Learning mechanism of the adult brain revealed

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Fortunately, this is not always true. Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have now discovered how the adult brain can adapt to new situations. The Dutch researchers' findings are published on Wednesday in the prestigious journal Neuron. Their study may be significant in the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia.

Our brain processes information in complex networks of nerve cells. The cells communicate and excite one another through special connections, called synapses. Young brains are capable of forming many new synapses, and they are consequently better at learning new things. That is why we acquire vital skills – walking, talking, hearing and seeing – early on in life. The adult brain stabilises the synapses so that we can use what we have learned in childhood for the rest of our lives.

Earlier research found that approximately one fifth of the synapses in the brain inhibit rather than excite other nerve-cell activity. Neuroscientists have now shown that many of these inhibitory synapses disappear if the adult brain is forced to learn new skills. They reached this conclusion by labelling inhibitory synapses in mouse brains with fluorescent proteins and then tracking them for several weeks using a specialised microscope. They then closed one of the mice's eyes temporarily to accustom them to seeing through just one eye. After a few days, the area of the brain that processes information from both eyes began to respond more actively to the open eye. At the same time, many of the inhibitory synapses disappeared and were later replaced by new synapses.

Inhibitory synapses are vital for the way networks function in the brain. "Think of the excitatory synapses as a road network, with traffic being guided from A to B, and the inhibitory synapses as the matrix signs that regulate the traffic," explains research leader Christiaan Levelt. "The inhibitory synapses ensure an efficient flow of traffic in the brain. If they don't, the system becomes overloaded, for example as in epilepsy; if they constantly indicate a speed of 20 kilometres an hour, then everything will grind to a halt, for example when an anaesthetic is administered. If you can move the signs to different locations, you can bring about major changes in traffic flows without having to entirely reroute the road network."

Inhibitory synapses play a hugely influential role on learning in the young brain. People who have neurodevelopmental disorders – for example epilepsy, but also autism and schizophrenia – may have trouble forming inhibitory synapses. The discovery that the adult brain is still capable of pruning or forming these synapses offers hope that pharmacological or genetic intervention can be used to enhance or manage this process. This could lead to important guideposts for treating the above-mentioned neurological disorders, but also repairing damaged brain tissue.

Provided by Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

"Learning mechanism of the adult brain revealed." April 26th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-mechanism-adult-brain-revealed.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Eating more berries may reduce cognitive decline in the elderly

Blueberries and strawberries, which are high in flavonoids, appear to reduce cognitive decline in older adults according to a new study published today in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society. The study results suggest that cognitive aging could be delayed by up to 2.5 years in elderly who consume greater amounts of the flavonoid-rich berries.

Flavonoids are compounds found in plants that generally have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Experts believe that stress and inflammation contribute to cognitive impairment and that increasing consumption of flavonoids could mitigate the harmful effects. Previous studies of the positive effects of flavonoids, particularly anthocyanidins, are limited to animal models or very small trials in older persons, but have shown greater consumption of foods with these compounds improve cognitive function.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, elderly Americans—those 65 years of age and older—increased by 15% between 2000 and 2010, faster than the total U.S. population, which saw a 9.7% increase during the same time period. "As the U.S. population ages, understanding the health issues facing this group becomes increasingly important," said Dr. Elizabeth Devore with Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "Our study examined whether greater intake of berries could slow rates of cognitive decline."

The research team used data from the Nurses' Health Study—a cohort of 121,700 female, registered nurses between the ages of 30 and 55 who completed health and lifestyle questionnaires beginning in 1976. Since 1980 participants were surveyed every four years regarding their frequency of food consumption. Between 1995 and 2001, cognitive function was measured in 16,010 subjects over the age of 70 years, at 2-year intervals. Women included in the present study had a mean age of 74 and mean body mass index of 26.

Findings show that increased consumption of blueberries and strawberries appear to slow cognitive decline in older women. A greater intake of anthocyanidins and total flavonoids was also associated with reduce cognitive degeneration. Researchers observed that women who had higher berry intake delayed cognitive aging by up to 2.5 years. The authors caution that while they did control for other health factors in the modeling, they cannot rule out the possibility that the preserved cognition in those who eat more berries may be also influenced by other lifestyle choices, such as exercising more.

"We provide the first epidemiologic evidence that berries may slow progression of cognitive decline in elderly women," notes Dr. Devore. "Our findings have significant public health implications as increasing berry intake is a fairly simple dietary modification to test cognition protection in older adults."

