Consuming large amounts of coconut oil can turn out harmful for health

Consuming large amounts of coconut oil can turn out harmful for health, suggest experts. This warning came after the statement by Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, who said her beautiful skin, glossy hair and neat figure were the resultant of consuming high-fat oil.

In her interview with Australia's Cosmopolitan magazine, Kerr said she has been using the coconut oil since her teenage days.

"I will not go a day without coconut oil. I personally take four tablespoons per day, either on my salads, in my cooking or in my cups of green tea", Kerr said.

However, the experts have warned that this oil which contains saturated fat with high calories along with vitamins and minerals should not be taken in large quantity.

According to the World Health Organization, the large consumption of the oil could lead the way to the risk of coronary heart diseases.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Nutrition Clinic Director Keith Ayoob said that as Kerr has notified that she consumes four tablespoons of coconut oil every day, which combines nearly 460 calories, it was too much for a normal consumption.

He said Kerr has been consuming two and a half times more oil than a physician would recommend to a person consuming around 2,000 calories per day.via

Humans and Dolphins "Talk" using primitive language in new study

Humans and Dolphins "Talk" using primitive language in new study : In a first, behavioural biologists were able to ‘talk’ with dolphins through a primitive form of language using sounds. “Many studies communicate with dolphins, especially in captivity, using fish as a reward. But it’s rare to ask dolphins to communicate with us,” the Daily Mail quoted Dr Denise Herzing as telling Wired.com.

The experiment revolved around both dolphins and humans asking each other for props such as balls and scarves. A large underwater keyboard was used for the study; each key was painted with a different symbol and emitted a precisely pitched whistle.

When a dolphin pressed a certain key with her nose, researchers would throw the corresponding prop into the water. Should the dolphin instead decide to whistle the pitch that a certain key would emit, then that prop would be thrown in. Over a period of three years, scientists found that while young males were less interested in interacting with humans, young females enjoyed the game. “This is when the females have a lot of play time, before they are busy being mothers,” said Herzing. The study was published in the Acta Astronautica journal. LONDON : (ANI)

Giant Ring of Black Holes, 2011 - Videos

Vampire Flying Frog Discovered in Vietnam

An Australian scientist has discovered an unusual species of frog in southern Vietnam.

The vampire flying frog uses its webbed toes to glide between treetops.


But it earned its nickname because the frogs' tadpoles have strange black fangs.

Australian Museum scientist Dr Jodi Rowley, who found the frog, says it is the first time fangs have been discovered in a tadpole.

"We don't know of anything quite like this that's for sure, so we're taking a lot of time to work out why on Earth they have these fangs," Dr Rowley said.

"Maybe it's got something to do with what they eat.
"They breed in very small pools of water that are found in the holes in the trunks of trees, so maybe they eat something particularly strange up there."Via

Secondhand smoke exposure ups hearing loss risk

Washington: A new study has revealed that non-smokers who repeatedly breathe in others’ tobacco smoke are more likely to have some degree of hearing loss. Researchers studied a total of 3307 adults aged between 20 and 69. The degree of hearing loss in each ear was assessed by testing the ability to hear pure tones over a range of frequencies from 500 Hz (low) to 8000 Hz (high). Men, those who were older, and those with diabetes were significantly more likely to have high frequency hearing loss. And this was true of those who were former smokers and those who had never smoked.

But even after taking account of these factors, both former and passive smoking were associated with impaired hearing. Former smokers were significantly more likely to have impaired hearing. The prevalence of low to mid frequency hearing loss among this group was 14 percent. And almost half (over 46 percent) had high frequency hearing loss (more than 25 decibels).

Although the risk was not as strong among those who had never smoked, almost one in 10 (8.6 percent) had low to mid frequency hearing loss and one in four (26.6 percent) had high frequency hearing loss. And the stronger findings among former smokers suggested that continued passive smoking in this group, even at low levels, could continue the progression of high frequency hearing loss that began when they were active smokers, say the authors.

