DAWN TO DUSK NEWS: science

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why this man has nose on forehead???

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBUBHMgv6K0UGsO2vaKmSbhQx0bzSRIHU7-NHy5n2fyksg1bAs5ZoVRuSp4lrawTzTcz6CQzeZYQJdoXKwZSnSSnieeeBI-FVINmaORM9nNL5b81RF6R4TPtgu0oRnFLqe9Qf6i1r-Z_r/s1600/nose-grown-on-forehead_72031_990x742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBUBHMgv6K0UGsO2vaKmSbhQx0bzSRIHU7-NHy5n2fyksg1bAs5ZoVRuSp4lrawTzTcz6CQzeZYQJdoXKwZSnSSnieeeBI-FVINmaORM9nNL5b81RF6R4TPtgu0oRnFLqe9Qf6i1r-Z_r/s1600/nose-grown-on-forehead_72031_990x742.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Growing a nose on a forehead or an ear on an arm is a revolutionary approach to surgical reconstruction.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>mages
 of a nose implanted on a man's forehead have been all over the 
Internet, like ads for some creepy horror film you probably don't want 
to see. Almost as jarring are pictures of an ear protruding from a 
woman's inner arm.</strong></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They're not from some horror movie—they're real science. The nose-on-the-forehead photo depicts a nose repair in progress in China. The photo of the ear on an arm was published in the September 19 issue of the <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>.
 Such surgeries are examples of new approaches to standard 
reconstructive techniques that may cost patients a few months of 
psychological discomfort but will eventually allow their facial features
 to be repaired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Patrick Byrne,
 director of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins 
Health Care and Surgery Center in Green Spring Station, Maryland, 
believes his innovative ear reconstruction pictured in the <em>NEJM </em>was
 one of the first performed in the world. Growing noses on foreheads or 
ears on arms before transplanting them to the conventional locations is 
based on surgical reconstruction techniques going back hundreds of 
years. But modern-day applications are truly revolutionary, as Byrne 
explained in an interview with National Geographic News.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>The photographs look like some sort of cruel joke. Is this a serious procedure?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes,
 it certainly is. It's called prelamination: Tissue that's going to be 
used to rebuild an area is constructed in multiple layers. In the case 
of the ear, I was trying to solve a difficult problem. [The woman had 
advanced basal cell carcinoma, a skin cancer. Treatment, including 
radiation, damaged the area too much to allow for a more traditional 
reconstruction.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>What are the layers, and why is each layer important?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Take
 the nose, for example. If the damage from disease or injury goes all 
the way through, then all three layers must be replaced: the skin on the
 outside, the cartilage, and the soft lining inside. The forehead skin 
tends to be the best match for the outside skin from an area called the 
paramedian forehead flap, described in medicine as early as 700 B.C. 
[Reconstructive surgeons have been using skin from this area of the 
forehead for nasal reconstruction for centuries.] Cartilage creates a 
three-dimensional form that will resemble a nose, and the choice to take
 it from the rib cage is pretty straightforward. A lot of nuance and 
challenge comes from the internal layer, the lining of the nose. If you 
don't have a pretty good blood supply nourishing the nose from the 
