Microbes can play games with the mind

The bacteria in our guts may help decide who gets anxiety and depression

The 22 men took the same pill for four weeks. When interviewed, they said they felt less daily stress and their memories were sharper. The brain benefits were subtle, but the results, reported at last year’s annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, got attention. That’s because the pills were not a precise chemical formula synthesized by the pharmaceutical industry.

The capsules were brimming with bacteria.

In the ultimate PR turnaround, once-dreaded bacteria are being welcomed as health heroes. People gobble them up in probiotic yogurts, swallow pills packed with billions of bugs and recoil from hand sanitizers. Helping us nurture the microbial gardens in and on our bodies has become big business, judging by grocery store shelves.

These bacteria are possibly working at more than just keeping our bodies healthy: They may be changing our minds. Recent studies have begun turning up tantalizing hints about how the bacteria living in the gut can alter the way the brain works. These findings raise a question with profound implications for mental health: Can we soothe our brains by cultivating our bacteria?

By tinkering with the gut’s bacterial residents, scientists have changed the behavior of lab animals and small numbers of people. Microbial meddling has turned anxious mice bold and shy mice social. Rats inoculated with bacteria from depressed people develop signs of depression themselves. And small studies of people suggest that eating specific kinds of bacteria may change brain activity and ease anxiety. Because gut bacteria can make the very chemicals that brain cells use to communicate, the idea makes a certain amount of sense.

Though preliminary, such results suggest that the right bacteria in your gut could brighten mood and perhaps even combat pernicious mental disorders including anxiety and depression. The wrong microbes, however, might lead in a darker direction.

Open channels

Although the communication lines aren’t fully understood, bacteria in the gut and cells in the brain may stay in touch in several ways. Signals can move along the vagus nerve or be carried by chemical messengers, such as serotonin, and by molecules that travel via the immune system. 

Studying germ-free mice
Bacteria in the gut may help brains develop, based on studies from mice born and raised without bacteria. These mice are different from normal mice in several key brain areas.

Striatum: In mice without bacteria, the flux of the neural messengers dopamine and serotonin is altered in the striatum, a brain area involved in movement and emotional responses. New connections may form more readily in the striatum too. These changes may cause bacteria-free animals to move and explore abnormally.

Hippocampus: Involved in memory and navigation, the hippocampi of germ-free mice have reduced levels of molecules that sense serotonin and the growth factor BDNF. These mice display memory problems.

Amygdala: Germ-free mice have changes in the levels of serotonin, BDNF and other signaling molecules in the amygdala, a brain structure involved in emotions. These alterations might contribute to an increase in risk-taking behavior.

Hypothalamus: The brain’s stress responder, the hypothalamus, shows boosts in corticotropin-releasing factor and adrenocorticotropic hormone in germ-free mice. The changes might be related to the animals’ heightened stress responses.

SOURCE: S.M. COLLINS, M. SURETTE AND P. BERCIK/NAT. REV. MICROBIOL. 2012

Cecile G. Tamura

Gender Gap in Industries in pay

Some industries have less of a gender gap and some industries have more. Healthcare is the worst, Glassdoor found. The tech industry is No. 10 on the

list.

Rabindranath Tagore with his children

Rabindranath Tagore with his children-(from left)daughter Mira, son Rathindranath, daughter-in-law Pratima, daughter Bela!

Awesome clicks

தெரு மூடி மடம்

இன்று இலங்கையில் எஞ்சியுள்ள ஒரேயொரு தெருமூடி மடம் பருத்தித்துறையில் காணப்படுகிறது. இந்த மடம் 1898-1901ம் ஆண்டு காலப்பகுதியில் வாழ்ந்த பிராமணரான வைத்தீஸ்வரக்குருக்களின் தகப்பனார் பஞ்சாட்சரக்குருக்கள் அவர்களால் அமைக்கப்பட்டது. தெருவின் இருபக்கமும் பொழிகல்லுத்திண்ணைகள் காணப்படுகின்றன, இத்தூண்களில் தெருமூடி மடம் கட்டுமானத்துடன் தொடர்பான இப்பிராமண குடும்பத்தினரின் பெயர்கள் பொறிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன, மேற்புறம் தெருவை மூடி ஓரோடுகளால் வேயப்பட்ட கூரை காணப்பட்டது. தற்போது தட்டை ஓடுகள் போடப்பட்டுள்ளன.

