GeckoSystems’ Elder Care Robot Trial Caregiver Shares New Insights

June 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CONYERS, GA, Jun 17 (MARKET WIRE) —
GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO)
(http://www.geckosystems.com/) announced today that one of their care
giver participants has noted some unexpected benefits resulting from her
usage of GeckoSystems’ first product, a personal assistant robot for
family care, the CareBot(TM). Her testimonial characterizes the some of
the benefits she is realizing from the CareBot and its new
GeckoScheduler(TM).

GeckoSystems is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot
industry revolutionizing their development and usage with “Mobile Robot
Solutions for Safety, Security, and Service(TM).

The new GeckoScheduler was completely rewritten in the last few months as
a result of these ongoing, world’s first elder care robot trials. It
enables the primary caregiver to more easily set the date, time and
frequency of medication reminders, TV show reminders, repetition of
family anecdotes, etc.

“I am pleased to report on a number of insights regarding my involvement
with the in home evaluation trials of the GeckoSystems’s CareBot(TM).
First, I was concerned that my elderly mother would be a little
frightened by the robot and not want it in her room, but that is not the
case. She likes it and seems pleased to have this “companion” in close
proximity. When it speaks to her she answers back and is delighted at
having a conversation with the robot!

“Second, the robot has been able to reassure her and make her feel more
comfortable. At times she is disoriented and often thinks she is not in
her home. With the upgraded GeckoScheduler and GeckoChat(TM), I am now
able to have the CareBot remind her every hour that indeed she is at
home. She responds with much relief stating that she thought she was
‘far, far away.’

“Third, she takes in what the CareBot says to her as being authoritative.
When I tell her it is time for her shower she does not want to do it and
tries to procrastinate. When the robot tells her it is time for her
shower, she gets ready. I never thought a robot would have more influence
over my mother than I do! All three of these insights have been
surprising and helpful to me,” stated the caregiver.

GeckoSystems is protecting the privacy of its elder care robot trials’
participants with a sincere commitment to maintain their identities
confidential.

“While we have made, and expect to continue to make, numerous tuning
adjustments to the CareBot, none of them have required significant
changes in our suite of software and hardware technologies. These
incremental changes have not diminished the fundamental robustness of our
mobile robot solutions, nor will these changes impact our ability to
manufacture these new home appliances in the high volumes needed due to
our perception of pent up demand in family care — especially elder care.

“We are learning that valued family behaviors can be readily expressed to
the care receiver using a CareBot due to the robustness of its
functionality. We continue to look forward to further exploration and
understanding of the social interaction between the family, the CareBot,
and the care receiver in the coming weeks and months of these in home
assistive care robot trials. With our in home personal assistant robot
trials progressing nicely, we have already learned a great deal as to the
reality of beneficial social interaction between human and robot in
domestic settings as quoted in the testimonial above. There seems to be a
very important positive — and unforeseen by some parties — impact of
valued family behaviors for all members in using a CareBot to communicate
their thoughts and feelings to their beloved family members,” commented
Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.

The elderly frequently endure loneliness and/or loss of independence when
living in nursing homes or other assisted living facilities. This new
type of remote medical monitoring system, a CareBot, will postpone, if
not eliminate that trauma to them. Their families can now better manage
the difficult decisions regarding the independence they allow their now
dependent parent while minimizing the risk the adult care giver is
willing to assume for a prudent level of independence for their now
reliant parent.

Some believe that the technology is approved and paid for through options
such as the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, which broadens the
definition, use, and funding of technology at home. Other sources include
long-term care insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, Medicaid waivers, and
(potentially) stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009, under the provisions for health information technology and
electronic medical records for acute care.

Like an automobile, mobile robots are made from steel, aluminum, plastic,
and electronics, but with ten to twenty times the amount of software
running. The CareBot has an aluminum frame, plastic shroud, two
independently driven wheels, multiple sensor systems, microprocessors and
several onboard computers connected in a local area network (LAN). The
microprocessors directly interact with the sensor systems and transmit
data to the onboard computers. The onboard computers each run
independent, highly specialized cooperative/subsumptive artificial
intelligence software programs, GeckoSavants(TM), which interact to
complete tasks in a timely, intelligent and common sense manner.

GeckoSuper(TM), GeckoNav(TM), GeckoChat(TM), GeckoScheduler(TM) and
GeckoTrak(TM) are primary GeckoSavants(TM). The GeckoSuper is the
GeckoSavant responsible for system-wide orchestrated “common sense.” For
example, given two or more inputs, GeckoSuper can determine the order in
which these inputs need to be addressed. GeckoNav is the AI software
guidance system for the CareBot that provides automatic self-navigation
without human intervention. GeckoNav is responsible for all fully
autonomous maneuvering, such as avoiding dynamic and/or static obstacles,
running errands and patrolling. GeckoChat is responsible for interaction
with the care-receiver such as answering questions, assisting with daily
routines and reminders, and responding to other verbal commands.
GeckoTrak is the AI software system using sensor fusion that delivers a
goal to GeckoNav by way of the GeckoSuper to seek.

“GeckoScheduler completes the suite of our fundamental GeckoSavants with
the dissimilar yet synergistic, functional benefits needed to cost
effectively provide utility to families for remote care taking of their
members and other loved ones. This type of beneficial artificial
intelligence (AI) makes the CareBot more personal and uniquely customized
for the particular person to be assisted. Not only does this capability
enable new forms of social interaction and community for families — even
when dispersed geographically, it will also increase ROI for our
investors as we address this pent up demand,” concluded Spencer.

About GeckoSystems International Corporation:

Since 1997, GeckoSystems has developed a comprehensive, coherent, and
sufficient suite of hardware and software inventions to enable a new type
of home appliance (a personal robot) the CareBot(TM), to be created for
the mass consumer marketplace. The suite of primary inventions includes:
GeckoNav(TM), GeckoChat(TM) and GeckoTrak(TM).

