Gene hunt is on for mental disability

Pioneering clinical genome-sequencing projects focus on patients with developmental delay.

Ewen Callaway

 

 

Exome sequencing could help to identify the causes of intellectual disability in children such as Siebe.

Han Brunner

Medical geneticists are giving genome sequencing its first big test in the clinic by applying it to some of their most baffling cases. By the end of this year, hundreds of children with unexplained forms of intellectual disability and developmental delay will have had their genomes decoded as part of the first large-scale, national clinical sequencing projects.

These programmes, which were discussed last month at a rare-diseases conference hosted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge, UK, aim to provide a genetic diagnosis that could end years of uncertainty about a child’s disability. In the longer term, they could provide crucial data that will underpin efforts to develop therapies. The projects are also highlighting the logistical and ethical challenges of bringing genome sequencing to the consulting room. “The overarching theme is that genome-based diagnosis is now hitting mainstream medicine,” says Han Brunner, a medical geneticist at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands, who leads one of the projects.

About 2% of children experience some form of intellectual disability. Many have disorders such as Down’s syndrome and fragile X syndrome, which are linked to known genetic abnormalities and so are easily diagnosed. Others have experienced environmental risk factors, such as fetal alcohol exposure, that rule out a simple genetic explanation. However, a large proportion of intellectual disability cases are thought to be the work of single, as-yet-unidentified mutations.

Scientists estimate that about 1,000 genes are involved in the function of the healthy brain. “There are so many genes that can go wrong and give you intellectual disability,” says André Reis, a medical geneticist at Erlangen University Hospital in Germany. Reis’s group, the German Mental Retardation Network, has already sequenced the exomes — the 1–2% of the genome that contains instructions for building proteins — of about 50 patients with severe intellectual disability.

Joining the hunt is a UK-based programme called Deciphering Developmental Disorders, which expects to sequence 1,000 exomes by the year’s end, with an ultimate goal of diagnosing up to 12,000 British children with developmental delay. A Canadian project called FORGE (finding of rare disease genes) aims to sequence children and families with 200 different disorders this year. And in the United States, the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, recently funded three Mendelian Disorders Sequencing Centers that will apply genome sequencing to diagnosing thousands of patients with a wider range of rare diseases, including intellectual disability and developmental delay.

First glance

Early results are coming in from Brunner’s team, which has already sequenced about 100 exomes of children with intellectual disability. By comparing the children’s exomes with those of the parents, the researchers have identified new mutations — potential causes of the disorder — in as many as 40% of the cases. The other programmes are having similar success at making possible genetic diagnoses.

In most cases, identifying mutations will not point to medical treatments, let alone cures. But scientists say the importance of a diagnosis should not be discounted. “Parents have been struggling with the delay of their children for years. They have gone from one doctor to the next, had all kinds of tests done on their children looking for an explanation,” Reis says. Knowing that the mutation causing a child’s intellectual disability is new rather than inherited can also reassure parents that other children they conceive are unlikely to have the same disease.

Treatments could eventually follow. The projects are guiding research in mice, zebrafish and fruitflies, with the goal of unpicking the mechanisms of mental disorders. But it will undoubtedly be a long time before any potential therapies are tried in humans: an early-stage clinical trial of a drug to treat fragile X syndrome, for example, was published last year (S. Jacquemont et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 3, 64ra1; 2011), some two decades after the gene underlying the condition, FMR1, was identified.

The work is also throwing up a fresh challenge: how can scientists be sure that a specific mutation is the cause of a particular form of mental disability? “It’s not clear what is the threshold of evidence at which you can say this is the causal variant in this patient,” says Daniel MacArthur, a geneticist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In a recent Science paper, his team estimated that the average healthy genome contains about 100 gene-disabling mutations. Such ‘background noise’ could lead scientists astray in their hunt for causal mutations.

Brunner says that about half of the mutations his team has identified have previously been seen in other patients with similar forms of intellectual disability, offering enough assurance to make a diagnosis. Circumstantial evidence, such as indications that the mutation disrupts a gene expressed in the brains of animals, ties the other half of the mutations to intellectual disability. But making a solid case often requires identifying second, third and fourth patients with similar mutations and symptoms.

Scientists are already forging these connections on an informal basis. At the Sanger Institute meeting, several groups reported mutations in a gene called ARID1B in patients with intellectual disability. James Lupski, a medical geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, says that when his team identifies a potentially disease-causing mutation in a patient genome, he e-mails other scientists to see whether they have found similar mutations.