அந்தக்காலத்தில் தெருவில் நடைசாரியாகவும்,மாட்டு வண்டிகளிலும் பயணம் செய்வோர் இளைப்பாறிச்செல்ல இந்த் மடம் உதவியாக இருந்தது. இந்த தெருமூடி மடத்தின் தெற்குப்பக்கச் சுவரில் வாசலிடப்பட்டு கதவும் இருக்கிறது. இவ்வாசல் தெற்குப்புறமாக இருந்த பிராமணரின் வீட்டுடன் தொடர்புடையதாக இருந்துள்ளது. இராக்காலத்தில் இம்மடத்து திண்ணையில் தங்கிச்செல்லும் வழிப்போக்கர்களுக்கு சாப்பாட்டு வசதிகளை செய்து கொடுக்க பிராமணர் இந்த வாசலைப்பயன்படுத்தினார். இந்த வீட்டில் பிராமணரால் சமஸ்கிருத வகுப்புகளும் நடத்தப்பட்டுள்ளன.

இந்த தெருமூடிமடத்தின் அருகில் இருக்கும் சிவன் கோவில் வீதிக்கிணறு, தண்ணீர்த்தொட்டி, ஆவுரோஞ்சிக்கல் என்பன மனிதர் குறிக்கவும், குடிக்கவும் தொட்டிகளில் வண்டில் மாடுகள் தண்ணீர் குடிக்கவும், ஆவுரோஞ்சிக்கல்லில் மாடுகள் உரசி நமைச்சலைப்போக்கவும் மிகவும் கருணையோடு அமைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது

- பருத்தித்துறையூராம்
- பா.இரகுவரன்

The Crystal Palace.

The Crystal Palace Within refers to the Pineal Gland because part of its structure is Crystalline in nature. These small calcite crystals have piezoelectric properties that can respond to the higher realms of Light. By activating these crystalline potentials within your Pineal Gland you open a portal to your Higher Mind, which can bring to you, and humanity, an influx of creativity, insight and solutions to personal and collective problems.

Diagram above shows the inner brain with its Pineal and Pituitary Ports to the 4D/5D Crystal Palace of Light, and the dimensional transfer downwards produced an inversion of “Inwards/Outwards”. The true Creation is Within, where all the cosmological bodies and beings are- The central notion is to learn and master how to “Align” more from the Outside-In than from the Inside-Out, a Psionic and Synergic process called “Fractal Centering”.

Taoists call the center of the brain between the Pineal and the Pituitary “the Crystal Palace.” It’s said that when the Pineal Gland is activated it becomes illuminated like a ‘thousand suns’. The sense of white Light flowing within and without may be when the Pineal Gland is highly activated producing DMT-type chemistry during the height of the peak. Some believe that every human being’s Pineal Gland can be activated to Spiritual World frequencies and enables you to have the sense of all knowing, godlike euphoria and oneness all around you. In this belief, a Pineal Gland once tuned into to proper frequencies with help of meditation, yoga or various esoteric, occult methods, enables a person to travel into other dimensions, popularly known as Astral Projection or Remote Viewing.

http://biologyofkundalini.com/article.php…

http://tomkenyon.com/the-crystal-palace

The Golden One

The Golden One is the name given to a massive citrine quartz crystal unearthed in Zambia, equatorial Africa, remarkable because of its size, internal clarity, majestic golden color, and presence. (900 kilograms) photo: Lawrence Stoller

Two defining features of quantum mechanics never appear together

Two of the most important ideas that distinguish the quantum world from the classical one are nonlocality and contextuality.

Previously, physicists have theoretically shown that both of these phenomena cannot simultaneously exist in a quantum system, as they are both just different manifestations of a more fundamental concept, the assumption of realism. Now in a new paper, physicists have for the first time experimentally confirmed that these two defining features of quantum mechanics never appear together.

The physicists, Xiang Zhan, et al., have published a paper on the nonlocality-contextuality tradeoff in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters.

In the everyday world that we observe, an object can only be affected by nearby objects (locality), and when we make a measurement, the outcome does not depend on other independent measurements being made at the same time (noncontextuality).

