UPDATE: Strange whale call probably doesn’t belong to new species

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
A whale call recorded by marine biologists in the frigid waters of Antarctica may belong to an entirely new species of the massive aquatic mammal, according to new research published earlier this month in the Society for Marine Mammalogy journal Marine Mammal Science.
Researchers from the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, along with colleagues from Argentina, recorded an unusual whale signal last February – one which they were unable to perfectly match any known species of whales living in that region of the world.
Not a perfect match for any beaked whale
While sailing through Antarctic waters with four hydrophones in tow, the scientists picked up an odd signal that they identified as BW29. The signals were detected on 14 separate occasions, and according to Gizmodo, they were not an exact match for any known species of whale.
They believe that it might be a new species of beaked whale, a type of creature that experts know very little about because they spend most of their time below the surface. There are at least five known species of beaked whales living near Antarctic, the website pointed out, and this type has what is called a distinctive chirp or “frequency modulated (FM) upsweep pulse.”
Each species is said to have its own unique FM pulse, and the new song does not perfectly match any of them. The peak frequency was too high for Arnoux’s beaked whales, they said, and it did not perfectly match-up with three other beaked whale species either. The other, the strap-toothed whale, is typically found farther north, so this call may belong to an unidentified species.
The authors also recorded a second unique call, identified as Antarctic BW37, on six different occasions, according to BBC News. That signal was produced at a higher frequency, the authors reported, and it is unclear if it belongs to a different beaked whale species than BW29.
It is also possible that a single species may produce multiple signal types, although this had not yet been demonstrated in any species of beaked whale, the British media outlet added. Given that a new species known as Deraniyagala‘s beaked whale was only confirmed last year (bringing the total known to 22), there is a good chance that there are still species to be discovered.
Researchers downplaying possibility of new species
Interestingly enough, when we got in touch with Dr. Simone Baumann-Pickering, an assistant research biologist at the Scripps Whale Acoustics Lab, she told us that it was “unfortunate that the press has picked up on the notion that we’re dealing with a new species of beaked whale.”
“While that is a distant possibility that we needed to mention in our manuscript to cover all grounds it is not the most likely answer,” she explained to redOrbit via email. “I believe, e.g. that the BW29 signal is produced by Southern bottlenose whale – but we can’t say that because we don’t have absolute evidence. I’m also basing this statement on further data we gathered on a 5 month-long bottom-moored recording where this signal occurred quite frequently in a location where regular occurrence of southern bottlenose whales have been documented.”
Rather, she wanted to emphasize that the main accomplishment of the research (which was part of an ongoing collaboration with Argentine researchers conducted underneath the umbrella of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership) was “the great possibilities of passive acoustic monitoring of species that are otherwise extraordinarily difficult to encounter, particularly in an environment as remote and largely inaccessible for most of the year like the Antarctic.”
Thanks to unpublished data gathered as part of this ongoing research project, Dr. Baumann-Pickering explained that she and her colleagues “now have a first impression” of the seasonal behavior of these whales, and could eventually come away with “an improved density estimate with enough spatial and temporal coverage.”
“Certainly, we will be able with these kinds of recordings to observe changes over time in the future that may occur in relation to changes in the environment, such as possible changes in prey abundance due to increased water temperatures and decreased ice coverage,” she concluded. “It’ll give us an insight into the behavior and the ecology of these animals.”
Editor’s note: We’d originally written this like the rest of the media–that there was a good chance it was a new species. We ran the story before getting the quotes from Dr. Baumann-Pickering, and we were very glad she corrected us. We also originally referred to the sounds as a “song”. But Dr. Baumann-Pickering corrected us again, saying that “songs” only belonged to baleen whales.
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WikiLeaks publishes Sony Pictures hack documents

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Thousands of emails and documents from last year’s cyberattack on Sony Pictures have been published in a searchable database by WikiLeaks, the website best known for posting classified government and military documents, according to media reports.

The files appear to include conversations the film studio had with Hollywood figures and with members of the British government, according to BBC News, and Sony condemned their release in a statement that called the initial attack “a malicious criminal act.”

Attacks in response to The Interview

The hacking, which took place in November, is believed to have originated in North Korea and been in retaliation for Sony’s plans to release The Interview, a comedy in which two characters played by Seth Rogen and James Franco are recruited to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

North Korea denied involvement in the attack, according to the British media outlet, but praised it as a “righteous deed.” The following month, threats of terrorist attacks on movie theaters led Sony to temporarily cancel the film’s release, but that decision was eventually reversed because of public pressure, and The Interview was given a limited Christmas Day release.

Documents from the incident had already been leaked online, but the WikiLeaks cache takes it a step further by compiling over 30,000 documents, 170,000 emails, and other information deemed “sensitive” to the company by CNET in a searchable database called “The Sony Archives.”

Public domain and newsworthy, or harmful to the company?

In a statement, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said that the archive “shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation,” and that the documents in the archive were “newsworthy and at the center of a geo-political conflict” and belonged “in the public domain.”

Sony officials responded with a statement of their own, saying that they “vehemently disagree” with that assertion. “The attackers used the dissemination of stolen information to try to harm” Sony Pictures and its employees, the company said, “and now WikiLeaks regrettably is assisting them in that effort. We… will continue to fight for the safety, security, and privacy of our company and its more than 6,000 employees.”

The security breach had forced Sony to completely shut down its computer networks for several weeks, and among the information that was leaked was the personal information of over 47,000 celebrities, current and former Sony employees, and full versions of unreleased movies.

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So…you can get pregnant while you’re pregnant

Written By: John Hopton
Christopher Pilny

John Hopton for redOrbit.com – @Johnfinitum
Can you really get pregnant while already pregnant? It could fall into the same category of crazy advice column questions like “can you get pregnant from a sneeze?” Except for the fact that it is an entirely real possibility.
(We wondered if this was like an Inception baby, where there’s a baby inside a baby inside a baby. Alas, it is not, but please read on.)
It is a rare possibility, of course. According to Time, as of 2009 there were only 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, known as superfetation.
Gutenberg.org defines superfetation as: “the simultaneous occurrence of more than one stage of developing offspring in the same animal,” and gives the following examples:
In 1992, Evan and Taylor Barth, conceived 4 weeks apart, were born in Hawaii to Michelle and John Barth. Taylor, the one conceived later was born first. Evan, conceived first, was born twenty-two minutes later.
In 1960, John and Mary Tress of Baltimore MD had what the nurse called twins. She was wrong. Dr. Paul C Weinberg of Mt. Sinai hospital delivered the boys, Anthony John and Mark Francis, and realized that Anthony, born five minutes before his brother Mark, looked premature. Immediately Dr. Weinberg did x-rays of the boys’ thigh bones and noticed a disparity in bone age. Mark was a full-term baby born five minutes after his two months premature brother Anthony. Anthony was conceived a full two months after his brother Mark.
There have been much more recent cases, too.
In 2007 Ame and Lia Herrity, conceived 3 weeks apart, were born in the UK to Amelia Spence and George Herrity, and in the same year Harriet and Thomas Mullineux, also conceived 3 weeks apart, were born in the UK to Charlotte and Matt Mullineux.
Disproving “common knowledge”
The most recent and most widely publicized case is that of Julia Grovenburg, who became pregnant with two babies who were not twins and were conceived around two and a half weeks apart. International media reported on the case in 2009.
ABC News was one of the first to cover the story. They said at the time of the discovery via ultrasound that:
“Doctors successfully located Todd and Julia Grovenburg’s growing baby girl Jillian, but then discovered another smaller baby – what could be Jillian’s younger brother – growing beside her.”
“The Grovenburgs may have conceived their son Hudson a full two-and-a-half weeks after Jillian, according to statements given to KFSM-TV in Ft. Smith-Fayetteville, Ark. Different from identical twins or fraternal twins, the Grovenburg babies would have separate due dates and are considered to be a rare medical occurrence.”
Dr. Karen Boyle of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, told ABC News: “When the woman had her ultrasound initially, they saw one sack, one baby developing, and that baby had a certain gestational age; then they noticed a second heartbeat in a child that was much, much younger developmentally.”
In 2011, Julia Grovenburg told the Daily Mail: “It’s common knowledge and written down in medical books that you can’t get pregnant while you’re already pregnant, but somehow after years of trying to conceive I was the exception to the rule. I got pregnant twice in two weeks.”
By then, she had been confirmed as the 11th recorded case in history to have experienced superfetation.
The 11th case in human history, that is. Superfetation is more common among some animals, including rabbits, rodents, farm animals (horses and sheep), and kangaroos.
Superfetation can sometimes cause problems for one of the siblings, but happily Julia Grovenburg successfully gave birth to both babies – on the same day.
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Humans may convey happiness through sweat

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

If you’re happy and you know it… sweat? It may sound odd, but new research published this week in the journal Psychological Science indicates that humans produce chemical compounds called chemosignals in our perspiration that lets other smell when we’re happy.

In the study, senior author Gün Semin, a psychological scientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and colleagues demonstrate analyzed sweat samples and found that substances in sweat can communicate positive emotions, not just negative ones such as fear and disgust.

Sweating for science

Building on previous studies that showed that negative emotions could be detected by others through detectible regularities in the chemical compound of sweat, the authors set out to show that the same chemically-based communicative functions also existed for positive emotions.

“Our study shows that being exposed to sweat produced under happiness induces a simulacrum of happiness in receivers, and induces a contagion of the emotional state,” Semin explained. “This suggests that somebody who is happy will infuse others in their vicinity with happiness. In a way, happiness sweat is somewhat like smiling – it is infectious.”

To probe the link, the researchers recruited 12 Caucasian men who were not on any medication and had no psychological disorders to provide sweat samples. During the study, the participants were not allowed to smoke, drink alcohol, have sex, exercise excessively or eat smelly foods.

The donors traveled to the lab, washed and dried their armpits, had an absorbent pad attached to each one and then put on a pre-washed T-shirt. Next, they completed a series of tasks, including viewing a video clip designed to induce a specific emotional state such as fear or happiness, and completed a measure of implicit emotion by ranking the pleasantness of Chinese symbols.

Gauging the communicative ability of perspiration

Afterwards, the pads were removed and stored in vials, and the researchers moved on to the second part of the study, which involved 36 Caucasian women with no psychological disorders, respiratory disease, or other illness. Women were chosen for this part of the task, the authors said, because they have a better sense of smell and are more sensitive to emotional signals.

In a double-blind study, which means that neither the scientist nor the participant knew which type of sweat sample was being used, the women were seated in a chair and placed their chins on a chin rest. A vial filled with a sweat sample was then placed in a holder attached to the chin rest, and the women were exposed to three samples (one indicating fear, one indicating happiness and one neutral) with a five-minute break in between each of them.

Analysis of the data showed that the videos did influence the emotional states of the male study participants (they experienced the desired positive or negative emotion), and based on the facial muscle activity of the women and their behavior, it appeared as though the emotions were passed on through the sweat of the men, suggesting a “behavioral synchronization” between the sweat donor and the recipient, according to the authors.

The findings, the researchers noted, seem to indicate that people can communicate both their positive and negative emotional states through distinct chemosignals. “This is another step in our general model on the communicative function of human sweat,” Semin concluded, “and we are continuing to refine it to understand the neurological effects that human sweat has on recipients of these chemical compounds.”

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Birth control pills make men more attractive to women

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
More than 100 million women all over the world use birth control pills to prevent unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, but recently published research has revealed that the contraceptive has an unexpected side effect: It makes men appear more attractive to women.
In the study, psychologists from Florida State University in Tallahassee and Southern Methodist University in Dallas followed 118 women who were on the pill and planning to get married, and found that the brides-to-be expressed higher overall satisfaction with their relationships than they did after they got married and stopped using the oral contraceptive.
Contraceptives could have an emotional impact
Oddly, however, the study (which was published last November in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) found that the phenomenon was only true if the women’s would-be husbands were less attractive than average, LiveScience reported. If the groom was described as good looking, the women would be more satisfied after stopping the hormones.
“Given that women [tend to] prioritize attractiveness differently when they are on versus off [hormonal contraceptives], I thought that going on or off [hormonal contraceptives] should affect how happy they are with their partner,” lead investigator Michelle Russell, a graduate student at the FSU Department of Psychology at the time, explained to the website.
The link between using the pill and perception of their fiancé’s attractiveness may be due to the impact of  the progesterone and estrogen in the contraceptive on a woman’s fertility, leading to changes in what those women are seeking in a mate. Since the pill has an impact on hormones, it has a potential to affect someone emotionally, Discovery News added in an article.
Importance of good looks changes when not on the pill
Russell explained that she and her colleagues wanted to better understand how the attractiveness of a woman’s husband may be interlinked with her birth control to affect sexual satisfaction, and found that those who used the same contraceptives as when they entered a relationship expressed higher satisfaction levels than those who changed midway through.
For instance, LiveScience explained, women that started dating their husbands while on the pill and remained on it during their marriage were more sexually satisfied on average than those said they used the pill when they started dating their husbands, but quit after their honeymoon. Also, women who were on hormonal birth control at the start of the relationship became less satisfied with their marriage after stopping the treatment only if they had unattractive spouses.
The study appears to indicate that women experiencing natural menstrual cycles find good looks to be more attractive, and thus are more satisfied after stopping the pill if they have a handsome husband. Conversely, women who are married to guys who aren’t so good looking become more interested in looks after stopping the pill, and thus find themselves disappointed in their spouse’s appearance, Russell and her fellow researchers discovered.
The results are based on a four-year study of 48 married couples, as well as a 12-month study of another 70 husbands and wives. Participants were asked about their contraceptive use and their overall martial and sexual satisfaction. Impartial third-party judges were recruited to measure the attractiveness levels of the husbands based on photographs.
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How glitter could help find extrasolar planets

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Typically, glitter is something that you expect to find in a grade-school classroom, but the small, flat reflective particles are serving as the inspiration for a new type of reflective mirror that could help NASA develop a low-cost new type of space telescope mirrors.

Those telescopes, the US space agency explained, use solid mirrors to image far-off objects, but the large and complex surfaces typically used to take images can be expensive and very difficult to make. Glitter-like substances could provide a lower-cost, easier to use alternative.

Inside the Orbiting Rainbows concept

Scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are working on a new experimental concept known as Orbiting Rainbows which would use clouds of reflective glitter-like particles in place of mirrors to enable telescopes to view stars and exoplanets.

That technology, principle investigator Marco Quadrelli and his colleagues explained, would enable high-resolution imaging at a fraction of the cost. He describes it as “a floating cloud that acts as a mirror…There is no backing structure, no steel around it, no hinges; just a cloud.”

In their proposed system, the JPL team would trap and manipulate the cloud of glitter-like grains using several laser beams. The pressure from that beam would generate two forces: one which would push particle away, and one that pushes them towards the axis of the light beam. Since the pressure from the laser light comes from different directions, it shapes the cloud and pushes the particles to align in the same direction, causing them to become trapped.

Millions of grains, some less than a millimeter in diameter, would be used to form the cloud in a space telescope. This would enable to instrument to have a wide adjustable aperture, or the space through which light passes during an optical or photographic measurement. In fact, Orbiting Rainbows could result in larger apertures than current space telescopes, while also being easier to pack up, transport and deploy than its conventional counterparts.

Early ground-based experiments prove promising

The light-scattering and focusing properties of natural phenomena such as rainbows and comet tails have contributed to the project, according to NASA. The concept for a telescope based on a laser-trapped mirror dates back to a 1979 paper by astronomer Antoine Labeyrie at the College de France in Paris, and the Orbiting Rainbows team is looking to make it a reality.

Currently, they are looking for ways to manipulate and maintain an orbiting cloud’s shape using laser pressure, which would enable it to function as an adaptive surface that has electromagnetic characteristics which would be useful in the optical or radar bands. Since the glitter cloud would not be a smooth surface, it would produce images with more speckled distortion than those taken using a regular mirror, but the JPL team is search for improvements.

The researchers are currently developing algorithms to take multiple images and computationally remove the speckle effect from the glitter. During a recent test of the concept, Orbiting Rainbows co-investigator and Rochester Institute of Technology professor Grover Swartzlander and a team of students spread glitter and a concave lens and used lasers to represent the light from a double star system. They then used a camera to take pictures using the instrument.

The glitter mirror system produced an image of the two mock-stars, which Quadrelli hailed as “a major achievement.” He added that their work “demonstrates a highly controlled experiment in which we were able to do imaging in the visible light spectrum,” and while it has not been tested in space, the team has been exploring reflective, refractive and diffractive versions of a telescope based on Orbiting Rainbows, with maximum sensitivity to a single frequency.

Orbiting Rainbows is currently in Phase II development through NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program, and represents a new use of “granular matter” in the advancement of space exploration technology. In its current phase, the developers are conducting small-scale ground-based experiments to show how they could help manipulate lasers and simulate how the imagine system would behave in low-Earth orbit.

