Gone are the days when you had 300 followers on Twitter and 100 of them clicked a link you posted. Now, you’d be lucky to get five clicks.
The landscape of social media has drastically changed in the past three years. Websites that began as powerful platforms to spread information have turned into streams congested with marketing jargon, discounts, deals and people’s shower schedules. Social media has transformed from an efficient and inexpensive way to use the power of word of mouth, to a virtual mess of a garage sale.
But I still think social media is awesome.
Why? Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are completely free services that you can sign up for and use to foster a community of passionate fans and customers. But what people — business owners, especially — need to do when using social media is to think outside the box, and create content that’s worthy of sharing. Consider how startups and other businesses got their names in front of customers before the internet, before TV, before radio — it was pure word-of-mouth interactions, a.k.a. real people talking.
What’s one way to do this? At IWearYourShirt, you may know that four T-shirt wearers and myself will dawn a new company’s T-shirt each day of the week. But recently we launched a new campaign called “Group Shirting,” where an entire of group of people will wear a company’s branded shirt. They’ll also share information about the company on social media. This is word-of-mouth marketing blended withsocial media. It’s also something that few brands have ever experienced — hundreds of people sharing their brand at a time — which makes it something worth talking about. And getting people talking is of course the name of the game.
We’ve run multiple successful Group Shirting campaigns and most recently ran one for AriZona Beverage Co. with more than 200 participants around the world reaching more than 600,000 people through social media in one week. The Woodbury, N.Y.-based tea maker’s Twitter following increased by 10 percent — adding more than 3,000 followers. And the company’s engagement — that is, real people talking about them — was up over 500 percent for the week.
Continue reading this article at Entrepreneur.com after the break!
People who experience a serious physical health event are three times as likely to subsequently see a health care provider for mental health services and medication, according to a new study in Health Services Research. In addition, people who view a health event as severe have greater use of mental health services.
“Health care reform, by design, is supposed to improve coordination between different care providers such as the surgeon and psychiatrist,” said lead author Jangho Yoon, Ph.D., MSPH, assistant professor of health policy at Oregon State University. “I view our results as baseline data to determine how to transition to a system that provides coordinated physical and mental care.”
The authors utilized data from the 2004 and 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys to identify adults without mental or physical illness in the 2004 survey who went on to experience a negative physical health event in 2005. Compared to those without a physical health problem, people with physical health problems had a threefold increase in the likelihood of obtaining mental health care. This was true even in the absence of what could be considered a catastrophic illness such as cancer or a stroke.
“[The authors] convincingly show the strong relation between experiencing an adverse physical health event and subsequently seeking mental health treatment,” said Tim-Allen Bruckner, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health planning, policy and design at the University of California, Irvine. “Their findings hold important clinical and policy implications, especially in light of the PPACA Health Care Reform Act,” Bruckner said.
“Many clinical settings, including those that serve Medicaid and Medicare patients, lack coordination of care across the physical and mental health domains. This paper indicates that failure to coordinate care may lead to missed opportunities to identify disorders that, if left untreated, worsen other health problems and increase health care costs.”
The authors note that addressing mental health needs associated with physical health events may prevent or reduce health complications. They encourage more research to assess positive financial and health implications of physical and mental health care delivered in tandem.
More information: J. Yoon and S.L. Bernel, (2012). The Role of Adverse Physical Health Events on the Utilization of Mental Health Services, Health Services Research, In Press. onlinelibrary.wile … SN)1475-6773/
The Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant is located on the Paraná River between Brazil and Paraguay. The Paraná River is the seventh largest river in the world and the second largest in South America. Itaipu Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric power facility and it is a joint effort of the governments of Brazil and Paraguay.
The project ranges from Foz do Iguaçu, in Brazil, and Ciudad Del Este in Paraguay, in the south to Guaíra and Salto Del Guaíra in the north. The name Itaipu was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guarani language, “Itaipu” means "the sound of a stone".
The Itaipu Reservoir is 170 km long with an area of 1.35 km2 and has a volume at maximum normal level of 29 billion tons of water. It consists of a series of various types of dams the height of the dam reaches 196 m, its length 7.76 km. The Powerhouse is located at the toe of the main Dam, most of it on the river bed and the rest on the Diversion Channel.