In contrast, the quantum world is nonlocal, as demonstrated by quantum entanglement where two objects can influence each other even when separated by large distances. And in the quantum world, measurements are contextual, so quantum systems do not have predetermined values but instead their values depend on how measurements are made.

To show that a quantum system is nonlocal or contextual, physicists have defined inequalities that assume a system is the opposite (local or noncontextual). Then they perform experiments that attempt to violate these inequalities to show that the system is not local or noncontextual. So far, these two types of inequalities have never been tested simultaneously.

In the new study, the researchers have attempted to violate both inequalities at the same time, but have found that only one inequality can be violated at once. Their experiment uses entangled photons to generate photonic qutrit-qubit systems (a qubit is a superposition of two states, whereas a qutrit is a superposition of three states). By performing various measurements on these photons, the researchers could violate the inequalities separately, but not at the same time.

"The greatest significance of our work is that we provide experimental evidence of the assumption that quantum entanglement and contextuality are intertwined quantum resources," Peng Xue, a physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China and one of the lead authors of the paper, told Phys.org.

As the physicists explain, the reason for the nonlocality-contextuality tradeoff arises from the fact that both properties have the same root: the assumption of realism, which is the assumption that the physical world exists independent of our observations, and that the act of observation does not change it.

Since nonlocality and contextuality can be thought of as two different manifestations of the basic assumption of realism, then one of them can be transformed into the other, but both cannot exist at the same time because they are essentially the same thing.

"We think the contextuality-nonlocality monogamy suggests the existence of a quantum resource of which entanglement is just a particular form," Xue said.

"The resource required to violate the noncontextuality inequality and that required to violate the locality inequality are fungible through entanglement. That is, to violate the locality inequality costs entanglement as a resource, while to violate the noncontextuality inequality costs contextuality as a resource. In a quantum system, only one of the two inequalities can be violated because nothing is left to violate the other one."

The researchers hope that the new experiment will open the doors to further exploring the mutual resource in the future, as well as lead to potential applications.

"We plan to study contextuality as a resource for experimental quantum information processing, such as for quantum computation," Xue said.

http://phys.org/news/2016-03-features-quantum-mechanics.html

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search…

http://arxiv.org/abs/1512.03334

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_contextuality

The Big Short

Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Michael Lewis, The Big Short is a 2015 biographical comedy-drama co-written and directed by Adam McKay and starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt.

An exploration of the the 2008 financial crisis through the eyes of various eccentric insiders who saw what was coming before anyone else did. Michael Burry (Bale) is a hedge fund manager who is the first to realise that the housing market is extremely unstable as its based on subprime loans. Jared Vennett (Gosling) is a trader who gets wind of Burry's insights and realises he's onto something. Joined by hedge fund manager Mark Baum (Carell) and his team in betting against the housing market. Meanwhile newcomers Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) also start getting into credit default swap after they find a paper by Vennett and convince Geller's former neighbour and retired banker Ben Rickert (Pitt) to help them out to get the necessary credentials to be able to do so.

An amazing change of pace for director Adam Mckay, who also co-wrote the screenplay and for his Will Ferrell comedies, The Big Short is a highly successful mixture of comedy and docu-drama. Brandishing a distinct style featuring some great editing and 4th wall breaking narration by Gosling as well as fantastic performances from all involved (with especially Bale, Carrell and Gosling standing out), The Big Short is an insightful as well as highly entertaining expose of the 2008 collapse of the housing market and economic crisis in its wake. Additionally the film also benefits from its screenplay which not only manages to clearly explain all the financial lingo but also gives the actors some great written characters to work with. The Big Short was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay, one Golden Globe for Best Screenplay and two BAFTA Awards, once again winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won 12 more awards in this category from various critics associations. A remarkable different type of comedy from director McKay, The Big Short is a must-see film for anyone interested into the origins of the 2008 financial crisis or fans of fresh docu-dramas.

Sleep suppresses brain rebalancing

Why humans and other animals sleep is one of the remaining deep mysteries of physiology. One prominent theory in neuroscience is that sleep is when the brain replays memories "offline" to better encode them ("memory consolidation").

