'Hallucinations are caused by a transient form of blindness'
Washington, Sept 5 ANI: Since hallucinations are fleeting, brain glitches, they remain a big scientific mystery. But now, a scientist has moved the field forward, by introducing a new experimental approach to studying the 'experiences' as they occur.Using a combination of brain imaging methods in normal subjects, the UK researcher has harnessed the technique to examine localized changes in brain activity and changes in brain connections during hallucinations. Dominic H. ffytche, an expert at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, has revealed that using the novel approach on normal subjects has, so far, provided them with some significant insights into hallucination."We observed increases in activity in visual brain regions. Increases in visual connection strength and an alteration in relationship between visual relay and receiving stations, together suggesting that hallucinations were caused by a transient form of 'blindness'," says ffytche.The work attains significance because the chances of capturing changes in any brain area via a scanning experiment have been small to date, as one cannot anticipate when a hallucination will occur.The study also highlights the need to consider the hallucinating brain from a wider perspective than previously thought. Changes in both localized brain activity and in connections between brain areas occur during hallucinations, raising further questions as to how these changes interact with pre-existing abnormalities in patients susceptible to hallucinations. ANI
2008-09-05 10:00:00Punjab develops method to preserve green fodder for lean months
Amritsar, Sep.5 ANI: Punjab agriculture department has developed a novel method to preserve green fodder by making silage and hay to feed the cattle when there is shortage of green fodder around September and October every year. The novel technique recently formulated by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Punjab which has been successfully implemented in the border areas of Amritsar.Due to the sowing of new crops, the scarcity of non-leguminous fodders such as maize, Jowar, Bajra and ryegrass has become real. Traditionally, farmers when faced with the shortage of fodder dry or preserve or buy it at a higher price. As a result both cattle and farmers suffer. Dr. Hazra Singh Cheema, the feed and fodder development expert, said: " It's natural that if animals eat less fodder, their yield of milk too would be reduced. Therefore, it would mean losses for the dairy farmer. So when green fodder is easily available in the market at a reasonable price, it is advisable to store it for later use by pickling it. One can use it when the supply of green fodder is in short supply and when it is heavily priced. As a result of this, the animals' yield is not affected and the dairy farmer also escapes losses."Non-leguminous fodders can be used to make silage fermented, high-moisture fodder that can be fed to ruminants or cud-chewing animals like cattle and sheep while surplus leguminous fodders can be used for hay.After cutting the crop at an appropriate stage, the green fodder is chaffed at two to three inches length to make silage. Then it is put into a silo pit underground chamber for storing grain and pressed thoroughly, either manually or with tractors. By pressing, an anaerobic condition is created for proper fermentation. Then the pit is covered with a polythene sheet and mud for a period between 40 to 45 days. After the fermentation is complete, the fodder is ready for feeding. Good quality silage is yellowish green in colour and has a distinctive odour. Dr. Hazra Singh Cheema, Feed and fodder development expert, said: "When we make this pickle, the cattle having an anatomy of 4-segment stomach are a greatly benefited. It is so because pickling of fodder results in a chemical process, which converts it into fodder as in the last stage of digestion process. The pH value and lactic acid content of such fodder is equivalent to semi-digested fodder making it easy for the animals to digest."Seeing the positive results more and more farmers are lining up to understand the technicalities involved in the process. Now they preserve more than 10 acres of fodder using this technique. Kabul Singh, a Dairy farmer, said: "This process of fodder pickle helps us a lot. We use this fodder for over five to six months. There are many benefits of such a process. We save on labor and the loss in the yield of milk is also averted."The green fodder preservation technique is not only scientifically advantageous for the cattle but it is also economically cheaper for the farmers, especially for those dairy farmers who buy fodder at high prices during the lean periods. It's a respite for dairy farmers to cope up with the acute shortage of green fodder. By Ravinder Singh Robin ANI