But researchers agree that they need a more formalized way to make these connections. To that end, the US National Center for Biotechnology Information in Bethesda is developing a database, ClinVar, to integrate clinical and genetic data; others, such as DECIPHER, run by the Sanger Institute, handle genetic data such as chromosome rearrangements that can disrupt genes.

The first clinical sequencing projects are also grappling with what they should or shouldn’t tell patients. “We don’t want people coming into our clinic for intellectual disability and coming out with a cancer gene; this is not what they came for,” says Reis.

Brunner’s team once had to face just that situation. The researchers identified a mutation in a gene in one patient that could increase the risk of colon cancer as an adult. The project’s ethical review board had determined that if families wanted to know of mutations potentially underlying a child’s intellectual disability, they must also be willing to receive such incidental findings, and so the child’s parents were told. But clinical sequencing projects vary in their approach to incidental results. For the time being, Deciphering Developmental Disorders will not inform families about such findings. For FORGE Canada, the policy varies from province to province.

A working group convened by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics in Bethesda recently suggested drawing up a list of gene mutations that ought to be routinely reported back to patients. The list would include mutations strongly linked to conditions for which a medical intervention is available.

“This is a fast-changing ethical environment,” says Matt Hurles, a geneticist at the Sanger Institute and one of the leaders of Deciphering Developmental Disorders. His team is conducting a web-based survey to gauge the attitudes of parents, physicians and the general public towards disclosing incidental genomic findings. Lupski admits, “We’re learning as we go along. People don’t want to hear that, but that’s the truth of the matter.”

Scientists and clinicians hope that the lessons learned in these initial large-scale clinical sequencing projects will inform genomic medicine as it reaches more patients and moves to other specialities, such as neurology and cardiology, and even to routine health care. “If in five years time this project hasn’t catalysed the adoption of genomic technologies which have been shown to be useful, in some degree we will have failed,” says Hurles.

Nature 484, 302–303

( 19 April 2012 )

doi :10.1038/484302a

 

Source: Nature
http://www.nature.com/news/gene-hunt-is-on-for-mental-disability-1.10463

 

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

FRUITS AND HUMAN BODY

CARROTS  EYES

SLICE a carrot and it looks just like an eye, right down to the pattern of the iris. Its a clear clue to the importance this everyday veg has for vision. Carrots get their orange colour from a plant chemical called beta carotene, which reduces the risk of developing cataracts. The chemical also protects against macular degeneration an age-related sight problem that affects one in four over-65s. It is the most common cause of blindness in Britain. But popping a beta carotene pill doesn't have the same effect, say scientists at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore

WALNUT  BRAIN 
THE gnarled folds of a walnut mimic the appearance of a human brain - and provide a clue to the benefits. Walnuts are the only nuts which contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. They may also help head off dementia. An American study found that walnut extract broke down the protein-based plaques associated with Alzheimers disease. Researchers at Tufts University in Boston found walnuts reversed some signs of brain aging in rats. Dr James Joseph, who headed the study, said walnuts also appear to enhance signalling within the brain and encourage new messaging links between brain cells.

TOMATO  HEART

A TOMATO is red and usually has four chambers, just like our heart. Tomatoes are also a great source of lycopene, a plant chemical that reduces the risk of heart disease and several cancers. The Women's Health Study � an American research programme which tracks the health of 40,000 women � found women with the highest blood levels of lycopene had 30 per cent less heart disease than women who had very little lycopene. Lab experiments have also shown that lycopene helps counter the effect of unhealthy LDL cholesterol. One Canadian study, published in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine, said there was œconvincing evidence that lycopene prevented coronary heart disease.

GRAPES  LUNGS

OUR lungs are made up of branches of ever-smaller airways that finish up with tiny bunches of tissue called alveoli. These structures, which resemble bunches of grapes, allow oxygen to pass from the lungs to the blood stream. One reason that very premature babies struggle to survive is that these alveoli do not begin to form until week 23 or 24 of pregnancy. A diet high in fresh fruit, such as grapes, has been shown to reduce the risk of lung cancer and emphysema. Grape seeds also contain a chemical called proanthocyanidin, which appears to reduce the severity of asthma triggered by allergy. 

