Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thinking about thinking
It's good to think - but not too much, scientists say
People who think more about their decisions have more brain cells in their frontal lobes. People who think more about whether they are right have more cells in an area of the brain known as the frontal lobes.UK scientists, writing in Science, looked at how brain size varied depending on how much people thought about decisions.
But a nationwide survey recently found that some people think too much about life. These people have poorer memories, and they may also be depressed. Stephen Fleming, a member of the University College London (UCL) team that carried out the research, said: "Imagine you're on a game show such as 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' and you're uncertain of your answer. You can use that knowledge to ask the audience, ask for help."
The London group asked 32 volunteers to make difficult decisions. They had to look at two very similar black and grey pictures and say which one had a lighter spot. They then had to say just how sure they were of their answer, on a scale of one to six. Although it was hard to tell the difference, the pictures were adjusted to make sure that no-one found the task harder than anyone else. People who were more sure of their answer had more brain cells in the front-most part of the brain - known as the anterior prefrontal cortex.
This part of the brain has been linked to many brain and mental disorders, including autism. Previous studies have looked at how this area functions while people make real time decisions, but not at differences between individuals.
The study is the first to show that there are physical differences between people with regards to how big this area is. These size differences relate to how much they think about their own decisions. The researchers hope that learning more about these types of differences between people may help those with mental illness. Co-author Dr Rimona Weil, from UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said: "I think it has very important implications for patients with mental ill health who perhaps don't have as much insight into their own disease." She added that they hope they may be able to improve patients' ability to recognise that they have an illness and to remember to take their medication.
However, thinking a lot about your own thoughts may not be all good. Cognitive psychologist Dr Tracy Alloway from the University of Stirling, who was not involved in the latest study, said that some people have a tendency to brood too much and this leads to a risk of depression. More than 1,000 people took part in a nationwide study linking one type of memory - called "working memory" - to mental health. Working memory involves the ability to remember pieces of information for a short time, but also while you are remembering them, to do something with them.
For example, you might have to keep hold of information about where you saw shapes and colours - and also answer questions on what they looked like. Dr Alloway commented: "I like to describe it as your brain's Post-It note."Those with poorer working memory, the 10-15% of people who could only remember about two things, were more likely to mull over things and brood too much.
Both groups presented their findings at the British Science Festival, held this year at the University of Aston in Birmingham.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Left Brain/ Right Brain and emotion
We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. But neuroscientists have learned that it’s a lot more complicated. In 2007, an influential paper in the journal Behavioral and Brain Functions found that while most of us process emotions through the right hemisphere of the brain, about 35% of people — especially victims of trauma — process their hurt and anger through their left brain, where logic and language sit. That may be because they had worked so hard to explain, logically, why they were suffering. But pushing emotions through the left brain taxed it: these people performed significantly worse on memory tests.
Now a new paper — out in the September issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease — further complicates the picture with a surprising finding: whether you are right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous (which the authors call, rather delightfully, “inconsistently handed”) seems to be an important clue in understanding how you use your brain to process emotions. It’s been known for some time that lefties and the ambidextrous are more prone to negative emotions. The new study shows that they also have a greater imbalance in activity between the left and right brains when they process emotions. Of course, you can’t be sure which comes first: maybe angry people are more out of balance, or maybe the inability to find equilibrium makes you angry. As for the left-handed: maybe they’re more angry because the world is designed for the right-handed majority.
The study also used an interesting method to find that angry people are, literally, hot-headed: the authors of the paper — led by Ruth Propper, a psychology professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts — measured brain-hemisphere activation with a relatively old method called tympanic membrane temperature, which is essentially how hot it is in your inner ear. If you get angry a lot, your head tends to be warmer.
One problem is that the study was small — just 55 undergraduates participated (they were paid $20 each for having to endure ear-temperature tests and psychological questioning). Also, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, while peer-reviewed, is one of less-respected psychology journals. Still, I like the study just because it explains that when you get hot under the collar, you are actually hot under the collar.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/15/which-is-better-being-right-brained-or-left-brained/?xid=rss-topstories-cnnpartner#ixzz0zh5aYwM3
Now a new paper — out in the September issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease — further complicates the picture with a surprising finding: whether you are right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous (which the authors call, rather delightfully, “inconsistently handed”) seems to be an important clue in understanding how you use your brain to process emotions. It’s been known for some time that lefties and the ambidextrous are more prone to negative emotions. The new study shows that they also have a greater imbalance in activity between the left and right brains when they process emotions. Of course, you can’t be sure which comes first: maybe angry people are more out of balance, or maybe the inability to find equilibrium makes you angry. As for the left-handed: maybe they’re more angry because the world is designed for the right-handed majority.
The study also used an interesting method to find that angry people are, literally, hot-headed: the authors of the paper — led by Ruth Propper, a psychology professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts — measured brain-hemisphere activation with a relatively old method called tympanic membrane temperature, which is essentially how hot it is in your inner ear. If you get angry a lot, your head tends to be warmer.
One problem is that the study was small — just 55 undergraduates participated (they were paid $20 each for having to endure ear-temperature tests and psychological questioning). Also, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, while peer-reviewed, is one of less-respected psychology journals. Still, I like the study just because it explains that when you get hot under the collar, you are actually hot under the collar.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/15/which-is-better-being-right-brained-or-left-brained/?xid=rss-topstories-cnnpartner#ixzz0zh5aYwM3
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
One hour test to detect TB
Scientists in the UK say they have devised a new ultra-sensitive test which can diagnose the presence of the tuberculosis bacterium in one hour.The test has been developed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
Its developers claim the test can spot all strains of the disease and could reduce both the incidence and the consequences of the disease worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, in 2008, an estimated 1.3 million people died from TB worldwide.
Genetic signature
The standard identification test for TB involves taking mucus coughed up from the lungs and growing a bacterial culture in the laboratory. But it can take up to eight weeks to reach a diagnosis, by which time the individual might have infected many more people. Other more rapid tests exist which scan for an antigen found in many TB strains, but they may not detect all infections, say the HPA.The new test focuses on a particular DNA region within the bacterium which the researchers says is present in all strains of the disease.
Once a sample is taken, a scientific technique know as a "polymerase chain reaction" is used to amplify the volume of DNA available so that the genetic signature can be identified.Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, which usually affects the lungs. It is transmitted via droplets from the lungs of people with the active form of the disease. In healthy people, infection often causes no symptoms.
Symptoms of active TB include coughing, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Tuberculosis is treatable with a course of antibiotics. In the UK, around 9,000 cases of TB are reported each year, mainly in big cities like London.Source: World Health Organization/HPA
"This is a new test," says the HPA's Dr Cath Arnold, who led the study. "We're looking for a genetic marker which is present in all strains of TB we've seen so far." We're confident that it will pick up very small amounts and tests so far have show that it seems to be as sensitive as the gold standard of using culture, but there are various aspects which we need to develop further before we can offer it as an off-the-shelf product." Details of the work are being presented at the HPA's annual conference at the University of Warwick.
The HPA test comes just weeks after details of a rival project were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The rival test is called "Xpert MTB/RIF" and its developers claim it can deliver a diagnosis in under two hours. They say their automated cartridge machine can also identify resistance to drugs used to treat TB.
Difficult diagnosis
Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the World Heath Organization's Stop TB department, says these new generation tests could potentially revolutionise TB treatment. "The diagnoses of TB is extremely difficult today. If you had a test which rapidly and at the point of care could detect TB immediately you would gain weeks or months in treating that person and avoid them going around for another five to eight weeks infecting others." The WHO estimates that a third of the world's population carry TB bacteria. Only 5-10% of people who are infected become sick or infectious at some time during their life. People with HIV and who carry TB bacteria are much more likely to develop the disease. Recent years have seen a resurgence in TB infections in developed countries, and have seen the rise of strains resistant to medication. Last year in the UK, the number of cases rose by more than 5% to 9,153, according to provisional figures from the HPA. More than a third of the cases were in London.
Its developers claim the test can spot all strains of the disease and could reduce both the incidence and the consequences of the disease worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, in 2008, an estimated 1.3 million people died from TB worldwide.
Genetic signature
The standard identification test for TB involves taking mucus coughed up from the lungs and growing a bacterial culture in the laboratory. But it can take up to eight weeks to reach a diagnosis, by which time the individual might have infected many more people. Other more rapid tests exist which scan for an antigen found in many TB strains, but they may not detect all infections, say the HPA.The new test focuses on a particular DNA region within the bacterium which the researchers says is present in all strains of the disease.
