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Declining CO2 levels helped in Antarctic formation 34 million years ago

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 14 (ANI): In a major research study, the link between declining carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the earth’s atmosphere and the formation of the Antarctic ice caps some 34 million years ago has been confirmed for the first time.

The research was carried out by a team of scientists from Cardiff, Bristol and Texas A and M universities, in a small East African village, where they extracted microfossils in samples of rocks which show the level of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere at the time of the formation of the ice-cap.

Geologists have long speculated that the formation of the Antarctic ice-cap was caused by a gradually diminishing natural greenhouse effect.

The study’s findings confirm that atmospheric CO2 declined during the Eocene – Oligocene climate transition and that the Antarctic ice sheet began to form when CO2 in the atmosphere reached a tipping point of around 760 parts per million (by volume).

According to Professor Paul Pearson from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, who led the mission to the remote East Africa village of Stakishari, “About 34 million years ago, the Earth experienced a mysterious cooling trend. Glaciers and small ice sheets developed in Antarctica, sea levels fell and temperate forests began to displace tropical-type vegetation in many areas.”

“The period, known to geologists as the Eocene – Oligocene transition, culminated in the rapid development of a continental-scale ice sheet on Antarctica, which has been there ever since,” he said.

“We therefore set out to establish whether there was a substantial decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as the Antarctic ice sheet began to grow,” he added.

The team mapped large expanses of bush and wilderness and pieced together the underlying local rock formations using occasional outcrops of rocks and stream beds.

Eventually, they discovered sediments of the right age near a traditional African village called Stakishari.

By assembling a drilling rig and extracting hundreds of meters of samples from under the ground, they were able to obtain exactly the piece of Earth’s history they had been searching for.

According to co-author Dr Gavin Foster from the University of Bristol Earth Sciences Department, “By using the rather unique set of samples from Tanzania and a new analytical technique that I developed, we have, for the first time, been able to reconstruct the concentration of CO2 across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary – the time period about 34 million years ago when ice sheets first started to grow on Eastern Antarctica.” (ANI)

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Sea levels rose as much as 2 feet this summer along the US East Coast

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 12 (ANI): Reports indicate that sea levels rose as much as 2 feet (60 centimeters) higher than predicted this summer along the US East Coast, surprising scientists who forecast such periodic fluctuations.

According to National Geographic News, though the immediate cause of the unexpected rise has now been solved, the underlying reason remains a mystery.

Usually, predicting seasonal tides and sea levels is a pretty cut-and-dried process, governed by the known movements and gravitational influences of astronomical bodies like the moon, according to Rich Edwing, deputy director for the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

But, NOAA’s phones began ringing this summer when East Coast residents reported higher than predicted water levels, much like those associated with short-term weather events like tropical storms.

These high seas persisted for weeks, throughout June and July.

The startling rise caused only minor coastal flooding, but puzzled scientists.

Now, a new report has identified the two major factors behind the high sea levels-a weakened Gulf Stream and steady winds from the northeastern Atlantic.

The Gulf Stream is a northward-flowing superhighway of ocean water off the US East Coast.

Running at full steam, the powerful current pulls water into its “orbit” and away from the East Coast.

But this summer, for reasons unknown, “the Gulf Stream slowed down,” Edwing said, sending water toward the coasts-and sea levels shooting upward.

Adding to the sustained surge, autumn winds from the northeastern Atlantic arrived a few months early, pushing even more water coastward.

The higher waters caused inconveniences for some anglers and boaters and rearranged a bit of shoreline.

“A couple of sand beaches we’d normally fish from were eaten up. And the volume of water was higher than it normally would be,” said Paulie Apostolides, owner of Paulie’s Tackle in Montauk on New York State’s Long Island.

Even before the new report, released by NOAA on September 2, Apostolides said that many local fishers had already attributed the sea level rise to the “ferocious” winds from the northeast. (ANI)

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Machines can’t recognise images like humans as yet

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 10 (ANI): Computers might have reached a point where they can replicate many aspects of human behaviour, but still they cannot recognize distorted images like humans do, says a team of Penn State researchers.

James Z. Wang, along with Ritendra Datta and Jia Li at Penn State, explored the difference in human and machine recognition of visual concepts under various image distortions.

“Our goal is to seek a better understanding of the fundamental differences between humans and machines and utilize this in developing automated methods for distinguishing humans and robotic programs,” said Wang.

The researchers used those differences to design image-based CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart), visual devices used to prevent automated network attacks.

