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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 9:20am

A groundbreaking study published in PLOS ONE by Prof. Iris Berent of Northeastern University and researchers at Harvard Medical School shows the brains of individual speakers are sensitive to language universals. Syllables that are frequent across languages are recognized more readily than infrequent syllables. Simply put, this study shows that language universals are hardwired in the human brain.

LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

Language universals have been the subject of intense research, but their basis remains elusive. Indeed, the similarities between human languages could result from a host of reasons that are tangential to the language system itself. Syllables like lbog, for instance, might be rare due to sheer historical forces, or because they are just harder to hear and articulate. A more interesting possibility, however, is that these facts could stem from the biology of the language system. Could the unpopularity of lbogs result from universal linguistic principles that are active in every human brain?
http://www.northeastern.edu/cos/2014/04/iris-berent/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 9:17am

Differences Between Neanderthals And Modern Man Caused By Genetic Switches
With Neanderthals and modern humans sharing more than 99.8 percent of their genetic material, the differences in DNA between the two species are fairly minimal and a new study has found that the differences seen in phenotypes are mostly caused by certain genes being “switched on” or “switched off.”

According to the study published in the journal Science, genetic switches that affect the size and shape of limbs, as well as those that affect the development of the brain, are the most pronounced differences.

The study brings up the importance of researching the epigenome, or the genetic aspects that are responsible for switching on or off certain genes. Recent research has revealed how the epigenome can affect everything from cancer risk to the subtle differences between identical twins, each of whom have a copy of the same genetic material. The switching off of genes is typically achieved through a process called methylation – in which a methyl group, comprised of a carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms, is attached to a gene.

To uncover the epigenomic differences between Neanderthals and moderns humans, scientists took genetic material from limb bones of a living person, a Neanderthal and a Denisovan – an extinct Stone Age human that lived in Eurasia.

The study team was able to find approximately 2,200 regions that were triggered in today’s humans, but switched off in either or both extinct species, or the other way around. One of the main differences identified by the team was a group of five genes called HOXD, which impacts the appearance and size of limbs. It was mainly silenced in both ancient species, the scientists said. The HOXD differences could explain Neanderthals’ characteristic shorter limbs, bowleggedness and oversized hands and fingers.

Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, who was not directly involved in the study, told Reuters that the HOXD gene finding “may help to explain how these ancient humans were able to build stronger bodies, better adapted to the physical rigors of Stone Age life.”

The study team noted that the epigenome can be affected by lifestyle and environmental factors. This means that the differences observed could be unique to the individual sampled – rather than being representative on an entire species.

The researchers also found major epigenomic differences with respect to genes known to be related to neurological and psychiatric disorders such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease. These genes were silenced in the Neanderthal samples.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113124657/epigenome-neanderth...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 9:15am

The cause of neuronal death in Parkinson's disease is still unknown, but a new study proposes that neurons may be mistaken for foreign invaders and killed by the person's own immune system, similar to the way autoimmune diseases like type I diabetes, celiac disease, and multiple sclerosis attack the body's cells. The study was published April 16, 2014, in Nature Communications. "This is a new, and likely controversial, idea in Parkinson's disease; but if true, it could lead to new ways to prevent neuronal death in Parkinson's that resemble treatments for autoimmune diseases," said the study's senior author, David Sulzer, PhD, professor of neurobiology in the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and pharmacology at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

The new hypothesis about Parkinson's emerges from other findings in the study that overturn a deep-seated assumption about neurons and the immune system.
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 9:14am

Refining The Language For Chromosomes
Researchers propose classification system revolutionizing communication of chromosomal abnormalities for research and clinical settings
'Describing Sequencing Results of Structural Chromosome Rearrangements with a Suggested Next-Generation Cytogenetic Nomenclature'
http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297%2814%2900172-4

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 6:07am

Scientists have identified a long-sought fertility protein that allows sperm to dock to the surface of an egg. The finding, an important step in understanding the process that enables conception, could eventually spawn new forms of birth control and treatments for infertility.“It’s very important, because we now know two of the proteins that are responsible for the binding of sperm to the egg”.
- Nature.com

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 6:00am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 19, 2014 at 5:54am

First Earth-Size Planet That Could Support Life found
For the first time, scientists have discovered an Earth-size alien planet in the habitable zone of its host star, an "Earth cousin" that just might have liquid water and the right conditions for life.
The newfound planet, called Kepler-186f, was first spotted by NASA's Kepler space telescope and circles a dim red dwarf star about 490 light-years from Earth. While the host star is dimmer than Earth's sun and the planet is slightly bigger than Earth, the positioning of the alien world coupled with its size suggests that Kepler-186f could have water on its surface, scientists say. You can learn more about the amazing alien planet find in a video produced by Space.com.

"One of the things we've been looking for is maybe an Earth twin, which is an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a sunlike star," Tom Barclay, Kepler scientist and co-author of the new exoplanet research, told Space.com. "This [Kepler-186f] is an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a cooler star. So, while it's not an Earth twin, it is perhaps an Earth cousin. It has similar characteristics, but a different parent."

http://www.space.com/25530-earthsize-exoplanet-kepler-186f-habitabl...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 18, 2014 at 8:41am

New evidence of suicide epidemic among India's 'marginalized' farmers:
A new study has found that India's shocking rates of suicide are highest in areas with the most debt-ridden farmers who are clinging to tiny smallholdings -- less than one hectare -- and trying to grow 'cash crops', such as cotton and coffee, that are highly susceptible to global price fluctuations. The research supports a range of previous case studies that point to a crisis in key areas of India's agriculture sector following the 'liberalization' of the nation's economy during the 1990s. Researchers say that policy intervention to stabilize the price of cash crops and relieve indebted farmers may help stem the tide of suicide that has swept the Indian countryside.

Suicide rates vary sharply across the different Indian states. Building on the LSHTM study, researchers from Cambridge and UCL analysed suicide figures of 18 Indian states – as well as national crime and census statistics and surveying done by the Ministry of Agriculture – to create data models that investigated whether case studies of "farmer suicide" that concentrate on a few suicide hotspots could be generalised across India.

The team, from the Cambridge University's Department of Sociology and University College London's Department of Political Science, say they have found significant causal links showing that the huge variation in suicide rates between Indian states can largely be accounted for by suicides among farmers and agricultural workers.

Farmers at highest risk have three characteristics: those that grow cash crops such as coffee and cotton; those with 'marginal' farms of less than one hectare; and those with debts of 300 Rupees or more. Indian states in which these characteristics are most prevalent had the highest suicide rates. In fact, these characteristics account for almost 75% of the variability in state-level suicides.
Source: The lancet

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 18, 2014 at 8:38am

New Memory Model Explains How Neurons Select Memories
Neuroscientists have discovered much about how long-term memories are stored in recent decades. For example, a number of proteins are quickly made in activated brain cells in order to create new memories for significant events, and some of those proteins remain at specific places on certain neurons for a few hours before breaking down.

It is this chain of biochemical occurrences that make it possible for people to remember key details about a particular event. However, one difficulty when it comes to modeling memory storage is trying to explain why only certain details and not everything that happened in that one or two hour window is retained.

Using data from previous research in the field as a starting point, Sejnowski and his colleagues developed a model that bridges the gap between molecular findings and memory systems observations in order to better explain how this 60 to 120 minute memory window works. Their findings, which could provide new insight in dealing with conditions such as Alzheimer’s and PTSD, appear in the latest edition of the journal Neuron.
- http://www.cell.com/neuron/home

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 18, 2014 at 8:35am

Clean air: Fewer sources for self-cleaning
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/04/17/clean.air.fewer.sources...

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