The primary market for this product is the family for use in eldercare,
care for the chronically ill, and childcare. The primary distribution
channel for this new home appliance is the thousands of independent
personal computer retailers in the U.S. The manufacturing infrastructure
for this new product category of mobile service robots is essentially the
same as the personal computer industry. Several outside contract
manufacturers have been identified and qualified their ability to produce
up to 1,000 CareBots per month within four to six months.

The Company is market driven. At the time of founding, over twelve years
ago, the Company did extensive primary market research to determine the
demographic profile of the early adopters of the then proposed product
line. Subsequent to, and based on that original market research, they
have assembled numerous focus groups to evaluate the fit of the CareBot
personal robot into the participant’s lives and their expected usage. The
Company has also frequently employed the Delphi market research
methodology by contacting and interviewing senior executives,
practitioners, and researchers knowledgeable in the area of elder care.
Using this factual basis of internally performed primary and secondary
market research, and third party research is the statistical substance
for the Company’s sales forecasts.

Not surprisingly the scientific statistical analyses applied revealed
that elderly over sixty-five living alone in metropolitan areas with
broadband Internet available and sufficient household incomes to support
the increased costs were identified as those most likely to adopt
initially. Due to the high cost of assisted living, nursing homes, etc.
the payback for a CareBot(TM) is expected to be only six to eight months
while keeping elderly care receivers independent, in their own long time
homes, and living longer due to the comfort and safety of more frequent
attention from their loved ones.

“We project the available market size in dollars for cost effective,
utilitarian, multitasking eldercare personal robots in 2011 to be $74.0B,
in 2012 to be $77B, in 2013 to be $80B, in 2014 to be $83.3B, and in 2015
to be $86.6B. With market penetrations of 0.03% in 2011, 0.06% in 2012,
0.22% in 2013, 0.53% in 2014, and 0.81% in 2015, we will anticipate
CareBot sales, from this consumer market segment, only, of $22.0M,
$44.0M, $176M, $440.2M, and $704.3M, respectively. We expect these sales
despite — and perhaps because of — the present recession due to pent up
demand for significant cost reduction in eldercare expenses,” opined
Spencer.

The foregoing forecasts do not include sales in non-metropolitan areas;
elderly couples over 65 (only elderly living alone are in these
forecasts); those chronically ill — regardless of age — or elderly
living with their adult children.

The Company’s “mobile robot solutions for safety, security and
service(TM)” are appropriate not only for the consumer, but also
professional healthcare, commercial security and defense markets.
Professional healthcare require cost effective, timely errand running,
portable telemedicine, etc. Homeland Security requires cost effective
mobile robots to patrol and monitor public venues for weapons and WMD
detection. Military users desire the elimination of the “man in the loop”
to enable unmanned ground and air vehicles to not require constant human
control and/or intervention.

The Company’s business model is very much like that of an automobile
manufacturer. Due to the final assembly, test, and shipping being done
based on geographic and logistic realities; strategic
business-to-business relationships can range from private labeling to
joint manufacturing and distribution to licensing only.

Several dozen patent opportunities exist for the Company due to the many
innovative and cost effective breakthroughs embodied not only in
GeckoNav, GeckoChat, and GeckoTrak, but also in additional, secondary
systems that include: GeckoOrient(TM), GeckoMotorController(TM), the
GeckoTactileShroud(TM), the CompoundedSensorArray(TM), and the
GeckoSPIO(TM).

The present senior management at GeckoSystems has over thirty-five years
experience in consumer electronics sales and marketing and product
development. Senior managers have been identified for the areas of
manufacturing, marketing, sales, and finance.

While GeckoSystems has been in the Development Stage, the Company has
accumulated losses to date in excess of six million dollars. In contrast,
the Japanese government has spent one hundred million dollars in grants
(to Sanyo, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC, etc.) over the same time
period to develop personal robots for their eldercare crisis, yet no
viable solutions have been developed.

GeckoSystems is the first mobile robot developer in the world to begin
actual in-home eldercare evaluation trials.

What Does a CareBot Do for the Care Giver?

The short answer is that it decreases the difficulty and stress for the
caregiver that needs to watch over Grandma, Mom, or other family members
most, if not much, of the time day in and day out due to concerns about
their well being, safety, and security.

But, first let’s look at some other labor saving, automatic home
appliances most of us use routinely. For example, needing to do two or
more necessary chores and/or activities at the same time, like laundering
clothes and preparing supper.

The automatic washing machine needs no human intervention after the dirty
clothes are placed in the washer, the laundry powder poured in, and the
desired wash cycle set. Then, this labor saving appliance runs
automatically until the washed clothes are ready to be placed in another
labor saving home appliance, the automatic clothes dryer. While the
clothes are being washed and/or dried, the caregiver prepares supper
using several time saving home appliances like the microwave oven,
“crock” pot, blender, and conventional stove, with possible convection
oven capabilities.

After supper, the dirty pots, pans, and dishes are placed in the
automatic dishwasher to be washed and dried while the family retires to
the den to watch TV, and/or the kids to do homework. Later, perhaps after
the kids have gone to bed, the caregiver may then have the time to fold,
sort, and put up the now freshly laundered clothes.

So what does a CareBot do for the caregiver? It is a new type of labor
saving, time management automatic home appliance.

For example, the care giver frequently feels time stress when they need
to go shopping for 2 or 3 hours, and are uncomfortable when they have to
be away for more than an hour or so. Time stress is much worse for the
caregiver with a frail elderly parent that must be reminded to take
medications at certain times of the day. How can the caregiver be away
for 3-4 hours when Grandma must take her prescribed medication every 2 or
3 hours? If the caregiver is trapped in traffic for an hour or two beyond
the 2 or 3 they expected to be gone, this “time stress” can be very
difficult for the caregiver to moderate.

Not infrequently, the primary caregiver has a 24 hour, 7 days a week
responsibility. After weeks and weeks of this sometimes tedious, if not
onerous routine, how does the caregiver get a “day off?” To bring in an
outsider is expensive (easily $75-125 per day for just 8 hours) and there
is the concern that medication will be missed or the care receiver have
an accident requiring immediate assistance by the caregiver, or someone
they must designate. And the care receiver may be very resistant to a
“stranger” coming in to her home and “running things.”

