WANTED.....SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS MENTORS

Hi all,

I am starting a project soon for young girls and women. This project involves mentoring young girls and women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

When I was a little girl,I was not a big 'fan' of mathematics but I was intrigued by technology. I was curious to know how computers worked. When I encountered programming courses at the university, all I could think was...NOT AGAIN!. Why do I have to meet calculations all the time? BUT i am glad i am a Computer Scientist/IT professional.

I believe that if young girls are guided properly in STEM, there will be lots of change in the way women view science and technology courses considering that many women are still reluctant or a bit sceptical about studying 'male dominated' courses.

Are you an IT consultant?
Are you a Computer Scientist, Engineer, Mathematician or an IT graduate?
Are involved in any science project?
Are you passionate about technology and science?
Are you a web designer or developer?
Are you a programmer?

Please feel free to contact me. I am looking for mentors for my project. Someone who can guide young girls interested in STEM. 

Interested young girls and women, view the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hu8AyqZfWeq5pK_g793Pb1V5Cn-tPSCnYwFa4y7ja_8/viewform

For would be mentors
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OFFl7xRXIEcQ6IRxNMJqQxwuLK7QvoyxQptzUhQo9Ns/viewform

Thank you.

A call for a great opportunity to work for Nuecla Nigeria Services

I started a business in the area of information technology last month and one of the reasons for establishing my own business apart from making profit is to serve as a platform for young girls and women especially in Nigeria to connect with me in the area of digital media and technology. I want these young girls and women to feel free to work with me in my business so that together we can empower women in technology. The IT industry generally no doubt is a male dominated industry but women can do a lot if they are given opportunities.

Nuecla Nigeria Services focuses on providing information technology consultancy services for small and medium-scale enterprises as well as providing information technology specialists for companies/institutions on a temporary basis. We also advise young women who want to go build an IT career.

Please if you are interested in working with me, please feel free to email me at nueclaservices@gmail.com. I am looking for volunteers both part-time and full-time.

Mentors especially women in technology all over the world are also welcome.

Together we can make Nigeria great and take the IT industry to another level!
United we stand!

2015 International Forum for Young Leaders - Call for applications - “Human Rights and Leadership"

The next generation of human rights professionals will be required to respond to increasingly complex and systemic global challenges through innovation and ingenuity.

Our mission is to foster a network of young leaders who aim to develop accessible solutions to these challenges and advance human rights and access to justice through ethical engagement.

Deadline: October 31, 2014

The International Forum for Young Leaders brings together individuals under 30 years of age who have demonstrated their passion for implementing innovative, entrepreneurial solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, and offering them an opportunity to interact and benefit from each other’s experiences. It does this by:

• Selecting ambitious, persistent young leaders from across the world with the potential to act as change agents in their field, sector, or geographic region;
• Spreading their ideas about how to tackle major human rights and access to justice challenges and effect wide-scale change; and
• Supporting an extensive network of former Young Leaders, named McGill Echenberg Fellows, to realize the practical implementation of their vision.

Participants hail from a range of backgrounds, including NGOs, politics, government, academia, the private sector, and the media.

Young Leaders participate in a series of skill-developing sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions, and cultural events aimed at engaging with the spectrum of issues that affect human rights outcomes, in addition to keynotes, panels and debates featuring prominent international human rights voices.

The Forum is at the core of the Fourth Echenberg Family Conference on Human Rights, which will be held at McGill University in Montreal from October 11-17, 2015, and is organized by the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. Held in conjunction with the Young Leaders Forum, the Conference will explore the theme of “Human Rights and Leadership” and will focus on individuals and groups who have set themselves apart in their promotion of human rights and access to justice through innovation, entrepreneurship, collaboration and creativity.

McGill Echenberg Fellows

At the conclusion of the Conference, participants of the Young Leaders Forum are named McGill Echenberg Fellows. The Fellows remain active in a vibrant community of human rights professionals, supported by a Secretariat at the Centre. The program offers the opportunity to interact and collaborate with members of an exceptional community of committed advocates, 20 to 25 of whom will be joining us for the 2015 Forum.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, you must:

• Be under 30 years of age as of July 31, 2015;
• Hold a university degree in any field*;
• Possess high oral proficiency in English; and
• Have shown leadership, innovation, creativity, and/or entrepreneurship in your area of focus.

