Business Ideas

Archive for July, 2011

Westerners could be genetically programmed to consume fatty foods and alcohol more than those from the east, researchers have claimed.

Scientists at the university's Kosterlitz Centre said the switch controls the galanin gene.

Dr MacKenzie said: "The switch controls the areas of the brain which allows us to select which foods we would like to eat and if it is turned on too strongly we are more likely to crave fatty foods and alcohol.

"The fact that the weaker switch is found more frequently in Asians compared to Europeans suggests they are less inclined to select such options.

"These results give us a glimpse into early European life where brewing and dairy produce were important sources of calories during the winter months.

"Thus, a preference for food with a higher fat and alcohol content would have been important for survival.

"The negative effects of fat and alcohol we see today would not have mattered so much then as life expectancies were between 30 to 40 years."

He explained: "It is possible that during the winter individuals with the weaker switch may not have survived as well in Europe as those with the stronger switch and as a result those in the west have evolved to favour a high fat and alcohol rich diet."

Dr MacKenzie added: "Galanin is also produced in an area of the brain called the amygdala where it controls fear and anxiety.

"Thus, changing levels of galanin in the amygdala will have an effect on an individual's emotional state. Intriguingly, the switch was also active in the amygdala."

The study is being published in the Journal of Neuropsychopharmocology.

A colourful, spindly-legged toad that was believed to be extinct has been rediscovered in the forests of Borneo.

Scientists from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) found three of the missing long-legged Borneo rainbow toads up a tree during a night time search.

The team had spent months scouring remote mountain forests for the species.

Prior to these images, only illustrations of the toad had existed.

These were drawn from specimens that were collected by European explorers in the 1920s.

Conservation International, which launched its Global Search for Lost Amphibians in 2010, had listed the toad as one of the "world's top 10 most wanted frogs".

Dr Indraneil Das led a team that searched the ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak, a boundary between Malaysia's Sarawak State and Indonesia's Kalimantan Barat Province.

After several months of night-long expeditions, one of Dr Das's graduate students eventually spotted a small toad in the high branches of a tree.

Lost hope

"Thrilling discoveries like this beautiful toad, and the critical importance of amphibians to healthy ecosystems, are what fuel us to keep searching for lost species," said Dr Das.

"They remind us that nature still holds precious secrets that we are still uncovering."

Dr Robin Moore of Conservation International, who launched the Global Search for Lost Amphibians, was delighted by the discovery.

He said: "To see the first pictures of a species that has been lost for almost 90 years defies belief.

"It is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet's escalating extinction crisis.

"Amphibians are at the forefront of this tragedy, so I hope that these unique species serve as flagships for conservation, inspiring pride and hope by Malaysians and people everywhere."

Plant height rather than seed mass is a better predictor of how far seeds will be dispersed, a study has shown.

"We didn't specifically choose the species, rather it was where other scientists had chosen to study the dispersal distances for a plant species and we were then able to then use that information."

During their research, the team came across a range of innovative ways used by scientists to understand the mechanics of how plants scattered seeds.

For example, one study used a dummy fox that was wheeled through vegetation to see what seeds became attached to the fur, and where they fell off.

Dr Thomson said she decided to carry out the research because plants had evolved a variety of amazing ways to move seeds around – from hooks to attach to passing animals, to seeds with wings to catch a ride on a gust of wind.

However, she added that there was still a great deal more to learn about how far the majority of plant species disperse their seeds.

"This work helps us understand how far plants can move, and the characteristics or traits which are associated with long versus short dispersal distances," she explained.

"Understanding the distances plant species move is important for managing invasive species because it will help us predict how far invasive species can spread if the conditions are suitable for their establishment.

"Also, as our climate changes its critical that we understand if plant species will be able to move to new areas where the climate is suitable for them, or whether they will be left behind in unsuitable environments because they can't move far enough, fast enough."

The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting has closed after a tense final day when relations between opposing blocs came close to collapse.

"Fifty-four species live in the waters where the sanctuary is proposed – it is therefore appropriate that the protection of these species in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary be extended and complemented in the reproduction areas in the Atlantic Southern basin."

How to prevent whales from being killed by collisions with ships, how to reduce floating debris and how to tackle the growth of noise in the oceans were among the issues that received no discussion.