CHEESE  BONES 
A nice ˜holey cheese, like Emmenthal, is not just good for your bones, it even resembles their internal structure. And like most cheeses, it is a rich source of calcium, a vital ingredient for strong bones and reducing the risk of osteoporosis later in life. Together with another mineral called phosphate, it provides the main strength in bones but also helps to ˜power muscles. Getting enough calcium in the diet during childhood is crucial for strong bones. A study at Columbia University in New York showed teens who increased calcium intake from 800mg a day to 1200mg  equal to an extra two slices of cheddar - boosted their bone density by six per cent.

GINGER  STOMACH 
Root ginger, commonly sold in supermarkets, often looks just like the stomach. So its interesting that one of its biggest benefits is aiding digestion. The Chinese have been using it for over 2,000 years to calm the stomach and cure nausea, while it is also a popular remedy for motion sickness. But the benefits could go much further.
Tests on mice at the University of Minnesota found injecting the chemical that gives ginger its flavour slowed down the growth rate of bowel tumours

BANANA (SMILE)  DEPRESSION 
Cheer yourself up and put a smile on your face by eating a banana. The popular fruit contains a protein called tryptophan. Once it has been digested, tryptophan then gets converted in a chemical neurotransmitter called serotonin. This is one of the most important mood-regulating chemicals in the brain and most anti-depressant drugs work by adjusting levels of serotonin production. Higher levels are associated with better moods.

MUSHROOM  EAR
Slice a mushroom in half and it resembles the shape of the human ear. And guess what? Adding it to your cooking could actually improve your hearing. Thats because mushrooms are one of the few foods in our diet that contain vitamin D. This particular vitamin is important for healthy bones, even the tiny ones in the ear that transmit sound to the brain.

BROCCOLI  CANCER 
Close-up, the tiny green tips on a broccoli head look like hundreds of cancer cells. Now scientists know this disease-busting veg can play a crucial role in preventing the disease. Last year, a team of researchers at the US National Cancer Institute found just a weekly serving of broccoli was enough to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 45 per cent. In Britain, prostate cancer kills one man every hour.

Bula Le Baba Shirdi Dham [Full Song] I Sai Kardo Karam

இதய நோய்களை தடுக்க மாடிப்படியை உபயோகப்படுத்துங்கள்: நிபுணர்கள் அறிவுரை

அடுக்குமாடி குடியிருப்புகளிலோ, பணிபுரியும் அலுவலகங்களிலோ இப்பொழுதெல்லாம் யாருமே மாடிப்படியை உபயோகிப்பதில்லை. இதற்கு காரணம் அனைத்து இடங்களிலும் லிப்ட் வசதி உள்ளதால் ஒரு மாடி ஏறவே சோம்பேறித்தனப் பட்டுக்கொண்டு லிப்ட் உபயோகிக்கின்றனர் பலரும். இதனால் உடல் பருமன் உள்ளிட்ட நோய்கள் ஏற்படுகின்றன. மாடி ஏற படிகளை உபயோகித்தால் உடல்பருமன், இதயநோய் உள்ளிட்டவை ஏற்பட வாய்ப்பில்லை என்கின்றனர் நிபுணர்கள். ஜிம்மிற்கு சென்று பணம் செலவழித்து உடற்பயிற்சி செய்வதைக்காட்டிலும் மாடிப்படி ஏறுவது சிறந்த உடற்பயிற்சி என்கின்றனர் நிபுணர்கள். மாடிப்படி ஏறும்போது உடலின் அனைத்து பகுதிகளும் இயங்குகின்றன. இதன் காரணமாக உடலில் உள்ள அதிகப்படியான கொழுப்புகள் கரைந்து காணாமல் போகின்றன. கல்வி நிலையங்கள், அலுவலகங்கள், ஷாப்பிங் மால் போன்ற இடங்களில் எக்ஸலேட்டர், லிப்ட் போன்றவைகளை உபயோகப்படுத்துவதை விட மாடிப்படிகளை பயன்படுத்தலாம் என்கின்றனர் நிபுணர்கள். மாடிப்படி ஏறுவதனால் இதயநோய்கள் ஏற்படாது என்கின்றனர் மருத்துவர்கள். இதய தசைகள் பலமடைகின்றன. இதனால் உடலுக்குத் தேவையான ஆக்ஸிஜன் அனைத்து பகுதிகளுக்கும் எடுத்துச் செல்லப்படுகிறது. வாரத்திற்கு மூன்று முறை அதாவது 30 நிமிடங்கள் மாடிப்படி ஏறி இறங்கினாலே போதும். இதயநோய்கள் எதுவும் ஏற்படவாய்ப்பில்லை. உயர் ரத்தஅழுத்தம் ஏற்படுவதும் தடுக்கப்படுகின்றது. மாடிப்படி ஏறி இறங்கினால் எக்கச்சக்க கலோரிகள் எரிக்கப்படுகின்றன. உடல் பருமன் ஏற்படுவதில்லை. மாறாக குண்டு உடல்காரர்கள் மாடிப்படி ஏறி, இறங்கினால் உடல் சிக் என்று ஆகிவிடும். வேலைப்பளுவினால் ஜிம், உடற்பயிற்சி என தனியாக நேரத்தை செலவழிக்க இயலாதவர்கள் மாடிப்படி ஏறி இறங்குவதன் மூலம் சிறந்த உடற்பயிற்சி கிடைக்கிறது. இதனால் உடல் பிட்டாவதோடு, கான்சன்ட்ரேசன் பவர் அதிகரிக்கிறது. இது பிற உடற்பயிற்சிகளை விட ஆபத்தில்லாத உடற்பயிற்சியாகவும் செயல்படுகிறது. அதேசமயம் மூட்டுவலி உடையவர்கள், பின்னங்கழுத்து வலி உள்ளவர்கள் மாடிப்படி ஏறுவதை தவிர்க்கலாம் என்கின்றனர் நிபுணர்கள்.