The Conference will select 25 Young Leaders for the Forum on the basis of their track record of leadership, commitment, and impact in their respective fields. Previous Fellows have shown leadership and entrepreneurship through pursuits such as serving as members of advisory boards, founding or supporting non-profits, development initiatives, or social enterprises.

For those selected, the Conference will cover all costs, including travel expenses to and from Montreal, accommodation, meals, and visa expenses.

*The Conference has made exceptions to this eligibility criterion under exceptional circumstances where applicants have demonstrated a particularly strong fit for the Young Leaders Forum.

How to apply

Please submit your completed application form [.docx], a photocopy of an official ID confirming your age, two letters of recommendation, and proof of university graduation to youngleaders.law@mcgill.ca byOctober 31, 2014. Please use “Application – International Young Leaders Forum 2015” as the subject of your email.

Your recommendation letters should be written by individuals who know you in an academic or professional capacity and can provide a detailed assessment of your potential to contribute to the Forum.

Only complete applications will be reviewed and only qualified candidates will be contacted. Due to the high volume of correspondence we receive, we are unable to respond to individual inquiries about the application process.

The International Forum for Young Leaders actively seeks a diverse applicant pool.

Don’t drink the (warm) water, study says

Americans can take a warning from a University of Florida study of bottled water in China ─ don’t drink the liquid if you’ve left it somewhere warm for a long time.

Plastic water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate. When heated, the material releases the chemicals antimony and bisphenol A, commonly called BPA. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said BPA is not a major concern at low levels found in beverage containers, it continues to study the chemical’s impacts. Some health officials, including those at the Mayo Clinic, say the chemical can cause negative effects on children’s health.
And antimony is considered a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization. UF soil and water science professor Lena Ma led a research team that studied chemicals released in 16 brands of bottled water kept at 158 degrees Fahrenheit for four weeks, what researchers deemed a “worst-case scenario” for human consumption.
Of the 16 brands, only one exceeded the EPA standard for antimony and BPA. Based on the study, storage at warm temperatures would seem to not be a big problem, Ma said. But she said more research is needed to know if other brands are safe.
Ma’s study found that as bottles warmed over the four-week period, antimony and BPA levels increased.
“If you store the water long enough, there may be a concern,” said Ma, an Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences faculty member who has a research program at Nanjing University in China.
The UF scientist warned against leaving bottled water in a hot garage for weeks on end or in your car all day during the summer. Because of what Ma calls cultural differences and because Chinese citizens have less faith in their tap water, some leave bottled water in their car trunks for weeks. China consumed 9.6 billion gallons of bottled water in 2011, making that country the commodity’s largest market.
By comparison, Americans drank 9.1 billion gallons of bottled water that year, according to the International Bottled Water Association. While most Americans don’t store bottled water in their cars for extended periods, they often keep it there for a day or two. Drinking that water occasionally won’t be dangerous, but doing so regularly could cause health issues, she said. And it’s not just water containers that merit more study, Ma said.
“More attention should be given to other drinks packaged with polyethylene terephthalate plastic, such as milk, coffee and acidic juice,” she said. “We only tested the pure water. If it is acidic juice, the story may be different.”
Although not part of the study, Ma touts tap water over bottled water. Both are regulated by the federal government, tap by the EPA and bottled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The study is published in this month’s edition of the journal Environmental Pollution.

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Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

CHEVENING SCHOLARSHIPS

Treating high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes may lower risk of Alzheimer's disease

Treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and other vascular risk factors may help lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease in people who already show signs of declining thinking skills or memory problems. The research is published in the April 13, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Researchers followed 837 people with mild cognitive impairment, the stage of memory loss that often leads to Alzheimer's disease. Of the group, 414 had at least one vascular risk factor. Participants were given blood tests and a medical history questionnaire and also underwent other tests that measured blood pressure, body mass, memory and thinking skills.
Participants who had vascular risk factors were placed into three groups: those with no risk factors treated, those with some risk factors treated and those with all risk factors treated. Treatment of risk factors included using high blood pressure medicines, insulin, cholesterol-lowering drugs and diet control. Smoking and drinking were considered treated if the person stopped smoking or drinking at the start of the study.
After five years, 298 people developed Alzheimer's disease. The others still had mild cognitive impairment. People with risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease and high cholesterol were two times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those without vascular risk factors. A total of 52 percent of those with risk factors developed Alzheimer's disease, compared to 36 percent of those with no risk factors.
Of those with vascular risk factors, people who were receiving full treatment were 39 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those receiving no treatment. Those receiving some treatments were 26 percent less likely to develop the disease compared to people who did not receive any treatment.
"Although this was not a controlled trial, patients who were treated for their high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes had less progression of their memory or thinking impairment and were less likely to develop dementia," said study author Yan-Jiang Wang, MD, PhD, with the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China.
The study was supported by a grant from the Science and Technology Committee of Chongqing, China.
  