2008-09-05 10:00:00Unsuccessful drug against anxiety can offer cancer treatment
Washington, Sept 5 ANI: Siramesine, an unsuccessful drug against anxiety, can act as a promising anti-cancer drug, targeting a novel molecule called phosphatidic acid, say Finnish and Danish researchers.Cancer cells have many ways to deal with apoptosis, programmed cell death the means by which organisms deal with defective cells. One such defense is to produce quantities of phosphatic acid, a phospholipid constituent of cellular membranes. However, phosphatidic acid, unlike other phospholipids, also acts as a signaling molecule for cells promoting cellular growth and preventing apoptosis.The researchers have now shown that phosphatidic acid may act as a target molecule for novel anti-cancer drugs.Siramesine is a drug molecule developed and synthesized by Lundbeck A/S for the treatment of anxiety. Its development was discontinued due to unsatisfying efficacy in clinical trials in 2002. Later professor Marja Jaattela and co-workers at the Danish cancer institute discovered that siramesine effectively inhibits the growth of both cultured cancer cells as well as solid tumors in mice.Siramesine is known to bind sigma-receptors, the physiological role of which remains unknown, on the cellular surface and this interaction was also believed to underlie its anti-tumor actions.Led by Professor Paavo Kinnunen, the researchers studied the interaction of this drug with different phospholipids using biophysical methods and different model cellular membranes. Also, a computer simulation was performed as collaboration with MEMPHYS, Odense, Denmark, to further their understanding of this interaction."The key finding of our study was that siramesine avidly and specifically binds to phosphatidic acid", said MD Mikko Parry from Helsinki Biophysics and Biomembrane group at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki.He added: "Importantly, this is the first time it's shown that a lipid second messenger can act as a drug target: it is a totally new mechanism of action and constitutes a novel paradigm for developing new, more effective anti-cancer drugs." ANI
2008-09-05 06:00:00Massive study identifies potential new targets for brain cancer treatments
London, September 5 ANI: American researchers have identified some new genetic changes that may be targets for future therapies to treat brain cancer. The breakthrough results from the efforts made by scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, as well as their collaborating investigators from 18 institutions and organizations.The researchers say that the large-scale combing of the brain cancer genome, part of the 100million dollar pilot project of The Cancer Genome Atlas TCGA, has also enabled them to confirm the key roles that some of the previously known mutated genes play in glioblastoma multiforme GBM, the most aggressive type of primary brain tumour. "The findings of significant mutations in genes that have implications for therapeutic development illustrate precisely how unbiased and systematic cancer genome analyses can lead to paradigm-shifting discoveries," Nature magazine quoted Dr. Lynda Chin, who chairs the GBM disease working group within TCGA, as saying."These data show that this approach, of looking at large numbers of tumours and a large number of genetic factors, can be done and the results are really valuable. We have made significant novel findings, and the reproducibility of the data is high," added Dr. Matthew Meyerson, who co-led the writing effort for the first summary of data from the pilot project.The research collaborators analysed the complete sets of DNA of tumour samples donated by 206 patients with GBM.They looked for several categories of flaws-"typos" in the DNA code of a gene that alters its function; too many or too few copies of a given gene; damage to chromosomes causing loss or dislocation of pieces; gene activity that is higher or lower than normal; and changes in DNA methylation-by turning genes on or off without affecting their structure.The team also had access to information on how the patients who donated the samples had fared, including how they responded to certain drugs.While five major gene mutations have previously been identified in glioblastoma cells, the new sequencing effort revealed three that hadn't been discovered. The researchers say that one mutation affects the NF1 gene that causes neurofibromatosis, a second mutation is in the ERBB2 gene known to be involved in breast cancer, and the third affects a gene in the PIK3 signaling pathway that is abnormally activated in a number of cancers.They, however, add that a particular gene called PIK3R1 had been only rarely implicated in any cancer. "Each of these mutated genes defines a new target for glioblastoma treatment," said Meyerson.The researchers also found that three signalling pathways, networks of genes and proteins