More information: "Dietary Intake of Berries and Flavonoids in Relation to Cognitive Decline." Elizabeth E. Devore, Jae Hee Kang, Monique M.B. Breteler and Francine Grodstein. Annals of Neurology; Published Online: April 26, 2012 (DOI:10.1002/ana.23594).

Provided by Wiley

"Eating more berries may reduce cognitive decline in the elderly." April 26th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-berries-cognitive-decline-elderly.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

புற்று நோயைத் தடுக்கும் பீட்ஸா! ஆய்வில் அதிரடி

இன்றைய உலகில் எல்லா வயதினரையும் ஆட்டி வைக்கும் ஒரு கொடிய நோயாக புற்று நோய் காணப்படுகின்றது.

அதற்கு அறுவை சிகிச்சை, கதிரியக்க சிகிக்சை, ஹார்மோன் சிகிச்சை, கீமோதெரபி சிகிச்சை உள்ளிட்ட பல வகையான சிகிச்சை அளிக்கப்படுகிறது.

இதனால் பக்க விளைவுகள் ஏற்பட்டு அதற்கும் தனியாக சிகிச்சை பெற வேண்டிய சூழ்நிலை நிலவுகிறது. அதில் இருந்து தப்பிக்க தற்போது எளிதான புதிய வழி ஒன்று கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

அதாவது பீசாவை அதிக அளவில் சாப்பிட்டால் சுரப்பி புற்றுநோய் தாக்குதலில் இருந்து தப்ப முடியும் என கண்டறியப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஏனெனில் பீசா மற்றும் இத்தாலி வகை உணவுகளில் ஒரீகானோ என்ற ரசாயன பொருள் சேர்க்கப்படுகிறது. அது சுரப்பிகளில் ஏற்படும் புற்றுநோய் செல்களை அழிக்க கூடியது.

இந்த தகவலை இங்கிலாந்து வாழ் இந்திய ஆராய்ச்சியாளர் சுப்ரியா பவேத்கர் தெரிவித்துள்ளார். லாங் ஐலேண்டு பல்கலைக்கழக பேராசிரியர் சுப்ரியா பவேத்கரும் அவரது குழுவினரும் ஒரு ஆய்வு நடத்தி இதை கண்டுபிடித்தனர்.

அப்போது ஒரீகானோ என்ற ரசாயன பொருள் சுரப்பி புற்றுநோயை குணப்படுத்துவைத அறிந்தனர்.

Thanks http://www.tamilcnn.com/archives/8695.html

Stunning Waterscape Photographs

Nature provides us with a never ending supply of inspiration, look no further than the coast for an array of majestic scenery. Water is the force behind all life on Earth. Where there is life, you’ll find water, and where there is water, you’ll almost always find life. And in many places, water is a prominent feature of the surrounding landscape, whether it’s the ocean, a major river or lake, or something like a small stream, pond, or swamp. In this post we have gathered some Amazing Examples of Waterscape Photography; all shots are taken by talented Photographers around the globe. We hope that you will like this outstanding collection. All photography is linked back properly.

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PC USERS ASKED TO BEWARE OF VIRUS; FBI TO BAN 350,000 PERSONAL PCS

The Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team has stated that a computer virus has spread that effects the existence of the internet.

Once the virus infects a computer, it automatically changes the computer’s settings while it directs the users to several unintended and illegal sites, the Response Team stated while adding that pc users can protect themselves from this virus by visiting http://www.dcwg.org/detect

However, no complaints have been received by the Response Team as yet.

The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will block internet services in over 350,000 personal computers across the world - including 80,000 in US and 20,000 in Britain - after they were infected with the invisible and undetectable Trojan computer virus, IANS reported.

The “internet blackout” will take place July 9, the Daily Mail reported while no computer infected with the virus would be able to log in to the internet.

The virus called “DNS Changer” is reported to have originally emerged in Estonia while the FBI detected the infection and had set up temporary servers to keep the infected computers working but reports claimed that the effort was too costly. 

The temporary servers were created to allow companies to remove the worm from their infected servers and those affected had 120 days to get rid of themalware. 

Following the FBI warnings, the number of computers infected with the virus plunged while now most are in the hands of private individuals, not companies. (AdaDerana)

Nature

பொன்மொழிகள்

புற்கள் தாக்குபிடிக்கும் புயலில் 
புன்னைமரங்கள் வீழ்ந்துவிடுகின்றன.

