Alzheimer’s – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com Open Source Entertainment, on Demand. Mon, 22 Feb 2016 02:47:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Alzheimer’s – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com 32 32 Alzheimer’s & Mars Missions | SciByte 90 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/35511/alzheimers-mars-missions-scibyte-90/ Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:43:13 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=35511 We take a look at more Alzheimer's breakthroughs, nuclear fusion to Mars, finding an old Soviet mars probe, a comet aiming for Mars, and more!

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We take a look at more Alzheimer\’s breakthroughs, nuclear fusion to Mars, finding an old Soviet mars probe, a comet aiming for Mars, glasses that read to you, viewer feedback, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Show Notes:

Mysteries of Alzheimer\’s Disease

  • New findings show that brain damage in Alzheimer\’s disease is linked to the overactivation of an enzyme called AMPK
  • In addition findings suggest the need for further safety studies on an existing drug, metformin, a popular treatment for Type 2 Diabetes, causes AMPK activation.
  • What We Know
  • Researchers have known for years that people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer\’s disease begin to lose synapses in certain memory-related brain areas
  • Small aggregates of the protein amyloid beta can cause this, but how they do so has been a mystery
  • Recent Research
  • Until recently, Polleux\’s laboratory has been focused not on Alzheimer\’s research but on the normal development and growth of neurons
  • In 2011 they reported that AMPK overactivation by metformin, among other compounds, in animal models impaired the ability of neurons to grow output stalks, or axons
  • Around the same time, separate research groups found clues that AMPK might also have a role in Alzheimer\’s disease
  • One team used J20 mice, which are genetically engineered to overproduce mutant amyloid beta
  • When they blocked the activity of CAMKK2 or AMPK in those neurons, they completely prevented the spine loss
  • Recent studies have shown that amyloid beta\’s toxicity to dendritic spines (rootlike, synapse-bearing input stalks that receive signals from other neurons) depends largely on the presence of tau, but just how the two Alzheimer\’s proteins interact has been unclear
  • Tangles of tau with multiple phosphorylations, altered function and activity, are known to accumulate in neurons in affected brain areas in Alzheimer
  • Amyloid beta oligomers can\’t cause dendritic spine loss unless AMPK overactivation occurs-and indeed AMPK overactivation on its own can cause the spine loss
  • To determine whether the reported interactions of AMPK with amyloid beta and tau can in fact cause the damage seen in the brains of Alzheimer\’s patients, a postdoctoral research associate began by confirming that amyloid beta, in the small-aggregate (\”oligomer\”) form that is toxic to synapses, does indeed strongly activate AMPK
  • Domino Effect of Biology
  • Amyloid beta oligomers stimulate certain neuronal receptors, which in turn causes an influx of calcium ions into the neurons
  • This calcium influx triggers the activation of an enzyme called CAMKK2, which appears to be the main activator of AMPK in neurons
  • Then AMPK overactivation in neurons is the essential reason for amyloid beta\’s synapse-harming effect
  • Still to Come
  • Colleagues are now following up with further experiments to determine what other toxic processes, such as excessive autophagy, mechanism that involves cell degeneration or dysfunction, are promoted by AMPK overactivation and might also contribute to the long-term aspects of Alzheimer\’s disease progression
  • Scientists are also interested in the long-term effects of blocking AMPK overactivation in the J20 mouse model as well as in other mouse models of Alzheimer\’s disease, which normally develop cognitive deficits at later stages
  • The pharmaceuticals industry is now potentially interested in targeting either CAMKK2 or AMPK
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Clip | Neuron Communication with Dendritic Spines
  • YouTube Clip | Tau tangles
  • YouTube | Inside the Brain: Unraveling the Mystery of Alzheimer\’s Disease [HQ] | AlzheimerUniversal
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Study unravels central mystery of Alzheimer\’s disease | MedicalXpress

