Archive for November, 2007
Researchers Discover Personal Trainer For Your Memory
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Researchers have discovered the brain protein kalirin is critical for helping you learn and remember what you learned.
Healthy Hugs
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007One Down, One to Go……………by Susan
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007I survived Thanksgiving so I consider that 'one down and one to go'. I really enjoy the holidays in many ways but they are also very tiring and stressful for me. I suppose it is my depression. It may also have something to do with working hard to cope with all the relationships in my family.
Getting together with family is one of my favorite things to do. I'll never understand why it wears me out so much. How can visiting cause us so much fatigue? I remember when I was a young woman in my 20's, I was exhausted after a weekend of sitting around talking and having fun with family.
I did quite a bit of cooking over the Thanksgiving weekend but had lots of help from my daughter and my grandson. We played games, went to a movie, watched a DVD and had plenty of down time which is just the way I like to spend a holiday. Having fun, enjoying one's family and eating good food sure can wear a person out!
Christmas will be here before we know it. I'm planning on being prepared and getting plenty of rest before it's time to have more family holiday fun.
Getting together with family is one of my favorite things to do. I'll never understand why it wears me out so much. How can visiting cause us so much fatigue? I remember when I was a young woman in my 20's, I was exhausted after a weekend of sitting around talking and having fun with family.
I did quite a bit of cooking over the Thanksgiving weekend but had lots of help from my daughter and my grandson. We played games, went to a movie, watched a DVD and had plenty of down time which is just the way I like to spend a holiday. Having fun, enjoying one's family and eating good food sure can wear a person out!
Christmas will be here before we know it. I'm planning on being prepared and getting plenty of rest before it's time to have more family holiday fun.
Avon Reviews
Living bioterror detector
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
The trouble with biochemical weapons detectors is that they generate an unacceptable number of false positives, says Benjamin Shapiro, an aerospace engineer at the University of Maryland, US.
This is because existing detectors are unable to distinguish between all the subtle ways in which pathogens interact with the biological systems and so are easily fooled. So, why not use biological systems that use real cells to spot the pathogens instead, he asks.
The system that Shapiro and colleagues have come up with uses cells that die when exposed to a particular pathogen, which provides the early warning.
The cells are also engineered to produce a signal, such as fluorescence, when attacked. They are stored on a chip that keeps them alive and that also monitors the light they produce.
The cells can be exposed to pathogens in the air via a semi-permeable membrane. When the cells die and emit light, the system should know within minutes that pathogens are present – just like the canaries that were once used to warn miners of a build-up of toxic gas.
Read the full cellular canaries patent application.
Justin Mullins
This is because existing detectors are unable to distinguish between all the subtle ways in which pathogens interact with the biological systems and so are easily fooled. So, why not use biological systems that use real cells to spot the pathogens instead, he asks.
The system that Shapiro and colleagues have come up with uses cells that die when exposed to a particular pathogen, which provides the early warning.
The cells are also engineered to produce a signal, such as fluorescence, when attacked. They are stored on a chip that keeps them alive and that also monitors the light they produce.
The cells can be exposed to pathogens in the air via a semi-permeable membrane. When the cells die and emit light, the system should know within minutes that pathogens are present – just like the canaries that were once used to warn miners of a build-up of toxic gas.
Read the full cellular canaries patent application.
Justin Mullins
Doctors to investigate potential limitations of genetic testing in development of Alzheimer’s
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Now recruiting participants to help study the impact of knowing whether they have genetic predisposition
Neuroscientists Uncover Brain Region Involved in Voluntary Behavior
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have deciphered the activity of an area of the brain that could one day prove vital in the development of neural prostheses--within-the-brain implants that would translate thought into movement in paralyzed patients.
Fabric displays
Monday, November 26th, 2007
Wearable displays have long interested electronics company Philips. They could be used to display useful information or as a fashion statement (see image).
But one problem is that the liquid crystals normally used in flexible displays usually exist in a glass-like state, which ultimately limits the extent to which they can be bent.
Now Philips says it may be possible to build much more flexible liquid crystal displays by imprinting a cell-like structure onto an ordinary fabric using a stretchy elastomeric material such as silicone to create each pixel.
The pixels can be filled with a flexible electro-optical material such as a non-glassy liquid crystal, or a plasma. Conducting fibres within the material then make each pixel addressable. The result is a display that has the same material properties as a fabric.
Read the full flexible fabric displays patent application.
New discoveries about nitric oxide can provide drugs for schizophrenia
Monday, November 26th, 2007
Problems with memory and social function in patients with schizophrenia may result from an imbalance in the brain's nitric oxide system. A dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy shows that rats with characteristics of schizophrenia regain normal brain function if they receive drugs that reduce the production of nitric oxide in the brain.
Even Very Low Levels Of Lead Cause Brain Damage In Children
Monday, November 26th, 2007
Even very small amounts of lead in children's blood -- amounts well below the current federal standard -- are associated with reduced IQ scores, finds a new, six-year Cornell study.