So what is it worth for a care receiver to have an automatic system to
help take care of Grandma? Just 3 or 4 days a month “off” on a daylong
shopping trip, a visit with friends, or just take in a movie would cost
$225-500 per month. And that scenario assumes that Grandma is willing to
be taken care of by a “stranger” during those needed and appropriate days
off.

So perhaps, an automatic caregiver, a CareBot, might be pretty handy, and
potentially very cost effective from the primary caregiver’s perspective.

What Does a CareBot Do for the Care Receiver?

It’s a new kind of companion that always stays close to them enabling
family and friends to care for them from afar. It tells them jokes,
retells family anecdotes, reminds them to take medication, reminds them
that family is coming over soon (or not at all), recites Bible verses,
plays favorite songs and/or other music. It alerts them when unexpected
visitors, or intruders are present. It notifies designated caregivers
when a potentially harmful event has occurred, such as a fall, fire in
the home, or simply been not found by the CareBot for too long. It
responds to calls for help and notifies those that the caregiver
determined should be immediately notified when any predetermined adverse
event occurs.

The family can customize the personality of the CareBot. The voice’s
cadence can be fast or slow. The intonation can be breathy, or abrupt.
The voice’s volume can range from very loud to very soft. The response
phrases from the CareBot for recognized words and phrases can be
colloquial and/or unique to the family’s own heritage. The personality
can range from brassy to timid depending on how the care giver, and
others appropriate, chooses it to be.

Generally, the care receiver is pleased at the prospect of family being
able to drop in for a “virtual visit” using the onboard webcam and video
monitor for at home “video conferencing.” The care receiver may feel much
more needed and appreciated when their far flung family and friends can
“look in” on them any where in the world where they can get broadband
internet access and simply chat for a bit.

Why is Grandma really interested in a CareBot? She wants to stay in her
home, or her family’s home, as long as she possibly can. What’s that
worth? Priceless. Or, an average nursing home is $5,000 per month for an
environment that is too often the beginning of a spiral downward in the
care receiver’s health. That’s probably $2-3K more per month for them to
be placed where they really don’t want to be. Financial payback on a
CareBot? Less than a year — Emotional payback for the family to have
this new automatic care giver? Nearly instantaneous.

Safe Harbor:
Statements regarding financial matters in this press
release other than historical facts are “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company
intends that such statements about the Company’s future expectations,
including future revenues and earnings, technology efficacy and all other
forward-looking statements be subject to the Safe Harbors created
thereby. The Company is a development stage firm that continues to be
dependent upon outside capital to sustain its existence. Since these
statements (future operational results and sales) involve risks and
uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company’s actual
results may differ materially from expected results.

Contact:
GeckoSystems Intl. Corp.
www.GeckoSystems.com
or
Main number: 1-866-227-3268
International: +1 678-413-9236

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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Astronomers find ”defiant” new supernova

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 20 (ANI): Astronomers have discovered a supernova whose origin cannot be explained by any previously known mechanism and which promises exciting new insights into stellar explosions.

SN2005E was first spotted on January 13, 2005 in the nearby galaxy NGC1032.

And since then, scientists have carried out various observations of it using different telescopes including the Keck, the world”s largest, at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Analysis of the collected data, theoretical modelling and interpretation led to the conclusion that SN2005E wasn”t a typical supernova.

Supernovae result from the collapse of very massive stars or by thermonuclear detonation on the surface of white dwarf stars composed mainly of carbon and oxygen.

“But this one, although it appears to be from a white dwarf system, is devoid of carbon and oxygen. Instead it”s rich in helium. It”s surprisingly different,” Nature quoted Dae-Sik Moon of the University of Toronto”s Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, as saying.

“The supernova explosion is the most energetic and brilliant event that happens in the universe. It is rich with information, not only about how stars die, but to understanding the origin of life and the expansion of the universe,” added Moon.

Most heavy elements are believed to be created in stars and spread through supernova explosions.

In addition, scientists use the brightness of supernovae to make estimates of the acceleration of the universe.

The study was published in Nature. (ANI)

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Lake-bed trails reveal ancient fish used to bottom feed

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 7 (ANI): An Emory paleontologist has found that trails etched out in lake bed could reveal how ancient fish used to live.

Anthony Martin found that wavy lines and squiggles etched into a slab of limestone near Fossil Butte National Monument are prehistoric fish trails, made by Notogoneus osculus as it fed along a lake bottom.

“This is a fish story, about the one that got away 50 million years ago. And I can tell you that the fish was 18-inches long, based on good evidence,” said Martin.

He led a detailed analysis that gives new insights into the behaviour of the extinct N. osculus, and into the ancient ecology of Wyoming’s former Fossil Lake.

“We’ve got a snapshot of N. osculus interacting with the bottom of a lake that disappeared millions of years ago. It’s a fleeting glimpse, but it’s an important one,” said Martin.

Fossil Lake, part of a subtropical landscape in the early Eocene Epoch, is now a sagebrush desert in southwestern Wyoming, located in Fossil Butte National Monument and environs.

The region is famous for an abundance of exquisitely preserved fossils, especially those of freshwater fish.

However, trails left by these fish are relatively rare.

The National Park Service had identified about a dozen of them and asked Martin to investigate.

One of the fish trace fossils especially intrigued Martin—in addition to apparent fin impressions of two wavy lines, it had squiggles suggesting oval shapes.

“The oval impressions stayed roughly in the center of the wavy lines and slightly overlapped one another. I realized that these marks were probably made by the mouth, as the fish fed along the bottom,” Martin says.

He then deduced that the trace was likely made by N. osculus – the only species found in the same rock layer whose fossils show a mouth pointing downward.

After digital spatial analysis, they found that there exists a mathematical correlation between the trace impressions and the mouth, tail, pelvic and anal fins of an 18-inch N. osculus.