Culled from American Academy of Neurology

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Can your blood type affect your memory in later years?

People with blood type AB may be more likely to develop memory loss in later years than people with other blood types, according to a study published in the September 10, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

AB is the least common blood type, found in about 4 percent of the U.S. population. The study found that people with AB blood were 82 percent more likely to develop the thinking and memory problems that can lead to dementia than people with other blood types. Previous studies have shown hat people with type O blood have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke, factors that can increase the risk of memory loss and dementia.
The study was part of a larger study (the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke, or REGARDS Study) of more than 30,000 people followed for an average of 3.4 years. In those who had no memory or thinking problems at the beginning, the study identified 495 participants who developed thinking and memory problems, or cognitive impairment, during the study. They were compared to 587 people with no cognitive problems.
People with AB blood type made up 6 percent of the group who developed cognitive impairment, which is higher than the 4 percent found in the population.
"Our study looks at blood type and risk of cognitive impairment, but several studies have shown that factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes increase the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia," said study author Mary Cushman, MD, MSc, of the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington. "Blood type is also related to other vascular conditions like stroke, so the findings highlight the connections between vascular issues and brain health. More research is needed to confirm these results."
Researchers also looked at blood levels of factor VIII, a protein that helps blood to clot. High levels of factor VIII are related to higher risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.
 People in this study with higher levels of factor VIII were 24 percent more likely to develop thinking and memory problems than people with lower levels of the protein. People with AB blood had a higher average level of factor VIII than people with other blood types.

Culled from American Academy of Neurology (AAN). 

Biologists delay the aging process by 'remote control'

Activating a gene called AMPK in the nervous system induces the anti-aging cellular recycling process of autophagy in both the brain and intestine. Activating AMPK in the intestine leads to increased autophagy in both the intestine and brain. Matthew Ulgherait, David Walker and UCLA colleagues showed that this 'inter-organ' communication during aging can substantially prolong the healthy lifespan of fruit flies.

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) biologists have identified a gene that can slow the aging process throughout the entire body when activated remotely in key organ systems.

Working with fruit flies, the life scientists activated a gene called AMPK that is a key energy sensor in cells; it gets activated when cellular energy levels are low.

Increasing the amount of AMPK in fruit flies' intestines increased their lifespans by about 30 percent -- to roughly eight weeks from the typical six -- and the flies stayed healthier longer as well.

The research, published Sept. 4 in the open-source journal Cell Reports, could have important implications for delaying aging and disease in humans, said David Walker, an associate professor of integrative biology and physiology at UCLA and senior author of the research.

"We have shown that when we activate the gene in the intestine or the nervous system, we see the aging process is slowed beyond the organ system in which the gene is activated," Walker said.

Walker said that the findings are important because extending the healthy life of humans would presumably require protecting many of the body's organ systems from the ravages of aging -- but delivering anti-aging treatments to the brain or other key organs could prove technically difficult. The study suggests that activating AMPK in a more accessible organ such as the intestine, for example, could ultimately slow the aging process throughout the entire body, including the brain.

Humans have AMPK, but it is usually not activated at a high level, Walker said.

"Instead of studying the diseases of aging -- Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes -- one by one, we believe it may be possible to intervene in the aging process and delay the onset of many of these diseases," said Walker, a member of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute. "We are not there yet, and it could, of course, take many years, but that is our goal and we think it is realistic.

"The ultimate aim of our research is to promote healthy aging in people."

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a good model for studying aging in humans because scientists have identified all of the fruit fly's genes and know how to switch individual genes on and off. The biologists studied approximately 100,000 of them over the course of the study.