A prominent and competing theory is that sleep is important for re-balancing activity in brain networks that have been perturbed during learning while awake. Such "rebalancing" of brain activity involves homeostatic plasticity mechanisms that were first discovered at Brandeis University, and have been thoroughly studied by a number of Brandeis labs including the lab of Brandeis professor of biology Gina Turrigiano.

Now, a study from the lab just published in the journal Cell shows that these homeostatic mechanisms are indeed gated by sleep and wake, but in the opposite direction from that theorized previously: homeostatic brain rebalancing occurs exclusively when animals are awake, and is suppressed by sleep.

These findings raise the intriguing possibility that different forms of brain plasticity - for example those involved in memory consolidation and those involved in homeostatic rebalancing - must be temporally segregated from each other to prevent interference.

The requirement that neurons carefully maintain an average firing rate, much like the thermostat in a house senses and maintains temperature, has long been suggested by computational work. Without homeostatic ("thermostat-like") control of firing rates, 

நமக்கு இடப்புறம் (இடகலை) மூச்சோட்டம் செல்லும்போது செய்யப்பட வேண்டிய காரியங்கள்:-

1. தாகம் தீர்க்க நீர் அருந்துதல். 2. பொருள் வாங்குதல். 
3. ஜலம் (சிறுநீர்) கழிப்பதற்கு. 4. சொத்துகள் வாங்குவதற்கும், பதிவு செய்வதற்கும். 
5. வீடுகட்ட, கடகால் தோண்டுவதற்கு. 
6. புதுமனை புகுதல். 
7. சிகை அலங்கரிக்க.
8. ஆடை, ஆபரணம் வாங்குவதற்கு.
9. விவசாய நாற்று நடுவதற்கு. 10. தாலுக்கு பொன் வாங்குவதற்கு.
11. தாலி கட்டுவதற்கு.
12. கிணறு வெட்டுவதற்கு.
13. புதிய படிப்பு படிக்க.
14. அரசியல் அமைச்சர்களை பார்க்க.
மேற்கண்ட காரியங்களை நமது மூச்சோட்டம் சந்திரகலையில் இருக்கும்போது செய்ய, அவை சுபமாக முடியும், என்று ஞான சர நூல் கூறுகிறது. சந்திர கலை பெண் தன்மையுடையது. நமக்கு இருபுற நாசியிலும் (சுழுமுனை) மூச்சோட்டம் சில நேரங்களில் மட்டுமே செல்லும். அந்நேரத்தில் நாம் இறைநினைப்புடன் தியானம் செய்ய சமாதி நிலை கிட்டும்

God, Soul and World - What Is Hinduism? Pilot

Muslim prostitute speaks about prostitution in Lahore, Pakistan

The Sun newspaper did an undercover investigation into it, and met up with a Muslim call girl called Fairuza. She told them that for £350 they can marry her for one hour, where she reads religious texts to confirm the marriage, taking the money as a ‘dowry’ – essentially a gift from the groom to the bride. £300 is for her services, and £50 is for the temporary marriage.

Once the punters time is up, she divorces the pair. If the guy wants another visit, he has to wait 3 months before he can marry her again.

Fairuza is apparently one of many Muslim girls making this service available through online escort sites, and she talked about one of her punters:

I did it with one Saudi who converted to Shia Islam only so he could do mut’ah (essentially a temporary marriage).

He was in London for two months. I was his wife for the two months. I lived with him and I wasn’t allowed to be with any other man. He paid very good money.

He is coming back next year and we’ll do it again.

Rich sexual past between modern humans and Neandertals revealed

"Only a bit of the DNA coiled inside the cells of Europeans and Asians comes from Neandertals, but those snippets have sparked a flurry of research. In the past few years, researchers have traced them to one or two ancient encounters with our extinct cousins. Now, a report published online in Science this week details a far richer sexual past for modern humans and their archaic cousins, one that played out at multiple times and places over the past 60,000 years."

மாணவர்கள் கண்டிப்பாக இந்த வீடியோ பாருங்க ..

This Factory Robot Learns a New Job Overnight : Cloud Robotics

The world's largest robot maker, Fanuc, is developing robots that use reinforcement learning to figure out how to do things.

