Science Simplified!

Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2013 at 7:53am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2013 at 7:29am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2013 at 6:52am

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/09/19/coma.researchers.observ...

Coma: Researchers observe never-before-detected brain activity
Researchers from the University of Montreal and their colleagues have found brain activity beyond a flat line EEG, which they have called Nu-complexes (from the Greek letter n). According to existing scientific data, researchers and doctors had established that beyond the so-called "flat line" (flat electroencephalogram or EEG), there is nothing at all, no brain activity, no possibility of life. This major discovery suggests that there is a whole new frontier in animal and human brain functioning. The researchers observed a human patient in an extreme deep hypoxic coma under powerful anti-epileptic medication that he had been required to take due to his health issues. "Dr. Bogdan Florea from Romania contacted our research team because he had observed unexplainable phenomena on the EEG of a coma patient. We realized that there was cerebral activity, unknown until now, in the patient's brain," says Dr. Florin Amzica, director of the study and professor at the University of Montreal's School of Dentistry.

Dr. Amzica's team then decided to recreate the patient's state in cats, the standard animal model for neurological studies. Using the anesthetic isoflurane, they placed the cats in an extremely deep -- but completely reversible -- coma. The cats passed the flat (isoelectric) EEG line, which is associated with silence in the cortex (the governing part of the brain). The team observed cerebral activity in 100% of the cats in deep coma, in the form of oscillations generated in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning processes. These oscillations, unknown until now, were transmitted to the master part of the brain, the cortex. The researchers concluded that the observed EEG waves, or Nu-complexes, were the same as those observed in the human patient.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2013 at 6:49am

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112952080/smells-grouped-into...
Just How Many Scents Can We Smell?
Of all the different odors and smells floating around the globe, scientists say humans can only detect ten basic categories of scents. Using a computerized model, sensory scientists now say they’ve developed a way to systematically categorize these smells.
After looking at smells through a mathematical model, the scientists say humans generally describe smells as either fragrant, woody/resinous, fruity (non-citrus), chemical, minty/peppermint, sweet, popcorn, and lemon. Perhaps some good news from this study: The scientists say there are only two categories which cause a human’s stomach to turn – those described as pungent and decayed.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2013 at 6:07am

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/353363/description/Vitam...
Vitamin stops static electricity
Clearing out uncharged molecules may prevent charge buildup

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 20, 2013 at 6:57am

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-exploit-the...
How to Exploit the Power of Diverse Minds

A good idea can be powerful. Many of them, in a network of diverse minds, can be more powerful still

Big corporations used to midwife good ideas from the research laboratory to the marketplace, but in the future that task will increasingly fall to a partnership of governments, commercial firms and universities.
To get different nations and institutions collaborating effectively on generating new technologies, we need new rules.
China is a rising star when it comes to innovation, but a closer look reveals that much of that work takes place in the labs of multinational corporations operating on Chinese soil.
Even though nations may differ in their levels of technological output, it is possible to compare how efficient they are at exploiting scientific research.
Mexico has difficulty translating its vibrant research into commercial technology, but the current government is trying to change that, in part by luring expat scientists back home.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2013 at 8:30am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2013 at 7:15am

About Proteins that cause mad cow disease:

Brian-eating proteins: Infectious agents called prions can resist standard sterilization and are difficult to diagnose, posing tough challenges for hospitals.

Prions are unusual pathogens distinct from parasites, fungi, bacteria and viruses. They are misfolded proteins that can transform healthy proteins into sickly versions, leading to the death of cells. Particularly abundant in the brain, they took center stage in the late 1980s, during the mad cow outbreak in the U.K.  People who ate beef from infected cows ran the risk of contracting a variant of CJD. The panic brought to light the range of prion diseases that can affect humans and animals, including one that develops spontaneously. Called sporadic CJD, this spontaneous form strikes about one in every million people each year for no apparent reason. What’s more, the brain tissue from the unlucky few can infect healthy brains—hence, the worry over surgical transmission.

Ensuring neurosurgical tools are free of prions is difficult chiefly because prions resist standard sterilization procedures. To disinfect metal instruments, hospitals put them in an autoclave and steam-heat them to 121 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes. That’s far more than what’s needed to wipe out pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, which succumb to mere boiling temperatures in about one minute. Although autoclaving greatly weakens prions, the process may not entirely wipe out these malevolent proteins.

Even when cleaned with  benzene, alcohol and formaldehyde doesn't make it weak! why prion-free guarantees are impossible: the disease has a long incubation period—long enough that an infected person would seem quite healthy and arouse no suspicion among hospital staff. Months can pass—and many patients exposed—before surgeons might learn of a CJD case and pull the tools out of use. Currently, researchers have no way of definitively diagnosing sporadic CJD except by autopsy. The incubation period for prion diseases can span decades.  “But thankfully it is a very rare disease.” Currently, there is no plan to test the infectivity of the surgical tools, which remain in quarantine and will likely be destroyed.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=surgical-exposure-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 18, 2013 at 10:09am

Health kick can reverse the ageing process

Study conducted by the University of California suggests our genes may be a predisposition - but they are not our fate
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/new-study-finds-health-ki...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 18, 2013 at 6:53am

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 906
• 907
• 908
• 909
• 910
• …
• 954
• Next ›
• Page