Many e-commerce web sites use CAPTCHAs, which are randomly generated sets of words that a user types in a box provided in order to complete a registration or purchasing process. This is done to verify that the user is human and not a robotic program.

In the study, a demonstration program with an image-based CAPTCHA called IMAGINATION was presented on imagination.alipr.com.

Both humans and robotic programs were observed using the CAPTCHA.

While the scope of the human users was limited, the results of the study proved that robotic programs were not able to recognize distorted images.

In other words, a computer recognition program had to rely on an accurate picture, while humans were able to tell what the picture was even though it was distorted.

Wang said that he is hoping to work with developers in the future to make IMAGINATION a CAPTCHA program that Web sites can use to strengthen the prevention of automated network attacks.

Although machine recognizability does not exceed human recognizability at this time, Wang is optimistic that it would be possible in the future.

“We are seeing more intelligently designed computer programs that can harness a large volume of online data, much more than a typical human can experience in a lifetime, for knowledge generation and automatic recognition. If certain obstacles, which many believe to be insurmountable, such as scalability and image representation, can be overcome, it is possible that one day machine recognizability can reach that of humans,” said Wang.

The study has been presented in the latest issue of IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security. (ANI)

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Aquaculture accounts for 50 percent of fish consumed globally

September 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 8 (ANI): A new report by an international team of researchers has determined that aquaculture, once a fledgling industry, now accounts for 50 percent of the fish consumed globally.

The findings are published in the Sept. 7 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Aquaculture is set to reach a landmark in 2009, supplying half of the total fish and shellfish for human consumption,” according to the authors.

Between 1995 and 2007, global production of farmed fish nearly tripled in volume, in part because of rising consumer demand for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Oily fish, such as salmon, are a major source of these omega-3s, which are effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“The huge expansion is being driven by demand,” said lead author Rosamond L. Naylor, a professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Program on Food Security and the Environment.

“As long as we are a health-conscious population trying to get our most healthy oils from fish, we are going to be demanding more of aquaculture and putting a lot of pressure on marine fisheries to meet that need,” Naylor added.

To maximize growth and enhance flavor, aquaculture farms use large quantities of fishmeal and fish oil made from less valuable wild-caught species, including anchoveta and sardine.

“With the production of farmed fish eclipsing that of wild fish, another major transition is also underway: Aquaculture’s share of global fishmeal and fish oil consumption more than doubled over the past decade to 68 percent and 88 percent, respectively,” said the authors.

In 2006, aquaculture production was 51.7 million metric tons, and about 20 million metric tons of wild fish were harvested for the production of fishmeal.

“It can take up to 5 pounds of wild fish to produce 1 pound of salmon, and we eat a lot of salmon,” said Naylor, the William Wrigley Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

One way to make salmon farming more environmentally sustainable is to simply lower the amount of fish oil in the salmon’s diet.

According to the authors, a mere 4 percent reduction in fish oil would significantly reduce the amount of wild fish needed to produce 1 pound of salmon from 5 pounds to just 3.9 pounds. (ANI)

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Antarctica’s plumbing system more dynamic than previously believed

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 2 (ANI): Scientists, using space-based lasers on a NASA satellite have created the most comprehensive inventory of lakes that actively drain or fill under Antarctica’s ice, which has revealed a continental plumbing system that is more dynamic than previously thought.

“Even though Antarctica’s ice sheet looks static, the more we watch it, the more we see there is activity going on there all the time,” said Benjamin Smith of the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study.

Unlike most lakes, Antarctic lakes are under pressure from the ice above. That pressure can push melt water from place to place like water in a squeezed balloon.

The water moves under the ice in a broad, thin layer, but also through a linked cavity system. This flow can resupply other lakes near and far.

Understanding this plumbing is important, as it can lubricate glacier flow and send the ice speeding toward the ocean, where it can melt and contribute to sea level change.

But figuring out what’s happening beneath miles of ice is a challenge.

Researchers led by Smith analyzed 4.5 years of ice elevation data from NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation satellite (ICESat) to create the most complete inventory to date of changes in the Antarctic plumbing system.

The team has mapped the location of 124 active lakes, estimated how fast they drain or fill, and described the implications for lake and ice-sheet dynamics.

Smith, Helen Fricker, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and colleagues extended their elevation analysis to cover most of the Antarctic continent and 4.5 years of data from ICESat’s Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS).

By observing how ice sheet elevation changed between the two or three times the satellite flew over a section every year, researchers could determine which lakes were active.

They also used the elevation changes and the properties of water and ice to estimate the volume change.

