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Aerobic activity may reverse mental decline

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Aerobic activity may reverse mental decline


  • In a report its found that regular aerobic exercise help not only the decline in brain function but it can help also help turn back the clock on brain aging. Age-related deterioration in the all-important white and gray matter in the brain makes a number of high-level.
  • In people with or those without signs of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, regular moderate physical activity, enough to make a person breathless, has been shown to boost not only the speed and sharpness of thought but also the actual volume of brain tissue and the way in which the brain functions.
  • Such as, in 6 months study Kramer and colleagues conducted, adults ages 60 to 70 who walked briskly for 45 minutes a day 3 days a week not only improved their aerobic fitness but also their mental fitness specially their ability to perform executive function tasks compared with a control group who engaged only in non aerobic exercises. These results shows that regular aerobic exercise can Reliably reverse age-related cognitive decline and that the aging brain retains its capacity to grow and develop.
  • Other researchers, they note, have found that physically fitter adults have less evidence of deterioration in gray matter than their less physically fit counterparts.

  • So we can safely argue that an active lifestyle with moderate amounts of aerobic activity will likely improve cognitive and brain function, and reverse the neural decay frequently.

Walking fish disclose fresh evolutionary insights

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Walking fish disclose fresh evolutionary insights

  • An extraordinary fish in 375 million years ago had unique features in its head that helped pave the way for vertebrate animals to live on land. The findings showed that the migration from water to land merely having a fish's fins transform into legs. The head showed changes from more primitive fish that helped adapt to the new feeding and breathing conditions presented by a terrestrial environment, the scientists said. Like some other fish of its time, it had gills and lungs. It likely inhabited the mudflats of freshwater flood plains of a subtropical environment.

  • It was a large aquatic predator, measuring up to 9 feet long,with sharp teeth and a flattened head like a crocodile and unlike primitive fish. It may have been able to exit the water for short jaunts on land. "Fish in the water, insects on land - it could feed on all of those if you look at the skull," said Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago.

  • The scientists described key features in its head and braincase and the decline in size of a bone called the hyomandibula. As land animals evolved, the hyomandibula eventually became the stapes, one of the tiny bones in the middle ear. The underside of the skull remained encased in rock at the time Tiktaalik's discovery was announced. Using a needle to remove rock grain by grain under a microscope, scientists have painstakingly studied the inside of the creature's skull.

Milkshake study reveals brain's role in obesity

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Milkshake study reveals brain's role in obesity


  • A study involving chocolate that milkshakes helps to get a better understanding of how the brain influences obesity. Generally, Obese people may get less satisfaction from food due to a blunted response in brain particularly if they carry a specific gene variant. In general when a person is eating, the body releases its dopamine and the amount of pleasure from food rely on the amount of dopamine released. Brain scans show that obese people had less activity in the dorsal striatum, the part of the brain that releases dopamine in response to eating. Those who showed the most diminished brain response to the milkshakes and also had this genetic trait were at high risk for unhealthy weight gain in the ensuing year. The evidence of blunted response leading to future weight gain clearly seems to suggest that people are over-eating in response to this diminished reward that they experience when they eat.
  • The findings help explain the biology of obesity at a time when obesity rates are rising in many parts of the world.
    The study involved 43 female college students ages 18-22 and 33 adolescent girls ages 14-18. The researchers tracked their weight for a year after performing the brain scans.

Ancient bones show tuberculosis older than thought

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Ancient bones show tuberculosis older than thought

Scientists discovered tuberculosis in 9,000 year old human bones found off Israel's coast -evidence the disease is at least 3,000 years old. The findings show how tuberculosis has evolved over thousands of years.

  • Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease typically attacking the lungs that newly affects about 9.2 million people each year and kills 1.7 million. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant germs makes treating it much harder and could make the disease even deadlier.

    DNA analysis and bone lesions characteristic of tuberculosis showed that the skeletons from a 9,000 year-old Pre-Pottery Neolithic village were infected with the disease. Further tests showed that the strain was a type found only in humans.