Lead author Matthew Ulgherait, who conducted the research in Walker's laboratory as a doctoral student, focused on a cellular process called autophagy, which enables cells to degrade and discard old, damaged cellular components. By getting rid of that "cellular garbage" before it damages cells, autophagy protects against aging, and AMPK has been shown previously to activate this process.

Ulgherait studied whether activating AMPK in the flies led to autophagy occurring at a greater rate than usual.

"A really interesting finding was when Matt activated AMPK in the nervous system, he saw evidence of increased levels of autophagy in not only the brain, but also in the intestine," said Walker, a faculty member in the UCLA College. "And vice versa: Activating AMPK in the intestine produced increased levels of autophagy in the brain -- and perhaps elsewhere, too."

Many neurodegenerative diseases, including both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are associated with the accumulation of protein aggregates, a type of cellular garbage, in the brain, Walker noted.

"Matt moved beyond correlation and established causality," he said. "He showed that the activation of autophagy was both necessary to see the anti-aging effects and sufficient; that he could bypass AMPK and directly target autophagy."

Walker said that AMPK is thought to be a key target of metformin, a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, and that metformin activates AMPK.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging (grants R01 AG037514 and R01 AG040288). Ulgherait received funding support from a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (GM07185) and Eureka and Hyde fellowships from the UCLA department of integrative biology and physiology.

Co-authors of the research were Anil Rana, a postdoctoral scholar in Walker's lab; Michael Rera, a former UCLA postdoctoral scholar in Walker's lab; and Jacqueline Graniel, who participated in the research as a UCLA undergraduate.

Culled from University of California - Los Angeles
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Binge drinking in pregnancy can affect child's mental health, school results

Binge drinking during pregnancy can increase the risk of mental health problems (particularly hyperactivity and inattention) in children aged 11 and can have a negative effect on their school examination results, according to new research on more than 4,000 participants in the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol by a team of researchers from the universities of Nottingham, Bristol, Leicester, Oxford, Queensland (Australia) and Sheffield. The research is published in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

This was the case even after a number of other lifestyle and social factors were taken into account, including the mother's own mental health, whether smoked tobacco, used cannabis or other drugs during the pregnancy, her age, her education, and how many other children she had.

This builds on earlier research on the same children that found a link between binge drinking in pregnancy and their mental health when aged four and seven, suggesting that problems can persist as a child gets older. Other effects, such as on academic performance, may only become apparent later in a child's life.

In this research, binge drinking was defined as drinking four or more units of alcohol in a day on at least one occasion during the pregnancy. The women were asked about their drinking pattern at both 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy and again when their child was aged five.

At age 11, parents and teachers completed questionnaires (on more than 4,000 participants) about the children's mental health. Information about academic performance (on almost 7,000 participants) was based on the results of the Key Stage 2 examinations taken in the final year at primary school. These exams assess a child's ability in English, mathematics and science.

One in four mothers reported a pattern of binge drinking at least once during pregnancy and more than half of these said they had done so once or twice in the month prior to being asked. The majority who reported binge drinking when asked at 18 weeks, also reported this when asked again at 32 weeks, suggesting that the pattern might have persisted during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy although this cannot be known for sure.

To assess the impact of episodic binge pattern drinking in women who did not drink regularly during pregnancy, the analysis separated out binge pattern and regular daily drinking. After disentangling binge pattern and daily drinking in this way, episodic binge pattern drinking was associated with slightly higher levels of hyperactivity and inattention according to the teacher and with lower academic scores. On average, scores were about 1 point lower in the Key Stage 2 examinations, even after other key factors including both parents' education had been taken into account.

According to the parent questionnaires, binge pattern drinking was also associated with slightly higher levels of hyperactivity and inattention. This effect was more pronounced in girls than boys, possibly reflecting the choice of questionnaire used for the study with any possible effects being more readily demonstrable in girls as hyperactivity and inattention behaviours tend to be more common in boys.

Binge pattern drinking when the child was aged five was not associated with negative effects on mental health and school results at age 11, suggesting that the risks of alcohol exposure are intra-uterine (they occur while the child is in the womb).

Speaking about the findings, Professor Kapil Sayal from the University of Nottingham, the report's main author, said:

'Women who are pregnant or who are planning to become pregnant should be aware of the possible risks associated with episodes of heavier drinking during pregnancy, even if this only occurs on an occasional basis.