வெண்ணெயை உருக்கும்
அதே கதிரவன் தான்
களிமண்ணை இறுக்கவும் செய்கின்றது.

அன்பாயிருங்க,
அதுக்குனு அடிமையாயிடாதீங்க
இரக்கம் காட்டுங்க,
ஆனால் ஏமாந்திடாதீங்க.

நீ திருந்து.. நாடே திருந்தும்…

தெய்வம் காட்டுமே தவிர
ஊட்டாது.

அதிக உயரங்களை எட்டுவதற்கு உதவும் 
நண்பரைப் பெற்றிருப்பது சிறந்தது.
ஆனால், அதிக உயரங்களிலிருந்து விழும்போது
தாங்கிப் பிடிக்கும் நண்பரைப் பெற்றிருப்பது,
கடவுளின் பரிசு.

நீ மகிழ்ச்சியாக இருக்கும்போது, 
நீ யாரை விரும்புகிறாயோ அவரை 
நினைத்துக்கொள்வாய்!
நீ துயரத்தில் இருக்கும்போது,
உன்னை யார் விரும்புகிறாரோ அவரை 
நினைத்துக்கொள்வாய்!

வியர்வைத் துளிகளும் கண்ணீர்த் 
துளிகளும் உப்பாக இருக்கலாம்.
ஆனால், அவை தான் வாழ்வை 
இனிமையாக மாற்றும்.

"நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாயோ அதுவாகவே ஆகிறாய்…"
"நீ எதை அகத்தால் பார்க்கிறாயோ.. 
அதுவே புறமாக பரிணமிக்கிறது……."
"உன் மனத்தின் உயரமே… உன் வாழ்க்கையின் உயரம்…"

நீ மற்றவருக்கு வழிகாட்டி ஆவதற்காகப்
பிறந்திருக்கிறாய்.
ஏன் மற்றவர்களிடம் உன் வழிகாட்டியைத்
தேடிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறாய்?

இந்த உலகம்
உன் வெற்றிக் கதையைப் படிக்கக்
காத்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறது.

வெற்றி என்பது என்ன?
உங்கள் கையொப்பம், 
ஆட்டோ கிராபாக அதுவே வெற்றி.

வெற்றிக்குப் பிறகு
தொடர்ந்து உழைப்பதை நிறுத்த வேண்டாம்;
தோல்விக்குப் பிறகு
தொடர்ந்து முயல்வதை நிறுத்த வேண்டாம்!

நண்பனை காணாவிடத்திலும்,
ஆசானை எவ்விடத்திலும்,
மனையாளை பஞ்சணையிலும்,
வேலையாளை வேலை முடிவிலும் போற்றுக.

ஒன்றுக்குச் சான்றுகள் இல்லாமை என்பது
அது இல்லாமைக்குச் சான்றில்லை

"வலுவான விதியே!
ஒரே ஒரு கோடைகாலம் எனக்கு அளி!
மெலிதான கானங்கள் நிறைந்த ஒரே ஒரு
வசந்தம் எனக்குக் கொடு
அந்த கானங்களை நிரப்பிக் கொண்டபின்
விருப்பத்தோடு என் இதயம்
இறக்கத் தயார்”
-ஃப்ரெட்ரிக் ஹோல்டர்வன்

இன்பத்தில் சிரிப்பவன் ஏமாளி
கண்பார்த்து சிரிப்பவன் காரியவாதி
கோபத்தில் சிரிப்பவன் சிந்தனையாளன்
கொடுக்கும்போது சிரிப்பவன் சூழ்ச்சிக்காரன்

முதியோர் சொல்லும் முதுநெல்லியும்
ஒரே மாதிரி.
முன்பு கசக்கும், பின்பு இனிக்கும்.

மனிதன்
உணவின்றி 40 நாட்களும்
நீரின்றி 3 நாட்களும்
காற்றின்றி 3 நிமிடமும் உயிர் வாழலாம்.
ஆனால் நம்பிக்கையின்றி 3 
நொடிகூட வாழ இயலாது.

குழந்தையின் மழலை,
பைத்தியக்காரனின் பிதற்றல்,
மகானின் பொன்மொழி
இவற்றுக்கெல்லாம் பொதுவான 
ஒரு தன்மையுண்டு; இலகுவாகப் புரியாது.

சிக்கல்கள் என்பவை, ஓடும் ரெயிலிலிருந்து 
பார்க்கும் மரங்களைப் போன்றவை.
அருகில் போனால் அவை பெரிதாகத் தெரியும்.
அவற்றைக் கடந்து சென்றால்
அவை சிறிதாகிவிடும்.
இதுதான் வாழ்க்கை!

நீங்கள் ஒரு வாய்ப்பைத் தவறவிட்டால்
உங்கள் விழிகளைக் கண்ணீரால் நிரப்பாதீர்கள்!
அந்தக் கண்ணீர் உங்கள் முன் உள்ள 
இன்னொரு வாய்ப்பை மறைத்துவிடும்!
அழகிய புன்னகையுடன் எதிர்கொள்ளுங்கள்!

இளைஞனே!
ஓடுகின்ற கால்கள்
ஓய்வெடுக்கும் போது
நீ எடுத்துக்கொண்ட பயணம்
முடிந்திருக்க வேண்டும்!
வாழ்ந்த நாட்களை
திரும்பிப் பார்க்கும் போது
உன் பெயரை சிலர்
உச்சரிக்க வேண்டும்!
கோபுரங்களின் அழகை
அஸ்திவாரங்கள் தாங்குவது போல்
நீ பிறந்ததின் பயனை
ஊரறியச் செய்
- யாரோ

ஏதாவது ஒரு தரப்பில் சேருங்கள்.
நடுநிலைமை வகிப்பது அக்கிரமக்காரனுக்குத்தான் 
உதவியாக இருக்கும்.
அக்கிரமத்துக்கு உள்ளாகிறவனுக்கு உதவாது.
மௌனம் சாதிப்பது கொடியவனுக்கே ஊக்கம் அளிக்கும்.
கொடுமைக்கு உள்ளாகிறவனுக்கு ஊக்கமளிக்காது 

Koi Sai Kahe Koi Masiha Kahe [Full Song] I Sai Kardo Karam

Will Automated Cars Save Fuel?

Drivers who want to use less fuel should consider not driving at all—by letting the car take over.

• BY KEVIN BULLIS

Audio »

Hands off: A semi-autonomous BMW car, shown here in a test on a German autobahn.
BMW

Information technology is transforming cars faster than anyone expected, and it can do more than let drivers update their statuses on Facebook. It could also save them a lot of fuel.

These days, the design and control of more fuel-efficient engines and hybrid vehicles depends on computers. Yet the potential of IT to save fuel goes beyond improving a car's fuel economy rating. It could save fuel by gradually reducing—and, before too long, eliminating—the need for drivers.

Drivers cause all sorts of problems. They hit the brakes too much and accelerate too quickly. That can waste a third of the gas on a typical drive.

Bad driving also creates traffic jams. In the U.S., drivers waste two billion gallons of fuel each year while stuck in traffic, according to a study by the Texas Transportation Institute. Just think of the gas burned in that 2010 Chinese traffic jam that lasted almost two weeks.

But now, Burns says, technologies pioneered in several companies are making it "a lot faster for the world to get on with it." Processors are speeding up and sensors are becoming cheaper, and almost every automaker now offers cars equipped with adaptive cruise control, which uses radar to sense vehicles in the lane ahead and change the car's speed to avoid accidents. And Google's experimental automated Priuses proved that cars could drive themselves on public roads surrounded by conventional vehicles. In 2013, BMW will start selling a production version of its i3 concept car, which can drive itself at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. 

Edison's Revenge: The Rise of DC Power

In a world of more electronics and solar energy, there's less and less need for AC power.

• BY PETER FAIRLEY

Audio »

Direct idea: Thomas Edison posing with a phonograph. The inventor was also a pioneer of early electrical systems, and advocated for direct current.

In 1903, as a last-ditch effort to maintain direct current as the standard for distributing electricity around the United States, Thomas Edison presided over a notorious event meant in part to demonstrate the danger of alternating current: the electrocution of Topsy, a circus elephant deemed a threat to humans, by a 6,600-volt AC charge. Edison's stunt was pure fear-mongering (DC being equally dangerous at high voltage), and it failed: our grid today is primarily AC.

But a little over a century after Topsy's collapse, it is AC that looks increasingly wobbly. Thanks to growing power consumption by digital devices of all kinds, DC power is making a comeback, this time on its own merits.