Apple cuts prices on notebook computers

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Apple cuts prices on notebook computers

Apple cut the price on notebook computer to $999 and introduced a new line of aluminum clad machines starting at $1,299. The new line of metal notebooks, starting at $1,299, are in what Gartner analyst Van Baker called the sweet spot of Apple's line. Previously a white plastic-body machine held the spot.

The $999 price will be for an updated model of the white-body notebooks. The new aluminum machines will use Nvidia Corp graphics and Intel Corp processors.

When asked if Apple would get into the market for small "netbook" notebook computers, Jobs said, "It's a nascent market," and that Apple would see how it went.

Motorola introduces touch screen phone

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Motorola introduces touch screen phone

  • Motorola the world's third-biggest phone maker is going to replace its once lauded Razr after rebates to customers who sign a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless.
  • The Krave has a see-through cover that flips open to uncover a touchscreen virtual keypad but users can also access popular features like mobile TV program & navigation on the cover. For several years Motorola has sold a touch screen phone called the Ming that has been popular in China, but it has focused on phones with physical keypads in the United States, where it is the market leader.
  • The popularity of iPhone -- a touchscreen phone sold exclusively through the No. 1 U.S. mobile service AT&T Inc , has led rivals such as Motorola and Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc, to come up with touchscreen alternatives.
  • Motorola shares were up 7 cents or 1.3 percent at $5.64 on New York Stock Exchange.

Scripps to study lifestyle impact of gene testing

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Scripps to study lifestyle impact of gene testing

San Diego's Scripps reported the first study to assess whether people undergoing genetic testing ultimately change their behavior specially at the age of 18 -using a saliva sample and an analysis of their genetic risk for more than 20 health conditions that may be changed by lifestyle, obesity, heart attack and some forms of cancer. The study told about to having a change by the family members and friends as well. The research will assess changes in behaviors over a 20-year period. The study actually is designed to find out if the testing will improve health by motivating people such as exercising, eating better and quitting smoking.

"Genome scans give people considerable information about their DNA and risk of disease, yet questions have been raised if these tests are ready for widespread public use," Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps unit and principal investigator of the study, said in a statement.

Several companies started selling genetic scans, but their efforts have come under scrutiny from regulators questioning the accuracy and validity of the tests. California's Department of Public Health has cleared Navigenics and Google-funded 23andMe to do business in the state, which previously ordered 13 genetic testing companies to stop selling directly to consumers.

Scripps said guidance on how to use the scan results to improve health outcomes will be available to participants on Navigenics' secure website. They will also be able to enter and store medical and lifestyle information in an individual account on Microsoft Corp's HealthVault.

"We stand upon the threshold of a fundamental paradigm shift from reactive to predictive and preventive medicine," Dr. Vance Vanier, chief medical officer at Navigenics, said in a statement.

Returns to scale

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Returns to scale:

Returns to scale represents different levels of production at different factors of production.

Here if both factors x and y are increased then at the preliminary stage production increases at an increasing rate. As the factors are increased further then production increases at constant rate. As the factors increased further then production increases at constant rate.
Again if the factors of production are increased further, production increases but at a decreasing rate.

Increasing returns to scale:

Increasing returns to scale means that output increases in a greater proportion than the increase in inputs. Thus if all factors are doubled and output increases by more than a double, then the returns to scale are increasing. When a firm expands, the increasing returns to scale are obtained in the beginning.
HTML clipboard

Fig.: increasing returns to scale

In figure ox axis represent the labour and oy axis represents the capital. Increasing returns to scale can be shown through ISO-QUANTS. When increasing returns to scale occur, the successive ISO-QUANTS will tie at progressively decreasingly smaller distances along straight live or through the origin. In the above diagram the various ISO-QUANTS IQ, IQ2 and IQ3 are drawn which successively represent 100, 200 and 300 units of output. It will be seen that distances between the successive ISO-QUANTS decrease as we expand output by increasing the scale. Thus increasing returns to scale occur since AB <>

HTML clipboardConstant returns to scale:

If all factors are increased in a given proportion and the output increases in the same proportion returns to scale are said to be constant. Thus, if a doubling or trebling of all factors causes a doubling or trebling of outputs, returns to scale are constant.

