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Microraptor was one flashy little dinosaur

bryanh — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:40:39 +0000

A team of Chinese and American scientists have found that Microraptor, a small four winged dinosaur that went extinct about 130 million years ago, was likely black and almost certainly had glossy, iridescent feathers. Until now, the coloring of extinct creatures was a matter of pure speculation. That may no longer be the case.

The size of a pigeon

Microaptor was about the size of a modern pigeon. The extinct creature had two sets of wings, one set on its upper limbs, and a second smaller set on its legs. Although resembling a modern-day bird, Microraptor is considered to be part of a non- avian group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs. The classification also includes the Velociraptor, made famous in "Jurassic Park."

'A colorful world'

Ke-Qin Gao, from Peking University in Beijing, wrote:

"With numerous fossil discoveries of birds and flowered plants, we knew that the Cretaceous was a colorful world, but now we've further enhanced that view with Microraptor as the first dinosaur to show iridescent color. Just a few years ago it would have been inconceivable for us to have imagined doing a study like this."

The shape of melansomes

The study was published Thursday in the journal "Science." It explains how, by scanning fossils of feathers with an electron microscope, melansomes -- tiny bundles of pigments about 1/100th the width of a human hair -- are revealed. By comparing the melansomes with those of modern birds, researchers have found that the shapes and arrangements of the melansomes represent specific colors. And a specific layering of malansomes indicates glossiness.

Iridescence for social use, not flight

The report says that Microraptor's shiny feathers were very much like those of the modern crow, whose size it also approximates. Microraptor is the earliest known creature to display iridescent feathers. The report speculated that the shiny feathers likely had more to do with attracting mates than with flight, if the creature ever actually did fly. University of Akron biologist Matthew D. Shawkey said:

“Iridescence is widespread in modern birds and is frequently used in displays. Our evidence that Microraptor was largely iridescent thus suggests that feathers were important for display, even relatively early in their evolution.”

Dr. Julia A. Clarke, a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin, implied that the social aspects of the shiny feathers may have been more important to the creature's existence than flight:

“But as any birder will tell you, feather colors and shapes may also be tied with complex behavioral repertoires and, if anything, may be costly in terms of aerodynamics.”

May not have been nocturnal

Paleontologist Mark A. Norell, of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said the findings may dispel previously-held notions that Microraptor was nocturnal. Dark glossy feathers are not found on modern night birds.

A breakthrough

Norell sees the study as a breakthrough in terms of visualizing these extinct creatures:

"This study gives us an unprecedented glimpse at what this animal looked like when it was alive."

Sources

Science Codex Discover magazine New York Times

Bioethicists argue infanticide same as abortion, should be legal

bryanh — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:08:09 +0000

In his 1729 satirical essay “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift suggests satirically that the impoverished Irish allay their financial burdens by selling their young children as food to rich English gentlemen and ladies. Swift was mocking heartless attitudes toward the poor, but modern-day bioethicists linked to Oxford University have proposed something entirely serious. In an article recently published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the Oxford scientists propose that parents should be allowed to have their newborn children killed because they are “morally irrelevant,” and ending their lives via after-birth abortion is no different than early-term abortion.

Babies are not 'actual persons,' authors claim

In the Journal of Medical Ethics article, authors Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva suggest in their article “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?” that “newborn babies are not 'actual persons,' and as such do not have a 'moral right to life'.” The bioethicists argue that parents should have the right to have their newborns killed if they are disabled at birth, such as with Down Syndrome. They also argue that in any non-disability scenario where abortion would normally be permitted, after-birth abortion should also be permitted on morally relative grounds. In other words, whether the baby is aborted in the womb or at earliest infancy, the article authors see no morally relevant difference. Journal editor Dr. Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics, noted that Giubilini and Minerva have received death threats since the article was published. Savulescu claimed the threats were made by “fanatics opposed to the very values of a liberal society,” an assertion that in itself has not been popularly received.