— NEWS BYTE —

Quick Trip to Mars

  • Viewer Feedback | Check This Out!
  • Akito
  • The Premise
  • Previous estimates have found that a roundtrip manned mission to Mars would require about 500 days of space travel
  • A team of scientists have published papers calculating the potential for 30- and 90-day expeditions to Mars using a rocket powered by fusion, which would make the trip more practical and less costly
  • Nuclear fusion
  • Nuclear fusion occurs when the nuclei of two or more atoms combine, resulting in a release of energy
  • The sun and other stars convert this energy into light, and the same process gives hydrogen bombs their destructive power
  • The Project
  • Funded through NASA\’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program, it is one of a handful of projects awarded a second round of funding last fall after already receiving phase-one money in a field of 15 projects chosen from more than 700 proposals
  • Last month the team presented their mission analysis for a trip to Mars, along with detailed computer modeling and initial experimental results
  • They have demonstrated successful lab tests of all portions of the process
  • Now, the key will be combining each isolated test into a final experiment that produces fusion using this technology
  • Researchers and scientists are now building components of a fusion-powered rocket aimed to clear many of the hurdles that block deep space travel, including long times in transit, exorbitant costs and health risks
  • Power
  • To power the rocket, the team has devised a system in which a powerful magnetic field causes large metal rings to implode around this plasma, compressing it to a fusion state
  • The converging rings merge to form a shell that ignites the fusion, but only for a few microseconds which is enough energy to quickly heat and ionize the shell
  • This super-heated, ionized metal is ejected out of the rocket nozzle at a high velocity. This process is repeated every minute or so, propelling the spacecraft
  • A small grain of sand of this material has the same energy content as 1 gallon of rocket fuel.
  • Hardware
  • The team had a sample of the collapsed, fist-sized aluminum ring resulting from one of those tests on hand for people to see and touch at the recent NASA symposium
  • Now, the team is working to bring it all together by using the technology to compress the plasma and create nuclear fusion
  • With the flip of a switch, the capacitors are simultaneously triggered to deliver 1 million amps of electricity for a fraction of a second to the magnet, which quickly compresses the metal ring.
  • The mechanical process and equipment used are reasonably straightforward
  • In actual space travel, scientists would use lithium metal as the crushing rings to power the rocket. Lithium is very reactive, and for lab-testing purposes, aluminum works just as well
  • Concerns
  • Nuclear fusion may draw concern because of its application in nuclear bombs, but its use in this scenario is very different
  • The fusion energy for powering a rocket would be reduced by a factor of 1 billion from a hydrogen bomb, too little to create a significant explosion
  • Also, concept uses a strong magnetic field to contain the fusion fuel and guide it safely away from the spacecraft and any passengers within
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | The Fusion Driven Rocket: Animation | FusionDrivenRocket
  • YouTube Channel | Fusion Driven Rocket
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Nuclear Fusion Could Power Rocket to Mars | Space.com
  • Rocket powered by nuclear fusion could send humans to Mars | Phys.org