Once a sample is taken, a scientific technique know as a "polymerase chain reaction" is used to amplify the volume of DNA available so that the genetic signature can be identified.Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, which usually affects the lungs. It is transmitted via droplets from the lungs of people with the active form of the disease. In healthy people, infection often causes no symptoms.
Symptoms of active TB include coughing, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Tuberculosis is treatable with a course of antibiotics. In the UK, around 9,000 cases of TB are reported each year, mainly in big cities like London.Source: World Health Organization/HPA
"This is a new test," says the HPA's Dr Cath Arnold, who led the study. "We're looking for a genetic marker which is present in all strains of TB we've seen so far." We're confident that it will pick up very small amounts and tests so far have show that it seems to be as sensitive as the gold standard of using culture, but there are various aspects which we need to develop further before we can offer it as an off-the-shelf product." Details of the work are being presented at the HPA's annual conference at the University of Warwick.
The HPA test comes just weeks after details of a rival project were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The rival test is called "Xpert MTB/RIF" and its developers claim it can deliver a diagnosis in under two hours. They say their automated cartridge machine can also identify resistance to drugs used to treat TB.
Difficult diagnosis
Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the World Heath Organization's Stop TB department, says these new generation tests could potentially revolutionise TB treatment. "The diagnoses of TB is extremely difficult today. If you had a test which rapidly and at the point of care could detect TB immediately you would gain weeks or months in treating that person and avoid them going around for another five to eight weeks infecting others." The WHO estimates that a third of the world's population carry TB bacteria. Only 5-10% of people who are infected become sick or infectious at some time during their life. People with HIV and who carry TB bacteria are much more likely to develop the disease. Recent years have seen a resurgence in TB infections in developed countries, and have seen the rise of strains resistant to medication. Last year in the UK, the number of cases rose by more than 5% to 9,153, according to provisional figures from the HPA. More than a third of the cases were in London.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Lord Sainsbury is to speak at the British Science Association festival.
In the past, the public has felt as if they are being forced to accept changes, says Lord Sainsbury The scientific community should have a more grown up dialogue with the public, according to former UK Science Minister Lord Sainsbury. He said that distrust of scientific ideas was not due to a failure by the public to understand the issues. Instead, it was because they felt they were being forced to accept changes they had not been consulted over and seemed to offer them no benefit.
The festival runs from the 14-19 September at Aston University in Birmingham, UK and Lord Sainsbury will talk in his capacity as president of the British Science Association. He will refute suggestions that people in Britain are anti-science. But according to Lord Sainsbury, there is concern that the pace of current scientific advance is too fast for government to keep up with through effective oversight and regulation.[The public] understands risk all too well and if there is no benefit to them then why take any risk at all, however small?”
"When I was first Minister of Science and Innovation there was an initiative called the 'public understanding of science'," he explained."This was based on the assumption that if people knew more about science they would automatically look more favourably on science. But unfortunately this is not the case." A study done a number of years ago of the then 15 European Union countries found that those nations scoring lowest on scientific understanding were in general the most unequivocally enthusiastic.
"We should not be surprised by this finding. A good education in science should lead people to ask questions about the impact of science," according to Lord Sainsbury. He also rejects the view given by some scientists that the public's distrust of new ideas and technologies is due to people not understanding risk. He said: "[The public] understands risk all too well and if there is no benefit to them then why take any risk at all, however small?"
"I remember Lord May saying at the time when the row about GM products was at its height: 'As soon as a GM product is invented, which if you take a tablespoon of it each morning, you will be slim and witty all day, this whole issue will go away'."
Honest debate
What is important, according to Lord Sainsbury, is for government to assess the risks of new technologies effectively, and to keep the public properly informed. "People become very angry if they feel that the government is not doing this job properly or is in any way hiding the facts from them."
According to Lord Sainsbury, public debate on stem cells is an instance which has been handled well.
He said that the scientific community had identified potential problems and ethical issues well in advance and had engaged the public in what he called an open and honest debate.
Conversely, with GM crops, the technology had already been foisted on the public and a debate ensued after it had been rejected."To improve the level of that debate I also think that the Government should now ask, say, the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences to review openly and publicly the current position on GM technology so that the Government and the public can make up their minds on this issue on the basis of the best scientific advice. "And if this is done I believe it will be seen that plant biotechnology is another case of a new technology which can help the world solve one of its most difficult problems."
The festival runs from the 14-19 September at Aston University in Birmingham, UK and Lord Sainsbury will talk in his capacity as president of the British Science Association. He will refute suggestions that people in Britain are anti-science. But according to Lord Sainsbury, there is concern that the pace of current scientific advance is too fast for government to keep up with through effective oversight and regulation.[The public] understands risk all too well and if there is no benefit to them then why take any risk at all, however small?”
"When I was first Minister of Science and Innovation there was an initiative called the 'public understanding of science'," he explained."This was based on the assumption that if people knew more about science they would automatically look more favourably on science. But unfortunately this is not the case." A study done a number of years ago of the then 15 European Union countries found that those nations scoring lowest on scientific understanding were in general the most unequivocally enthusiastic.
"We should not be surprised by this finding. A good education in science should lead people to ask questions about the impact of science," according to Lord Sainsbury. He also rejects the view given by some scientists that the public's distrust of new ideas and technologies is due to people not understanding risk. He said: "[The public] understands risk all too well and if there is no benefit to them then why take any risk at all, however small?"
"I remember Lord May saying at the time when the row about GM products was at its height: 'As soon as a GM product is invented, which if you take a tablespoon of it each morning, you will be slim and witty all day, this whole issue will go away'."
Honest debate
What is important, according to Lord Sainsbury, is for government to assess the risks of new technologies effectively, and to keep the public properly informed. "People become very angry if they feel that the government is not doing this job properly or is in any way hiding the facts from them."
According to Lord Sainsbury, public debate on stem cells is an instance which has been handled well.
He said that the scientific community had identified potential problems and ethical issues well in advance and had engaged the public in what he called an open and honest debate.
Conversely, with GM crops, the technology had already been foisted on the public and a debate ensued after it had been rejected."To improve the level of that debate I also think that the Government should now ask, say, the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences to review openly and publicly the current position on GM technology so that the Government and the public can make up their minds on this issue on the basis of the best scientific advice. "And if this is done I believe it will be seen that plant biotechnology is another case of a new technology which can help the world solve one of its most difficult problems."
Monday, September 13, 2010
New internet map could help save it
A geometric "atlas" of the internet has been created in an effort to preserve it in the coming decades. U.S., Spanish and Cypriot researchers say they have discovered what they call a negatively curved space hidden beneath the surface of the internet known as a "latent, hyperbolic" geometry. This discovery has enabled them to create a new way of mapping the internet, a process they believe will help it to operate in the future.
"We compare routing in the internet today to using a hypothetical road atlas, which is really just a long encoded list of road intersections and connections that would require drivers to pore through each line to plot a course to their destination …," Dmitri Krioukov, principal investigator of the project, said in a release. The problem with that is that, like a roadmap, it lacks any of the real information that typically helps people navigate through space in real life. Krioukov says current internet routing is not sustainable. "We are already seeing parts of the internet become intermittently unreachable, sinking into so-called black holes, which is a clear sign of instability." The authors believe the newly discovered internet space could be navigated more precisely by routers sure of network paths and their hyberbolic co-ordinates, improving the internet's efficiency.
The study is published in this week's issue of Nature Communications.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/10/internet-mapping-research.html#ixzz0zPiJs096
"We compare routing in the internet today to using a hypothetical road atlas, which is really just a long encoded list of road intersections and connections that would require drivers to pore through each line to plot a course to their destination …," Dmitri Krioukov, principal investigator of the project, said in a release. The problem with that is that, like a roadmap, it lacks any of the real information that typically helps people navigate through space in real life. Krioukov says current internet routing is not sustainable. "We are already seeing parts of the internet become intermittently unreachable, sinking into so-called black holes, which is a clear sign of instability." The authors believe the newly discovered internet space could be navigated more precisely by routers sure of network paths and their hyberbolic co-ordinates, improving the internet's efficiency.
The study is published in this week's issue of Nature Communications.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/10/internet-mapping-research.html#ixzz0zPiJs096
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
MRIs can track children's brain development
Children's mental development could be recorded in much the same way we chart height and weight, say scientists.They have devised a way of mapping development using an MRI machine and a mathematics programme.The tool can be used to place children on a "maturation curve" just like we do with height and weight.