'The consumption of four or more drinks in a day may increase the risk for hyperactivity and inattention problems and lower academic attainment even if daily average levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy are low.

'The study's findings highlight the need for clear policy messages about patterns of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, whereby women who choose to drink occasionally should avoid having several drinks in a day.'

He added:

'The information was collected in 1991-1992 when attitudes towards drinking in pregnancy may have been different in the UK. As this was over 20 years ago, this may not necessarily reflect the current picture.'

Culled from University of Bristol UK

Anguish of romantic rejection may be linked to stimulation of areas of brain related to motivation, reward and addiction

eaking up really is hard to do, and a recent study conducted at Stony Brook University found evidence that it may be partly due to the areas of the brain that are active during this difficult time.

The team of researchers, which included Arthur Aron, Ph.D., professor of social and health psychology in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University, and former graduate students Greg Strong and Debra Mashek looked at subjects who had a recent break-up and found that the pain and anguish they were experiencing may be linked to activation of parts of the brain associated with motivation, reward and addiction cravings. The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology.

"This brain imaging study of individuals who were still 'in love' with their rejecter supplies further evidence that the passion of 'romantic love' is a goal-oriented motivation state rather than a specific emotion" the researchers concluded, noting that brain imaging showed some similarities between romantic rejection and cocaine craving. "The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that romantic love is a specific form of addiction."

The study also helps to explain "why feelings and behaviors related to romantic rejection are difficult to control" and why extreme behaviors associated with romantic rejection such as stalking, homicide, suicide, and clinical depression occur in cultures all over the world, the researchers wrote.

"Romantic rejection is a major cause of suicides and depression. We have known very little about it. Understanding the neural systems involved is extremely important both for advancing our basic knowledge of intense romantic love in general and of response to rejection in particular," said Dr. Aron. "The specific findings are significant because they tell us that the basic patterns seen in previous studies of happy love share key elements with love under these circumstances; they also tell us that what is unique to romantic rejection includes elements that are very much like craving for cocaine."

The study was headed by Helen Fisher, a research professor and member of the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, N.J., and co-author Lucy L. Brown of the Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, the Bronx, N.Y. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record brain activity in 15 college-age, heterosexual men and women who had recently been rejected by their partners. All reported that they were still intensely "in love" with that former partner, spent the majority of their waking hours thinking of the person who rejected them, and yearned for the person to return. Participants were shown a photograph of their former partner, then completed a simple math exercise to distract them from their romantic thoughts. They then viewed a photograph of a familiar "neutral" person.

The researchers found that viewing photographs of their former partners stimulated several key areas of the participants' brains to a greater degree than when they looked at photos of neutral persons. The areas are:

* the ventral tegmental area in the mid-brain, which controls motivation and reward and is known to be involved in feelings of romantic love, * the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal/prefrontal cortex, which are associated with craving and addiction, specifically the dopaminergic reward system evident in cocaine addiction, and * the insular cortex and the anterior cingulate, which are associated with physical pain and distress.

"It shows that intense romantic love seems to function much like an addiction," Dr. Aron said. "But that does not tell us one way or the other whether the desire to be in love in general is an addiction." Dr. Aron noted that some of what has been learned over the years in this area may be useful in helping people attempting to recover from drug addiction.

The study also provided some evidence that "time heals all wounds." Researchers found that as time passed, an area of the brain associated with attachment -- the right ventral putamen/pallidum area -- showed less activity when the participants viewed photographs of their former partners.

Culled from Stony Brook University

Mother's milk composition best indicator of a nation's adacemic performance

You are what you eat, the saying goes, and now a study conducted by researchers at UC Santa Barbara and the University of Pittsburgh suggests that the oft-repeated adage applies not just to physical health but to brain power as well.

In a paper published in the early online edition of the journal Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, the researchers compared the fatty acid profiles of breast milk from women in over two dozen countries with how well children from those same countries performed on academic tests..

Their findings show that the amount of omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in a mother's milk -- fats found primarily in certain fish, nuts and seeds -- is the strongest predictor of test performance. It outweighs national income and the number of dollars spent per pupil in schools.

DHA alone accounted for about 20 percent of the differences in test scores among countries, the researchers found.