"Acrimony is often the enemy of conservation – in this case, it meant that a critical meeting on whales failed to address the greatest threats they face," said Wendy Elliott, head of environment group WWF's delegation.

"Several whale and dolphin species are in crisis – teetering on the brink of extinction – and conservation must be front and foremost at next year's IWC meeting, for the sake of the whales and the commission."

The research programmes of the cash-strapped commission received something of a boost with France, Italy and several non-governmental groups pledging a total of about £80,000 ($130,000) for small cetaceans, which include the critically endangered Mexican vaquita.

Genetically identical forest trees raised in different environments react differently when exposed to drought conditions, a study has shown.

He added that unlocking the secrets of the nursery effect would also help solve a scientific conundrum of how genetically identical long-lived organisms that propagate vegetatively, such as aspens via suckers growing from the root system, can be resistant to extreme weather, pests and pathogens.

He said it would be fair to assume that if one individual fell foul of the weather or a pest, then all the specimens would be considered vulnerable.

But that would suggest that vegetative propagation would have been neither a very good nor successful evolutionary strategy, yet it is a method of reproduction adopted by plants all over the world.

Professor Campbell asked: "So might there be something similar to a nursery effect that offers protection in the natural world?"

In order to test this, the team used clones of three widely grown varieties of poplar tree from a number of regions within Canada that had markedly different climates and environments:

As Populus is a genus of trees that require sizeable volumes of water and are sensitive to changes in the water content within soil, the team felt subjecting half of the samples to drought conditions would trigger a stress response within them.

"As we were looking at genetically identical individuals, the hypothesis was that if you grew them under identical conditions, and you monitored them at a time when they would be responding physiologically in an equivalent fashion, then what was happening behind the scenes – the way in which the genes are functioning – should also be the same," Professor Campbell explained.

"We looked at the way genes functioned. We had the capacity to take a snap shot of how 45,000 genes in poplars were responding at any particular point in time.

"By comparing the snapshots between water and drought conditions, we could then understand how those genes responded."

'Stunning findings'

The team found that the samples of Okanese, the youngest variety, did behave in a manner that supported the hypothesis.

"Individuals of Okanese that we obtained from Alberta performed identically to those we examined from Saskatchewan," he revealed.

"They were sourced from the two locations, brought into the same garden and treated the same way – and responded in the same way.

However, Professor Campbell explained, samples of the two older varieties provided "stunning findings" because the specimens from Saskatchewan performed differently when compared with clones taken from other locations.

"As you looked at an older clone, the response was more divergent. Okanese had no difference in response, Walker was intermediate, and DN34 was the most divergent."

He said that the findings suggested that time played a key part in how plants responded to changes in their environment, adding that the findings matched the results of studies on human identical twins.

"Spanish research showed that very young twins (three-year-olds) showed no difference in the way their genes responded," he recalled.

"But as they looked at older and older twins such as 50-year-olds, they had divergent patterns of gene activity. If the individuals were brought up in different environments (for example being put up for adoption) then the patterns of divergence was even more marked."

Professor Campbell said that he envisaged carrying out many more years of research in this area, but said that the study's findings presented a "double-edged sword".

"On a cautionary note, it suggests that people need to watch where they get their trees and plants from," he said.

The precise location nursery trees are sourced from, he said, "could have a profound effect on how they would perform in later years".

"But there is a positive note as well, and it is one that I think will drive research," he added.

"You might be able to find the means in which to create conditions that will train the genome so then it will be better suited for whatever environmental conditions are further down the line."

Plants in cities and towns make a major contribution towards removing carbon from the atmosphere, a study suggests.

The authors say the research is the first of its kind in Europe to quantify how much carbon is stored within this urban vegetation.

They add that the data are vital because local authorities are key in helping the UK reach its target of cutting CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050.

The findings will be published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

In this study, the researchers used information from satellite data and from field research to survey the amount of vegetation across Leicester – a city with a population of about 300,000 people.

The assessment included domestic gardens, public spaces, road verges and derelict industrial land.

The team estimated that 231,000 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 3.16kg per square metre, was locked away in the city's vegetation – most of which was stored by trees.