“Further research is required to determine whether (passive smoking) potentiates the effect of noise exposure and ageing on hearing,” they conclude. “If this finding is independently confirmed, then hearing loss can be added to the growing list of health consequences associated with exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.” The study was published online in Tobacco Control.(ANI)

Child's with autism have distinctive patterns of brain activity

Washington: Researchers have identified a distinct pattern of brain activity that may characterize the genetic vulnerability to developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The new brain-imaging study by Yale School of Medicine researchers could eventually lead to earlier and more accurate autism diagnosis.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined by impaired social interaction and communication, and can disrupt the brain’s ability to interpret the movements of other people, known as ‘biological motion’. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers Martha Kaiser and her colleagues scanned the brains of children with autism and their unaffected siblings, as well as those of typically developing children as the three groups watched animations of biological movement.

The study included 62 children aged 4 to 17. The team identified three distinct ‘neural signatures’: trait markers - brain regions with reduced activity in children with ASD and their unaffected siblings; state markers - brain areas with reduced activity found only in children with autism; and compensatory activity - enhanced activity seen only in unaffected siblings.

The enhanced brain activity may reflect a developmental process by which these children overcome a genetic predisposition to develop ASD. “This study may contribute to a better understanding of the brain basis of ASD, and the genetic and molecular origin of the disorder,” said Kaiser, a postdoctoral associate in the Yale Child Study Center. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.(ANI)

Pierced-tongue stud can eventually result in a gap between the front teeth

Washington - ‘Playing’ with a pierced-tongue stud can eventually result in a gap between the front teeth, according to a study by University at Buffalo researchers.

“It is a basic tenet of orthodontic that force, over time, moves teeth,” said the study’s primary investigator, Sawsan Tabbaa, assistant professor of orthodontics at the UB School of Dental Medicine.

Tabbaa notes that a previous UB dental school survey study of Buffalo high school students revealed that the presence of a barbell implant/stud caused a damaging habit whereby subjects pushed the metal stud up against and between their upper front teeth, a habit commonly referred to among the students as “playing.”

“And it happened in very high percent of the cases,” said Tabbaa.

That repeated “playing” with the stud may result in a gap as is demonstrated in Tabbaa’s current case study.

The study involved a 26- year-old female patient examined at UB’s orthodontic clinic who complained that a large space had developed between her upper central incisors or upper front teeth. The patient also had a tongue piercing that held a barbell-shaped tongue stud.

The tongue was pierced seven years earlier and every day for seven years she had pushed the stud between her upper front teeth, creating the space between them and, subsequently, habitually placing it in the space. The patient did not have a space between her upper front teeth prior to the tongue piercing.

“The barbell is never removed because the tongue is so vascular that leaving the stud out can result in healing of the opening in the tongue, said Tabbaa, “so it makes perfect sense that constant pushing of the stud against the teeth-every day with no break-will move them or drive them apart.”

The patient provided the research team with photos that demonstrated she had no diastema, or space, prior to having her tongue pierced. For the purposes of treating this patient’s space, it was assumed that positioning of the tongue stud between the maxillary central incisors or “playing” caused the midline space.

Her treatment involved a fixed braces appliance to push the front teeth back together.

Tongue piercing can result in serious injury not just to teeth but has also been associated with hemorrhage, infection, chipped and fractured teeth, trauma to the gums and, in the worst cases, brain abscess, said Tabbaa.see more

Amateur scientist discovers snails ‘have a homing instinct’

London: A 69-year-old amateur scientist has discovered that her garden snails can apparently find their way back home.Dr Dave Hodgson from Exeter University conducted the experiment.

The idea formulated when Ruth Brooks, exasperated with snails that were wreaking havoc with her garden, took them away to a nearby piece of wasteland.But she found that they kept coming back.

Brook and Hodgson’s experiments revealed that her snails were able to return to her garden unless they were placed more than 10 metres away.“The conventional thinking is that snails are far too simple to be able to find their way home. So if Ruth’s findings are true we’ll have to rethink our theories,” the BBC quoted Hodgson as saying.

Now, Hodgson has invited members of the public to take part in a National “Snail Swap” Experiment.He is asking people to collect their garden snails in a bucket and label them with coloured nail varnish - a process he says does not harm them.