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Man tears thumb tendon playing Candy Crush

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

If you need any further proof that video games can be addictive, consider this: a 29-year-old California man has reportedly ruptured a tendon in his thumb and will require surgery after he injured himself by binge-playing the mobile game Candy Crush Saga.

According to BBC News reports, the man had been playing the game constantly for at least six weeks, and in addition to illustrating how easy it can be for people to get hooked on a particular piece of software, the case is interesting because the man did not know he was hurt.

Smartphone games can double as pain killers

Typically, a torn tendon is an extremely painful experience, the British news organization points out, but the Candy Crush addict did not notice that the injury had happened until after he stopped playing. Only then did he report experiencing “chronic pain” and seek medical treatment.

The doctors who treated him told Live Science earlier this week that the injury, which happened in the left thumb of the right-handed gamer, appears to show that video games could have a pain-killing effect and may help explain why people play to the point where it harms their health.

“We need to be aware that certain video games can act like digital painkillers,” explained Dr. Andrew Doan, co-author of a case study published in this week in the JAMA Internal Medicine and head of addictions research at the Naval Medical Center San Diego Department of Mental Health. “We have to be very cognizant that that can be abused.”

The report claims that the incident indicates that video games can interfere with how and when we experience pain, particularly when he play them excessively. The authors recommend future research that investigates whether or not this pain reduction is one of the reasons why some men and women play can injure themselves by playing repeatedly.

Here’s what happens when you game non-stop

As for the man himself, the JAMA Internal Medicine paper said that he reported experiencing chronic left thumb pain and loss of active motion after playing the popular Match-3 puzzle game on his mobile device all day for six to eight weeks. He had been playing the game with his left hand while using his right one to complete other tasks, according to Live Science.

“On physical examination, the left extensor pollicis longus tendon was not palpable, and no tendon motion was noted with wrist tenodesis,” Dr. Doan and his colleagues wrote. “The thumb metacarpophalangeal range of motion was 10° to 80°, and thumb interphalangeal range of motion was 30° to 70°.”

“The clinical diagnosis was rupture of the left extensor pollicis longus tendon,” they added in the case study. “The patient subsequently underwent an extensor indicis proprius (1 of 2 tendons that extend the index finger) to extensor pollicis longus tendon transfer. During surgery, rupture of the extensor pollicis longus tendon was seen between the metacarpophalangeal and wrist joints.”

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Boston’s Fenway Park to Host Brain Aneurysm Foundation’s Arterial Challenge Walk

Written By: admin

For the first time in its 14-year history, The Arterial Challenge benefitting the Brain Aneurysm Foundation and The Brain Aneurysm Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will be held at Boston’s historic Fenway Park. On Sunday, April 26, 2015 survivors, families, and supporters will all converge on Fenway to walk in support of brain aneurysm awareness.

Hanover, MA (PRWEB) April 16, 2015

The Brain Aneurysm Foundation proudly announces its 14th annual Arterial Challenge supporting greater brain aneurysm awareness will be held at Boston’s infamous Fenway Park. For the first time in its 14-year history, participants of the Arterial Challenge will have the opportunity to walk through the Fenway Park neighborhood, step on the home field of the Boston Red Sox, meet Wally the Green Monster as well as take photographs with past Red Sox World Series trophies!

The walk to benefit the renowned Brain Aneurysm Foundation and the Brain Aneurysm Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 26, 2015 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Registration is specifically located at Gate E, which is at the corner of Landsdowne Street and Brookline Avenue, and begins at 8:00am. The walk itself will start promptly at 9:00am. T-shirts are available with registration on a first-come first-serve basis. The registration fee for adults is $35, while the fee for children 12 is only $15. Children under 12 are free. Also, parking is available for $10 at 73 Brookline Avenue which is directly across from Fenway Park.

For those unable to attend, virtual participation is available and encouraged!

For more information and to register and contribute to the event please visit: give.bafound.org/2015ArterialFenway. You may also contact the Brain Aneurysm Foundation directly at office(at)bafound(dot)org.

The Brain Aneurysm Foundation is the world’s leading source of private funding of brain aneurysm research. Now celebrating 20 years of service, the Brain Aneurysm Foundation was established in 1994 in Boston, Massachusetts with a mission to promote early detection of brain aneurysms by providing knowledge and raising awareness of the signs, symptoms and risk factors; work with the medical communities to provide support networks for patients and families; as well as to further research that will improve patient outcomes and save lives. For more information about the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, visit http://www.bafound.org.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12656360.htm

US Sports Camps and The Northeast Football Clinics Annouce 2015 Quarterback/Receiver Clinic Schedule

Written By: admin

The Northeast Football Clinics marks its 33rd year of setting the standard for excellence in quarterback/receiver training and education in a unique weekend experience.

San Rafael, CA (PRWEB) April 16, 2015

The Northeast Football Clinic (NEFC) offers exclusive concentration on Quarterbacking and Receiving, instructed by skilled coaches who have achieved measures of greatness in these two specific areas, both as players and coaches. The outstanding professional, college, and high school staff compliment and supplement the players’ fall coaching.

Founded by Doug Wood, Jr. in 1982, the NEFC has since trained thousands of players at the beautiful prep school, Governor’s Academy in Byfield, MA.

The Quarterback and Receiver Clinic is designed to give each athlete an opportunity to work on skills and coordinated movement that will aid them in developing the ability to perform at the peak of their potential in an organized football program.

Clinic Director Coach Rotsko has 36 years of coaching experience at the high school and college levels. Three years ago he became head football coach at Marshwood High School, Maine. His Marshwood teams have posted a 30-5 record, they have played in two state championships and three Western Maine championships. This year the team was undefeated and won the Maine “Class B” State Championship. After the 2014 season, Coach Rotsko was named State Coach of the Year by USA Today, for Maine, after coaching up the Player of the Year Brett Gerry, and All-State recipient Luc Blanchette.

The Northeast Football Clinic is the total football experience, instilling the confidence and competence required to play the quarterback and wide receiver position, teach proper training and conditioning techniques to maximize your physical fitness, while minimizing the risk of injury. NEFC stresses the importance of academic grades for college recruitment and scholarship opportunities, as well as the 2015 NCAA Clearing House Rules and Regulations. Also incorporated are off-field coaching techniques like college training films, classroom lectures and chalk talks, they are a teaching clinic.

Northeast Football also offers specific Lineman and Linebackers training, which runs concurrently with the QB and Receivers Clinic. This summer marks the 20th year of the Lineman/Linebackers Clinic.

About US Sports Camps, Inc.

US Sports Camps(USSC), headquartered in San Rafael, California, is America’s largest sports camp network and the licensed operator of Nike Sports Camps. Over 75,000 kids attended a US Sports Camp program in 2014. The company has offered summer camps since 1975 with the same mission that defines it today: to shape a lifelong enjoyment of athletics through high quality sports education and skill enhancement. Athletes, Coaches, Parents and others interested in learning more about our 2015 Nike Sport Camp programs can visit our website or call 1-800-645-3226.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/football_clinics/summer_2015/prweb12645563.htm

Health

Durr Ecoclean turns to Three M Tool for Ultra Precision Cleaning Baskets

Written By: admin

New product line will provide Durr Ecoclean and its end-users with precision cleaning of their parts. The unique, grid style allows for more flow and the welded grid body basket won’t trap any solutions. http://www.PrecisionCleaningBasket.com

York, PA (PRWEB) April 16, 2015

German manufacturers are known for the highest-quality, precision engineering. Think Mercedes-Benz. So where does one of the largest German industrial suppliers go for a custom-made wire product? Three M Tool in York, Pennsylvania.

Amid the rolling hills of South Central Pennsylvania, home to manufacturing giants like Harley Davidson, Johnson Controls and Dentsply, Three M Tool has become a leader in fabricated wire products. Three M Tool is well-known across North America among experienced buyers for its great customer service, ingenuity, and high-quality – and now one of the leading German cleaning equipment manufacturers is turning to Three M Tool too.

Durr Ecoclean GmbH is a leading international supplier of precision industrial cleaning and automation solutions, headquartered in Filderstadt Germany with North American operations based in Wixom, MI. Durr contacted Three M Tool in 2014 to create a stainless steel basket system to use in their parts cleaning machines (see photos). The Ultra Precision Stainless Steel Cleaning Baskets are super rugged, extremely strong and yet are extremely smooth with large openings to effectively clean all types of manufactured parts. Three M Tool developed prototypes that were tested and approved. Special production equipment was designed and built. And full production has begun.

The Ultra Precision Cleaning Baskets and lids are available in standard sizes to match the metric formats, with custom sizes available. All with engaged customer service and substantially shorter lead times.

This product line will provide Durr Ecoclean and its end-users with precision cleaning of their parts. The unique, grid style allows for more flow and the welded grid body basket won’t trap any solutions.

Many standard metric sizes and US inch sizes of these ultra-precision, stainless-steel cleaning baskets are available for use in precision cleaning systems manufactured by Ransohoff, Branson Ultrasonics, Blackstone-Ney, RAMCO, Cleaning Technologies Group (CTG), JenFab, Proceco, MecWash, Stoelting, and many, many others.

For more details about the stainless steel Ultra Precision Baskets from Three M Tool go to: http://www.PrecisionCleaningBasket.com

About Three M Tool: Designer and fabricator of custom wire products, Three M Tool began in 1948 as a supplier of stamping dies to local manufacturers in York, Pa. In the ensuing decades, Three M Tool expanded to include stamped metal spools, chain and cable cutters, specialized part racks, filter and machine guards, motor cycle accessories, wire mesh baskets and much more. Three M Tool proudly provides products used for a wide range of applications in industries such as Aerospace, Electronics, Automotive, Food Services, Medical, and Chain and Cable. Just a few of the notable companies who make use of our products and services include: Anheuser-Busch, Caterpillar, Frito-Lay, General Mills, Whole Foods, Chevron, Exxon-Mobile, Owens Corning, Pepsi Cola, and Procter & Gamble.

Contact Information:

Name: Tracy Yost

Company: Three M Tool

Phone: 800-309-0671

Email: Sales(at)ThreeMTool(dot)com

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12648977.htm

Trilogy, New Zealand’s Favorite Natural Skincare Brand, Launches This Spring in the US

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High performance beauty products from the certified natural skincare company, including best-selling Trilogy Certified Organic Rosehip Oil and Everything Balm, are now available at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 16, 2015

Trilogy Natural Products, a certified natural skincare company from New Zealand with an international reputation for producing ethical, sustainable, high-performance products, is now available nationwide in the US at Whole Foods Market stores and online at http://www.beautorium.com. Created for lovers of natural skincare products of impeccable efficacy and authenticity, Trilogy’s skincare is effective, ethical and environmentally responsible. Trilogy was founded in 2002 by sisters Catherine de Groot and Sarah Gibbs, who were inspired by their discovery of the skin-loving properties of rosehip oil. Today the Trilogy range has grown to over 40 products, loved by customers and celebrities around the world, including most recently the Duchess of Cambridge herself, Kate Middleton.

“We’ve always believed you don’t have to sacrifice quality for natural,” explains Corinne Morley, Trilogy’s Global Sales and Marketing Manager and in-house beauty expert. “From the beginning, it’s been our goal to make products that perform as well as, if not better than, the more traditional synthetic and mineral oil-based alternatives.”

Trilogy prides itself on creating simple and unique blends of the purest plant oils and botanical extracts. By avoiding all synthetic fragrances and colors, genetically modified ingredients, petroleum-derived products and silicone oils, Trilogy is consistently breaking ground in new natural product development. Trilogy is also one of the first natural skincare companies to undertake independent clinical testing of their products.

Certified organic rosehip oil is the inspiration behind Trilogy’s natural skincare line and a core ingredient across the range. Rosehip oil is rich in essential fatty acids and is shown to be a highly effective treatment for scars, stretch marks and wrinkles. What makes Trilogy Certified Organic Rosehip Oil different from others is the brand’s commitment to using only the finest quality oil available. Every batch of Trilogy Certified Organic Rosehip Oil holds an independent certificate of analysis guaranteeing a minimum 80% essential fatty acid (omegas 3 and 6) and fatty acid (omega 9) content. Essential fatty acids are vital lipid compounds the body can’t produce for itself, but which help to moisturize, improve elasticity and restore and maintain healthy skin.

Other favorites from the Trilogy rosehip range include Rosehip Oil Antioxidant+, Cream Cleanser, Hydrating Mist Toner, Ultra Hydrating Face Cream and Rosapene™ Night Cream.

The broader range includes Trilogy Age Proof, a premium line of nine products designed for maturing skin, Trilogy Sensitive, three highly efficacious products providing a natural alternative for extra sensitive skin, Trilogy Body Care for a touch of luxury all over, and the popular multi-tasking hero, Everything Balm.

In addition to creating powerfully natural skincare products, Trilogy’s commitment to sustainability and ethical practices is the foundation of the brand. From product development, to packaging to transporting products around the globe, the brand is always looking for ways to minimize its impact on the world.

Trilogy is New Zealand’s first skincare brand to achieve NATRUE Natural Cosmetics Certification. The NATRUE standard guarantees only natural and organic ingredients, soft manufacturing processes and environmentally friendly practices are used in the making of Trilogy products. It also covers what is not:

  •     No animal testing
  •     No synthetic fragrances and colours
  •     No genetically modified ingredients
  •     No petroleum derived products
  •     No silicone oils and derivatives
  •     No irradiation of end products and botanical ingredients

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12656329.htm

Health

Autism Navigator Launches About Autism in Toddlers: Unparalleled Video Library Shows Early Signs of Autism

Written By: admin

Autism Navigator's About Autism in Toddlers is a web-based tool designed to help families and professionals identify the early signs of autism in very young children. This innovative online resource is available at no cost to families, and can be accessed by registering at http://www.autismnavigator.com.

Tallahassee, FL (PRWEB) April 16, 2015

Dr. Amy Wetherby, founding member of Autism Navigator LLC, announced today the launch of About Autism in Toddlers—a free resource for parents and professionals interested in learning more about the early signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one child in 68 presents with ASD. Symptoms vary widely, from a mild degree of social impairment to intellectual and language disabilities.

Research suggests that early and intensive intervention can significantly improve outcomes. However, early screening and referral to treatment are not routinely provided in pediatric settings. Wetherby and her colleagues are determined to make early detection and access to care more available.

“Our vision is to make the Autism Navigator® evidence-based resources free to families and to utilize the fees associated with the professional development courses to fund ongoing research and development,” said Wetherby.

The extensive video library, based upon years of research conducted at the Florida State University (FSU) Autism Institute in the FSU College of Medicine, is utilized in the web-based resources and tools.

Autism Navigator free resources, like the newly launched About Autism in Toddlers, “help family members learn that everyday activities are important teachable moments, and that these parent-child interactions supported by professional interventions can significantly improve outcomes for children with an early diagnosis,” said Dr. Juliann Woods, co-founder of Autism Navigator LLC.

“The key is to begin intervention while the toddler’s brain is still forming and in a state of neuroplasticity,” says Wetherby. “With effective early intervention, most children with ASD can expect to enter traditional kindergarten classes.”

Unfortunately, the average age of diagnosis currently is between four and five years old, when very early intervention is no longer possible. The goal of the research team behind Autism Navigator is to get children diagnosed by 18-24 months, when there is an opportunity to change trajectories. The strategy to accomplish this is to use web-based video to teach parents and professionals around the world the early signs of autism.

“By 16 months, all children should have 16 gestures. They should be reaching, waving, clapping and blowing a kiss, all before they have words,” said Wetherby. “Part of what we’re doing is teaching parents these social communication milestones, so they’ll understand that a child who hasn’t mastered these gestures by 18 months needs to get referred for help.”

About Autism in Toddlers is the first of many resources developed by the Autism Navigator creators at the FSU Autism Institute. More will be released over the coming months. The professional development courses, Autism Navigator for Early Intervention Providers and Autism Navigator for Primary Care, have been piloted in five states and will soon be available throughout the US and internationally.

“With funding from federal grants, FSU, the State of Florida, and state contracts, we have been able to collaborate with other experts in the area of ASD across the country and in other parts of the world,” said Woods.

The research used to craft Autism Navigator was featured in the peer-reviewed article, "Parent-Implemented Social Intervention for Toddlers with Autism: An RCT," published in Pediatrics, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, November 2014.

“None of this would be possible without the support of the families involved in our research. They have given us permission to use the video clips to help other children and families,” said Wetherby. “Our families are the reason we structured the company the way we did—so that the profits go back into development of tools and research designed to help other families.”

About Autism in Toddlers is available at no cost through the Autism Navigator website, http://www.AutismNavigator.com. Preview the resource here: http://autismnavigator.com/release-video/

"Early diagnosis and early intervention can clearly change the trajectories of many children on the spectrum,” said Wetherby. “We want to share this hopeful message with the world.”