The scientists claim the technique might one day be used to spot early signs of disorders such as schizophrenia or autism.
Brain score
Last year, the team from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis published a study on how brain function develops with age. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to trace blood and neuron flows within the brain.That study suggested that in young children, connections within the brain appeared to be largely localised in particular regions. As we grow, we lose those short-range connections and develop longer-range connections.
These signals are fewer but sharper in the adult brain, the researchers believe.
What the same team has now done is to map this neurological development in 238 individuals aged seven to 30.
The individuals' brains were scanned using an MRI machine and then the mass of data was put through a complex algorithmic computer program to produce a single "score" representing brain maturity."From a five-minute scan we get 13,000 measurements of functional brain connections," says Dr Nico Dosenbach, who led the study.
"Then we can take the whole pattern for a given individual and boil it down essentially to a single measure which tells us something about an individual and in our case we were interested in how functionally mature an individual's brain is." These single measures can then be placed on a maturation curve, where the researchers can plot the relationship between age and this development of longer-range brain connections. What the data gives you is an indicator of how quickly or slowly relative to a median, a child's brain is developing.Details of the new study are reported in the journal Science.
Spotting specifics
Dr Dosenbach is convinced the same technique could be used to spot specific conditions such as schizophrenia or autism, although comparative data for these conditions would first need to be collected and new mathematical programs built. He also claims that his team's focus on brain function - and brain communication - can reveal more than the analyses of brain structure. "One day I could see this being used in clinical diagnostics especially in neurological and psychiatric disorders," he says. "In young adult with schizophrenia, if you look at the anatomy of the brain, it looks totally normal whereas a clinician will clearly know this person is very ill and their brain doesn't function normally."
"Similarly with kids with autism, taking one look at the brain it's not obvious to a radiologist what's wrong, you have to do more advanced analysis like we're working on now to classify individuals as having autism or being at risk of having autism." Last month, scientists in Britain said they had developed a brain scan which could detect autism in adults using MRI analysis of brain structure. The team at King's College London tested the method on 40 individuals, 20 of whom had Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The research team is now looking at whether the test would be effective on children.
Dr Gina Gómez de la Cuesta, of the UK's National Autistic Society, welcomed the Washington study, but warned much work remained ahead. "There is still a lot we need to learn about brain function and development so we welcome research such as the Washington study, which has the potential to give further insight into the neurological basis of conditions like autism."Previous research has shown differences in connectivity in the brain in autism. It may be valuable to repeat the Washington study to look longitudinally at the development of these connections in autism. "Eventually, the researchers hope that brain scans might also be a useful diagnostic tool, however this goal is still a long way off and further research is required."
The scientists claim the technique might one day be used to spot early signs of disorders such as schizophrenia or autism.
Brain score
Last year, the team from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis published a study on how brain function develops with age. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to trace blood and neuron flows within the brain.That study suggested that in young children, connections within the brain appeared to be largely localised in particular regions. As we grow, we lose those short-range connections and develop longer-range connections.
These signals are fewer but sharper in the adult brain, the researchers believe.
What the same team has now done is to map this neurological development in 238 individuals aged seven to 30.
The individuals' brains were scanned using an MRI machine and then the mass of data was put through a complex algorithmic computer program to produce a single "score" representing brain maturity."From a five-minute scan we get 13,000 measurements of functional brain connections," says Dr Nico Dosenbach, who led the study.
"Then we can take the whole pattern for a given individual and boil it down essentially to a single measure which tells us something about an individual and in our case we were interested in how functionally mature an individual's brain is." These single measures can then be placed on a maturation curve, where the researchers can plot the relationship between age and this development of longer-range brain connections. What the data gives you is an indicator of how quickly or slowly relative to a median, a child's brain is developing.Details of the new study are reported in the journal Science.
Spotting specifics
Dr Dosenbach is convinced the same technique could be used to spot specific conditions such as schizophrenia or autism, although comparative data for these conditions would first need to be collected and new mathematical programs built. He also claims that his team's focus on brain function - and brain communication - can reveal more than the analyses of brain structure. "One day I could see this being used in clinical diagnostics especially in neurological and psychiatric disorders," he says. "In young adult with schizophrenia, if you look at the anatomy of the brain, it looks totally normal whereas a clinician will clearly know this person is very ill and their brain doesn't function normally."
"Similarly with kids with autism, taking one look at the brain it's not obvious to a radiologist what's wrong, you have to do more advanced analysis like we're working on now to classify individuals as having autism or being at risk of having autism." Last month, scientists in Britain said they had developed a brain scan which could detect autism in adults using MRI analysis of brain structure. The team at King's College London tested the method on 40 individuals, 20 of whom had Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The research team is now looking at whether the test would be effective on children.
Dr Gina Gómez de la Cuesta, of the UK's National Autistic Society, welcomed the Washington study, but warned much work remained ahead. "There is still a lot we need to learn about brain function and development so we welcome research such as the Washington study, which has the potential to give further insight into the neurological basis of conditions like autism."Previous research has shown differences in connectivity in the brain in autism. It may be valuable to repeat the Washington study to look longitudinally at the development of these connections in autism. "Eventually, the researchers hope that brain scans might also be a useful diagnostic tool, however this goal is still a long way off and further research is required."
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Bio bus
In a world where reality is all around us - why do we expect kids to learn from textbooks alone? Here is one great idea!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Key to a lost language
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
Published August 27, 2010
Notes on the back of a 400-year-old letter have revealed a previously unknown language once spoken by indigenous peoples of northern Peru, an archaeologist says. Penned by an unknown Spanish author and lost for four centuries, the battered piece of paper was pulled from the ruins of an ancient Spanish colonial church in 2008.
But a team of scientists and linguists has only recently revealed the importance of the words written on the flip side of the letter. The early 17th-century author had translated Spanish numbers—uno, dos, tres—and Arabic numerals into a mysterious language never seen by modern scholars.
(Related: "'Lost' Languages to Be Resurrected by Computers"?)
"Even though [the letter] doesn't tell us a whole lot, it does tell us about a language that is very different from anything we've ever known—and it suggests that there may be a lot more out there," said project leader Jeffrey Quilter, an archaeologist at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
"Lost" Language One of Two Already Known?
The newfound native language may have borrowed from Quechua, a language still spoken by indigenous peoples of Peru, Quilter said. But it was clearly a unique tongue, and likely one of two known only by the mention of their names in contemporary texts: Quingnam and Pescadora—"language of the fishers."
Some scholars suggest the two are in fact the same tongue that had been misidentified as distinct languages by early Spanish scribes. Also, the writings include translated numbers, which means that the lost language's numerical system was a ten-based, or decimal system—like English.
While the Inca used a ten-based system, many other cultures did not: the Maya, for example, used a base of 20, according to Quilter.
Church Misfortune is Archaeologist's Gain
The letter was found during excavations of the Magdalena de Cao Viejo church at the El Brujo Archaeological Complex in northern Peru. (The National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News, has sponsored fieldwork at the site in the past.)
The church served a nearby town once inhabited by indigenous people forcibly relocated to the site by Spaniards, probably for purposes of conversion to Christianity, Quilter said.The tantalizing fragment is just one of hundreds of historic papers recovered at the site, which has been well preserved by the extremely arid climate—and also by the church's collapse, Quilter added.
"Archaeologists live on other people's misfortunes," Quilter said.
The Spanish colonialists "had the misfortune of having the church collapse—we think probably in the mid-to-late 17th century—which trapped the library or office where they kept their papers."
Language Hints at Diversity of Cultures
Finding the new language at Magdalena de Cao Viejo helps to reinforce the rich diversity of cultures found in early colonial Americas, Quilter said. "You know that Chinese curse, 'may you live in interesting times'—well that was an extremely interesting time," he said. “We often think of a confrontation of Spanish and Native Americans, but in almost every location, from Massachusetts to Peru, it was a confrontation of a much more diverse group of people."
For instance, colonialists from many parts of Europe were grouped into "the Spanish," and in the Americas there were many people who spoke different languages and had different customs, he noted.
"it really shows how rich and diverse that world was."
Discovery of the lost language is described in the September issue of the journal American Anthropologist.
for National Geographic News
Published August 27, 2010
Notes on the back of a 400-year-old letter have revealed a previously unknown language once spoken by indigenous peoples of northern Peru, an archaeologist says. Penned by an unknown Spanish author and lost for four centuries, the battered piece of paper was pulled from the ruins of an ancient Spanish colonial church in 2008.