The main structure, a hollow, concrete gravity dam, has a powerhouse capable of generating 14,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The main powerhouse has 18 Francis turbines each with a rated power of 715 MW. The Spillway is located on the right bank, and it has 14 segmented sluice gates with a total discharge rate of 62,200 cubic meters per second.
The volumes of construction in Itaipu are also impressive. The volume of iron and steel utilized in the Dam structure would be enough to build 380 Eiffel Towers, and the volume of concrete used in Itaipu represents 15 times the volume utilized to build the Channel Tunnel between France and England.
The power plant is a major tourist attraction in the Foz do Iguacu area. More than nine million visitors from 162 countries have visited the structure since it was completed in 1991.
HISTORY
On June 22, 1966, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Juracy Magalhaes, and of Paraguay, Sapena Pastor, signed the "Act of Iguaçu ". A study was carried out under this Act that assessed the potential hydraulic resources of the Paraná River, which is jointly occupied by the two countries. In 1967, the Brazilian-Paraguayan Joint Technical Commission was established to carry out the study and the development of the Paraná River.
On April 26, 1973, the two governments of the states signed a treaty "for the development of the hydroelectric resources of the Paraná River". They founded ITAIPU Binacional (cooperation with the legal, administrative and financial capacities and technical responsibility to plan set up and operate the plant) in May 17, 1974.
The construction work started in 1975, reaching its peak in 1978 with 30 000 people at work. Monthly on-site concrete production reached 338 000 m³. In total, 15 times the mass of concrete used for the "Euro Tunnel" was supplied.
It took almost three years for workers to carve a 1.3-mile long, 300-foot deep, 490-foot wide diversion channel for the river. Fifty million tons of earth and rock were removed in the process. Engineers chose a hollow gravity dam because it required 35 per cent less concrete than a solid gravity dam. The open dam is still heavy and sturdy enough to resist the thrust of water entirely by its own weight.
Sometimes the dam can get blocked with mud and silt. It is expensive to clean the dam out. The mud and silt can cause diseases in the water in the reservoir. Unless the water in the reservoir is cleaned, people can get these diseases. The land behind the dam and reservoir had to be flooded. Much of this land was rainforest, and the trees had to be cut down. Many parrots died because their homes in the trees were destroyed.
In 1982 the land behind the dam was flooded, and within 14 days, the reservoir was created. Unit 1 started to operate in December 1983. Electrical grid connection to Paraguay was established in March 1984, Brazil was connected 5 months later. In March 1991 the last Unit (No.18) was put into operation.
The magnitude of the project also can be demonstrated by the fact that in 1995 Itaipu alone provided 25% of the energy supply in Brazil and 78% in Paraguay.
The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guaraní language, Itaipu means "the sound of a stone".
The dam is the largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation, generating 94.7 TWh in 2008 and 91.6 TWh in 2009, while the annual energy generation of the Three Gorges Dam was 80.8 TWh in 2008 and 79.4 TWh in 2009.The dam's 14,000 MW installed capacity is second to the Three Gorges Dam's 22,500 MW, though. It is a binational undertaking run by Brazil and Paraguay at the Paraná River on the border section between the two countries, 15 km (9.3 mi) north of the Friendship Bridge. The project ranges from Foz do Iguaçu, in Brazil, and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, in the south to Guaíra and Salto del Guairá in the north. The installed generation capacity of the plant is 14 GW, with 20 generating units providing 700 MW each with a hydraulic design head of 118 m. In 2008 the plant generated a record 94.68 TWh, supplying 90% of the electricity consumed by Paraguay and 19% of that consumed by Brazil.
Of the twenty generator units currently installed, ten generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay and ten generate at 60 Hz for Brazil. Two 600 kV HVDC lines, each approximately 800 km long, carry both Brazilian and Paraguayan energy to São Paulo where the terminal equipment converts the power to 60 Hz.