Inside a modest-looking office building in Tokyo lives an unusually clever industrial robot made by the Japanese company Fanuc. Give the robot a task, like picking widgets out of one box and putting them into another container, and it will spend the night figuring out how to do it. Come morning, the machine should have mastered the job as well as if it had been programmed by an expert.

Fanuc demonstrates a robot trained through reinforcement learning at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo in December.
Industrial robots are capable of extreme precision and speed, but they normally need to be programmed very carefully in order to do something like grasp an object. This is difficult and time-consuming, and it means that such robots can usually work only in tightly controlled environments.

Fanuc’s robot uses a technique known as deep reinforcement learning to train itself, over time, how to learn a new task. It tries picking up objects while capturing video footage of the process. Each time it succeeds or fails, it remembers how the object looked, knowledge that is used to refine a deep learning model, or a large neural network, that controls its action. Deep learning has proved to be a powerful approach in pattern recognition over the past few years.

“After eight hours or so it gets to 90 percent accuracy or above, which is almost the same as if an expert were to program it,” explains Shohei Hido, chief research officer at Preferred Networks, a Tokyo-based company specializing in machine learning. “It works overnight; the next morning it is tuned.”

Robotics researchers are testing reinforcement learning as a way to simplify and speed up the programming of robots that do factory work. Earlier this month, Google published details of its own research on using reinforcement learning to teach robots how to grasp objects.

The Fanuc robot was programmed by Preferred Networks. Fanuc, the world’s largest maker of industrial robots, invested $7.3 million in Preferred Networks in August last year. The companies demonstrated the learning robot at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo last December.

One of the big potential benefits of the learning approach, Hido says, is that it can be accelerated if several robots wok in parallel
and then share what they have learned. So eight robots working for one hour can perform the same learning as a machine going for eight hours. "Our project is oriented to distributed learning." Hido says. "You can imagine hundreds of factory robots sharing information."

This form of distributed learning, sometimes called "cloud robotics,|" is shaping to be a big trend both in research
and industry.

"Fanuc is well place to think about this," says Ken Goldberg, a professor of robotics at the University of California Berkeley, because it installs so many machine in factories around the world. He adds that cloud robotics will most likely reshape the way that robots are used in the coming years.

Goldberg and colleagues (include several resuarchers in Google) are in fact taking this a step further by teaching robots how certain movements may be used to grasp not only specific objects
but also certain shapes. A paper on this work will appear at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation this May.

However, Goldberg notes, applying machine learning to robotics is challenging because controlling behavior is more complex than, say, recognizing objects in images. "Deep Learning has made enormous progress i pattern recognition ," Goldberg syas. "The challenge in robotics is that you are doing something beyond that. You need to be able to generate appropriate action for a huge range of inputs."

Fanuc may not be the only company developing robots that use machine learning. In 2014, a Swiss robot manufacturer ABB invested in another AI startup called Vicarious. The fruits of the investment has yet to appear, however.

https://www.technologyreview.com/…/this-factory-robot-lea…/…

Cloud Robotics and Automation

What if robots and automation systems were not limited by onboard computation, memory, or software?

Rather than viewing robots and automated machines as isolated systems with limited computation and memory, "Cloud Robotics and Automation" considers a new paradigm where robots and automation systems exchange data and perform computation via networks. Extending earlier work that links robots to the Internet,

Cloud Robotics and Automation builds on emerging research in cloud computing, machine learning, big data, open-source software, and major industry initiatives in the "Internet of Things", "Smarter Planet", "Industrial Internet", and "Industry 4.0."

Consider Google's autonomous car. It uses the network to index maps, images, and data on prior driving trajectories, weather, and traffic to determine spatial localization and make decisions. Data from each car is shared via the network for statistical optimization and machine learning performed by grid computing in the Cloud.

Another example is Kiva Systems approach to warehouse automation and logistics using large numbers of mobile platforms to move pallets using a local network to coordinate platforms and share updates on floor conditions.

Google's James Kuffner coined the term "Cloud Robotics" in 2010. Cloud Robot and Automation systems can be broadly defined as any robot or automation system that relies on data or code from a network to support its operation, i.e., where not all sensing, computation, and memory is integrated into a single standalone system.