The next step is to persuade a neighbour and nearby friend to do the same - but they have to label their snails a different colour.The final step is to swap buckets and wait to see if any of your snails come back.

“Even if none of your swapped snails return we’d like you to enter your results online, as the data will help ecologists understand the behaviour of these ancient creatures,” said Michelle Martin, who is managing the project.If the results back Ruth Brooks’ claims - gardeners will have to do more than just throw their snails over the garden fence to be rid of their pests.see more

Possible cause' of one form of bowel disease identified

Scientists have found one possible cause of irritable bowel syndrome-a small piece of RNA that blocks a substance protecting the colon membrane, leading to hostile conditions that can produce diarrhea, bloating and chronic abdominal pain. The latest research shows that this RNA segment sends signals that stop the activity of the gene that produces glutamine, an amino acid.

Previous research has linked a shortage of glutamine in the gut with the seepage of toxins and bacteria through the intestinal wall, irritating nerves and creating disease symptoms. Scientists said that trying to generate glutamine in the disordered bowel by silencing this RNA segment could open up a whole new way of thinking about treating the diarrhea-predominant type of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

This form of the disorder is characterized by diarrhea and bloating as well as chronic abdominal pain that is difficult to treat. About a third of IBS patients have the diarrhea-predominant type, another third experience consistent constipation, and the rest experience alternating bouts of diarrhea and constipation.

“We treat the disorder, but we still don’t understand it completely. We often have to use multiple therapies to attack the symptoms, but the pain is by far the most difficult to treat. For some patients, the pain responds only to escalating doses of narcotics or tricyclic antidepressants,” said scientists.
In the Ohio State University study, researchers observed that in human tissue samples, the presence of this small piece of RNA was associated with reduced activity by the gene that produces glutamine.

Lower levels of glutamine were seen only in tissue samples from patients with the diarrhea-predominant type of IBS. A group of these patients also had a condition called increased intestinal permeability, which allows toxins and bacteria into the colon that typically can’t get in.

The resulting irritation to nerves in the colon is believed to contribute to diarrhea and abdominal pain. The finding suggests that the glutamine deficiency is connected to the increased intestinal permeability, which dramatically increases the likelihood that diarrhea-predominant IBS symptoms will follow.

“We’ve known about characteristics of this disease, but we didn’t know the reasons behind them. This study helps us connect everything together. Maybe if we can modulate the microRNA, we can heal the disease.

That is our whole hypothesis,” said QiQi Zhou, assistant professor of internal medicine at Ohio State and lead author of the study.See more

BlackBerry' Torch smartphone to take on Apple’s iPhone

London: The makers of BlackBerry have unveiled a new smartphone with a touchscreen and slideout keyboard that it hopes will fend off competition from Apple’s iPhone.The BlackBerry Torch will go on sale in the US Aug 12 for $199.99 (Rs.9,200) with a two-year contract with AT&T. The new smartphone was unveiled in New York Tuesday.

The device uses a new operating system and has a faster and easier-to-use web browser, its manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) said at a press conference, reports the Daily Mail from the US.

The Canadian firm hopes that the consumer-friendly features could help BlackBerry catch up with the iPhone as well as smartphones that uses Google’s Android operating system such as Motorola’s Droid.

But analysts have warned that it does not raise the bar enough to truly challenge Apple’s position as a leader. The launch comes as BlackBerry’s security measures have come under scrutiny after Saudi Arabia announced that it is banning Blackberry messaging from Friday.

The United Arab Emirates threatened Sunday to ban some BlackBerry services unless RIM gives it access to encrypted messages. While BlackBerry has long been the gold standard for business users because of its speedy, secure email service, critics said it needs a big overhaul to expand its popularity beyond business customers.

BlackBerry Torch users can type messages on the screen or a slide-out keyboard. It comes with a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) for location-based applications. The new BlackBerry 6 operating system integrates access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter with its BlackBerry Messenger service.(ANI)

Level of 'Depression' Determines healing rate of wounds among diabetics

The way people cope with diabetes-related foot ulcers and their levels of depression, affect how their wound heals or worsens, found a study by a health psychologist at The University of Nottingham.