But a team of scientists and linguists has only recently revealed the importance of the words written on the flip side of the letter. The early 17th-century author had translated Spanish numbers—uno, dos, tres—and Arabic numerals into a mysterious language never seen by modern scholars.
(Related: "'Lost' Languages to Be Resurrected by Computers"?)
"Even though [the letter] doesn't tell us a whole lot, it does tell us about a language that is very different from anything we've ever known—and it suggests that there may be a lot more out there," said project leader Jeffrey Quilter, an archaeologist at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
"Lost" Language One of Two Already Known?
The newfound native language may have borrowed from Quechua, a language still spoken by indigenous peoples of Peru, Quilter said. But it was clearly a unique tongue, and likely one of two known only by the mention of their names in contemporary texts: Quingnam and Pescadora—"language of the fishers."
Some scholars suggest the two are in fact the same tongue that had been misidentified as distinct languages by early Spanish scribes. Also, the writings include translated numbers, which means that the lost language's numerical system was a ten-based, or decimal system—like English.
While the Inca used a ten-based system, many other cultures did not: the Maya, for example, used a base of 20, according to Quilter.
Church Misfortune is Archaeologist's Gain
The letter was found during excavations of the Magdalena de Cao Viejo church at the El Brujo Archaeological Complex in northern Peru. (The National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News, has sponsored fieldwork at the site in the past.)
The church served a nearby town once inhabited by indigenous people forcibly relocated to the site by Spaniards, probably for purposes of conversion to Christianity, Quilter said.The tantalizing fragment is just one of hundreds of historic papers recovered at the site, which has been well preserved by the extremely arid climate—and also by the church's collapse, Quilter added.
"Archaeologists live on other people's misfortunes," Quilter said.
The Spanish colonialists "had the misfortune of having the church collapse—we think probably in the mid-to-late 17th century—which trapped the library or office where they kept their papers."
Language Hints at Diversity of Cultures
Finding the new language at Magdalena de Cao Viejo helps to reinforce the rich diversity of cultures found in early colonial Americas, Quilter said. "You know that Chinese curse, 'may you live in interesting times'—well that was an extremely interesting time," he said. “We often think of a confrontation of Spanish and Native Americans, but in almost every location, from Massachusetts to Peru, it was a confrontation of a much more diverse group of people."
For instance, colonialists from many parts of Europe were grouped into "the Spanish," and in the Americas there were many people who spoke different languages and had different customs, he noted.
"it really shows how rich and diverse that world was."
Discovery of the lost language is described in the September issue of the journal American Anthropologist.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Evolution caught in the Act
.Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
Published September 1, 2010
Evolution has been caught in the act, according to scientists who are decoding how a species of Australian lizard is abandoning egg-laying in favor of live birth.
Along the warm coastal lowlands of New South Wales (map), the yellow-bellied three-toed skink lays eggs to reproduce. But individuals of the same species living in the state's higher, colder mountains are almost all giving birth to live young.
Only two other modern reptiles—another skink species and a European lizard—use both types of reproduction. (Related: "Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas—By Komodo Dragon.")
Evolutionary records shows that nearly a hundred reptile lineages have independently made the transition from egg-laying to live birth in the past, and today about 20 percent of all living snakes and lizards give birth to live young only.
(See "Oldest Live-Birth Fossil Found; Fish Had Umbilical Cord.")
But modern reptiles that have live young provide only a single snapshot on a long evolutionary time line, said study co-author James Stewart, a biologist at East Tennessee State University. The dual behavior of the yellow-bellied three-toed skink therefore offers scientists a rare opportunity.
"By studying differences among populations that are in different stages of this process, you can begin to put together what looks like the transition from one [birth style] to the other."
Eggs-to-Baby Switch Creates Nutrient Problem
One of the mysteries of how reptiles switch from eggs to live babies is how the young get their nourishment before birth.
In mammals a highly specialized placenta connects the fetus to the ovary wall, allowing the baby to take up oxygen and nutrients from the mother's blood and pass back waste. (See related pictures of "extreme" animals in the womb.)
In egg-laying species, the embryo gets nourishment from the yolk, but calcium absorbed from the porous shell is also an important nutrient source.
Some fish and reptiles, meanwhile, use a mix of both birthing styles. The mother forms eggs, but then retains them inside her body until the very last stages of embryonic development. (Related: "Dinosaur Eggs Discovered Inside Mother—A First.")
The shells of these eggs thin dramatically so that the embryos can breathe, until live babies are born covered with only thin membranes—all that remains of the shells.
This adaptation presents a potential nourishment problem: A thinner shell has less calcium, which could cause deficiencies for the young reptiles.
Stewart and colleagues, who have studied skinks for years, decided to look for clues to the nutrient problem in the structure and chemistry of the yellow-bellied three-toed skink's uterus.
"Now we can see that the uterus secretes calcium that becomes incorporated into the embryo—it's basically the early stages of the evolution of a placenta in reptiles," Stewart explained.
Evolutionary Transition Surprisingly Simple
Both birthing styles come with evolutionary tradeoffs: Eggs are more vulnerable to external threats, such as extreme weather and predators, but internal fetuses can be more taxing for the mother.
(Related: "Human Sperm Gene Traced to Dawn of Animal Evolution.")
For the skinks, moms in balmier climates may opt to conserve their own bodies' resources by depositing eggs on the ground for the final week or so of development. Moms in harsh mountain climates, by contrast, might find that it's more efficient to protect their young by keeping them longer inside their bodies.
In general, the results suggest the move from egg-laying to live birth in reptiles is fairly common—at least in historic terms—because it's relatively easy to make the switch, Stewart said.
"We tend to think of this as a very complex transition," he said, "but it's looking like it might be much simpler in some cases than we thought."
The skink-evolution research was published online August 16 by the Journal of Morphology.
for National Geographic News
Published September 1, 2010
Evolution has been caught in the act, according to scientists who are decoding how a species of Australian lizard is abandoning egg-laying in favor of live birth.
Along the warm coastal lowlands of New South Wales (map), the yellow-bellied three-toed skink lays eggs to reproduce. But individuals of the same species living in the state's higher, colder mountains are almost all giving birth to live young.
Only two other modern reptiles—another skink species and a European lizard—use both types of reproduction. (Related: "Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas—By Komodo Dragon.")
Evolutionary records shows that nearly a hundred reptile lineages have independently made the transition from egg-laying to live birth in the past, and today about 20 percent of all living snakes and lizards give birth to live young only.
(See "Oldest Live-Birth Fossil Found; Fish Had Umbilical Cord.")
But modern reptiles that have live young provide only a single snapshot on a long evolutionary time line, said study co-author James Stewart, a biologist at East Tennessee State University. The dual behavior of the yellow-bellied three-toed skink therefore offers scientists a rare opportunity.
"By studying differences among populations that are in different stages of this process, you can begin to put together what looks like the transition from one [birth style] to the other."
Eggs-to-Baby Switch Creates Nutrient Problem
One of the mysteries of how reptiles switch from eggs to live babies is how the young get their nourishment before birth.
In mammals a highly specialized placenta connects the fetus to the ovary wall, allowing the baby to take up oxygen and nutrients from the mother's blood and pass back waste. (See related pictures of "extreme" animals in the womb.)
In egg-laying species, the embryo gets nourishment from the yolk, but calcium absorbed from the porous shell is also an important nutrient source.
Some fish and reptiles, meanwhile, use a mix of both birthing styles. The mother forms eggs, but then retains them inside her body until the very last stages of embryonic development. (Related: "Dinosaur Eggs Discovered Inside Mother—A First.")
The shells of these eggs thin dramatically so that the embryos can breathe, until live babies are born covered with only thin membranes—all that remains of the shells.
This adaptation presents a potential nourishment problem: A thinner shell has less calcium, which could cause deficiencies for the young reptiles.
Stewart and colleagues, who have studied skinks for years, decided to look for clues to the nutrient problem in the structure and chemistry of the yellow-bellied three-toed skink's uterus.
"Now we can see that the uterus secretes calcium that becomes incorporated into the embryo—it's basically the early stages of the evolution of a placenta in reptiles," Stewart explained.
Evolutionary Transition Surprisingly Simple
Both birthing styles come with evolutionary tradeoffs: Eggs are more vulnerable to external threats, such as extreme weather and predators, but internal fetuses can be more taxing for the mother.
(Related: "Human Sperm Gene Traced to Dawn of Animal Evolution.")
