Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

30% of world is now fat, no country immune: Study

LONDON: Almost a third of the world is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis.

Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were in the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 60 percent of men and 65 percent of women are heavy. The U.S. has about 13 percent of the world's fat population, a greater percentage than any other country. China and India combined have about 15 percent.

"It's pretty grim," said Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who led the study. He and colleagues reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries from 1980 to 2013. "When we realized that not a single country has had a significant decline in obesity, that tells you how hard a challenge this is."

Murray said there was a strong link between income and obesity; as people get richer, their waistlines also tend to start bulging. He said scientists have noticed accompanying spikes in diabetes and that rates of cancers linked to weight, like pancreatic cancer, are also rising.

The new report was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet.

Last week, the World Health Organization established a high-level commission tasked with ending childhood obesity.

"Our children are getting fatter," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said bluntly during a speech at the agency's annual meeting in Geneva. "Parts of the world are quite literally eating themselves to death." Earlier this year, WHO said that no more than 5 percent of your daily calories should come from sugar.

"Modernization has not been good for health," said Syed Shah, an obesity expert at United Arab Emirates University, who found obesity rates have jumped five times in the last 20 years even in a handful of remote Himalayan villages in Pakistan. His research was presented this week at a conference in Bulgaria. "Years ago, people had to walk for hours if they wanted to make a phone call," he said. "Now everyone has a cellphone."

Shah also said the villagers no longer have to rely on their own farms for food.
"There are roads for (companies) to bring in their processed foods and the people don't have to slaughter their own animals for meat and oil," he said. "No one knew about Coke and Pepsi 20 years ago. Now it's everywhere."

In Britain, the independent health watchdog issued new advice on Wednesday recommending heavy people be sent to free weight-loss classes to drop about 3 percent of their weight, reasoning that losing just a few pounds improves health and is more realistic. About two in three adults in the U.K. are overweight, making it the fattest country in Western Europe.

"This is not something where you can just wake up one morning and say, `I am going to lose 10 pounds,'" said Mike Kelly, the agency's public health director, in a statement. "It takes resolve and it takes encouragement."

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The moon's internet speed soon to be faster than earth

LONDON: The internet speed on the moon will soon be faster than that on earth. Scientists have found a way to get broadband speed of just under 20 megabits per second (mbps) on the Moon.

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory working with Nasa recently demonstrated the data communication technology which makes it possible to receive large amounts of data and stream video and audio from the moon to earth and vice versa.

A download speed of 19.44mbps was achieved through a laser-powered communication uplink through RF signals, along with an upload speed of 622mbps - that is 4,800 times faster than the previous record.

This download speed is more than six times faster than the download speed achieved by the best radio system ever flown to the moon, and the Nasa's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) laser space terminal is half the weight and uses 25% less power than the radio system.

LLCD also demonstrated a data upload speed of 20 mbps on a laser beam transmitted from a ground station in New Mexico to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft in orbit; this speed is 5000 times faster than the upload speed of the best radio system flown to the moon.

"This will be the first time that we present both the implementation overview and how well it actually worked," said Mark Stevens of MIT Lincoln Laboratory. "The on-orbit performance was excellent and close to what we'd predicted, giving us confidence that we have a good understanding of the underlying physics," he added.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Getting fish drunk doubles its swim-speed

NEW YORK: A single zebrafish, exposed to alcohol, not only doubles its swim-speed among its "sober" peers, but also increases the speed of the whole group, a new study has found.

New findings by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering are helping to unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behaviour and may lead to new therapies for mitigating the negative impacts of alcohol use and abuse.

A team led by Maurizio Porfiri devised an original method that would allow for detailed tracking of a single, alcohol-exposed zebrafish amid a school of "sober" peers.

The research team posited that an individual's response to alcohol would vary based on the presence or absence of unexposed peers.

What they did not anticipate, however, was the remarkable effect the alcohol-exposed fish would have on unexposed shoalmates.

Porfiri and his colleagues designed an experimental procedure in which a single zebrafish was exposed to four concentrations of ethanol in water, ranging from zero to high.

Following exposure, the fish was released into a group of untreated zebrafish.

A custom tracking algorithm allowed the researchers to follow for the first time individual fish throughout the experiment as well as analyse group behaviour.

Previous studies show alcohol exposure affects zebrafish locomotion - at low concentrations, fish tend to swim faster, and as the dose increases, swimming typically slows. Alcohol can also negatively impact the school's cohesion.

In Porfiri's trials, the single exposed zebrafish showed changes in locomotion when observed alone consistent to those predicted by independent studies in the past.