inside, over time it will fail. You'll be left with a mess of tissue 
that could be a deformity worse than the one you started with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>So how do you help ensure a good blood supply?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prelamination,
 or implantation of tissue or cartilage to a skin flap while preserving 
blood supply, provides that inner layer. You put a skin graft on the 
undersurface of the skin flap, then allow it to heal under the surface 
of the forehead, so you've created two layers. You can then split the 
layers and put cartilage grafts inside, like a sandwich.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>What did you think when you saw the forehead/nose photograph circulating on the Internet?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In
 reconstructive surgery we're always trying to provide creative 
solutions. I'm impressed with the creativity of surgeons worldwide, but 
with a clear caveat. I personally have a healthy dose of skepticism as 
to whether or not this was necessary and was the optimal choice. Why 
they chose to do it in the forehead instead of the usual way—construct 
it right there where needed on the nose and then transplant skin from 
the forehead—we'll never know. Perhaps they had some concerns about the 
blood supply. With something as complicated as nose or ear 
reconstruction, there's really no particular standard of care or defined
 solution. When it comes to how you take living tissue to re-create 
something close enough to make people feel it's a real nose or a real 
ear, there are endless feasible strategies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Where do we go from here with this type of reconstructive surgery?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I
 believe that it's a realistic possibility that at some point in the 
future we can take samples of cells and we'll be able to grow composites
 in the laboratory. It would be the same strategy, constructing a 
three-layer body part but out of cells taken from the patient. That's 
the holy grail. But before that, maybe cartilage can be grown in the 
lab, and from there, use the forehead flap.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>How 
do patients react to such bizarre, if temporary, placement of a 
reconstructed body part? Even though few have full noses on their 
foreheads, a fairly common reconstruction requires a flap of skin 
running from the forehead and attached to the nose to stay in place 
while healing for several weeks or months.</strong></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The range of 
coping strategies is all over the map. I've seen people continue their 
professional work. Others won't leave the house until the procedure is 
complete. The woman with the ear reconstruction on her arm was lucky. 
She could cover up the growing tissue and cartilage with a sleeve. And 
she had some fun with it. "She was playing with her kids, and if they 
got in trouble, she'd roll up her sleeve and say, 'Tell it to the arm,'"
 said Byrne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijJEuwU3LuEiIv4Zz77EHzkz08vWVkASOw6ehVnhsnanHPretyTiJgkpUzR7SpERuohYaZCFUYF6fMywbwuUAP-hhXjjT4etiSGUdh-jy1ZipjKTIxxz0jw7MhTyIyjnh1cxPIk4OaKNQ/s1600/url+fcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijJEuwU3LuEiIv4Zz77EHzkz08vWVkASOw6ehVnhsnanHPretyTiJgkpUzR7SpERuohYaZCFUYF6fMywbwuUAP-hhXjjT4etiSGUdh-jy1ZipjKTIxxz0jw7MhTyIyjnh1cxPIk4OaKNQ/s1600/url+fcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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why this man has nose on forehead???