Lacking 'moral status'

The authors' primary argument appears to be that infants do not merit a level of moral status that justify the right to individual life, in much the same way that a human fetus lacks the qualification. Newborns are addressed as “potential persons,” rather than “actual persons.” By way of explanation, the authors state that an actual person is one who is capable of “attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her.” In a morally relevant sense, the authors claim that an infant cannot be damaged by preventing her from developing the potential for becoming an actual person.

Re-introducing choice

Raising a child with a severe disability could be unbearable for the family and society as a whole, the authors argue. As such, after-birth abortion would give families another choice, as once such a child is born, they are typically afforded no legal choice other than to attempt to raise the child. The Telegraph points out that Giubilini and Minerva make no point of arguing that some acts of infanticide are more justifiable than others. Instead, they rest upon the assertion that there is, in their estimation, no moral difference between after-birth and early-term abortion as currently practiced.

Not a new argument

Defending his colleagues' decision to publish, Savulescu told the Telegraph that arguments in favor of killing newborn babies are not new. What Giubilini and Minerva did was to apply the old argument “in consideration of maternal and family interests,” he said. Savulescu also said that while many will likely disagree with the authors' position on abortion, the Journal of Medical Ethics' job is to present “well-reasoned arguments based on widely accepted premises.” If someone were to argue effectively that because of there hypothetically being no moral difference between abortion and killing newborns, then abortion should also be illegal, Savulescu said that the journal would publish that article, as well. Dr. Trevor Stammers, director of medical ethics at St. Mary's University College at Twickenham, London, called Giubilini and Minerva's use of the term after-birth abortion as “verbal manipulation.”

“That is not philosophy. I might refer to abortion henceforth as antenatal infanticide,” Stammers exclaimed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU9KllHwOtk

Sources

BMJ Group Blogs Journal of Medical Ethics Telegraph

Medical billing errors: The consumer basics

bryanh — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:34:14 +0000

Medical billing errors are a reality of the United States medical industry that cost about $68 billion per year. If you have recently received or will be receiving medical bills, knowing how to spot these errors can save you thousands of dollars.

Know your health insurance deductible

Health insurance is incredibly complicated for most people. There are a few base numbers, however, that can help save you money, if you keep track of them. First and foremost is your deductible. If you have reached your deductible for the year, then insurance should be paying the full amount. Keep tabs on your deductible with a spreadsheet, a note to yourself, or even a running tally on a piece of paper. When you get your bill, make sure to either apply the amount to the deductible or make sure insurance is paying its full share.

Look up the codes

There are hundreds of thousands of medical billing codes that indicate what type of service you may have received during a medical visit. You should be able to look up the billing codes to find what the bill is for. These codes are usually called CPT codes - Current Procedural Terminology codes. Try searching the web for "CPT + code." If the code matches your service, great. If not, you should inquire.

Keep your own notes

Especially if you are in a hospital for long-term medical treatment, you should keep your own basic notes on the dates of your stay and the procedures performed. Often a medical billing error is something as basic as entering the wrong dates. Comparing the bills you receive to your notes can help ensure that your medical bills are entirely accurate. If a particular code or date shows up too many times on your bill, then it could be an indication you are being double or triple charged. Your own notes can also help cut down on costs come tax time, when medical bills could be deductible from your taxes.

Fight the charge carefully

If you do find a medical billing error in either your initial bills or in the insurance statement, you should address it as quickly as possible. Call your insurance company first, because they have the most motivation to ensure that billing is correct. Ask to speak to someone in the billing department, and explain the error you believe exists to them. Keep a very careful record of the date and time of each call, and the name of the person you talked to. Each time you have to call back, refer to your previous conversations that are relevant to the question at hand.

Sources

Wall Street Journal Consumer Reports Kaiser Health News

Cancer drug bexarotene shown to cure Alzheimer’s disease in mice

bryanh — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:19:14 +0000

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio have made what they call an amazing advance in the battle against Alzheimer's disease. Agence France-Presse reports that mice bred to have Alzheimer's, when treated with the immune system cancer drug bexarotene, became measurably smarter within hours as brain plaque dissolved. Study findings were published in the recent edition of the journal Science.

