the deaths at the CDC´s 10 US monitoring sites.

Though far less common, food-borne illnesses linked to Vibrio, which is associated with shellfish, rose by 43% over 2006-2008 levels.

Overall, there was not a significant increase in the total number of food-borne illnesses from most other food pathogens, including salmonella and E. coli, the CDC said in its report. In fact, the 2012 figures were slightly less than those from 1996-1998. But Salmonella remains the pathogen most often linked to food-borne illness, accounting for 7,800 cases of the 19,531 food-borne illnesses reported at the CDC´s 10 monitoring stations last year. Campylobacter comes in a close second, followed distantly by Shigella, Cryptosporidium, Escherichia coli, Vibrio, Yersinia, Listeria and Cyclosporidium, the CDC reported.

While Salmonella killed the largest number of people, Listeria was the most deadly, killing 10.74 percent of the 121 infected patients.

The agency´s 2012 report focused only on these nine types of food germs, and counted only cases that were lab confirmed. Investigators reported about 20,000 such cases, including 4,563 hospitalizations and 68 deaths, at the CDC´s surveillance network of 10 monitoring sites. These sites capture roughly 15 percent of the US population.

While many food-borne illnesses go unreported, the CDC estimates that as many as 48 million Americans become sick from contaminated food each year. Symptoms of food poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea and even death, particularly for those with compromised immune systems.

Health

Identified As Responsible For Breast And Ovarian Hereditary Cancer Three BRCA1 Mutations

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This study will improve genetic counseling and clinical monitoring of patients and families who present these variants
Researchers of the hereditary cancer research group at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) conducted a functional and structural study of seven missense variants of the BRCA1 gene concluding that three of these variants are pathogenic, linked to the risk of suffering breast or ovarian cancer. The study has been published in the journal PLoS One.
The classification of these three variants will improve genetic counseling of patients and families who have these mutations and will serve to personalize the treatment.
Mutations in BRCA1 gene
Mutations in BRCA1 confer a high risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. A woman carrying a mutation in this gene has a risk of developing breast cancer between 40% and 90% and of developing ovarian cancer between 20% and 70%.
According to the researcher Conxi Lázaro, “now we know a lot of genetic alterations in BRCA1 that are clearly pathogenic alterations, neutral alterations and sequence polymorphisms, but genetic diagnostic studies also identify changes in the DNA sequence which we don’t  know its biological significance.”
For the researcher, finding out the biological consequences of these missense variants is “a technological challenge, not only in breast cancer but in the field of genetic diagnostics in general.”
Study of seven missense variants
The study analyzes seven BRCA1 gene variants from a structural and functional standpoint. Structural analysis is a theoric-computational analysis and compares the three-dimensional structure of normal protein with the analyzed changes. The researchers conclude that three of the seven variants analyzed modify the structure of the protein.
“In the functional study,” said the researcher, “we analyzed in vitro one of the key functions of BRCA1: regulation of transcription. The analysis involves the generation of mutants of all variants in specific vectors to assess the transcriptional activity of the mutant compared to the control activity of the wild-type sequence of the BRCA1 gene.
From this analysis, the researchers concluded that three of the seven variants of unknown biological significance are actually pathogenic and will serve clinicians to a better genetic counseling to patients and families that present these variants, allowing personalized risk assessment cancer.
Genetic counseling
The knowledge of the clinical effects of these mutations will allow to offer genetic counseling to families. “To the individuals who carry the mutation we can offer a comprehensive clinical monitoring and the possibility of reproductive options, such as prenatal or preimplantation diagnosis”, said Lazaro, “while members of the family who doesn’t have the mutation can be considered as general population”.
The work was done in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IRBB) and Epidemiology Program Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Cancer Research Institute in Florida, the United States and has been funded by the Institute of Salud Carlos III (FIS projects, PFIS and RTICC), Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR) and the Spanish Association against Cancer.
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River Delta

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A river delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river, where the river flows into an ocean, estuary, lake, sea, or reservoir. These deltas are built from the deposition of the sediment that is carried by the river as the flow exit’s the mouth of the river. Over a long period of time, this deposition constructs the distinctive geographic pattern of a river delta.

The creation of a delta is made up of three core forms: the bottomset, topset, and foreset/frontset.