“This provides the first direct evidence of N. osculus bottom feeding. Not only that, the fish was bottom feeding in the deepest part of the lake. Previous research had suggested that the bottom of the lake had such low levels of oxygen that it was hostile to life. Our analysis indicates that, at least seasonally, some fish were living on the lake bottom,” said Martin.

The study has been published in PLoS One. (ANI)

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Sequencing of frog genome may offer new insights into human diseases

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 7 (ANI): An international team of researchers has cracked the genetic code of an amphibian, the African clawed frog Xenopus tropicali – the latest research aimed at understanding how genes work for potential applications in human health.

The genome of Xenopus tropicalis has been analysed by an international consortium of scientists from 24 institutions, and joins a list of sequenced model organisms including the mouse, zebrafish, nematode and fruit fly.

What’s most surprising, researchers say, is how closely the amphibian’s genome resembles that of the mouse, the chicken and the human, with large swathes of frog DNA on several chromosomes having genes arranged in the same order as in these mammals.

“A lot of furry animals have been sequenced, but far fewer other vertebrates,” said co-author Richard Harland, University of California, Berkeley, professor of molecular and cell biology.

“Having a complete catalog of the genes in Xenopus, along with those of humans, rats, mice and chickens, will help us reassemble the full complement of ancestral vertebrate genes.”

The researchers found that nearly 80 per cent of all human genes associated with genetic diseases have counterparts in the western-clawed frog, Xenopus tropicalis.

This discovery could lead to a better understanding of the genetic and chemical basis for many of the human diseases.

The research, published this week in the journal Science, was led by the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the University of California, Berkeley. (ANI)

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Sediment layers may help shed light on Mars” climate history

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 6 (ANI): A new stratigraphic record of Martian polar layered deposits could help provide new insights into Mars” climate history, believe scientists.

Stratigraphic layers can give scientists important clues about the conditions at the time the layer of rock formed.

Fishbaugh et al. present the first high-resolution stratigraphic column of Marian north polar layered deposits.

In the study, boffins used a digital elevation model (a representation of topography) derived from images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment to identify and classify layers in the 400-meter (1,312-feet) stratigraphic column, including several clearly defined “marker bed” layers.

The authors also observed that layers get thinner with depth.

Furthermore, they find no immediately obvious cyclic pattern in the stratigraphic layers that could correspond to cyclic climatic conditions, indicating that the relationship between Mars”s polar stratigraphy and cyclic climate forcing is complex and needs further investigation. (ANI)

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Gut bacteria offer new insights for people with celiac disease

April 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 30 (ANI): Striking a balance of intestinal microbiota could play a role in early stages of celiac disease-related immune responses, according to a new study.

The research has been published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

Dietary changes that include probiotics and/or prebiotics (found in some foods) may help alleviate the severity of celiac disease for some patients.

According to the research, differing intestinal bacteria in celiac patients could influence inflammation to varying degrees. This suggests that manipulating the intestinal microbiota with dietary strategies such as probiotics and prebiotics, could improve the quality of life for celiac patients, as well as patients with associated diseases such as type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders.

“We hope the study will ultimately add to the understanding of the mechanisms of action of the intestinal microbiota in immune-mediated diseases,” said Yolanda Sanz, one of the scientists involved in the research from the National Spanish Research Council in Valencia, Spain. “This study may also help to design novel strategies, which could improve the quality of life of celiac disease patients in the future.” (ANI)

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Images from Planck space observatory reveal star formation processes

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 27 (ANI): Star formation takes place hidden behind veils of gas and dust, but ESA’s Planck space observatory – with its microwave eyes – can peer beneath that shroud to provide new insights into star-forming process.

The latest images released by the Planck team bring to light two different star forming regions in the Milky Way, and in stunning detail, reveal the different physical processes at work.

The Orion region is a cradle of star formation, some 1,500 light-years away. It is famous for the Orion Nebula, which can be seen by the naked eye as a faint smudge.

The first image covers much of the constellation of Orion. The nebula is the bright spot to the lower center. The bright spot to the right of center is around the Horsehead Nebula, so called because at high magnifications a pillar of dust resembles a horse’s head.

The giant red arc of Barnard’s Loop is thought to be the blast wave from a star that blew up inside the region about two million years ago. The bubble it created is now about 300 light-years across.

In contrast to Orion, the Perseus region is a less vigorous star-forming area but, as Planck shows in the other image, there is still plenty going on.

The images both show three physical processes taking place in the dust and gas of the interstellar medium. Planck can show us each process

separately.

At the lowest frequencies, Planck maps emission caused by high-speed electrons interacting with the Galaxy’s magnetic fields. An additional diffuse component comes from spinning dust particles emitting at these frequencies.

At intermediate wavelengths of a few millimeters, the emission is from

gas heated by newly formed hot stars.

At still higher frequencies, Planck maps the meager heat given out by extremely cold dust. This can reveal the coldest cores in the clouds, which are approaching the final stages of collapse, before they are reborn as fully-fledged stars. The stars then disperse the surrounding clouds.

The delicate balance between cloud collapse and dispersion regulates the number of stars that the Galaxy makes. (ANI)

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Lead “burrito” sarcophagus near Rome may hold a gladiator or a Christian dignitary

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 30 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has suggested that a burrito-like 1,700-year-old sarcophagus found in an abandoned city near Rome could contain the body of a gladiator or a Christian dignitary.

Found in a cement-capped pit in the ancient metropolis of Gabii, the coffin is unusual because it”s made of lead.

Only a few hundred such Roman burials are known.

“Even odder, the 800 pounds (362 kilograms) of lead fold over the corpse like a burrito,” said Roman archaeologist Jeffrey Becker.

Most lead sarcophagi look like “old-fashioned cracker boxes,” molded into a rectangular shape with a lid, he said.

The coffin, which has been in storage since last year, is about to be moved to the American Academy in Rome for further testing.

But, uncovering details about the person inside the lead coffin will be tricky.