Soviet Lander Found

  • Viewer Feedback | Check This Out!
  • Allan from TechSnap
  • Soviet Mars 3 Mission
  • On May 28, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the Mars 3 mission which consisted of an orbiter and lander destined for the Red Planet. Just over six months later on December 2, 1971, Mars 3 arrived at Mars
  • The Mars 3 descent module separated from the orbiter and several hours later entered the Martian atmosphere, descending to the surface via a series of parachutes and retrorockets
  • Once safely on the surface, the Mars 3 lander opened its four petal-shaped covers to release the 4.5-kg PROP-M rover contained inside
  • Although it only transmitted for 20 seconds it was the first spacecraft to survive a Mars landing long enough to transmit anything
  • Due to unknown causes, the Mars 3 lander was never heard from or seen again
  • The Search
  • The largest Russian Internet community about Curiosity has been looking through data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, looking for the lost lander.
  • Subscribers did the preliminary search for Mars 3 via crowdsourcing
  • Coordinators modeled what Mars 3 hardware pieces should look like in a HiRISE image, and the group carefully searched the many small features in this large image, finding what appear to be viable candidates
  • The predicted Mars 3 landing site was at latitude 45 degrees south, longitude 202 degrees east, in Ptolemaeus Crater
  • HiRISE acquired a large image at this location in November 2007, and promising candidates for the hardware from Mars 3 were found on Dec. 31, 2012
  • Likely Features
  • Four features from the image resemble four pieces of hardware from the Mars 3 mission: the parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket and lander.
  • Each candidate has a size and shape consistent with the expected hardware, and they are arranged on the surface as expected from the entry, descent and landing sequence
  • A follow-up image by the orbiter from last month shows the same features
  • Further analysis of the data and future images to better understand the three-dimensional shapes may help to confirm this interpretation
  • Off all the feature the the candidate parachute is the most distinctive feature, an especially bright spot for this region, about 8.2 yards (7.5 meters) in diameter
  • The parachute would have a diameter of 12 yards (11 meters) if fully spread out over the surface
  • This set of features and their layout on the ground provide a remarkable match to what is expected from the Mars 3 landing, but alternative explanations for the features cannot be ruled out
  • Multimedia
  • Image | Graphic of the lander pieces and candidates | Credit: Vitali Eerogov
  • Image | Could This Be the Mars Soviet 3 Lander? | nasa.gov
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Mars 3 | Wikipedia
  • Mars orbiter images may show 1971 Soviet lander | Phys.org
  • Soviet Lander Spotted by Mars Orbiter | UniverseToday.com
  • NASA Mars Orbiter Images May Show 1971 Soviet Lander | masr.jpl.nasa.gov
  • New Mars Photos May Reveal 1970s Soviet Lander | Space.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Comet Aiming to Hit Mars is Going to Miss

  • The Discovery
  • The comet C/2013 A1 was discovered in the beginning of 2013 by comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia
  • When the discovery was initially made, astronomers looked back over their observations to find “prerecovery” images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012.
  • These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 right through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014
  • New Observations
  • The latest orbital plot places the comet’s closest approach to Mars slightly closer than previous estimates
  • The new data has also significantly reduces the probability the comet will impact the Red Planet, JPL said, from about 1 in 8,000 to about 1 in 120,000.
  • The closest approach is now estimated at about 68,000 miles (110,000 kilometers). The most previous estimates had it whizzing by at 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers).
  • The latest estimated time for close approach to Mars is about 11:51 a.m. PDT (18:51 UTC) on Oct. 19, 2014
  • Future observations of the comet are expected to refine the orbit further
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | Animation of the Orbit of Comet C 2013 A1 and MArs | INSANE! COMET C 2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) comes close to MARS | Valeria Gusmão
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • New Calculations Effectively Rule Out Comet Impacting Mars in 2014 | UniverseToday.com

Glasses That Read to You

  • Where it Started
  • The project began with a challenge issued by faculty member Seema Pissaris, founder of Games Trader
  • Last fall, Pissaris urged students in several of her classes to think about developing a social entrepreneurship project
  • It has now has been hailed by venture investors as a potentially breakthrough product that could make a difference for disabled people worldwide
    nt
  • EyeTalk
  • Eyetalk is designed to be portable, affordable, and operate without requiring an Internet connection
  • It will allow a blind user to access printed material while walking around a store or library, which now requires bulkier, more expensive equipment
  • Future versions of Eyetalk will target a global market and enable users to hear information aloud in one of many languages.
  • An early prototype, known as the FreedomLens, was one of 16 semi-finalists chosen from 29 nations to present at the 2013 Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC), February 25-30 at the University of Washington\’s Foster School of Business in Seattle
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | EYETalk: read printed text to the blind | equityplus
  • YouTube | Demonstration of glasses that read for you | FloridaInternational
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Eyes4Blind.com
  • Eyeglasses read to the blind | Phys.org

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Visiting Mars

  • Jacob F. Roecker ‏@jacobroecker
  • If we landed someone on mars would they go to the same spot as the rovers or pick someplace new?
  • My Opinion
  • It’s not cheating to say it depends.
  • We will use Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, to help determine the best locations to land
  • There will be specific qualifications for a landing site including soil composition and terrain
  • On one hand, you want to be able to break all new science in different locations, possibly where rovers would have a hard time going
  • On the other hand, if one of the rovers find some very exciting data it might sense to go back to that location where