In a group setting, however, the zebrafish behaviour was remarkably different: Fish exposed to intermediate or high alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds, suggesting that the presence of peers had a substantial impact on social behaviour under the influence of alcohol.

Most remarkably, the unexposed fish also modulated their behaviour and swimming speeds differentially in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to different levels of alcohol.

"These results were very surprising. It is clear that the untreated fish were matching the swimming speed of the alcohol-exposed fish, and this correlation was especially strong at an intermediate level of alcohol exposure. At very high or low levels, the influence decreases," said Porfiri.

Porfiri believes that one explanation for the high-speed swimming of the exposed individual may be hyper-reactivity to an enriched environment - ?the tank containing shoalmates.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electrical stimulation of brain alters dreams: Study

PARIS: Scientists on Sunday said they had used a harmless electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has "lucid dreams," a particularly powerful form of dreaming.

The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming — an area that has fascinated thinkers for millennia — and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.

Lucid dreams are considered by many psychologists to be an intermediate stage between two forms of consciousness. They lie between so-called rapid eye movement (REM) dreams — which are concerned with the immediate present and have no access to past memories or anticipated events in the future — and being awake, which brings into play abstract thought and other cognitive functions.

In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM dreams.

A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream's plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.

Researchers led by Ursula Voss at the J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to explore the causes of lucid dreaming. The gadget comprises two small boxes with electrodes that are placed next to the skull and send a very weak, low-frequency electrical signal across the brain.

The team recruited 15 women and 12 men aged 18 to 26, who spent up to four nights in a sleep laboratory.

After the volunteers had experienced between two and three minutes of REM sleep, the scientists applied tACS, or a "sham" procedure that produced no current, for around 30 seconds. The current was below the sensory threshold, so that the subjects did not wake up. They then woke up the volunteers and asked them what they had been dreaming.

"The dream reports were similar, in that most subjects reported to 'see myself from the outside' and the dream was watched from the outside, as if it was displayed on a screen," Voss told AFP.

"Also, they often reported to know that they were dreaming." The volunteers were tested at frequencies of two herz (Hz), six Hz, 12 Hz, 25 Hz, 60 Hz and 100 Hz.

"The effect... was only observed for 25 and 40 Hz, both frequencies in the lower gamma frequency band," Voss said.

"This band has linked with conscious awareness, but a causal relationship had so far not been established. Now it is."

When the volunteers were stimulated with 25 HZ, "we had increased ratings for control of the dream plot, meaning they were able to change the action at will," she added.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, gave several anecdotes from the recruits about what they had dreamt. "I am driving in my car, for a long time," said one. "Then I arrive at this place where I haven't been before. And there are a lot of people there. I think maybe I know some of them but they are all in a bad mood, so I go to a separate room, all by myself."

The battery-operated tACS was applied so that the current flowed between the frontal and temporal regions, located on the forward top and side of the brain respectively.

The study suggests that frontotemporal tACS might help to restore dysfunctional brain networks which are fingered in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Applied during REM sleep, it could also one day help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder to overcome recurrent nightmares by placing them in charge of the dream plot, the paper theorises.

The tACS gadget itself is a recognised medical invention designed to be used only for research purposes. Voss said, though, that it seemed inevitable that a similar device would one day be invented for consumers, enabling sleepers to latch onto lucid dreaming, for better or worse.

"Although this is not something I am personally interested in, I am certain that it won't take long until such devices come out. However, brain stimulation should always be carefully monitored by a physician," she cautioned.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electrical stimulation of brain alters dreams: Study

PARIS: Scientists on Sunday said they had used a harmless electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has "lucid dreams," a particularly powerful form of dreaming.

The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming — an area that has fascinated thinkers for millennia — and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.

Lucid dreams are considered by many psychologists to be an intermediate stage between two forms of consciousness. They lie between so-called rapid eye movement (REM) dreams — which are concerned with the immediate present and have no access to past memories or anticipated events in the future — and being awake, which brings into play abstract thought and other cognitive functions.

In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM dreams.

A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream's plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.

Researchers led by Ursula Voss at the J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to explore the causes of lucid dreaming. The gadget comprises two small boxes with electrodes that are placed next to the skull and send a very weak, low-frequency electrical signal across the brain.

The team recruited 15 women and 12 men aged 18 to 26, who spent up to four nights in a sleep laboratory.

After the volunteers had experienced between two and three minutes of REM sleep, the scientists applied tACS, or a "sham" procedure that produced no current, for around 30 seconds. The current was below the sensory threshold, so that the subjects did not wake up. They then woke up the volunteers and asked them what they had been dreaming.

