Space-age fibre optic to help detect cataract ~~~~>> lets see how !!!

A compact fibre-optic probe developed for the space programme is proving itself as the first non-invasive early detection device for cataract, the leading cause of vision loss worldwide.

Researchers from the National Eye Institute (NEI), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) collaborated to develop a simple, safe eye test for measuring a protein related to cataract formation.

If subtle protein changes can be detected before a cataract develops, people may be able to avert the risk by cutting down exposure to sunlight, quitting smoking, stopping certain medications and controlling diabetes.

"By the time the eye's lens appears cloudy from a cataract, it is too late to reverse or medically treat this process," said Manuel B. Datiles III, NEI medical officer and co-author lead author of the clinical study.

"This technology can detect the earliest damage to lens proteins, triggering an early warning for cataract formation and blindness."

The new device is based on a laser light technique called dynamic light scattering (DLS). It was initially developed to analyse the growth of protein crystals in a zero-gravity space environment.

The DLS technique will now assist vision scientists in looking at long-term lens changes due to aging, smoking, diabetes, LASIK surgery, eye drops for treating glaucoma, and surgical removal of the vitreous gel within the eye, a procedure known to cause cataracts within six months to one year.

It may also help in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, in which an abnormal protein may be found in the lens. In addition, NASA researchers will continue to use the device to look at the impact of long-term space travel on the visual system.

NASA's Rafat R. Ansari, senior scientist at the John H. Glenn Research Centre and the study co-author, brought the technology's possible clinical applications to the attention of NEI vision researchers when he learned that his father's cataracts were caused by changes in lens proteins.

Several proteins are involved in cataract formation, but one known as alpha-crystallin serves as the eye's own anti-cataract molecule.

Alpha-crystallin binds to other proteins when they become damaged, thus preventing them from bunching together to form a cataract. However, humans are born with a fixed amount of alpha-crystallin, so if the supply becomes depleted due to radiation exposure, smoking, diabetes or other causes, a cataract can result.

"We have shown that this non-invasive technology that was developed for the space program can now be used to look at the early signs of protein damage due to oxidative stress, a key process involved in many medical conditions, including age-related cataract and diabetes, as well as neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," said Ansari.

"By understanding the role of protein changes in cataract formation, we can use the lens not just to look at eye disease, but also as a window into the whole body."

Too much coffee triples hallucination risk ~~~~>> b e carefull !!!

Too much coffee not just makes napping difficult but also dramatically increases the risk of hallucinating, according to a new study.

The research has found that people with a higher caffeine intake, from sources such as coffee, tea and caffeinated energy drinks, are more likely to report hallucinatory experiences such as hearing voices and seeing things that are not there.

'High caffeine users' can be defined as those individuals who consume more than the equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee a day.

Such drinkers were three times more likely to have heard a person's voice when there was no one there compared with 'low caffeine users' who consumed less than the equivalent of one cup of instant coffee a day, the study found.

In the study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council, 200 students were asked about their typical intake of caffeine containing products, such as coffee, tea and energy drinks as well as chocolate bars and caffeine tablets.

Their proneness to hallucinatory experiences, and their stress levels, were also assessed. Seeing things that were not there, hearing voices, and sensing the presence of dead people were amongst the experiences reported by some of the participants.

The researchers, whose paper is published in the academic journal Personality and Individual Differences, say their finding could be down to the fact that caffeine has been found to exacerbate the physiological effects of stress.

When under stress, the body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. More of this stress hormone is released in response to stress when people have recently had caffeine. It is this extra boost of cortisol which may link caffeine intake with an increased tendency to hallucinate, say the scientists.

Lead author, Simon Jones, a PhD student at Durham University's Psychology Department, said: "This is a first step towards looking at the wider factors associated with hallucinations. Previous research has highlighted a number of important factors, such as childhood trauma, which may lead to clinically relevant hallucinations.

"Many such factors are thought to be linked to hallucinations in part because of their impact on the body's reaction to stress. Given the link between food and mood, and particularly between caffeine and the body's response to stress, it seems sensible to examine what a nutritional perspective may add."

Protein loss linked to osteoarthritis ~~~~>> believe it

The loss of a single protein within the surface layer of the joint cartilage is linked to osteoarthritis.

"We have found the mechanism that begins to explain how and why ageing leads to deterioration of articular cartilage," said Scripps Institute professor Martin Lotz, an authority on arthritis who led the study with Noboru Taniguchi, senior research associate in his lab.