Only a few of the more than 200 previously identified lakes were confirmed active, implying that lakes in East Antarctica’s high-density “Lakes District” are mostly inactive and do not contribute much to ice sheet changes.

Most of the 124 newly observed active lakes turned up in coastal areas, at the head of large drainage systems, which have the largest potential to contribute to sea level change.

According to Robert Bindschadler, a glaciologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, “The survey shows that most active subglacial lakes are located where the ice is moving fast, which implies a relationship.” (ANI)

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Maruti sells nearly 85,000 vehicles in Aug.2009

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep.1 (ANI): Maruti Suzuki India Limited, India’s car market leader, sold a total of 84,808 vehicles in August 2009, growing 41.6 percent in the month. This includes exports of 14,847 units, the highest ever monthly export in the company’s history.

A company release said it had sold a total of 59,908 vehicles in August 2008.

Maruti Suzuki’s volume in the domestic A2 segment grew by 39.3 per cent. In the A3 segment the sales volume grew by 44.1 cent during the month as compared to sales in August 2008.

During the month the company crossed the milestone of 50,000 cumulative exports in this fiscal. A star is Maruti Suzuki’s flagship export model. A star, which was introduced internationally in January 2009, has been leading the export numbers since introduction. The major markets for this model in Europe include Germany, UK, France and Netherlands.

In the last week of August 2009, the company introduced the Estilo with a bolder new look and the latest, 1-litre, BS-IV compliant, K-series engine. (ANI)

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India’s first moon mission may be over, says project director

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bangalore, Aug 29 (ANI):India’s ambitious moon mission — Chandrayaan-I — has probably ended after losing radio contact since Saturday noon, said its project director M. Annadurai, but Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said scientists will evaluate the performance of the mission over the next two days before deciding whether or not to call it off.

Earlier, in the day the flamboyant spacecraft had lost the radio control at around 1.30 a.m. IST, increasing fears of a premature end of the spacecraft.

According to a press release by the ISRO, the deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore has not received any signal form the spacecraft since midnight.

“Radio contact with Chandrayaan-I spacecraft was abruptly lost at 0130 Hrs (IST) on August 29, 2009. Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore received the data from Chandrayaan-I during the previous orbit upto 0025 Hrs (IST),”the press release states.he ISRO has ordered for a detailed review of the data received by the spacecraft, “Detailed review of the Telemetry data received from the spacecraft is in progress and health of the spacecraft subsystems is being analysed,” press release states.

Earlier, on July 17, the flamboyant moon mission Chandrayaan-I, had lost a major sensor. The scientific community then feared the premature end of the spacecraft.

The Chandrayaan-I, which was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh in October 2008, has completed over 350 days in orbit making more than 3400 orbits around the Moon and providing large volume of data from sophisticated sensors.

The spacecraft was equipped with Terrain Mapping Camera, Hyper-spectral Imager, Moon Mineralogy Mapper etc.,

The ISRO scientists expressed confidence of attaining most of the scientific objectives of the mission.

Addressing the Ninth convocation of the International Institute of Information and Technology at Bangalore last month, Nair said the tracking and detection of several factors by Chandrayaan are important steps in mapping the mineralogical composition of moon’s surface, which in turn would enable further study in its origin and evolution.

“I think I am happy to say that Chandrayaan has been completely successful in collecting all the data what we wanted. First was the three dimensional of the lunar surface, also getting the mineral content of the surface and then trying to use the extra instruments,” said Nair.

“All this went on very well and we are more or less very happy that the mission is complete,” he added.

Nair also added that the second moon mission would be launched by 2012. (ANI)

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Young animals better at keeping warm than previously believed

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 21 (ANI): A new study has found that young muskoxen conserve heat almost as well as adults, a finding that runs contrary to a longstanding assumption among scientists that young animals should be more vulnerable in extreme cold.

Biologist Adam Munn from the University of Sydney, Australia, carried out the study.

Surviving freezing winters is tough for any animal, but it is generally assumed to be tougher on the young.

Young animals theoretically should have a harder time holding heat because they have larger ratios of surface area to body volume, meaning more of their body mass is directly exposed to the cold.

That theory appeared to hold true for muskoxen-shaggy vegetarians that look a bit like buffalo, but are actually more closely related to sheep.

Scientists have previously reported high death rates for muskox calves during especially cold winters in their arctic habitats.

But, in measuring heat loss in adult and young muskoxen, Munn and his research team found that the cold itself might not be the culprit.

“To our surprise, we found that the smaller calves were not more thermally stressed than larger adults,” said Munn.