For the skinks, moms in balmier climates may opt to conserve their own bodies' resources by depositing eggs on the ground for the final week or so of development. Moms in harsh mountain climates, by contrast, might find that it's more efficient to protect their young by keeping them longer inside their bodies.
In general, the results suggest the move from egg-laying to live birth in reptiles is fairly common—at least in historic terms—because it's relatively easy to make the switch, Stewart said.
"We tend to think of this as a very complex transition," he said, "but it's looking like it might be much simpler in some cases than we thought."
The skink-evolution research was published online August 16 by the Journal of Morphology.
Ascension Island- Darwin's experiment
Science reporter, BBC News
Cloud forest now forms a damp oasis on Ascension's highest peak A lonely island in the middle of the South Atlantic conceals Charles Darwin's best-kept secret.Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice. Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical "cloud forest".
What happened in the interim is the amazing story of how the architect of evolution, Kew Gardens and the Royal Navy conspired to build a fully functioning, but totally artificial ecosystem.By a bizarre twist, this great imperial experiment may hold the key to the future colonisation of Mars.The tiny tropical island of Ascension is not easy to find. It is incredibly remote, located 1,600km (1,000 miles) from the coast of Africa and 2,250km (1,400 miles) from South America.
Its existence depends entirely on what geologists call the mid-Atlantic ridge. This is a chain of underwater volcanoes formed as the ocean is wrenched apart. Ascension is one of a number of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic However, because Ascension occupies a "hot spot" on the ridge, its volcano is especially active. A million years ago, molten magma explosively burst above the waves.
A new island was born.
Back in 1836, the young Charles Darwin was coming to the end of his five-year mission to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where no naturalist had gone before.Aboard HMS Beagle, he called in at Ascension. En route from another remote volcanic island, St Helena, Darwin wasn't expecting much.
"We know we live on a rock, but the poor people of Ascension live on a cinder," the residents of St Helena had joked before his departure.But arriving on Ascension put an unexpected spring in Darwin's step.
Professor David Catling of the University of Washington, Seattle, is retracing Darwin's travels for a new book. He told the BBC: "Awaiting Darwin on Ascension was a letter from his Cambridge mentor, John Henslow."Darwin's voyage of discovery had already caused a huge sensation in London," he explained.
"Henslow assured him that on his return, he would take his place among the great men of science."
At this fantastic news, Darwin bounded forth in ecstasy, the sound of his geological hammer ringing from hill to hill. Everywhere, bright red volcanic cones and rugged black lava signalled the violent forces that had wrought the island. Yet, thinks Professor Catling, amid this wild desolation, Darwin began to hatch a plot. Out of the ashes of the volcano, he would create a green oasis - a "Little England".
Island Eden
Darwin's great buddy was Joseph Hooker, the intrepid botanist and explorer. Only a few years after Darwin's return, Hooker was off on his own adventures, an ambitious slingshot around Antarctica aboard HMS Erebus and Terror. Mirroring Darwin's voyage, Hooker called in on Ascension on the way home in 1843. Ascension was a strategic base for the Royal Navy. Originally set up to keep a watchful eye on the exiled emperor Napoleon on nearby St Helena, it was a thriving waystation at the time of Hooker's visit. However, the big problem that impeded further expansion of this imperial outpost was the supply of fresh water.
In his twenties, Charles Darwin explored the world aboard HMS Beagle Ascension was an arid island, buffeted by dry trade winds from southern Africa. Devoid of trees at the time of Darwin and Hooker's visits, the little rain that did fall quickly evaporated away.Egged on by Darwin, in 1847 Hooker advised the Royal Navy to set in motion an elaborate plan. With the help of Kew Gardens - where Hooker's father was director - shipments of trees were to be sent to Ascension. The idea was breathtakingly simple. Trees would capture more rain, reduce evaporation and create rich, loamy soils. The "cinder" would become a garden.
So, beginning in 1850 and continuing year after year, ships started to come. Each deposited a motley assortment of plants from botanical gardens in Europe, South Africa and Argentina. Soon, on the highest peak at 859m (2,817ft), great changes were afoot. By the late 1870s, eucalyptus, Norfolk Island pine, bamboo, and banana had all run riot. Back in England, Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution were busily uprooting the Garden of Eden. But on a green hill far away, a new "island Eden" was being created.
Life on Mars
Yet could Darwin's secret garden have more far-reaching consequences?Dr Dave Wilkinson is an ecologist at Liverpool John Moores University, who has written extensively about Ascension Island's strange ecosystem. He first visited Ascension in 2003. "I remember thinking, this is really weird," he told the BBC. "There were all kinds of plants that don't belong together in nature, growing side by side. I only later found out about Darwin, Hooker and everything that had happened," he said.
Darwin's artificial forest captures moisture from clouds that drift over Ascension's peaks Dr Wilkinson describes the vegetation of "Green Mountain" - as the highest peak is now known - as a "cloud forest". The trees capture sea mist, creating a damp oasis amid the aridity. However, this is a forest with a difference. It is totally artificial.
Such ecosystems normally develop over million of years through a slow process of co-evolution. By contrast, the Green Mountain cloud forest was cobbled together by the Royal Navy in a matter of decades. Dr Wilkinson exclaimed: "This is really exciting!"
"What it tells us is that we can build a fully functioning ecosystem through a series of chance accidents or trial and error."In effect, what Darwin, Hooker and the Royal Navy achieved was the world's first experiment in "terra-forming". They created a self-sustaining and self-reproducing ecosystem in order to make Ascension Island more habitable. Wilkinson thinks that the principles that emerge from that experiment could be used to transform future colonies on Mars. In other words, rather than trying to improve an environment by force, the best approach might be to work with life to help it "find its own way".
However, to date, scientists have been deaf to the parable of Ascension Island. "It's a terrible waste that no-one is studying it," remarked Wilkinson at the end of the interview. Ascension Island's secret is safe for years to come, it seems.
Cloud forest now forms a damp oasis on Ascension's highest peak A lonely island in the middle of the South Atlantic conceals Charles Darwin's best-kept secret.Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice. Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical "cloud forest".
What happened in the interim is the amazing story of how the architect of evolution, Kew Gardens and the Royal Navy conspired to build a fully functioning, but totally artificial ecosystem.By a bizarre twist, this great imperial experiment may hold the key to the future colonisation of Mars.The tiny tropical island of Ascension is not easy to find. It is incredibly remote, located 1,600km (1,000 miles) from the coast of Africa and 2,250km (1,400 miles) from South America.
Its existence depends entirely on what geologists call the mid-Atlantic ridge. This is a chain of underwater volcanoes formed as the ocean is wrenched apart. Ascension is one of a number of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic However, because Ascension occupies a "hot spot" on the ridge, its volcano is especially active. A million years ago, molten magma explosively burst above the waves.
A new island was born.
Back in 1836, the young Charles Darwin was coming to the end of his five-year mission to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where no naturalist had gone before.Aboard HMS Beagle, he called in at Ascension. En route from another remote volcanic island, St Helena, Darwin wasn't expecting much.
"We know we live on a rock, but the poor people of Ascension live on a cinder," the residents of St Helena had joked before his departure.But arriving on Ascension put an unexpected spring in Darwin's step.
Professor David Catling of the University of Washington, Seattle, is retracing Darwin's travels for a new book. He told the BBC: "Awaiting Darwin on Ascension was a letter from his Cambridge mentor, John Henslow."Darwin's voyage of discovery had already caused a huge sensation in London," he explained.
"Henslow assured him that on his return, he would take his place among the great men of science."
At this fantastic news, Darwin bounded forth in ecstasy, the sound of his geological hammer ringing from hill to hill. Everywhere, bright red volcanic cones and rugged black lava signalled the violent forces that had wrought the island. Yet, thinks Professor Catling, amid this wild desolation, Darwin began to hatch a plot. Out of the ashes of the volcano, he would create a green oasis - a "Little England".
Island Eden
Darwin's great buddy was Joseph Hooker, the intrepid botanist and explorer. Only a few years after Darwin's return, Hooker was off on his own adventures, an ambitious slingshot around Antarctica aboard HMS Erebus and Terror. Mirroring Darwin's voyage, Hooker called in on Ascension on the way home in 1843. Ascension was a strategic base for the Royal Navy. Originally set up to keep a watchful eye on the exiled emperor Napoleon on nearby St Helena, it was a thriving waystation at the time of Hooker's visit. However, the big problem that impeded further expansion of this imperial outpost was the supply of fresh water.