Negotiations between Brazil and Paraguay
The concept behind Itaipu Power Plant was the result of heavy negotiations between the two countries during the 1960s. The "Ata do Iguaçu" (Iguaçu Act) was signed on July 22, 1966, by the Brazilian and Paraguayan Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Juracy Magalhães and Sapena Pastor, respectively. This was a joint declaration of the mutual interest in studying the exploitation of the hydric resources that the two countries shared in the section of the Paraná River starting from, and including, the Salto de Sete Quedas, to theIguaçu River's watershed. The Treaty that gave origin to the power plant was signed in 1973.
The terms of the treaty, which expires in 2023, have been the subject of widespread discontent in Paraguay. The government of President Lugo vowed to renegotiate the terms of the treaty with Brazil, which long remained hostile to any renegotiation.
In 2009, Brazil agreed to a fairer electricity payment to Paraguay and allowed Paraguay to sell excess power directly to Brazilian companies instead of solely through the Brazilian electricity monopoly.
In 1970, the consortium formed by the companies IECO (from the United States of America) and ELC Electroconsult S.p.A. (from Italy) won the international competition for the realization of the viability studies and for the elaboration of the construction project. Work began in February 1971. On April 26, 1973, Brazil and Paraguay signed the Itaipu Treaty, the legal instrument for the hydroelectric exploitation of the Paraná River by the two countries. On May 17, 1974, the Itaipu Binacional entity was created to administer the plant's construction. The works began in January of the following year. Brazil's (and Latin America's) first electric car was introduced in late 1974; it received the name "Itaipu" in honour of the project.
Social and environmental impacts
When construction of the dam began, approximately 10,000 families living beside the Paraná River were displaced.
The world's largest waterfall by volume, the Guaíra Falls were drowned by the newly formed Itaipu reservoir. The Brazilian government liquidated the Guaíra Falls National Park, and dynamited the submerged rock face where the falls had been, facilitating safer navigation, but eliminating the possibility of restoring the falls in the future. A few months before the reservoir was filled, 80 people died when an overcrowded bridge overlooking the falls collapsed, as tourists sought a last glimpse of the falls.
The American composer Philip Glass has also written a symphonic cantata named Itaipu, in honour of the structure.
Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) play a critical role in allowing us to fight infections and create a strong armory of antibodies for future use.
Image: Eraxion/iStockphoto
A Sydney-based scientist has demonstrated for the first time how an important class of immune cells, essential for the development of antibodies, comes into being.
‘Follicular dendritic cells’ (FDCs) play a critical role in allowing us to fight infections and create a strong armory of antibodies for future use.
FDCs first make sure that our antibody-generating B cells receive samples of an invading organism. They then help to identify and nurture the B cells that manufacture the highest quality antibodies.
Many of our immune cells, including B cells, are white blood cells and so arise out of stem cells in bone marrow. FDCs are not blood cells, and their origin has been a mystery until now.
Scientists have been able to see FDCs in tonsils, spleen and lymph nodes – where they are formed during embryonic development and soon after birth. They have also seen FDCs at sites of chronic inflammation later in life – such as in a liver inflamed by hepatitis, or in joints inflamed by rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Nike Krautler from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Professor Adriano Aguzzi from the Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zurich, have now shown that FDCs arise from the ‘mural cells’ that surround our blood vessels. The importance of their finding is underlined by its publication in the very prestigious international journal Cell.
“This story was interesting to us because follicular dendritic cells are thought to be stationary cells and can’t migrate through our bodies like B cells, which move through the lymph system or blood stream,” said Dr Nike Krautler.
“We could see that they were present in the lymphoid organs, such as the spleen or lymph nodes, right from the start – from when the tissue was formed.”
“We couldn’t understand, though, how they arose in other parts of the body during inflammation or autoimmune disease, unless they had been there in some form all along.”
“By using genetic markers* we could see that they appeared to come from a particular kind of precursor, or stem cell, that surrounds blood vessels.”
“We confirmed this theory by placing the precursor cells into animals without follicular dendritic cells, then watched them form when we triggered an inflammatory response.”
“We now believe that during chronic inflammation or autoimmune disease, precursor cells are recruited to the site and form follicular dendritic cells. B cells also migrate there and highly specialised germinal centres form.”