For additional information and interview requests with the researchers, please contact Bill(at)AutismNavigator(dot)com or 844.427.3457.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12660002.htm

LGBT-competent doctors scarce at US academic medical practices

Written By: Christopher Pilny
Christopher Pilny

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett

While the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has been incorporated more and more into mainstream society recently, there are still stigmas attached to those lifestyles and these stigmas could be affecting LGBT individuals seeking healthcare.

According to a new study from UCLA in the American Journal of Public Health, LGBT individuals are much less likely to seek medical care than heterosexuals.

For example, partnered gays and lesbians are twice as likely to be uninsured as heterosexuals. The study team added that the fear of disclosing a sexual or gender identity to a provider could also be an impendent to quality care.

In a recent phone interview with redOrbit, study author and medical student Joshua Khalili said he had personal experience with doctors who were not oriented with issues specific to the LGBT community.

“I did some work in Washington DC with AmeriCorps, and there I worked with transgender and gay minority youth,” Khalili said. “Some of them were HIV-positive and they had a lot of encounters with healthcare providers who were not competent on LGBT health.”

Increasing LGBT competency

In the study, the researchers interviewed 69 representatives from accredited academic faculty practices in the United States, including Puerto Rico. The study team asked if practices were mindful of and used the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association’s (GLMA’s) online provider directory, and their desire to do more around the issue connected with LGBT health. Furthermore, they examined if the presence of policies or interest in policies was impacted by the part of the country in which they were located, if they were public or private institutions, and if an LGBT health center was present in the same state.

The team saw that 16 percent respondent institutions had full LGBT training, 32 percent had some training and 52 percent had none at all.

Khalili told redOrbit that this shouldn’t be surprising given that medical schools often consider LGBT issues as an afterthought.

“In the first couple years of a traditional medical school curriculum, you’re kind of learning the books and you have to learn everything behind the clinical aspect of medicine,” he said. “Sometimes, they might bring up the subject of someone who is LGBT-identifying.”

The survey-based study also found some interested among participants for expanding their LGBT policies and training. Khalili suggested that policies not only address LGBT health, but also something he called ‘LGBT 101,’ where issues like what it means to be gay are discussed. He also suggested that instituations develop LGBT programs and certify providers who pass through them as LBGT competent.

“I think change and increasing LGBT competency in these institutions can happen and we’re happy that a lot of places are interested,” he said. “It also interesting to see that a good amount of places and people I interview didn’t really think that this was an issue.”

Above all else, Khalili said he hopes that simply conducting and publishing the study raises awareness that this is an issue for the LGBT community and changes can be made.

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Dad’s sperm may be to blame for autism

Written By: Brett Smith
Christopher Pilny

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
The search for a cause to autism continues to baffle scientists, but a new study from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that epigenetic tags, or the factors that affect genes, could be behind the developmental disorder – according to a new study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The new study is based on past autism research that has found the condition tends to run in families.
“We wondered if we could learn what happens before someone gets autism,” says Andrew Feinberg, a professor of molecular medicine at Johns Hopkins.
“If epigenetic changes are being passed from fathers to their children, we should be able to detect them in sperm,” noted study author Daniele Fallin, a professor and autism expert in the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
[STORY: What is epigenetics?]
In the study, the team evaluated the epigenetic tags in sperm from 44 fathers who were part of a continuing study to assess the factors that affect a child in early stages of development, before they are diagnosed with autism. The study also includes pregnant mothers who currently have a child with autism. Biological samples and data are collected from the parents and the babies after they are born. A year after the child was born, they were examined for early signs of autism using the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI).
After combing through epigenetic tags at 450,000 different positions throughout sperm genomes, the team contrasted the odds of a tag being in a specific site with the AOSI rating of each child. The team found more than 190 different sites where a tag was significantly related to the autism scores.
Upon specific examination of the tags, the team discovered that many of them were near genes that played a role in developmental functions, particularly in neural development. Of particular interest were four of the 10 locations most clearly linked to the AOSI scores were near genes linked to Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic condition that includes many of the same symptoms as autism. Many of the affected epigenetic patterns were also discovered in people with autism, giving support to the notion that they might be associated with autism.
The researchers said they plan to expand their work by looking at the occupational and environmental backgrounds of the fathers in the study to see if there might be a common factor.
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Particle accelerator sets new record for proton particle collisions

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

During an experimental run at the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) set a new record for producing polarized proton collisions at 200-giga-electron-volt collision energy.

proton record

The two-ringed, 2.4-mile-circumference particle accelerator, which is used for research in the field of nuclear physics, shattered its old record by delivering 1200 billion subatomic collisions per week – more than double the amount regularly achieved during its last run in 2012.

Using electron lensing to ramp-up collision rates

One of the reasons for the accomplishment is a technique known as “electron lensing,” which officials at the laboratory explain uses negatively charged electrons as a way to compensate for the tendency of the positively charged protons in one beam to repel the like-charged protons in the a second beam circulating in the opposite direction when the pass through each other.

Three years ago, the interactions between those beams limited their ability to generate collisions at high rates, said Wolfram Fischer, head of the Brookhaven Collider-Accelerator Department’s accelerator division. So he and his colleagues commissioned electron lenses and a new lattice to help mitigate the effect of these beam-beam interactions, making the RHIC the first-ever particle collider to use electron lenses in this manner.

They also upgraded the source that produced the polarized protons to generate and feed more of them indo the circulating beams, and made other improvements in the accelerator chain in order to achieve the highest possible collision rates (also known to physicists as luminosity).

Meeting more science goals through increased luminosity

Doing so will allow them to generate high volumes of data quickly, Brookhaven Lab associate director for nuclear and particle physics Berndt Mueller explained. The increased luminosity will give the RHIC team time to achieve multiple “high-priority science goals” in a single run.

Among the goals RHIC physicists hope to accomplish during the initial stage of the accelerator’s current run will be colliding high-energy 200 GeV polarized protons whose individual spins are aligned in a particular direction with another proton bean to figure out how the building blocks of those protons (quarks and gluons) contribute to their overall spin.

The RHIC was the first collider to discover that gluons play a key role in this particle property, and the new results will look to improve on the precision of those measurements while solving a long-standing physics mystery in the process, the laboratory said. It will also allow scientists to study the coupling between the spin and momentum of the quarks, they added.

So what is the overall significance of this accomplishment?

Fischer told redOrbit via email the achievement was significant for two reasons.

“First, the 2x higher collision rates allow for more scientific output,” he said. “The higher rate can be used to either reduce the experimental errors, or complete a measurement in half the time, thereby allowing for additional measurements. In our case, we are considering collisions of polarized protons with aluminum ions later this year as an additional measurement. Such a combination was never done before and would give us new information in the understanding of what happens inside nuclear matter.”

“Second, the beam-beam compensation scheme implemented to allow for higher collision rates advances the state of the art in accelerator science and technology,” Fischer added. “The electron lenses (you can think of them as very unusual magnets) are devices that can be used in other applications too. Beam-beam compensation itself is a long-standing topic in particle colliders, and has been operationally tried only once in the 1970s, unsuccessfully at the time.

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Study pushes for Capitanian extinction event to join the ‘Big 5’

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

New evidence of severe losses in brachiopods in the northern Boreal latitudes around the island of Spitsbergen suggest that the controversial Capitanian extinction event that occurred about 262 million years ago should be classified as a true “mass extinction” event.

Previously, the Capitanian extinction event was known only from equatorial settings, and thus its status as a full-fledged global crisis was controversial. However, the researchers that discovered this new evidence suggest that it should be added to the list of the “Big 5” extinctions.

Evidence of severe brachiopod losses discovered

The Capitanian event took place in the Middle Permian but was only recognized 20 years ago, David P.G. Bond from the University of Hull Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences and his colleagues report in the Geological Society of America Bulletin. Previously, the event was only known from equatorial latitudes, casting uncertainty on its global impact.

He and his colleagues look to resolve that by presenting the first proof of severe Middle Permian losses amongst brachiopods in the region of Spitsbergen, the largest and only populated island in the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. Their study shows that the this event took place at the same time as an intensification of marine oxygen depletion in the area.

In fact, they write that there were two severe extinctions amongst brachiopods in northern Boreal latitudes during the Middle to Late Permian, separated by a recovery face. The findings are based on new dating of the Spitbergen strata using strontium isotopes, and when compared with well-dated parts of Greenland, they suggest that the first crisis took place in the Capitanian.

“This age assignment indicates that this Middle Permian extinction is manifested at higher latitudes,” Bond and his co-authors wrote. “Redox proxies (pyrite framboids and trace metals) show that the Boreal crisis coincided with an intensification of oxygen depletion, implicating anoxia in the extinction scenario. The widespread and near-total loss of carbonates across the Boreal Realm also suggests a role for acidification in the crisis.”

Should the ‘Big 5’ become the ‘Big 6’ now?

Based on their findings, the researchers believe that the Middle Permian crisis’s status as a true “mass extinction” event has been solidified and that it should be added to the list of the “Big 5” mass extinction events, joining the likes of the well-known Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, the ammonites and the last of the pterosaurs.

Other “Big 5” mass extinction events include the  Late Devonian mass extinction, which wiped out 75 percent of all species on Earth; the Permian mass extinction, which is also known as The Great Dying because only four percent of species made it through alive; the Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction, which had a drastic impact on marine life forms; and the  Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction, which was caused by climate change and an asteroid impact.

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Dark matter may actually interact with itself

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

By observing colliding galaxies with the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found evidence suggesting for the first time that dark matter may interact with other dark matter in a way other than through gravity.

The discovery, which was reported Wednesday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, appears to contract what we already known about the mysterious substance that accounts for 85 percent of the mass of the universe and suggests that it may not be invisible after all.

Possible non-gravitational dark matter interactions found

Dr. Richard Massey, a research fellow at the Durham University Department of Physics as well as a member of the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, and his colleagues used Hubble and the VLT’s MUSE instrument to get an up-close look at four colliding galaxies in the cluster Abell 3827, which Discovery News said is a common “hunting ground” for gravitational lenses.

While dark matter cannot be directly seen, its location can be deduced using the technique of gravitational lensing, which occurs when its gravitational pull bends light from distant galaxies. As it happens, the collision they observed took place directly in front of a distant and unrelated source, and it allowed them to both pinpoint the location of the mass in the system and compare the distribution of the dark matter with the position of the luminous galaxies.

“Although dark matter is invisible, we can map it using a effect first predicted by Albert Einstein and known as gravitational lensing, Looking past something heavy (like dark matter) is similar to looking through a bathroom window,” Dr. Massey told redOrbit via email. “Although the glass is transparent, you can tell it is there because street lights over the road appear distorted.”

“By calculating the extent of the distortion, it’s possible to work out the thickness of the glass,” he added. “We do the same with very distant galaxies (6 or 7 times further away than the ones we’re interested in). The distant images appear distorted, and we can work out where the dark mass was along our line of sight, to cause that distortion.”

Even if you remove the gravitational influence of the visible galaxies, there is still a tremendous gravitational component remaining, which allowed Dr. Massey’s team to accurately measure the quantities and locations of dark matter clouds within the cluster. Using this method to map out the four colliding galaxies, they determined that the dark matter associated with each galaxy has a lag of approximately 5,000 light-years behind the normal matter there.

So exactly what’s causing that lag to happen?

In their study, the researchers report that it is likely caused by some type of interaction between the galactic halos of dark matter contained within those colliding galaxies. As they collide, the visible matter within the galaxies interact as expected, but there appears to be some sort of drag effect impacting the dark matter halos and causing the drag, according to Discovery News.

Dr. Massey explained that astronomers had previously believed that dark matter remains in one place and has no influence on its surroundings other than its gravitational pull. However, if dark matter is being slowed down during the collisions, it would provide the first-ever evidence for rich physics in the hidden parts of the universe known as the dark sector. Additional research is required to rule out other possible causes of this lag, however, he added.

This potential dark matter interaction appears to contract a recent survey of 72 galaxy cluster collisions which found little to no self-interaction amongst dark matter. However, the new study looks at individual colliding galaxies, not entire clusters, and these collisions have likely lasted far longer than those observed in the previous study, increasing the observed lag effects.

Dr. Massey explained to redOrbit that the two papers tell two parts of the same story. While the previous results found that dark matter interacts “very little – in particular units, by a value lower than 0.5,” the professor said that the new result “is that it interacts very very little, but not zero. In the same units, it is a value bigger than 0.001.”

“There have been lots of negative results over the past decade, saying that dark matter interacts less than this,” he said via email. “Our previous result dropped the bar a lot further, but all these results were fundamentally saying that we see dark matter being boring.”

“This is the first time we’ve caught dark matter in the act of doing something interesting,” Dr. Massey added. “I’m excited to finally to give a positive result because there is a HUGE difference between zero interactions (as the old ‘Cold Dark Matter’ theory would suggest), and nonzero (albeit tiny) interactions. Once the dark Universe around us is allowed to interact at all, the possibilities for what it could get up to are rich and varied.”

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Oldest man-made stone tools discovered in Kenya

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Archaeologists have reportedly discovered the oldest tools ever created by human ancestors: Stone flakes that have been dated to 3.3 million years ago, or 700,000 years before the oldest previously-identified tools used by the predecessors of modern mankind.

According to Science, the discovery (if confirmed) would indicate that tools were being used hundreds of thousands of years before the genus Homo first arrived, and may even indicate that ancient australopithecines like “Lucy” also had the ability to fashion stone instruments.

A wrong turn leads to an archaeological bonanza

Previously, the earliest-known stone tools were dated to 2.6 million years ago and were found at the Gona site in Ethiopia, the website explained. In 2010, researchers working at a second site in Ethiopia reported the discovery of cut marks on animal bones dated to 3.4 million years ago, but they were unable to find the actual tools that may have been responsible for those cuts.

The new discovery, presented by Stony Brook University archaeologist Sonia Harmand at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in San Francisco, appears to be those missing tools. They were found at Lomekwi 3, a site located west of Kenya’s Lake Turkana and roughly 1,000 km from where discovered tools similar to the Gona instruments were first unearthed.

Interestingly, the discovery was made by accident. Harmand said that she and her team were actually looking for the site where a controversial human relative called Kenyanthropus platyops was found in 1998. However, they took a wrong turn and stumbled upon another part of the area where they spotted what she called unmistakable stone tools on the surface.

Clear evidence of intentional tool creation discovered

The immediately launched an excavation at the site, and found more tools under the ground, including the so-called cores from which early humanoids would have struck off sharp flakes. They were even able to fit one of the flakes back into its original core, Science noted, showing that a hominin had created and then discarded both the flake and the core at that location.

The following year, Harmand and her colleagues returned to the location to continue their work, and to date they have discovered nearly 20 well-preserved flakes, cores, and anvils that appear to have been used to hold the cores while the flakes were struck off. All of the artifacts were sealed in sediments that assisted with the dating process, and an additional 130 pieces were discovered on the surface in the area.

At the meeting, Harmand reportedly said that the artifacts were “clearly” created by intentional flaking and were not caused by accidental rock fractures. Further analysis of the cores indicated that they had rotated as the flakes were stuck off, and dating of the surrounding sediments using paleomagnetic techniques placed them at approximately 3.3 million years old.

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Researchers observe female chimps making spears

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Female chimpanzees create spears in order to stab their prey, suggesting that the ability to craft these kinds of weapons originated with early primates and that ancient humans may have hunted in a similar manner, according to a new Royal Society Open Science study.

The authors of that paper observed chimps living in Fongoli, Senegal as they took living tree branches, removed all of the leaves and side branches, then sharpened the edges of the tools with their teeth to create an effective weapon that was about 30 inches long.

Weapons made it possible for female chimps to hunt

Lead author Jill Pruetz, a professor in the Iowa State University Department of Anthropology, and her colleagues told Discovery News that they watched as one of the chimps would sneak up on a bushbaby, then stab it to death as the nocturnal creature slept in a nearby tree cavity.

They also found that the female adult chimps were more likely to make and use spears than the adult male ones, with the latter relying more upon their size and strength to hunt. Since females often have infants riding on their backs or bellies, using a spear for hunting is an easier and more effective way for them to track down and deal with their prey.

The authors wrote that adult male chimps accounted for 70 percent of all prey captures, but that tool use made it possible for “individuals other than adult males to capture and retain control of prey,” and that similar hunting methods may also have been used by early hominins.

Pruetz went on to state that she believes that the world’s first spear was invented by a female primate, since in many species, they are “the innovators and more frequent tool users… I think it is possible that a female invented this technique,” she told Discovery News on Tuesday.

What tool use in chimps tells us about evolution

Chimps living in the Fongoli region are the only known non-human primates that use weapons to hunt large prey, she and her colleagues found, and adult males support the efforts of females and younger males by allowing them to keep their own kills: an unusual gesture, since in most chimp groups, the dominant males tent to steal prey from their subordinates.

“The explanation for the pattern of tool-assisted hunting at Fongoli,” the authors wrote, “is that such hunting enables individuals who would be less likely to chase down larger vertebrate prey access to an energetically and nutritionally valuable food resource in a patchy savannah environment,” adding that the discovery “supports the hypothesis that early hominins intensified their tool technology to overcome environmental pressures and that even the earliest hominins were probably sophisticated enough to fashion tools for hunting.”