On the other hand, the amount of omega-6 fat in mother's milk -- fats that come from vegetable oils such as corn and soybean -- predict lower test scores. When the amount of DHA and linoleic acid (LA) -- the most common omega-6 fat -- were considered together, they explained nearly half of the differences in test scores. In countries where mother's diets contain more omega-6, the beneficial effects of DHA seem to be reduced.

"Human intelligence has a physical basis in the huge size of our brains -- some seven times larger than would be expected for a mammal with our body size," said Steven Gaulin, UCSB professor of anthropology and co-author of the paper. "Since there is never a free lunch, those big brains need lots of extra building materials -- most importantly, they need omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA. Omega-6 fats, however, undermine the effects of DHA and seem to be bad for brains."

Both kinds of omega fat must be obtained through diet. But because diets vary from place to place, for their study Gaulin and his co-author, William D. Lassek, M.D., a professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health and a retired assistant surgeon general, estimated the DHA and LA content -- the good fat and the bad fat -- in diets in 50 countries by examining published studies of the fatty acid profiles of women's breast milk.

The profiles are a useful measure for two reasons, according to Gaulin. First, because various kinds of fats interfere with one another in the body, breast milk DHA shows how much of this brain-essential fat survives competition with omega-6. Second, children receive their brain-building fats from their mothers. Breast milk profiles indicate the amount of DHA children in each region receive in the womb, through breastfeeding, and from the local diet available to their mothers and to them after they are weaned.

The academic test results came from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which administers standardized tests in 58 nations. Gaulin and Lassek averaged the three PISA tests -- math, science and reading ability -- as their measure of cognitive performance. There were 28 countries for which the researchers found information about both breast milk and test scores.

"Looking at those 28 countries, the DHA content of breast milk was the single best predictor of math test performance," Gaulin said. The second best indicator was the amount of omega-6, and its effect is opposite. "Considering the benefits of omega-3 and the detriment of omega-6, we can get pretty darn close to explaining half the difference in scores between countries," he added. When DHA and LA are considered together, he added, they are twice as effective at predicting test scores as either is alone, Gaulin said.

Gaulin and Lassek considered two economic factors as well: per capita gross domestic product (a measure of average wealth in each nation) and per student expenditures on education. "Each of these factors helps explain some of the differences between nations in test scores, but the fatty acid profile of the average mother's milk in a given country is a better predictor of the average cognitive performance in that country than is either of the conventional socioeconomic measures people use," said Gaulin.

From their analysis, the researchers conclude that both economic wellbeing and diet make a difference in cognitive test performance, and children are best off when they have both factors in their favor. "But if you had to choose one, you should choose the better diet rather than the better economy," Gaulin said.

The current research follows a study published in 2008 that showed that the children of women who had larger amounts of gluteofemoral fat "depots" performed better on academic tests than those of mothers with less. "At that time we weren't trying to identify the dietary cause," explained Gaulin. "We found that this depot that has been evolutionarily elaborated in women is important to building a good brain. We were content at that time to show that as a way of understanding why the female body is as evolutionarily distinctive as it is."

Now the researchers are looking at diet as the key to brain-building fat, since mothers need to acquire these fats in the first place.

Their results are particularly interesting in 21^st-century North America, Gaulin noted, because our current agribusiness-based diets provide very low levels of DHA -- among the lowest in the world. Thanks to two heavily government-subsidized crops -- corn and soybeans -- the average U.S. diet is heavy in the bad omega-6 fatty acids and far too light on the good omega-3s, Gaulin said.

"Back in the 1960s, in the middle of the cardiovascular disease epidemic, people got the idea that saturated fats were bad and polyunsaturated fats were good," he explained. "That's one reason margarine became so popular. But the polyunsaturated fats that were increased were the ones with omega-6, not omega-3. So our message is that not only is it advisable to increase omega 3 intake, it's highly advisable to decrease omega-6 -- the very fats that in the 1960s and '70s we were told we should be eating more of."

Gaulin added that mayonnaise is, in general, the most omega-6-laden food in the average person's refrigerator. "If you have too much of one -- omega-6 -- and too little of the other -- omega 3 -- you're going to end up paying a price cognitively," he said.

The issue is a huge concern for women, Gaulin noted, because "that's where kids' brains come from. But it's important for men as well because they have to take care of the brains their moms gave them.

"Just like a racecar burns up some of its motor oil with every lap, your brain burns up omega-3 and you need to replenish it every day," he said.