வெள்ளரிக்காயின் மருத்துவ குணங்கள்

வெள்ளரியில் மிகுந்துள்ள நீர்ச்சத்து, கடும் நாவறட்சியை விரட்டுவதோடு, பசியையும் உண்டாக்கும், உடலைக் குளிரவைக்கும். வெள்ளரியில் வைட்டமின்கள் ஏதுமில்லை. ஆனால் தாதுப்பொருட்களான சோடியம், கால்சியம், மக்னேசியம், இரும்பு, பாஸ்பரஸ், கந்தகம், சிலிகன், குளோரின் போன்றவை உண்டு. இவற்றைவிட நம் இரத்தத்தில் சிவப்பணுக்களை உருவாக்கும் பொட்டாசியம் வெள்ளரியில் மிகுதி. ஈரல், கல்லீரல் இவற்றில் சூட்டைத் தணிக்கும் ஆற்றல் வெள்ளரிக்கு இருப்பதால் அப்பாகங்களில் ஏற்படும் நோய் தணியும். செரிமானம் தீவிரமாகும், பசி அதிகரிக்கும். வெள்ளரிக்காயை உண்ணுகையில் பசிரசம் என்னும் விசேஷ ஜீரண நீர் சுரக்கிறது என்பதும் விஞ்ஞானிகளின் கண்டுபிடிப்பு. புகைப் பிடிப்போரின் குடலை நிகோடின் நஞ்சு சீரழிக்கிறது. நஞ்சை நீக்கும் அற்புக ஆற்றல் வெள்ளரிக்காய்க்கு உண்டு. மூளைக்கு மிகச்சிறந்த வலிமை தரக்கூடியது வெள்ளரி. மூளை வேலை அதிகம் செய்து கபாலம் சூடு அடைந்தவர்களுக்குக் குளிர்ச்சியும், மூளைக்குப் புத்துணர்ச்சியும் வெள்ளரிக்காய் வழங்கும். நுரையீரல் கோளாறுகள், கபம், இருமல் உள்ளவர்கள் வெள்ளரிக்காயைச் சாப்பிடுவது நல்லதல்ல.

Group finds facial expressions not as universal as thought

Image: University of Glasgow

(Medical Xpress) -- For most of history, people have assumed that facial expressions are generally universal; a smile by someone of any cultural group generally is an expression of happiness or pleasure, for example. This whole line of thinking was backed up by Charles Darwin who proposed that all humans have six basic facial expressions, which correspond to six general types of emotions: anger, sadness, happiness, fear, disgust and surprise. Unfortunately, new research by a team looking into whether this common assumption is true has found, as they discuss in their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that such perceptions are likely distorted by the fact that most studies on the subject don’t look at the differences between cultures, and that when subjected to study, don't appear to hold up under scrutiny.