Munn and his team observed a population of muskoxen at the University of Alaska’s R.G. White Large Animal Research Facility in Fairbanks.

They used infrared sensing equipment to measure heat loss from the body surface of animals in contact with cold air and the frozen ground.

Munn tested the muskoxen during winter foraging, when the animals were the most directly exposed to the cold.

The researchers found that both calves and adults sacrificed only two to six percent of their daily energy intake to heat loss during foraging bouts, even when temperatures dipped to minus 50 Celsius (minus 58 Fahrenheit).

“This suggests that any thermoregulatory constraints associated with a small body size may not be as important for calf survival as previously thought,” Munn said.

“This is important because calf mortality in muskoxen and other large arctic herbivores has been variously linked with severe winters, which are expected to increase in number and severity with current climate trends,” he added.

“However, we present evidence that thermal costs per se may not be driving calf mortalities in muskoxen,” he said.

Muskoxen have a variety of ways to fight heat loss. They are insulated by thick fur called qiviut, and they likely have the ability to direct blood away from their extremities in cold weather. (ANI)

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‘Indestructible’ plastics decompose quickly to toxify world’s oceans

August 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 20 (ANI): A new study has determined that plastics, which are reputed to be virtually indestructible, decompose with surprising speed and release potentially toxic substances into the water.

This is the first study to look at what happens over the years to the billions of pounds of plastic waste floating in the world’s oceans.

Scientists always believed that plastics in the oceans were unsightly, but a hazard mainly to marine animals that eat or become ensnared in plastic objects.

“Plastics in daily use are generally assumed to be quite stable,” said study lead researcher Katsuhiko Saido.

“We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future,” he said.

He said that polystyrene begins to decompose within one year, releasing components that are detectable in the parts-per-million range.

Those chemicals also decompose in the open water and inside marine life.

However, the volume of plastics in the ocean is increasing, so that decomposition products remain a potential problem.

According to Saido, a chemist with the College of Pharmacy, Nihon University, Chiba, Japan, his team found that when plastic decomposes, it releases potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer into the water, causing additional pollution.

Plastics usually do not break down in an animal’s body after being eaten. However, the substances released from decomposing plastic are absorbed and could have adverse effects.

BPA and PS oligomer are sources of concern because they can disrupt the functioning of hormones in animals and can seriously affect reproductive systems.

Some studies suggest that low-level exposure to BPA released from certain plastic containers and the linings of cans may have adverse health effects.

Saido described a new method to simulate the breakdown of plastic products at low temperatures, such as those found in the oceans.

The process involves modeling plastic decomposition at room temperature, removing heat from the plastic and then using a liquid to extract the BPA and PS oligomer.

Typically, styrofoam is crushed into pieces in the ocean and finding these is no problem, he said.

But, when the study team was able to degrade the plastic, it discovered that three new compounds not found in nature formed, which are highly toxic. (ANI)

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Tone-deaf people lack an important neural pathway

August 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 19 (ANI): Researchers have found that the nerve fibres that link perception and motor regions of the brain are disconnected in tone-deaf people.

According to experts’ estimates, at least 10 percent of the population may be tone deaf – unable to sing in tune.

The new finding has pinpointed a particular brain circuit that is believed to be absent in these individuals.

“The anomaly suggests that tone-deafness may be a previously undetected neurological syndrome similar to other speech and language disorders, in which connections between perceptual and motor regions are impaired,” said Dr. Psyche Loui, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, one of the study’s authors.

For the study, the researchers used an MRI-based technique called diffusion tensor imaging to examine connections between the right temporal and frontal lobes.

It is known that this region, a neural “highway” called the arcuate fasciculus, is involved in linking music and language perception with vocal production.

They took brain images of 20 people, half of whom had been identified as tone-deaf through listening tests.

The arcuate fasciculus was smaller in volume, and had a lower fibre count in the tone-deaf individuals.

Particularly, the superior branch of the arcuate fasciculus in the right hemisphere could not be detected in the tone-deaf individuals.

Thus, the researchers speculated that this could mean the branch is missing entirely, or is so abnormally deformed that it appears invisible to even the most advanced neuroimaging methods.

“The findings are clear. They show that the arcuate fasciculus, a structure long-known to join perceptual and motor areas, has reduced connectivity in individuals with tone deafness. Beyond improving our understanding of the anatomical underpinnings of tone-deafness, this study provides new insight into a person’s ability to detect pitch,” said Dr. Nina Kraus, at Northwestern University.