Bottomset beds are formed from the suspended sediment that settles out of the water as it flows into the body of water and loses its energy. The suspended load is transported out the farthest into the body of water than all the other types of sediment creating a turbidite. These bottomset beds are laid down in a level position, making layers that are made up of smaller grains.

The foreset beds are then built over the bottomset beds as the main delta formation advances. The foreset beds are made of the bed load that the river is moving along which is created by the formation of larger sediments that roll along the main channel. When it reaches the perimeter of the form, the bed load rolls over the edge, and it builds up in steep angled layers over the top of the bottomset beds. The angle of the outermost perimeter of the delta is formed by the sediments relaxed angle. As the foresets remain building up outwards, which make up most of the delta, they pile up and miniature landslides happen. This slope is formed in this manner as the bedload continues to be placed and the delta moves outwards.

The topset beds then settle on the foresets, and are flat layers of smaller sediment size that are formed as the main channel of the river shifts elsewhere and the bigger particles of the bed load are no longer being deposited. As the channels move across the crest of the delta, the suspended load settles out in flat beds covering the top. The topset bed is subdivided into two districts: the upper delta plain and the lower delta plain. The upper delta plain isn’t affected by the tide, while the margin with the lower delta plain is distinct due to the upper limit of tidal influence.

Image Caption: NASA image of Nile Delta. Credit: ChongDae/Wikipedia

Science

Silly Phone Game Puts Illiterate Pakistanis In Touch With Potential Employers

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Carnegie Mellon and Lahore University research project goes viral

A silly telephone game that became a viral phenomenon in Pakistan has demonstrated some serious potential for teaching poorly educated people about automated voice services and provided a new tool for them to learn about jobs, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Pakistan’s Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

The game, called Polly, is simplicity itself: a caller records a message and Polly adds funny sound effects, such as changing a male’s voice to a female voice (or vice versa), or making the caller sound like a drunk chipmunk. The caller can then forward the message to one or more friends, who in turn can forward it along or reply to it.

Polly may not sound like a research project, but Roni Rosenfeld, professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Language Technologies Institute, said it is pioneering the use of entertainment to reach illiterate and low-literate people and introduce them to the potential of telephone-based services. Such phone services could help non-affluent, poorly educated people find jobs, find or sell merchandise, become politically active, create speech-based mailing lists and even support citizen journalism.

But people can’t use these services if they don’t know how.

Even though most people in Pakistan have access to a phone, many don’t understand the technology behind an automated telephone-based service, said Agha Ali Raza, a Ph.D. student in language technology and a native Pakistani. “They expect to talk to a person on the other end of the line,” he explained. “When they hear, ‘Press 1 to do this,’ or ‘Press 2 to do that,’ they don’t press anything; they just start talking.”

With Polly, Rosenfeld, Raza and Umar Saif, an associate professor of computer science at LUMS, have shown that if the training is fun, people will not only learn how to use phone-based services, but will eagerly spread the word and even show each other how to use it. Polly was launched in Lahore, Pakistan in May 2012 by giving its phone number to five poor, low-skilled workers. By mid-September, 85,000 people had used it almost half a million times.

Though budget pressures forced researchers to begin limiting calls to Polly in September, the total number of users climbed to more than 160,000 people, including some non-Pakistanis, as of mid-April. Overall, the system has handled almost 2.5 million calls. The project continues to run.

What’s more, Polly doesn’t just deliver funny messages; it also includes job listings. “We daily scan Pakistani newspapers for advertisements for jobs that are appropriate for low-skilled, low-literate workers, record them in the local language and make them available for audio-browsing during the interaction with Polly,” Rosenfeld said. As of mid-April, the ads had been listened to more than 380,000 times and had been forwarded more than 21,000 times.

Raza, the lead author, will present results of the research on May 1 at CHI 2013, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Paris, where the report has received a Best Paper award.

Rosenfeld said the entertainment value of Polly helped it spread rapidly, but can’t sustain it over time, noting game play dropped rapidly as its novelty wore off. But adding services, such as the job ads, can keep people calling in.

“We found that users took to the job information in large numbers and that many of them started calling Polly specifically for that service – exactly the result we had hoped for,” he said.

The researchers now are determining whether the system can be scaled up to serve a larger population base over an extended period of time and be made more cost efficient. They also hope to use Polly to train people in other countries.

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