Professor Kavita Vedhara from the University’s Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, said that healing rates are different in people suffering from diabetes-related foot ulcers, depending on the way they cope and their psychological state of mind.

The study has sparked a follow-on project to develop psychological treatments to reduce depression in sufferers and help them cope more effectively with this debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition.

Foot ulcers are open sores which form when a minor skin injury fails to heal because of microvascular and metabolic dysfunction caused by diabetes.

Up to fifteen per cent of people with diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2, develop foot or leg ulcers with many suffering depression and poorer quality of life as a result.

During the five-year study 93 patients (68 men and 25 women) with diabetic foot ulcers were recruited from specialist podiatry clinics across the UK. Clinical and demographic determinants of healing; psychological distress, coping style and levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) in saliva were assessed and recorded at the start of a 24 week monitoring period.

The size of each patient’s ulcer was also measured at the start, and then at 6, 12 and 24 weeks to record the extent of healing or otherwise of the ulcer.

The results of the research showed that the likelihood of the ulcer healing over a 24 week period was predicted by how individual’s coped.

Surprisingly perhaps, patients who showed a ‘confrontational’ way of coping (a style characterised by a desire to take control) with the ulcer and its treatment were less likely to have a healed ulcer at the end of the 24 week period.

“My colleagues and I believe that this confrontational approach may, inadvertently, be unhelpful in this context because these ulcers take a long time to heal. As a result, individuals with confrontational coping may experience distress and frustration because their attempts to take control do not result in rapid improvements,” said Vedhara.

A secondary analysis of each patient examined the relationship of psycho-social factors with the change in the size of the ulcer over the observation period.

Whereas the first analysis showed that only confrontation coping, not anxiety or depression, was a significant predictor of healing, the second showed that depression was a significant predictor in how the size of the ulcer changed over time, with patients with clinical depression showing smaller changes in ulcer size over time i.e., they showed less improvement or healing.

Hot chips' May Cause Cancer

MELBOURNE: Fried or roasted potatoes, potato crisps, coffee and cereal-based products, including biscuits and toasted bread can cause cancer, the World Health Organisation has warned. Experts have said that a chemical created when starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures has been proven to cause the disease.

Following laboratory tests in animals this year, a joint WHO and United Nations expert committee on food additives agreed there was evidence that the chemical acrylamide caused cancer. “Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has assessed the new data and agrees with the conclusions,” the Courier Mail quoted a FSANZ spokeswoman as saying.

“The authority has acknowledged there is a need for ongoing research into health impacts of acrylamide in food. “The FSANZ has been working with industry to reduce the levels of acrylamide in food,” she added. Acrylamide was discovered in foods by Swedish scientists in 2002.Source

The First Step of Yoga Practice - Yoga For Beginners'

Maybe your doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or best friend told you Yoga would be good for you. You have heard so much about Yoga; it seems that Yoga is a "cure" for almost anything.

The more you hear, the more confusing it is to understand what Yoga is all about.

Should you go out and buy a Yoga book? What would be the best Yoga book to buy? If you visit the local book store, you see hundreds of Yoga books, CD's, DVD's, card decks, and kits. Should you buy a copy of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali or buy one of the "for dummies" Yoga books?

Below is an overview of Yoga, which may help you decide your path of Yogic study. There is no right or wrong path of Yoga study, but be selective when you choose a Yoga teacher, Yoga book, or Yoga class.

You should first realize that there are many styles of Yoga. There are nine major styles of Yoga; many more styles exist, as well as many sub-styles.

The nine major styles of Yoga are Bhakti, Hatha, Jnana, Karma, Kundalini, Mantra, Raja, Tantra, and Yantra Yoga. Each style emphasizes unity of body, mind, and spirit.

The literal meaning of Yoga is "union" or "unity." If we can unify the body, mind, and spirit in harmony, we can achieve tranquility. One of the main purposes of Yoga is tranquility through improved health due to a holistic approach to life.

India is the birth place of Yoga. There are many written works about Yoga, but the origin of Yoga dates back thousands of years. Yoga is the "mother" of most of the world's health maintenance systems.