For starters, the undisturbed tomb contained no grave goods, offering few clues about the owner.

What”s more, x-ray and CT scans-the preferred methods of coffin analysis-cannot penetrate the thick lead, leaving researchers pondering other, potentially dangerous ways to examine the remains inside.

“It”s exciting as well as frustrating, because there are no known matches in the record,” said Becker, managing director of the University of Michigan”s Gabii Project.

“Unlocking the lead coffin”s secrets could ultimately offer new insights into a powerful civilization that has lain forgotten for centuries,” he said.

Mysteries about Gabii society make the newfound lead coffin especially intriguing.

Lead was a high-value metal at the time, so a full sarcophagus made out of the stuff “is a sure marker of somebody of some kind of substance,” Becker said.

Past lead burials found throughout Europe have housed soldiers, elite members of the Christian church, and even female gladiators.

In fact, many lead coffins contain high-ranking women or adolescents instead of men, according to Jenny Hall, a senior curator of Roman archaeology at the Museum of London, who was not involved in the new study.

“However, the newfound sarcophagus” tentative age may make the gladiator scenario unlikely,” said Bruce Hitchner, a visiting professor in classical archaeology at All Souls College at the UK”s University of Oxford.

“The coffin dates back to the fourth or fifth centuries AD, while the gladiator heyday was centuries earlier,” said Hitchner.

Becker”s team hopes to find out more about the person inside the lead sarcophagus.

The researchers” only hint so far is a small foot bone protruding through a hole in one end of the coffin. (ANI)

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New insights in genomics of the human nucleolus

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 27 (ANI): Spanish and German scientists have offered insights into the 3-D genomics of the human nucleolus.

The research, conducted by researchers from the University of Regensburg and the Ludwig Maximilians University in Germany and the Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe in Spain, sheds new light on the functional organization of human genetic material.

Scientists have had difficulty to understand how the genome is organized inside the cell”s nucleus to fulfill the dynamics and regulation of DNA access to regulatory factors.

Previous studies on the nuclear architecture of the cell suggest that the three-dimensional structure of genomic information is non-random.

However, few discrete genomic loci have been analyzed for their spatial location, prompting the current study.

The researchers, led by Attila Nemeth and Gernot Langst, examined the DNA network of the nucleolus, the nucleus” largest sub-compartment, using sequencing, microarray analysis, and single-cell analysis.

The work resulted in a high-resolution sequence map of this nuclear structure, detailing the position of the several thousand genes and non-coding sequences that form the nucleolus within the three-dimensional space of the nucleus.

“The results help us understand how nuclear information is packaged into functional compartments of the nucleus,” say the authors.

The authors also emphasise that the research was confined to just two cell types, and that further studies are needed to address the conservation of these packaging mechanisms during evolution, and to monitor the developmental dynamics of three-dimensional genome organization.

The research has been published in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. (ANI)

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‘Big Bang Machine’ may unlock secrets of the Universe

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 25 (ANI): Scientists are of the opinion that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, may unlock many secrets of the Universe.

Located at the CERN laboratory outside Geneva, the immense collider, which measures more than 16 miles in circumference, is expected to usher in a new era of particle physics research, enabling scientists to replicate conditions immediately after the Big Bang.

Scientists expect the giant machine to generate astonishing new insights into the Big Bang, the building blocks of the universe, the mysterious properties of dark matter and perhaps even extra dimensions in the universe.

To that end, on March 19, the collider fired beams of protons in both directions, clockwise and counter-clockwise, at a new world-record energy: 3.5 trillion (or tera) electron volts.

The LHC will soon collide these proton beams against each other, allowing physicists to analyze the particles produced in the collisions.

CERN eventually plans to collide proton beams at a blistering 7 tera-electron-volts in both directions.

Robert Cousins, a UCLA professor of physics who has served as a leader of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN — one of the LHC’s four main experiments — is hopeful the collider will lead to extraordinary discoveries about the nature of the universe.

“We’re going to study the Big Bang as far back as we can take it,” said Cousins, whose research group is supported by the US Department of Energy and who is principal investigator on a CMS grant funded by the National Science Foundation.

“The fundamental questions were asked by the ancient Greeks: Where did we come from, what are we made of? How did the universe evolve and what are the forces of the universe?” he said.

“We think there are undiscovered forces. Nature likely contains extra forces that we have not found yet,” Cousins said.

“Any successful attempt to unify the known forces of nature will almost certainly unify some unknown forces of nature at the same time,” he said.

“The job of experimental physicists is to go find those forces. I am most excited about finding new forces that shed light on unification. If you’re going to paint the complete picture, you need to know what the other forces are,” he added. (ANI)

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Why sexually experienced girls resume sexual activity after abstinence

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 16 (ANI): Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have offered new insights into why sexually experienced girls resume sexual activity after periods of abstinence.

This information may help tailor effective counselling to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy in high school girls and beyond.

Characteristics associated with the risk of a teen girl having sex after a period of abstinence differed according to how long she had been abstinent.

In the short term, a young woman was more likely to have sex when her relationship with her partner was good, when the girl felt good and when she was interested in having sex.

Long term, sexual interest and relationship quality were the two most important predictors of resumption of sex after a period of abstinence.

“Sexuality is an important developmental task for teens. They need to go from childhood to sexually mature adulthood while remaining sexually disease free and without getting pregnant. We conducted this study to better understand the factors that influenced teenage girls who became sexually active again after a period of abstinence. With this new understanding we can better help young women remain healthy and avoid unwanted pregnancy,” said study first author Dr. Mary A. Ott.

Diagnosis of a STD was associated with a reduced risk of subsequent sex for a short time. However having an STD increased risk for sexual activity in the intermediate time period and was unrelated to the decision to have sex in the long run.

The researchers predicted that the switch may reflect either relationship turmoil after diagnosis of an STD, followed by “make up” sex, or may reflect adherence to Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for a period of abstinence following STD treatment, followed by resumption of previous sexual activity.