HTML clipboardIn the above figure ox axis represents the labour and oy axis represents the capital.

Constant returns to scale can be shown through ISO-QUANTS. In the above diagram the various ISO-QUANTS IQ1, IQ2 and IQ3 are drawn which successively represent 100, 200 and 300 units of output. It will be seen from the figure that successive ISO-QUANTS are equidistant from each other along the straight live OR from the origin. Thus along the live OR, AB=BC.
The distance between the successive equal product curves being the same along the straight line through the origin means that if both labour and capital are increased in a given proportion, output expands by the same proportion.

HTML clipboardDecreasing returns to scale:

When output increases in a smaller proportion than the increase in all inputs, decreasing returns to scar are said to prevail. When a firm goes on expanding by increasing all his inputs, eventually diminishing returns to scale will occur.

HTML clipboardIn the above figure ox axis represent the labour and oy axis represents the capital. The case of decreasing returns to scale can be shown on an ISO-QUANT map. When successive equal product curves such as IQ1, IQ2, and IQ3 lie at progressively larger and larger distance on a straight line or passing through the origin, returns to scale will be decreasing.

In the figure decreasing returns to scale occur since BA> OA, BC>AB. It means that more of inputs are required to obtain equal increments in output.

Production possibility curve

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Define production possibility curve

Production curve is also called the production possibility frontier. The production possibility curve shows the maximum output of any product that an economy produces by utilizing the factors of production. The productive resources of an economy can be employed for the production of various alternative goods. As the productive resources are limited, the economy has to choose between different goods. Therefore it has decided which goods to be produced more, which are less.

Schedule:

Production Possibilities| Good x (Cloth) | Good & Wheat)

A----------------------------0------------------5

B----------------------------1------------------14

C
----------------------------2------------------12

D
----------------------------3------------------9

E
----------------------------4------------------5

F
----------------------------5------------------0




The alternative product possibilities can be illustrated graphically. The curve AF is called the
production possibility curve, which shows the various combinations of two goods or two classes of goods, which the economy can produce with a given amount of resources. The production possibility frontier
AF illustrates that a fully employed economy, An increase in the amount of cloth necessitates a decrease in the amount of wheat. As we move from a towards F on the curve economy sacrifices some units of wheat for having more of cloth. On the other hand, if the economy moves from F towards A, if the economy moves from F towards A, the economy will
be giving up some of cloth for the save of more wheat.

Long term study confirms Vioxx heart risks

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Long term study confirms Vioxx heart risks

  • Form an analysis its found that, people who took the arthritis drug Vioxx having a chance of strokes or heart attacks. But there is a good news that The risk goes back toward normal after a year of follow up," said Dr. Robert Bresalier of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, whose study appears in the journal Lancet.

    A 2005 analysis by Bresalier and colleagues published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that it took 18 months for the drug to increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, a time frame that played a prominent role in Merck's legal defense of Vioxx.

  • This data shows you can't precisely determine the timing of the risk. It does appear to start relatively early," he said in a telephone interview. The study, dubbed Approve, looked at the effects of three years of treatment with Vioxx, or rofecoxib, in 2,587 patients. Patients were checked for side effects while on the drug and two weeks after they stopped. It includes one-year follow-up data on patients who stopped taking the drug because of heart side effects.

NEW METHOD GENERATES ON STEM CELLS

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New method generates stem cells safely from mice :

  • Japanese researchers invented a new safe way of making powerful stem cells out of ordinary cells. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues invented a way to transform ordinary cells into embryonic like stem cells called iPS cells, using a ring of genetic material called aplasmid.

  • Working with some mice, they have generated pluripotent stem cells, the method can work in people,as well. Stem cells are the body's master cells, giving rise to all the tissues.
    Embryonic stem cells are the most powerful stem cells, as they have the potential to give rise to any type of tissue.