“Germinal centres are localised powerhouses of antibody generation, actually driven by follicular dendritic cells. In a healthy person, they are found only in the lymphoid organs.”
“When someone has an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritits, or a chronic inflammation of some kind, germinal centres form at other sites in the body and help sustain inflammation or disease.”
“So while this is a basic science finding, it is really central to our understanding of how chronic inflammation is triggered – and perhaps in gaining insights about how to prevent them.”
Dr Krautler performed her study in Zurich, and completed her work at Garvan in the lab of Associate Professor Robert Brink, an expert on B cell biology. Krautler and Brink will be working together to investigate the role of follicular dendritic cells in germinal centres, both in healthy immune responses and in disease.
Understanding antibody generation is critical in fighting disease and in creating effective vaccines.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
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MISA researchers from SARDI have isolated and evaluated a ‘super strain’ of a native microalgae species that could form the basis of a local biofuels industry.
This breakthrough in biodiscovery comes after six years of ‘bioprospecting’ across thousands of kilometres of the State and into the waters of the Great Australian Bight by SARDI researchers followed by laboratory and small-scale outdoor raceway trials.
The success in finding this particular strain of microalgae among the hundreds of microalgal species and strains evaluated has given South Australia a head start as research into third generation biofuels advances to the next level.
Dr Nayar and SARDI researchers Kriston Bott and Michelle Brayley will present some of the research findings at the 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Algal Biotechnology Conference ‘Algae for the Future’ hosted by Flinders University in Adelaide at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Wednesday July 11 at 3.35 p.m.
SARDI’s production trials are part of a $4.2m microalgae biorefinery project funded by the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology through the State Government’s Premier’s Science and Research Fund (PSRF), and project partners SARDI, Flinders University, United Water, Flinders Partners and Plentex Ltd. The project is called Developing a proof-of-concept facility for microalgal biodiesel feedstock and value-added products to pioneer a sustainable South Australian biofuels industry. SARDI’s bioprospecting research was funded by the Centre for Natural Resource Management.
Dr Sasi Nayar who leads the SARDI Algal Production Group says the research isolated 14 native strains with potential.
“The flagship strain stands head and shoulders above the rest – it is a specific strain of Nannochloropsis (green algae), with an unusually high lipid and protein content.”
“These attributes mean that the microalgae has tremendous commercial potential with application across the full range of oil uses from biofuels to high value co-products such as animal and human food supplements, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals such as skin cream and anti-ageing creams” he said.
“We are at a stage where we now know a lot about this species and its optimal growing conditions and we are ready to scale up to commercial level to refine the production systems to be used.”
The research partners are now looking for investors to help take the research to commercial pilot scale and then full commercial scale.
Microalgae is a non-food feedstock which does not compete with traditional agriculture for land and resources. It is a clean, renewable fuel that opens the door to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
It is carbon neutral because it absorbs or recycles carbon as it grows, rather than emitting new carbon into the atmosphere.
The mining industry is one of the largest users of diesel in Australia, and biofuel derived from microalgae provides one of the best alternatives to petroleum-derived fuel for the aviation and vehicle industries.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
கொடுமுடி மகுடேஸ்வரர் கோயில்....மும்மூர்த்திகள் ஸ்தலம்..சிவன்,பிரம்மா,விஷ்ணு விற்கு தனிதனி ஆலயங்கள் அமைந்துள்ள ஸ்தலம்..கோயில் எதிரில் தென்வடலாக பிரியும் காவிரி..கோயில் எதிரில் இடுகாடு...காசி விஸ்வநாதர் கோயில் இப்படிதான் இருக்குமாம்...ராஜஸ்தான் மாநிலம் புஷ்கர் க்கு அடுத்தபடியாக பழமையான பிரம்மன் சன்னதி இங்குதான் அமைந்துள்ளது..
பிரம்மாவை வணங்க மட்டும் கர்நாடகாவில் இருந்து திங்கள் கிழமைதோறும் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான பக்தர்கள் இங்கு வருகை தருகின்றனர்..படைத்தவர் பிரம்மா அவரை வணங்கினால் தலையெழுத்தும் மாறும் என்ற நம்பிக்கை.