After perusing available literature on the subject, the team began to suspect that something was amiss. Virtually every study they encountered focused on the various facial features people present during different emotional states, rather than comparing such expressions between cultures. Thus to find out if there are differences between cultures the team had to conduct an experiment of their own.

Rather than conduct an expensive and time consuming comparative survey, the team instead built a simple computer application that was capable of displaying animated faces on a computer screen capable of showing up to 4800 different facial expressions. For their experiment, they created one group of faces that looked western, and another that looked Asian. Then, they had volunteers look at the faces and offer their opinions of what the facial expressions meant.

To no one’s surprise, when the volunteers were westerners looking at expressions on faces of either culture, they tended to follow along with Darwin’s assumptions. But when the volunteers were non-westernized Asians, their view of what the expressions represented tended to be slightly different from those of westerners, particularly when looking at faces that were supposed to represent fear, surprise anger or disgust. This, the researchers say, is likely due to cultural based connections between emotions such as shame, guilt or pride which can result in people putting on a different face than would those from other cultures. In Asian cultures, they say, more use is made of subtle widening or narrowing of the eyes, for example.

While the team did find that general facial expressions such as those of people smiling or laughing appear to be universal, they note that others are not so clear cut and that the underlying assumption that facial expressions are universal is simply not true.

More information: Facial expressions of emotion are not culturally universal, PNAS, Published online before print April 16, 2012, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1200155109

Abstract 
Since Darwin’s seminal works, the universality of facial expressions of emotion has remained one of the longest standing debates in the biological and social sciences. Briefly stated, the universality hypothesis claims that all humans communicate six basic internal emotional states (happy, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and sad) using the same facial movements by virtue of their biological and evolutionary origins [Susskind JM, et al. (2008) Nat Neurosci 11:843–850]. Here, we refute this assumed universality. Using a unique computer graphics platform that combines generative grammars [Chomsky N (1965) MIT Press, Cambridge, MA] with visual perception, we accessed the mind’s eye of 30 Western and Eastern culture individuals and reconstructed their mental representations of the six basic facial expressions of emotion. Cross-cultural comparisons of the mental representations challenge universality on two separate counts. First, whereas Westerners represent each of the six basic emotions with a distinct set of facial movements common to the group, Easterners do not. Second, Easterners represent emotional intensity with distinctive dynamic eye activity. By refuting the long-standing universality hypothesis, our data highlight the powerful influence of culture on shaping basic behaviors once considered biologically hardwired. Consequently, our data open a unique nature–nurture debate across broad fields from evolutionary psychology and social neuroscience to social networking via digital avatars.

Press release

© 2012 Medical Xpress

"Group finds facial expressions not as universal as thought." April 17th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-group-facial-universal-thought.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

!! 7 Benefits Of Cabbage !!

 
Cabbage is very delicious vegetable witch is liked by the majority of the people, however, some people  dislike it. It has a pleasant and humble look having harder outer green leaves and light yellow inner soft leaves. It is cooked and also eaten uncooked and used as a salad. This delightful vegetable is very beneficial for health. Here are given some benefits of Cabbage for health and checkout below.



* It is a best option for you witch helps in treating, repairing and wearing in body. It is used as treatment of  stomach, colon, lungs and prostate cancer and ulcer.
* It is a best source of iodine which helps in body development and muscular building.
* It brings down the serum cholesterol in blood.
* It contains vitamin B witch is an energy booster.
* It provides the vitamin D which is helpful in increasing calcium and keeps the skin virgor as well.
* It is a rich source of vitamin E and D that is much effectible for maintaining the freshness of skin.
* It is very necessary to add more and more cabbage in your diet as soups, salad and cooking Chinese dishes.