Culled from University of California - Santa Barbara

Endometriosis and its burden on women's lives

Endometriosis often takes a long time to be diagnosed and affects all areas of a women's life, a study has found.

Research led by Monash University's Kate Young published in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Carefound that endometriosis affects women's sex lives, personal relationships, work life, and emotional wellbeing.Family Planning and Reproductive Health Carefound that endometriosis affects women's sex lives, personal relationships, work life, and emotional wellbeing.

Endometriosis is a chronic, recurring disease that is experienced by approximately 10 per cent of women worldwide. Common symptoms include painful menstruation, heavy menstrual bleeding, painful sex and infertility.

Ms Young, from the Jean Hailes Research Unit at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, reviewed a number of papers that documented women's experiences of endometriosis.

"The most common theme was that women had experienced delays in diagnosis," Ms Young said.

The study found that women were more likely to be diagnosed sooner when they approached their doctor describing symptoms as fertility-related rather than a menstrual issue.

"Some women initially delayed seeking help for their symptoms because they believed all women had painful periods. When women revealed their symptoms to a family member, friend or medical professional their experiences were typically normalised as being what all women must endure," Ms Young said.

The study also found that women often felt frustrated and angry at unsatisfactory experiences with healthcare providers, and had concerns about the effectiveness and side effects of treatments.

"Women want their doctors to really listen to their experience and concerns. They want to explain the true impact of the condition on their lives, rather than simply rank their pain on a scale from one to 10," Ms Young said.

The study found that further research was needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of endometriosis as experienced by diverse groups of women.

"The next stage of my research is to conduct interviews with women from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and also recruit more GPs from rural and urban settings to take part in the research," Ms Young said.

This research will contribute to the improved health care of women with endometriosis in Australia, and around the world.

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Culled from Monash University

Scientists create renewable fossil fuel alternative using bacteria

Researchers have engineered the harmless gut bacteria E.coli to generate renewable propane.The development is a step towards commercial production of a source of fuel that could one day provide an alternative to fossil fuels.

Propane is an appealing source of cleaner fuel because it has an existing global market. It is already produced as a by-product during natural gas processing and petroleum refining, but both are finite resources. In its current form it makes up the bulk of LPG (liquid petroleum gas), which is used in many applications, from central heating to camping stoves and conventional motor vehicles.
In a new study, the team of scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Turku in Finland used Escherichia coli to interrupt the biological process that turns fatty acids into cell membranes. The researchers used enzymes to channel the fatty acids along a different biological pathway, so that the bacteria made engine-ready renewable propane instead of cell membranes.
Their ultimate goal is to insert this engineered system into photosynthetic bacteria, so as to one day directly convert solar energy into chemical fuel.The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Dr Patrik Jones, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London said: "Although this research is at a very early stage, our proof of concept study provides a method for renewable production of a fuel that previously was only accessible from fossil reserves. Although we have only produced tiny amounts so far, the fuel we have produced is ready to be used in an engine straight away. This opens up possibilities for future sustainable production of renewable fuels that at first could complement, and thereafter replace fossil fuels like diesel, petrol, natural gas and jet fuel."
The scientists chose to target propane because it can easily escape the cell as a gas, yet requires little energy to transform from its natural gaseous state into a liquid that is easy to transport, store and use.
"Fossil fuels are a finite resource and as our population continues to grow we are going to have to come up with new ways to meet increasing energy demands. It is a substantial challenge, however, to develop a renewable process that is low-cost and economically sustainable. At the moment algae can be used to make biodiesel, but it is not commercially viable as harvesting and processing requires a lot of energy and money. So we chose propane because it can be separated from the natural process with minimal energy and it will be compatible with the existing infrastructure for easy use" added Dr Jones.
Using E. coli as a host organism, the scientists interrupted the biological process that turns fatty acids into cell membranes. By stopping this process at an early stage they could remove butyric acid, a nasty smelling compound that is an essential precursor for propane production.
To interrupt the process, the researchers discovered a new variant of an enzyme called thioesterase which specifically targets fatty acids and releases them from the natural process. They then used a second bacterial enzyme, called CAR, to convert butyric acid into butyraldehyde. Finally, they added a recently discovered enzyme called aldehyde-deformylating oxygenase (ADO), which is known to naturally create hydrocarbons, in order to form propane. Previous attempts to use the ADO enzyme have proved disappointing as scientists have been unable to harness the natural power of the enzyme to create cleaner fuel. But the scientists at Imperial discovered that by stimulating ADO with electrons they were able to substantially enhance the catalytic capability of the enzyme, and ultimately produce propane.
The level of propane that the scientists produced is currently one thousand times less than what would be needed to turn it into a commercial product, so they are now working on refining their newly designed synthetic process. Dr Jones said: "At the moment, we don't have a full grasp of exactly how the fuel molecules are made, so we are now trying to find out exactly how this process unfolds. I hope that over the next 5-10 years we will be able to achieve commercially viable processes that will sustainably fuel our energy demands."
This research was funded by a grant from the European Research Council.