There are at least four potential advantages to using the Cloud: 1) Big Data: access to updated libraries of images, maps, and object/product data, 2) Cloud Computing: access to parallel grid computing on demand for statistical analysis, learning, and motion planning, 3) Collective Learning: robots and systems sharing trajectories, control policies, and outcomes, and 4) Human Computation: use of crowdsourcing to tap human skills for analyzing images and video, classification, learning, and error recovery. The Cloud can also provide access to a) datasets, publications, models, benchmarks, and simulation tools, b) open competitions for designs and systems, and c) open-source software. It is important to recognize that Cloud Robotics and Automation raises critical new questions related to network latency, quality of service, privacy, and security.

The term "Singularity" is sometimes used to describe a punctuation point in the future where Artificial Intelligence (AI) surpasses human intelligence. The term was popularized by science fiction author Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil. Superintelligence, a 2014 book by Nick Bostrom, explored similar themes that provoked Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates to issue warnings about the dangers of AI and robotics. My sense is that the Singularity is distracting attention from a far more realistic and important development that we might call "Multiplicity". Multiplicity characterizes an emerging category of systems where diverse groups of humans work together with diverse groups of machines to solve difficult problems. Multiplicity combines the wisdom of crowds with the power of cloud computing and is exemplified by many Cloud Robotics and Automation systems.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search…

https://www.technologyreview.com/…/this-factory-robot-lea…/…

http://robot.fanucamerica.com/…/Ro…/spot-welding-robots.aspx

http://robotics.naist.jp/~akihiko-y/researches.php

http://news.berkeley.edu/…/deep-learning-robot-masters-ski…/

Electrical brain stimulation could support stroke recovery

Applying an electric current to the brain can help recovery from stroke, Oxford University researchers have found. Their research is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

A team from Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, led by Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg and Dr Charlotte Stagg, studied the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to support rehabilitation training. The technique involves placing electrodes on the scalp to pass a constant low current through a particular area of the brain.

In this case, the team used a variant called ipsilesional anodal tDCS, where a positive (anodal) current is applied on the side of the brain where damage has occurred. Anodal stimulation has previously been shown to increase the learning of motor skills in healthy people. The hope was that this effect could also be demonstrated in stroke patients, using tDCS to reinforce training that helps patients relearn how to use their body.

Applying an electric current to the brain can help recovery from stroke, Oxford University researchers have found. Their research is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

A team from Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, led by Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg and Dr Charlotte Stagg, studied the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to support rehabilitation training. The technique involves placing electrodes on the scalp to pass a constant low current through a particular area of the brain.

In this case, the team used a variant called ipsilesional anodal tDCS, where a positive (anodal) current is applied on the side of the brain where damage has occurred. Anodal stimulation has previously been shown to increase the learning of motor skills in healthy people. The hope was that this effect could also be demonstrated in stroke patients, using tDCS to reinforce training that helps patients relearn how to use their body.

Applying an electric current to the brain can help recovery from stroke, Oxford University researchers have found. Their research is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
A team from Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, led by Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg and Dr Charlotte Stagg, studied the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to support rehabilitation training. The technique involves placing electrodes on the scalp to pass a constant low current through a particular area of the brain.

In this case, the team used a variant called ipsilesional anodal tDCS, where a positive (anodal) current is applied on the side of the brain where damage has occurred. Anodal stimulation has previously been shown to increase the learning of motor skills in healthy people. The hope was that this effect could also be demonstrated in stroke patients, using tDCS to reinforce training that helps patients relearn how to use their body.

MRI scanning also showed that those who had had tDCS had more activity in the relevant brain areas for motor skills than the control group.

Study volunteer Jan said: 'The training was exhausting - like being in the gym every day, but it was huge fun. Even after the first session I felt as if I could do more, even though I was knackered. That made me go back every day, and I found it easier and easier. [The stimulation] didn't hurt - more like a mild tingle or a static electric shock right on the top of my head. The worst part was that my head itched afterwards!'

She added: 'I have definitely improved and benefited. People who haven't seen me say 'wow - you can move better now'. It definitely helped. I'm just sorry I can't continue with it. It was so nice to meet a team who had such positive attitudes and who told me it was not too late to improve.'