"The dream reports were similar, in that most subjects reported to 'see myself from the outside' and the dream was watched from the outside, as if it was displayed on a screen," Voss told AFP.

"Also, they often reported to know that they were dreaming." The volunteers were tested at frequencies of two herz (Hz), six Hz, 12 Hz, 25 Hz, 60 Hz and 100 Hz.

"The effect... was only observed for 25 and 40 Hz, both frequencies in the lower gamma frequency band," Voss said.

"This band has linked with conscious awareness, but a causal relationship had so far not been established. Now it is."

When the volunteers were stimulated with 25 HZ, "we had increased ratings for control of the dream plot, meaning they were able to change the action at will," she added.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, gave several anecdotes from the recruits about what they had dreamt. "I am driving in my car, for a long time," said one. "Then I arrive at this place where I haven't been before. And there are a lot of people there. I think maybe I know some of them but they are all in a bad mood, so I go to a separate room, all by myself."

The battery-operated tACS was applied so that the current flowed between the frontal and temporal regions, located on the forward top and side of the brain respectively.

The study suggests that frontotemporal tACS might help to restore dysfunctional brain networks which are fingered in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Applied during REM sleep, it could also one day help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder to overcome recurrent nightmares by placing them in charge of the dream plot, the paper theorises.

The tACS gadget itself is a recognised medical invention designed to be used only for research purposes. Voss said, though, that it seemed inevitable that a similar device would one day be invented for consumers, enabling sleepers to latch onto lucid dreaming, for better or worse.

"Although this is not something I am personally interested in, I am certain that it won't take long until such devices come out. However, brain stimulation should always be carefully monitored by a physician," she cautioned.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dads with technical jobs more likely to have autistic kids

WASHINGTON: Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, a new study has found.

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston divided parents into those who had more non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical).

Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Those who worked in finance were four times more likely and those who worked in health care occupations were six times more likely to have a child on the autism spectrum.

There was no association with a mother's occupation. However, children who had both parents in technical fields were at a higher risk of having a more severe form of autism.

"Parental occupation could be indicative of autistic-like behaviours and preferences and serve as another factor in a clinician's diagnosis of a child with suspected autism. Medical students can be taught that this is one of the things to consider," said Aisha S Dickerson, a researcher at UT Health's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

The findings will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electrical stimulation of brain alters dreams: Study

PARIS: Scientists on Sunday said they had used a harmless electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has "lucid dreams," a particularly powerful form of dreaming.

The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming — an area that has fascinated thinkers for millennia — and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.

Lucid dreams are considered by many psychologists to be an intermediate stage between two forms of consciousness. They lie between so-called rapid eye movement (REM) dreams — which are concerned with the immediate present and have no access to past memories or anticipated events in the future — and being awake, which brings into play abstract thought and other cognitive functions.

In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM dreams.

A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream's plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.

Researchers led by Ursula Voss at the J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to explore the causes of lucid dreaming. The gadget comprises two small boxes with electrodes that are placed next to the skull and send a very weak, low-frequency electrical signal across the brain.

The team recruited 15 women and 12 men aged 18 to 26, who spent up to four nights in a sleep laboratory.

After the volunteers had experienced between two and three minutes of REM sleep, the scientists applied tACS, or a "sham" procedure that produced no current, for around 30 seconds. The current was below the sensory threshold, so that the subjects did not wake up. They then woke up the volunteers and asked them what they had been dreaming.

"The dream reports were similar, in that most subjects reported to 'see myself from the outside' and the dream was watched from the outside, as if it was displayed on a screen," Voss told AFP.

"Also, they often reported to know that they were dreaming." The volunteers were tested at frequencies of two herz (Hz), six Hz, 12 Hz, 25 Hz, 60 Hz and 100 Hz.

"The effect... was only observed for 25 and 40 Hz, both frequencies in the lower gamma frequency band," Voss said.

"This band has linked with conscious awareness, but a causal relationship had so far not been established. Now it is."

When the volunteers were stimulated with 25 HZ, "we had increased ratings for control of the dream plot, meaning they were able to change the action at will," she added.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, gave several anecdotes from the recruits about what they had dreamt. "I am driving in my car, for a long time," said one. "Then I arrive at this place where I haven't been before. And there are a lot of people there. I think maybe I know some of them but they are all in a bad mood, so I go to a separate room, all by myself."

The battery-operated tACS was applied so that the current flowed between the frontal and temporal regions, located on the forward top and side of the brain respectively.

The study suggests that frontotemporal tACS might help to restore dysfunctional brain networks which are fingered in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Applied during REM sleep, it could also one day help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder to overcome recurrent nightmares by placing them in charge of the dream plot, the paper theorises.