"Large trees are particularly important carbon stores," said lead author Zoe Davies from the University of Kent.

"Most of the publicly owned land across Leicester is grassland.

"If just 10% of this was planted with trees, the existing carbon pool across the city could be increased by 12%."

Urban world

The researchers noted that during the past century, the planet's urban population grew ten-fold. Now more than than half of the world's population is living in urban areas.

As a result of this rapid expansion, urban areas continue to grow at a faster rate than any other land-use type.

Yet, the team observed: "Despite the importance of urbanisation as a major driver of land-use change, there have been surprisingly few attempts to explicitly quantify the provision of ecosystem services at a city-wide scale.

"This is likely to be a legacy of the perception that urban ecosystems have limited ecological value because they are heavily modified by humans and relatively small in size."

Dr Davies said current assessments hold that once land in the UK is classified as urban, its biological carbon density is assumed to be zero.

"Our study illustrates that this is not the case," she explained.

"There is a substantial pool of carbon locked away in the vegetation within a city – another reason why urban trees and green spaces should be valued."

The study is part of £2.5m project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), that is investigating the size of the urban carbon footprint.

The programme, involving five universities, is divided into four areas: domestic buildings, non-domestic buildings (offices, schools, factories etc), transport and biological sequestration.

A half-male, half-female butterfly has hatched at London's Natural History Museum.

A line down the insect's middle marks the division between its male side and its more colourful female side.

Failure of the butterfly's sex chromosomes to separate during fertilisation is behind this rare sexual chimera.

Once it has lived out its month-long life, the butterfly will join the museum's collection.

Only 0.01% of hatching butterflies are gynandromorphs; the technical term for these strange asymmetrical creatures.

"So you can understand why I was bouncing off of the walls when I learned that… [it] had emerged in the puparium," said butterfly enthusiast Luke Brown from London's Natural History Museum.

Mr Brown built his first butterfly house when he was seven, and has hatched out over 300 thousand butterflies; this is only his third gynandromorph.

It is not only the wings that are affected, he explained. The butterfly's body is split in two, its sexual organs are half and half, and even its antennae are different lengths.

"It is a complete split; part-male, part-female… welded together inside," he told the BBC.

The dual-sex butterfly is an example of a Great Mormon, Papilio memnon – a species that is native to Asia.

With a shortage of butterfly-specific gender neutral pronouns, the butterfly is being referred to as "it", and is already middle-aged at three and a half week's old.

So the public has only a narrow window of opportunity to see it alive.

Though rare, gynandromorphy isn't unique to butterflies; individual crabs, lobsters, spiders and chickens have all been found with a mix of two sexes.

There are likely many more cases in the natural world, but sexual chimeras are more difficult to spot in animals where females and males look alike.

Hemorrhoids really are a nasty headache for people today world wide.A whole lot of people today need a hemorrhoid treatment that actually works. If truth be told in excess of 600,000 people today search on the term ‘hemorrhoid treatment‘ every month. Can any variety of hemorrhoid treatment permanently get over hemorrhoids?

It won’t very much make a difference which sort of hemorrhoid treatment you settle on. Absolutely nothing, including surgery treatment is able to eliminate hemorrhoids permanently except reforming your habits. However, You can put an end to them completely if you just do three things. eat healthy food, above all fiber given it cleans a person’s intestines. Fruits and veggies have fiber in them. Besides that drink enough fluids. Lack of fluids has contributed a good deal to the cause of hemorrhoids. An alternative thing you must do is to physical exercise. This helps improve blood flow. The very last thing you must do is be patient when pooping. Hemorrhoids are induced by considerable pressure to the lower pelvis, above all when pooping.

In summary , nowhere can one come across a hemorrhoid treatment which has the ability to get over hemorrhoids permanently. But yet, if you want to think about the capacity to strengthen your habits to make room for good health you’ll be able to get over and permanently keep hemorrhoids from ever returning again. The truth is, the hemorroid is almost always there if on the other hand you are attending to your body, it truly ought to not irritate you.