Growing a nose on a forehead or an ear on an arm is a revolutionary approach to surgical reconstruction. mages of a no...

22:39

These Mad Scientists Want to Replace Solar Panels With Potted Plants

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKrLupbNjo4SnVll9aGiyXe2vOi9cLTSYbNf6hC6HYLMLMQmed40vSd9tPBSm1oDD8C-O0hJ5fim_eeF-Lpc_HlpYxyivJce0l8iw1LPLXQITUrQgxJsp4fkxPs4nUYI3rNboBpjyZqPK/s1600/moss-09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKrLupbNjo4SnVll9aGiyXe2vOi9cLTSYbNf6hC6HYLMLMQmed40vSd9tPBSm1oDD8C-O0hJ5fim_eeF-Lpc_HlpYxyivJce0l8iw1LPLXQITUrQgxJsp4fkxPs4nUYI3rNboBpjyZqPK/s1600/moss-09.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Designer Fabienne Felder wants to
reupholster jumbo jets with moss. In her vision, passengers will sit on verdant
tufts while the bryophytes purify the air and use electrons captured during
photosynthesis to power the Direct TV panels on the seat backs. Many would
think Felder was crazy, but biochemist Dr. Paolo Bombelli and plant scientist
Ross Dennis from the University of Cambridge were impressed with her brio and
offered her the opportunity to collaborate with their lab.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The scientists are researching the potential
of photo microbial fuel cells, or photo-MFCs, which are essentially potted
plants that act like miniature power plants and transform sunlight into
electricity that can power iPads. They aren’t as efficient as traditional
photovoltaic solar cells, but are more eco-friendly to manufacture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bombelli and Dennis have worked with designers
previously and created a concept design called the Moss Table—a surface covered
in photo-MFCs that could supposedly power a lamp. In reality, all the prototype
cells could power was a small LCD display, but it illustrated the potential.
While they appreciated Felder’s gonzo vision, the scientists proposed a project
that would be possible this year instead of a decade in the future and decided
to build a humble FM radio.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The result is a sound system comprised of ten
photo-MFCs housed in a frame meant to evoke the feel of a biochemistry lab. It
looks like a science experiment, but Felder’s biophilic boombox can generate
enough power to play a short song. The array and a hidden capacitor can only
power the radio for a few minutes at a time, and listening to an entire
baseball game would require hundreds of plants, but she’s still bullish on the
potential of truly green energy. “Give the researchers a few more years and it
will all change,” says Felder. “But despite these little steps forward, the
breakthrough we’ve had with the radio is not to be underestimated.”</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“I like the idea of getting closer to nature
again–to use it in ingenious ways, without exploiting it.”</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The University of Cambridge holds a patent on
this technology and they’re finalizing an educational kit that will surely
replace potato clocks in 3rd grade classrooms around the country. Beyond that,
stabilizing the technology and expanding its efficiency is the next order of
business. Finding the perfect moss and growing them directly onto conductive
surfaces could lead to efficiency gains, but more experiments are required.
There are over 20,000 species of moss growing in Britain alone and aside from
their ability to produce electricity they also insulate, muffle noises, filter
the air, and have anti-fungal/bacterial properties.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“On a small scale I think we could soon-ish
convert people’s normal houseplants into little power-generators for charging
phones,” says Felder. “On a large scale, especially outdoors, the right mix of
plants will be crucial and that will need more research, both in terms of
plants and irrigation systems, maintenance, etc.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The team’s well aware that it may take years
before the technology is viable in the market. Even at maturity it might only
make sense in developing countries. Despite the challenges, Felder is excited
by the fact that current setups only convert approximately 0.1% of the
electrons the mosses are exposed to. Even with that meager efficiency, if a
quarter of London’s residents used moss to charge their mobile phones for 2
hours every other day, it would save 42.5 million kilowatt hours, nearly $12
million dollars per year, and keep approximately 40 tons of carbon dioxide from
the environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“I like the idea of getting closer to nature
again and to use it in ingenious ways, without exploiting it,” says Felder. “I
am a designer by trade, but a scientist at heart.”</span></div>
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These Mad Scientists Want to Replace Solar Panels With Potted Plants

Designer Fabienne Felder wants to reupholster jumbo jets with moss. In her vision, passengers will sit on verdant tufts while the ...