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • April 17, 1930 | 93 years ago | Synthetic rubber | The discovery of a new rubber-like compound was recorded by Dr. Arnold M. Collins in his laboratory notebook. He had noticed that a mixture that had stood from some weeks before, had solidified “to white, somewhat rubber-like masses,” from polymerization of monovinylacetylene mixed with concentrated HCl. He theorized the new compound was 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene. His research group at the Du Pont Company, over the next several weeks, but only gradually, recognized its potential as the first synthetic rubber. Wallace Carothers named it chloroprene. It was announced as DuPrene on 2 Nov 1931. From 1936, it is known as Neoprene.
  • After more development, it was sold as a material useful for products impervious to oil, for electrical wire insulation and as a coating compound. It is now used in a wide variety of applications, such as laptop sleeves, orthopedic braces (wrist, knee, etc.), electrical insulation, liquid and sheet applied elastomeric membranes or flashings, and automotive fan belts

Looking up this week

The post Alzheimer's & Mars Missions | SciByte 90 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Color Blindness & Bionics | SciByte 81 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/31731/color-blindness-bionics-scibyte-81/ Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:47:20 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=31731 We take a look at color blindness, a bionic man, dinosaur killing asteroids, Smartpens, Alzheimers, and much more!

The post Color Blindness & Bionics | SciByte 81 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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We take a look at color blindness, a bionic man, dinosaur killing asteroids, Smartpens, Alzheimers, viewer feedback, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Fighting Color Blindness with Glasses

  • The low down
  • A pair of researchers from 2AI Labs have developed a wearable eyeglass device that effectively cures red-green color blindness
  • Most mammals have two dimensions of color, a yellow-blue dimension, and a grayscale (or brightness) dimension
  • Some of us have an extra dimension of color vision: The red-green dimension
  • The researchers created a filter technology that further amplified the eyes\’ ability to see blood under the skin, essentially removing \”visual noise\” from the blood signal
  • The Technology
  • The technology works by leveraging our capacity to see the amount of oxygen in another person\’s blood by simply looking at the hue of their skin
  • This eventually led to the development of eyeglasses that enable wearers to perceive emotions and social cues more clearly
  • As they tested the filters they received surprising feedback from users who were colorblind claiming that one of our technologies blew them away in its ability to \’cure\’ their color blindness
  • Of Note
  • The Oxy-Iso filter isolates and amplifies this signal so that it\’s also exaggerated
  • One important thing to note is that Oxy-Iso since can only work on red-green colorblind people who have some of each of their M and L cones
  • However while it does work at helping color-blind persons see red-green differences it also simultaneously handicaps them in their existing yellow-blue perception
  • Medical Applications
  • The devices can be used in the form of eyewear, or in the form of filters in front of illuminants, bathing the room in the blood-amplifying light
  • Outside of the application to color blindness, the two \”Iso\” filters — Oxy-Iso and Hemo-Iso — are principally intended for medical applications
  • The team is moving to put the technology into prescription eyewear, as well as into sunwear, and into general-purpose lighting,\”
  • They are also considering its application in cosmetic lighting
  • Oxy-Amp does is make the vasculature below the skin more salient, and that\’s just to say that skin appears more transparent — more youthful
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Color Blindness test – Real ! | VladimirWlado
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • How Mark Changizi Conquered Colorblindness With Glasses | Popular Science

— NEWS BYTE —

Bionic man

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Dinosaurs Might Have Been Taken out with a One-Two punch