The tACS gadget itself is a recognised medical invention designed to be used only for research purposes. Voss said, though, that it seemed inevitable that a similar device would one day be invented for consumers, enabling sleepers to latch onto lucid dreaming, for better or worse.

"Although this is not something I am personally interested in, I am certain that it won't take long until such devices come out. However, brain stimulation should always be carefully monitored by a physician," she cautioned.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electrical stimulation of brain alters dreams: Study

PARIS: Scientists on Sunday said they had used a harmless electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has "lucid dreams," a particularly powerful form of dreaming.

The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming — an area that has fascinated thinkers for millennia — and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.

Lucid dreams are considered by many psychologists to be an intermediate stage between two forms of consciousness. They lie between so-called rapid eye movement (REM) dreams — which are concerned with the immediate present and have no access to past memories or anticipated events in the future — and being awake, which brings into play abstract thought and other cognitive functions.

In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM dreams.

A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream's plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.

Researchers led by Ursula Voss at the J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to explore the causes of lucid dreaming. The gadget comprises two small boxes with electrodes that are placed next to the skull and send a very weak, low-frequency electrical signal across the brain.

The team recruited 15 women and 12 men aged 18 to 26, who spent up to four nights in a sleep laboratory.

After the volunteers had experienced between two and three minutes of REM sleep, the scientists applied tACS, or a "sham" procedure that produced no current, for around 30 seconds. The current was below the sensory threshold, so that the subjects did not wake up. They then woke up the volunteers and asked them what they had been dreaming.

"The dream reports were similar, in that most subjects reported to 'see myself from the outside' and the dream was watched from the outside, as if it was displayed on a screen," Voss told AFP.

"Also, they often reported to know that they were dreaming." The volunteers were tested at frequencies of two herz (Hz), six Hz, 12 Hz, 25 Hz, 60 Hz and 100 Hz.

"The effect... was only observed for 25 and 40 Hz, both frequencies in the lower gamma frequency band," Voss said.

"This band has linked with conscious awareness, but a causal relationship had so far not been established. Now it is."

When the volunteers were stimulated with 25 HZ, "we had increased ratings for control of the dream plot, meaning they were able to change the action at will," she added.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, gave several anecdotes from the recruits about what they had dreamt. "I am driving in my car, for a long time," said one. "Then I arrive at this place where I haven't been before. And there are a lot of people there. I think maybe I know some of them but they are all in a bad mood, so I go to a separate room, all by myself."

The battery-operated tACS was applied so that the current flowed between the frontal and temporal regions, located on the forward top and side of the brain respectively.

The study suggests that frontotemporal tACS might help to restore dysfunctional brain networks which are fingered in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Applied during REM sleep, it could also one day help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder to overcome recurrent nightmares by placing them in charge of the dream plot, the paper theorises.

The tACS gadget itself is a recognised medical invention designed to be used only for research purposes. Voss said, though, that it seemed inevitable that a similar device would one day be invented for consumers, enabling sleepers to latch onto lucid dreaming, for better or worse.

"Although this is not something I am personally interested in, I am certain that it won't take long until such devices come out. However, brain stimulation should always be carefully monitored by a physician," she cautioned.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electrical stimulation of brain alters dreams: Study

PARIS: Scientists on Sunday said they had used a harmless electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has "lucid dreams," a particularly powerful form of dreaming.

The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming — an area that has fascinated thinkers for millennia — and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.

Lucid dreams are considered by many psychologists to be an intermediate stage between two forms of consciousness. They lie between so-called rapid eye movement (REM) dreams — which are concerned with the immediate present and have no access to past memories or anticipated events in the future — and being awake, which brings into play abstract thought and other cognitive functions.

In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM dreams.

A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream's plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.

Researchers led by Ursula Voss at the J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to explore the causes of lucid dreaming. The gadget comprises two small boxes with electrodes that are placed next to the skull and send a very weak, low-frequency electrical signal across the brain.

The team recruited 15 women and 12 men aged 18 to 26, who spent up to four nights in a sleep laboratory.

After the volunteers had experienced between two and three minutes of REM sleep, the scientists applied tACS, or a "sham" procedure that produced no current, for around 30 seconds. The current was below the sensory threshold, so that the subjects did not wake up. They then woke up the volunteers and asked them what they had been dreaming.

"The dream reports were similar, in that most subjects reported to 'see myself from the outside' and the dream was watched from the outside, as if it was displayed on a screen," Voss told AFP.