In this study, cancer scientists discovered a causative link between the product of a mutated metabolic enzyme and the onset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most common types of leukemia in adults.
A team of international scientists led by principal investigator Dr. Tak Mak at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, has identified a causative link between the product of a mutated metabolic enzyme and the onset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most common types of leukemia in adults.
Called an “oncometabolite” for its role in cancer metabolism, the metabolite2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG) is a by-product of a gene mutation of an enzyme known as isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH).
Says Dr. Tak Mak of the findings published today in Nature: “For the first time, we have demonstrated how a metabolite can cause cancer. This sets the stage for developing inhibitors to block the mutation and prevent the production of this disease-initiating enzyme.” The research team included scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, and Agios Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. Mak, Director, The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital, is an internationally acclaimed immunologist renowned for his 1984 discovery of cloning the human T-cell receptor. He is also Professor, University of Toronto, in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology.
Blood cell development. A blood stem cell goes through several steps to become a red blood cell, platelet, or white blood cell. Adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. AML is also called acute myelogenous leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, acute granulocytic leukemia, and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia.
The connection between cancer and metabolism has fascinated scientists at Agios and Dr. Mak, who were the first to identify the oncometabolite in research published in Nature (2009) and The Journal of Experimental Medicine (2010). The IDH gene mutation was initially discovered in brain cancers in 2008 by American scientists at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and subsequently also linked to leukemia.
In the lab, Dr. Mak’s team genetically engineered a mouse model with the mutation in its blood system to mimic human AML. They discovered that the gene mutation launches the perfect storm for the oncometabolite to trigger the blood system to increase the stem cells pool and reduce mature blood cells in the bone marrow. The resulting condition creates a situation with similarities to myelodysplastic syndrome – one of the precursors to this type of leukemia.
“This is one of the most common mutations in AML,” says Dr. Mak. “We also found that it is the common mutation in about 40% of a specific type of lymphoma.” The mutation is also known to be involved in about 70-90% of low-grade brain cancers (glioblastomas gliomas) and a variety of other cancers.
Dr. Mak’s interest in the blood system began as a young researcher three decades ago with Drs. Ernest McCulloch and James Till, the acclaimed “fathers of stem cell science” at Ontario Cancer Institute, the research arm of Princess Margaret Hospital, whose 1961 discovery of stem cells launched the new field.
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Dr. Mak’s research was funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Terry Fox Foundation. Dr. Mak’s research is also supported by The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation.
Mont Saint-Michel (English: Mount Saint Michael) is a rocky tidal island in Normandi, about one kilometer from the coast of northern France at the mouth of the river Couesnon near Avranches. Residents of Mont Saint-Michel called Montois.
Mont Saint-Michel was originally connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, and then before the modernization covered at high tide and visible at low tide. Therefore, the Mont Saint Michel holds a mystique of island pairs. In 1879, the land bridge was built into a causeway.
Before construction of the first monastic in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe. According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to St.. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, in 708 and ordered him to build a church on the island. Aubert ignore the instruction many times, until Michael makes a hole in the bishop’s skull with his finger.
In 1067, the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel William Normandi support that claim the British throne. The abbey was granted land in the UK, including a small island in the west Cornwall, which mimics the style of Mount Saint-Michel and is called St. Michael’s Mount in Penzance.
Le Mont-Saint-Michel, rocky, cone-shaped islet in northwestern France, in the Gulf of Saint-Malo, connected by a causeway with the mainland. The islet, celebrated for its Benedictine abbey, has small houses and shops on its lowest level. Above these stand the monastic buildings, many of which date from the 13th century and are considered outstanding examples of Gothic architecture. The entire islet is crowned by the abbey church, about 73 m (about 240 ft) above sea level.