Amazing advancement against Alzheimer's

Lead Case Western researcher Dr. Gary Landreth told AFP that the observed reaction of the study mice to bexarotene was both “shocking and amazing.”

"Things like this had never, ever been seen before," he said.

Bexarotene, which is used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, triggers a kind of “garbage disposal” response in the brain, notes Landreth. It boosts levels of the protein Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), which clears amyloid plaque from the brain. Not coincidentally, Alzheimer's disease patients show high concentration of this plaque.

"When we are young and healthy, all of us can basically get rid of this (amyloid) and degrade it and grind it into small bits and it gets cleared,” said Landreth. “Many of us will be unable to do this as efficiently as we age. And this is associated with mental decline or cognitive impairment.”

Dementia like Alzheimer's disease afflicts 35.6 million people globally, a total that Alzheimer's Disease International projects will double by 2030. The annual cost of dementia treatment exceeds $604 billion.

Mice scurry toward recovery

Within six hours of the time the mice received the immune system cancer drug, which works through the liver to boost retinoid X receptors, soluble amyloid levels decreased by 25 percent. Mice subjects performed better on tests involving memory, they became more social and re-developed sense of smell, which is commonly lost by Alzheimer's patients. Within a few more hours, amyloid levels had decreased by 75 percent. Effects of the drug continued for up to three days, according to study findings.

More on Bexarotene

Bexarotene was made by U.S.-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Targretin, reports AFP. The Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1999 as a treatment for an immune system cancer that manifests through the skin and liver. The drug's safety history is good, although pregnant women are advised not to use it because of the possibility of fetal defects. Common side effects include diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, dry skin and sleep disruption. By 2006, Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai bought worldwide rights to Bexarotene, and the drug is no available in 26 countries in Europe, North America and South America.

Human trials needed

Dr. Scott Turner, neurologist and director of Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, is excited about the implications of the Bexarotene study. However, he cautioned that more study is needed before it can be said that the drug will work with human Alzheimer's disease patients.

"One obstacle is that the mice may not be a good model of Alzheimer's disease,” he said. “Does this drug work in human beings as it does in mice? Does it get into the brain? And does it have an effect on amyloid levels and increase ApoE levels? We need to do that in normal human beings and see if humans are like mice.”

Cancer drug shows hope for Alzheimer's

Sources

ABC News AFP Amyloid Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyloid CNN Health

Mind reading breakthrough achieved at UC Berkeley

bryanh — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:45:49 +0000

Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have made a breakthrough that brings mind reading a step closer to reality. The Guardian reports that through the study of brain activity, implants can translate thoughts into words, which will prove useful to those people who have lost the ability to speak.

Listening to the windmills of the mind

Success at decoding thought fragments into speech has granted researchers fresh insight into the means by which the human brain processes language. Eventually, neuroscientists believe that widespread use of brain implants will not only capture word fragments and individual words but entire sentences at a time, as quickly as the subject imagines them. Individuals who have lost the ability to speak due to a stroke or other medical condition will benefit greatly from this research, notes Dr. Robert Knight, senior member of the research team at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

"This is exciting in terms of the basic science of how the brain decodes what we hear," said Knight. "Potentially, the technique could be used to develop an implantable prosthetic device to aid speaking, and for some patients that would be wonderful. The next step is to test whether we can decode a word when a person imagines it. That might sound spooky, but this could really help patients. Perhaps in 10 years it will be as common as grandmother getting a new hip."

The “mind reading” UC Berkeley study recently was published in the neuroscience journal PLoS Biology.