“Either way, the findings suggest that counselling only about abstinence after a sexually transmitted infection is insufficient. Clinicians should anticipate resumption of sexual behaviour and tailor counselling appropriately,” said Ott.

The researchers also found that, in the short term, girls who characterized themselves as irritable, angry or unhappy were unlikely to return to sexual activity after a period of abstinence.

The finding contradicts anecdotal information that depressed individuals are likely to engage in sexual activity.

The researchers evaluated 354 sexually active urban teen girls for up to four and a half years between 1999 and 2006.

Participants reported a total of 9,236 abstinence periods, which averaged 31 days.

“Having data from the same group of young women over such a long period of time, as they go through periods of having sex and times when they are not having sex and as they change partners, enables us to understand a complex process of motivation in a way that previous studies have not. What we have established in this study are the major factors associated with the decision to resume sex,” said study senior author Dr. J. Dennis Fortenberry.

The findings have been published in the latest issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. (ANI)

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Scientists make first high-resolution 3D images of a polymer solar cell’s insides

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 14 (ANI): Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Ulm in Germany have made the first high-resolution 3D images of the inside of a polymer solar cell.

This gives them important new insights in the nanoscale structure of polymer solar cells and its effect on the performance.

The investigations shed new light on the operational principles of polymer solar cells.

These solar cells do not have the high efficiencies of their silicon counterparts yet. Polymer cells, however, can be printed in roll-to-roll processes, at very high speeds, which makes the technology potentially very cost-effective.

Added to that, polymer cells are flexible and lightweight, and therefore suitable to be used on vehicles or clothing or to be incorporated in the design of objects.

In these hybrid solar cells, a mixture of two different materials, a polymer and a metal oxide are used to create charges at their interface when the mixture is illuminated by the sun.

The degree of mixing of the two materials is essential for its efficiency.

Intimate mixing enhances the area of the interface where charges are formed but at the same time obstructs charge transport because it leads to long and winding roads for the charges to travel.

Larger domains do exactly the opposite.

The vastly different chemical nature of polymers and metal oxides generally makes it very difficult to control the nanoscale structure.

The Eindhoven researchers have been able to largely circumvent this problem by using a precursor compound that mixes with the polymer and is only converted into the metal oxide after it is incorporated in the photoactive layer.

This allows better mixing and enables extracting up to 50 percent of the absorbed photons as charges in an external circuit.

The importance of the degree of mixing was clearly demonstrated by visualization of the structure of these blends in three dimensions.

Traditionally such visualization has been extremely challenging, but by using 3D electron tomography, the team has been able to resolve the mixing with unprecedented detail on a nanoscale.

From these images, the researchers at the Institute of Stochastics in Ulm have been able to extract typical distances between the two components, relating to the efficiency of charge generation, and analyze the percolation pathways, that is, how much of each component is connected to the electrode.

These quantitative analyses of the structure matched perfectly with the observed performance of the solar cells in sunlight. (ANI)

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New discovery hints ancient Egypt and Israel had ties during Early Bronze Age

September 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, Sept 2 (ANI): The discovery of a rare, four-centimeter-long stone fragment at the point where the Jordan River exits Lake Kinneret, has suggested a link between ancient Egypt and Israel around 3,000 BCE during the Early Bronze Age.

According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, Tel Aviv University (TAU) and University College London archeologists found the fragment.

The piece, part of a carved stone plaque bearing archaic Egyptian signs, was the highlight of the second season of excavations at Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet el-Kerak). he site lies along an ancient highway that connected Egypt to the wider world of the ancient Near East.

The dig, carried out within the Beit Yerah National Park, was completed there last week by a joint team headed by TAU’s Raphael Greenberg and David Wengrow from England.

Earlier discoveries, both in Egypt and at Bet Yerah, have indicated that there was direct interaction between the site – then one of the largest in the Jordan Valley – and the Egyptian royal court.

The new discovery suggests that these contacts were of far greater local significance than had been suspected.

The archeologists noted that the fragment, which depicts an arm and hand grasping a scepter and an early form of the ankh sign, was the first artifact of its type ever found in an archaeological site outside Egypt.

It has been attributed to the period of Egypt’s First Dynasty, at around 3000 BCE.

Finds of this nature are rare even within Egypt itself, and the signs are executed to a high quality, as good as those on royal cosmetic palettes and other monuments dating to the origins of Egyptian kingship.

This year’s excavations also provided new insights into contacts between the early town and the distant north, when large quantities of “Khirbet Kerak Ware” (a distinctive kind of red/black burnished pottery first found at Tel Bet Yerah) were found in association with portable ceramic hearths, some of them bearing decorations in the form of human features.

“The hearths are very similar to objects found in Anatolia and the southern Caucasus, and most were found in open spaces where there was other evidence for fire-related activities,” noted Greenberg.

“The people using this pottery appear to have been migrants or descendants of migrants, and its distribution on the site, as well as the study of other cultural aspects, such as what they ate and the way they organized their households, could tell us about their interaction with local people and their adaptation to new surroundings,” he added. (ANI)

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Scientists find ‘stopwatch for the solar system’

August 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, August 26 (ANI): In a new study, a team of scientists has described how aluminium radioisotopes can now offer precise timing of events 4.5 billion years ago, and thus have been dubbed as the ‘stopwatch for the solar system’.

According to a report by BBC News, the study shows that the rate of decay of isotopes can now be relied upon to give accurate measures of time for that period.

It is hoped that this will give new insights into how the Solar System formed in its first five million years.

The scientists showed how aluminium radioisotopes were uniformly distributed in the region where the Solar System was formed.

As the isotopes decayed steadily across the early Solar System, this allows their use as a type of clock for that period.

“We can now use the isotopes to measure the age of different chondrules, parts of meteorites, and understand far more about the early part of our Solar System,” one of the scientists, Johan Villeneuve, told BBC News.

The findings could also shed light on the origins of the planets.

Philip Bland, from Imperial College London, described the research as “a really nice study”.

“With their high precision measurements, they are able to date formation times for chondrules very precisely,” he said.