21:20

First test to predict Alzheimer's years in advance

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnzFR51ofBw0KWgfXY6806-gcdHS_RV7ROCONHPqSkwNssgnGwfDqL9YEcM0-La7O59TUpax9GCPyzRpNcyiR7_GbzO5ra9gkB7PR9ALApwCtNVesT6HaheYibFnwkelDeQc3F8U9NK5v/s1600/1911688_10152338299067518_1180552327_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnzFR51ofBw0KWgfXY6806-gcdHS_RV7ROCONHPqSkwNssgnGwfDqL9YEcM0-La7O59TUpax9GCPyzRpNcyiR7_GbzO5ra9gkB7PR9ALApwCtNVesT6HaheYibFnwkelDeQc3F8U9NK5v/s1600/1911688_10152338299067518_1180552327_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The world's first blood test to
predict Alzheimer's disease before symptoms occur has been developed. The test
identifies 10 chemicals in the blood associated with the disease two to three
years before symptoms start, but it might be able to predict Alzheimer's
decades earlier.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Globally, 35 million people are
living with Alzheimer's. It is characterised by a toxic build up of amyloid and
tau proteins in the brain, which destroys the neurons. Several blood tests can
diagnose the disease, but until now, none has had the sensitivity to predict
its onset.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Howard Federoff at Georgetown
University in Washington DC and his colleagues studied 525 people aged 70 and
over for five years. The group showed no signs of mental impairment at the
start of the study. Each year, the team performed a detailed cognitive
examination and took blood samples from all the participants. During this time,
28 people developed Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment, thought to be the
earliest noticeable sign of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">An analysis of the participants'
blood highlighted 10 metabolites that were depleted in those with mild
cognitive impairment who went on to get Alzheimer's compared with those who
didn't. In subsequent trials, the team showed these chemicals could predict who
would go on to get Alzheimer's within the next three years with up to 96 per
cent accuracy.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #717171; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Decades of warning?</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The 10 metabolites play a key role
in supporting cell membranes, maintaining neurons or sustaining energy processes.
"We think the decrease in these chemicals reflects the breakdown of neural
populations in the brain," says team member Mark Mapstone at the
University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Once verified in a larger group,
the test should provide a cheap and quick way of predicting Alzheimer's.
Mapstone says that it may even be able to predict the disease much earlier,
because the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's begin many years before
symptoms occur. "These metabolic changes might occur 10 or 20 years
earlier – that would give us a real head start on predicting the disease,"
he says.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The team is hoping to investigate
this by looking back at other dementia studies in which blood has been taken
over decades and seeing whether the chemical changes can be detected that
early, says Federoff.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The group also analysed the full
genome sequence of all of the participants in the study. That work has yet to
be published, but Federoff says the changes in genes over the five years of the
study are even more powerful than the metabolites at predicting who will
develop dementia. "The gene changes are linked to the metabolite changes,
so we're hoping to put all this together to provide a more complete description
of the underlying pathology of the disease," he says. "What's most
exciting is that we know the function of all the affected genes so if we can
intercept these changes, they might make good candidates for new drugs."</span></div>
<div style="background: white; border-bottom: solid #00759A 1.0pt; border: none; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #00759A .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; border: none; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #00759A .75pt; mso-line-height-alt: 14.8pt; mso-outline-level: 3; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<b><span style="color: #717171; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Knowledge is power</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">But with no treatments available,
would anyone want to take these tests?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Mapstone says yes. "In my
experience, the majority of people are very interested to know whether they
will get Alzheimer's. They believe that knowledge is power – particularly when
it comes to your own health. We may not have any therapy yet but there are
things we can do – we can get our financial and legal affairs in order, plan
for future care, and inform family members."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If the test could predict the
disease 20 years before symptoms appear, the implications are huge, he says.
"Imagine what you would do in your early 40s to slow the onset of the
disease. You could eat the right foods, avoid head trauma or do
more exercise."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">"In the short term, I think
some people would want to know and some wouldn't," says Tracy
Young-Pearse, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School. However, if treatments
are developed that are only effective before neurons have started dying in
large numbers, then it will be an easy decision to choose to take the blood
test, she says.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Meanwhile, the new test will be
valuable for drug discovery efforts, she says. Years of failed drugs trials
have shown that you have to catch the disease early to have any influence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Three studies starting this year
hope to do just that. One will test anti-amyloid drugs on healthy people with a
rare mutation that gives them early onset Alzheimer's by age 45 (see
"Testing a drug for the memory curse").</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The second will take advantage of
a chemical developed last year that can be injected into the body and which accumulates
in tau tangles. It will allow researchers to track the progression of tau in
the living brain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A third trial will investigate
whether anti-amyloid drugs can prevent Alzheimer's in older people who don't
yet have memory problems but do have amyloid building up in their brain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 7.5pt; margin-right: 15.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 13.45pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">"If an even earlier
pre-clinical population could be identified with this blood test, it could be
game changing," says Young-Pearse.</span></div>
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First test to predict Alzheimer's years in advance

The world's first blood test to predict Alzheimer's disease before symptoms occur has been developed. The test identifies 10 ...