Mind reading study methodology

Fifteen patients already in hospitals for operations to treat epilepsy were tested by the study organizers. The top of the skull was removed, and a series of electrodes were laid across the brain's surface. As researchers played a series of words over a 10-minute period, the electrode net monitored brain activity. Various computer programs recognized sounds encoded in the brain waves, particularly the range of human speech (from 1 to 8,000 Hertz). Best results were achieved when activity was recorded in the superior temporal gyrus area of the brain. The software played a variety of words for the subjects in order to gather enough data to create an algorithm for translating brain waves to speech.

Ethical concerns of mind reading

Mind reading has traditionally been considered to be more in the realm of science fiction than science fact. The suggestion of actual research into the field has raised ethical concerns that if perfected, such techniques would be used covertly or as a means of interrogation for criminals and terrorists. Yet as Knight makes clear, such things are too far away from the realm of possibility to take seriously.

"To reproduce what we did, you would have to open up someone's skull and they would have to co-operate,” he said.

Oxford University neuroscience professor Dr. Jan Schnupp believes that Knight's work has proven “remarkable,” and that it paves the way to “rapid progress toward biomedical applications.”

How we read minds every day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOCUH7TxHRI

Sources

BBC News The Guardian Superior temporal gyrus Wiki

Invisibility cloak close to becoming reality, scientists claim

bryanh — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:47:14 +0000

Stealth technology has made the next great leap forward, reports Agence France-Presse. U.S. scientists are significantly closer to being able to produce an “invisibility cloak” that completely masks a large, free-standing three-dimensional object.

Manipulating light, military expectations

According to research posted in the New Journal of Physics, researchers at the University of Texas in Austin have already used the stealth technology to cloak a 7.2-inch cylindrical tube from light in the microwave part of the energy spectrum. Such instances of bending light for super stealth have caught the attention of the military. The plasmonic meta-materials used achieve a cloaking effect that, while not exactly akin to Harry Potter-type magic that completely fools the naked eye, would thoroughly obscure an object in all directions from radar microwaves, said co-lead researcher Dr. Andrea Alu.

Defining plasmonic meta-materials

According to Alu, plasmonic meta-materials are a combination of metal composites and non-conductive synthetic materials compressed down to nanometer size, which is smaller that the wavelengths of light that strike them. Incoming photos excite currents that cause light waves to scatter. Based upon research, a microwave frequency of 3.1 gigahertz was most ideal. Then a solid return signal cannot be bounced back to the receiver.

"When the scattered fields from the cloak and the object interfere, they cancel each other out, and the overall effect is transparency and invisibility at all angles of observations," said Alu.

Beyond carpet cloaking

Alu and company's findings are a major step beyond previous cloaking efforts, where light was bent around two-dimensional objects. It is also more advanced than previous work with three-dimensional objects where microscopic bumps on mirrors or reflectors are hidden from view – a process called “carpet cloaking.” Alu told Discovery News that warplanes could easily adapt this super stealth cloaking, perhaps in key areas that would be exposed to radar.

"Camouflaging to radar is one important application, a super-stealth device to make objects invisible to radar," he said. "What we are thinking about is not necessarily cloaking the whole warplane but some hotspots, a part such as the tailplane that you would want to cloak because it reflects most of the energy (from microwave radar)."

(Try to) watch the invisibility cloak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4e2_-j4ZQI

Sources

Agence France-Presse Discovery News News 24 South Africa

Studies find magic mushrooms act like anti-depressants

bryanh — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:44:47 +0000

Two recent studies have found psilocybin mushrooms, or “magic mushrooms,” have properties that could make them useful psychotherapeutic drugs. The hallucinogenic fungi were shown to act in a similar manner to antidepressants.

Brain activity slowed rather than stimulated

Two studies are being published about the health effects of psilocybin mushrooms, often referred to as “magic mushrooms” or simply “shrooms,” according to Reuters. One is being published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an American publication. The other appears in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Both studies involved many of the same personnel, such as senior author Professor David Nutt, according to CBS, and lead researcher and co-author Robin Carhartt Harris, according to Time magazine. The first study used 30 volunteers, who were given a dose of psilocybin mushrooms, and images of their brains were taken using a magnetic resonance imaging machine. The MRIs revealed that activity was not stimulated in areas of the brain, as previously thought, but rather that the psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic ingredient, inhibits activity in certain areas of the brain.