Asian martial arts, with an origin from the Shaolin temple, and Pilates, can trace their ancestry back to Yoga.

The "higher forms of Yoga" are said to be Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, and Raja Yoga. Each of these four styles is a complex subject, within themselves, and I cannot do them justice by a summarization.

Hatha Yoga sub-styles are the most prolific outside of India. Most new Yoga practitioners will learn a Hatha Yoga sub-style first. Hatha Yoga, and its many sub-styles, primarily emphasize physical health, which will likely result in improved mental health.

Most Hatha Yoga classes, outside of India, do not approach spiritual health.

Nevertheless, Hatha Yoga is seen by fundamentalists as an "export of Hinduism." In some rare instances, this may be true, but most Hatha Yoga teachers are content to teach improved health for body and mind.

Therefore, when you choose a book, or local Yoga teacher, be aware that the Yoga teacher or Guru is a guide - but you have a right to know which direction you are being guided to.

The Yoga practitioner learns to expand his or her mind and make independent decisions "along the way."

Yoga is non-threatening to religion. If a Yoga instructor teaches intolerance, of any kind, that is not Yoga. Unity is not sectarianism.

We have to learn to appreciate diversity, and we should never tolerate prejudice. Prejudice and intolerance are often the cause of crime and wars.

On the "Grand Scale," the goals of Yoga are the end of suffering, tranquility, and world peace through unity.

Cellular Phone 18 times more potentially harmful germs than toilet Handle

They are pretty much essential, but you may want to ditch your mobile phone for ever after reading this.The average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a flush handle in a men's toilet, tests have revealed.

An analysis of handsets found almost a quarter were so dirty that they had up to ten times an acceptable level of TVC bacteria. A man holds his iPhone 4 in front of a mobile phone store in Tokyo. Phones can accumulate huge amounts of bacteria

One of the phones in the test had such high levels of bacteria it could have given its owner a serious stomach upset.While TVC is not immediately harmful, elevated levels indicate poor personal hygiene and act as a breeding ground for other bugs.

The findings from a sample of 30 phones by Which? magazine suggest 14.7million of the 63million mobiles in use in the UK today could be potential health hazards.Hygiene expert Jim Francis, who carried out the tests, said: 'The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilising.'

The most unhygienic phone had more than ten times the acceptable level of TVC and seven were above the threshold.This worst handset also had 39 times the safe level of enterobacteria, a group of bacteria that live in the lower intestines of humans and animals and include bugs such as Salmonella.

It boasted 170 times the acceptable level of faecal coliforms, which are associated with human waste.Other bacteria including food poisoning bugs e.coli and staphylococcus aureus were found on the phones but at safe levels.

Which? researcher Ceri Stanaway said: 'Most phones didn't have any immediately harmful bacteria that would make you sick straight away but they were grubbier than they could be.'The bugs can end up on your hands which is a breeding ground and be passed back to your phone. They can be transferred back and forth and eventually you could catch something nasty.

'What this shows is how easy it is to come into contact with bacteria. People see toilet flushes as being something dirty to touch but they have less bacteria than phones.'People need to be mindful of that by observing good hygiene themselves and among others who they pass the phone to when looking at photos, for example.' Which? has previously found that some computer keyboards carry more harmful bacteria than a lavatory seat.

YouTube' has increased the limit it places on uploads to 15 minutes

New York : Video-sharing giant YouTube has increased the limit it places on uploads to 15 minutes.

YouTube’s original limit was 10 minutes. “Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes,” the New York Daily News quoted Joshua Siegel of YouTube as saying.

Previously, only YouTube’s official partners were allowed to upload videos longer than 10 minutes.

Siegel cited the success of YouTube’s Content ID system, which automatically removes copyrighted material from the website, as the reason why they were able to increase the limit. Google bought YouTube in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars.

Australian Scientist Discovers' World’s Rarest Coral in Pacific

July': An Australian scientist has found what could be the world’s rarest coral in the remote North Pacific Ocean. The coral bears a close physical resemblance to the critically endangered and fast-vanishing elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) of the Atlantic Ocean, but genetic analysis has shown it to be a different species.