The research team conclude that there is positive evidence for the use of tDCS to aid stroke recovery but caution that the technique must be proved to have long term benefits not only in clinical measurements but also in the ability to carry out tasks important to daily life. Larger studies, they say, will be needed before this approach could enter routine clinical care.

The paper, Ipsilesional anodal tDCS enhances the functional benefits of rehabilitation in patients after stroke, is published in journal Science Translational Medicine (10.1126/scitranslmed.aad5651).

http://www.ox.ac.uk/…/2016-03-17-electrical-brain-stimulati…

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas…/2016/…/160316151108.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/…/electrical-brain-stimulation-…

JAI GANESH,JAI GANESH AARTI RECITED BY A LITTLE GIRL

Eight Practical Strategies To Avoid Overeating

The main reason most folks are overweight, is not lack of exercise, or slow metabolism, or sluggish thyroid –it’s overeating.

It’s impossible to lose weight when you overeat; and the crazy thing is that most folks overeat without realizing. A study conducted by New England Journal of medicine found, that dieters tend to underestimate the calories consumed and overestimate the calories burnt.

One of the best possible ways to avoid overeating, is to count calories. But it’s hectic and most of the people don’t have time to weigh food and measure the portions. If that’s you, I have got 8 practical strategies that will help you eat less, without counting calories.

1. Drink A Glass Of Water Before And After Every Meal
Most of the times we mistake hunger for thirst; so drink water before a meal to quench thirst and leave space in the stomach for a glass of water after the meal.
It is advisable to first drink water (before you eat) whenever you are hungry. Drinking 500 ml of water, can temporarily boost your metabolism up to 30%.
It is recommended that you drink at least 2 liters of water a day.

2. Eat More Fiber
Consumption of fiber, will increase your satiety and keep you full for long.
Foods rich in fiber are low in calories and rich in nutrients.
Eat foods rich in fiber in every meal. Some of the fiber-rich foods include: vegetables, lean meat, beans, nuts, fruits and whole grains.

3. Use Smaller Plates And Spoons
Research shows, that people tend to overeat when they use bigger plates and eat less portions when they use smaller plates. So serve food in smaller plates and use small spoons.
Alternatively, when serving food, fill two-thirds of what you normally fill in the plate.

4. Sit Properly And Eat Slowly
Sitting in the right posture, will improve your awareness and mindfulness when eating.
Take time to chew and swallow your food. You will get full faster, when you eat slowly. It takes about 20 minutes for the brain to realize that you are full. On the other hand, eating in a hurry will make you overeat.
Always give yourself time before you add food to your plate; in case you are not satiated.

5. Avoid Distractions When Eating
Mindless eating is one of the reasons binging is common. Folks mindlessly pop food in their mouth and before they realize, the crisps bag is empty.
You won’t realize when you are full, if you focus on other activities. So don’t watch TV or listen to music during mealtime. Just focus on eating only.

6. Avoid Calorie Containing Beverages
Calories from beverages like soda, diet soda, fruit juice and energy drinks, eventually add up and cause weight gain.
Getting all the calories from solid food, is a sure way to avoid excess calories.
Limit the intake of coffee, if you usually add sugar to it.

7. Reduce Sugar Intake
Higher intake of sugar, makes the body resistant to leptin. Leptin is the hormone, which sends signal to the brain that you are full. When the body becomes resistant to leptin, the brain doesn’t receive the signal that you are full, so there is a possibility that you will overeat.
You have probably noticed that you get hungry quickly; when you eat simple carbs or foods with added sugar.

8. Use A Plate When Eating Packaged Foods
Research shows that folks overeat when they eat food/snacks directly from the bag.
Putting the food in a plate, will help you know how much you are eating.

Historian uncovers secrets of the Reformation hidden in England's oldest printed bible

"The annotations were discovered in England's first printed Bible, published in 1535 by Henry VIII's printer. It is one of just seven surviving copies, and is housed in Lambeth Palace Library, London. The secrets hidden in the Lambeth Library copy were revealed during research by Dr Eyal Poleg, a historian from Queen Mary University of London.

"We know virtually nothing about this unique Bible - whose preface was written by Henry himself - outside of the surviving copies. At first, the Lambeth copy first appeared completely 'clean'. But upon closer inspection I noticed that heavy paper had been pasted over blank parts of the book. The challenge was how to uncover the annotations without damaging the book" said Dr Poleg.