In his twenties, Charles Darwin explored the world aboard HMS Beagle Ascension was an arid island, buffeted by dry trade winds from southern Africa. Devoid of trees at the time of Darwin and Hooker's visits, the little rain that did fall quickly evaporated away.Egged on by Darwin, in 1847 Hooker advised the Royal Navy to set in motion an elaborate plan. With the help of Kew Gardens - where Hooker's father was director - shipments of trees were to be sent to Ascension. The idea was breathtakingly simple. Trees would capture more rain, reduce evaporation and create rich, loamy soils. The "cinder" would become a garden.
So, beginning in 1850 and continuing year after year, ships started to come. Each deposited a motley assortment of plants from botanical gardens in Europe, South Africa and Argentina. Soon, on the highest peak at 859m (2,817ft), great changes were afoot. By the late 1870s, eucalyptus, Norfolk Island pine, bamboo, and banana had all run riot. Back in England, Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution were busily uprooting the Garden of Eden. But on a green hill far away, a new "island Eden" was being created.
Life on Mars
Yet could Darwin's secret garden have more far-reaching consequences?Dr Dave Wilkinson is an ecologist at Liverpool John Moores University, who has written extensively about Ascension Island's strange ecosystem. He first visited Ascension in 2003. "I remember thinking, this is really weird," he told the BBC. "There were all kinds of plants that don't belong together in nature, growing side by side. I only later found out about Darwin, Hooker and everything that had happened," he said.
Darwin's artificial forest captures moisture from clouds that drift over Ascension's peaks Dr Wilkinson describes the vegetation of "Green Mountain" - as the highest peak is now known - as a "cloud forest". The trees capture sea mist, creating a damp oasis amid the aridity. However, this is a forest with a difference. It is totally artificial.
Such ecosystems normally develop over million of years through a slow process of co-evolution. By contrast, the Green Mountain cloud forest was cobbled together by the Royal Navy in a matter of decades. Dr Wilkinson exclaimed: "This is really exciting!"
"What it tells us is that we can build a fully functioning ecosystem through a series of chance accidents or trial and error."In effect, what Darwin, Hooker and the Royal Navy achieved was the world's first experiment in "terra-forming". They created a self-sustaining and self-reproducing ecosystem in order to make Ascension Island more habitable. Wilkinson thinks that the principles that emerge from that experiment could be used to transform future colonies on Mars. In other words, rather than trying to improve an environment by force, the best approach might be to work with life to help it "find its own way".
However, to date, scientists have been deaf to the parable of Ascension Island. "It's a terrible waste that no-one is studying it," remarked Wilkinson at the end of the interview. Ascension Island's secret is safe for years to come, it seems.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Trying to understand oil and the oil industry
This TED talk makes an attempt at explaining oil from the molecules involved to the industry itself.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A Protein that destroys HIV
LOYOLA RESEARCHERS ZERO IN ON PROTEIN THAT DESTROYS HIV
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys.
The finding could lead to new TRIM5a-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System.
Campbell and colleagues report their findings in an article featured on the cover of the Sept. 15, 2010 issue of the journal Virology, now available online.
In 2004, other researchers reported that TRIM5a protects rhesus monkeys from HIV. The TRIM5a protein first latches on to a HIV virus, then other TRIM5a proteins gang up and destroy the virus.
Humans also have TRIM5a, but while the human version of TRIM5a protects against some viruses, it does not protect against HIV.
Researchers hope to turn TRIM5a into an effective therapeutic agent. But first they need to identify the components in TRIM5a that enable the protein to destroy viruses. “Scientists have been trying to develop antiviral therapies for only about 75 years," Campbell said. "Evolution has been playing this game for millions of years, and it has identified a point of intervention that we still know very little about."
TRIM5a consists of nearly 500 amino acid subunits. Loyola researchers have identified six 6 individual amino acids, located in a previously little-studied region of the TRIM5a protein, that are critical in the ability of the protein to inhibit viral infection. When these amino acids were altered in human cells, TRIM5a lost its ability to block HIV-1 infection. (The research was done on cell cultures; no rhesus monkeys were used in the study.)
By continuing to narrow their search, researchers hope to identify an amino acid, or combination of amino acids, that enable TRIM5a to destroy HIV. Once these critical amino acids are identified, it might be possible to genetically engineer TRIM5a to make it more effective in humans. Moreover, a better understanding of the underlying mechanism of action might enable the development of drugs that mimic TRIM5a action, Campbell said.
In their research, scientists used Loyola's wide-field "deconvolution" microscope to observe how the amino acids they identified altered the behavior of TRIM5a. They attached fluorescent proteins to TRIM5a to, in effect, make it glow. In current studies, researchers are fluorescently labeling individual HIV viruses and measuring the microscopic interactions between HIV and TRIM5a.
"The motto of our lab is one of Yogi Berra's sayings -- 'You can see a lot just by looking,'" Campbell said.
Campbell is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. His co-authors are Jaya Sastri, a Stritch graduate student and first author; Christopher O'Connor, a former post-doctorate researcher at Stritch; Cindy Danielson and Michael McRaven of Northwestrn University Feinberg School of Medicine and Patricio Perez and Felipe Diaz-Griffero of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Top
Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 28 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys.
The finding could lead to new TRIM5a-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System.
Campbell and colleagues report their findings in an article featured on the cover of the Sept. 15, 2010 issue of the journal Virology, now available online.
In 2004, other researchers reported that TRIM5a protects rhesus monkeys from HIV. The TRIM5a protein first latches on to a HIV virus, then other TRIM5a proteins gang up and destroy the virus.
Humans also have TRIM5a, but while the human version of TRIM5a protects against some viruses, it does not protect against HIV.
Researchers hope to turn TRIM5a into an effective therapeutic agent. But first they need to identify the components in TRIM5a that enable the protein to destroy viruses. “Scientists have been trying to develop antiviral therapies for only about 75 years," Campbell said. "Evolution has been playing this game for millions of years, and it has identified a point of intervention that we still know very little about."
TRIM5a consists of nearly 500 amino acid subunits. Loyola researchers have identified six 6 individual amino acids, located in a previously little-studied region of the TRIM5a protein, that are critical in the ability of the protein to inhibit viral infection. When these amino acids were altered in human cells, TRIM5a lost its ability to block HIV-1 infection. (The research was done on cell cultures; no rhesus monkeys were used in the study.)
By continuing to narrow their search, researchers hope to identify an amino acid, or combination of amino acids, that enable TRIM5a to destroy HIV. Once these critical amino acids are identified, it might be possible to genetically engineer TRIM5a to make it more effective in humans. Moreover, a better understanding of the underlying mechanism of action might enable the development of drugs that mimic TRIM5a action, Campbell said.
In their research, scientists used Loyola's wide-field "deconvolution" microscope to observe how the amino acids they identified altered the behavior of TRIM5a. They attached fluorescent proteins to TRIM5a to, in effect, make it glow. In current studies, researchers are fluorescently labeling individual HIV viruses and measuring the microscopic interactions between HIV and TRIM5a.
"The motto of our lab is one of Yogi Berra's sayings -- 'You can see a lot just by looking,'" Campbell said.
Campbell is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. His co-authors are Jaya Sastri, a Stritch graduate student and first author; Christopher O'Connor, a former post-doctorate researcher at Stritch; Cindy Danielson and Michael McRaven of Northwestrn University Feinberg School of Medicine and Patricio Perez and Felipe Diaz-Griffero of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Top
Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 28 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
An amazing series featuring the theories of Jarod Diamond
Guns, Germs and Steel 1
Guns, Germs and Steel 2
Guns, Germs and Steel 3
Guns, Germs and Steel 4
Guns, Germs and Steel 5
Guns, Germs and Steel 6
Guns, Germs and Steel 7
Guns, Germs and Steel 8
Guns, Germs and Steel 9
Guns, Germs and Steel 10
Guns, Germs and Steel 11
Guns, Germs and Steel 12
Guns, Germs and Steel 13
Guns, Germs and Steel 14
Guns, Germs and Steel 15
Guns, Germs and Steel 16
Guns, Germs and Steel 17
Guns, Germs and Steel 18
Guns, Germs and Steel 2
Guns, Germs and Steel 3
Guns, Germs and Steel 4
Guns, Germs and Steel 5
Guns, Germs and Steel 6
Guns, Germs and Steel 7
Guns, Germs and Steel 8
Guns, Germs and Steel 9
Guns, Germs and Steel 10
Guns, Germs and Steel 11
Guns, Germs and Steel 12
Guns, Germs and Steel 13
Guns, Germs and Steel 14
Guns, Germs and Steel 15
Guns, Germs and Steel 16
Guns, Germs and Steel 17
Guns, Germs and Steel 18
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
A gene for speech?