“The behavior of these chimpanzees demonstrates that hunting is less adult male-biased among our closest living relatives than previously believed when tools are used, and emphasizes the need to take into account the range of behavioral variation within a species, specifically when findings are applied to attempts to understand evolutionary adaptations,” they added.

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Spitzer telescope finds one of the most distant planets ever

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Thanks to NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and a technique known as microlensing, a team of astronomers has located one of the most distant exoplanets ever discovered – a remote gas planet located approximately 13,000 light-years from Earth.

The location of this far-off new world demonstrates how Spitzer can be used to help determine how planets are distributed throughout the Milky Way, according to NASA. The discovery is the topic of three new studies published recently in The Astrophysical Journal.

Using microlensing to discover new worlds

Jennifer Yee, a NASA Sagan research fellow and a member of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, and her colleagues used both the space-based instrument and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) Warsaw Telescope in Chile to search for new planets by taking advantage of a phenomenon known as microlensing.

Microlensing, the US space agency explains, occurs when one star passes in front of another. Its gravity acts like a lens to magnify and brighten the light of the more distant star, and if the star in the foreground has a planet it orbit around it, it can cause a blip in the magnification.

Those blips can be used by astronomers to locate and characterize planets tens of thousands of light-years away in our galaxy’s central bulge, where these star-crossing events tend to be more common. To date, the process has led to the discovery of nearly 30 new planets, with the farthest of the new worlds resting approximately 25,000 light years away, the agency noted.

“Microlensing experiments are already detecting planets from the solar neighborhood to almost the center of the Milky Way,” explained co-author Andrew Gould of the Ohio State University in Columbus . “And so they can, in principle, tell us the relative efficiency of planet formation across this huge expanse of our galaxy.”

Monitoring a microlensing event

While the microlensing technique can be used to complement other planet-hunting tools such as the Kepler mission, it has one major drawback: it cannot always precisely determine the distance of the planets and stars that are being observed. In fact, of the nearly 30 planets that have been located to date using this method, about half cannot be placed at an exact location.

To help out, researchers use Spitzer and take advantage of the telescope’s remote Earth-trailing orbit. The instrument monitors a microlensing event at a distance of about 128 million miles (207 million kilometers) away at the same time as a telescope on the surface, but it sees the brightness at a different time due to the distance between the two telescopes. This is known as parallax.

Yee said that Spitzer is “the first space telescope to make a microlens parallax measurement for a planet,” and that typically, parallax techniques use multiple ground-based telescopes. The length of the microlensing event used to discover the newfound exoplanet was unusually long (a period of about 150 days), with Spitzer seeing it 20 days after OGLE, NASA said.

The time delay between OGLE’s viewing of the event and Spitzer’s was used to calculate how far away the star and its planet were, and knowing that also enabled the researchers to figure out the mass of the planet, which is approximately half that of Jupiter. It was the 23rd microlensing collaboration between Ogle and Spitzer, and the space-based telescope is currently scheduled to observe an additional 120 microlensing events over the course of the summer.

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Health

24-Hour Trauma Coverage Now Available at Lakeview Regional Medical Center Specialized Trauma Surgeons Provide Around the Clock Treatment

Written By: admin

Lakeview Regional Medical Center recently announced it has expanded its Emergency Department services to include 24-hour trauma coverage, including trauma surgery, becoming the first St. Tammany Parish facility to offer this level of service.

COVINGTON, LOUISIANA (PRWEB) April 15, 2015

Lakeview Regional Medical Center recently announced it has expanded its Emergency Department services to include 24-hour trauma coverage, including trauma surgery, becoming the first St. Tammany Parish facility to offer this level of service. Dr. Marco Hidalgo has joined the staff at Lakeview Regional Medical Center as the Medical Director of Trauma, overseeing the treatment of trauma cases involving motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, falls, and other life-threatening injuries from traumatic events.

Lakeview Regional Medical Center has a variety of trauma surgeons and specialists on site 24-hours a day to respond within minutes of a trauma call. “When a patient arrives at a hospital within 60 minutes, or the ‘Golden Hour,’ they have better outcomes,” states Dr. Hidalgo. “Time can be the difference between life and death.” A key piece of being able to handle trauma in an emergency room is having depth in specialties such as neurosurgery, because concussions and head injuries are often part of trauma injuries. “Lakeview Regional has five neurosurgeons on staff and has the highest level of neurosurgical capabilities in St. Tammany Parish,” states Bret Kolman, Chief Executive Officer for Lakeview Regional. “We are committed to providing a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary team of physicians for every patient in St. Tammany Parish. You can count on us to care for you when any type of unforeseen accident happens.”

Dr. Hidalgo received his Medical Degree from Tulane University. He served his residency at Tulane as a General Surgery Resident and Chief Administrative Resident. Dr. Hidalgo worked as a staff surgeon at River Region Hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi until the time he came to Lakeview Regional. He has also been trained in wound care, including hyperbarics, and has received extensive training in Da Vinci robot single site surgery. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons and has written several peer review articles and presented oral presentations.

Lakeview Regional Medical Center: Conveniently located on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain just south of I-12 on 190, Lakeview Regional Medical Center (LRMC) is a 172-bed, full-service, acute care, community hospital that has been delivering high-quality, cost effective health care for over 35 years. Lakeview Regional offers the highest quality patient care through state of the art technology and employs 850 highly trained and dedicated staff members. For more information about LRMC, please visit http://www.lakeviewregional.com or call (985) 867-3800. The hospital is located on 53 acres at 95 Judge Tanner Blvd., Covington, Louisiana 70433.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/LakeviewRegional/24HR-ER-Services/prweb12650130.htm

Health

Informa’s Ingredient Marketplace Has Strong Sunshine State Debut

Written By: admin

Popular Buyer/Seller Marketplace Engages Attendees, Exhibitors

Phoenix, Arizona (PRWEB) April 15, 2015

Ingredient Marketplace (IM) made its debut in Orlando, Florida last week and offered valuable education and industry trends, high quality exhibitions and engaged attendees. The three-day conference and expo attracted the buyers and suppliers that drive the nutrition, health, food and beauty industries.

“The big move to Orlando and the many other investments we’ve made in Ingredient Marketplace paid dividends for both attendees and exhibitors,” said Jon Benninger, vice president of Informa’s Health & Nutrition Network. “This was a very active show with a positive ‘buzz’ that left most who came very happy.”

Ingredient buyers and sellers from around the world explored more than 350 booths, learned from renowned speakers and participated in industry shaping training programs and presentations. Additionally, IM offered attendees numerous networking and business development opportunities.

Susan Martin, Director of Ingredient Quality for Coca Cola said, “IM is a great place to see what new ingredients are coming to market so I am ready when my team presents them to me for future formulations. There’s a lot of interesting vendors and variety and I appreciate the diversity of set up as well.”

IM in its second year had a total of 39 countries represented with 73% of attendees visiting for the first time. Key companies in attendance included: Bacardi-Martini Product Development, Bayer HealthCare, Chobani, Clabber Girl Corporation, Domino Specialty Ingredients, Florida Supplement, Florida’s Natural Growers, Garden of Life, Land O’Lakes, Inc., Nature’s Way, Nutrisystem, Swanson Health Products, Talking Rain Beverage Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Tyson Foods, Walmart Stores, Inc., Whole Foods Market, Wrigley and more.

Jorge Perez Avila, the Global Supply Chain Director for Sweet Leaf, has attended IM in the past as well as Informa’s SupplySide West event and said, “We have a line of teas that we are reintroducing to market and we are looking for functional ingredients to add to sweeteners and teas. This show is good because it offers me the chance to learn about many ingredients I didn’t even realize existed. We attend a lot of CPG shows, but we like the ingredient shows because I can attend and really focus on that aspect.”

Exhibitors were impressed by the quality of attendees at this year’s show as well as the change in venue.

Bryan McNally, a frequent exhibitor and President of Stryka Botanics, said, “We love the new venue—it’s excellent for this show. We’ve had good traffic with high-quality, serious buyers. We have a list of new leads—we are in acquisition mode as a company and so this show allows us to network and advance our goals. We feel that this show lets us spend a lot of individual time with buyers.”

Aparna Kalidindi, Manager of Technical Sales and Marketing for Natreon, added, “We attended a luncheon during IM and 35 of the 37 attendees were new to us. IM is a fabulous networking opportunity, and we were able to connect with people we would not have been able to connect with if not for the show.”

In fact, many exhibitors enjoyed the energy and pace of Ingredient Marketplace.

“IM allows us to have successful, unrushed meetings. The size of the show allows us to find solid sales leads through those meetings and a lot more gets accomplished,” said Melanie Brechka, Regional Sales Director, East Coast for Glanbia.

The 2016 Ingredient Marketplace will be held April 26-28 at the Marriott World Center in Orlando.

About Ingredient Marketplace: Hosted by Informa Exhibitions, Ingredient Marketplace is the leading destination to streamline the process of finding ingredients, contract manufacturers, packaging companies and more that aid in successful launches of finished products. For years, SupplySide events have been bringing together the suppliers and buyers that drive the nutrition, health, food and beauty marketplaces. Ingredient Marketplace is the source to learn more about the best that goes into finished products. The 2015 show was held April 7-9 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. For more information, visit supplysideshow.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12651599.htm

PetEdge® Unveils Comprehensive Collection of Repellent Pet Products featuring Insect Shield® Technology – #insectshieldforpets

Written By: admin

Insect Shield® for Pets features built-in, EPA-registered insect protection proven to repel mosquitoes, ticks, flies and fleas.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) April 15, 2015

The size and growth of the pet industry clearly illustrates that pets are considered to be extensions of the family. According to the APPA, in 2014 in the United States alone, approximately $58.51 billion was spent on pet food, OTC medicine, supplies, vet care, grooming and boarding. The flea and tick category, in particular, accounts for $2 billion1. Consumers need simple and effective ways to protect their pets from insects and the diseases they can carry. In response, PetEdge, a leading supplier of wholesale grooming supplies and discount pet products, is launching a comprehensive assortment of innovative Insect Shield® repellent products.

The Collection:

The Insect Shield® for Pets collection includes blankets, reversible beds, exercise pens, cots, cargo seat covers, premium tees, lightweight hoodies, safety vests, bandanas, and neck gaiters—all with built-in bug protection. Consumers love the convenience, as pets are protected simply while using or wearing everyday pet products. The Insect Shield protection is built-in, effective and long-lasting. MSRP range $9.99 to $139.99

The Technology:

Insect Shield’s EPA-registered technology converts clothing and gear into effective, long-lasting and convenient insect protection and is the result of years of research and field study. The built-in protection, repels a variety of insects including mosquitoes, fleas and ticks, and lasts the expected lifetime of the product.

“Insect Shield for Pets are the most innovative products we’ve ever developed, and we believe that they’re the most innovative products many of our customers have ever seen,” says Andy Katz, President and CEO of PetEdge. “Consumers have long been asking for greater innovation in flea and tick prevention, and we’ve heard them loud and clear. That’s why we developed Insect Shield repellent gear for pets—products that we expect to revolutionize the pet industry.”

Where to Buy/More Information:

http://www.insectshieldforpets.com

#insectshieldforpets

#insectshield

About PetEdge:

Founded in 1956, PetEdge is the leading provider to pet care professionals. To better meet the demands of an evolving customer base, PetEdge launched their Dealer Services division in 2004, providing independent retailers with unprecedented access to premium pet products and merchandising support—all at manufacturer-direct pricing. Today, PetEdge brands like Zanies®, Grriggles®, Savvy Tabby®, ClearQuest®, and Zack & Zoey® are consistently ranked #1 in key categories like dog apparel, dog sanitation, grooming tools, and cat toys. Their vast selection includes more than 20,000 discount pet products from 20 exclusive brands, as well as products from industry innovators such as Kong®, Greenies®, Wahl®, and more.

About Insect Shield® Technology:

Insect Shield Repellent Apparel and Gear are revolutionary products designed to provide long-lasting, effective and convenient personal insect protection. The durable protection provided by Insect Shield is the result of years of research and testing. In July 2003, Insect Shield Repellent Apparel was registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Insect Shield Technology is utilized by leading lifestyle brands, work wear distributors and International relief organizations across the globe to provide effective protection against insects and the diseases they can carry. Insect Shield is an approved vendor of the US Army and US Marine Corps. For more information visit http://www.insectshield.com

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12653551.htm

Galloway Ridge New Director of Healthcare Services and Arbor Administrator

Written By: admin

Galloway Ridge is excited to announce a new Director of Healthcare.

Pittsboro, NC (PRWEB) April 15, 2015

Bob Zimmer, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Heidi O’Neal as the new Director of Healthcare Services and Administrator of The Arbor at Galloway Ridge. The appointment of O’Neal is anchored by the belief in her ability to continue remarkable healthcare services for Galloway Ridge residents and family support and involvement in The Arbor.

Mrs. O’Neal comes to Galloway Ridge with experience in both for-profit and non-profit management. She has held a Nursing Home Administrator’s license since 1997 and has most recently worked in non-profit continuing care retirement communities in Chatham and Alamance counties.

Heidi is responsible for managing all aspects of Health Services for Galloway Ridge and ensuring regulatory compliance with State and Federal laws. She has demonstrated initiative and is intensely focused on providing exceptional resident centered care. Heidi earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health, Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I am thrilled to join the team at Galloway Ridge and look forward to the opportunity to continue the tradition of providing exceptional healthcare services in The Arbor and throughout all of Galloway Ridge," stated O’Neal.

“Heidi’s commitment to excellence, management style and cheerful personality are the perfect fit for Galloway Ridge,” stated Zimmer.    

Galloway Ridge is a nonprofit continuing care retirement community (CCRC) located just eight miles south of Chapel Hill in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Galloway Ridge is a remarkable choice for inspiring, satisfying senior living. Located in Fearrington Village, Galloway Ridge has all the features, amenities and security one could want. Visit Galloway Ridge online at Galloway Ridge.

CCRC Marketing: riithink.com Patrick Smith 919.903.9274

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/galloway_ridge/fearrington/prweb12654311.htm

Bodybuilding supplements may cause testicular cancer, study finds

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Men who turn to supplements in order to build muscle mass may unwittingly be increasing the risk that they will develop testicular cancer, especially if they started doing so before the age of 25, used more than one product or took supplements for at least three years.

Those findings are based on a new British Journal of Cancer study which found that males who reported using pills and powders containing muscle-building substances such as androstenedione or creatine reported a significantly higher likelihood of developing the disease.

Building on research linking supplements to testes damage

Senior author Tongzhang Zheng, a professor of epidemiology at Brown University who led the study while at Yale, and his colleagues discovered that the associated testicular germ cell cancer risk was especially high in those who used the substances early, often or with other products.

The relationship was “strong” in users who started using supplements by the age of 25, used the products for a long period of time or took multiple substances to build muscle, the authors said. They wrote that their paper is the first analytical epidemiological study to probe the potential link between bodybuilding supplements and testicular cancer, adding that it was inspired by growing evidence that at least some ingredients of these products could damage the testes.

Supplement use increase testicular cancer risk by 65 percent

Zheng’s team conducted in-depth interviews of nearly 900 men from the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, including 356 that had been diagnosed with testicular germ cell cancer and 513 who had not. The men were asked about their supplement use, as well as several potential factors such as smoking, drinking, exercise habits, prior injury to the region and family history.

After accounting for all of those other factors, as well as age and other demographics, the authors found that men who used supplements at least once per week for four consecutive weeks or more had a 65-percent increased risk of developing testicular cancer than those who did not.

In men who used more than one kind of supplement, the risk spiked by 177-percent (a 2.77 odds ratio), while those odds ratios were 2.56 among males who used supplements for three years or more, and 2.21 for men who started using supplements at age 25 or younger. While the study has found a link between supplements and testicular cancer, future large-scale epidemiologic studies and lab experiments would be required to establish a causal relationship, the authors said.

So what type of products are the most dangerous?

“Some degree of caution is warranted when interpreting the exact types of [muscle-building supplements] associated with the elevated risks in our study since this is the first analytical epidemiological study investigated the issue,” Professor Zheng told redOrbit via email.

That said, he explained that there are “potential mechanisms for a potential link. For example, creatine, after it is converted to production of methylamine and formaldehyde, could create cross-linked proteins and DNA, and formaldehyde has been demonstrated to cause autophagy in testicular tissues in a dose-dependent manner as well as a variety of reproductive toxicities.”

Similarly, some have suggested that urinary creatine could be used as a potential marker of testicular damage, and androstenedione in high quantities has been shown to result in androgenic or estrogenic effects in humans, including possible development of testicular atrophy, he added. As for the age-related link, he said that testes are more sensitive carcinogens in the younger age, and that testicular cancer increases rapidly after puberty and peaks around age 35.