The first chapel on this site was founded in 708 by Aubert, Bishop of Avranches , after the Archangel Michael has appeared to him in a dream. The Archangel Michel appeared here in the year 708. The Abbey takes the name of Mont saint Michel. The oratory, consecrated in 709 was served by a community of canons. It apparently survived the Norman invasions, but the observance of the rule became very relaxed. In 966 Richard I, Duke of Normandy, established there the Benedictine monks from St. Wandrille Abbeyunder the direction of Abbot Maynard, who began the reconstructions of the church and other buildings. The church was burnt in 922 and rebuilt on a larger scale by Abbot Hildebert II from 1023, at the time of the monastic reforms in Normandy carried out by Richard II and William of Volpiano
During the Hundred years War the fortifications of Mont St. Michel were reinforced (1420) and the Romanesque choir collapsed Construction of the present clever began in 1448. In 1622 the abbey became part of the Congregation of St. Maur; three western nave bays and the facade were destroyed and replaced with large terrace. The abbey was dissolved at the Revolution (1789-95), and it was used as a prison in the 19th. century. It was severely burnt in 1856, but thorough restorations were not undertaken until 1874.
The buildings of Mont St. Michel are constructed of granite, but there is some limestone in the cloister.
The village that grew up and around the abbey lies huddled within the fortifications and includes a Romanesque parish church, remolded in the 15 century. The fortifications include crenellated ramparts, towers and a 14th century barbican, which reinforce the abbey's own defenses. The tower Claudine protects the monastery entrance.
Mont Saint Michel was built as a medieval castle. It has two large towers to defend the entrance to the castle.
St. Michael is a surety for freedom and thus this sanctuary also became a symbol of the allied landing in Normandy during the Second World War.
POEM WRITTEN BY ONE OF OUR TOUR PARTICIPANTS IN JUNE 2001.
Mt. St.Michael
It rises up in the deceiving distance
Like a beacon to the wretched and weak
As the lighthouse at Alexandria once opened the seas
To weary travelers, drunk on sea salt and night.
The waves crash on its forgotton stones
Slowly washing away one thousand years
But Mount St. Michael is eternal.
The spirits in the catacombs sleep silent
Remembered in the chants on the monks.
As the ghostly brothers wander the halls
Drinking secrets from the ancient chalice
And tending the grapes for their moonshine wine.
So sacred a place, the stairs need guard it,
Winding in dozens up steep narrow passages
Up and up to the nearing warm skies
Til you reach a breezy gothic chapel
So high you can hear the prayers in the walls
And echoing in the lulling lowly waves
Tamed and bowing seemingly a mile beneath.
Is it a house of God or a fortress of war?
Candlelight of hope or dimness of despair?
No matter, for the people still come
The devoted, the curious and above all the lost
Searching for answers in the carvings,
A lost soul within the tombs
Or inner peace through the stained glass windows of time.
Older foraging bees experience a change in brain chemistry when they revert to nest duties typically given to younger individuals.
By Jef Akst |
Christofer Bang
When older bees that are in charge of foraging for the colony instead stay home to perform some of the social tasks required inside the nest, their brains change, essentially reverting to a molecular structure typical of younger bees, according to new research published in Experimental Gerontology.
“We knew from previous research that when bees stay in the nest and take care of larvae…they remain mentally competent for as long as we observe them,” coauthor Gro Amdam of Arizona State University (ASU) said in a press release. “However, after a period of nursing, bees fly out gathering food and begin aging very quickly…. We wanted to find out if there was plasticity in this aging pattern.”
Amdam and colleagues at ASU and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences investigated this question by removing younger nurse bees from the nest. When the older, foraging bees returned to a colony of just the queen and larvae, about half stayed home to take care of the young, and those bees were significantly better at learning new things.
Comparing the brains of the new caretakers with those that continued foraging, the researchers found increased level of the protein Prx6, which is known to protect against dementia in humans, as well as increased levels of a chaperone protein that protects other cellular proteins during times of stress.
The results suggest that social interventions, rather than drugs, may be effective at slowing age-related cognitive decline or dementia from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. “Maybe social interventions—changing how you deal with your surroundings—is something we can do today to help our brains stay younger,” Amdam said. “Since the proteins being researched in people are the same proteins bees have, these proteins may be able to spontaneously respond to specific social experiences.”
People who experience a serious physical health event are three times as likely to subsequently see a health care provider for mental health services and medication, according to a new study in Health Services Research. In addition, people who view a health event as severe have greater use of mental health services.
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