The Foxp2 gene and the "Broca’s area" region of the brain might be the reason why we developed complex languages.
Now, genetic evidence may show how our language brain circuitry came about over the last half million years of human evolution. In a study published in Nature, Neuroscientists Genevieve Konopka and Daniel Geschwind at the University of California, Los Angeles have demonstrated that the human version of the FOXP2 gene –- one that mutated around the time humans developed the ability to talk –- regulates more than 100 other genes differently than the chimpanzee version of the gene. Other genes may also be involved, but there’s a good chance that this mutation helped us humans develop speech and language.
According to another recent study led by Chet Sherwood, a neuroscientist at George Washington University in Washington DC, a brain region critical to speech and language in humans developed substantially after humans split from chimpanzees. French physician Pierre Paul Broca identified this region of the brain studying brain-damaged patients incapable of uttering more than a few words. “Broca's area” typically occupies a much larger portion of the left half of the human brain than the right. Because right-handed humans also tend to process language in their left halves (this is reversed for lefties), some researchers think that lop-sidedness in Broca's area may help explain why humans –- and not chimpanzees –- developed language. Broca's area ballooned disproportionately during our species' evolution. Human brains are 3.6 times larger than those of chimpanzees, on average. And Broca’s area is more than 6 times larger in humans than chimpanzees according Natalie Schenker, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, who worked with Sherwood on the research
Marc Hauser, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, cautions that it’s too early to draw too many conclusions regarding the genetic basis of the evolution of language circuitry in humans. "I would be extremely skeptical about drawing inferences," says Hauser.
Now, genetic evidence may show how our language brain circuitry came about over the last half million years of human evolution. In a study published in Nature, Neuroscientists Genevieve Konopka and Daniel Geschwind at the University of California, Los Angeles have demonstrated that the human version of the FOXP2 gene –- one that mutated around the time humans developed the ability to talk –- regulates more than 100 other genes differently than the chimpanzee version of the gene. Other genes may also be involved, but there’s a good chance that this mutation helped us humans develop speech and language.
According to another recent study led by Chet Sherwood, a neuroscientist at George Washington University in Washington DC, a brain region critical to speech and language in humans developed substantially after humans split from chimpanzees. French physician Pierre Paul Broca identified this region of the brain studying brain-damaged patients incapable of uttering more than a few words. “Broca's area” typically occupies a much larger portion of the left half of the human brain than the right. Because right-handed humans also tend to process language in their left halves (this is reversed for lefties), some researchers think that lop-sidedness in Broca's area may help explain why humans –- and not chimpanzees –- developed language. Broca's area ballooned disproportionately during our species' evolution. Human brains are 3.6 times larger than those of chimpanzees, on average. And Broca’s area is more than 6 times larger in humans than chimpanzees according Natalie Schenker, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, who worked with Sherwood on the research
Marc Hauser, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, cautions that it’s too early to draw too many conclusions regarding the genetic basis of the evolution of language circuitry in humans. "I would be extremely skeptical about drawing inferences," says Hauser.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Does the World need Nuclear Energy?
One of the most important debates of our time follows. Please take the time to watch this civil and interesting presentation on the TED stage.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Brain-on-a-chip
The Canadian Press
Date: Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010 9:14 AM ET
TORONTO — It seems like the stuff of science fiction, but Canadian researchers have created a microchip embedded with brain cells that allows them to "listen in" as the neurons communicate with each other.
This brain-on-a-chip will make it possible to test drugs for a number of neurological conditions in a much quicker, efficient and accurate way, said principal researcher Naweed Syed, head of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Calgary.
The so-called neurochip -- a millimetre-square marriage of the electronic and organic -- is a big step forward on a previous chip produced by Syed's group that used brain cells from snails, which are four to 10 times larger than human neurons.
"This particular idea originates from our earlier finding a few years ago whereby we were the first team in the world to develop the first bionic hybrid," he said Tuesday from Calgary. "And what it meant was that you could now have brain cells that could talk to an electronic device and then the electronic device could talk back to the brain cells."
While this prototype biochip allowed the researchers to pick up the "talking bit," it wasn't refined enough to let them tune in to the underlying "chatter" that went on among brain cells.
"So now we can detect it," said Syed, explaining that "talk" and "chatter" are metaphors for the electrical signals that pass between neurons.
Brain cells communicate with each other through electrical and chemical messages that cause them to either be excited or to relax. Electrical messages, for instance, take a pathway on the neuron's surface known as an ion channel -- a component of the brain cell that is critical when it comes to drug testing.
In the next few months, the team plans to begin drug testing using their tiny device embedded with a network of brain cells surgically removed from patients with epilepsy.
"Now when we can get this cell, we can put it on our chip and then we can record ion-channel activity, but also find the best drug that will block seizures in that particular individual's cells," he said.
The research, conducted with the National Research Council and published online in the journal Biomedical Devices, could also speed up the search for drugs to treat such neurological diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The brain-on-a-chip could also help drug companies more easily isolate compounds that would provide the next generation of pain killers or medications that could control addictions, Syed suggested.
"So I think it opens up the possibility of exploring brain cell function at a much higher resolution than has ever been done before."
Date: Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010 9:14 AM ET
TORONTO — It seems like the stuff of science fiction, but Canadian researchers have created a microchip embedded with brain cells that allows them to "listen in" as the neurons communicate with each other.
This brain-on-a-chip will make it possible to test drugs for a number of neurological conditions in a much quicker, efficient and accurate way, said principal researcher Naweed Syed, head of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Calgary.
The so-called neurochip -- a millimetre-square marriage of the electronic and organic -- is a big step forward on a previous chip produced by Syed's group that used brain cells from snails, which are four to 10 times larger than human neurons.
"This particular idea originates from our earlier finding a few years ago whereby we were the first team in the world to develop the first bionic hybrid," he said Tuesday from Calgary. "And what it meant was that you could now have brain cells that could talk to an electronic device and then the electronic device could talk back to the brain cells."
While this prototype biochip allowed the researchers to pick up the "talking bit," it wasn't refined enough to let them tune in to the underlying "chatter" that went on among brain cells.
"So now we can detect it," said Syed, explaining that "talk" and "chatter" are metaphors for the electrical signals that pass between neurons.
Brain cells communicate with each other through electrical and chemical messages that cause them to either be excited or to relax. Electrical messages, for instance, take a pathway on the neuron's surface known as an ion channel -- a component of the brain cell that is critical when it comes to drug testing.
In the next few months, the team plans to begin drug testing using their tiny device embedded with a network of brain cells surgically removed from patients with epilepsy.
"Now when we can get this cell, we can put it on our chip and then we can record ion-channel activity, but also find the best drug that will block seizures in that particular individual's cells," he said.
The research, conducted with the National Research Council and published online in the journal Biomedical Devices, could also speed up the search for drugs to treat such neurological diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The brain-on-a-chip could also help drug companies more easily isolate compounds that would provide the next generation of pain killers or medications that could control addictions, Syed suggested.
"So I think it opens up the possibility of exploring brain cell function at a much higher resolution than has ever been done before."
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Declining phytoplankton a sign of catastrophe
Declining phytoplankton a sign of catastrophe
By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola
As we wrote recently, nothing would please us more than if climate change deniers were right. It isn’t fun to delve daily into the ever-mounting evidence of the catastrophic consequences of climate change. And life would be easier if we didn’t have to spend it trying to get stubborn governments to do something about the problem, and trying to get the public to care without driving them to depression. Facing daily attacks from people who deny reality isn’t much fun either.
But evidence that the world is warming, mainly because of our fossil fuel addiction, and that this is having increasingly disastrous effects on our health and on the health of the planet’s ecosystems, keeps growing.
Meanwhile, arguments from deniers keep getting knocked down, to the point where one must conclude that there really are only two types of denier: those who are paid by industry to spread misinformation in attempts to confuse the public, which is criminal, and those who are unable to see the evidence staring them in the face and who still cling to arguments that one minute with Google would dispel, which is pathetic and stupid.
The latest blow to the deniers came when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency examined in detail 10 petitions challenging its 2009 finding that climate change is endangering the planet, that it is largely caused by burning fossil fuels, and that it threatens human health and the environment.
In every case, the EPA found that the petitions misinterpreted data, contained outright false claims, and included exaggerated charges.“The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world,” said EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “These petitions – based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy – provide no evidence to undermine our determination. Excess greenhouse gases are a threat to our health and welfare.”