Unfortunately, Zheng told redOrbit that he “doubts” that the study will have much of an impact when it comes to dissuading people about using these products. “People still smoke tobacco while so much evidence linking smoking increases human diseases including cancers, and with warning signs on tobacco product packages,” he said, “but we want both the FDA and consumers know that there exists a potential link for using the products and human health.”

On a side note…this is all we thought about when writing this article:

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Rosetta changes trajectory, continues search for Philae

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

The ESA’s Rosetta orbiter is continuing its search for the Philae lander, despite experiencing issues during a recent flyby of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko that forced the spacecraft to enter safe mode and change its trajectory, the space agency has announced.

Rosetta, which entered orbit around Comet 67P/C-G last September, is now once again using some of its science instruments, and more are expected to be re-activated before the end of the week. It was forced to enter safe mode after experiencing “significant difficulties in navigation” that caused its large solar arrays to be exposed to too much drag.

Rosetta getting confused

On March 28, the ESA spacecraft performed a 16 km flyby (about 14 km from the surface) over the comet’s large lobe, and its star trackers which are used for navigation began to mistake comet debris for stars. In addition, its high gain antenna began to drift away from pointing at the Earth, impacting communications and forcing Rosetta to be put into safe mode.

The agency said that the orbiter has been successfully recovered, and had started using some of its science instruments again, but had been moved into an “escape trajectory” that took it roughly 400km from Comet 67P/C-G. An orbital correction maneuver was performed on April 1 to bring it back, followed by a second that allowed it to reach its target distance of 140km on April 8.

Due to those navigational difficulties, ESA officials said that they plan to exercise caution while bringing Rosetta closer to the comet. Specifically, they said that they will have to assess how the star trackers behave in the environment of the increasingly active comet, and whether or not the earlier confusion by comet particles responsible for those issues can be avoided.

Rosetta spacecraft operations manager Sylvain Lodiot said that the problems have required “a complete replanning of the upcoming flyby trajectories,” and that the team plans to move first to “a terminator orbit” of 140km before closing to a distance of 100km. Then they will start flying “pyramid” trajectories, monitoring the spacecraft’s performance before moving closer.

“We’re now assessing the impact of the new trajectory scheme on the planned science observations for the months ahead, including those which anticipated close flybys,” added Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor. “Our science operations team… is extremely busy working with the instrument teams to optimize science observations and associated spacecraft pointing for this new scheme. As we move forward, we will analyze what can be modified and improved in order to maximize science return within the capabilities of the spacecraft.”

The search is still on for Philae

Despite those changes to Rosetta’s trajectory, the orbiter’s search for the Philae lander will not be affected, according to the ESA. A new listening window for the lander will begin on April 12, and Dr. Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) said that the communication unit on Rosetta will be turned on “around the clock” during this period.

Dr. Ulamec said that Philae “most likely” will not wake up until May or June, but added that the agency scientists “don’t want to miss the moment” in case it has enough energy and an operating temperature that is high enough to reactivate earlier. In order to wake up and listen for signals from Rosetta, the lander must have at least 5.5 watts of power and an operating temperature of at least -45 degrees Celsius, and it needs 19 watts of energy to respond.

“As we did already last month, we will send blind commands to the lander that will help it make optimum use of its energy for heating and communication,” he added. If Philae is already awake, it may be able to receive and run commands, even if it lacks the power to report that it has done so. Once it can transmit data again, it will report on its health, its temperature, and the amount of energy that its solar panels are receiving, according to the ESA’s report.

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‘Snowball Earth’ caused Arctic conditions in warm areas

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Emily Bills

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

During a drastic shift in climate known as “Snowball Earth,” even places close to the planet’s warmer equatorial regions would have experienced Arctic-like temperatures, according to new research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study authors analyzed the oxygen isotopes of rocks that had been exposed to the meltwater of ancient glaciers. They found that a global deep-freeze occurred 2.4 billion years ago, and that the annual mean temperatures were roughly -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Everything was frozen

The researchers examined the oxygen isotopic composition of Proterozoic rocks that had been hydrothermally altered by ancient meteoric waters, some of which originated from glaciers that existed on “Snowball Earth.” They explained that this analysis gave them new insight into the climate and the hydrology during this stage in the planet’s history.

According to Discovery News, the data they collected indicates that the planet’s oceans became frozen into a sheet of ice and glaciers that were 1,000 feet thick. Those conclusions contradict existing theories that claim that there were open patches of unfrozen water that existed in the equatorial regions during the first of at least two “Snowball Earth” events.

“These events are fascinating. We had times where we really had a completely frozen Earth. If you go now to tropical regions and you imagine thick glaciers and all the oceans frozen, it’s crazy I think, but it appears to be that this has happened,” Daniel Herwartz, a geoscientist with the University of Gottingen in Germany and one the authors, told the website.

We think that Elsa from Frozen would have flipped out.

What did the deep freeze mean for life on Earth?

Climatologists and other experts have been at odds about whether or not some of the planet’s oceans would have remained at least partially liquefied during this period, and previous studies have been reliant upon climate models, not actual data and observations. The new study changes that by searching for a third oxygen isotope in rocks that were once near the equator.

The researchers examined 700-million-year-old rocks from China and 2.4-billion-year-old rocks from northwestern Russia, which would have been close to the equator at the time. They learned that Chinese rocks were exposed to water temperatures close to modern-day southern Greenland, but that the older samples had been subjected to far colder conditions.

“This low temperature would actually require that the whole Earth was completely frozen in and that we really had most of the oceans under hundreds-of-meter-thick ice,” Herwartz told the website. He and his colleagues believe that their research should shed new light on how life on Earth was affected by this extreme cold – specifically, whether or not it was still able to exist via photosynthesis or if it was limited to areas such as those near hydrothermal vents.

“Life on Earth originated and spread in shallow, light-filled, ice-free environments. Organisms in these environments evolved over billions of years, so glaciations, as long as they may be, are temporary interruptions to our biosphere, which is powered largely by photosynthesis,” added MIT geobiologist Tanja Bosak.

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Celebrity memes now a criminal offense in Russia

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

If you’re a fan of funny images featuring Russian president Vladimir Putin crying or riding a bear or hummingbird while shirtless, you should probably put off that trip to Moscow, as the Russian government recently made it illegal to post memes featuring celebrities.

The law, according to the Washington Post, prohibits Internet users from publishing any image of a public figure that depicts said individual in a way that has nothing to do with his or her real character, identity or personality and is enforced by Russian media agency Roskomnadzor.

Putin memes

Credit: Pixgood.com

Putting a new spin on an existing policy

The anti-meme policy is not a new law that was recently passed by parliament, the newspaper said. Rather, it’s a new, broader interpretation of an existing policy, and Roskomnadzor said in an announcement that using celebrity images in this way violates legislation governing the use of personal data while harming the “honor, dignity and business of public figures.”

According to Engadget, the updated law comes on the heels of Russian singer Valeri Syutkin, who filed a lawsuit against a website after his image was used in a meme that also included a rather unflattering line from another artist’s song. Syutkin won his case, leading the agency to announce the new policy (which also bans celebrity parody accounts and websites).

If a public figure believes that he or she had been targeted by such a site, account or meme, than he or she can report the individual(s) responsible to the Roskomnadzor, who will pursue action in court. Websites are given the option of blocking the potentially offensive content in Russia, or having their all of their content blocked throughout the country, the Post added.

putin memes

Latest step in an ongoing online crackdown

Russian officials have been tightening their control of the Web for quite a while now, according to reports. Last year, it started requiring bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers to register with the government as a way to eliminate anonymous blogs, and it also insists that all websites store data on servers physically located within the Federation.

Also, earlier this year, Moscow approved a law allowing Roskomnadzor to unilaterally block any website without explanation – a power that was promptly used to shut down pages belonging to the most vocal critics of President Putin. Under the new policy, offended parties have to file an official complaint with the agency, and since there is no way to known who or how many would be willing to do so, it is currently impossible to measure the law’s potential impact.

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Astronomers create first-ever dark matter map

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

After two years worth of work by some 300 researchers, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) project have unveiled the first in a series of dark matter maps showing the distribution of the mysterious substance experts believe makes up roughly 27 percent of the universe.

According to BBC News, the maps show how conglomerations of dark matter change over time and was created using a 570-megapixel camera attached to the Victor Blanco telescope in Chile. The research was presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Physical Society, and the DES team has uploaded a paper detailing their findings to the arXiv pre-publication server.

A work in progress

The current maps depict just 0.4 percent of the sky, but astronomers eventually plan to map dark matter in one-eighth of the universe, according to BBC News. The researchers are calling them the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail, and believe that they will improve our understanding of dark matter’s role in the formation of galaxies.

“Our goal all this time has been to see the invisible – to see dark matter,” Sarah Bridle, co-chair of the DES weak lensing group that produced the map as well as an astrophysics professor at the University of Manchester, told the British news agency. “To be able to look at a map and say, ‘That part of the sky’s got more dark matter in it, that bit’s empty,’ is the dream that we’ve had all this time, [and] it’s been a long time coming.”

Since it does not emit or block light, dark matter cannot be detected by even the most sensitive instruments. However, its effects can be observed by using gravitational lensing, a phenomenon that takes place when a gravitational pull of dark matter bends light around distant galaxies. By analyzing the role of dark matter, scientists are hoping to learn more about dark energy’s role in the acceleration of the universe’s expansion.

No surprises so far

Over much of the past two years, DES team members have worked to ensure that their system worked as planned, as well as reviewing the massive amounts of data it collected. The scientists measured the shapes of millions of galaxies during its initial survey, Engadget explained. Some of that analysis involved mitigating additional lensing effects caused by the Earth’s atmosphere and imperfections with the telescope itself.

“We measured the barely perceptible distortions in the shapes of about 2 million galaxies to construct these new maps,” said co-lead investigator Vinu Vikram from the Argonne National Laboratory and formerly form the University of Pennsylvania. “They are a testament not only to the sensitivity of the Dark Energy Camera, but also to the rigorous work by our lensing team to understand its sensitivity so well that we can get exacting results from it.”

The current maps cover only approximately three percent of the area of sky that the DES plans to document over the course of its five-year mission, and the organization said that has that mission expands, the scientists hope to compare the amounts of dark and visible matter in order to better test current cosmological theories claiming that the abundance of dark matter and the strength of its gravity suggests that galaxies will form in areas of high dark matter concentration.

“Our analysis so far is in line with what the current picture of the universe predicts,” said study co-author and ETH Zurich researcher Chihway Chang. “Zooming into the maps, we have measured how dark matter envelops galaxies of different types and how together they evolve over cosmic time. We are eager to use the new data coming in to make much stricter tests of theoretical models.”

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Zombie worms may have significantly altered fossil record

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Deep-sea scavengers known as zombie worms have been around for approximately 100 million years, and may have had a tremendous impact on what types of fossils remain today, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters.

In the study, researchers from Plymouth University explain that they discovered bore-holes that were indicative of these bone-eating annelids in a fossilized plesiosaur flipper and in the rib and shell of an ancient sea turtle, and suggesting that they may have consumed much more.

The deep-sea scavengers predate whales

Zombie worms are members of the genus Osedax and were first discovered by researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute using an autonomous submarine off the coast of California in 2002. They have been found in depths of up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers).

According to BBC News, the worms are about the same length as a human finger, and they do not have a mouth or a digestive system. Instead, they use root-like tendrils to burrow into bone, then feast on fatty molecules to survive. Previous research suggested that the creatures evolved along with whales, but the new research suggests that they have been around much longer.

In fact, Dr Nicholas Higgs of the Plymouth University’s Marine Institute and his colleague Dr. Silvia Danise from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences concluded that zombie worms must have been around 100 million years ago, before plesiosaurs died out.

“Our discovery shows that these bone-eating worms did not co-evolve with whales, but that they also devoured the skeletons of large marine reptiles that dominated oceans in the age of the dinosaurs,” Dr. Higgs explained to the BBC. “Osedax, therefore, prevented many skeletons from becoming fossilised, which might hamper our knowledge of these extinct leviathans.”

Did zombie worms prevent bones from becoming fossils?

Using CT scans to compare the shape of different holes created by the worms, the study authors found evidence that Osedax species were responsible for creative cavities in a plesiosaur corpse. They created 3D scans of two bore holes left in the creature’s flipper bone, as well as four from the sea turtle skeleton, and found that they closely match those found in modern whales.

The findings imply that the zombie worms might have gobbled away at the bones of plesiosaurs and that they may have even consumed entire skeletons before they became fossilized. Not only do the creatures bore holes in bones, but they may have created a gaping one in the fossil record itself, Dr. Higgs and Dr. Danise explained to the British media outlet on Tuesday.

“The increasing evidence for Osedax throughout the oceans past and present, combined with their propensity to rapidly consume a wide range of vertebrate skeletons, suggests that Osedax may have had a significant negative effect on the preservation of marine vertebrate skeletons in the fossil record,” said Dr Danise. “By destroying vertebrate skeletons before they could be buried, Osedax may be responsible for the loss of data on marine vertebrate anatomy and carcass-fall communities on a global scale.”

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SpaceX rocket landing attempt fails again

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Close but no cigar for SpaceX on its latest attempt to land a rocket booster on a barge at sea for recovery and reuse, as the made it to its destination but landed “too hard” to survive.

Following a successful launch of its Dragon capsule on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter that the rocket “landed fine” but tipped over after touching down due to “excess lateral velocity.”

Progress made over previous landing attempts

Despite the setback, the results have to be encouraging to the company, according to BBC News. SpaceX is attempting to reduce the costs of space travel by retrieving rockets and reusing them in future launches, and this latest attempt showed progress in those efforts.

By attempting to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 on a floating platform in the waters off of the coast of Jacksonville, the company is hoping to demonstrate that typically disposable rockets can be refurbished and reused in future launches, the British media outlet added.

During the first attempt at pulling off the maneuver in January, the booster was able to reach the 300-foot across by 100-foot wide barge, but landed too hard and was damaged. After its landing fins lost power, the engines tried and failed to restore the correct landing angle. The legs and the engine section were damaged as a result, and residual fuel triggered and explosion.

Another attempt at landing the 70-foot wide, 14-story tall rocket was scheduled for February, but had to be called off due to choppy water conditions, according to the BBC. Even so, the Falcon 9 was able to practice the maneuver by slowing itself to a hover over the ocean waters.

Dragon capsule expected to arrive at ISS on Friday

Despite the issues with the Falcon 9 landing attempt, the primary reason for Tuesday’s launch was a success, as the Dragon capsule is now en route to the ISS with more than 4,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and science experiments. It is expected to arrive on Friday.

The launch, which emanated from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, is the sixth of 12 scheduled cargo missions under SpaceX’s $1.6 billion dollar contract with NASA. The ship will remain on the space station for five weeks before returning to Earth, landing in the Pacific Ocean with more than 3,000 pounds of equipment and refuse, according to media reports.

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Health

New Line of Men’s And Women’s Lifeguard Tank-Tops Is Introduced for Comfort and Professionalism

Written By: admin

Every Lifeguard needs to stand out in a crowd and be easily identified. Lifeguard Master has introduced the men's and women's lifeguard tank tops.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 14, 2015

Lifeguard Master has introduced their line of men’s and women’s lifeguard tank tops. The tanks are currently available on the company’s website and are offered in both red and white, the universal colors worn by all rescue personnel worldwide. A company spokesperson announced the tank tops and said, “We pride ourselves on offering quality apparel for the lifeguard community and these new tank tops arrive just as the summer swimming season is about to ramp up. We invite lifeguard and other rescue personnel to visit our website and check out our new men’s and women’s tank tops.”

One of the major priorities for a lifeguard is to be easily identifies as a rescue care giver. In an emergency, patrons in or around the water need to know who to go to in an emergency. These tank tops provide such a visibility by providing the word "LIFEGUARD" across the chest in the front and across the chest in the back.

For both male and female lifeguards, the company offers red and white tanks. The tank tops feature the word “LIFEGUARD” in all capital letters stretch along the top of the tank and underneath that, all tanks feature the cross that has come to symbolize rescue and safety. This combination is featured on both the front and back of the tank. The white lifeguard tank tops feature red lettering and the red lifeguard tank tops have white lettering and a white cross. Those who wear these tanks will be immediately recognized as someone who is there to help and to provide a sense of safety for swimmers, boaters or anyone else in the vicinity. To view a video of this tank, please click on: lifeguard tank top video

These red and white lifeguard tank tops are made of 100% pre-shrunk cotton and have been made to provide maximum comfort. The company is very aware of the need for flexibility and maneuverability and so each tank top fits a little bigger than an average size tank so that lifeguards can move around more freely without their movements being impeded. The men’s tank tops are available in small, medium, large, x-large and 2x-large. The women’s come in the same sizes, except the 2x-large.