  • Binary Asteroids
  • Space scientists estimate that as many as 15 percent of observable asteroids are binaries
  • This observation has caused scientists problems due to the fact that the evidence of binaries striking the Earth is as few as 2 to 4 percent
  • Meteor Craters on Earth
  • A research team now suggests that many of the craters on Earth thought to have been caused by a single asteroid, may in fact have been caused by binaries
  • A binary could cause just one crater if the two asteroids were close enough together when they struck.
  • Computer simulations showing that binary asteroids hitting the Earth that some of the craters were oblong, or irregularly shaped
  • There are some real craters here on Earth where the crater has some asymmetries that could be explained by a binary strike
  • Chicxulub
  • The Chicxulub crater, off the coast of Mexico, is thought by many scientists to be evidence of an asteroid strike that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
  • A team of researchers from the U.K. and Australia has published a paper suggesting that the crater Chicxulub may have come about due to the impact of binary asteroids
  • If that were the case, it likely that the combined size of the asteroid would have been roughly the same as the calculated size of a single entity
  • Since the crater left behind has a diameter of approximately 112 mi [180 km] they would have a combined diameter of ~4-6 mi [7-10 km]
  • The researchers say, that twin asteroids could have been as far apart as 50 mi [80 km] and still produced a single crater.
  • Re-examination
  • Scientists are now looking at other existing craters on Earth to try to determine if they too are possibly the result of binary strikes and if so, recalculate the percentage of binary strikes
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | Meteor Impact Site | NationalGeographic
  • YouTube | iSALE3D Binary Asteroid Impact | Helios1234p
  • YouTube | Mutual Events of Binary Asteroid 1999 KW4 | CelestiaDev
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Research group suggests Chicxulub crater may have been caused by binary asteroids | phys.org

Digitizing Pen and Paper

  • When used on special paper, the pens record your every scribble with a built-in camera and can also record audio at the same time and sync that audio with what you write
  • Writing to the Cloud
  • The new pens differ in that they, and the notes they record, are no longer tethered to an individual computer
  • If you are near a hotspot, the Sky pens will begin syncing their notes to Evernote, a Internet-based note taking and storage service, as soon as they stop recording them
  • What it Does
  • Sky pen owners can send up to 500 megabytes of data for free from their smartpens, which is roughly about 70 hours worth of recordings or 10,000 pages of notes
  • Build into the technology is the fact that a a Livescribe player that allows users to see and hear their notes at the same time
  • Evernote arranges the notes by page in their notebook, but when you click or tap on the page, the Livescribe player will collect and display all the pages of notes from that particular recording.
  • The service also scans them for recognizable characters and words so users can search them
  • Drawbacks
  • It can only be used with Evernote and it can be slow to transfer recordings
  • The pen does require company approved paper, although you can print out paper with the proper patterns on it
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | Sky(TM) wifi smartpen product spot :30 sec (US)
  • YouTube | Sky(TM)wifi smartpen Introduction | nevermissaword
  • Social Media
  • livescribe @livescribe
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • LifeScribe.com
  • Smartpen takes handwritten notes into mobile, cloud era | phys.org

Altering amyloid protein in Alzheimer\’s

  • A recent study shows that the natural chemicals found in green tea and red wine may disrupt a key step of the Alzheimer\’s disease pathway
  • Amyloid Protein Clumps
  • Alzheimer\’s disease is characterised by a distinct buildup of amyloid protein in the brain that clumps together to form toxic, sticky balls of varying shapes
  • These amyloid balls latch on to the surface of nerve cells in the brain by attaching to proteins on the cell surface called prions
  • New Research
  • This research was looking at whether the precise shape of the amyloid balls is essential for them to attach to the prion receptors
  • If it is then scientists could prevent the amyloid balls binding to prion by altering their shape, as this would stop the cells from dying
  • Recent research has shown that the extracts of red wine and green tea can re-shape amyloid proteins, such that they can no longer harm nerve cells
  • The research team formed amyloid balls in a test tube and added them to human and animal brain cells
  • When they added the extracts from red wine and green tea, which recent research has shown to re-shape amyloid proteins
  • The amyloid balls no longer harmed the nerve cells because their shape was distorted, so they could no longer bind to prion and disrupt cell function
  • What This Means for the Future
  • This research has showed, for the first time, that when amyloid balls stick to prion, it triggers the production of even more amyloid
  • The researchers are now trying to understand exactly how the amyloid-prion interaction kills off neurons
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Green tea and red wine extracts interrupt Alzheimer\’s disease pathway in cells | MedicalXPress.com

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Metric vs. Standard

  • Jason aka Tubsta
  • Shouldn’t you use metric measurements on a science show?
  • The answer
  • They are nearly always in the show notes.
  • Should probably include them in the show more often …
  • A majority of the audience is from the US, where metric measurements are not tangible
  • Although outside of the US standard measurements are probably not too tangible
  • I haven’t doubled up on the measurements in the past due to it taking it a bit longer, In the future I will make an effort to state both standard and metric more often
  • Hopefully combining the two might help people better understand both