21:46

Newspaper bottle opener

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<span style="font-size: large;">Scientific tricks ::</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Got a non-twist crown cap bottle but can't find a bottle opener 
anywhere? No worries! Master this party survival trick and you'll save 
the soiree, rescue the rave and become a barbecue hero.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQYBclSDpS7PozXgv5VyhWd6tDOu0x3v9WbLhS0uUJ-2CJ3Ta77AtWoKdrD_nUoeiHhDiQygZFP9zphFwWzl8ixtcURodIssOpkSfU_JZSJZduWa9ym1M-N67_X2WKwb7K1kiLJhyBZJT/s1600/r1235053_16320241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQYBclSDpS7PozXgv5VyhWd6tDOu0x3v9WbLhS0uUJ-2CJ3Ta77AtWoKdrD_nUoeiHhDiQygZFP9zphFwWzl8ixtcURodIssOpkSfU_JZSJZduWa9ym1M-N67_X2WKwb7K1kiLJhyBZJT/s1600/r1235053_16320241.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_01.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">To open non-twist crown corks, most people reach for the bottle opener. Not you. Not anymore.</span></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_02.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">Grab two sheets of ordinary newspaper 
instead (that's a total of four pages and it doesn't matter if the 
newspaper is a broadsheet or tabloid format.)</span></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_03.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">Roll the newspaper up nice and tight. If you are doing this at a barbecue or a party, expect some raised eyebrows.</span></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_04.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">Bend the rolled up newspaper in half and squash the crease as tight and hard as you can.</span></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_05.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">There will now be several stiff, sharp, pointy bits in the crease.</span></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_06.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">Wedge one of the sharp pointy bits under the
 crown. Move the hand holding the bottle up so the paper is pressed 
against your index finger just above the first knuckle (on your proximal
 phalange bone.) Your index finger is now the fulcrum of a first-class 
lever. Pull down with the other hand and… pop!</span></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="diagram"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" height="124" src="http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/img/tricks/3941558/newspaper_07.jpg" title="" width="220" /></span></td>
<td class="instructions"><span style="font-size: large;">Congratulations. You've just opened a bottle with a newspaper! Now go forth and be the toast of the barbie.<br /><br />Note:
 if you don't succeed the first time, the part of the crease you used 
will probably be torn so use a different pointy bit for your second 
attempt.</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
   </span><br />
<div class="right top">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/02/11/3941558.htm#top">^ to top</a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
     </span><br />
<h3 id="a">
<span style="font-size: large;">What's going on?</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">
    </span><span style="font-size: large;">You have successfully turned an ordinary sheet of newspaper into a
 class 1 lever (the surprising strength of newspaper deserves some of 
the credit too.) Levers are one of the six simple machines every kid 
learns about in primary school but nearly all forget again before the 
end of high school. In case you've forgotten, the other simple machines 
are the inclined plane, the wedge, the wheel and axle, the pulley and 
the screw. Coming back to you yet? Quit yawning!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
   
    </span><span style="font-size: large;">Levers amplify force and they're so good at it that Archimedes 
famously said: "Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the Earth." 
He meant that, if he had a long and strong enough crow bar, he could use
 it as a lever and move planets. Oi! Pay attention!!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
   
    </span><span style="font-size: large;">A lever is just a beam or a stick or a rod. Or, in this case, a 
few sheets of newspaper turned into a rod. What class of lever you have 
depends on where you put the fulcrum. This is the other bit most primary
 school kids learn to forget. The fulcrum is the point around which the 
lever rotates. A seesaw is a class 1 lever but, with the fulcrum smack 
bang in the middle, it gives you zero mechanical advantage. If you put 
the fulcrum closer to the far end, however, you can lift a heavy object a
 small vertical distance by pushing the other end down a large vertical 
distance. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
   
    </span><span style="font-size: large;">Okay kids, fascinating as this is, even I can tell that's 
probably enough lever lessons for one day. If you really are that keen 
to refresh yourself with what makes a class 2 lever (think wheelbarrows)
 and a class 3 lever (think biceps lifting a dumbbell), then simply type
 "class 2 lever" into any search engine and you will be rewarded with 
more than five results (trust me, I checked!)      </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
   
    </span><span style="font-size: large;">In the meantime, here are a few extra hints for how to open crown
 cork bottle caps with a newspaper. It helps to practice the technique 
with the thick handle of blunt butter knife or a wooden spoon so you 
won't get too frustrated when the pointy bits in your creased newspaper 
tear (once it does, you usually can't use that pointy bit again.) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
   
    </span><span style="font-size: large;">Also, if you break the seal, the neck of the bottle often becomes
 wet, and in that event you'll just end up making papier-mâché. The 
lever action should not hurt your index finger at all. If it does, 
you're holding it wrong. The crown cork should come off relatively 
easily (ie not much force is required) and if it feels like there is no 
way it's going to budge… you're still holding it wrong.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">source :ABC.net </span><br />
<br />
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</div>

Newspaper bottle opener

Scientific tricks :: Got a non-twist crown cap bottle but can't find a bottle opener anywhere? No worries! Master this party survival...

20:02

New class of antibiotics discovered by chemists

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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> A new class of antibiotics to fight bacteria such as methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public
health has been discovered by a team of chemists. The new class, called
oxadiazoles, was discovered in silico (by computer) screening and has shown
promise in the treatment of MRSA in mouse models of infection. MRSA has become
a global public-health problem since the 1960s because of its resistance to
antibiotics. In the United States alone, 278,000 people are hospitalized and
19,000 die each year from infections caused by MRSA. Only three drugs currently
are effective treatments, and resistance to each of those drugs already exists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A team of University of Notre Dame
researchers led by Mayland Chang and Shahriar Mobashery have discovered a new
class of antibiotics to fight bacteria such as methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus
aureus</i> (MRSA) and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public
health. Their research is published in the <i>Journal of the American Chemical
Society</i> in an article titled "Discovery of a New Class of
Non-beta-lactam Inhibitors of Penicillin-Binding Proteins with Gram-Positive
Antibacterial Activity."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The new class, called oxadiazoles, was
discovered in silico (by computer) screening and has shown promise in the
treatment of MRSA in mouse models of infection. Researchers who screened 1.2
million compounds found that the oxadiazole inhibits a penicillin-binding
protein, PBP2a, and the biosynthesis of the cell wall that enables MRSA to
resist other drugs. The oxadiazoles are also effective when taken orally. This
is an important feature as there is only one marketed antibiotic for MRSA that
can be taken orally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">MRSA has become a global public-health
problem since the 1960s because of its resistance to antibiotics. In the United
States alone, 278,000 people are hospitalized and 19,000 die each year from
infections caused by MRSA. Only three drugs currently are effective treatments,
and resistance to each of those drugs already exists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The researchers have been seeking a
solution to MRSA for years. "Professor Mobashery has been working on the
mechanisms of resistance in MRSA for a very long time," Chang said.
"As we understand what the mechanisms are, we can devise strategies to develop
compounds against MRSA."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">"Mayland Chang and Shahriar
Mobashery's discovery of a class of compounds that combat drug resistant
bacteria such as MRSA could save thousands of lives around the world. We are
grateful for their leadership and persistence in fighting drug
resistance," said Greg Crawford, dean of the College of Science at the
University of Notre Dame.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Story Source:</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The above story is based on <a href="http://news.nd.edu/news/46745-notre-dame-chemists-discover-new-class-of-antibiotics/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">materials</span></a> provided by <a href="http://www.nd.edu/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">University
of Notre Dame</span></b></a>. <i>Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length</i></span></div>
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New class of antibiotics discovered by chemists

A new class of antibiotics to fight bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other drug-resis...

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