How the Pacific Ocean leaks

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

on print The Tasman leakage is the second-largest link between the Pacific and Indian oceans, and can greatly affect both the Australian and global climate. Image: SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE A state-of-the-art ocean model has been used in a new study to conduct the first detailed investigation of oceanic water flow between the Pacific and Indian Oceans via the south of Australia.  This so-called Tasman leakage is the second-largest link between the Pacific and Indian oceans after the Indonesian through-flow to the north of Australia, researchers from the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) and CSIRO report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.  Water travels through the world's oceans along great loops driven by massive and often deep currents in a process known as the global thermohaline circulation, notes the study's lead author, Dr Erik Van Sebille, a physical oceanographer at the CCRC.  Acting over millennial time scales, the global thermohaline circulation can exert significant influence on global climate variability. Because the Tasman leakage acts as a bottleneck in the Pacific-to-Indian flow, changes in this pathway can have significant impact on the global thermohaline circulation. Additionally, the Tasman leakage could also have a direct effect on both the regional Australian climate and the availability of nutrients in the waters of the Great Australian Bight, which in turn could affect marine ecosystems in these areas. Better understanding of this bottleneck in the global ocean has the potential to improve the accuracy of climate predictions. Using a high-resolution ocean circulation model (OFES) to trace individual water parcels, the researchers were able to determine how much of the water flowing in the East Australia Current eventually ends up in the Indian Ocean. According to the model, most of the water that runs southward along the coasts of Queensland and New South Wales veers east before reaching Bass Strait and stays within the Pacific Ocean. The remaining fraction comprising the Tasman leakage continues flowing south, rounds Tasmania and then flows west through the Great Australian Bight until it reaches Cape Leeuwin and enters the Indian Ocean. The study showed almost half the Tasman leakage is carried within large eddies. These vortices, which can be hundreds of kilometres in diameter, are common oceanic phenomena known to be capable of trapping water and transporting it over huge distances. Surprisingly, the research found the majority of the water traversing this route is carried by small-scale filaments and slow background currents rather than the giant eddies. Until now, the giant eddies were thought to be the primary drivers of flow through the Tasman leakage. The analysis also found the size of the Tasman leakage varied considerably over time on both weekly and yearly scales, with the amount of water flowing from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean reduced to almost zero in some years. Because so much of the Tasman leakage is not associated with giant eddies and the quantity of water transported fluctuates so greatly over time, measurement and monitoring of the Tasman leakage in the real ocean are difficult. The high resolution modelling provides the most practical method for studying the mechanics of the Tasman leakage. Dr Van Sebille and colleagues are now planning to investigate how this dynamic Pacific-to-Indian Ocean connection affects both global and regional climate and the influence it has over the marine ecosystem south ofAustralia.  Citation: van Sebille, E., M. H. England, J. D. Zika, and B. M. Sloyan (2012), Tasman leakage in a fine-resolution ocean model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L06601, doi:10.1029/2012GL051004. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

job opportunities at senior positions in petrochemical complexes of KSA.J

Sharing with you all some job opportunities at senior positions in petrochemical complexes of KSA.

a. EPC Engineering Professionals (all disciplines)
b. Senior DCS Engineer
c. Electrical Design Engineer
d. Construction Coordinator (Mechanical)
e. Plant Inspection Engineers

Please follow the link for details:
http://www.thepetrostreet.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=28

Escalators and Elevators Project Manager

We are urgently looking for Suitable candidates for the.

Position Title: Escalators and Elevators  Project Manager
Company Sector: Electrical / Mechanical
Position Location: Nigeria

Total Current Openings:1

Exp:10 + Years

 

Essential Requirements:
Important: Please do not send CV unless ALL Essential Requirements are met. Thank you

 

--Design, Installation, Commissioning of Escalators and Elevators  – or one-step ahead
--Recent experience in Fujitech,Cone,OTIS etc –

--Major experience in Design and Installation

 

Other Requirements/Preferences:
-- M.Sc or B.Sc. Engineering from a reputed local or international
institution, 10-12 years of relevant experience--

Min Experience 10 -12 years of relevant experience with minimum 4
years at managerial level.
Job-Specific Skills
-- Generic Skills: Ability to interpret goals to strategy and strategy
to plans, Must be excellent in using Microsoft Office, Excellent
communication, report writing, and presentation skills

-- Recent experience in large multinational or local companies

Monkeys “Read” Writing

Baboons are able to distinguish printed English words from nonsense sequences of letters—the first step in the reading process.

By Megan Scudellari | 

A baboon (Papio papio)Courtesy of J. Fagot

Although they have no known language, baboons can accurately discriminate four-letter English words from non-words, according to a study published today (April 12) in Science.

Scientists have typically considered this—the visual analysis of letters and their positions in a word—the first step in the reading process and fundamentally dependent on language. For example, little children learn to read by sounding out words they already know. But the new finding suggests that ability to recognize words is not based on language skills but on an ancient ability, shared with other primates, to process visual objects.

“Ultimately, reading depends on language,” wrote Michael Platt, director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in an accompanying essay in Science. “But at what stage in the process of translating written symbols into meaning is language necessary?” The biological basis of reading “may be rooted much deeper in human history than previously supposed,” he noted.

