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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 8, 2015 at 10:13am

A natural cooking oil additive, invented by Malaysian scientists and claimed to make palm oil healthier, is not all itclaims to be, other researchers say.

The additive is an extract derived from plants of the citrus family, and has been developed and patented by researchers at the Institute of Bioscience at the University Putra Malaysia. It is sold under the commercial name Afdhal, and is marketed as a way of reducing oil consumption.

“A better solution would be to find ways to reduce the consumption of fried foods, rather than re-use oil and maintain or increase consumption of fried foods.”
But other scientists say they are sceptical about the product’s properties without seeing the data.
The claims detailed in the product’s patent application are not based on sound scientific research, says Ibrahim, who is also a researcher in medicinal and natural products chemistry at University Kebangsaan Malaysia. “In fact it mentioned that the actual mechanism oil of adsorption by the product was not fully understood,” he says.
Reusing oil is not the solution to protect human health or the environment, says Bronwen Powell, a researcher in forests and food security at the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia.
“A better solution,” she says, “would be to find ways to reduce the consumption of fried foods, rather than re-use oil and maintain or increase consumption of fried foods”.

The studies that back up the claims about Afdhal have not been published in peer-reviewed publications, however. This is in order to keep the information about the plant’s extracts secret, says one of its inventors, Suhaila Mohamed, a research fellow at the Institute of Bioscience.
Reusing oil is not the solution to protect human health or the environment, says Bronwen Powell, a researcher in forests and food security at the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia. “A better solution,” she says, “would be to find ways to reduce the consumption of fried foods, rather than re-use oil and maintain or increase consumption of fried foods”.
-scidev.net

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 3, 2015 at 6:01am

Researchers led by Ian Mitchell, a psychologist at the University of Birmingham in England, conducted a meta-analysis, which reveals that both oxytocin and alcohol reduce fear, anxiety and stress while increasing trust, generosity and altruism. Yet both also increase aggression, risk taking and “in-group” bias—favoring people similar to ourselves at the expense of others, according to the paper published in August in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.
The scientists posit that these similarities probably exist because oxytocin and alcohol act at different points in the same chemical pathway in the brain. Oxytocin stimulates release of the neurotransmitter GABA, which tends to reduce neural activity. Alcohol binds to GABA receptors and ramps up GABA activity. Oxytocin and alcohol therefore both have the general effect of tamping down brain activity—perhaps explaining why they both lower inhibitions.

Clinical trials have uncovered further interplay between the two in demonstrating that a nasal spray of oxytocin reduces cravings and withdrawal symptoms in alcoholics. These findings inspired a new study, published in March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, which suggests oxytocin and alcohol do more than just participate in the same neural pathway: they may physically interact.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2015 at 10:36am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2015 at 10:35am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2015 at 10:07am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2015 at 10:04am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2015 at 5:42am

Smart windows that can block heat but allow sunlight!

Yes, you heard it right! By using this material in "smart windows", you could reduce home energy use by taking full advantage of both the heat and the visible light provided by the sun each day. Researchers have developed a material that can do just that.

The material is a type of dual-band electrochromic material. "Dual-band" refers to the two types of nanocrystals contained within the material itself. In this case, the first nanocrystal allows you to block visible light while the second targets heat-producing infrared light. "Electrochromic" means that you can flip between light- and heat-blocking modes using a jolt of electricity.

This material was first described by researchers, including University of Texas Chemical Engineering Prof. Delia Milliron, in an article in Nature in 2013. This month, Milliron and her team published a new article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, which explores how an advanced version of this material could be built into a film for use on windows.

According to this paper, a window coating containing a single component ­— doped titania nanocrystals - can selectively block visible light or infrared radiation. It can also switch from heat- to light-blocking mode using a weak jolt of electricity in a matter of minutes (previous versions of the material could take hours to switch). All told, this material can block up to 80% of visible light or 90% of near-infrared light.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v500/n7462/full/nature12398.html

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b04933?journalCode=jacsat

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 26, 2015 at 9:49am

A Crossover Study of Noodle Soup Consumption in Melamine Bowls and Total Melamine Excretion in Urine
People who used melamine-made bowls to consume high-temperature noodle soup can excrete high amounts of melamine into the urine.

Melamine exposure remains common even after the 2008 melamine-tainted baby formula incident in China, which resulted in 6 deaths and approximately 50 000 hospitalizations. A continuous low-dose melamine exposure has been linked to urolithiasis in both children and adults. Another source of melamine exposure is melamine tableware.4 In a pilot study, researchers in China asked 16 healthy volunteers (age range, 20-27 years) to consume 500 mL of hot noodle soup (initial temperature, 90°C) served in melamine bowls in the morning of October 2011. then they collected from each participant 1 spot urine sample immediately before and at 2-hour intervals for 12 hours after consuming the noodle soup. This experiment simulated the natural situation; thus, not all participants provided urine samples at every 2-hour interval. However, all urine samples from all participants were collected after consumption for 12 hours. Postconsumption mean urinary melamine concentrations, corrected for urinary creatinine, initially increased sharply, peaked at 4 to 6 hours, and then declined sharply for 2 hours and then less steeply for the remainder of the monitoring period. The researchers therefore investigated if consumption of hot noodle soup served in melamine bowls would increase total urinary melamine excretion.
Melamine tableware may release large amounts of melamine when used to serve high-temperature foods. The brand of melamine bowls used in this study was chosen from the 5 brands we tested previously.4 The amount of melamine released into food and beverages from melamine tableware varies by brand, so the results of this study of 1 brand may not be generalized to other brands. The use of nonbreakable melamine tableware is common in our daily life. Although the clinical significance of what levels of urinary melamine concentration has not yet been established, the consequences of long-term melamine exposure still should be of concern.
Chronic Exposure To Melamine Through Tableware A simple switch from melamine-containing tableware to stainless steel ones can help reduce environmental exposure to melamine.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1558449
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b01965

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 26, 2015 at 8:20am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 26, 2015 at 6:13am

Wormhole Created in Lab Makes Invisible Magnetic Field
The materials to make a magnetic wormhole already exist and are much simpler to come by. In particular, superconductors, which can carry high levels of current, or charged particles, expel magnetic field lines from their interiors, essentially bending or distorting these lines. This essentially allows the magnetic field to do something different from its surrounding 3D environment, which is the first step in concealing the disturbance in a magnetic field.
The technology could have applications on Earth
For instance, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines use a giant magnet and require people to be in a tightly enclosed central tube for diagnostic imaging.

But if a device could funnel a magnetic field from one spot to the other, it would be possible to take pictures of the body with the strong magnet placed far away, freeing people from the claustrophobic environment of an MRI machine
To do that, the researchers would need to modify the shape of their magnetic wormhole device. A sphere is the simplest shape to model, but a cylindrical outer shell would be the most useful.

"If you want to apply this to medical techniques or medical equipment, for sure you will be interested in directing toward any given direction. "A spherical shape is not the most practical geometry."

The study was conducted at Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain.

http://www.livescience.com/51925-magnetic-wormhole-created.html

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