The findings add to previous work by the same researchers demonstrating that tone-deaf people could not consciously hear their own singing, and work by other researchers indicating abnormalities in brain regions that affect sound perception and production.

The study has been published in the latest issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. (ANI)

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Smoking may lead to brain damage in multiple sclerosis patients

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 18 (ANI): Cigarette smoking can cause brain damage in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study.

Scientists at the University at Buffalo have shown that MS patients who smoked for a little as six months during their lifetime had more destruction of brain tissue and more brain atrophy than the patients who never smoked.

“Cigarette smoking is one of the most compelling environmental risk factors linked to the development and worsening of MS,” said Dr Robert Zivadinov, UB professor of neurology, director of the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (BNAC) where the research was conducted and first author on the study.

“The biological basis of the potential link between smoking and MS has not yet been fully elucidated.

“In addition to nicotine, cigarette smoke contains hundreds of potentially toxic components, including tar, carbon monoxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

“In MS patients, smoking was associated with higher increased lesion burden and greater brain atrophy. Our results indicate that a wide range of quantitative brain MRI markers are affected by smoking in MS patients,” he added.

The study involved 368 patients from the Baird Multiple Sclerosis Center of the Jacobs Neurological Institute (JNI), where 128 had a history of smoking: 96 were active smokers who had smoked more than 10 cigarettes-per-day in the three months prior to the study start and 32 were former smokers who had smoked cumulatively for at least six months sometime in the past.

The remaining 240 participants were lifelong nonsmokers.

They found that that smokers with MS had a greater breakdown of the blood-brain barrier.

They had nearly 17 percent more brain lesions – patches of inflammation in the sheath surrounding the nerve fibres that impair their function – than nonsmokers with MS, and also had less brain volume.

Smoking also was associated with increased physical disability.

“The findings underscore the detrimental effect of smoking, providing a link between smoking and a more severe brain injury in MS patients,” said Dr Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, director of the Baird MS Center, UB associate professor of neurology and a principal co-author on the study.

The study appears in Neurology(r), the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: academy, addition, American, Analysis, ANI, atrophy, Aug, author, baird, barrier, basis, bianca, biological basis, blood brain barrier, BNAC, brain, brain atrophy, brain damage, brain lesions, brain tissue, brain volume, breakdown, buffalo, burden, carbon, center, centre, cigarette, cigarette smoke, cigarette smoking, co-author, damage, destruction, Development, director, disability, Dr. Robert Zivadinov, effect, Environmental Risk Factors, function, Guttman, history, inflammation, injury, institute, jacobs, JNI, journal, lesion, Lesion Burden, lifetime, link, monoxide, mri, ms patients, multiple, multiple sclerosis center, nerve, nerve fibres, Neuroimaging, Neurological, neurological institute, neurology, nicotine, past, percent, physical disability, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, professor, range, Research, risk, sclerosis, Sclerosis Patients, sheath, smoke, smoking, start, study, tar, tissue, Toxic Components, University, university at buffalo, volume, Washington, Weinstock, worsening

BHEL and Mahagenco to set up Joint Venture

August 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

BHEL and Mahagenco to set up Joint Venture

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) will set up a joint venture (JV) with Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (Mahagenco) to set up supercritical thermal power plant with a maximum capacity of 1,500 MW at Latur in Maharashtra, reports Economic Times.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect will be signed on August 12

Mahagenco said that the JV would invest Rs 70 billion in the project. Initially, BHEL and Mahagenco would hold 50% stake each, which would later be reduced to 26% each, by offering the remaining shares to financial institutions.

The contours of the plan suggest that the venture will have two 660 MW coal-fired thermal units.

The plan also envisages setting up 1500 MW gas-based power unit in the absence of adequate coal linkage.

For more such Financial and Indian Stock Market News visit http://buzzingstock.in

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), bhel, BuzzingStock, coal, Contours, economic times, financial institutions, Imum, Indian Stock Market, joint venture, jv, Latur, linkage, ma, Mahagenco, Maharashtra, maximum capacity, memorandum of understanding, mou, mw, plant, power, power generation company, project, Remaining Shares, setting, stake, Stock Market News, thermal power plant, venture, volume

Loud music lovers will only heed experts’ advice to prevent going deaf: MTV Survey

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 14 (ANI): Loud music lovers would turn down the volume or use ear protection if told to do so by a health care expert, suggests a new Vanderbilt study carried out along with MTV.com shows.

Roland Eavey, director of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, conducted the research in 2007 while working at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard.

Eavey’s study, a follow-up to his groundbreaking 2002 MTV survey, discovered the media as the most informative source in guiding about risk of permanent hearing loss.