"Our findings demonstrate a direct link between the loss of this protein and osteoarthritis." Osteoarthritis typically begins with a disruption of the surface layer of cartilage.

The cartilage surface layer, called the superficial zone, is the most important functionally of the four layers of cartilage present in joints. In normal joints the cartilage surface is perfectly smooth, enabling joints to slide across one another without friction.

Once the cartilage of the superficial zone starts to deteriorate, though, osteoarthritis sets in, triggering an irreversible process that eventually leads to the loss of underlying layers of cartilage until bone begins to grind painfully against bone.

Osteoarthritis most commonly affects the spine, temporomandibular joints, shoulders, hands, hips and knees, said a Scripps release.

"We knew that the first phase of osteoarthritis is the destruction of cartilage in the superficial zone," said Lotz, who has spent the past five years studying the role of the single protein HMGB2 in osteoarthritis.

"Now we know that before this layer is destroyed, there is loss of the critical DNA binding protein HMGB2 and that this loss is directly related to aging."

The findings, made in collaboration with colleagues from Scripps Research, San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy, and Kagoshima University in Kagoshima, Japan, provide a promising avenue to explore the development of new osteoarthritis treatment options.

The results were published in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

'DHA to babies reduce mental risks'

An Australian researchers team have claimed that they have proved that giving premature babies

doses of an omega-3 fatty acid known as DHA can stop the development of mental retardation.

The University of Adelaide research team, which studied over 650 babies over a six-year period, said they found that giving the DHA nutrient to pre-term babies reduced the incidence of mental delay by between 40 and 50 per cent.

Babies get the extra DHA through breast milk by their mother taking a fish-oil capsule or adding it to infant formula.

Bob Gibson from the University said babies who were given the extra DHA showed remarkable results and that increased doses of DHA for premature babies should become a standard treatment around the world.

"I know that international colleagues have been very enthusiastic and have been trying to institute changes in their neonatal units," he said.

"And I think that in a year from now the standard level of DHA in infant formulas is raised three or four times," he added.

Unborn exposed to alcohol love its smell after birth ~~~>> read this

Rats are more attracted to liquor's smell during puberty if their mothers were given alcohol during pregnancy.

Researchers have shown that rats exposed during gestation find the smell of alcohol on another rat's breath during adolescence more attractive than animals with no prior foetal exposure.

Steven Youngentob from New York Upstate Medical University led researchers who probed social and behavioural effects of foetal ethanol exposure in adolescent and adult rats.

"The findings by Amber Eade in my lab reveal that foetal ethanol exposure influences adolescent re-exposure, in part, by promoting interactions with intoxicated peers," Youngentob said.

Foetal ethanol experience is believed to train the developing sense of smell to find ethanol odour more attractive. The authors describe how, in both rats and humans, foetal exposure changes how the odour and flavour of ethanol are perceived, said a New York Upstate release.

"Such learning may be a fundamental feature of all mammalian species because it is important (from a survival standpoint) for the pre-weanling animal to accept and be attracted to the food sources consumed by the mother," the researchers wrote.

 In this study the authors found that rats unexposed to ethanol were significantly less likely to follow an intoxicated peer than those with gestational experience.

 The study was published in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioural and Brain Functions.

CBS scientists clone important gene ~~~>> read this...

Young scientists at the Centre for Excellence in Basic Science (CBS) here have cloned a gene which is involved in processing

environmental signals and interpret them to guard the cells from any unwarranted situations.

The novel gene, namely flagellar-associated gene from green alga 'Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii', was cloned for the first time in an University environment in a record time, with minimal lab space and less ideal infrastructure, the chief investigator of the project Dr Jacinta D'Souza said.

Flagella of this alga is used for locomotion and the flagellar proteins are important for its security.

"The flagellar gene is now popularly recognised as the watchtower of a cell and loss of any ciliary protein function leads to serious diseases including cancer," she said.

The CBS scientists have name the cloned gene as CBS-1, she said. Algae are now popularly used for generating biofuels and understanding how biomotors work.

The flagella of this alga (or cilia in the case of humans) are structures involved in processing environmental signals and interpret these signals either to move the cell towards or away from the same.

The long-term aim in the CBS lab is to recognise these very proteins, clone the genes involved in the movement of biomotors so as to eventually design a functional nanomachine, D'Souza who is working with two of her Ph.D students Dolly Khona and Venkatramanan Rao, said.

CBS, is an autonomous institution funded by the Department of Atomic Energy and Univeristy of Mumbai.