The women have two choices. The first is the white women’s lifeguard tank top. This tank is a fitted spaghetti strap. The second choice is the red women’s lifeguard tank top. This also is a fitted spaghetti strap. The women’s lifeguard tank top features spaghetti straps for comfort, flexibility and a feminine look. The tanks are also made to reduce tan lines and provide maximum cooling even on the hottest days.

Both men and women have to option of purchasing just one tank top or a set of five. The five set deal is perfect for private pool owners or communities that supply apparel to their lifeguards. Taking advantage of the five set deal allows customers to get a price break and can mix and match colors and sizes.

Lifeguard Master is a preferred seller of lifeguard apparel and equipment as well as swim team supplies. The men’s and women’s lifeguard tank tops are currently available on the Lifeguard Master website and are fully stocked. Delivery typically takes three to five business days.

Lifeguard Master has been in the emergency and life saving industry for many years. Sammy, the owner and founder of Lifeguard Master has been a lifeguard himself for 7 years. He knows the importance have having all the equipment readily available for a first responder, and through the years Lifeguard Master has become a robust lifeguard supply and lifeguard store company, accommodating the anticipating needs of first responders around the country and around the world. Lifeguard Masters determination to excellence and rescue safety has quickly made it a leader in its industry. For more information, please give us a call, send us an e-mail or visit our website. Also to stay updated with the latest news in emergency supplies, please visit our forum where rescue professionals from around the country and world stay connect, and post the latest emergency news at LifeguardsOnline.com

Sammy

Lifeguard Master

(714) 605-3090

http://LifeguardMaster.com

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/LifeguardTankTops/WomensLifeguardTankTops/prweb12650159.htm

Hollywood’s Mimi Lesseos Discusses Substance Abuse and Treatment With Choices Recovery

Written By: admin

Actress and stunt professional Mimi Lesseos shares her personal experience involving substance abuse with Choices Recovery founder Per Wickstrom.

Hollywood, California (PRWEB) April 14, 2015

On February 21, 2015, a special event was hosted that transformed the Stardust Penthouse on the rooftop of the luxurious Beverly Hilton Hotel into Durkin Entertainment’s EcoLuxe Lounge.

Sponsored by Choices Recovery and organized by Debbie Durkin, the Ecoluxe Lounge and the following “Salute to the Oscars” celebration were hosted by AMP Radio’s Chris Booker, Reality TV star Gretchen Christine Rossi and Choices Recovery founder Per Wickstrom.

“Being a part of the EcoLuxe Lounge and the ‘Salute to the Oscars’ celebration was a thrill,” Wickstrom commented afterwards. “Working with Debbie Durkin was a pleasure and everyone had a blast. We were grateful for the opportunity to raise awareness of the social problems of addiction and the service that Choices Recovery provides: holistic options in the treatment of substance abuse.”

Lesseos's Involvement in Drug Prevention

The EcoLuxe Lounge was visited by many of today’s Hollywood entertainment professionals, including actress and stuntwoman Mimi Lesseos, who took a few moments to join Per Wickstrom and Chris Booker near the stage that was set by Choices and Durkin Entertainment and talked a bit about her personal views on substance abuse and how it has directly affected her life. “I’m sad to say my brother died from heroin four years ago at 50 years old,” she shares. “It’s really important for not just celebrities but for anybody in general (who needs help with addiction) to go through recovery.”

Other notable attendees of the EcoLuxe Lounge included Elise Robertson (Oscar Nominee – American Sniper: Best Picture), Jason Canovas (Oscar Nominee – The Hobbit: Sound Editing), Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou (Oscar Nominee – Guardians of the Galaxy: Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling), Ben Wilkins (Oscar Winner – Whiplash: Best Sound Mixing), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), Claudia Wells (Back To The Future), Jason Davis (Celebrity Rehab), Frank Stallone (Rocky), Chase Masterson (General Hospital, ER), Carolyn Hennesy (True Blood, That 70’s Show) and many, many others.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/choices-recovery/mimi-lesseos-oscars/prweb12634770.htm

GA Tech researcher looking to improve on Turing Test

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

For the second time in a year, a research from the Georgia Institute of Technology is challenging the Turing Test, the current standard method used to evaluate whether or not a computer program or machine is capable of exhibiting human-level intelligence.

Like his colleague Mark Riedl before him, Georgia Tech professor Ashok Goel has proposed an alternate method of measuring artificial intelligence (AI) that deals with the shortcomings of the technique originally proposed by computing pioneer Alan Turing back in 1950.

Using visual analogy as the basis for a new method

Last November, Riedl devised an alternative method that relies not on its ability to converse, but on its ability to create a convincing story, poem or painting. He and his colleagues came up with a tweaked version of the Lovelace Test which created clear, measurable parameters that could be used to judge the artistic work created by an AI system called Lovelace 2.0.

Goel, a professor in the School of Interactive Computing, suggests a different technique designed to address the fact that the Turing Test only considers natural language when measuring artificial intelligence. He proposes using Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test, which relies exclusively on a set of visual analogy problems to measure general intelligence, as the basis for a new test.

By using visual analogy problems, Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test forces users to identify the relationship between items that are similar in appearance. Understanding such problems requires elements that are essential to general intelligence, Goel said, including visual thinking, common-sense reasoning, mental imagery and background knowledge – which would make it a good basis for a new, more thorough alternative to the venerable Turing Test.

The Georgia Tech professor proposes that computers be shown raw input images, then tasked with coming up with solutions to an issue. The AI will use image processing to make sense of the picture and visual “thinking” to address the problem, Goel explained in a presentation at the 29th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Austin, Texas, earlier this month.

Addressing the limitations of the Turing Test

In a statement, Goel explained that the prevailing sense of the workshop was that the Turing Test had some issues and could be deceived relatively easily. To prove his point, he refers to a chatbot made by a trio of Russian programmers called “Eugene Goostman,” which managed to pass the Turing Test by convincing one-third of judges that it was actually a real Ukrainian boy.

The results of that experiment have been disputed for a number of reasons, he said, including the fact that was able to influence the test judges by posing as a non-native English speaker, thus gaining an unfair advantage. Goel noted that the transcript of that chat session “makes no sense,” showing that the method is not the best way to test the capabilities of artificial intelligence.

“The general sense among many AI researchers,” he told redOrbit via email, “is that the Turing Test can be deceived relatively easily, for example, by giving non sequitur answers but explaining the lack of logical coherence by pretending to be young, or a non-native speaker of English, or belonging to a different culture, or so on.”

As a replacement, he proposes a new series of tests that will fully account for all aspects of the complex nature of human intelligence – tests centered around Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test and the process of visual thinking as a whole. Ultimately, he hopes to design programs capable of passing human intelligence tests, but admits that such advances are still a long way off.

“Although wholly visual in nature, the Raven’s Progressive Test of intelligence measures general intelligence,” Goel told redOrbit. “Nevertheless, we can improve the test by including open-ended questions. For example, we can show computer a drawing and ask it questions about the drawing. Interpretation of drawings goes beyond just visual thinking and tests other aspects of general intelligence, and humans generally are good at interpreting drawings.”

“It is so good to see renewed interest in AI after a hiatus of several years,” he added. “With the invention of popular AI systems such as Apple’s Siri and IBM’s Watson, AI has recaptured the imagination of the society at large. I expect that AI systems likely will soon do as well on the Raven’s Progressive Test of intelligence as humans – in fact, some of our programs already are beginning to do so. However, manifesting human-level creativity, as in scientific discovery or engineering invention, likely will take longer.”

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Fibromyalgia

The relationship between cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia

Written By: Fibromyalgia Treating

cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia

Both cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia are debilitating disorders. Until recently, they were often mistaken for each other in the doctor’s office. It is harder to detect cervical stenosis until it has reached a stage where it has caused permanent nerve damage.

Fibromyalgia is getting easier to detect with new test procedures. The important thing to remember is that you need to understand both disorders, as fibromyalgia can radically increase your risk of cervical stenosis.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a disorder that is characterized by a cluster of symptoms. It was originally hard to diagnose as all of the symptoms were noted only by patient reporting, however, now there are blood tests and brain scans that can help make a clear diagnosis possible. People who suffer from fibromyalgia most often experience chronic and pervasive pain, pain and stiffness in the neck, spine, hips and joints, sleep disruption, painful menstruation, and brain fog.

It is associated with an increased occurrence of yeast infections, spinal stenosis and other immune related disorders, including IBS. Fibromyalgia is not a terminal disease, but it is considered to be a limited progressive disease. Many people experience a reduction in symptoms when they are of senior age. Both men and women can get fibromyalgia.

Who is at risk?

Men and women can acquire fibromyalgia at any age past 18, although there have been cases of younger children of both sexes being diagnosed with the disease. Science is not clear on the specific cause of fibromyalgia, but they have identified some clear factors that may indicate and increased risk for it.

These risk factors include being related to anyone who has fibromyalgia, severe body or train trauma and injury, immune disorders, arthritis and inflammatory diseases.  Fibromyalgia does not raise your risk for cancer. Women with fibromyalgia may be at a higher risk for endometriosis, which then increases their risk for ovarian cancer as well.

What is cervical stenosis?

Cervical stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal between vertebrae C1 and C7 in the spine due to compression. This compression affects the spinal cord and nerve endings. It can result in the loss of bladder control, difficulty in keeping balance, numbness or weakness in arms or legs, muscle weakness and loss of muscle control.

It is sometimes referred to as a “bulging disc” issue, where the compression has become so severe the vertebrae of the spine are bulging out for lack of cushion and pressing or cutting into the spinal cord and nerve endings. It is a degenerative disorder that is rarely diagnosed before the appearance of advanced symptoms. Common treatments for it include medication, exercise, physical therapy and sometimes surgery to relieve the compression on the spinal column.

Who is at risk?

Cervical stenosis can start for many reasons in the human body, including high impact repetitive activity, poor posture and body trauma. It is also a common disorder that occurs as a result of the aging process. It occurs more frequently in women over 50, due mostly to a lack of muscle tone and strength. It is also common in men over 50 as well, but typically noticeable later in life than with women.

What is the relationship between cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia?

The relationship between cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia is complicated. Many of the initial symptoms of both can cause them to be mistaken for each other. Fortunately, with the recent development of blood tests and brain scans to diagnose fibromyalgia, combined with the x-ray diagnostics available for cervical stenosis a misdiagnosis is getting to be less common.

However, there is increasing evidence that nerve damage and its possible role in fibromyalgia may be stronger than initially thought. This is leading many physicians to believe that there is a stronger relationship between cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia than ever before.

As cervical stenosis causes nerve damage, but the symptoms may not show until that damage has been occurring for years – that nerve damage may be one of the triggers for fibromyalgia. It is also accepted that the risk for cervical stenosis will be much higher for men and women with fibromyalgia too.

What can you do?

You and your doctor can make sure to monitor your health to spot the symptoms of both disorders and treat them accordingly. If you are not showing signs of cervical stenosis, it is important to remember that a diagnosis of fibromyalgia raises your risk for developing it. Fibromyalgia and its pain and stiffness are most likely to decrease the amount of regular physical activity that you do in your life.

That decrease can set the stage for increased compression in the range of your spine between C1 and C7 that will then lead to spinal stenosis at a much earlier stage in life. By being proactive with lifestyle changes, you can help your fibromyalgia symptoms and prevent cervical stenosis too.

The importance of flexibility and load bearing exercise

The primary non-surgical treatment for cervical stenosis is pain management and exercise. Physical therapy and exercise the focuses on increasing flexibility, along with load bearing and strength building help to relive pressure on the spinal cord.

It is also the lifestyle change that is most recommended to those with fibromyalgia to help relieve symptoms. Building your strength, as well as maintaining your flexibility not only increases your ability to support you upper body and relieve pressure on the spine, it also encourages the lymph system to work more effectively – which helps your immune system.

Making sure to determine if cervical stenosis is present

Cervical stenosis and fibromyalgia are two disorders that are often mistaken for each other, and that can create each other too. The nerve damage from cervical stenosis can lead to the development of fibromyalgia, and the muscle weakness and pain of fibromyalgia can create the environment that results in cervical stenosis. You can be proactive with your life so you don’t have to suffer with both of these.

Further reading:

Fibromyalgia Overview http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/fibromyalgia/fibromyalgia-overview

Cervical Spinal Stenosis http://www.nfra.net/SpinSten.htm

Blueberries may be able to combat PTSD

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Blueberries have earned the “superfood” label for being a low-calorie product that is high in nutritional value (especially antixoxidants), and now a recent study indicates that the fruit may also potentially help treat individuals affected by post-traumatic stress disorder.

In research presented last month at the at the Experimental Biology meeting in Boston, Philip J. Ebenezer of Louisiana State University and his colleagues indicated that rats who had consumed blueberries recovered better from a traumatizing experience that those that had not.

Using blueberries to modulate neurotransmitters

According to National Geographic, Ebenezer’s team studied rats that had developed PTSD after being deliberately frightened by cats. Some of the rodents were fed blueberries while others were not, and those that consumed the superfood were found to have significantly higher levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, a sign of improved recovery from the disorder.

Specifically, the researchers found that serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Zoloft and Paxil, which are the only currently approved treatments for PTSD, causes an increase in levels of serotonin (5-HT) and the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE). Since higher levels of NE could lessen the effectiveness of this therapy, they wanted to see if blueberries were able to counteract those affects by modulating neurotransmitter levels in a rat model of the disorder.

They supplemented some of the rats with a blueberry-enriched diet and others with a control diet, and also studied a third, non-PTSD group that received a standard, blueberry-free diet. The rats that did not receive blueberries experienced an increase in both NE and 5-HT as compared to the control group, but the PTSD rats that received blueberries demonstrated an increase in 5-HT with no effect on NE levels, indicating that the fruit could modulate neurotransmitters.

A long list of health benefits linked to blueberries

Provided blueberries can be shown to have a similar effects on neurotransmitter levels in human beings, they may help alleviate the problems of the severely traumatized, Nat Geo said. It would also add to a long and growing list of the benefits of this antioxidant-rich food, which protects the body’s cells from damage caused by the highly-reactive molecules known as free radicals.

In addition, the website also reports that a recent paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics claims that eating one cup of blueberries per day could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Other research has similarly found that the fruit can decrease the odds of developing prostate cancer, treat urinary tract infections and reduce age-related memory loss. They are also a great source of vitamin C and may help improve cognitive function as well.

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Researchers make objects invisible without metamaterial cloaking

Written By: Brett Smith
Christopher Pilny

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett

From Harry Potter to the Invisible Woman, popular culture has often romanticized the idea of making people invisible. Now, a new study from Russian and Austrian engineers has taken us one step closer to that possibility.

Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the new study described how the team was able to make homogenous cylindrical objects invisible in the microwave range of the light spectrum.

The new research is based on studies of light scattering from a glass cylinder filled with water. These studies show the unusual physical properties of materials with “high values of refractive index”. In the new study, the scientists were able to adjust the refractive index of water by regulating its temperature.

When light hits the cylinder, it is scattered by two mechanisms: resonant and non-resonant scattering. The study team found that at particular frequencies, light scattered the two mechanisms have opposite phases and cancel each other out, making the object invisible.

Applied to electromagnetic wave ranges

Based on this knowledge, the study team was able to achieve the first experimental observation of a homogeneous object becoming invisible by scattering cancellation. The team was able to switch between visible and invisible at the same frequency of 1.9 GHz by altering the temperature of water in the cylinder, from 194 to 122 degrees F.

“Our theoretical calculations were successfully tested in microwave experiments,” said study author Mikhail Rybin, a metamaterials researcher at ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia. “What matters is that the invisibility idea we implemented in our work can be applied to other electromagnetic wave ranges, including to the visible range. Materials with corresponding refractive index are either long known or can be developed at will.”

The study team work’s is different from another kind of prominent invisibility research involving metamaterials, which are artificial structures with specific optical properties. Metamaterials can change the direction of light by making it curve around a cloaked object. Coating objects with metamaterials is difficult because they are difficult to fabricate and are not compatible with conventional applications.

The method utilized in the new study is based on a new understanding of scattering processes and surpasses the metamaterials approach in terms of simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

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Microwave ovens, not aliens, may be source of strange radio signals

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

The mystery surrounding an unusual type of radio signals known as perytons that have been detected at the Parkes Observatory in Australia has been solved, and a microwave oven, not an interstellar phenomenon or an extraterrestrial life form, is apparently the source.

radio signals

According to CNET, the radio telescope at the facility had been picking up unusual signals as of late – signals similar to the transient, celestial radio pulses known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) that have been detected a total of 11 times at the Parkes Observatory. Unlike FRBs, however, it turns out that perytons have a distinctly terrestrial origin, astronomers there have learned.

In a new study currently available on the arXiv server, the authors revealed that they were able to generate a peryton at 1.4 GHz by prematurely opening a microwave door when the telescope is pointed at “an appropriate relative angle.” Essentially, by reaching for that microwave burrito before the appliance shuts off, a person could create one of the short, strong radio signals.