Mechanism similar to anti-depressants

The study, according to Reuters, found that the areas of the brain most affected in the first study were the medial pre-frontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and hypothalamus. Brain activity in the mPFC and PCC slowed, and blood flow to the hypothalamus slowed. Hyperactivity in the mPFC, located at the front of the brain and behind the eyes, is observed with depression, which anti-depressant medications such as Prozac treat. Given the similar nature of the effects on the mPFC, psilocybin acts almost like a long-term anti-depressant. Control of blood flow to the hypothalamus is also interesting, as increased blood flow to the hypothalamus is often observed in patients with cluster headaches, which psilocybin could potentially be used to treat. The second study found that an additional 10 patients who were given psilocybin were better able to access memories, among other benefits.

Benefits observed before

The line between recreational drugs and medicine is blurrier than one might think; many now-illegal recreational drugs were once medicinal, including cocaine, heroin and LSD. Two studies from Johns Hopkins were published in 2011 regarding effects of psilocybin mushrooms. One study, published in Sept. 2011, found 30 of 51 test subjects who were given psilocybin mushrooms had a “spiritual experience” while taking the drug and reported a better, more “open” mental state one year after the study was done, according to Bloomberg. A similar study, published in June 2011, according to WebMD, reported 75 percent of the 18 study participants reported a profound and beneficial experience from taking the drug. “Magic mushrooms” remain a Schedule 1 drug. Possession is illegal and citing obscure medical literature will get a person nowhere with the police.

Sources

Reuters Time CBS Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/magic-mushrooms-can-make-lasting-personality-changes-study-says.html WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20110616/magic-mushrooms-drug-shows-promise-therapeutic-tool

Cosmetic procedure taxes proving less lucrative than expected

bryanh — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:19:54 +0000

As a part of the 2010 overhaul of health care, a tax on indoor tanning was implemented. New Jersey also implemented a tax on elective cosmetic procedures. Neither of these taxes, however, are returning the revenue that lawmakers expected.

Indoor tanning tax

The 10 percent tax on indoor tanning went into effect in July of 2010. The tax was modeled on the taxes on cigarettes and tobacco products that are used to discourage their use. Tanning has been shown to cause an increase in skin cancer, which has a very high cost to treat. Salon owners, however, are allowed to pay this tax without passing the cost on to customers, which negates the discouraging effect of the tax. Initial estimates put expected income from the tax at $100 million in the first half of the fiscal year; actual income was about $36.6 million.

New Jersey repealing the Botax

Around 2004, New Jersey lawmakers created a first-in-the-nation Botax. The 6 percent tax on the receipts from cosmetic procedures was intended as a way to help fund low-income health care in the state. The tax was expected to bring in $24 million each year. In the last few years, however, the tax has brought in no more than $12 million in a year. Now lawmakers have opted to phase out the tax, reducing to nothing in July of 2013.

A funding quandary

Both the indoor tanning tax and the cosmetic procedure tax were intended to raise money on elective procedures. Not bringing in the money that was expected, however, means that these taxes may not be considered an option for future funding for health care. This is especially important in the future, as government-sponsored health insurance programs will have to wrestle with how to dis-incentivise actions that have a negative impact on individual health, while incentivising actions that improve health.

Sources

Reuters Forbes.com Baristanet

Organ transplant system scrutinized as disabled girl is denied kidney

bryanh — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:25:46 +0000

The heartbreaking story of a mentally disabled 3-year-old denied a kidney transplant has prompted outrage. The affair highlights the complicated nature of waiting for organ donation.