Another recent report, published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, looked at data from 10 climate indicators measured by 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries. It concluded that human-caused climate change is undeniable and is increasing.
And so ice in the Arctic and in glaciers continues to melt, ocean temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, ecosystems and wildlife habitats continue to shift or degrade, and extreme weather events continue to become more frequent. On top of that, a recent study by Dalhousie University oceanographer Boris Worm and his team found that phytoplankton populations in the ocean are declining at an alarming rate because of human activity and climate change. Why should we care? Well, these microscopic plants are the base of the food chain and account for half the production of organic matter on Earth. They also remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce more than half the oxygen we breathe.
According to report co-author Marlon Lewis, "Climate-driven phytoplankton declines are another important dimension of global change in the oceans, which are already stressed by the effects of fishing and pollution.” The report, published in the July 29 edition of Nature, states that phytoplankton have declined by about 40 per cent since 1950.
We can’t live without them.
While governments stall and deniers spread confusion, it gets more and more difficult to achieve the kind of emissions reductions that scientists say are necessary to prevent the Earth from reaching a cataclysmic rise in global average temperatures. It was once possible, and may still be, but we are reaching a point where it will become impossible.
We all have a responsibility to do everything we can to reduce our own emissions, to vote for governments that make climate change a priority, and to make sure those governments focus on real solutions. We know that conserving energy and shifting to cleaner energy will not just help solve the climate crisis but will also resolve many pollution-related health issues and may even give economies a boost.
The fossil fuel industry, which continues to reap multi-billion dollar profits, has spent millions to support a handful of deniers, right-wing think tanks, and websites that call climate change “junk science” and deny human activity is influencing global warming. It’s time we all started ignoring the insane blathering of the deniers. We’ve already wasted too much time on them – and we don’t have time to waste.
Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.
By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola
As we wrote recently, nothing would please us more than if climate change deniers were right. It isn’t fun to delve daily into the ever-mounting evidence of the catastrophic consequences of climate change. And life would be easier if we didn’t have to spend it trying to get stubborn governments to do something about the problem, and trying to get the public to care without driving them to depression. Facing daily attacks from people who deny reality isn’t much fun either.
But evidence that the world is warming, mainly because of our fossil fuel addiction, and that this is having increasingly disastrous effects on our health and on the health of the planet’s ecosystems, keeps growing.
Meanwhile, arguments from deniers keep getting knocked down, to the point where one must conclude that there really are only two types of denier: those who are paid by industry to spread misinformation in attempts to confuse the public, which is criminal, and those who are unable to see the evidence staring them in the face and who still cling to arguments that one minute with Google would dispel, which is pathetic and stupid.
The latest blow to the deniers came when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency examined in detail 10 petitions challenging its 2009 finding that climate change is endangering the planet, that it is largely caused by burning fossil fuels, and that it threatens human health and the environment.
In every case, the EPA found that the petitions misinterpreted data, contained outright false claims, and included exaggerated charges.“The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world,” said EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “These petitions – based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy – provide no evidence to undermine our determination. Excess greenhouse gases are a threat to our health and welfare.”
Another recent report, published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, looked at data from 10 climate indicators measured by 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries. It concluded that human-caused climate change is undeniable and is increasing.
And so ice in the Arctic and in glaciers continues to melt, ocean temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, ecosystems and wildlife habitats continue to shift or degrade, and extreme weather events continue to become more frequent. On top of that, a recent study by Dalhousie University oceanographer Boris Worm and his team found that phytoplankton populations in the ocean are declining at an alarming rate because of human activity and climate change. Why should we care? Well, these microscopic plants are the base of the food chain and account for half the production of organic matter on Earth. They also remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce more than half the oxygen we breathe.
According to report co-author Marlon Lewis, "Climate-driven phytoplankton declines are another important dimension of global change in the oceans, which are already stressed by the effects of fishing and pollution.” The report, published in the July 29 edition of Nature, states that phytoplankton have declined by about 40 per cent since 1950.
We can’t live without them.
While governments stall and deniers spread confusion, it gets more and more difficult to achieve the kind of emissions reductions that scientists say are necessary to prevent the Earth from reaching a cataclysmic rise in global average temperatures. It was once possible, and may still be, but we are reaching a point where it will become impossible.
We all have a responsibility to do everything we can to reduce our own emissions, to vote for governments that make climate change a priority, and to make sure those governments focus on real solutions. We know that conserving energy and shifting to cleaner energy will not just help solve the climate crisis but will also resolve many pollution-related health issues and may even give economies a boost.
The fossil fuel industry, which continues to reap multi-billion dollar profits, has spent millions to support a handful of deniers, right-wing think tanks, and websites that call climate change “junk science” and deny human activity is influencing global warming. It’s time we all started ignoring the insane blathering of the deniers. We’ve already wasted too much time on them – and we don’t have time to waste.
Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
The herpes virus causes cold sores and Kills cancer
Herpes virus used to treat cancer
By Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News
Doctors say they have used a genetically engineered herpes virus to treat successfully patients with head and neck cancer. A London hospital trial of 17 patients found that use of the virus alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy helped kill the tumours in most patients. It works by getting into cancer cells, killing them from the inside, and also boosting the patient's immune system. Further trials are planned for later in the year.
Head and neck cancer, which includes cancer of the mouth, tongue and throat, affects up to 8,000 people every year in the UK. Study leader Dr Kevin Harrington, who is based at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said current treatments were effective if the cancer was picked up early but that many patients were not diagnosed until it was more advanced. The herpes virus, which is also being tested in patients with skin cancer, is genetically manipulated so that it grows inside tumour cells but cannot infect normal healthy cells.
Once there it has a triple effect - it multiplies, killing tumour cells as it does so, it is engineered to produce a human protein that activates the immune system and it also makes a viral protein that acts as a red flag to immune cells.
'Potential weapon'
In the 17 patients injected with the virus, in addition to their standard treatment, at the Royal Marsden Hospital, 93% showed no trace of cancer after their tumour had been surgically removed. More than two years later, 82% of patients had not succumbed to the disease. Only two of 13 patients given the virus treatment at a high dose relapsed, the journal Clinical Cancer Research reported.
There were no safety concerns with use of the virus, the researchers said, and it is hoped the virus could one day be used to fight other types of cancer. "Around 35 to 55% of patients given the standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment typically relapse within two years, so these results compare very favourably," said Dr Harrington.He is now planning a trial comparing the viral treatment with the standard treatment in people newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Dr Alison Ross, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said it would be some time before the treatment could be used in patients as it still needed to be tested directly against standard treatment. But she added: "This small study highlights the potential of using genetically modified viruses as a weapon to fight cancer."
By Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News
Doctors say they have used a genetically engineered herpes virus to treat successfully patients with head and neck cancer. A London hospital trial of 17 patients found that use of the virus alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy helped kill the tumours in most patients. It works by getting into cancer cells, killing them from the inside, and also boosting the patient's immune system. Further trials are planned for later in the year.
Head and neck cancer, which includes cancer of the mouth, tongue and throat, affects up to 8,000 people every year in the UK. Study leader Dr Kevin Harrington, who is based at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said current treatments were effective if the cancer was picked up early but that many patients were not diagnosed until it was more advanced. The herpes virus, which is also being tested in patients with skin cancer, is genetically manipulated so that it grows inside tumour cells but cannot infect normal healthy cells.
Once there it has a triple effect - it multiplies, killing tumour cells as it does so, it is engineered to produce a human protein that activates the immune system and it also makes a viral protein that acts as a red flag to immune cells.
'Potential weapon'
In the 17 patients injected with the virus, in addition to their standard treatment, at the Royal Marsden Hospital, 93% showed no trace of cancer after their tumour had been surgically removed. More than two years later, 82% of patients had not succumbed to the disease. Only two of 13 patients given the virus treatment at a high dose relapsed, the journal Clinical Cancer Research reported.
There were no safety concerns with use of the virus, the researchers said, and it is hoped the virus could one day be used to fight other types of cancer. "Around 35 to 55% of patients given the standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment typically relapse within two years, so these results compare very favourably," said Dr Harrington.He is now planning a trial comparing the viral treatment with the standard treatment in people newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Dr Alison Ross, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said it would be some time before the treatment could be used in patients as it still needed to be tested directly against standard treatment. But she added: "This small study highlights the potential of using genetically modified viruses as a weapon to fight cancer."
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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