A 2011 study concluded that the visual analysis of letters, called orthographic processing, happens in a region of the brain associated with object recognition, suggesting that when we read, we are adapting brain pathways which evolved to recognize everyday objects, like rocks and trees, to identify printed words.

A baboon taking part in the study J. Fagot

Based on this idea, Jonathan Grainger and colleagues at the National Center for Scientific Research and Université d’Aix-Marseille in France hypothesized that orthographic processing therefore may not depend on a preexisting language. “It seems one could use letters and letter combinations as clues to the identity of a word, as kind of a visual object,” said Grainger. So his team set out to find out if primates without a language had the same ability.

Over a six-week period, the researchers trained six baboons (Papio papio) to discriminate randomly selected four-letter English words, like “wasp” and “kite,” from artificially generated four-letter non-words, like “stod.” Words and non-words were presented in 100-word trials on a computer screen, and baboons received a treat for identifying a word (pressing an oval) or a non-word (pressing a cross).

Initially, the screen repeated words more frequently than non-words to teach the baboons the words. Once the baboons had learned a word, they were able to recognize it with 80 percent accuracy. Each new word was added into the ever-increasing pool of already learned words and non-words. One baboon was able to discriminate 308 words from 7,832 non-words with about 75 percent accuracy.

But the baboons weren’t simply memorizing which four letter sequences were words and which were not. After the initial learning phase, when the baboons were presented with a new word for the first time, they labeled it a word far more often than they labeled a non-word a word. “This is evidence that the baboons have implicitly extracted information about what distinguishes the real words from the non-words,” said Grainger. That information probably includes which letter combinations appear more frequently in words versus non-words, such as a K before an I in “kite” and “kill,” instead of an I before a K. In addition, the more similar a non-word was to a word, the more likely the baboons were to respond that it was a word. The same trend was found in a recent analysis of human responses to non-words, suggesting baboons and humans share similar orthographic processing abilities.

A prior language, therefore, is not necessary in order to perform orthographic processing, the authors conclude. The finding implies that this first step to reading is an ancient, conserved ability among primates rather than a recent, human-specific phenomenon. “It suggests that when we learn to read, even though words are these spatially arranged combinations of symbols that look a little weird, we are in fact using very basic elementary processes associated with everyday object identification,” said Grainger.

The finding has implications for studies of dyslexia, said Platt. It suggests that visual areas of the brain did not develop specifically to support reading, which was invented at most 5,400 years ago. “The observation that neural circuits involved in reading and writing are not hard-wired may explain why most people with dyslexia can learn to read, albeit sometimes more slowly and with less fluidity than people without dyslexia,” he wrote in Science. “The very plasticity that enabled humans to invent reading and writing can be harnessed to overcome dysfunctions in the underlying neural circuitry.”

J. Grainger, et al., “Orthographic processing in baboons (Papio papio),” Science, 336:245-8, 2012.

Source: TheScientist
http://the-scientist.com/2012/04/12/monkeys-read-writing/

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

First blood test to diagnose major depression in teens

 

A Northwestern Medicine scientist has developed the first blood test to diagnose major depression in teens, a breakthrough approach that allows an objective diagnosis by measuring a specific set of genetic markers found in a patient's blood.

The current method of diagnosing depression is subjective. It relies on the patient's ability to recount his symptoms and the physician's ability and training to interpret them.

Diagnosing teens is an urgent concern because they are highly vulnerable to depression and difficult to accurately diagnose due to normal mood changes during this age period.

The test also is the first to identify subtypes of depression. It distinguished between teens with major depression and those with major depression combined with anxiety disorder. This is the first evidence that it's possible to diagnose subtypes of depression from blood, raising the hope for tailoring care to the different types.

"Right now depression is treated with a blunt instrument," said Eva Redei, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead investigator of the study, published in Translational Psychiatry. "It's like treating type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes exactly the same way. We need to do better for these kids."

"This is the first significant step for us to understand which treatment will be most effective for an individual patient," added Redei, also the David Lawrence Stein Professor of Psychiatric Diseases Affecting Children and Adolescents. "Without an objective diagnosis, it's very difficult to make that assessment. The early diagnosis and specific classification of early major depression could lead to a larger repertoire of more effective treatments and enhanced individualized care."