  • In the past year, several teams of scientists have reported finding a handful of genes that can transform ordinary skin cells into iPS cells, which look and act like embryonic stem cells.

  • To get these genes into the cells, they have had to use retroviruses, which integrate their own genetic material into the cells they infect. This can be dangerous and can cause tumors and perhaps other effects.

    Yamanaka's team tried several different methods but eventually looped 3 of the genes needed into one plasmid and the fourth into another, and transplanted these into cells from a mouse embryo. The mouse embryonic cells reverted to a stem-like state and began behaving like embryonic stem cells. Yamanaka's team said the method was also not as efficient as using retroviruses but said they plan to try their method using human cells.

CANCER COMMON AFTER LIVER TRANSPLANTATION

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Cancer common after liver transplantation :

People who undergo liver transplantation specially child, are having a tremendous chance for cancer, off late Finnish researchers report in Liver Transplantation journal.

Although "more studies are still needed to find sound data on cancer risk patterns, cancer surveillance programs, and strategies to minimize cancer risk."

  • Their study included all 540 patients who received liver transplants at Aberg's center between 1982 and 2005, linked with the nationwide Finnish Cancer Registry. During follow-up, 39 cancers developed in 36 patients, which translates into a 2.59-fold increased risk relative to that seen in the general population.

    Rates were higher among children younger than 17 years of age than among older patients. The cancers developed anywhere from 4 months to 14 years after the transplant peration.

Further analysis showed that only non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the body's infection-fighting lymphatic system, and certain types of skin cancer were more common in liver transplant recipients than in the general population.

Risk factors for skin cancer were older age and the type of immune-suppressing drugs received, while those for non-Hodgkin lymphoma were male gender, young age, and the immediate ost-transplant period.

Hippie apes make war as well as love

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Hippie apes make war as well as love

Their findings, the first direct evidence of hunting by the so-called "hippie" apes, show that such behavior is not linked to male dominance as females rule bonobo society and also go on hunts. This has implications for models on early humans that people have proposed how humans have evolved, said Hohmann, whose findings are published in Current Biology.
The apes are generally considered more peaceful than their close cousins, the chimps, and have a reputation for free-loving ways because sex plays a major role their society, being used for greetings, conflict resolution and reconciliation.
Scientists had thought bonobos, found in the lowland forest south of the river Congo, only ate small animals such as squirrels, forest antelopes and rodents they encountered.

But over five years of observing a group of bonobos the researchers recorded about 10 instances when a group of the apes set out on hunting trips in search of chimpanzees.
Each time the bonobos silently crept through the woods on the ground, trying to get underneath a group of chimps before clambering up a tree in a sudden attack, the researchers said.

The bonobo hunts were successful on fewer than half the excursions and in some cases shared the meat, evidence they were willing to share to encourage group hunting.

Apple iPod Touch

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Apple iPod Touch:

Apple winning four top prizes, including gadget of the year for its iPod Touch. The touch screen music video player beat the Asus Eee Pc budget laptop, Tom Tom's GO 920 car navigation system, Sony's HDR-TG3 compact camcorder. Apple won 3 other awards for :

- Best commuter gadget (iPhone),

- Best music gadget (iPod Touch 32GB) and

- A prize given by the magazine's blog, Gadget Candy (MacBook Air)

Here is a full list of winners:

  1. Gadget of the year: Apple iPod Touch

  2. Best music gadget: Apple iPod Touch 32GB

  3. Best imaging gadget: Nikon D60

  4. Drop dead gorgeous: Audi R8

  5. Best new media: BBC iPlayer

  6. Gaming gadget: Nintendo's Wii Fit

  7. Toy of the year: Guitar Hero, music video game

  8. Commuter gadget: Apple iPhone

  9. Gadget Candy: Apple MacBook Air

  10. Retailer of the year: Dixons.co.uk

  11. Innovation of the year: Sony XEL-1 OLED television

  12. Green gadget: Honda Civic Hybrid

  13. Hi Def award: Sony PlayStation 3

  14. Home gadget: Sky+ HD, digital television

  15. Gadget you can't live without: TomTom GO 930