Somebody let that History Channel guy know it’s not aliens

radio signals

Provided the observatory’s radio telescope is pointed in the right direction, it will pick up that FRB-like signal. The researchers set out to discover the origin of the perytons after learning that the waves were primarily detected during office hours on weekdays, and searched for them with a real-time radio interference monitor installed on the grounds, the website explained.

In January, the monitor detected three signals at the same time as the telescope registered peryton readings, all of which occurred in the frequency range emitted by microwave ovens. Lead author Emily Petroff and her colleagues decided to test the microwaves located in the facility and found that they could produce perytons by opening the unit’s door before it stopped running.

“The two ovens responsible for most or all of the observed perytons are from the same manufacturer (Matsushita/National),” Petroff wrote, according to CNET, “and are both in excess of 27 years of age though still working reliably. Our tests point clearly to the magnetron itself as the source of the perytons since these are not detected unless the oven door is opened.”

“Further, our analysis of the peryton cluster of 23rd June 1998 implies the perytons are a transient phenomenon that occurs only when the magnetron is switched off,” she added. “That we have observed perytons from at least two ovens over 17 years suggests that they are not the product of an unusual failure or fault but are inherent to, and long-lived in, at least some common types of oven.”

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Fibromyalgia

Benzodiazepines for Fibromyalgia

Written By: Fibromyalgia Treating

Benzodiazepines for Fibromyalgia

Have you been trying to find the right medications for your fibromyalgia? As you likely know, there are a lot of different things that you can take and try in order to find the right mix for your particular set of symptoms.

You may try some natural remedies combined with traditional Western medicine treatment plans. One of the types of medications that may be utilized for your particular case is known as benzodiazepines. What are they, and how can they play a role in our overall fibromyalgia treatment plan? Read on to learn more about these drugs.

What Are Benzodiazepines and What Are They Used For Normally?

Benzodiazepines, in short, are a type of antidepressant. Unlike other types of antidepressants, these are used to help with anxiety disorders instead of depressive disorders, even though they can help with both. Over the years, Benzodiazepines have become a lot more popular, and are usually used when the more common SSRI’s (Prozac, etc) are not doing what they need to do in order to help you feel relief from your daily symptoms.

Basically, what they do is that they help your brain to make certain neurotransmitters which cause the body to relax more easily. They basically “shut down” some of the different processes that are going on with your brain that cause you to feel anxious. In some cases, the Benzodiazepines will actually make you feel sleepy, which in turn will make it so that you are able to sleep better throughout the entire evening. This is a huge help for a lot of anxiety sufferers and those who have other disorders that may cause them to have trouble sleeping.

There are a few of them, including Lorazepam, which are used to help relieve overwhelming stress and anxiety that may occur with panic attacks. Others are used in order to help fight off feelings of depression. Other people may just use them in order to get past their insomnia during the night.

All that being said, many times, Benzodiazepines are considered to be a last resort medication, used only when other types of medication aren’t working as they need to for your particular symptoms. They’re a last resort for a few reasons. First, because they react very poorly with other types of medications that you may be taking.

They may also become toxic if you don’t take them correctly. On top of that, you may also notice that it makes some of your mental clarity worsen. You may get confused or you may stumble around, in the worst cases.

How Can Benzodiazepines Help with Fibromyalgia Symptoms?

As you likely know, there are a lot of different anxiety disorders that go hand in hand with fibromyalgia. Generalized anxiety disorder is the most common disorder that you will see when you’re talking about what is related to FM, but you can also see other anxiety disorders as well.

Panic attacks and/or panic disorders can cause a lot of problems for those with FM because of the oversensitivity that the nervous system is already dealing with due to the disease. Social anxiety may also creep into the mix, and selected phobias may also be tied with fibromyalgia.

Because of this, it’s really important that we consider all of the different options that we have here. Benzodiazepines can really play a role in helping us to be more relaxed. If we’re fending off stress and anxiety, we don’t have the energy to cope with some of the other problems that we may be dealing with as well. Benzodiazepines may also help to clear our minds, especially with the fibro fog, but there is still research out on that.

There are also Benzodiazepines that have been shown to help with insomnia, which can be a huge help for those who are trying to deal with that as part of the fibromyalgia symptoms that they’re coping with. It can help to make it so that we don’t wake up in the middle of the night as often, and it can prevent other issues in your sleep as well, depending on what is going on.

Pain management with Benzodiazepines is still being researched. A few of them, including Lorazepam and Clonazepam, have been shown to help with the chronic pain that fibromyalgia patients feel on a regular basis. The others are still being researched, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest because of some of the issues that you may have to deal with if and when you take the medication for extended periods of time.

Of course, there’s a warning that you will want to make sure and heed as well. Benzodiazepines are a controversial category of medications, mainly because people are very likely to get addicted to them. They have addictive qualities due to the chemicals that are used to make them. That being said, if you are working with your doctor and you start to notice these issues, you won’t have to worry about it becoming more of a problem than it may have been.

On top of that, many people will get upset stomach for the first few times that they take the medication. You should not drive or use machinery until you know how your body is going to react to using it. On top of that, most doctors will only prescribe Benzodiazepines for the short term – you usually only have it for a couple of weeks, or you only use them “as needed” while you are on the medication.

There are a lot of different types of medications out there, and with time, you will find ones that give you the help that you need with your particular symptoms.

Benzodiazepines are just one of the many different types of medication that you and your doctor may explore while you are determining what way that your treatment needs to go in the future. Talk to your doctor about your options so that you can ensure that you have the best treatment possible for your needs.

Further reading:

Muscle Relaxants: Do They Work For Fibromyalgia http://www.fmnetnews.com/free-articles/article-samples/muscle-relaxants

Benzodiazepines http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_benzo.html

 

Parents of unvaccinated kids could lose welfare benefits in Australia

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Australian parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated could be stripped of upwards of $11,000 worth of federal child care payments and tax benefits starting next year, Prime Minister Tony Abbot and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison announced on Sunday.

Currently, parents are allowed to opt out of vaccinations for medical or religious reasons, or by claiming that they are “conscientious objectors” to the policy. However, Australian official will be removing that last exemption from child care benefit laws starting in January 2016.

Reinforcing the importance of immunizations

In a joint statement, Abbot and Morrison said that parents who choose vaccinate their children “should have confidence that they can take their children to child care without the fear that their children will be at risk of contracting a serious or potentially life-threatening illness” from kids whose parents are conscientious objectors to immunization laws.

To that end, the government officials have decided to end the conscientious objector exemption on children’s vaccination for access to taxpayer-funded child care benefits. In addition, they are expanding immunization requirements for the Family Tax Benefit Part A end-of-year benefits to include children of all ages (currently, only one-, two- and five-year-olds are checked).

Existing medical or religious exemptions will continue, though the latter will require that parents be affiliated with a religious group that has filed a formal objection that has been approved by the government, Abbot and Morrison explained. They added that the new policy will “reinforce the importance of immunization and protecting public health, especially for children.”

New regulations being met by some opposition

According to CNN.com, under the new so-called “no jab, no pay” policy, thousands of families are at risk of losing their welfare benefits as the government estimated that more than 39,000 youngsters under the age of seven have not received immunizations due to the objections of their parents. That number has nearly doubled in the last decade, federal official claim.

In the US and other Western countries, anti-vaccination campaigns have been increasing in the past few years due to fears that they could cause autism. That theory has been widely discredited by scientists, the website added, but fears persist, with some experts blaming those concerns for the recent measles outbreak that has spread throughout California and other states.

The government said that the “vast majority” of these families (approximately 97 percent) meet vaccination requirements at relevant age points, but that it was “extremely concerned” about the potential health risks posed to the community by those who are not vaccinated. In response to the announcement, over 7,000 people have signed a petition opposing the changes, CNN said.

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Meet the Vulcan: ULA’s new rocket system

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Colorado-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) has unveiled a new rocket system that it claims will be more affordable and accessible than currently available space-travel options and could be used for missions travelling all the way to the dwarf planet Pluto.

ULA announced the new rocket, codenamed Vulcan, at the 31st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on Monday. BBC News reports that it is currently scheduled to begin operations in 2019, and that it will eventually phase out the company’s current Atlas and Delta rockets.

Promising a game-changing rocket

The first element of the Vulcan rockets to be introduced will be a first-stage booster, which will feature an all-new, US-built liquid-fueled engine, according to the British news agency said. The plan is to incorporate a liquid methane-oxygen power unit currently being developed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his aerospace company, Blue Origin, into its design..

ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is initially planning to used the new booster along with Centaur upper-stage currently used by the Atlas rocket, but in the early 2020s, this will be replaced with an all-new upper stage that the company hopes will create a rocket that can even surpass the Delta-VI Heavy, the most powerful rocket in the world today.

In a statement, ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno said that the Vulcan launch system “will be the highest-performing, most cost-efficient rocket on the market” and claimed that it would even create “new opportunities for the nation’s use of space. Whether it is scientific missions, medical advancements, national security or new economic opportunities for businesses, ULA’s new Vulcan rocket is a game-changer in terms of creating endless possibilities in space.”

More power at half the cost

The company is also claiming that the Vulcan would be significantly less expensive to build and operate than other rockets. Bruno told BBC News that a Delta-VI Heavy launch conducted today costs about $400 million, and that he expects Vulcan launches to cost half that amount.

Some of those savings will be made by recovering and reusing first-stage booster engines after a successful lift-off, the British media outlet said. Following separation from the upper-stage, the engines would unhook from the propellant tanks and fall back to the Earth surface. As they fall, they be protect themselves from burning upon on re-entry by deploying an inflatable shield.

Eventually, they would use a parachute to slow their descent, and before they made impact, a helicopter out intercept them in the air and return them safely to the ground. The engines would undergo maintenance, and once repairs are finished, they would be installed into a rocket.

“As the company currently responsible for more than 70 percent of the nation’s space launches, it is only fitting that America got to name the country’s rocket of the future,” Bruno said. “Our ability to deliver critical national security, scientific and commercial satellites into the correct orbit every time is filled with risks and challenges, and ULA has delivered every time. ULA’s reliability is and will continue to be part of the mission.”

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Why do we have chins?

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Modern humans developed chins not for chewing or other mechanical functions, but as the result of an evolutionary adaptation involving face size and shape that may be linked to changes in our hormone levels due to domestication, according to a new study.

In a paper published this week in the Journal of Anatomy, a team of experts from the University of Iowa also concluded that the development of a human chin is a secondary consequence of our lifestyle changes from isolated hunter-gatherer groups to more cooperative social networks.

Chewing alone would not necessitate jaws

Nathan Holton, an assistant professor and anthropologist in the UI College of Dentistry, and his colleagues recruited almost 40 people of various ages, and conducted a series of different facial and cranial biomechanical analyses. They discovered that chewing and other mechanical forces alone would not have been enough to spur on the development of jaws.

“Part of what we’re trying to do is gain a better understating about the role of jaw function in facial development and evolution,” Holton told redOrbit via email. “Many aspects of facial form in archaic and modern humans have been suggested to be tied, in one way or another, to jaw function. A projecting chin in modern humans is a good example of a part of the jaw that is thought by some to be a response to mechanical stresses during chewing.”

“What we wanted to do was examine how whether the development of a prominent chin from around three years of age into adulthood increased the ability for the mandible to resist certain types of stresses,” he added. “Based solely on the geometry of the mandible, we didn’t find any evidence that a chin was better a resisting stresses in the anterior region of the mandible. In fact, we found that as the chin develops, the mandible is less capable of resisting certain stresses.”

Instead, they report that the formation of new bone in the lower mandible was actually the result of simple geometry: as our faces became smaller during our evolution into modern humans, the chin became a bony prominence at the end of our face that develops as our head size increases. The finding could settle a long-standing, on-again/off-again debate into the reasons why people have chins and how the structures formed in the first place.

Hormone changes, facial growth involved in chin development

Furthermore, Holton’s colleague Robert Franciscus and a team of UI anthropologists concluded that the human chin was a side-effect of lifestyle changes that started roughly 80,000 years and saw human evolve from isolated hunter-gatherer groups to increasingly-connected societies that would cooperate and were more likely to express themselves in art and other mediums.

In particular, males would have become less aggressive over this period, opting to fight less and negotiate more (as evidenced by an increasing exchange of goods and ideas) that would benefit all members of the group, the study authors added. This shift in attitude is correlates to reduced levels of testosterone and other hormones that would have also resulted in reduced face size and other physiological changes in men, the Iowa research team explained.

“What we’re arguing,” Franciscus, corresponding author on the study, said in a statement, “is that modern humans had an advantage at some point to have a well-connected social network, they can exchange information, and mates, more readily, there’s innovation, and for that to happen, males have to tolerate each other. There had to be more curiosity and inquisitiveness than aggression, and the evidence of that lies in facial architecture.”

The new study supports the notion that the chin did not develop from mechanical exertion such as chewing, and is based on an examination of its reaction to the mechanical forces that cause the chin area to become stressed. In theory, the processes being analyzed created new bones on the microscopic levels, and that these processes resulted in the development of the chin.

In looking at subjects from three to 20 years old, however, the authors found no evidence of this. In fact, they found the opposite what true: those individuals with the most mechanical resistance were most similar to three- or four-year-olds, meaning that they had very little chin. Rather, they found that chin growth had more to do with how each part of faces adapts as head size increases, fitting together like a series of pieces in a shape-changing 3D puzzle.

“These results provide evidence that the development of a prominent chin is unlikely to be the result of mechanical function,” Holton told redOrbit. “Instead, the development of the chin probably has more to do differential growth of different regions of the face that affect the spatial relationship between different parts of the jaw.”

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NASA releases first-ever color map of Ceres

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

NASA has released the first color map of Ceres, and while the data is still said to have come from early observational stages, it nonetheless indicates that the dwarf planet was shaped by a series of diverse processes since its formation some 4.5 billion years ago.

According to BBC News, the map (the colors of which were exaggerated to illustrate the subtle differences in its surface materials) was unveiled on Monday at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna and is the result of the US space agency’s Dawn mission.

Dawn instruments capture subtle surface differences

Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, is depicted as having been formed by a series of diverse processes which indicate that the dwarf planet has been very active throughout its lifetime, the British media outlet explained.

Martin Hoffmann, who works on Dawn’s Framing Camera instrument, told BBC News that the color differences depicted in the image were primarily due “to compositional differences at the surface,” with “the way light is reflected off the different grain sizes” also playing a role.

To the naked eye, Ceres would appear to be a dark entity with little color differences, the NASA team explained, but thanks to the sensitivity of the Framing Camera, they have been able to find and magnify even the most subtlest of differences in different areas of the dwarf planet. This data has helped them begin to understand what processes helped form its surface.

ceres map

These images, from Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR), highlight two regions on Ceres containing bright spots. The top images show a region scientists have labeled "1" and the bottom images show the region labeled "5." (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/ASI/INAF)

Still no explanation for those unusual bright spots

Dawn arrived at Ceres back on March 6, and is currently moving itself into position for its first complete science orbit around the dwarf planet. In the near future, the spacecraft will once again be in position to get a glimpse at one of the object’s most intriguing features: the bright spots of mysterious origin that have had astronomers talking since they were first spotted.

While the Dawn science team is trying not to discuss possible explanations behind the formation of those features until they have access to higher-resolution data, BBC News noted that they are obviously comprised of some type of highly-reflective material, and that since it is not likely that ice would be stable on its surface without air, salts appear to be the most likely culprit.

However, Nature noted that infrared images of one area of the planet (identified as Spot 1) seem to indicate that it is, in fact, made of ice. The website added that the pair of bright gleams (known as Spot 5) are invisible in the infrared images – perhaps due to the low resolution, Dawn scientist Federico Tosi from the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology explained.

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Health

i2i Systems Launches Integrated Team Intelligence to Take Population Health to the Next Level

Written By: admin

Innovative New iTi Module “Fulfills the Dream of What Data Can Deliver” in Healthcare

(PRWEB) April 13, 2015

i2i Systems, the leader in Population Health Management and Analytics for the past 15 years, is launching its newest innovation, Integrated Team Intelligence.

Known as iTi, the i2iTracks add-on features real-time dashboards that deliver game-changing clinical, financial and operational information to users’ fingertips.

On the clinical level, iTi empowers care teams to access and use data to streamline day-of-care planning, eliminate missed opportunities and improve workflow issues.

On the financial level, iTi gives users new insights and guidance on achieving supreme compliance and maximizing revenue. And on the operational level, iTi helps provider organizations direct data-validation efforts and make accurate, data-driven strategic decisions.

“iTi puts relevant data in users’ hands every day that transforms their level of performance,” said Janice Nicholson, co-founder and CEO of i2i Systems. “By transforming data into insights, real-time, across the continuum of care we are helping providers deliver care at a whole new level and helping practices become high-performing organizations. It’s truly the realization of Population Health 2.0.”

Integrated Team Intelligence is a suite of data tools that provides relevant information when it is needed the most. iTi is comprised of four key sections: Care Team Intelligence, Empanelment, Performance Measures and Care Coordination.