"Also, they often reported to know that they were dreaming." The volunteers were tested at frequencies of two herz (Hz), six Hz, 12 Hz, 25 Hz, 60 Hz and 100 Hz.

"The effect... was only observed for 25 and 40 Hz, both frequencies in the lower gamma frequency band," Voss said.

"This band has linked with conscious awareness, but a causal relationship had so far not been established. Now it is."

When the volunteers were stimulated with 25 HZ, "we had increased ratings for control of the dream plot, meaning they were able to change the action at will," she added.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, gave several anecdotes from the recruits about what they had dreamt. "I am driving in my car, for a long time," said one. "Then I arrive at this place where I haven't been before. And there are a lot of people there. I think maybe I know some of them but they are all in a bad mood, so I go to a separate room, all by myself."

The battery-operated tACS was applied so that the current flowed between the frontal and temporal regions, located on the forward top and side of the brain respectively.

The study suggests that frontotemporal tACS might help to restore dysfunctional brain networks which are fingered in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Applied during REM sleep, it could also one day help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder to overcome recurrent nightmares by placing them in charge of the dream plot, the paper theorises.

The tACS gadget itself is a recognised medical invention designed to be used only for research purposes. Voss said, though, that it seemed inevitable that a similar device would one day be invented for consumers, enabling sleepers to latch onto lucid dreaming, for better or worse.

"Although this is not something I am personally interested in, I am certain that it won't take long until such devices come out. However, brain stimulation should always be carefully monitored by a physician," she cautioned.

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electrical stimulation of brain alters dreams: Study

PARIS: Scientists on Sunday said they had used a harmless electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has "lucid dreams," a particularly powerful form of dreaming.

The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming — an area that has fascinated thinkers for millennia — and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.

Lucid dreams are considered by many psychologists to be an intermediate stage between two forms of consciousness. They lie between so-called rapid eye movement (REM) dreams — which are concerned with the immediate present and have no access to past memories or anticipated events in the future — and being awake, which brings into play abstract thought and other cognitive functions.

In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM dreams.

A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream's plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.

Researchers led by Ursula Voss at the J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to explore the causes of lucid dreaming. The gadget comprises two small boxes with electrodes that are placed next to the skull and send a very weak, low-frequency electrical signal across the brain.

The team recruited 15 women and 12 men aged 18 to 26, who spent up to four nights in a sleep laboratory.

After the volunteers had experienced between two and three minutes of REM sleep, the scientists applied tACS, or a "sham" procedure that produced no current, for around 30 seconds. The current was below the sensory threshold, so that the subjects did not wake up. They then woke up the volunteers and asked them what they had been dreaming.

"The dream reports were similar, in that most subjects reported to 'see myself from the outside' and the dream was watched from the outside, as if it was displayed on a screen," Voss told AFP.

"Also, they often reported to know that they were dreaming." The volunteers were tested at frequencies of two herz (Hz), six Hz, 12 Hz, 25 Hz, 60 Hz and 100 Hz.

"The effect... was only observed for 25 and 40 Hz, both frequencies in the lower gamma frequency band," Voss said.

"This band has linked with conscious awareness, but a causal relationship had so far not been established. Now it is."

When the volunteers were stimulated with 25 HZ, "we had increased ratings for control of the dream plot, meaning they were able to change the action at will," she added.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, gave several anecdotes from the recruits about what they had dreamt. "I am driving in my car, for a long time," said one. "Then I arrive at this place where I haven't been before. And there are a lot of people there. I think maybe I know some of them but they are all in a bad mood, so I go to a separate room, all by myself."

The battery-operated tACS was applied so that the current flowed between the frontal and temporal regions, located on the forward top and side of the brain respectively.

The study suggests that frontotemporal tACS might help to restore dysfunctional brain networks which are fingered in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Applied during REM sleep, it could also one day help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder to overcome recurrent nightmares by placing them in charge of the dream plot, the paper theorises.

The tACS gadget itself is a recognised medical invention designed to be used only for research purposes. Voss said, though, that it seemed inevitable that a similar device would one day be invented for consumers, enabling sleepers to latch onto lucid dreaming, for better or worse.

"Although this is not something I am personally interested in, I am certain that it won't take long until such devices come out. However, brain stimulation should always be carefully monitored by a physician," she cautioned.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blood transfusion from young to old reverses ageing: study

LONDON: Transfusion of blood from a young body to old body has been found to reverse ageing.

Scientists have confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice. It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice.

In two separate papers Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice - they could detect smell as younger mice do.

The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.

Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11.

Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, "This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function."

GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied.

Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.

They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.

They said, "We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging."

They added, "It isn't out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition."

22.10 | 0 komentar | Read More