that act together to carry out a cellular function, were disrupted in more than three-quarters of the GBM tumours. They revealed their identity as the cyclin-dependent kinase/retinoblastoma pathway that regulates cell division, the p53 tumour suppressor pathway that is involved in response to DNA damage and cell death, and the receptor tyrosine kinase pathway that carries signals that control cell growth.Chin said that the most exciting finding was that the multipronged study design also enabled the scientists to make a potentially important connection between a methylation change in the glioblastoma cells and which drugs should be used for treatment. Brain tumours that contain a silenced form of a gene known as MGMT are known to be more susceptible to cancer drug temozolomide Temodar, and thus it is routinely given along with radiation to patients with MGMT methylation.However, the study suggests that when patients treated with Temodar subsequently have a recurrence of the tumour, it is very likely to become resistant to treatment because of "hypermutation", an increased rate of gene changes that led to the tumour's ability to evade the drugs."This could have immediate clinical applications," said Chin.The authors of the study say that these findings are only the tip of an expected iceberg, and that the "most powerful impact" is expected to come from further research studies."These impressive results from TCGA provide the most comprehensive view to date of the complicated genomic landscape of this deadly cancer. The more we learn about the molecular basis of glioblastoma multiforme, the more swiftly we can develop better ways of helping patients with this terrible disease. Clearly, we should move ahead and apply the power of large-scale, genomic research to many other types of cancer," said NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni. ANI
2008-09-05 04:00:10Self-made hero
Has Paul Auster lost his metafictional style and ingenious twisting plots in his latest novel...
2008-09-04 20:11:06Smuggler hero's celebratory horseback ride deemed 'severe health and safety risk'!
London, September 4 ANI: The annual festival celebrated in southwest England in honour of Dr. Syn, the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike, was marred by health and safety concerns this year.Villagers in Dymchurch, Kent, did not gallop along a nearby beach and ride through the streets for a Day of Syn celebrating the hero, as they have done on August 2 every year over the past four decades, for want of insurance cover. Many insurers rejected cover outright, and the cheapest quote was 1,000 pounds."For 44 years Dr Syn has burst into the festival on horseback. He is the main show and when he makes his entrance people are truly overwhelmed. But this time he just had to walk around. It just wasn't the same," the Telegraph quoted Ian Hyson, Chairman of the Day of Syn, as saying."He has been on horseback since 1964, but this year the insurers just did not want to know because they said riding a horse was a 'severe' health and safety risk. Only one insurer would listen and they quoted us 1,000 pounds. We simply cannot afford that, so had to do without," Hyson added. The organisers say that they have relied on public liability insurance to cover the event in previous years, but they were surprised to discover that the policy that cost around 450 pounds for the entire festival did not cover someone on horseback. Angela Green, a fan of the books, said: "I've read all his novels and when it comes down to it Dr Syn is a horseman, plain and simple. For him to be without a horse makes a mockery of the whole thing. He's on the front cover of the first ever book for God's sake."Russell Thorndike wrote seven Dr. Syn books set around Romney Marsh, from 1915 including titles such as The Courageous Exploits of Dr Syn, Dr Syn on the High Seas and The Amazing Quest of Dr Syn. Thorndike died in 1972 at the age of 87. ANI
2008-09-04 07:00:00Getting nostalgic about Farooq Sheikh
Some live life like a short story, in the fast lane. Others plan a grand novel, almost akin to an investment. Still others dwell from moment to moment....
2008-09-04 05:00:00"Traitor" dependable as solid, fast-moving thriller Reuters
Reuters - "Traitor" is the cinematic equivalent of an airport novel that can be purchased before a long flight, read en route and discarded upon landing....
2008-08-25 21:49:19Is Fox Going to Shut Down Watchmen
After twenty years of false starts, the most ambitious graphic novel ever created is finally just six months from the cineplex. Director Zack Snyder has finished shooting, and the trailer made a splas...
2008-08-25 19:00:00In search of a virus
THE Andromeda Strain is a 2008 science fiction miniseries, based on the novel by Michael Crichton about a team of scientists who...
2008-08-25 16:29:10
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