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • Feb 15, 1951 : 62 years ago : Nuclear medical therapy : The first atomic reactor to be used in medical therapy treated its first patient at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY. The Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR) began the experimental treatment of brain cancer using neutrons from the reactor. In the following two years, ten patients were treated with boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The BGRR also supplied radioisotopes for use by other research organizations, including medical uses, among others. The reactor, the world\’s first dedicated to peaceful exploration of atomic energy operated 1950-68, and was used for research other than medical uses. It was followed by the Brookfield Medical Research Reactor, which reached critically 15 Mar 1959

Looking up this week

The post Color Blindness & Bionics | SciByte 81 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Vision Technology & Sally Ride | SciByte 55 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/22146/vision-technology-sally-ride-scibyte-55/ Tue, 24 Jul 2012 21:37:45 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=22146 We take a look at digital vision, allergy treatment, storms, braziers, fire extinguishers, alzheimer's research, spacecraft updates, and more!

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We take a look at digital vision, allergy treatment, storms, braziers, fire extinguishers, alzheimer’s research, spacecraft updates, remember Sally Ride and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes

Vision aids



YouTube channel : virtualpoint | Instant Eye : Kevin Hand

  • The low down
  • Photoreceptors in a healthy retina convert light into a series of electrical signals which are transmitted to the brain via complex neural pathways
  • When the photoreceptors do not function, brain is unable to receive these signals from the eyes
  • Significance
  • Nano Retina is a tiny implant [0.11×0.16in and 0.04in thick / 3 x 4 mm and 1 mm thick] that is inserted into the eye and attached to the retina in a minimally invasive procedure
  • The device consists of photodetectors, microelectrodes and electronic circuitry that act together to replace the eye’s natural photoreceptors that have been damaged and feed visual information to the brain
  • Six hundred needle electrodes (wrapped in biocompatible silicon and sapphire to prevent the formation of scar tissue) penetrate the retina
  • Light incident on the implant is collected by an array of CMOS pixels are placed on an area of the retina responsible for high-resolution central vision
  • The first-generation bio-retina will use an array of 600 pixels, although the aim is to increase this to 5000 pixels in future generations
  • A proprietary algorithm discriminates 100 gray-scale levels and responds to varying light levels.
  • The goal is that every pixel will connect to a neuron, so that every pixel in the array would use a micro-electrode
  • Because the neurons must be stimulated electrically the bio-retina implant also requires a source of electrical power
  • So patients who undergo surgery to implant a bio-retina will need to wear a special set of glasses, with a built-in battery and an infrared diode laser.
  • The goal is for the imager and the electronics to consume no more than 1mW
  • The near-infrared laser beam, gentle enough to shine harmlessly through the eye onto the implant, providing up to three milliwatts of power to a photovoltaic cell on the eye implant
  • The anticipated recovery time is up to one week when patients hopefully be able to distinguish faces and to be able to look from side to side with their eyes rather than needing to turn their heads
  • Current users of the Argus II bionic eye say that they can see rough shapes and track the movement of objects; they can also slowly read large writing.
  • Of Note
  • Another company, Second Sight’s Argus II, has a retinal prosthesis already on the market in Europe
  • Bio-Retina from NanoRetina, which is to start clinical trials next year
  • The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System includes an antenna, an electronics case, and electrode array designed to bypass damaged photoreceptors altogether with a video camera in the glasses captures a scene
  • The video is sent to a small patient-worn computer VPU where it is processed and transformed into instructions sent back to the glasses via a cable then transmitted wirelessly to the antenna in the implant
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Nano Retina – Sight restoration, produced by Virtual Point | virtualpoint
  • Schematic of a procedure to implant the bionic retina in a patient’s eye Credit: Nano Retina
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Nano-retina.info
  • Bionic retina runs on laser power | Optics.org
  • Bio-Retina Implant Could Give Laser-Powered Sight to the Blind | PopSci.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Possible Allergy Treatment