The unique Pacific elkhorn coral was found during an underwater survey of Arno atoll in the Marshall Islands, by coral researcher Dr Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS). “When I first saw it, I was absolutely stunned. The huge colonies - five metres across and nearly two metres high with branches like an elk’s antlers - were like nothing I’d seen before in the Pacific Ocean.

“So far I have only found this new population of coral to occur along a small stretch of reef at a single atoll in the Marshalls group. “It grows in relatively shallow water along the exposed reef front and, so far, fewer than 200 colonies are known from that small area.

“The Pacific elkhorn coral has regular divergent blade-like branches that radiate out from single or multiple large central stalks. Its colonies are by far the largest of all the Acropora colonies observed at Arno Atoll, indicating that these are relatively old,” she added.

Genetic analysis of the new coral found that its closest relative is Acropora abrotanoides.“Currently the Pacific elkhorn would be rated as ‘data deficient’, meaning there isn’t enough information to determine whether it is threatened, vulnerable or critically endangered,” she explained.

This means that the Pacific elkhorn would join 141 other coral species on the IUCN list whose status is uncertain. “When Zoe showed me pictures of the Pacific elkhorn, I was shocked,” David Miller of CoECRS and James Cook University said.

“The colonies look just like the critically endangered Caribbean species A. palmata, one of the most distinctive of all corals.“The fact that these colonies might represent a species that has not been seen for over a hundred years (A. rotumana) says something about how much we know about the remote reefs of North Pacific,” he said.Source'Image Source

Overwhelming Evidence' of Global Warming

London: Latest temperature readings from the upper atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean in a new climate change report from the Met Office in Britain and its US counterpart have provided the “greatest evidence we have ever had” that the world is warming.

Usually scientists rely on the temperature over land, taken from weather stations around the world for the last 150 years, to show global warming, reports the Telegraph. But climate change sceptics questioned this evidence, especially in the wake of recent scandals like “Climategate”.

Now for the first time, the State of the Climate report, compiled by the Met Office and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has brought together all the different ways of measuring changes in the climate.

The 10 indicators of climate change include measurements of sea level rise taken from ships, the temperature of the upper atmosphere taken from weather balloons and field surveys of melting glaciers.

New technology has also made it possible to measure the temperature of the oceans, which absorb 90 percent of the world’s heat. The report shows “unequivocally that the world is warming and has been for more than three decades”.

And despite the cold winter in Europe and north east America, this year is set to be the hottest on record. Both the NOAA and Nasa have stated that the first six months of this year were the hottest on record, while the Met Office believes it is the second hottest start to the year after 1998.

Peter Stott, head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution at the Met Office, said “variability” in different regions, such as the cold winter in Britain, does not mean the rest of the world is not warming.

And he said “greenhouse gases are the glaringly obvious explanation” for 0.56C (1F) warming over the last 50 years. “Despite the fact people say global warming has stopped, the new data, added onto existing data, gives us the greatest evidence we have ever had,” he said.

Referring to the sceptics’ claim that emails stolen from the University of East Anglia showed scientists were willing to manipulate the land surface temperatures to show global warming, Stott said the sceptics can no longer question the land surface temperature as other records also show global warming.

Anti Hypertensive Drug' Improves multiple sclerosis-related brain inflammation

Washington: By discovering a new signalling pathway of brain cells, researchers in Heidelberg and Stanford have explained how widely used antihypertensive drugs could keep inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) in check.

The peptide angiotensin not only raises blood pressure but also activates the immunological messenger substance TGF beta on a previously unknown communication pathway in the brain, found study conducted by Stanford Professor Lawrence Steinman along with Heidelberg’s Dr. Tobias Lanz and Dr. Michael Platten.

Angiotensin II is known as a molecule that regulates blood pressure. Drugs that block the angiotensin receptors, (AT1R blockers) are prescribed to millions of people to lower high blood pressure.

These are immune cells that are involved in autoimmune reactions and chronic-inflammatory diseases such as MS. MS is characterized by multifocal areas of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord that lead to paralysis and other neurological symptoms.