The estimated rates of major depressive disorder jump from 2 to 4 percent in pre-adolescent children to 10 to 20 percent by late adolescence. Early onset of major depression in teens has a poorer prognosis than when it starts in adulthood. Untreated teens with this disease experience increases in substance abuse, social maladjustment, physical illness and suicide. Their normal development is derailed, and the disease persists into adulthood.

The depressed teens in the study were patients of Kathleen Pajer, M.D., a co-first author of the study, and her colleagues from the Research Institute of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Pajer is now head of Dalhousie University's division of child and adolescent psychiatry in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The study subjects included 14 adolescents with major depression who had not been clinically treated and 14 non-depressed adolescents, all between 15 to 19 years old. The depressed and control subjects were matched by sex and race.

Redei's lab tested the adolescents' blood for 26 genetic blood markers she had identified in previous research. She discovered 11 of the markers were able to differentiate between depressed and non-depressed adolescents. In addition, 18 of the 26 markers distinguished between patients that had only major depression and those who had major depression combined with anxiety disorder.

The blood analysis was done by Brian Andrus from Redei's lab, the other co-first author of the study, who was blind to the diagnoses of the subjects.

"These 11 genes are probably the tip of the iceberg because depression is a complex illness," Redei said. "But it's an entree into a much bigger phenomenon that has to be explored. It clearly indicates we can diagnose from blood and create a blood diagnosis test for depression."

Redei first isolated and identified the genetic blood markers for depression and anxiety based on decades of research with severely depressed and anxious rats. The rats mirror many behavioral and physiological abnormalities found in patients with major depression and anxiety.

Further indicating the challenge in working with depressed adolescents, none of the teens who were diagnosed with depression opted for treatment.

"Everybody, including parents, are wary of treatment, and there remains a social stigma around depression, which in the peer-pressured world of teenagers is even more devastating," Redei said. "Once you can objectively diagnose depression as you would hypertension or diabetes, the stigma will likely disappear."

Provided by Northwestern University

"First blood test to diagnose major depression in teens." April 17th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-blood-major-depression-teens.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Lack of sleep is linked to obesity, new evidence shows

 

Can lack of sleep make you fat? A new paper which reviews the evidence from sleep restriction studies reveals that inadequate sleep is linked to obesity. The research, published in a special issue of the The American Journal of Human Biology, explores how lack of sleep can impact appetite regulation, impair glucose metabolism and increase blood pressure.

"Obesity develops when energy intake is greater than expenditure. Diet and physical activity play an important part in this, but an additional factor may be inadequate sleep," said Dr Kristen Knutson, from the University of Chicago. "A review of the evidence shows how short or poor quality sleep is linked to increased risk of obesity by de-regulating appetite, leading to increased energy consumption."

Dr Knutson accumulated evidence from experimental and observational studies of sleep. Observational studies revealed cross-sectional associations between getting fewer than six hours sleep and increased body mass index (BMI) or obesity.

The studies revealed how signals from the brain which control appetite regulation are impacted by experimental sleep restriction. Inadequate sleep impacts secretion of the signal hormones ghrelin, which increases appetite, and leptin, which indicates when the body is satiated. This can lead to increased food intake without the compensating energy expenditure.

"In the United States 18% of adults are estimated to get less than 6 hours of sleep, which equates to 53 million short sleepers who may be at risk of associated obesity," said Knutson. "Poor sleeping patterns are not random and it is important to consider the social, cultural and environmental factors which can cause inadequate sleep so at-risk groups can be identified."

The evidence suggests the association between inadequate sleep and higher BMI is stronger in children and adolescents. It also shows that sleep deficiency in lower socioeconomic groups may result in greater associated obesity risks.

The majority of the studies Dr Knutson examined came from Western countries, which highlights the need for more research to understand sleep's role in disease risk. However other research papers in the special issue focus on obesity in the United Arab Emirates, Samoa, and Brazil.

"These findings show that sleeping poorly can increase a person's risk of developing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease," concluded Knutson. "Future research should determine whether efforts to improve sleep can also help prevent the development of these diseases or improve the lives of patients with these conditions."

More information: Kristen L. Knutson, “Does inadequate sleep play a role in vulnerability to obesity?” American Journal of Human Biology, January 2012, DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22219

Provided by Wiley

"Lack of sleep is linked to obesity, new evidence shows." April 17th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-lack-linked-obesity-evidence.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek