புகைப்படங்களை இணைத்து அழகான வீடியோவாக உருவாக்க

பிரபல சமூக இணையத்தளமான பேஸ்புக்கில் உங்களது குடும்ப நிகழ்வுகள், சுற்றுலா சென்ற போது எடுத்த புகைப்படங்கள் என அனைத்தையும் பகிர்வீர்கள். இந்த புகைப்படங்கள் அனைத்தையும் இணைந்து, ஒரு வீடியோவாக உருவாக்கலாம். இதற்கு முதலில் http://www.timelinemoviemaker.com/ என்ற தளத்திற்கு செல்லவும். அதன் பின் தோன்றும் விண்டோவில் Make your Movie என்ற பட்டனை அழுத்தவும். இந்த பட்டனை அழுத்தியவுடன் பேஸ்புக் permission கேட்கும் Allow கொடுக்கவும். பிறகு உங்களுடைய Timeline movie தயாராகும். உங்களுடைய கணக்கில் உள்ள புகைப்படங்களை ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக சேர்த்து வீடியோ தயாரிக்கும். உங்கள் கணக்கில் குறிப்பிட்ட அளவு புகைப்படங்கள் இல்லை என்றால் புகைப்படத்தை சேருங்கள் என்ற அறிவிப்பை வெளியிடும். முடிவில் உங்களுடைய வீடியோ தயாராகிவிடும். இந்த வீடியோவில் உள்ள பின்னணி இசையை உங்கள் விருப்பத்திற்கு மாற்றி கொள்ளலாம். இப்பொழுது உங்களுக்கு பிடித்த மாதிரி வீடியோவாக உருவாக்கியதும் Share என்ற பட்டனை அழுத்தி அந்த வீடியோவை உங்கள் கணக்கில் பகிருங்கள்.

New stable antibodies created

GARVAN INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

Share on emailShare on print Scientists have developed specific mutations that increase the stability of antibody molecules. Image: z80/iStockphoto Australian scientists have overcome one of the most pressing problems facing the pharmaceutical industry – how to create antibodies that are stable enough to meet stringent requirements necessary for production in large quantities, injection into patients and long-term storage. Members of the Antibody Engineering Laboratory at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research – Dr Daniel Christ* and PhD students Kip Dudgeon and Romain Rouet – have developed specific mutations that universally increase the stability of antibody molecules. The breakthrough finding is published in the early online edition of theProceedings of the Academy of Science (PNAS), the journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences. “When we talk to collaborators in industry, we find that 30-50% of the antibody-based drugs they develop have to be put on hold because they don’t meet quality tests that the companies or regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration, require before marketing or approving these molecules,” said Dr Christ. “Until now, the issue of antibody instability has been tackled on a case-by-case basis, which is only tinkering with the problem. When you’re dealing with such a diverse population of molecules, you have to make sure that the method you develop is generally applicable – and that’s what we’ve done.” Produced by the immune system in response to infection there can be as many as 100 million different kinds of antibodies in the circulation of a single human being. Antibodies have ‘constant regions’ and ‘variable regions’, the latter determining the binding specificity of the molecule. The shape of the variable region will exactly match the ‘antigen’, or invader, in the same way as a lock matches a key. With infinite variability of antibody structure comes varying levels of stability. It is fairly common, therefore, to have an antibody that is very good at binding to a specific antigen, but which is also very unstable. The mutations created by the Garvan team fix the stability problem without compromising the antigen binding properties of an antibody. Antibodies consist of two chains – a heavy and a light chain – and Dr Christ emphasises that mutations have to work with each chain individually and both chains in combination. “Typically you’d have both chains present in a therapeutic molecule, as well as additional biological activity, such as the ability to bind to a cancer target,” he said. “Our challenge was to maintain biological activity under very unnatural conditions, for which antibodies were not optimised by evolution. It is really when you take these molecules out of their natural environment, purify and concentrate them, that stresses become apparent. When used as a drug, antibodies are formulated at very high concentrations, for instance for delivery in a small syringe. You end up with an almost honey-like, highly viscous preparation. Under these conditions, antibodies can stick to surfaces like tubing and become entangled with one another. Our mutations make them much less sticky, much less entangled. They also make the antibodies more robust against common storage methods such as freeze drying.” The next step for the Garvan team will be to work with colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry to improve the stability of antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory conditions. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

மூட்டு வலிக்கு மருந்தாகும் ஆமணக்கு

ஆமணக்கு செடியில் மருத்துவ குணங்கள் மிகவும் நிறைந்து காணப்படுகின்றன. ஆமணக்கு மிகச்சிறந்த எண்ணெய் வித்தாகும். இதிலிருந்து எடுக்கப்படுகின்ற விளக்கு எண்ணெயை யுனானி மருத்துவர்கள் மிகச்சிறந்த மருந்துப் பொருளாகப் பயன்படுத்துகின்றார்கள். ஆமணக்கு செடியின் விதைகள் கொட்டை முத்து எனப்படுகிறது. இதன் இலைகள், எண்ணெய், வேர் ஆகியவை மருத்துவப் பொருளாகப் பயன்படுகின்றன. குடிநீரில் ஆமணக்குச் செடியின் வேரைச் சேர்ப்பது வழக்கமாகும். அது போலவே, பல்வேறு விதமான தைலங்களிலும் இந்த வேரைச் சேர்ப்பார்கள். சளித் தொல்லை, ஜலதோஷம் நீங்கவும், காலை, மாலை இரு வேளைகளிலும் சிறிது அளவில் தொடர்ந்து ஐந்து நாட்களுக்குக் கொடுத்து வர, சளித்தொல்லை குணமாகும். இதன் இலைகளை கீழாநெல்லி இலைகளுடன் சேர்த்து அரைத்து சிறு எலுமிச்சம்பழ அளவில் எடுத்து மூன்று நாட்களுக்கு காலை நேரத்தில் தொடர்ந்து கொடுத்து வருவதுடன், நான்காவது நாள் மூன்று முறை சிறிதளவு சிவதைப் பொடி கொடுத்து வந்தால் காமாலை நோய் தீர்ந்துவிடும். சிற்றாமணக்கு எண்ணெய் அடி வயிற்றின் மீது பூசி, அதன் மேல் இந்த இலைகளை வதக்கிப் போட்டால் மலச்சிக்கல், வயிற்றுவலி குணம் பெறும். இதன் இலைகளைப் பொடியாய் அரைத்து, அதில் ஆமணக்கு நெய்விட்டு வதக்கி ஒத்தடம் கொடுப்பதால் மூலக்கடுப்பு, கீழ்வாதம், வாத வீக்கம் குணம்பெறும். ஆமணக்கு விதைகளைப் பாலில் அல்லது தண்ணீரில் கொதிக்க வைத்து மூட்டுவலி, பின்தொடை, நரம்பு வலிகளுக்கு மருந்தாகத் தரலாம். இதன் விதைகள் கல்லீரல் நோய்கள், மண்ணீரல் நோய்களையும் குணப்படுத்துகின்றது.

LG Cloud: இலவசமான ஒன்லைன் சேமிப்பு வசதி

தற்போது காணப்படும் விண்டோஸ், கூகுள் என்பவற்றின் ஒன்லைன் சேமிப்பு வசதிகளைப் போன்று LG நிறுவனமும் ஒன்லைன் சேமிப்பு வசதியை அதன் வாடிக்கையாளர்களுக்கு ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளது. அதாவது LG Smartphone, LG Smart TV பயனர்களுக்கு 5 GB வரையிலான சேமிப்பு கொள்ளளவு கொண்ட இடத்தினை இலவசமாக வழங்க முன்வந்துள்ளது. இவ்வசதியின் மூலம் புகைப்படங்கள், வீடியோக்கள், பாடல்கள் போன்றவற்றின் குறிப்பிட்ட சில வகை கோப்புக்களை தரவேற்றம் செய்ய முடியும். மேலும் தனது பிரீமியம் பயனர்களுக்கான முதல் ஆறு மாதங்களும் 50 GB இலவச ஒன்லைன் சேமிப்பகத்தை வழங்கும் திட்டத்தினையும் GB நிறுவனம் கொண்டுள்ளமை குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. தரவிறக்க சுட்டி

Sai Nath-Hindi Devotional Video Saibaba Bhajan Song Of 2012-Sai Ram Sai ...

A Step Toward Minute Factories That Produce Medicine Inside the Body

Scientists are reporting an advance toward treating disease with minute capsules containing not drugs -- but the DNA and other biological machinery for making the drug. (Credit: © Benicce / Fotolia)                                                                               Science Daily — Scientists are reporting an advance toward treating disease with minute capsules containing not drugs -- but the DNA and other biological machinery for making the drug. In an article in ACS' journal Nano Letters, they describe engineering micro- and nano-sized capsules that contain the genetically coded instructions, plus the read-out gear and assembly line for protein synthesis that can be switched on with an external signal.

They describe the nanoscale production units, which are tiny spheres encapsulating protein-making machinery like that found in living cells. The resulting nanoparticles produced active proteins on demand when the researchers shined a laser light on them. The nanoparticles even worked when they were injected into mice, which are stand-ins for humans in the laboratory, producing proteins when a laser was shone onto the animals. This innovation "may find utility in the localized delivery of therapeutics," say the researchers.Daniel Anderson and colleagues explain that development of nanoscale production units for protein-based drugs in the human body may provide a new approach for treating disease. These production units could be turned on when needed, producing medicines that cannot be taken orally or are toxic and would harm other parts of the body. Until now, researchers have only done this with live bacteria that were designed to make proteins at disease sites. But unlike bacterial systems, artificial ones are modular, and it is easier to modify them. That's why Anderson's group developed an artificial, remotely activated nanoparticle system containing DNA and the other "parts" necessary to make proteins, which are the workhorses of the human cell and are often used as drugs.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Misrock Foundation, the Life Sciences Research Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the Marie D. & Pierre Casimir-Lambert Fund.

Nerve pathway for combating axon injury and stress may hold benefits for individuals with neurodegenerative disorders

Neurons expressing a toxic form of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) with protective pathway enabled (left) and blocked (right). Credit: Melissa Rolls.

(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from the Huck Institutes' Center for Cellular Dynamics — led by Center director Melissa Rolls — have found that a neuroprotective pathway initiated in response to injured or stressed neural axons serves to stabilize and protect the nerve cell against further degeneration.

Neurons, or nerve cells, typically have a single axon that transmits signals to other neurons or to output cells such as muscle tissue, and as these axons extend for long distances within the cell, they are thus at risk for injury.

Furthermore — if an axon is damaged, its parent neuron can no longer function; and since many animals develop only one set of neurons, those neurons will mount major responses to axon injury.

"Neurons are quite remarkable cells," says Dr. Rolls. "Most of them need to survive and function for your entire lifetime. Maybe then it shouldn’t be a surprise that they do not give up easily when damaged or stressed, but it is amazing to be able to watch them fight back and stabilize themselves."

Dissecting Drosophila

Dr. Rolls and her team set out to understand these cellular responses to axon injury by observing the effects of severing fruit fly axons with a laser.

What they found was that the neurons responded to the injury by increasing production of microtubules — cytoskeletal components responsible for maintaining cell structure and providing platforms for intracellular transport — in order to stabilize the neural dendrites, which are the branched structures responsible for transmitting signals to the nerve cell body.

In addition to acute injury response, the team also investigated neurons' response to long-term axon stress — and found similar results.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

This video shows the difference in microtubule dynamics between cells expressing a non-toxic form of the huntingtin protein (left) and cells expressing a disease-causing form (right).

Accumulation of misfolded proteins or protein aggregates — responsible for neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease and spinocerebellar ataxia — induced the same type of cytoskeletal changes as acute axon injury.

Dr. Rolls elaborates: "The assays that we use are all in vivo, so we can literally watch what the neurons do in different scenarios, including cutting of their axon. Being able to observe the cellular responses gave us some ideas we would not have come up with otherwise. For example, it is not intuitive that expressing a protein that causes degeneration would trigger the cell to turn on a pathway that delays degeneration."

Conclusions and implications

Based on their observations, the authors suggest that this pathway represents an endogenous neuroprotective response to axon stress — and could potentially be developed into a diagnostic tool for the detection of early stages of neurodegenerative disease, or even utilized in novel therapies for such illnesses.

"We don't yet know if all types of neurodegenerative disease trigger this type of stabilization pathway; but if there are some diseases in which it is off, then it may be beneficial to try to turn it on to help the neurons resist degeneration," says Dr. Rolls.

The results of the study have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Provided by Pennsylvania State University

"Nerve pathway for combating axon injury and stress may hold benefits for individuals with neurodegenerative disorders." June 27th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-nerve-pathway-combating-axon-injury.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Beautiful Plains

SEVEN TIPS TO IMPRESS THE CEO

7 Rules for Meetings With Top Execs

Executives are busy people. So once you’ve gotten onto the calendar, make the most of the opportunity.

Congratulations! You’ve finally landed a one-on-one meeting with a top exec, a powerful player inside your customer’s firm.  It’s a great opportunity, but you’ve got to be certain to take advantage of it.

Make sure you follow these simple steps.

1. Do your research.

Before the meeting, research and review the exec’s “business agenda”–what he or she needs to accomplish organizationally.  Then use your contacts in the firm and your own business acumen to understand the exec’s “personal agenda”–likely career goals, the job that he or she is angling for, and so forth.

2. Don’t assume the exec knows who you are.

Busy execs are often unaware (or can’t remember) why a particular meeting is on their agenda. Introduce yourself and explain why you’re there, tying the subject matter to both the business agenda and, more subtly, the personal agenda of the executive in question.  For example: “I’m John Doe from Acme and I’m here to discuss how to increase profitability through improvements in quality control.”

3. Establish credibility immediately.

Within the first few minutes, demonstrate that you’ve done your homework and understand the company, its challenges and its place in its industry.  Focus on business issues that the executive faces–never the specific bells and whistles on your product.  Execs don’t care about features and functions; they want to know how you’re going to change the bottom line.

4. Ask intelligent questions.

Frame everything according to the drivers that affect the business and the metrics that this exec uses to evaluate activities.  For example, if you're talking to a CFO, you might ask questions about the ROI expectations that the firm uses to make purchasing decisions. If you're talking to a chief technology officer, you might ask questions about the how the rest of the company measures IT performance.

5. Listen more than you talk.

Once you've asked a question, hear what the exec has to say. A productive conversation with a customer is one in which the customer does most of the talking.  Your job is to guide the conversation so that you discover what you need to know in order to be of service to that customer. You need to fully understand a company's problem before proposing a solution.

6. Add value to the conversation.

Resist the temptation to present your solution right then and there.  Anything resembling a sales pitch will make it seem as if your haven't been listening or (worse) don't care about what the exec just told you.  Instead, bring additional value to the conversation by introducing a different business perspective and your experience dealing with similar problems.

7. Close on a next step.

Involve the exec directly in planning any subsequent actions concerning your offering. In most cases, this will involve an opportunity for you to present some kind of customized solution to the problems you've been discussing. However, take the exec's lead on how to go about this.  Ideally, you want the executive to make some kind of public commitment to the project, even if it's just to schedule a group meeting to discuss the idea further.

The above is based on several sources, but draws heavily on a conversation with Dr. Steve Bistritz and Nicholas A.C. Read, authors of the bestselling book Selling to the C-Suite.

எதிர்ப்பு எனபது எப்படி இருக்க வேண்டும்?

 

August Landmesser refusing to do the ‘Sieg Heil’ salute during a Nazi rally on June 13, 1936.

Adopted by the Nazi party in the 1930s, Hitler’s infamous “sieg heil” (meaning “hail victory”) salute was mandatory for all German citizens in order to show loyalty to the Führer, his party, and his nation.
August Landmesser, the lone German refusing to raise a stiff right arm amid Hitler’s presence at a 1936 rally, had been a loyal Nazi.
Landmesser joined the Nazi party in 1931 and began to work his way up the ranks of what would become the only legal political affiliation in the nation.

இந்த புகைப்படம் 1936 இல் செருமனியில் உள்ள ஹம்பர்க்கில் எடுக்கப்பட்டது. இந்த புகைப்படதில் வட்டத்திற்குள் உள்ளவரின் பெயர் 

ஆகஸ்ட் லண்ட்மேச்செர் (August Landmesser). கப்பல் கட்டுமான தொடக்க விழவிற்கு அன்றைய நாட்சி செருமனியின் சர்வதிகாரி ஹிட்லர் வந்த பொழுது அங்கு இருந்த அனைவரும் நாட்சி வணக்கம்(nazi salute) தெரிவிகின்றனர் . அதில் ஆகஸ்ட் லண்ட்மேச்செர் மட்டும் கையை உயர்த்தி தலைவணங்க மறுக்கிறார். ஹிட்லருக்கு தலைவணங்க மறுத்ததற்கும் யூத பெண்ணை திருமணம் செய்த காரணத்திற்காகவும் 1936 இல் சிறையில் அடைக்க படுகிறார். 1941 இல் விடுதலைக்கு பிறகு இரண்டாம் உலக போரில் தோல்வியின் விழும்பில் இருக்கும் நாட்சி செருமனி படையில் கட்டாயமாக இணைக்க படுகிறார். 1944 ஆண்டு தன் சொந்த நாட்டு படையால் கொல்லப் படுகிறார்.
மொத்த நாட்சி செருமனியும் ஹிட்லரை ஆதரித்து நிற்க்கும் பொழுது தனி மனிதராக தான் எதிர்ப்பை வரலாற்றில் பதிவு செய்கிறார் ஆகஸ்ட் லண்ட்மேச்செர்.

Stand up for what’s right, even if you stand alone.

Read more at https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-lone-german-man-who-refused-to-give-hitler-the-nazi-salute-2015-6#pq0FevcF0rxPat06.99

Thinking of a loved one eases painful memories

 

(Medical Xpress) -- Here's another reason to keep a photo of a loved one on your desk. After recalling an upsetting event, thinking about your mother or romantic partner can make you feel better and reduce your negative thinking, according to a new Cornell study. Perhaps most important, it also may result in fewer psychological and physical health problems at least a month afterward.

"Our own memories can often be a significant source of stress. For example, thinking about a recent breakup or underperforming on an exam usually decreases positive mood and increases negative thinking," said co-author Vivian Zayas, assistant professor of psychology. "However, simply thinking about an attachment figure, whether it is one's mother or partner, by either recalling a supportive interaction with them or just viewing their photograph, helps people restore their mood and decreases the tendency to engage in negative thinking."

The research is the first to explore the benefits of thinking about a loved one when a person experiences stress they generate themselves. Previous research has focused on the benefits when a person experiences externally generated stress, such as physical pain.

"We're showing the effectiveness of a new technique to cope with negative memories," said co-author Emre Selcuk, a Ph.D. candidate in the graduate field of human development. "As compared to prior work, it is a much less effortful, automatic and spontaneous strategy."

Past research has also focused on emotion regulation strategies that can be employed before encountering an upsetting event. "This approach is similar to wearing a raincoat to prevent oneself from getting wet," Zayas said. "But, in everyday life, it is not always possible to pre-emptively deal with upsetting events. Our work shows that one way to regulate emotion after thinking about an upsetting event is by simply thinking about an attachment figure. It is akin to getting caught in a thunder shower and using a towel to dry yourself off after you are already wet."

The paper appears online and in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

To arrive at their conclusions, the authors designed a series of experiments in which they asked study participants to recall a negative memory and then think of a loved one. In the first experiment, participants were asked to think about a time when their mothers had been supportive. In the second, they looked at a photograph of their mothers, and in the third, they looked at a photograph of a romantic partner. In the control condition, participants were asked to think about an interaction with an acquaintance or look at a photograph of someone they didn't know.

After being reminded of their loved ones, people recovered faster and were less susceptible to negative thinking. At least one month after the experiment, those who benefited the most from being reminded of the loved ones reported fewer physical or psychological health problems.

The research has implications for mental and physical health, the authors say, because an inability to cope with negative memories -- that is, recalling them repeatedly -- is a major predictor of psychological and physical health problems from depression and general anxiety disorders to cardiovascular disease.

And the technique is easy to integrate into daily life, Selcuk said. "If you're moving to a new city, put a picture of your loved ones on the fridge. If you get a supportive text message from a loved one, just store it in your cell phone so you can retrieve it later."

The other authors are Cornell's Gül Günaydin, a Ph.D. candidate in the field of psychology, and Cindy Hazan, associate professor of human development, and Ethan Kross, assistant processor of psychology at the University of Michigan.

The research was supported by Cornell's Institute for the Social Sciences and the President's Council of Cornell Women.

Provided by Cornell University

"Thinking of a loved one eases painful memories." June 26th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-eases-painful-memories.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Natural Antidepressant Discovered

A newly recognized chemical factor in the brain, called neuritin, regulates plasticity and may play a role in depression.

By Sabrina Richards |

Researchers have identified a nerve growth factor that regulates synaptic plasticity and appears to have antidepressant effects. In new research, published today (June 25) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists show that neuritin, which increases synaptic connections in the hippocampus, can alleviate stress-induced depressive symptoms. The findings give insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying depression, as well as identifying a possible target for therapeutics.

“The work does a really good job of convincing me that neuritin is involved in depression,” saidScott Russo, who studies the brain’s response to stress at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York, and was not involved in the research. “[Neuritin] has the potential to both prevent and correct depression.”

Previous work has shown that stress and depression can lead to atrophy of neurons in brains areas important for regulating mood and emotion, such as the hippocampus, said senior author Ronald Duman of Yale University. Antidepressants can reverse this effect, at least partially through brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Duman and his team had done previous work investigating the role of BDNF in depression, and had identified neuritin as a gene downstream of BDNF involved in regulating neuroplasticity.

In order to investigate neuritin’s possible role in the development of depression, the scientists subjected mice to chronic unpredictable stress, which can lead to depressive behaviors, such as loss of interest in pleasant experiences. For 35 days, mice were exposed to a variety of stressors, such as spending the night in an over-crowded cage, an hour of cold, or almost 20 minutes of swimming. During this period, neuritin mRNA levels dropped, unless the mice were given the anti-depressant fluoxetine, suggesting that neuritin might be involved in stress-dependent mood effects and the antidepressant’s actions.

The researchers also treated the brains of mice with an adeno-associated virus that promoted neuritin expression, and found that it helped increase dendrite branching compared to mice treated with a control vector. Neuritin appeared to be converting the neurons to a more mature phenotype, which helps guide responses to the neurotransmitter glutamine, explained Russo. Increased neuritin expression also helped mice perform better on learning tests, such as recognizing a foreign object and remembering an environment where they’d previously received a shock, which is indicative of increased synaptic plasticity.

Neuritin treatment also prevented chronic unpredictable stress-related depression in the animals, which ate more quickly when presented with a food pellet and displayed less anxious behavior, among other positive behavioral outcomes.  Conversely, loss of neuritin expression caused mice to exhibit depressive behaviors even in the absence of stress.

The findings identify neuritin as a molecule linking BDNF and fluoxetine with their anti-depressant effects, said Steve Danzer, a developmental neurobiologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, who did not participate in the study. “At the single-cell or circuit level in the brain, we still don’t fully understand what depression is,” explained Danzer. The new research illuminates some of the molecular pathways involved, but, he added, it’s still unclear how neuritin mediates its effects. “At this point, [the neural changes and anti-depressant effects] are just correlative, but they’re a promising angle,” said Danzer.

Duman hopes that more insight into neuritin and BDNF could lead to the development of therapeutics that mimic their effects. “I think that eventually we’ll learn enough to start making those kinds of [neuritin-mimicking] molecules,” he said. Identifying such small molecule agonists of neuritin could be a drug development pathway that holds the possibility of aiding those depressed patients that fail to respond to current therapies like SSRIs, Danzer added. Carlos Zarate, a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland who was not involved in the study, hypothesized that drugs targeting neuritin (or downstream effectors) could also be designed as an adjunct therapy, to make current therapies more effective.

However, this is a challenging proposition, Russo explained, as a neuritin-based therapy would still be difficult to develop. Duman’s research depended on injecting viral vectors directly into the correct brain region, whereas current antidepressants are taken orally and work throughout the body. Furthermore, while stress may lead to fewer neuronal connections in the hippocampus, it can stimulate the opposite phenotype in deeper structures that help organisms respond to the harsh conditions, said Russo—meaning that bathing the brain in a synapse-boosting chemical might be problematic.

In the meantime, Duman’s group is focusing on elucidating how, exactly, neuritin stimulates dendrite branching and mood changes, and identifying which antidepressants mediate their effects by stimulating its expression.

Russo is also interested in understanding more about how neuritin may be involved in individuals’ responses to stress—why some people respond with depression while others are more resilient. Researchers are uncovering molecular mechanisms underlying our brains’ “active coping” strategies, pathways by which the brain actively works to prevent depression, he said. Perhaps different expression levels of neuritin might explain this phenomenon, where “brains can actively change in a positive way.”

H. Son et al., “Neuritin produces antidepressant actions and blocks the neuronal and behavioral deficits caused by chronic stress,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.1201191109, 2012.

Source: TheScientist

http://the-scientist.com/2012/06/25/natural-antidepressant-discovered/

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Facebook makes us feel good about ourselves: study

People love social networks. That's the obvious conclusion from Facebook's 900 million active users and its current standing as one of the most visited sites on the web, second only to Google. New research from the University of Georgia finds what people may really "like" about social networking are themselves.

"Despite the name 'social networks,' much user activity on networking sites is self-focused," said Brittany Gentile, a UGA doctoral candidate who looked at the effects of social networks on self-esteem and narcissism.

According to the research, published online this month by the journal Computers in Human Behavior, the 526 million people who log on to Facebook every day may be boosting their self-esteem in the process.

Gentile, along with UGA psychology professor Keith Campbell and San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge, asked college students to either edit their social networking page on MySpace or Facebook or to use Google Maps. Those who edited their MySpace page later scored higher on a measure of narcissism, while those who spent time on their Facebook page scored higher on self-esteem.

"Editing yourself and constructing yourself on these social networking sites, even for a short period of time, seems to have an effect on how you see yourself," said Campbell, who heads the department of psychology in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and co-authored the book "The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement." "They are feeling better about themselves in both cases. But in one they are tapping into narcissism and in the other into self-esteem."

MySpace reported 25 million users as of June 2012. MySpace users participated in the experiment in 2008, when the site had 115 million active users. Facebook users participated in 2011. On both MySpace and Facebook, students scoring higher in narcissism reported having more friends on the site.

A total of 151 students, ages 18-22, completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory as a part of the study.

"The NPI measures trait narcissism, which is a stable personality trait," Gentile said. "But spending 15 minutes editing a MySpace page and writing about its meaning was enough to alter self-reports of this trait, suggesting that social networking sites may be a significant influence on the development of personality and identity."

The differences in site format may be one reason why MySpace led to higher narcissism whereas Facebook merely produced higher self-esteem.

"The two sites operate differently," Gentile said. "On MySpace you don't really interact with other people. The pages resemble personal webpages, and a lot of people have become famous on MySpace, whereas Facebook has a standard profile and a company message that sharing will improve the world."

Several previous studies found increases over the generations in both self-esteem and narcissism. These new experiments suggest the increasing popularity of social networking sites may play a role in those trends.

"Social networking sites are a product and a cause of a society that is self-absorbed," Campbell said. "Narcissism and self-esteem began to rise in the 1980s. Because Facebook came on the scene only seven years ago, it wasn't the original cause of the increases. It may be just another enforcer."

Social networking should not be seen as an answer to building self-esteem, he said, but the fact that people may get a jolt when logging on doesn't mean they should stop either.

"Ideally, you get self-esteem from having strong relationships and achieving goals that are reasonable and age-appropriate," Campbell said. "Ideally, self-esteem is not something you should take a short cut to find. It is a consequence of a good life, not something you chase."

More information: For the full research article, see http://www.science … 563212001409

Provided by University of Georgia

"Facebook makes us feel good about ourselves: study." June 26th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-facebook-good.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

New way to view atoms

MONASH UNIVERSITY

Share on print A new high-tech method for imaging the electric fields of atoms could lead to advances in areas as diverse as data storage, solar cells and batteries. Research published today in the prestigious journal Nature Physics detailed how physicists from Monash University and Japanese institutions, including the University of Tokyo and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, viewed the electric fields of atoms using a new advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy technique. Electric fields are produced by the electrically charged particles within atoms, known as protons and electrons. The electrical forces between the positively and negatively charged particles play an important structural role—they hold the atoms together. By visualising the pattern of the fields produced by these charges, scientists will gain further insight into the electrical properties of materials. For instance, manufacturing electric field patterns on small length scales is a route to high-capacity data storage. Co-author Dr Scott Findlay of Monash University's School of Physics said the technique he developed with his Japanese colleagues was a breakthrough. "Electron microscopy is a fast-developing field. Recent advances have let us see where individual atoms sit in a material, but it has been much harder to see their electric fields," Dr Findlay said. The new technique allows the researchers to view electric field patterns by the deflections they induced in a beam of electrons. "It’s like rolling marbles to look for slight slopes in the ground. If the marble deflects to the left, that must be downhill; if the beam of electrons deflects to the left, that must be the direction the field points," Dr Findlay said. Dr Findlay said that viewing materials on the atomic level gave an entirely new perspective. "We're seeing things that we've never seen before. Understanding the behaviour of materials and their electric fields on a very small scale expands what we can do with them," Dr Findlay said. A number of groups internationally had been working on picturing electric fields. Dr Findlay will continue to work with collaborators in Japan to further refine their technique and apply it to developing new materials. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

What is breast cancer in men?

Aside from prostate cancer, did you know that men can also have breast cancer? Know the early warning signs and symptoms.

What is breast cancer in men?

A breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts from cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that may grow into (invade) surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. Breast cancer occurs mainly in women, but men can get it, too. Many people do not realize that men have breast tissue and that they can develop breast cancer.

Normal breast structure

To understand breast cancer, it helps to have some basic knowledge about the normal structure of the breasts.

The breast is made up mainly of lobules (milk-producing glands in women), ducts (tiny tubes that carry the milk from the lobules to the nipple), and stroma (fatty tissue and connective tissue surrounding the ducts and lobules, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels).

Until puberty (usually around 13 or 14), young boys and girls have a small amount of breast tissue consisting of a few ducts located under the nipple and areola (area around the nipple). At puberty, a girl's ovaries make female hormones, causing breast ducts to grow, lobules to form at the ends of ducts, and the amount of stroma to increase. In boys, hormones made by the testicles keep breast tissue from growing much. Men's breast tissue has ducts, but only a few if any lobules.

Like all cells of the body, a man's breast duct cells can undergo cancerous changes. But breast cancer is less common in men because their breast duct cells are less developed than those of women and because their breast cells are not constantly exposed to the growth-promoting effects of female hormones.

The lymph (lymphatic) system of the breast

The lymph system is important to understand because it is one of the ways that breast cancers can spread. This system has several parts.

Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped collections of immune system cells (cells that are important in fighting infections) that are connected by lymphatic vessels. Lymphatic vessels are like small veins, except that they carry a clear fluid called lymph (instead of blood) away from the breast. Lymph contains tissue fluid and waste products, as well as immune system cells. Breast cancer cells can enter lymphatic vessels and begin to grow in lymph nodes.

Most lymphatic vessels in the breast connect to lymph nodes under the arm (axillary nodes). Some lymphatic vessels connect to lymph nodes near the breast bone (internal mammary nodes) and either above or below the collarbone (supraclavicular or infraclavicular nodes).

It's important to know if the cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes. If they have, there is a higher chance that the cells could have gotten into the bloodstream and spread (metastasized) to other sites in the body. This is important to know when you are choosing a treatment. The more lymph nodes with breast cancer cells (positive lymph nodes), the more likely it is that the cancer might be found in other organs as well. Still, not all men who have positive lymph nodes develop metastases, and in some cases a man can have negative lymph nodes and later develop metastases.

Benign breast conditions

Men can also have some benign (not cancerous) breast disorders.

Benign breast tumors

There are many types of benign breast tumors (abnormal lumps or masses of tissue), such as papillomas and fibroadenomas. Benign breast tumors do not spread outside the breast and are not life threatening. Benign tumors are common in women but are very rare in men.

Gynecomastia

Gynecomastia is the most common male breast disorder. It is not a tumor but rather an increase in the amount of a man's breast tissue. Usually, men have too little breast tissue to be felt or noticed. A man with gynecomastia has a button-like or disk-like growth under his nipple and areola, which can be felt and sometimes seen. Although gynecomastia is much more common than breast cancer in men, both can be felt as a growth under the nipple, which is why it's important to have any such lumps checked by your doctor.

Gynecomastia is common among teenage boys because the balance of hormones in the body changes during adolescence. It is also common in older men due to changes in their hormone balance.

In rare cases, gynecomastia occurs because tumors or diseases of certain endocrine (hormone-producing) glands cause a man's body to make more estrogen (the main female hormone). Men's glands normally make some estrogen, but it is not enough to cause breast growth. Diseases of the liver, which is an important organ in male and female hormone metabolism, can change a man's hormone balance and lead to gynecomastia. Obesity (being extremely overweight) can also cause higher levels of estrogens in men.

Some medicines can cause gynecomastia. These include some drugs used to treat ulcers and heartburn, high blood pressure, and heart failure. Men with gynecomastia should ask their doctors if any medicines they are taking might be causing this condition.

Breast cancer general terms

Here are some of the key words used to describe breast cancer.

Carcinoma

This is a term used to describe a cancer that begins in the lining layer (epithelial cells) of organs such as the breast. Nearly all breast cancers are carcinomas (either ductal carcinomas or lobular carcinomas).

Adenocarcinoma

An adenocarcinoma is a type of carcinoma that starts in glandular tissue (tissue that makes and secretes a substance). The ducts and lobules of the breast are glandular tissue (they make breast milk in women), so cancers starting in these areas are sometimes called adenocarcinomas.

Carcinoma in situ

This term is used for an early stage of cancer, when it is confined to the layer of cells where it began. In breast cancer, in situmeans that the abnormal cells remain confined to ducts (ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS). These cells have not grown into (invaded) deeper tissues in the breast or spread to other organs in the body. Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast is sometimes referred to as non-invasive or pre-invasive breast cancer because it may develop into an invasive breast cancer if left untreated.

When cancer cells are confined to the lobules it is called lobular carcinoma in situ. This is not actually a true pre-invasive cancer because it does not turn into an invasive cancer if left untreated.

Invasive (infiltrating) carcinoma

An invasive cancer is one that has already grown beyond the layer of cells where it started (as opposed to carcinoma in situ). Most breast cancers are invasive carcinomas, either invasive ductal carcinoma or invasive lobular carcinoma.

Types of breast cancer in men

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

In DCIS (also known as intraductal carcinoma), cancer cells form in the breast ducts but do not grow through the walls of the ducts into the fatty tissue of the breast or spread outside the breast. DCIS accounts for about 1 in 10 cases of breast cancer in men. It is almost always curable with surgery.

Infiltrating (or invasive) ductal carcinoma (IDC)

This type of breast cancer breaks through the wall of the duct and grows through the fatty tissue of the breast. At this point, it can spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. At least 8 out of 10 male breast cancers are IDCs (alone or mixed with other types of invasive or in situ breast cancer). Because the male breast is much smaller than the female breast, all male breast cancers start relatively close to the nipple, so they are more likely to spread to the nipple. This is different from Paget disease as described below.

Infiltrating (or invasive) lobular carcinoma (ILC)

This type of breast cancer starts in the breast lobules (collections of cells that, in women, produce breast milk) and grows into the fatty tissue of the breast. ILC is very rare in men, accounting for only about 2% of male breast cancers. This is because men do not usually have much lobular tissue.

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)

In LCIS, abnormal cells form in the lobules, but they do not grow into the fatty tissue of the breast or spread outside the breast. Although LCIS is sometimes grouped with DCIS as a type of non-invasive breast cancer, most breast specialists think it is a risk factor for developing breast cancer rather than a true non-invasive cancer. As with invasive lobular carcinoma, LCIS is very rare in men.

Paget disease of the nipple

This type of breast cancer starts in the breast ducts and spreads to the nipple. It may also spread to the areola (the dark circle around the nipple). The skin of the nipple usually appears crusted, scaly, and red, with areas of itching, oozing, burning, or bleeding. The fingertips can be used to detect a possible lump within the breast.

Paget disease may be associated with DCIS or with infiltrating ductal carcinoma. It accounts for about 1% of female breast cancers and a higher percentage of male breast cancers.

Inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer is an aggressive, but rare type of breast cancer. It causes the breast to be swollen, red, warm and tender rather than forming a lump. It can be mistaken for an infection of the breast. This is very rare in men.

Breast Cancer in Men

Although it is a rare form of cancer, breast cancer does occur in men. It is estimated that 1,970 new cases in males will develop in 2010, with 390 deaths. It tends to occur at a later age in men than in women, with the male peak age being 71 years old as opposed to peaks at 51 and 71 years old in women.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

Symptoms^(1) (2)

• Painless lump in the breast (over 75% of cases)
• Nipple retraction, discharge, or ulceration
• Painful lump in the breast
• Paget's Disease (only about 1% of cases): This is a rare type of cancer that can appear as a skin rash (dermatitis) around the nipple. Note that this is NOT related to Paget's disease of the bone.

Detection and Diagnosis

Diagnosis of breast cancer in men is generally delayed 6 - 10 months (the time from the onset of symptoms until the patient seeks treatment). This delay is partially due to a) the rarity of the disease and b) a lack of awareness of (suspicion of) the disease by patients and their doctors. Because of this delay, men present with the disease at a later stage than women:

• Stage I - ~40%
• Stage II - ~20%
• Stage III/IV - Over 40%

When symptoms are present, doctors generally use the Triple Test (TT) method to determine stage and treatment plan. The TT is the use of clinical exam, mammography or ultrasound, and fine needle aspiration (FNA) or core needle biopsy (CNB). ⁽²⁾⁽¹⁾ Watch a video about mammography, ultrasound, and/or biopsy.

Mammography has been shown to have a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 90% in male breast cancer, but is not used as a screening tool. 

Pathology

Male breast tissue is mostly fat and the lobules needed to form milk are undeveloped. Over 90% of male breast tumors are invasive (infiltrating) ductal carcinoma and ER positive.^(1) (2)

Risk Factors⁽²⁾⁽¹⁾

• Obesity
• Alcohol consumption
• Liver damage or dysfunction
• Testicular abnormality or damage
• Radiotherapy, especially to the chest
• Family history of breast cancer (especially with a BRCA2 mutation)
• Klinefelter's Syndrome

Treatment

Surgery

Simple or modified radical mastectomy and surgical assessment of the lymph nodes are used when cancer is found in its early stages. Assessment of the lymph nodes is accomplished using either axillary dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Radiotherapy

Males are more likely to receive radiotherapy than females, probably due to the fact that males present with breast cancer at a later stage than females. Radiation dosages used to treat men are generally the standard amounts used to treat women. Radiotherapy has been shown effective in preventing local recurrence in men with breast cancer.⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾

Systemic Therapy

Because about 90% of men with breast cancer are hormone receptor positive (HR+), treatment with tamoxifen is standard in HR+ men. Men treated with tamoxifen have shown higher overall survival rates. Men may also receive systemic chemotherapy.^(3) (2)

Quality of Life

Men with breast cancer face a different environment than women coping with breast cancer. There is a large amount of information and public support for women. On the other hand there is a lack of information and added stressors for men. Men deal with issues of masculinity and stigmatism in addition to the other physical and emotional concerns that come along with having breast cancer.⁽⁵⁾⁽⁶⁾