Bleeding hemorrhoids are certainly painful; they might be alarming some times. A hemorrhoid is a disorder wherein blood vessels in the rectum are puffy, and when they excrete blood , it is classified as a bleeding hemorrhoid. Seeing that this type is more critical than established hemorrhoids, you really should be looked at by a medical professional straightaway, to be sure you receive the most effective hemorrhoid treatment. Existing are a few hemorrhoid treatment solutions that you can potentially go for for your bleeding hemorrhoids.

If you are afflicted by bleeding hemorrhoids, its likely you are going to be getting surgery. That is why you should really deal with this disorder as soon as you can to avoid further complicating your disorder . Hemorrhoid surgery is recognized for considerable post surgery discomfort, and it very often takes a while to remedy.

There are two types of surgery which are commonly utilised to get rid of bleeding hemorrhoids. The first is identified as ‘hemorrhoidal artery ligation’. In a nutshell it involves finding the bulbous blood vessels and then ligating them. This approach takes advantage of a proctoscope and a Doppler transducer. The approach reduces the pressure within the bulbous veinous tissue and and so reduces the pain considerably. Another well-known solution used for treatment of bleeding hemorrhoids is named a stapled hemorrhoidectomy. This technique entails stapling the hemorrhoid with a circular staple. . This kind of operation is also quite a bit less painful than other forms of surgery.

You needn’t have to have medical surgery to overcome bleeding hemorrhoids. Quite often, hemorrhoids, even bleeding hemorrhoids can cure themselves if taken care of. You can use creams and gels to assist with the inflammation and itching. Go on studying on colon healthcare and find out about what you might do to strengthen your digestive system. For starters, you can monitor your food intake, and making a point that you eat lots of fruits and green vegetables. Try not to apply a lot of pressure onto your pelvic area, specifically when passing stools, specifically if you are currently pregnant or overweight. Remember to keep your anus clean so it will not get infected. Your body can alleviate hemorrhoids naturally if given a good chance.

Intense occurrences of hemorrhoids may warrant medical procedures . Intense occurrences of hemorrhoids are wherein the whole exterior of the anus is covered with them and , occurrences of bleeding hemorrhoids which require intense hemorrhoid treatment. In the event that you suffer from hemorroids that’re just merely uncomfortable, you can quite possibly overcome them with home hemorrhoid treatment and without requiring medical procedures unless of course they’ve become thrombosed or have already started bleeding.

Never assume all hemorrhoid treatment surgery treatment choices are alike. The truth is a lot of of them are known to be somewhat painfull.And also they commonly take a considerably long time to heal. Luckily, a lot off the more sophisticated tend to be not as painful, but they are equally successful as a strategy to overcome hemorrhoids. If you happen to be considering medical procedures as a hemorrhoid remedy then you are with out a doubt striving to discover what variations of medical procedures are available to you. This information was penned to offer you an outline of the diverse variations of medical procedures that are on hand to overcome hemorrhoids.

Of all the various variations of hemorrhoid medical procedures on hand, Rubber Band Ligation is one of the most well recognized. With this method of operation a rubber band approx. 1/25″ is pushed securely right onto the root of the hemorrhoid. The blood vessels that make up hemorrhoid eventually dry out and die because the supply to them is hinder. It generally takes close to 5-7 days give or take for the hemorrhoid to go away.

You can check out laser surgery treatment. Laser surgical removal necessitates the utilization of a lazer to zap the hemorrhoid off. The medical operation takes a rather brief period of time so that you can return home the same day. That is, this is an out-patient hemorrhoid treatment. Laser medical procedures is not going to hold the common hazards affiliated with medical procedures , in particular bleeding because the laser gun cauterizes the location.

You can find a form of hemorrhoid treatment which necessitates stapling the hemorrhoid with a special form of circular staple. This is called a Stapled Hemorrhoidectomy and is pretty widely recognized . It can be carried out to remove any sorts of bleeding hemorrhoids but primarily prolapsed hemorrhoids.

Hemorrhoidal Artery Ligation Operation also called HAL is a more sophisticated form of hemorrhoid treatment that basically consists of medical procedures. It is gathering popularity operation does not bring about a lot of pain. Generally speaking the operation entails identifying all the blood vessels supplying the hemorroid with blood. As soon as the blood vessels are spotted they are stitched to hinder the the flow of blood to the hemorrhoid. Resultantly the hemorrhoid dries up and drops off leaving a scar..