  • The low down
  • Exposure to increasing amounts of egg every day over two years can seemingly rid some children of an egg allergy
  • More than curing the allergy there is more interest in providing protection from an accidental reaction
  • Significance
  • Skin-prick tests, medical history and the presence of antibodies to egg protein showed 55 children ages 5 to 11 to have an egg allergy
  • All the children for unmarked power added daily to food, forty kids were randomly assigned to receive the egg treatment and 15 got cornstarch as a control
  • Treatment amounted to a few grains of powdered egg white on the first day and gradually grew to the equivalent of one-third of an egg over two years
  • After 22 months, 30 of the 40 children getting the treatment were able to consume 10 grams of powdered egg white without having a visible reaction
  • At that time all 15 children that had cornstarch and 5 had a allergic reaction at 22 months
  • Early in the study 5 children dropped out of the study due to allergic reactions
  • The gradual introduction of eggs into the diet appears to re-train the immune system
  • Many other children in the study developed an ability to cope with small amounts of egg without a serious reaction, but only while being treated
  • Four to six weeks after stopping treatment, the children who didn’t react to the egg test got tested again, with 10 grams of egg white powder plus a cooked egg
  • Eleven passed that test. A year later, 10 of them were eating eggs at will
  • Of Note
  • Blood tests of the kids whose treatment succeeded showed an accumulation of positive immune changes during treatment, whether those changes are permanent is unknown
  • The remaining challenges will be to identify beforehand which children are the most likely to benefit from the treatment
  • About 10 percent of children given this type of oral treatment for egg, peanut or milk allergies, have reactions early and drop out
  • Don’t try this at home. The Food and Drug Administration would need to approve an oral treatment for clinical use.
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Egg in tiny doses curbs allergy | ScienceNews.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

The smells of a storm

  • The low down
  • If you have ever thought that you have smelled an incoming storm, you might have been correct
  • Certain weather patterns produce distinctive odors that sensitive noses sniff out
  • Before the rain begins, one of the first odors you may notice is a sweet, pungent zing in your nostrils which is the fresh aroma of ozone
  • Petrichor occurs when airborne molecules from decomposing plant or animal matter become attached to mineral or clay surfaces
  • Geosmin occurs when falling water disturbs and displaces odoriferous molecules on surfaces, particularly on dry ones, and carry them into the atmosphere
  • If the storm happens to be near vegetation, these molecules may come from plants and trees
  • One microbiologist has proposed that geosmin fragrance may be a beacon, helping camels find their way to desert oases
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Storm Scents: It’s True, You Can Smell Oncoming Summer Rain | Scientific Amercian

Dating Braziers

  • The low down
  • The bra is commonly thought to be little more than 100 years old as corseted women abandoned rigid fashions and opted for the more natural look
  • Archeologists have now found four linen bras dating from the Middle Ages in an Austrian castle
  • They were unearthed in 2008, they did not make news until now, but were not announced until now as they waited for the carbon dating them to make sure they were genuine took some time
  • One of them were intricately decorated with lace and other ornamentation
  • Found intermixed with dirt, wood, straw and pieces of leather were more than 2,700 textile fragments were four bras
  • One specimen in particular "looks exactly like a (modern) brassiere
  • What researchers found as surprising was that the bra had commonly been thought to be only little more than 100 years old as women abandoned the tight corset.
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • 600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle | Phys.org

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Alzheimers

In memory of Sally Ride




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Shuttle Enterprise open house



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Curiosity Rover lands in 12 days on August 5th!!!

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • July, 29 1927 : 85 years ago : Iron Lung : First iron lung (electric respirator) was installed at Bellevue hospital in New York for the post war polio epidemic. The first iron lung was developed at Harvard University by Phillip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw built with two vacuum cleaners. The iron lung is a negative pressure machine which surrounds the patient’s body except for the head, and alternates a negative atmospheric pressure with the ambient one, resulting in rhythmic expansion of the chest cage (and thus inhalation) in response to the negative extra thoracic pressure. During periods of ambient extrathoracic pressure, the lungs deflate. This type of machine is rarely used today.

Looking up this week

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