  • Care Team Intelligence is the first-ever system designed specifically for the care team to help build and deliver efficient team-based care. It provides pre-visit planning and instant feedback on post-visit performance through at-a-glance dashboards and reports. With Care Team Intelligence, missed care opportunities are a thing of the past.
  • Empanelment helps provider organizations monitor and maintain PCP assignments, analyze PCP loads and measure outcomes by PCP. This ensures each patient has an established provider relationship, which is a foundational tenant of the Triple Aim and Patient Centered Medical Home.
  • Performance Measures allows organizations to see the big picture of their overall performance including provider scorecards, operational and key financial measures.
  • Care Coordination enables organizations to streamline the activities associated with specialty care referrals and care transitions. With iTi’s Care Coordination you will achieve safe, appropriate and effective healthcare delivery.

Integrated Team Intelligence is powered by i2i Systems’ leading Population Health Management and Analytics solution, i2iTracks, used in more than 1,000 healthcare facilities across 35 states. i2iTracks helps standardize data from disparate electronic health records, practice management and other systems, simplifying the path to actionable information for an entire patient population. This enables clinicians – and their teams – to proactively, rather than reactively, manage patients leading to increased staff efficiency and better clinical outcomes.

“Rather than measuring successes and failures at the end of the month, iTi provides the instant feedback that will revolutionize the way provider organizations use data and information to achieve Triple Aim success,” said Nicholson.

To learn more about Integrated Team Intelligence or request a demo, contact i2i Systems at http://www.i2isys.com.

About i2i Systems

As a leader and pioneer in Population Health Management and Analytics Solutions, i2i Systems has been proudly serving non-profit and for-profit healthcare organizations for more than 15 years. It started with a simple mission: Creating Healthier Populations. That mission has consistently guided our product and service development and we have never wavered from that commitment. Today, we are helping organizations successfully transition from volume-based to value-based care. We understand that data is the new currency and our fully integrated Population Health-centric solutions are helping physician group practices, community health centers, health center-controlled networks, hospitals, health systems and health plans optimize their clinical, financial and operational success.

To learn why more than 1,000 healthcare facilities in 36 states chose i2i Systems over any other competitor, visit http://www.i2isys.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12646569.htm

Are Google image searches skewing our views of women in the workplace?

Written By: Brett Smith
Christopher Pilny

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett

A Google image search can turn up all manner of things, from last year’s meme to today’s headline, and researchers at the University of Washington wanted to find out if search results for certain occupations affect our perceptions of women in the workplace.

In a new study, UW researchers saw that for certain jobs, such as CEO, women were significantly under-represented in Google image search results. The study team also saw that image search results can have a short-term impact on perceptions.

“You need to know whether gender stereotyping in search image results actually shifts people’s perceptions before you can say whether this is a problem. And, in fact, it does — at least in the short term,” said study author Sean Munson, UW assistant professor of human centered design and engineering.

“Girls don’t write books!”  -Google

The study looked at the first 100 images that popped up in a July 2013 Google image search for 45 different occupations, from bartender to welder. The various search results were then compared to job statistics from the US Bureau of Labor for 2012.

The researchers saw that for some jobs, the discrepancy between search results and women’s employment in a job was pretty high. Only 11 percent of women are CEOs, according to Google results – yet labor statistics show that 27 percent of CEOs in the US are female. Image search results also showed that 25 percent of US authors are women, while labor stats showed 56 percent.

The team did find that for about half the jobs they investigated, the results and statistics were within five percentage points of each other.

“I was actually surprised at how good the image search results were, just in terms of numbers,” said study author Matt Kay, a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering. “They might slightly under-represent women and they might slightly exaggerate gender stereotypes, but it’s not going to be totally divorced from reality.”

Operating a jack hammer in a bikini

In another part of the study, researchers found that a top image matching the majority gender for a profession tended to be ranked by participants as more competent and trustworthy. Conversely, the images that didn’t match the stereotype were not only considered less trustworthy, but in some cases they were considered provocative or even inappropriate.

“A number of the top hits depicting women as construction workers are models in skimpy little costumes with a hard hat posing suggestively on a jackhammer. You get things that nobody would take as professional,” said study author Cynthia Matuszek, currently an assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering at University of Maryland.

To determine if these search results can impact participants’ perceptions, the team had volunteers answer a series of questions about a particular occupation, including questions about gender. Two weeks later, the team showed participants sham image search results and then asked the same questions.

The team found that the fake search results were able to skew responses by about 7 percent.

They should look at Thinkstock, next

The researchers said their results don’t say anything about the long-term impact of skewed search results, but they do put forward serious questions about search algorithms.

“Our hope is that this will become a question that designers of search engines might actually ask,” Munson said. “They may come to a range of conclusions, but I would feel better if people are at least aware of the consequences and are making conscious choices around them.”

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One type of lung cell can regenerate as another type of lung cell, study finds

Written By: Brett Smith
Christopher Pilny

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
When we think of tissue regeneration, we typically think of stem cells and their capacity to develop into a wide range of different cell types.
However, a team of scientists from Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania have shown that certain cells in the lungs are able to give rise to other lung cell types, according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications.
“It’s as if the lung cells can regenerate from one another as needed to repair missing tissue, suggesting that there is much more flexibility in the system than we have previously appreciated,” said study author Dr. Jon Epstein, chair of the department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Penn. “These aren’t classic stem cells that we see regenerating the lung. They are mature lung cells that awaken in response to injury.”
“We want to learn how the lung regenerates so that we can stimulate the process in situations where it is insufficient, such as in patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease),” he added.
A mind of its own
There are two types of cells in the air sacs of the lung known as alveoli. Long, slender Type 1 cells are where inhaled gases are exchanged. Type 2 cells release surfactant, a soapy compound that assists in keeping airways open. Sometimes, premature babies need to be given surfactant to assist them with breathing.
In the study, the team used mouse models to find that both of these kinds of cells are derived from a standard precursor stem cell in the embryo. Next, the researchers used other mouse models involving part of the lung that was removed for cell cultures to examine the plasticity of cell types throughout lung regeneration. The team saw that Type 1 cells can give rise to Type 2 cells, and vice-versa.
Researchers from Duke had previously found that Type 2 cells can differentiate into gas-exchanging Type 1 cells. However, the capacity of Type I cells to also differentiate had not been previously reported.
“We found that Type 1 cells give rise to the Type 2 cells over about three weeks in various models of regeneration,” said study author Dr. Rajan Jain, a cardiologist at Duke. “We saw new cells growing back into these new areas of the lung. It’s as if the lung knows it has to grow back and can call into action some Type 1 cells to help in that process.”
The study team noted that they are applying their findings to studies of cells from the intestine and skin. They said they will be investigating other lung conditions where alveoli cannot absorb enough oxygen.
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ISS to study bone density in space

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Emily Bills

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

As part of the agency’s ongoing research into how the human body responds to an extended period of time in microgravity environments, NASA officials announced on Friday that it plans to send osteocyte cultures to the International Space Station for the first time.

The cultures will be transported to the ISS on a SpaceX commercial resupply mission scheduled to lift off today, and the NASA Osteocytes and mechano-transduction (Osteo-4) investigation team will analyze the effects of microgravity on this type of bone cell, the agency said.

Searching for causes of space-related bone density loss

The research is essential as NASA plans future missions into deep space, as well as a potential manned mission to Mars, which will require astronauts to spend more time in space than ever before. Analyzing the osteocyte cultures will build upon previous research that identified a loss of bone mass in crewmembers following long-duration missions.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) grantee Dr. Paola Divieti Pajevic, principal investigator of the Osteo-4 study and his colleagues will examine the function and behavior of isolated osteocytes in microgravity to determine how they may contribute to that decline in bone density.

“We are investigating how osteocytes – the most abundant cells in the adult skeleton – both sense and respond to changes in mechanical forces, as achieved aboard the space station,” she explained, adding that the results of the research could also have implications for treating bone disorders and metabolic diseases such as osteoporosis on Earth.

Hunting for genetic signal changes due to microgravity exposure

Osteocytes are cells that sense mechanical forces such as weight lifting when they are applied to the skeleton, the researchers explained. They turn those forces into biological responses, sending signals to other cells to make or remove bone, and if they can solve the mysteries of bone loss in astronauts, they could find way to combat it or produce new bone in space.

Dr. Divieti Pajevic and her associates are using samples from one specific line of bone cells in mice which mimic the bone osteocytes of humans in terms of gene expression, a process in which information programmed in a gene is used to direct the assembly of a protein molecule that then carries out the instructions given to that cell for its role. The researchers will attempt to isolate the genetic signals that change in those cells following exposure to microgravity.

For the Osteo-4 study, the osteocytes will be grown in a synthetic, tissue-like, 3D structure and housed inside bioreactors that allow them to grow in a protected environment. Each tray will house three individual bioreactors, creating a total of nine samples for study on the ISS. Once those samples have arrived in space and are exposed to that environment, the station crew members will freeze them at intervals of three, five, seven, or eight days.

Freezing the osteocytes will stop changes in the cells and allow the researchers to look at the differences at early and later stages of exposure to microgravity, the Osteo-4 team explained. The frozen samples will then be returned to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon capsule where they can be analyzed further in the hopes of increasing our understanding of their overall function.

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Affordable quantum computers with electrical control method

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Emily Bills

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

By using simply electrical pulses to encode quantum information in silicon for the first time, a team of researchers from the University of New South Wales has brought use one-step closer to having affordable, large scale quantum computing technology.

Writing in the open-access journal Science Advances, Andrea Morello, an assistant professor in the UNSW School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunication, and his colleagues report how they were able to use this to create a new control method for quantum computers.

Finding a faster, cheaper way to produce quibits

While traditional computers store data on transistors and hard drives, quantum computers encode that information in the quantum states of microscopic objects known as qubits, the authors report in their study. The new technique works by distorting the shape of the electron cloud attached to the atom, using a very localized electric field, Morello explained.

“This distortion at the atomic level has the effect of modifying the frequency at which the electron responds,” the professor explained in a statement. “Therefore, we can selectively choose which qubit to operate. It’s a bit like selecting which radio station we tune to, by turning a simple knob. Here, the ‘knob’ is the voltage applied to a small electrode placed above the atom.”

The findings suggest that it could be possible to locally control individual qubits using electric fields in a large-scale quantum computer without the need for costly high-frequency microwave sources. It uses only inexpensive voltage generators, and this specific type of qubit can be made using a faster, cheaper method similar to those used to make traditional computers.

Building upon previous research at the university

The device used in the experiment, which was fabricated at the UNSW node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility, focuses on the placement of the quibits inside a thin layer of specially purified silicon that contains only the silicon-28 isotope. That isotope is perfectly non-magnetic and does not disturb the quantum bit whatsoever, Morello said.

The research builds upon previous work in the field conducted at the university, which starting in 2012 became the first research facility to demonstrate single-atom spin qubits in silicon. Morello and his colleagues has already improved the control of those qubits to 99 percent accuracy, and last year set a new record for how long quantum information can be stored in the solid state.

“We demonstrated that a highly coherent qubit, like the spin of a single phosphorus atom in isotopically enriched silicon, can be controlled using electric fields, instead of using pulses of oscillating magnetic fields,” added UNSW post-doctoral researcher, Dr. Arne Laucht.

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Will we ever see a 200-year-old human?

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

From legends of the Fountain of Youth to classic comedy skits about people who have lived for more than two millennia, age has long captured the imagination of people all over the world who wonder just how far science may one day be able to stretch the limits of longevity.

Following last week’s death of 116-year-old Arkansas native Gertrude Weaver (who briefly was the world’s oldest living person), Discovery News posed the question, “given new kinds of drugs and technology, can we push the limits of human lifespan beyond 130, to even 200 years?”

Technology might keep us alive for even 1,000 years

According to the website, Aubrey de Grey, editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research and Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation, claims that by finding a cure for a handful of diseases and developing new treatments for aging, we could one day wind up with humans who live for upwards of 1,000 years.

De Grey, who received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge and who is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and his SENS colleagues explain on their website that they not only fund studies on aging, but also conduct experiments of their own at their California-based research center, fund researchers through educational grants, and host conferences to discuss medical issues.

SENS explains that its goal is to address the cellular and molecular damage to a person’s body that is responsible for aging without altering the metabolism. Instead, the group said that it is seeking “new therapies” that “target and repair this damage” – treatments that “apply techniques from regenerative medicine to the damage of aging” called rejuvenation biotechnologies.

Age-related research projects: are they worth it?

However, as Discovery News pointed out, SENS is not the only organization looking to find the scientific equivalent to the Fountain of Youth. Dr. Joon Yun, a board-certified radiologist and the managing partner and president of investment management firm Palo Alto Investors, LLC, has recently offered a $1 million dollar prize to scientists who can reverse the aging process.

Similarly, Google launched a research division known as Calico Labs last year to study ways to slow the aging process and to combat age-related diseases. In March, that company reached a four-year deal with the University of California’s QB3 biotech institute to conduct research into longevity and age-related diseases. The goal, Calico said in a statement, was to better understand the biology of aging and to develop new therapies for treating age-related diseases.

However, some experts, including Boston University medicine and geriatrics professor Thomas Perls, believe that no amount of research and funding will help us push the human body beyond its natural limits. Instead of trying to artificially get a few people to the age of 130, 150 or even 200, he told Discovery News that the focus should be on helping people achieve better health in the time that they do have on Earth.

“Should the goal be to get a few people to 130, or is there a more achievable goal of getting a hugely larger number of people living much greater portions of their lives in good health?” Perls pondered. He added that some long-lived people who are primarily healthy throughout most of their lives experience something known as compression of morbidity that leaves them vulnerable to opportunistic diseases such as pneumonia or stroke as they grow older.

Personally, we don’t think old age could get much better than this:

So, getting back to the original question…

So will we ever see a person live to be 200 years of age? The fact is that nobody can definitively say for certain one way or the other, but the advances in medical technology would appear to indicate that the best and brightest scientists in the world are going to do their best to eventually make it happen. Only the future can determine if they will succeed or fail.

However, Caleb Finch, professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California, noted to Discovery News that half of people over the age of 100 have some form of Alzheimer’s, and that those individual have a higher risk of dementia. Finch said that he believes that people have a maximum lifespan of 120 years, and that as you get closer to that age, there is a “high risk” that you will develop a neurodegenerative condition such as Alzheimer’s.

“We are doing our best to find a way to slow the disease – careers have been devoted to it and we’ve had glimmers of success. But nothing does very much,” he continued, adding that recent research has shown that the impact of climate change will likely hurt older people more. So even if we can make it to 200 one day, it might not be the most pleasant of experiences.

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Oxygen deprivation causes near-death experiences, study suggests

Written By: Chuck Bednar
Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

There have been countless stories over the years of people who have gone through near-death experiences, ranging from tales of floating above their own hospital beds to traveling towards a heavenly bright light, but are these simply due to chemical changes in the body?

That’s what the authors of a new study, currently available online and scheduled for publication in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) argue – specifically, that oxygen deprivation causes changes in the brain that are interpreted as near-death experiences.

Lack of oxygen causes brainstorm

As Discovery News reported on Friday, the authors of the study induced anoxia (total depletion of oxygen levels) in rats, then examined the response of neurotransmitters, changes in electrical activity in heart and brain activity, and brain-heart connectivity in those rodents.

“We performed continuous electrocardiography and electroencephalography in rats undergoing experimental asphyxia, and analyzed cortical release of core neurotransmitters, changes in brain and heart electrical activity, and brain-heart connectivity,” wrote experts at the University of Michigan Departments of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Neurology, and Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care.

“Asphyxia stimulates a robust and sustained increase of functional and effective cortical connectivity, an immediate increase in cortical release of a large set of neurotransmitters, and a delayed activation of corticocardiac functional and effective connectivity that persists until the onset of ventricular fibrillation,” they added. “These results demonstrate that asphyxia activates a brainstorm, which accelerates premature death of the heart and the brain.”

In other words, in the moment prior to death, the brain activity increases and can actually speed cardiac demise, MedicalDaily.com explained. This same flurry of mental liveliness most likely is also the foundation of out-of-body or spiritual near death experiences, the authors claim.

In the 30-second period after the hearts of the asphyxiated rats stopped beating, the UM research team witnessed an immediate release of more than a dozen neurochemicals, as well as a spike in the high-frequency brainwaves known as gamma oscillations, the website added. This appeared to trigger a connection between the heart and brain, and the authors believe that similar increases in brain activity levels could happen in humans during their near-death experiences.

Such activity, the UM researchers propose, leads to a heightened state of consciousness that can result in the out-of-body or spiritual visions experienced by cardiac arrest survivors. Using drugs to create a blockade of the brain-heart connections allowed them to significantly delay the state of ventricular fibrillation (which prevents the lower chambers of the heart from pumping) and may improve the chances of survival in patients experiencing a heart attack.

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