Children's hospital cruelly denies transplant

A 3-year-old girl afflicted with Wolf-Hirschorn Syndrome, a genetic disease that causes deformity and mental retardation, has been denied a kidney transplant, according to CBS, allegedly because she is suffers from mental retardation. The story of Amelia Rivera, who was turned down by the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, and her mother Chrissy Rivera has become a media sensation, and a Facebook petition is gathering signatures from people who think she should receive a kidney.

Hard choices in transplants

The implication of an organ transplant or other medical care denied because of diminished mental capacity is horrifying and brings attention to the fact that organ transplants require hard choices be made. In effect, transplant recipient selection is a form of triage, the process doctors use to prioritize patient care. Those who can be saved from death are prioritized above those who cannot. Similarly, some people who need transplants aren't eligible because others are judged to be able to benefit more from a transplant. Amelia, according to CNN, has been in the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania for almost all of her life. Wolf-Hirschorn Syndrome, depending on the variety of the disorder, has a median life expectancy of about 34 years; one in five people born with it, according to a Journal of Medical Genetics article on the National Institutes of Health website, die within two years of birth.

Short supply

There are 90,150 people in the U.S. currently waiting for a kidney transplant. In 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal, 16,500 of the 80,000 waiting for a kidney received one. That year, 4,573 people died while waiting for a kidney, according to CBS. The Organ Procurement and Transportation Network, the division of the National Institutes of Health that oversees organ transplants, has more people on the list waiting for a kidney than for all other organs combined, according to MSNBC. As a result of organ shortages, more hospitals are having to resort to transplanting donor organs that may have defects that might otherwise rule them out, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is also estimated that 5 to 10 percent of organ transplants worldwide use black market organs. Currently, stem cell researchers worldwide are advancing the science of lab-grown organs, according to The Guardian. There have been some successes, such as the transplant of a lab-grown trachea last year. Scientists in Scotland, according to the Daily Mail, created fetal-size kidneys in lab settings using stem cells earlier this year. The protocol for transplanting them, though, could take up to a decade to develop.

Sources

CBS CNN MSNBC Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703481004574646233272990474.html NIH: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1734744/ The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/neurophilosophy/2011/dec/04/1 Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1376044/Human-kidneys-created-stem-cells-organ-breakthrough.html

New study finds headphones can be deadly

bryanh — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:34:06 +0000

Roads can be dangerous for individuals who are hearing-impaired because auditory signals often indicate danger. A new study has found that many people are choosing to put themselves in similar danger by wearing headphones turned up too loud.

The Injury Prevention study

The online journal Injury Prevention published a study by the University of Maryland Hospital for Children, among others. The study collated reports of pedestrians who had been injured while wearing headphones. In the 2004-2005 year, there were 16 of these injuries. In the 2010-2011 year, there were at least 47. The study covered 116 injuries in the last few years in total, gathered from news alerts, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Westlaw system.

The danger of headphones

Of the 116 injuries covered in the published study, nearly 90 percent of the cases were in urban areas, and the majority were of individuals 30 years or younger. People wearing headphones turned up loud do not hear sirens, alarms or other auditory signals that indicate danger. Many of the injured people also were walking in dangerous areas to start with, such as on train tracks or in high-traffic areas.

In-attentional blindness contributes

The study also cites "in-attentional blindness" as a major contributing factor of many of the cited accidents. This is when the brain is actively engaged on something else, such as reading e-mails or engaging in social networks via a smartphone, instead of paying attention to one's surroundings. Though the person may hear or see the signals of danger, the brain may not process them immediately or fully, which leads to much slower reaction times.

Limits of the study

The study authors admit that this one small study does not provide a large amount of evidence. News media tend to vastly under-report the number of non-fatal accidents involving pedestrians, and because the study cases were pulled from reported incidents, the number of actual incidents is likely much higher. Despite this, the takeaway of the study for most individuals is the same: Even when you are a pedestrian, turning down the volume on your headphones and paying attention can save your life.

Sources

Boston.com BusinessWeek Headphone use and pedestrian injury and death in the United States 2004-2011 (PDF)