“And what is interesting is that they’ve shown that these building blocks for asteroids, and possibly for planets as well, formed over an extended period of two to three million years,” he added. (ANI)

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Pressmart Indonesia Print Media Awards launched

August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Indonesia, Aug 24 (ANI/Business Wire India): Pressmart Media Ltd, (www.pressmart.com), a global leader in the digital publishing and delivery solutions, today announced the launch of “Pressmart-Indonesia Print Media Awards (IPMA)” in a bid to recognize the best publishing houses in Indonesia over the calendar year 2009, just after associating with the magazine publishers in Singapore, for its awards as the lead sponsor.

IPMA will be conferred annually starting February, 2010, is the exciting new competition created to promote magazines, tabloids and newspapers – both in print and digital and also encourage the publishing industry in Indonesia.

The Indonesian leading newspaper publisher’s association, Serikat Penerbit Suratkabar (SPS) Pusat will host the Pressmart-Indonesia Print Media Awards.

The nominations are open to the registered members of the SPS and all other publications in Indonesia. IPMA finalist entries will be put in front of jury members led by Pressmart, SPS and highly reputed industry experts from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

SPS Chairman, Dahlan Iskan said: “The Pressmart-Indonesia Print Media Awards are unique in recognizing excellence, innovation and outstanding creative output throughout the print media supply chain. These awards will set new benchmarks, bring new insights and most importantly be an ideal learning opportunity for publishing houses to succeed in today’s uncertain economy.”

“We are delighted to launch the first of its kind publishing awards in Indonesia,” said Sanjiv Gupta, Chairman and CEO of Pressmart.

“Most importantly, we want to recognize all of these inspirational print media houses and encourage the publishing industry in Indonesia for the amazing work that they do,” added Gupta. (ANI)

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Global 3D map indicates presence of water in certain areas of Earth’s mantle

August 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, August 20 (ANI): Scientists from Oregon State University in the US have created the first global three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the Earth’s mantle, which suggests that that enhanced conductivity in certain areas of the mantle may signal the presence of water.

According to scientists, those areas of high conductivity coincide with subduction zones – where tectonic plates are being subducted beneath the Earth’s crust.

Subducting plates are comparatively colder than surrounding mantle materials and thus should be less conductive.

The answer, the researchers suggest, may be that conductivity in those areas is enhanced by water drawn downward during the subduction process.

“Many earth scientists have thought that tectonic plates are not likely to carry much if any water deep into the Earth’s mantle when they are being subducted,” said Adam Schultz, a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State.

“Most evidence suggests that subducting rocks initially hold water within their minerals, but that water is released as the rocks heat up,” he added.

“There may be other explanations, but the model clearly shows a close association between subduction zones and high conductivity and the simplest explanation is water,” he explained.

The scientists conducted their study using electromagnetic induction sounding of the Earth’s mantle.

This electromagnetic imaging method is very sensitive to interconnecting pockets of fluid that may be found within rocks and minerals that enhance conductivity.

Using magnetic observations from more than 100 observatories dating back to the 1980s, they were able to create a global three-dimensional map of mantle conductivity.

The study is important because it provides new insights into the fundamental ways in which the planet works.

The implications are myriad.

Water interacts with minerals differently at different depths, and small amounts of water can change the physical properties of rocks, alter the viscosity of materials in the mantle, assist in the formation of rising plumes of melted rock and ultimately affect what comes out on the surface.

“In fact, we don’t really know how much water there is on Earth,” said Gary Egbert, also a professor of oceanography at OSU and co-author on the study.

“There is some evidence that there is many times more water below the ocean floor than there is in all the oceans of the world combined. Our results may shed some light on this question,” he added. (ANI)

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Growth factor that keeps brain development on track identified

July 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that a growth factor called Fgf10 helps keep the brain’s development on track.

The researchers say that just like a conductor cues musicians in an orchestra, this growth factor lets brain stem cells know that the moment to get to work has arrived, ensuring that they hit their first developmental milestone on time.

The researchers say that their findings not only provide new insights into brain development, but also reveal a possible mechanism for the selective expansion of specific brain areas over the course of evolution, such as the greatly increased size of the frontal lobe in humans.

During embryonic brain development, stem cells in charge of building the cortex-the largest brain structure and seat of most higher cognitive functions- pass through a series of tightly regulated stages: from omnipotent stem cell to cortical progenitors cells capable of producing neurons.

“The timing of each of these transitions has critical implications for brain development, since minor changes in the proportion of progenitors exhibiting one or the other division mode at early stages will result in substantial changes in the number of neurons and the size of the cortex,” says lead researcher Dr. Dennis O’Leary, a professor in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory.

Postdoctoral researcher and first author Dr. Setsuko Sahara initially started looking at the effects of deleting Fgf10 in mouse brain, but she quickly realised that the primary function of the growth factor was to regulate the differentiation of radial glia, progenitor cells that divide asymmetrically to produce a pair of unlike daughter cells.

According to her, this role of Fgf10 has significant implications for brain size, including the size of specific cortical areas.

“These mice had substantially enlarged brains, but the structure was perfectly fine,” says Setsuko.

A closer look revealed that the transition from the expansion stage to the neurogenic phase- which produces all the neurons that will eventually form the six layers of the cortex-exhibited by cortical progenitors was delayed by approximately two days.

“As a consequence neuroepithelial cells keep multiplying generating a bigger pool of radial glia, which in turn produce more neurons ultimately resulting in a larger cortex,” explains Sahara.

Interestingly, the increase in size was limited to the frontal cortex, showing that at the time the population of early progenitors was abnormally expanded in Fgf10 mutants, their area identity had been fixed.

“These findings demonstrate a direct mechanism employed during normal development to regulate brain size. These findings also have potential implications for how cortical areas have evolved. Selectively expanding the progenitor pool by Fgf10 regulation of the timing of radial glia differentiation could account for the selective expansion of the frontal cortex, which has been greatly expanded in humans and is thought to be important for evolving what are considered typically human traits,” says O’Leary.