The “Intentional Exposure to Loud Music: The 2nd MTV.com Survey Reveals an Opportunity to Educate” also found that the health care community was the least likely source, despite respondents saying they would change behavior if an expert warned them to the problem.

Eavey said: “Since our last study we have learned that enough people still are not yet aware, but that more are becoming aware, especially through the help of the media.

“We have learned that the audience does use public health behaviors like sunscreen, designated drivers and seatbelts and that the health care community is the least likely source of informing patients about hearing loss, so we have an excellent opportunity to start educating patients.”

Eavey further alerted that “hearing loss from excessive sound volume is preventable … and once it happens, the loss is permanent and cannot be reversed. Even hearing aids might not help that type of hearing loss and the ringing of the ears that can occur.”

The study has been published in the Journal of Pediatrics. (ANI)

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Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif elated over New York’s success

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, July 12 (ANI): Having already given many hit movies, Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif is ecstatic over the success of her latest movie ‘New York’.

The film is based on the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks and it stars well-known actors like John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, and Irrfan Khan in the lead.
“New York was really one of the most special films for me. It is an amazing story and for me it was such a connected film. I really wanted to do the film to do well. I am so happy that it did. Also for director Mr. Kabir Khan; he is really one of the nicest people I know and I really wanted to work for him and I think we all are really happy that it worked….,” said Kaif on the occasion of launch of a jewellery range on Saturday.

Directed by Kabir Khan, ‘New York’ is made on a budget 4.6 million dollars and it revolves round the saga of three friends who live in the city before, during and after the 9/11 attacks.

“New York” puts the spotlight on that aspect of prejudice through the story of Samir (one of the three friends), an American of Indian origin who turns to terrorism after he is picked up by the FBI and brutally tortured for months only because he took some photographs of the twin towers for a school project.

Khan said that while researching for the film he discovered ‘a huge volume of prejudice’ and how at least 1,200 people of different nationalities were detained on the ‘basis of suspicion alone’ after the attack. (ANI)

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Males’ sperm travel faster when females are attractive

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, July 10 (ANI): A new piece of research on red junglefowl, an ancestor of chickens, has shown that males can adjust the speed and effectiveness of their sperm, based on whether they find their mate attractive.

Published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study adds to the growing body of evidence that males from promiscuous species, including humans, increase the chances of fertilisation when the female is deemed to be attractive.

“Female attractiveness is determined by the expression of a sexual ornament – the comb – which is phenotypically and genetically correlated to the number and mass of eggs females lay,” ABC Science quoted co-authors Dr. Charlie Cornwallis, of the University of Oxford, and Dr Emily O’Connor, of the Royal Veterinary College, as saying.

For their study, the researchers collected natural ejaculates from dominate and subordinate red junglefowl males housed at the University of Stockholm.

They reveal that the males had either just mated with attractive or unattractive females.

The researchers later separated the sperm from the seminal fluid, and analysed the quantity and characteristics of both.

“There was a strong relationship between sperm velocity and the volume of the ejaculate sperm came from,” write Cornwallis and O’Connor, adding that males allocated “larger ejaculates to attractive females”.

Although the researchers have yet to unravel the mystery behind it, they have an have an intriguing theory.

“Males may alter the velocity of sperm they allocate to copulations by strategically firing their left and right ejaculatory ducts, which can operate independently,” they say.

Thus, according to them, stimulation from sexy, attractive females leads to the double firing.

“Furthermore, differential firing of left and right ejaculatory ducts may contribute to how males strategically change the number of sperm in their ejaculates, a phenomenon that is widespread, but for which the mechanism remains unknown,” they say.

The researchers now hope that future studies will better identify how males adjust the sperm and seminal fluid in their ejaculates, and how this affects fertility rates. (ANI)

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Scientists see dramatic increase in amount of fresh water in Arctic Ocean

July 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 5 (ANI): A new study by scientists has shown a dramatic increase in the amount of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean.

Fresh water flowing into or out of the Arctic Ocean plays an important role in ocean circulation and may be a factor in the response of the world ocean to climate change.

To study recent change in freshwater content of the Arctic, M. G. McPhee from the McPhee Research Co., Naches, Washington, US, and his colleagues analyzed data from an extensive aerial hydrographic survey carried out in March and April 2008.

Their study shows a dramatic increase in the amount of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean as well as a significant change in the distribution of fresh water, as compared with average winter values.