Anything that uses transistors relies on direct current, the flow of electricity in one direction. That explains why PCs, iPhones, and flat-screen TVs all have converter boxes to turn the alternating current in wall sockets (which reverses direction 120 times a second) into direct current.

Such digital consumer devices account for up to a fifth of total power consumption today, according to Greg Reed, director of the Power & Energy Initiative at the University of Pittsburgh. Reed says the steep growth curve of DC power is due not only to computers but also to the spread of devices such as LEDs and solar panels.

"Within the next 20 years we could definitely see as much as 50 percent of our total loads be made up of DC consumption," he says. "It's accelerating even more than we'd expected."

With the growing number of devices generating and using direct current, Reed says, comes a big opportunity to save energy. By distributing DC power to DC devices instead of converting it to AC along the way, it's possible to avoid substantial energy losses that occur every time electricity is converted.

Some electronics-heavy facilities are now developing all-DC "microgrids" to feed power to users. Consider the plans for a DC microgrid at China's Xiamen University, announced in March. A self-contained electrical grid will span three campus buildings, linking a 150-kilowatt rooftop solar array to LED lighting systems and banks of computer servers.

The spread of electric vehicles could make DC even more important: electric cars charge on direct current and require substantial amounts of power. Dragan Maksimovic, an expert in power electronics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, estimates that solar-powered vehicle chargers his group is developing should cut power losses from 10 percent of what the panels produce to just 2 percent. Maksimovic is partnering with Satcon, a manufacturer of the power converters, and has funding from the Hawaii Renewable Energy Development Venture; the team plans to install solar chargers this spring at a resort on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

Another driver for DC is the data centers that run the Internet and telecommunications networks. Large computer farms now consume more than 1.3 percent of electricity worldwide, and that figure is rising fast. The incoming power is AC and needs to be converted. Instead of having power converters on each computer, some companies are installing large centralized converters and distributing 380-volt DC power across their server farms. Japanese telecom giant NTT has four data centers in the Tokyo region operating on DC; last year it completed a DC-based server center in Atsugi City, southwest of Tokyo, that is its first to serve external clients.

Power savings are achieved largely by replacing the AC-to-DC converters attached to individual servers with more efficient centralized inverters. Making that switch and eliminating AC-DC converters on battery backup systems cut power consumption by 15 percent compared with conventional AC configurations, according to Keiichi Hirose, a senior research engineer at NTT Facilities in Tokyo. Intel has valued annual power savings for a medium-sized data center in the U.S. at $1.2 million, and the value should be considerably more in Japan and Europe, where power prices are higher.

Also catching on are DC lighting circuits. Emerge Alliance, a consortium based in San Ramon, California, that advocates for DC power distribution in commercial buildings, has established a standard for 24-volt DC ceiling circuits and says that running LED ceiling lights on DC lines uses up to 15 percent less energy than doing the AC-to-DC switch inside the fixtures. Emerge is now working on bringing DC power to employees' desktops, letting them plug in computers or phones without the need for hot-running converter boxes.

Will the DC rebellion spread beyond buildings to take over the larger lines that feed neighborhoods, cities, and beyond, as Edison once hoped? Many power experts are skeptical. Alternating current is the standard for transmitting electricity around the grid, and many devices, such as electric motors, lend themselves to AC power. "I don't think there's going to be a wholesale transformation of the power system into DC," says UC Boulder's Maksimovic.

But others, such as Reed, see a DC takeover as inevitable. He notes that transmission lines increasingly use DC power, because high-voltage DC (HVDC) lines are easier to control and have lower losses than AC lines. Long-distance lines are often the key to tapping renewable resources located far from power-needy cities, such as wind and solar energy.

Expanding DC power distribution at the top and bottom levels of the electrical food chain creates an opportunity to close the gap with regional distribution in DC as well, just as Edison once imagined. Reed notes that converting high-voltage AC power into 120 volts for residential use leads to losses around 5 percent higher than with equivalent DC systems. "If you have HVDC on one end and DC consumption on the other, that becomes an enabler for medium-voltage DC between them," he says.

With savings like that, Reed predicts that the first direct delivery of DC power from high-voltage line to end user may not be so far off, especially in rapidly developing economies that are building new power infrastructure. "I think we're within 10 years of it here," he says, "and within three to five years in China."