Zebrafish neurons may lead to understanding of birth defects like spina bifida

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The zebrafish, a tropical freshwater fish similar to a minnow and native to the southeastern Himalayan region, is well established as a key tool for researchers studying human diseases, including brain disorders. Using zebrafish, scientists can determine how individual neurons develop, mature and support basic functions like breathing, swallowing and jaw movement. Researchers at the University of Missouri say that learning about neuronal development and maturation in zebrafish could lead to a better understanding of birth defects such as spina bifida in humans.”We are studying how neurons move to their final destinations,” said Anand Chandrasekhar, professor of biological sciences and a researcher in the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU. “It’s especially critical in the nervous system because these neurons are generating circuits similar to what you might see in computers. If those circuits don’t form properly, and if different types of neurons don’t end up in the right locations, the behavior and survival of the animal will be compromised.”The scientists studied zebrafish embryos, which are nearly transparent, making internal processes easy to observe. Using modified zebrafish expressing green fluorescent jellyfish protein, Chandrasekhar and his team were able to track neuronal migration.”This approach is used extensively to visualize a group of cells,” Chandrasekhar said. “In our study, clusters of green cells glowed and indicated where motor neurons were located in the brain. Some groupings are shaped like sausages while others are round, but each cluster of 50 to150 cells sends out signals to different groups of jaw muscles.”These motor neurons that Chandrasekhar studied are located in the hindbrain, which corresponds to the human brainstem and controls gill and jaw movement in these tiny fish. Genes controlling the development and organization of these neurons in zebrafish are functionally similar to genes in higher vertebrates including mammals.Chandrasekhar’s work contributes to a better understanding of how neuronal networks are organized and “wired” during development. These studies also may provide insight into birth defects like spina bifida, which affects 1 in every 2,000 births, according to the National Institutes of Health.”One of the hallmarks of spina bifida is an open neural tube in the spinal cord,” Chandrasekhar said. …


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#Biology, #Birth, #Chandrasekhar, #Development, #Health, #Human, #National, #Process, #Researchers

Frequent school moves can increase the risk of psychotic symptoms in early adolescence

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Researchers at Warwick Medical School have shown that frequently changing schools during childhood can increase the risk of psychotic symptoms in later years.The study, published in American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found that school mobility during childhood heightens the risk of developing psychotic-like symptoms in early adolescence by up to 60%.Suffering from psychotic-like symptoms at young age is strongly associated with mental health problems in adulthood, including psychotic disorders and suicide.Professor Swaran Singh, who led the study, explained, “Changing schools can be very stressful for students. Our study found that the process of moving schools may itself increase the risk of psychotic symptoms — independent of other factors. But additionally, being involved in bullying, sometimes as a consequence of repeated school moves, may exacerbate risk for the individual.”At the age of 12, participants in the study were interviewed to assess for the presence of psychotic-like symptoms including hallucinations, delusions and thought interference in the previous six months. Those that had moved school three or more times were found to be 60% more likely to display at least one definite psychotic symptom.The authors suggested that moving schools often may lead to feelings of low self-esteem and a sense of social defeat. This feeling of being excluded from the majority could also render physiological consequences leading to sensitisation of the mesolimbic dopamine system, heightening the risk of psychotic-like symptoms in vulnerable individuals.Dr Cath Winsper, Senior Research Fellow at Warwick Medical School and part of the study group said, “It’s clear that we need to keep school mobility in mind when clinically assessing young people with psychotic disorders. It should be explored as a matter of course as the impact can be both serious and potentially long lasting. Schools should develop strategies to help these students to establish themselves in their new environment.”Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of Warwick. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


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#Academy, #Adolescent, #Agriculture, #Cancer, #Process, #Psychiatry, #Psychotic, #Risk, #School, #Social, #University, #Warwick

Cosmic roadmap to galactic magnetic field revealed

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Scientists on NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, including a team leader from the University of New Hampshire, report that recent, independent measurements have validated one of the mission’s signature findings — a mysterious “ribbon” of energy and particles at the edge of our solar system that appears to be a directional “roadmap in the sky” of the local interstellar magnetic field.Unknown until now, the direction of the galactic magnetic field may be a missing key to understanding how the heliosphere — the gigantic bubble that surrounds our solar system — is shaped by the interstellar magnetic field and how it thereby helps shield us from dangerous incoming galactic cosmic rays. “Using measurements of ultra-high energy cosmic rays on a global scale, we now have a completely different means of verifying that the field directions we derived from IBEX are consistent,” says Nathan Schwadron, lead scientist for the IBEX Science Operations Center at the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. Schwadron and IBEX colleagues published their findings online today in Science.Establishing a consistent local interstellar magnetic field direction using IBEX low-energy neutral atoms and galactic cosmic rays at ten orders of magnitude higher energy levels has wide-ranging implications for the structure of our heliosphere and is an important measurement to be making in tandem with the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which is in the process of passing beyond our heliosphere.”The cosmic ray data we used represent some of the highest energy radiation we can observe and are at the opposite end of the energy range compared to IBEX’s measurements,” says Schwadron. “That it’s revealing a consistent picture of our neighborhood in the galaxy with what IBEX has revealed gives us vastly more confidence that what we’re learning is correct.”How magnetic fields of galaxies order and direct galactic cosmic rays is a crucial component to understanding the environment of our galaxy, which in turn influences the environment of our entire solar system and our own environment here on Earth, including how that played into the evolution of life on our planet.Notes David McComas, principal investigator of the IBEX mission at Southwest Research Institute and coauthor on the Science Express paper, “We are discovering how the interstellar magnetic field shapes, deforms, and transforms our entire heliosphere.”To date, the only other direct information gathered from the heart of this complex boundary region is from NASA’s Voyager satellites. Voyager 1 entered the heliospheric boundary region in 2004, passing beyond what’s known as the termination shock where the solar wind abruptly slows. Voyager 1 is believed to have crossed into interstellar space in 2012.Interestingly, when scientists compared the IBEX and cosmic ray data with Voyager 1′s measurements, the Voyager 1 data provide a different direction for the magnetic fields just outside our heliosphere.That’s a puzzle but it doesn’t necessarily mean one set of data is wrong and one is right. Voyager 1 is taking measurements directly, gathering data at a specific time and place, while IBEX gathers information averaged over great distances — so there is room for discrepancy. Indeed, the very discrepancy can be used as a clue: understand why there’s a difference between the two measurements and gain new insight.”It’s a fascinating time,” says Schwadron. “Fifty years ago, we were making the first measurements of the solar wind and understanding the nature of what was just beyond near-Earth space. Now, a whole new realm of science is opening up as we try to understand the physics all the way outside the heliosphere.”Eberhard Mbius, UNH principal scientist for the IBEX-Lo instrument on board, is a coauthor on the Science paper along with colleagues from institutions around the country.Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of New Hampshire. …


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#Agriculture, #Heliosphere, #Institute, #Interstellar, #King, #Nasa, #Neighborhood, #Pregnancy, #Process, #Science, #Space, #University

Better broccoli, enhanced anti-cancer benefits with longer shelf life

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While researching methods to increase the already well-recognized anti-cancer properties of broccoli, researchers at the University of Illinois also found a way to prolong the vegetable’s shelf life.And, according to the recently published study, the method is a natural and inexpensive way to produce broccoli that has even more health benefits and won’t spoil so quickly on your refrigerator shelf.Jack Juvik, a U of I crop sciences researcher, explained that the combined application of two compounds, both are natural products extracted from plants, increased the presence of cancer-fighting agents in broccoli while prolonging the post-harvest storage period.”We had figured out ways to increase the anti-cancer activity in broccoli, but the way we figured it out created a situation that would cause the product to deteriorate more rapidly after application,” Juvik said. “For fresh-market broccoli that you harvest, it’s not too big a deal, but many of these products have to be shipped, frozen, cut up, and put into other products. Usually the idea is to get it from the farm to at least the distributor (grocery store) within two to three days.”If we could figure out a way to prolong the appearance, taste, and flavor long after harvest and maintain the improved health-promoting properties, that’s always of great interest to growers,” he added.The researchers first used methyl jasmonate (MeJA), a non-toxic plant-signal compound (produced naturally in plants) to increase the broccoli’s anti-cancer potential, which they sprayed on the broccoli about four days before harvest. When applied, MeJA initiates a process of gene activity affiliated with the biosynthesis of glucosinolates (GS), which are compounds found in the tissue of broccoli and other brassica vegetables (such as cauliflower, cabbage, and kale).Glucosinolates have been identified as potent cancer-preventative agents because of their ability to induce detoxification enzymes, such as quinone reductase (QR), that detoxify and eliminate carcinogens from the human body.However, during this process, MeJA also signals a network of genes that lead to plant decay by inducing the release of ethylene, Juvik explained. “While we can use MeJA to turn on phytochemicals like the glucosinolates and dramatically increase the abundance of those helpful anti-cancer compounds, MeJA also reduces the shelf life after harvest,” he said.So the researchers tried using the recently developed compound 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), which has been shown to interfere with receptor proteins in the plant that are receptor-sensitive to ethylene. They applied the compound after harvesting the same broccoli that had already been treated with MeJA before harvest.”Ethylene will move and bind to ethylene receptors and that binding process initiates decay. What this compound does is that it more competitively lands on the protein and binds to or pushes out ethylene,” Juvik explained. “It basically stops or dramatically slows down the decay associated with ethylene.”The combination is good,” he said.Like MeJA, 1-MCP is also a non-toxic compound naturally produced in plants, although Juvik said synthetic forms can be produced. He stressed that both the MeJA and 1-MCP treatments required very small amounts of the compounds.”It’s very cheap, and it’s about as toxic as salt. It takes very little to elevate all the desirable aspects. …


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#Cancer, #Distributor, #Economy, #Gene, #Health, #Juvik, #Method, #Process

Breast cancer survivors reap benefits of weight training, study finds

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Tallahassee resident Jennie Simons couldn’t even reach over her head by the time she had finished her breast cancer treatment in 2008. She was a survivor, beating back a particularly aggressive case of breast cancer — first in 2000 and then again in 2008 when it recurred — but the chemotherapy left her body ravaged.She had 15 surgeries during the breast reconstruction process, plus additional surgeries on her spine and arms because the chemo had weakened her bones so much that they started chipping away.”I couldn’t reach over my head,” said Simons, 63. “I couldn’t reach my back to bathe it.”So, in 2010 when she heard about a new study at Florida State University that was working with postmenopausal breast cancer survivors by putting them on a weight training regime, she signed up.Said Simons: “At the end of six months, I was lifting a lot of weights. It helped me mentally and physically.”Through that study, researchers at Florida State University and other institutions found that if you put female breast cancer survivors on a weight training program and fed them prunes, they could at least maintain their current levels of muscle mass and bone density. The findings were published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.”If we can prevent that decrease, that’s a step in the right direction, ” said Lynn Panton, associate professor of exercise science and a co-author of the study.Now, Panton and one of her doctoral students, Titch Madzima, are following up on that research, recruiting another group of women to participate in a study that involves personal training with Madzima and other graduate students twice per week, followed by consumption of a vanilla bean-flavored protein drink.Simons signed up again. So for the next three months, Madzima is taking her through leg presses, bicep curls, leg extensions and other exercises in a small laboratory on the FSU campus that is outfitted with a small gym. It’s a total body workout.Panton and Madzima are trying to find out if they tweak the approach from the first study if they can eventually reverse the effects of the chemotherapy and help women gain back some lost muscle mass and bone density.”If we can slow down that accelerated loss or reverse that process, hopefully we’ll improve the quality of life of the breast cancer survivor,” Madzima said.And while the ultimate goal is to find a solid program for breast cancer survivors to follow on a larger scale, the university researchers are also helping local women through the process of recovery.”Working with the ladies is amazing,” Panton said. “We almost become a family. We’ve done a number of parties, a potluck.”Study participant Nancy Van Wilder, who was diagnosed in 2009 right after her 50th birthday, said that cancer was a “kick in the butt” and having a support group from women who have gone through the same treatment and ultimate recovery is essential.Van Wilder said she participated in the original study in 2010 to get back into shape so she could run a 5K for breast cancer research. She wound up running nine races that year.Working out alongside the other women, plus Panton and her graduate students was key to that, she said. …


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#Exercise, #Floridastate, #Health, #Pregnancy, #Process, #Science, #Simons, #Study

Pearl Harbor Anniversary Attracts Support for WW II Veterans at Mesothelioma Center

Pearl Harbor Anniversary Attracts Support for WW II Veterans at Mesothelioma Center



The number of living American veterans who were at Pearl Harbor 70 years ago when the United States was attacked and drawn into World War II is dwindling to a precious few.
Yet the historic significance of...

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#American, #Application, #Benefits, #Cancer, #Generation, #Memorials, #Pearl, #Process, #Psyche

Is an earthquake behind the Shroud of Turin image? Radiation from earthquake could have led to "wrong" 1988 dating

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Neutron radiation caused by 33 A.D. earthquake could have led to “wrong” 1988 radiocarbon dating of Shroud, suggest researchersAn earthquake in Old Jerusalem might be behind the famous image of the Shroud of Turin, says a group of researchers led by Alberto Carpinteri of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy in an article published in Springer’s journal Meccanica. They believe that neutron radiation caused by an earthquake could have induced the image of a crucified man — which many people believe to be that of Jesus — onto the length of linen cloth, and caused carbon-14 dating done on it in 1988 to be wrong.The Shroud has attracted widespread interest ever since Secondo Pia took the first photograph of it in 1898: about whether it is Jesus’ purported burial cloth, how old it might be, and how the image was created. According to radiocarbon dating done in 1988, the cloth was only 728 years old at the time. Other researchers have since suggested that the shroud is much older and that the dating process was incorrect because of neutron radiation — a process which is the result of nuclear fusion or nuclear fission during which free neutrons are released from atoms — and its interaction with the nuclei of other atoms to form new carbon isotopes.However, no plausible physical reason has yet been proposed to explain the origin of this neutron radiation. Now Carpinteri’s team, through mechanical and chemical experimentation, hypothesizes that high-frequency pressure waves generated in Earth’s crust during earthquakes are the source of such neutron emissions. This is based on their research into piezonuclear fission reactions, which are triggered when very brittle rock specimens are crushed under a press machine. In the process, neutrons are produced without gamma emissions. Analogously, the researchers theorize further that neutron flux increments, in correspondence to seismic activity, should be a result of the same reactions.The researchers therefore believe that neutron emission from a historical earthquake in 33 A.D. in Old Jerusalem, which measured 8.2 on the Richter Scale, could have been strong enough to cause neutron imaging through its interaction with nitrogen nuclei. …


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#Alternative-Medicine, #Carbon, #Carpinteri, #Dating, #Earth, #Jesus, #Politecnico, #Pregnancy, #Process, #Research, #Springer, #Turin

Ways to improve common furniture fire test

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The bench-scale test widely used to evaluate whether a burning cigarette will ignite upholstered furniture may underestimate the tendency of component materials to smolder when these materials are used in sofas and chairs supported by springs or cloth, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and American University researchers report in a new study.The study comes as regulations and methods for evaluating the likelihood that soft-furniture materials will ignite are undergoing scrutiny. In November 2013, California removed an open-flame test from its furniture flammability testing law**-the de facto national standard since no national regulation currently exists-and now relies solely on the so-called cigarette-smoldering-ignition test.The new research identifies changes to this test that might make it more realistic-representative of a “near-worst-case scenario.” The modifications, the researchers write, would make the test more consistent and, therefore, more useful for identifying “upholstery materials most likely to prevent smoldering ignition.”In the same article, the research team reports guidelines for making a reproducible reference foam for furniture flammability testing-a challenging, longstanding priority of standards developers, regulators and fire researchers. Such a standardized foam would help in comparing flammability data from different laboratories.In the current setup for the test, two fabric-covered foam pieces are positioned like seat and back cushions on a small solid wood support structure. A lit standard reference cigarette (one certified by NIST to burn consistently***) is placed in the crevice formed by the two pieces. To pass, a fabric covering or barrier material under test must prevent the burning cigarette from igniting the underlying foam so that it does not smolder on its own, even after the cigarette self-extinguishes.The researchers found that directly placing the test samples on top of the wooden support impedes air flow and, as a consequence, inhibits smoldering. They point out that the arrangement is not representative of furniture with cushions that rest on air-permeable substrates such as springs or cloth, which allows air to circulate and promotes smoldering.The team introduced gaps between the foam samples and the underlying wood, permitting air flow. The adjustment increased-by up to threefold-the rate at which smoldering spread in the foam. It also generated significantly higher smoldering temperatures in the foam-as much as 400 degrees Celsius higher.”Because it inhibits air flow, the current test apparatus may diminish the propensity for smoldering ignition,” explains NIST’s Rick Davis. “Creating gaps to increase air flow, and the other modifications we are suggesting-especially adoption of a reference foam-will enable more consistent smoldering behavior and help to minimize other causes of inconsistent flammability test results.”Either overlooked or considered unavoidable, differences in foam samples can be a significant source of ambiguity in flammability test results. Whether a lit cigarette burning on, say, a fabric covering initiates self-sustained smoldering in the underlying foam depends on whether the heat produced exceeds the heat lost. …


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#Alternative-Medicine, #Alzheimer, #Burning, #Cancer, #Nist, #Process, #Research, #Sofas