Source: Imperial College London

Fruit consumption cuts cardiovascular disease risk by up to 40 percent

Daily fruit consumption cuts the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by up to 40%, according to research presented at ESC Congress by Dr Huaidong Du from Oxford, UK. The findings from the seven year follow-up study of nearly 0.5 million people in the China Kadoorie Biobank found that the more fruit people ate, the more their risk of CVD declined.

Dr Du said: "CVD, including ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, is the leading cause of death worldwide. Improving diet and lifestyle is critical for CVD risk reduction in the general population but the large majority of this evidence has come from western countries and hardly any from China."
She added: "China has a different pattern of CVD, with stroke as the main cause compared to western countries where IHD is more prevalent. Previous studies have combined ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke probably due to the limited number of stroke cases in their datasets. Given their different physiology and risk factors, we have conducted the first large prospective study on the association of fruit with subtypes of stroke in Chinese adults from both rural and urban areas."

The current study included 451 681 participants with no history of CVD and not on anti-hypertensive treatment at baseline from the China Kadoorie Biobank(1) conducted in 10 different areas of China, 5 rural and 5 urban. Habitual consumption of fruit was recorded at baseline according to five categories: never, monthly, 1-3 days per week, 4-6 days per week, daily.
Over the seven year follow up period there were 19 300 cases of IHD and 19 689 strokes (14 688 ischaemic and 3562 haemorrhagic). Some 18% of participants consumed fruit daily and 6.3% never consumed fruit. The average amount of fruit eaten by the daily consumers was 1.5 portions (~150g) 

The researchers found that compared to people who never ate fruit, those who ate fruit daily cut their CVD risks by 25-40% (around 15% for IHD, around 25% for ischaemic stroke and 40% for haemorrhagic stroke). There was a dose response relationship between the frequency of fruit consumption and the risk of CVD .

Dr Du said: "Our data clearly shows that eating fresh fruit can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, including ischaemic heart disease and stroke (particularly haemorrhagic stroke). And not only that, the more fruit you eat the more your CVD risk goes down. It does suggest that eating more fruit is beneficial compared to less or no fruit."
The researchers also found that people who consumed fruit more often had significantly lower blood pressure (BP). Eating fruit daily was associated with 3.4/4.1 mmHg lower systolic/diastolic BP compared to those who never ate fruit. Dr Du said: "Our data shows that eating fresh fruit was associated with lower baseline BP. We also found that the beneficial effect of fruit on the risk of CVD was independent of its impact on baseline BP."
In a separate analysis, the researchers examined the association of fruit consumption with total mortality and CV mortality in more than 61,000 patients from the China Kadoorie Biobank who had CVD or hypertension at baseline. They found that compared to those who never ate fruit, daily consumers of fruit cut their overall risk of death by 32%. They also reduced their risks of dying from IHD by 27% and from stroke by around 40%.

Professor Zhengming Chen, the principal investigator of the China Kadoorie Biobank, said: "Patients with CVD and hypertension should also be encouraged to consume more fresh fruit. Many western populations have experienced a rapid decrease in CVD mortality during the past several decades, especially stroke mortality since the early 1950s, for reasons that are not yet fully explained. Improved access to fresh fruit may well have contributed importantly to that decline."

The researchers concluded: "Our results show the benefit of eating fruit in the healthy general population and in patients with CVD and hypertension. Fruit consumption is an effective way to cut CVD risk and should not only be regarded as 'might be useful'. Policies are needed to promote the availability, affordability and acceptability of fresh fruit through educational and regulatory measures."

Culled from European Society of Cardiology

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