A research article describing the study has been published in the journal Neuron. (ANI)

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Scientists discover active genes in the developing mammal brain

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 14 (ANI): Penn State scientists claim that they have for the first time used high-throughput sequencing to uncover active genes in developing brains.

The researchers believe that their work provides what is likely the best evidence thus far for the activity in the brain of such a large number of genes.

They say that the significance of their study lies in the fact that it provides new insights into the genes that are involved in a mammal’s early brain development, including those that contribute to neurological disorders.

They hope that their findings may one day lead to the development of drugs or gene therapies that treat neurological disorders, such as autism and mental retardation.

Led by Distinguished Professor of Biology Hong Ma and Associate Professor of Biology Gong Chen, the research team used a high-throughput technique to sequence millions of messenger-RNA molecules, which carry genetic information from DNA molecules to protein molecules.

The researchers obtained the RNA from the brains of mice, which are an important model system for studying human biology.

They found that over 16,000 genes-more than half of the mouse’s entire set of known genes-are involved in the brain’s development and functions.

“The brain represents one of the most, if not the most, complex organs in a mammal’s body. So we weren’t surprised to find that the number of genes that are active in the brain is so high,” said Ma.

The researchers focused on two critical times during the development of a mouse’s brain: embryonic day 18 (E18) and post-natal day 7 (P7).

“These two time points represent major milestones during brain formation. Brain development in an 18-day-old embryo involves a significant amount of brain cells, or neurons. In contrast, brain development in a seven-day-old infant involves the formation of numerous connections between these neurons. Our goal was to determine which genes are active during these two critical times,” said Ma.

The scientists examined genes that correspond to the RNA molecules from the cortex of a mouse.

“The cortex is the surface portion of the large brain that is responsible for most cognitive and sensory abilities,” said Ma.

According to the researchers, more than 3,700 of the 16,000 genes identified by them have different levels of activity between the E18 and P7 time points.

“This differential activity tells us about the differences in the brain at these two stages. For example, the genes that are active at E18, but not at P7, probably are important during E18. We get some support for this notion when we see that certain genes that already are known to be involved in cell division are actively expressed during E18, while other genes that are known to play a role in building the connections between neurons are much more active at P7,” said Ma.

What makes their findings even more interesting is the fact that some of the genes identified in mice are known to be matched to the human genes that are involved in neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and some forms of mental retardation.

“Our results can help to pinpoint the specific time during brain development when the genes related to certain diseases are active. This knowledge may help other scientists to develop drugs or gene therapies that can treat the diseases. For example, if a particular gene defect causes poorly constructed connections between certain neurons, a drug might be developed that enhances those connections to compensate for the gene defect,” said Ma.

Ma has revealed that his future studies will look at some of the genes to see whether they are important for the brain to be formed properly.

The researchers also plan to study how genes function in development disorders of the brain.

A research article on their study has been published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)

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Hearing the music of the brain made possible

July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, July 7 (ANI): An American expert has created a technique to turn the human brain’s flickering activity into music.

Philosopher Dan Lloyd at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, believes that listening to scans may give new insights into the differences and similarities between normal and dysfunctional brains.

He points out that brain scans created using functional MRI consist of a series of images in which different areas light up with varying intensity at different times, and that these can be used to determine which parts of the brain are active during a particular task.

Lloyd revealed that to turn such scans into music, he identified regions that become active together, and assigned each of those groups a different pitch.

He later created a software program to analyse a series of scans and generate the notes at those pitches.

The researcher has revealed that each note is played at a volume that corresponds to the intensity of activity.

Upon feeding the software a set of scans of his own brain, taken as he switched between driving a virtual-reality car and resting, Lloyd observed that he could the switch-over in the sounds.

He then gave the software scans taken from volunteers with dementia and schizophrenia, and from healthy volunteers.

He found that the brains of people with schizophrenia switched between low and high activity more erratically than those of healthy subjects, allowing the two types of brain to be distinguished by sound alone.

Even though this difference can be seen by looking at the images, Lloyd’s collaborator Vince Calhoun, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, says that there are variations in the music from people with schizophrenia that are not visually obvious.

“It almost sounds like there is more background warbling,” he says.

The researcher believes that such “unsteady rhythms and cadences” may be indicative of dysfunction in the brain.

Lloyd further observed that the sounds and rhythms in the brains of people with dementia also distinguished from those in the brains of healthy volunteers.

He is now keen on exploring the aesthetic aspects of brain music.

“It’s not quite like composed sound but it’s not random either, it’s ‘almost music’. My students are putting it on their playlists,” he said. (ANI)

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Conversing helps kids better develop language skills than reading

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, June 30 (ANI): Having conversations with your children could help them develop language skills, according to a new study.

The study by UCLA researchers has found that adult-child conversations have a more significant impact on language development than exposing children to language through one-on-one reading alone.

“Paediatricians and others have encouraged parents to provide language input through reading, storytelling and simple narration of daily events,” explains study’s lead author, Dr. Frederick J. Zimmerman, associate professor in the Department of Health Services in the UCLA School of Public Health.

“Although sound advice, this form of input may not place enough emphasis on children’s role in language-based exchanges and the importance of getting children to speak as much as possible,” Zimmerman added.

The study of 275 families of children ages 0-4 was designed to test factors that contribute to language development of infants and toddlers.

Participants’ exposure to adult speech, child speech and television was measured using a small digital language recorder or processor known as the LENA System.

This innovative technology allowed researchers to hear what was truly going on in a child’s language environment, facilitating access to valuable new insights.

The study found that back-and-forth conversation was strongly associated with future improvements in the child’s language score.

Conversely, adult monologueing, such as monologic reading, was more weakly associated with language development. TV viewing had no effect on language development, positive or negative.

“What’s new here is the finding that the effect of adult-child conversations was roughly six times as potent at fostering good language development as adult speech input alone,” Zimmerman said.

The study has been published in the July issue of Paediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Paediatrics. (ANI)

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