In particular, the researchers found that freshwater volume in the Canada and Makarov basins on the Pacific side of the Lomonosov Ridge increased by about 8,500 cubic kilometers (about 2,000 cubic miles), while the freshwater volume on the Eurasian area decreased by about 1,100 cubic kilometers (about 260 cubic miles).

The freshening of the Arctic occurred in conjunction with the recent dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice, the authors note.

They found that these changes have altered Arctic Ocean circulation, with a large increase in northward transport of fresh water in the Canada Basin. (ANI)

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Daily sex ‘helps improve sperm quality’

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 1 (ANI): Having sex every day improves men’s sperm quality, an Australian study has revealed.

In a study of men with fertility problems, researchers found that daily ejaculation for a week cut the amount of DNA damage seen in sperm samples.

“All that we knew was that intercourse on the day of ovulation offered the highest chance of pregnancy, but we did not know what was the best advice for the period leading up to ovulation or egg retrieval for IVF,” Dr David Greening, an obstetrician and gynaecologist with sub specialist training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Sydney IVF, Wollongong, Australia, said.

“I thought that frequent ejaculation might be a physiological mechanism to improve sperm DNA damage, while maintaining semen levels within the normal, fertile range,” he added.

To investigate this hypothesis, Greening studied 118 men who had higher than normal sperm DNA damage as indicated by a DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI).

Men who had a more than 15 percent of their sperm damaged were eligible for the trial. At Sydney IVF, sperm DNA damage is defined as less than 15 percent DFI for excellent quality sperm, 15-24 percent DFI for good, 25-29 percent DFI for fair and more than 29 percent DFI for poor quality; but other laboratories can have slightly different ranges.

The men were instructed to ejaculate daily for seven days, and no other treatment or lifestyle changes were suggested. Before they started, levels of DNA damage ranged between 15 percent and 98 percent DFI, with an average 34 percent DFI when measured after three days’ abstinence.

When the men’s sperm was re-assessed on the seventh day, Greening found that 81 percent men had an average 12 percent decrease in their sperm DNA damage, while 19 percent men and an average increase in damage of nearly 10 percent. The average for the whole group dropped to 26 percent DFI.

“Although the mean average was 26 percent which is in the ‘fair’ range for sperm quality, this included 18 percent of men whose sperm DNA damage increased as well as those whose DNA damage decreased,” Greening said.

“Amongst the men whose damage decreased, their average dropped by 12 percent to just under 23 percent DFI, which puts them in the ‘good’ range.

Also, more men moved into the ‘good’ range and out of the ‘poor’ or ‘fair’ range. These changes were substantial and statistically highly significant.

“In addition, we found that although frequent ejaculation decreased semen volume and sperm concentrations, it did not compromise sperm motility and, in fact, this rose slightly but significantly.

“Further research is required to see whether the improvement in these men’s sperm quality translates into better pregnancy rates, but other, previous studies have shown the relationship between sperm DNA damage and pregnancy rates,” he added.

Greening said he thought the reason why sperm quality improved with frequent ejaculation was because the sperm had a shorter exposure in the testicular ducts and epididymis to reactive oxygen species – very small molecules, high levels of which can damage cells.

“The remainder of the men who had an increase in DFI might have a different explanation for their sperm DNA damage,” he said.

The study has been presented at the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam. (ANI)

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Incisionless procedure ‘reverses weight gain after gastric bypass surgery’

June 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 30 (ANI): Scientists have offered an incisionless procedure to reverse weight gain after gastric bypass surgery.

To perform the procedure, known as ROSE (Restorative Obesity Surgery, Endolumenal), a small, flexible endoscope and tools are inserted through the mouth, down the esophagus, and into the stomach pouch during an outpatient procedure.

The tools, developed by USGI Medical Inc., are used to grasp, fold and stitch tissue to reduce both the diameter of the stomach opening and the volume of the stomach pouch. No cuts are made into the patient’s skin.

Santiago Horgan, MD, professor of surgery and director of the Center for the Treatment of Obesity at UC San Diego, looked at the six-month outcomes from a national registry of 116 patients who underwent the procedure.

The data showed that 88 percent of the patients stopped regaining weight after ROSE.

Overall, these 96 patients lost an average 18 percent of their excess weight six months after the procedure. For the purposes of the registry, excess body weight is defined as anything over a body mass index rating of 55.

One patient in the study lost 66 pounds or 84 percent of her excess weight during that six-month time period. Patients who were most successful losing weight after their original gastric bypass had the best results following the ROSE procedure.

This subset of patients dropped 29 percent of their excess weight during the six months after ROSE.

