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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 10, 2014 at 6:11am

Scientific temper on the rise among Indians
Scientific temper amongst Indians has increased, according to scientist and poet Gouhar Raza here on Saturday. Citing a latest survey by National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) carried out during Kumbh Mela of 2013, he said, while scientific temper remained stagnant across the world only China and India has reported a rise.

Raza, a 1979 batch M Tech (Power Apparatus and Systems) from IIT, Delhi is a scientist with NISTADS. He said people's interpretations from cultural and experiential knowledge base have given way to scientific reasoning and questioning. "Indians are getting wiser," he said.

Art and science are no different, Raza said quoting Einstein to make his point. "If a scientific equation is not beautiful it must be wrong. Both art and science, require creativity and have their own aesthetics."

-TNN

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 8:46am

Pine Tree Branches Turned Into Effective Water Filtration Systems
Water Filtration Using Plant Xylem
Effective point-of-use devices for providing safe drinking water are urgently needed to reduce the global burden of waterborne disease. Here we show that plant xylem from the sapwood of coniferous trees – a readily available, inexpensive, biodegradable, and disposable material – can remove bacteria from water by simple pressure-driven filtration. Approximately 3 cm3 of sapwood can filter water at the rate of several liters per day, sufficient to meet the clean drinking water needs of one person. The results demonstrate the potential of plant xylem to address the need for pathogen-free drinking water in developing countries and resource-limited settings.
Main points of the study:
Plant xylem is a porous material with membranes comprising nanoscale pores. The researchers have reasoned that xylem from the sapwood of coniferous trees is suitable for disinfection by filtration of water. The hierarchical arrangement of the membranes in the xylem tissue effectively amplifies the available membrane area for filtration, providing high flow rates. Xylem filters were prepared by simply removing the bark of pine tree branches and inserting the xylem tissue into a tube. Pigment filtration experiments revealed a size cutoff of about 100 nm, with most of the filtration occurring within the first 2–3 mm of the xylem filter. The xylem filter could effectively filter out bacteria from water with rejection exceeding 99.9%. Pit membranes were identified as the functional unit where actual filtration of the bacteria occurred. Flow rates of about 4 L/d were obtained through ~1 cm2 filter areas at applied pressures of about 5 psi, which is sufficient to meet the drinking water needs of one person. The simple construction of xylem filters, combined with their fabrication from an inexpensive, biodegradable, and disposable material suggests that further research and development of xylem filters could potentially lead to their widespread use and greatly reduce the incidence of waterborne infectious disease in the world.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 8:21am

When I was young, I used to feel very sleepy whenever I ate the fish curry my mother made. I used to wonder why. Now I know. And recently I found another evidence. According to new research eating oily fish or omega-3 supplements may help children sleep better, a new Oxford study has found. The study suggests that higher levels of omega-3 DHA, the group of long-chain fatty acids found in algae and seafood,
are associated with better sleep.
Researchers from the University of Oxford explored whether 16 weeks of daily 600mg supplements of algal sources would improve the sleep of 362 children. At the outset of the study, the parents filled in a child sleep questionnaire, which revealed that four in 10 of the children in the study suffered from regular sleep disturbances.

Of the children rated as having poor sleep, the researchers fitted wrist sensors to 43 of them to monitor their movements in bed over five nights. The study showed that the children on a course of daily supplements of omega-3 had nearly one hour (58 minutes) more sleep and seven fewer waking episodes per night compared with the children taking the corn or soybean placebo.

The study looked at sleep in 362 healthy seven to nine-year-old UK school children in relation to the levels of omega-3 and omega-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) found in fingerstick blood samples. Previous research has suggested links between poor sleep and low blood omega-3 LC-PUFA in infants and in children and adults with behaviour or learning difficulties.

However, this is the first study to investigate possible links between sleep and fatty acid status in healthy children. At the start of the study, parents and carers were asked to rate their child's sleep habits over a typical week. Their responses indicated that 40 per cent of the children had clinical-level sleep problems such as resistance to bedtime, anxiety about sleep and constant waking in the course of the night.

The study finds that higher blood levels of the long-chain omega-3 DHA (the main omega-3 fatty acid found in the brain) are significantly associated with better sleep, including less bedtime resistance, parasomnias and total sleep disturbance.
It adds that higher ratios of DHA in relation to the long-chain omega-6 fatty acid AA (arachidonic acid) are also associated with fewer sleep problems.
- PTI

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:58am

Increased temperatures increase Malaria too
In a paper published online recently in the journal Science, Pascual and her collaborators looked at how malaria moved up in elevation with temperature in Ethiopia and Colombia. Tracking year-to-year temperature variations from 1990 to 2005, researchers observed how malaria's range shifted.

Infection rates tend to increase as temperatures go up, since the Plasmodium parasite that causes the disease reproduces faster inside vector mosquitoes when it's warmer, increasing the infection likelihood when the mosquito bites someone, Pascual explained. The Anopheles mosquitoes that spread the disease also thrive in the heat.

The results confirmed for the first time that malaria creeps uphill during warmer years and recedes as temperatures cool, a dangerous effect as the climate warms. "The implication is this will, without any mitigation, result in the increase of the malaria burden," Pascual said.

The findings hold promise for better forecasting. In previous work, Pascual found she could predict malaria up to four months in advance in parts of India by monitoring monsoons (ClimateWire, March 4, 2013)
Source: online publication in Science on March 6, 2014.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:42am

Bracelets can detect people's chemical exposures
Wristbands are the accessory of choice for people promoting a cause. And the next wave of wrist wear might act as a fashionable archive of your chemical exposure.
Researchers at Oregon State University outfitted volunteers with slightly modified silicone bracelets and then tested them for 1,200 substances. They detected several dozen compounds – everything from caffeine and cigarette smoke to flame retardants and pesticides.

The cheap, colorful, rubbery wristbands have been a popular fad over the past decade in promoting charities and other affiliations.

“We were surprised at the breadth of chemicals" on people's wristbands - Kim Anderson, Oregon State

Chemist Kim Anderson initially tried to use silicone pendants attached to necklaces to test for contaminants. But then, at a football game she saw “all kinds of people, even burly men” sporting wristbands. That’s when the idea hit her.

Silicone is porous and acts similar to human cells, so once chemicals are absorbed by the wristband, “they don’t want to go back to the water or the air,” Anderson said. Chemists can measure concentrations, offering a cheap and easy way to monitor people's exposures.

“This study offers some real possibilities to address the weak link in epidemiological studies – which is the exposure science,” said Ted Schettler of the Science and Environmental Health Network.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:22am

Docs Should Wash Stethoscopes between Patients, Too
Tests for bacteria found that stethoscopes picked up more microbes from patients than did most parts of the doc's hands.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/docs-should-wash-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:18am

How the NFL Worked to Hide the Truth about Concussions and Brain Damage [Excerpt]
The NFL not only publicly denied evidence that long-term brain damage could result from concussions suffered by its players, but worked to undercut it

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-nfl-worked-to-hid...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:05am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 7, 2014 at 8:11am

The Neuroscience and Art of Film Scores
http://worldsciencefestival.com/webcasts/art_of_the_score_the_mind_...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 7, 2014 at 7:08am

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