The scientists working with Professor Platten showed in a mouse model that angiotensin II promotes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.

When the angiotensin receptors, i.e. the sites where angiotensin docks onto cells and can develop its effect, were blocked by the orally administered blood pressure drug Candesartan, the inflammation decreased and the paralysis resolved. “Since AT1R blockers are frequently prescribed for lowering blood pressure and have a proven safety profile, it is an obvious step to test them soon in MS patients. Of course, in research it is important to search for specific drugs with new molecular targets. But in our study, we show that approved medications can also be successfully studied for benefits in other diseases. The potential use of these generic drugs with a proven safety profile would also have a great impact on reducing healthcare costs,” said Platten.

The researchers know that angiotensin transfers its information to the cell via an increase in the messenger substance Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGF beta). Such a “network pathway” between angiotensin and TGF beta was previously unknown in the brain. TGF beta can have completely opposite effects - on the one hand it regulates and alleviates inflammatory reactions, but in other situations it causes inflammation and promotes it.

Which function the factor has depends on the surrounding tissue and the interaction with other messenger substances. With respect to the whole body, TGF beta appears to protect the organism from inflammation and autoimmune diseases. However, paradoxically, blockage of TGF beta production in the brain leads to a reduction of inflammation and thus to an improvement in symptoms.

“AT1R blockers prevent only the peak concentrations of TGF beta in the brain triggered by angiotensin, which are responsible for the inflammatory reaction. The baseline levels of TGF beta are not affected, so that the protective function for the rest of the body is apparently sustained,” explained Platten. Source

Massive Asteroid' Might Crash Into Earth in 2182

"Massive asteroid could hit Earth in 2182"

London: A massive asteroid might crash into Earth in 2182, scientists have warned. The asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, has a one-in-thousand chance of actually hitting the Earth at some point before the year 2200, but is most likely to hit on Sep 24, 2182.

The asteroid was first discovered in the year 1999 and is more than 1,800 feet across. If an asteroid of this size hits the Earth it would cause widespread devastation and possible mass extinction, reports the Daily Mail. Scientists say that any attempt to try and divert the asteroid will have to take place at least 100 years before it is due to hit to have any chance of success.

If the asteroid had not been spotted until after 2080 it would have been impossible to divert it from its target, the scientists warned in a new research paper. While the odds may seem long, they are far shorter than that of the asteroid Apophis, which currently has a one in 250,000 chance of striking the Earth in 2036.

A competition was launched in 2008 by the Planetary Society for designs for a space probe to land on Apophis and monitor its progress. Maria Eugenia Sansaturio and scientists from the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain have used mathematical models to calculate the risk of the asteroid hitting the Earth anytime between now and the year 2200.

The impact from the asteroid that created the famous Chicxulub crater in Mexico would have caused ‘mega-tsunamis’ many thousands of feet high. It is believed that this asteroid led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Scientists around the world have long been discussing ways of deflecting potentially hazardous asteroids to prevent them from hitting the Earth.

One of the more popular methods is to detonate a nuclear warhead on an approaching asteroid to deflect it from its orbital path. Last month, physicist David Dearborn of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the US argued that nuclear weapons could be the best strategy for avoiding an asteroid impact - especially for large asteroids and with little warning time.

Listening to your favourite music' can impair performance

Washington' july: Doing math sums while listening to your favourite songs may not help you focus better - in fact it could cut down your performance in the exam.

A new study shows that listening to music that one likes whilst performing a serial recall task does not help performance any more than listening to music one does not enjoy.It also questions whether the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music whilst performing a task, rather than before it.

The results of the study showed that recall ability was approximately the same, and poorest, for the music and changing-state conditions.But it was most accurate when participants performed the task in the quieter, steady state environments.

Thus listening to music, regardless of whether people liked or disliked it, impaired their concurrent performance. Lead researcher Nick Perham explained, “Most people listen to music at the same time as, rather than prior to performing a task.

“To reduce the negative effects of background music when recalling information in order one should either perform the task in quiet or only listen to music prior to performing the task,” he added.