“We believe this registry represents the largest collection of data showing the effectiveness, safety and durability of the ROSE procedure,” said Horgan.

“There are not many options to repair a failing gastric bypass. Invasive procedures to restore the anatomy are complicated and risky for most patients. In comparison, there were no significant complications associated with ROSE and most of the patients lost clinically relevant amounts of weight,” Horgan added.

The data was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons. (ANI)

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Ancient Mars lake may have held as much water as Lake Champlain in US

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 20 (ANI): Scientists have found evidence of the remnants of an ancient lake nestled in a valley near the Martian equator, which may have held as much water as Lake Champlain.

According to a report in Disocvery News, the evidence was found by Gaetano di Achille and a team of researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder, US, in the form of an ancient shoreline ringing Shalbatana Vallis, a gash in Mars’ surface just east of the massive volcanic province, Tharsis Rise.

Though dry and frigid now, the traces it left behind hint at a water body younger than any other on the planet, and its sediments are a prime target for finding fossilized alien life.

When Mars coalesced billions of years ago it was much warmer, and probably wet. Features that appear to be eroded river deltas more than 3.7 billion years old dot parts of the planet’s surface.

Researchers have speculated they are evidence of lakes – and primitive life may have once existed on the surface.

Now, Gaetano’s team of researchers estimated from powerful images obtained using the powerful High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), that the ancient lake was 450 meters (1,476 feet) deep and nearly identical in volume to Lake Champlain in Vermont.

Even more intriguingly, it dried up around 3.4 billion years ago – 300 million years after the Red Planet’s “warm and wet” phase is thought to have ended.

Its deltas appear rich in fine-grained sediments, a sign that they have been relatively untouched by erosion.

“Deltas are high priority targets for exploration because they imply copious and long-lived water,” team member Brian Hynek of the University of Colorado in Boulder told Discovery News. “And the sedimentation process is very effective at burying and preserving organic material,” he said.

The lake is a tempting place to look for fossilized alien life forms.

“Life wouldn’t have arisen in this lake, but lakes on Earth provide many habitats for countless organisms,” said Patrick McGovern of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

“This lake could have helped sustain and proliferate life on Mars, if it ever arose,” he added. (ANI)

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Masterline Telebiz, a leading SIM card-manufacturer in India

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mohali, June 19 (ANI): The telecom revolution in India has proved to be a boon for the related firms of this sector.

One such company is Mohali-based Masterline Telebiz, which is producing mobile recharge cards for most of the mobile telecom operators in India. It is now foraying into mobile telephone SIM cards for international players too.

Masterline Telebiz has revolutionized the phone card industry by positioning itself among the leading SIM card-manufacturers in India.

Naresh Nanda, an electrical engineer from Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh, started the company with a small team in Chandigarh and began supplying recharge cards at Rs. 17 a card to telecom service providers.

Today, the same card fetches him 60 paise i.e. almost a cent per card. It’s still viable for the company, as the volume have grown manifold.

Nanda tells that his company deals with all leading mobile operators who have head on competition for survival. Today, call charges have fallen drastically. They have to compress their operational costs and that pressure comes on us.

“We have to learn from their example so I have a lot of competition. We are the first movers in these industry. We have learnt a lot and still manages survival better than the new entrants because there is advantage of skill sets. There is the advantage of length in these business and plus the expertise know how with the vendors who support us. Now, going forward, the recharge cards hold big growth potential. It is not being fully supported by the numbers of vendors who lack experience and lack professional deliverance. So we have looked them very prospectively about the card business,” said Naresh Nanda, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Masterline.

Masterline has in-house Artwork Studio, which offers expert advice and guidance for the project, right from initial concept through to the finished product.

As the revenue sharing propositions are better with the players in South America and America, Masterline prefers a partnership with global players to offer value added services for 3G Spectrum.

The financial meltdown, according to Nanda came as a blessing as it led to compression in costs.

“The services and the products which we try to sell are necessity based products and I think necessity is quite safeguarded from any recession and the second for our advantage is that the telecom industry which have tremendous growth potential. And, having said that with these potential still lying there, we see a lot of room for us vis-a-vis the competition is concerned competition. Competition is in every line of business but it is the intelligence of every manufacturer to be able to steer his way through the competition by re-engineering the product the concept you can put in the product,” says Nanda.

As the financial markets in India are improving, the company expects the SIM card business to touch two million dollars.

Besides, the company is also in the process of getting a separate trademark for supplying integrated state-of-the-art security systems in Indian market. It has plans to import a range of security equipment from Italy, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. By Sunil Singh (ANI)

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