Dr Poleg sought the assistance of Dr Graham Davis, a specialist in 3D X-ray imaging at QMUL's School of Dentistry. Using a light sheet, which was slid beneath the pages, they took two images in long exposure - one with the light sheet on and one with it off."

யேசுதாஸ் தம்பதி K J Yesudas family photos

மிகவும் அரிது யானை கட்டி போர் அடித்தல்.

How To Find Out If Your Blood Pressure Is High Or Low?

Have you had trouble making sense of those numbers on your blood pressure kit? Do you have trouble keeping your blood pressure levels in check? Well, look no further. This post will not only teach you how to interpret blood pressure readings, but also how to know blood pressure is high or low.

How To Know Blood Pressure Is High Or Low?

Want to know more? Read ahead!

High Blood Pressure Or Hypertension:

Hypertension or high blood pressure is probably one of the most dangerous afflictions that can lead to heart disease and stroke. It is difficult to diagnose and you have to take various medications to curb it. It is called the silent killer due to this attribute. It is especially dangerous for obese people and people who have a disposition to diabetes.

Causes Of Hypertension:

The exact reason for hypertension or high blood pressure is not known, but there are several contributing factors that lead to hypertension. Some of them include:

Smoking
Obesity
Excess of salt
Little or no physical exercise
Excess of alcohol (more than 60 ml of alcohol every day)
Thyroid or other adrenal disorders
Anxiety, panic and stress
Age
Congenital disposition, genetic tendency
Chronic kidney disease

Symptoms Of Hypertension:

There are many symptoms of high blood pressure that you should know and watch out for. As we know, the only way to know for sure is to get regular check-ups. If you suffer from hypertension, or you know someone who does, make sure that they get their routine medical checkups done.
Some symptoms that you should watch out for include:

Severe headache
Chest pains and heartburn
Breathing difficulties
Dizziness and weakness
Poor eyesight
Irregular or quickened heartbeat
Uneven pulse
Difficulties while urinating
Blood in urine
If you have any one of these symptoms, you should be on your way to the doctor. Remember that unchecked and untreated hypertension is one of the main causes of heart attack and stroke

Low Blood Pressure Or Hypotension:

Hypotension isn’t as widespread as hypertension, but that doesn’t make it any cuddlier. In fact, hypotension is usually undetectable, with people not even suffering from symptoms in many cases. It is this characteristic which makes it a potentially dangerous affliction.

Causes of Hypotension:

How do you know if you have low blood pressure? Hypotension is usually caused by a drop in blood pressure. Some conditions that can lead to hypotension include:

Pregnancy
Heart problems
Dehydration
Blood loss
Nutrient deficiency
Anaphylaxis (Allergic Reactions)
Septicemia (Infections)
Symptoms Of Hypotension:

Detecting hypotension is tough. However, certain people suffer from symptoms like:

Fainting
Nausea
Weakness and fatigue
Lightheadedness or giddiness
Blurred vision
Disorientated and dazed feeling

How To Know Low Blood Pressure Or High Blood Pressure:

By now, we know what low and high blood pressure can lead to. However, let’s understand how to read high and low blood pressure. Apart from symptoms and visits to the doctor, you can keep your blood pressure levels in check, by keeping a blood pressure scale at home.

Blood pressure is usually recorded in a ratio of two numbers. Normal blood pressure is usually recorded at 120 over 80 for healthy adults.

Systolic:
The leading number, which is usually the larger in between the two numbers on this ratio, is called the systolic pressure level. It is what measures arterial pressure when the heart contracts.

Diastolic:
The following number, which is usually the smaller in between the two numbers on this ratio, is called the diastolic pressure level. It is what measures arterial pressure in between heart beats.

The CDC has come up with a definitive measurement for healthy blood pressure levels.

Normal blood pressure levels: systolic: less than 120 mmHg; diastolic: less than 80mmHg

Pre-hypertension levels: systolic: 120–139 mmHg; diastolic: 80–89 mmHg

Hypertension levels: systolic: 140 mmHg or higher; diastolic: 90 mmHg or higher

hope that reading this article will help you know whether your blood pressure is too low or too high